Ric Ocasek found dead.

I grew up in Boston in the '70's and hung out with Ric and drummer David Robinson at the record company table at the Paradise on occasion in '78-80, when we would go to see up and coming acts, like the Police, the Pretenders, the B-52's, etc. We had dinner a few times at this Japanese restaurant in Back Bay, too. He was a truly nice guy, even after their debut album was big on the charts.  Another talent lost too young.

RIP Ric.

Normally I wouldn't have been interested in their style of music. But after listening more carefully I realized just how together they were as a group.
Their sense of rhythm and blending each part to complement every other part was really excellent. I ended up buying most of their records (vinyl was still the way to get the music onto your stereo) and really digging every note. I take it Ric wrote (most of) the music.

My fave song of theirs was "Drive."  Such a great recording.

I've been listening to the Qobuz Cars playlist for the last 2 or 3 days.  So many great songs! And a few not so great ones - see Shake It Up and Door to Door.

Only tangentially related, before joining The Cars, drummer David Robinson was in an early-incarnation of The Modern Lovers, Jonathan Richman's wonderful backing band.