November 4, 20244 min readFamous people who die at age 27, such as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Amy Winehouse, get even more famous because of the mythology surrounding that number—an example of how modern folklore emergesBy Rachel Nuwera “27 club” mural by Eduardo Kobra at 170 Forsyth Street and Rivington Street in New York City’s Lower East Side. Edward Westmacott/Alamy Stock PhotoZackary Dunivin, a sociologist now at the University of California, Davis, was watching a movie about artist Jean-Michel Basquiat when something in the epilogue caught his attention. Basquiat,…
