On the day Michael Jackson met his untimely cardiac arrest, another wacky musician lost his wings. Sky Saxon, lead singer of The Seeds, the 1960’s free love-infused rock band that Muddy Waters once proclaimed to be “America’s own Rolling Stones,” passed away from heart failure. He was of questionable age, because he believed age to be irrelevant (the Times guess-pegged him 71). Saxon had a bad boy persona not unlike a bizarro Sasha Fierce—his hit single Pushin’ Too Hard was essentially a predated retort of “I ain’t never puttin’ a ring on it.” But time evidently mellowed him to the concept of matrimony, as news of his death arrived via Facebook status message posted by his wife: “Sky has passed over and YaHoWha is waiting for him at the gate. He will soon be home with his Father. I’m so sorry I couldn’t keep him here with us. More later. I’m sorry.” At this point you should be saying YaHoWHAT? and maybe also “Facebook, really?” and so, I invite you: come jump down the rabbit hole of Lesser Celebrity Deaths with me!

A brief history non-lesson: In the 60’s everyone except your parents was tripping on acid and spilling the dream juice of sexual liberation all over their translucent muumuus. Music was at the forefront of this cultural cabal—maybe you’ve heard of Woodstock. And then this guy came to Hollywood to audition for Tarzan only to fail as an actor, find yoga, and turn his fortune around by starting a health food restaurant at the corner of Sunset and Sweetzer called The Source. First he simply served his raw foodstuff creations to the scene stars of the day like John, Yoko and Frank Zappa, but soon he started integrating his yoga practice with his livelihood, holding sweat sessions inside the restaurant (health violation!) and eventually his devout followers moved into a mansion together, rising at 3 a.m. each day to smoke pot (“Sacred Herb”) and watch Adult Swim. This man was not Sky Saxon, late singer of The Seeds, but the man who would ultimately become Saxon’s spiritual and cult leader, Father Yod.

You may have heard of The Source Family before. The Times‘ T magazine did a 40-year belated piece on the commune members’ Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat-esque fashion. Also, there is this book. Maybe you’re one of Father Yod’s 140 children, birthed by one of his 13 often former model, often underage wives. Or perhaps you own an album by YaHoWa 13, the cult’s homegrown rock band, featuring Father Yod voicing sermon-y rhymes like “I can be you and you can be me — ultimate orgasm we will see!” over like, 15 minutes, of trance rock. But did you know that Sky Saxon of The Seeds was a member of The Source Family? Because I didn’t! Now their song Can’t Seem To Make You Mine reads to me like an indictment of the cult’s no-ejaculation policy (yes, paradise comes with compromises).

Of course the first rule of Cult Club is that it’s completely over when it makes its obit announcements via Facebook. But for all intents and purposes, the Source Family was essentially done in the 70s—after the accidental death of Father when he leaped off an Oahu cliff with a hang glider. He insisted that his body would “know” how to glide without any sort of training. Yod crash-landed on the beach and died later that night. Members credit Saxon (by his Source name, Arelich Aquarian) with reuniting the family after Father’s death, and pushing YaHoWha’s music into the public domain in the late ‘70s.

Also, he was really great to dogs! On his Source Family tribute page, a member comments: “the dogs of earth have lost a true champion.” (No word yet on how unearthly dogs are faring). One of Father’s former wives writes that Saxon created the idiom: “dog is God backwards,” and despite my inability to grasp it, I assume being a backwards God has some sort of positive spin. He even covered “I Wanna Be Your Dog”—and “canines on leashes” were allowed, nay encouraged, to attend his Source Family memorial vigil. I don’t think anyone who passed away on June 25th, 2009 loved animals quite as much as Arelich Aquarian (Though my friend told me that there are cats in every single Michael Jackson video, but this has not been verified—fact-checkers, heed your call.). So rest in peace Sky Saxon, good musician, funky cult member, and friend to canines everywhere.