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May 10, 2023

Frank Kozik, Artist Behind Queens of the Stone Age and Melvins Album Covers, Dies at 61

In World Outside The Window

The prolific poster artist and creative director of Kidrobot created the album covers for Queens of the Stone Age, Melvins’ Houdini, and the Offspring’s Americana by Evan Minsker | Pitchfork | May 10, 2023 Frank Kozik, the artist who designed posters and album covers for numerous bands, died on Saturday. His album covers include Queens of the Stone Age’s self-titled album, Melvins’ Houdini, and the Offspring’s Americana. Bands including Nirvana, Sonic Youth, the White Stripes, Butthole Surfers, and Beastie Boys are among the many artists who commissioned tour posters. He was 61. “Frank was a man larger than himself, an icon in each genre he worked in,” a statement shared by Kozik’s wife, Sharon, reads. “He dramatically changed the industry he was a part of. He was a creative force of nature. We are so beyond lucky and honored to have been part of his journey, and he will be missed beyond what words could ever express. He loved his wife, his cats, classic muscle cars, mentoring others, and Disneyland. His forceful presence will be missed by all who knew him. His legacy, like all great masters, will live on through his art and our memories of him.” Kozik started doing posters while living in Austin in the early 1980s after getting attention from bands for his work as part of the mail art community. He gradually got work for corporate ad campaigns, participated in gallery shows, and ultimately started his label Man’s Ruin Records. Man’s Ruin released music by Kyuss, High on Fire, Melvins, and more. He was the creative director of Kidrobot, the limited-edition art toy company. He attributed the aesthetic of his most famous work to his “dark sense of humor” and growing up in punk rock. “I was part of the trash world,” Kozik said in 2018. “I was a no-education loser person, and was definitely into hedonistic experiences. While I have an appreciation of fine art and I understand it, I was going to punk rock shows, not college nor museums. All of the stuff that really turned my crank was that stuff, and it was all stuff that we could kind of reproduce in our own lives; we could get a shitty car and drive around real fast, and we could hang out with fun people and party… and a lot of that stuff is really visually arresting. It’s all power imagery, and it really gets basic impulses across: sex, drugs, violence, weird shit.” https://pitchfork.com/news/frank-kozik-artist-behind-queens-of-the-stone-age-and-melvins-album-covers-dies-at-61/ .

Frank Kozik, Artist Behind Queens of the Stone Age and Melvins Album Covers, Dies at 61 content media

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Dec 09, 2021

Bronski Beat founder Steve Bronski dies at 61

In World Outside The Window

Steve Bronski, co-founder and keyboard player in 1980s pop group Bronski Beat, has died at the age of 61. BBC Entertainment & Arts Bronski, from Glasgow, was born Steve Forrest and formed the group in 1983 with singer Jimmy Somerville and fellow-musician Larry Steinbachek. They enjoyed UK top 10 hits with the gay anthem Smalltown Boy, Why? and a cover of Donna Summer's I Feel Love. Somerville said: "Sad to hear Steve has died. He was a talented and a very melodic man." The singer added: "Working with him on songs and the one song that changed our lives and touched so many other lives, was a fun and exciting time." Bronski's friend Josephine Samuel told BBC News he was a "gentle, kind and talented man". The group began when Bronski and Steinbachek met Somerville through a documentary called Framed Youth - Revenge of the Teenage Perverts, which was made for an LGBTQ arts festival. Smalltown Boy, their debut single, was a synth-pop classic, and reached number three in the charts. It was particularly ground-breaking for many fans who related to its story of a young, gay man leaving his home town for the freedom of the big city. The hard-hitting video showed Somerville being chased by a homophobic gang, taken home by the police and thrown out by his parents, before getting on the train to start a new life with Bronski and Steinbachek. more .

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Dec 09, 2021

Sly & Robbie’s Robbie Shakespeare Dies at 68

In World Outside The Window

Hailed as one of the most influential bassists of all time, the Jamaican reggae musician also performed on songs by Bob Dylan, Grace Jones, and Mick Jagger by Nina Corcoran | Pitchfork December 8, 2021 Robbie Shakespeare, the influential Jamaican bassist best known as half of the rhythm duo Sly & Robbie, has died, according to Jamaica Observer and The Gleaner. Shakespeare reportedly died in a Florida hospital after undergoing kidney surgery. He was 68 years old. Born in 1953, Shakespeare grew up in East Kingston, Jamaica surrounded by a musical family who frequently invited fellow musicians over to rehearse. After learning how to play acoustic guitar as a kid, he switched to bass after convincing Aston “Family Man” Barrett, the legendary reggae bassist from the Upsetters, to teach him how to play. When Shakespeare got an opportunity to play in the Revolutionaries, the house band at Channel One Studio, he met drummer Sly Dunbar and the two hit it off. In the mid-1970s, they decided to form their own band, Sly & Robbie, and parted ways with Channel One to start their own production company called Taxi Records. The duo would go on to release countless records, beginning with Sly & Robbie Present Taxi in 1981 on through to Dubrising in 2014. Sly & Robbie also worked as studio musicians throughout their career. The duo played on classic reggae records like Culture’s Two Sevens Clash and Gregory Isaacs’ Cool Ruler, and began backing up high-profile artists like Grace Jones, Joe Cocker, Peter Tosh, and Serge Gainsbourg. As their popularity grew, Sly & Robbie were quickly playing alongside Mick Jagger, Carly Simon, Sting, Yoko Ono, and Jackson Browne. Bob Dylan tapped them to perform on Infidels, Empire Burlesque, and Down in the Groove. more .

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Oct 28, 2021

“Songs For Ghosts” anniversary

In William's World

Released on this day in 2017. .

“Songs For Ghosts” anniversary content media

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Sep 29, 2021

Lonnie Smith, Soulful Jazz Organist, Is Dead at 79

In World Outside The Window

By Peter Keepnews Sept. 29, 2021, 6:22 p.m. ET Lonnie Smith, a master of the Hammond B3 organ and a leading exponent of the infectiously rhythmic genre known as soul jazz, died on Tuesday at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 79. His manager and partner, Holly Case, said the cause was pulmonary fibrosis. Mr. Smith, who began billing himself as Dr. Lonnie Smith in the mid-1970s, could draw an audience’s attention with his appearance alone: He had a long white beard and always wore a colorful turban. (The turbans apparently had no specific religious significance, and he did not have an advanced degree in anything and never explained why he had adopted the honorific “Dr.”) His playing was every bit as striking. He began his career at a time when organists like Jimmy Smithand Jack McDuff were blending the sophistication of jazz with the earthy appeal of rhythm and blues. Mr. Smith was very much in that tradition, but his playing could also display an ethereal quality that was all his own. His music later reached new generations of fans when it was widely sampled by hip-hop artists. Reviewing a 2015 performance at the Jazz Standard in New York, Ben Ratliff of The New York Times praised Mr. Smith’s sense of dynamics. “When he is quiet, he is very quiet,” Mr. Ratliff wrote. “During a gospelish song with the singer Alicia Olatuja, he started a solo passage at a level that almost couldn’t be heard and stayed there for quite a while, unspooling jagged, alert phrases that you had to strain to listen to: an easy trick but a powerful one.” more .

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Sep 24, 2021

Hamill Humor

In World Outside The Window

Here are some “Star Wars” cards that Mark Hamill autographed. This is hilarious.

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Aug 22, 2021

Expensive vinyl albums.

In World Outside The Window

Hank Mobley – Lee Morgan – “Peckin’ Time” Sold for $1,643.00 Label: Blue Note Format: LP, Album, Mono Country: US Released: 1959 Genres: Jazz Styles: Hard Bop .

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Aug 14, 2021

“The Romance Of Sustain” anniversary.

In William's World

Today is the anniversary of this tremendous 2003 release. .

“The Romance Of Sustain” anniversary. content media

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Aug 12, 2021

Famous musician, keyboardist Mike Finnigan has died

In World Outside The Window

BY DENISE NEIL | The Wichita Eagle August 12, 2021 02:51 PM A famous musician Wichita claimed as its own has died, and he’s being mourned today not only by locals but by many well-known music stars across the country. Mike Finnigan, a famous keyboardist and session musician who was also a former KU basketball player and onetime Wichita resident, died Wednesday in Los Angeles, friends are reporting. Finnigan, who was 76, had been hospitalized and was fighting kidney cancer in recent weeks. Finnigan and the Phantom Blues Band had been scheduled to perform on Sept. 3 at Knuckleheads in Kansas City, Missouri. “There are great players and then there are people who are just touched,” said Drake Macy, a local musician whose father, Ed Macy Sr., was one of Finnigan’s early Wichita band mates. “Mike was definitely one of those. He just had an approach that no one else did. I’ve loved a lot of great singers in my day, but Mike Finnigan, in my opinion, is the best singer to this point who has ever walked the planet.” Read more here: https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/restaurants/dining-with-denise-neil/article253433664.html#storylink=cpy .

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Aug 09, 2021

Prog Magazine

In William's World

Seems Bill is getting a mention in the current issue of Prog Magazine: