Tawn Mastrey Passes, Slash Sends Message

(from Paul "The Lobster" Wells)

Via Kava's Radio Soup

Tawn Mastrey is most famous for her tenure at KNAC in L.A., but we all remember her from KSJO, 1975-1979. Long Live Rock and Long Live Our Memories Of Tawn. I adored her.--Pete

In a hotel room near the MSP airport. Two months ago on August 7th (See below), I made a plea for help for my fellow radio maverick, Tawn Mastrey, on my website http://www.sfbayradio.com That was followed by an urgent press release from her sister, Cara Mastrey distributed to the radio mailing lists that my colleagues in the industry subscribe to. A donor, sadly, was not found in time.

Today, I was honored to join the family and friends of Tawn for her Memorial Service at a funeral home in Minneapolis. I spoke representing those in the radio and music business who loved Tawn and passed along the condolences of those I've spoken to in the last few days. I was in LA, and fittingly on-the-air at KNAC.com when I got the news on Wednesday morning. I was there to help get the ball rolling for benefits to help save Tawn's life and cover the costs of care for her recovery. A letter from Slash is below, and was read at the ceremony by Tawn's beautiful and talented sister, Cara.

On October 2nd, Tawn lost her life as a result of liver failure due to an undetected and dormant for decades Hepatitis C infection. There is no cure. Because of the concurring factors of no insurance, a need for a rare blood type match of a liver or the donation of a piece of a living donors healthy liver (a relatively new procedure that grows a new liver in the recipient and the 100% re-growth of the donor's organ) AND the lack of a sense of urgency on the part of some who heard the news, Tawn's fight ended in a needless early release from this mortal existence. All in music and radio who knew her will miss her spirit, her love of music, her laugh and a true friend with a big heart. In Tawn's memory, her sister Cara and many of us will continue the fight for organ donations and Hep C awareness. visit http://www.tawnmastreybenefit.com for details as they happen.

Please feel free to email me if you'd like to volunteer for efforts including benefit concerts being planned in Los Angeles, San Francisco / San Jose, Minneapolis-St. Paul and other actions.

May 10,000 lives be saved in Tawn Mastrey's name.

Peace,

Paul “The Lobster” Wells


Slash’s email
> Yes, I would like u to say that "Tawn was my hero,
> she fought harder than anybody to support my band
> Guns n Roses back when nobody else wanted to have
> anything to do with us & helped put us on the map
> along with a lot of other young bands during that
> period. She was a true blue maverick who was
> fearless & spoke her mind when it came to things she
> believed in. She had a huge heart & loved life &
> everything about it. She was a lot of fun to be
> around, with her anything was possible. Without
> Tawn, It is the end of an era, I've never met
> anybody else like her & seriously doubt I ever will.
> Tawn, we will miss u terribly, but I know that your
> in a better place where u are needed for whatever
> reason right now, & most importantly, there will be
> no more suffering. Love u, Slash."