I like your piece, but I can't subscribe to your rule of three. I can't escape the idea that the universe deliberately maintains some sort of balance: a certain equilibrium is neccessary and, so, for each great artist taken an equally powerful, but opposite, person needs to die...

For instance, did you know that Richard Nixon and Ralph Ellison died within a week of each other?

Ten days after Timothy McVeigh was put to death, John Lee Hooker met his maker.

Gerald Ford died a day after James Brown passed (I could also add Auguste PInochet to Ford, to make up for one James Brown)

Ronald Reagan died five days after Ray Charles died..

IN 2018 Kofi Anan and V.S. Naipul die and the universe levels the field by taking John McCain.

It's almost like the universe has a sense of humor... I fear to think of the carnage we'll have to deal with when Dick Cheney kicks the bucket.