Full cardiac arrest.
TMZ says there’s no brain activity and they pulled life support.
That’s not very promising.
ETA, unless things are really serious, I have to wonder if there was already something going on. I could be wrong, but it doesn’t seem like they waited very long to pull the plug.
Wow. Last time I saw Petty doing something I thought how well he seems to be doing compared to some of his peers.
Guess you just don’t know.
Aw man.
I’ve seen him 8 or 9 times in the last 15 years or so and he still puts on an amazing show. But at almost 70 years old he still smokes and I’m willing to bet he still does a bit of coke here and there.
But, yeah, if this is it, he outlasted quite a lot of people. For as hard as he rocked, he paced himself pretty well. Paul McCartney, OTOH, has nearly 10 years on Tom.
Reports are he died after being taken off of life support. Sad. 
He was one of the better singers, IMO.
This really bums me out.
mmm
He’s gone. 
Wikipedia refuses to update he died (on his article) and has even put his article on full protection and is refusing to add it in, waiting to get a verified source (and they don’t consider TMZ to be one).
So, really, no idea what to believe right now. I certainly hope he’s not dead, but from what I’m hearing from a lot of people, it’s hard to hold out with hope.
Yeah, this is NOT OKAY.
That sucks. He was my second-favorite Wilbury.
For years I wasn’t much of a fan. I was aware of his music, of course, and I’d seen him as the opening act for Dylan in, oh, 1989 or so.
Then a friend dragged me to one of his concerts at The Gorge maybe 5 years ago. As I listened to the songs, I realized he was a balladeer of my entire existence. His music wove through my whole life like a sweet, well-worn thread through a tapestry. I began to appreciate what he had accomplished in his life.
He’s the only musician I can think of who held a band together for more than 30 years and who kept his music relevant for the duration. That’s really something. I will admire him always for living his whole life on his own terms and standing up for what was important to him.
If true (and no reason to doubt other than my personal aversion to accepting this truth), I am very sad to learn of his death.
As always with these things, it’s a fast-moving story. I’ve seen confirmation from CBS and Rolling Stone in the past five minutes.
They’re nearly gone now. Only Dylan and Jeff Lynne (who was always the least of the Wilbury’s) are left.
Tom Petty had so much great music and topped the charts in the 80s. I guess I love “Running Down a Dream” the most. Maybe “Don’t Come Around Here No More”.
You know he was pretty big, they interrupted talking about football on ESPN radio to say he passed.
CBS News has confirmed he has died.
Perhaps the thread title should be edited now.
Twitter has just confirmed, oddly enough from the Wall Street Journal, that Tom Petty has died. RIP. I’ll be listening to his music on the train to work.
TMZ was the first to report Michael Jackson’s death, and nobody believed them then, either.
Wait. Jeff Lynne is a great writer of pop tunes and an argument can be made that his body of work will last as long/longer than the other Willabys. Throw out the Beatles and they are all about equally talented with the exception of Dylan even though his work is already being forgotten by younger generations.
Damn. I saw him at Wrigley Field this past summer and it was just an amazing show. Rained off and on most of the time we were there and no one cared. Just a great vibe to go with 40 years of fantastic music.
God damn it.