The Daily Swarm

NY1 (video here):

Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri is holding an elevator safety presentation today at P.S. 19 in Brooklyn for first, second and third grade students, on the heels of an incident over the weekend, where a musician fell to his death in a Brooklyn elevator shaft.

Police say Gerard Fuchs, 34, was trying to jump out of a stalled freight elevator inside a building on Berry Street early yesterday, when his jacket got snagged and he slipped through a gap.

The Village Voice:

Jerry Fuchs was that totally fucking amazing monster drummer you saw play in at least one show in the last 10 years—it could have been with Maserati, Turing Machine, !!!, or the Juan MacLean, as he completely decimated his hapless kit and mesmerized everyone no matter what band he was in. He died early Sunday morning after falling down an elevator shaft at a Williamsburg loft party. He was 34. Jerry was a friend, an inspiration, and one hell of a drummer. I say this with no exaggeration: New York will never sound the same.

Jerry was a relentlessly amicable dude who could never hide the smile behind that mustache; he had the enviable ability to instantly shrug it off if he found out your website gave him a bad review (sorry about that, man). He was completely humble about the fact that he seemed to have life totally figured out. To anyone playing drums in New York, Jerry was more than a behemoth, he was a mythical figure: that completely unattainable combination of a total badass player who’s constantly in demand, constantly recording an amazing project, and practically living on the road.

Associated Press:

BROOKLYN—A 34-year-old man who tried to exit a stuck elevator died after falling five stories down a Brooklyn elevator shaft.

Police say the man had been trying to jump out of a disabled elevator car when his clothing caught on something.

The man was unconscious and unresponsive when emergency responders brought him to Bellevue Hospital Center. He was pronounced dead at around 3:30 a.m. Sunday, about three hours after the fall in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.

Police say there’s no suspected criminality, but the Buildings Department is investigating.

Chunklet:

Jerry Fuchs, drummer extraordinaire, illustrator par excellence, Chunklet contributor and rock solid friend, died last night. I’m still awaiting to get more news, but here’s what I know: Jerry was at a party in Brooklyn and fell down an elevator shaft. He was immediately rushed to the hospital where he was admitted in critical condition. Shortly after, he died in the early hours of Sunday, November 8 while an entire waiting room of friends were there for him….

…watching Jerry play drums was like eating cupcakes while getting a deep back massage. His moves were getting more and more powerful while looking more and more effortless.

As the new millennium started gearing up, there was a obvious reason why Jerry started playing with all the DFA-affiliated bands (The Juan Maclean, !!!, etc.) as time went on: He was an invaluable monster on the drums that could recreate those motorik-like disco beats and make it sound human. Goddamn, the hair on the back of my neck stands on end when I think about it. Recent years saw him reaffirm his roots in Athens as he became the incredibly propulsive backbone to Maserati after they gave their original drummer the boot. And man, again, watching Jerry perform was always a treat. ALWAYS.