Odd juxapositions.

Obit watch: Elliott Carter, noted contemporary American composer and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for music.

“As a young man, I harbored the populist idea of writing for the public,” he once explained to an interviewer who asked him why he had chosen to write such difficult music. “I learned that the public didn’t care. So I decided to write for myself. Since then, people have gotten interested.”

In other news: remember 2 Live Crew? Remember Luther Campbell? Have you ever wondered what he’s up to these days? Answer: coaching high school football.

This is Luther Campbell now: married to a lawyer, raising a 3-year-old named Blake, living on a lake, starting his own line of rum. He loves the album “Jagged Little Pill” by Alanis Morissette and the song “Bitter Sweet Symphony” by the Verve. He is asked how this all ties together, Coach Luke and Uncle Luke and Mr. Obscenity turned molder of young minds, despite his past, the reputation, the rapsheet. He does not see this as a redemption story. He does not view himself as changed. Same guy, different job. Same play, next act.

I kind of wanted to snark on this story, but it actually turns out to be a story of a man trying to redeem himself, help kids, and make his little corner of the world better.

“If I never met him, I’d probably be dead or in jail,” said Marquise Blanchard, a defensive end. “He took me under his wing like I was his son. Most of us don’t got no dads. But he’s a daddy figure.”

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