What’s up with all the celebrity deaths in 2016?

How many times has it happened, that you are on vacation, and someone famous dies? Does this happen to you too? Well, a lot of people must be on vacation these first weeks of January, because celebrities seem to be dropping left and right, and 2016 has barely started.

The Oscars does the In Memoriam montage every year. A look back on who we lost the previous year. The list gets examined for who is on it, and who was left off. And as the photos come up on the screen, those sitting in the audience at the Oscars react, and the clap-o-meter of fame oddly judges how famous/loved the person was. It often reminds me of watching a school graduation ceremony, and I guess in a way, it is one.

The list seems to be off to a fast start this year. Cole, Bowie, Rickman, Frey, and a few others that maybe didn’t make the news as much. HuffPo keeps a running list.

When I was younger, I didn’t seem to notice as much. I didn’t know who these famous people were. But now the list has reached names that are more personal. Like hearing a song that takes you to a vivid memory of your past, hearing about a celebrity death also triggers an intense personal memory if you are a big fan.

What’s new now is we tweet about it. Other celebrities tweet about it. And others retweet their tweets about it, and so on, and so on… like a virtual flock of Mourning Doves.

In the media business, there is something call “advancers” which are pre-made obit packages ready to go to press when very famous people die. This was the case for the recent deaths where the famous people were known to be ill. Those obituaries were ready.

In some cases, famous people who have a terminal illness will make a point to do interviews while they still are able, so it can be included in their obit package. They want to make sure their epitaph at least has their two cents.

David Bowie, one of the ultimate showman of our times, pulled off releasing an album and having a birthday before dying. It makes one wonder how much control he had over that timing.

When I hear about a celebrity’s death, it feels like finishing a book. So that’s how their story ends. Sometimes it’s tragic, like Robin Williams, and other times it’s poignant, like Bowie. But now… so many stories all at once.

I expect the news of celebrity deaths will get more numerous and more personal for me. 2016 so far seems to be the banner year for it. I was born at the tail end of the Boomer generation. There are a lot of us, and statistically, a lot more famous of us, than in previous generations. I expect Oscar’s Memoriam list will grow a bit longer over the next few decades.

We just had the 30th Martin Luther King Day federal holiday. There is no memoriam higher than an annual national holiday. There is no greater measure of how many lives your life touched.

We all want to live an inspiring life. It’s these moment that we take stock of the famous, and sometimes ourselves, as we hear the news, and move on.