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Unapologetically flamboyant, he shaped the look of David Bowie’s alter ego and also worked with Elton John and Stevie Wonder. by Vanessa Friedman & Elizabeth Paton | New York Times July 27, 2020 Kansai Yamamoto, the unapologetically flamboyant fashion designer whose love of color, unfettered imagination and exploration of genderless dressing caught the eye of David Bowie and helped define the look of his alter ego, Ziggy Stardust, died in a Tokyo hospital on July 21 . He was 76. The cause was leukemia, a statement on his office websiteconfirmed. Kansai, as Mr. Yamamoto was generally known, was not as well-known as some of his more high-profile Japanese fashion contemporaries, including Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons. But it was Kansai who led the way for a generation of Japanese design talents to make their mark on the Western industry. In 1971, he was among the first Japanese designers to show in London — a full decade before Ms. Kawakubo and the other Mr. Yamamoto. His signature aesthetic of sculptural shapes, clashing textures and prints, and eye-popping color combinations attracted industry attention. Kansai’s debut collection was splashed across the cover of Harpers & Queen magazine with the tagline “Explosion from Tokyo,” and his growing profile led to collaborations with the decade’s most important musician showmen, including Elton John and Stevie Wonder in addition to Mr. Bowie, with whom he formed a longstanding creative relationship. “Color is like the oxygen we are both breathing in the same space,” Kansai once said of his work with Mr. Bowie, who died in 2016. more .

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The British artist’s portfolio includes 4AD’s most beloved covers: This Mortal Coil, Scott Walker, TV on the Radio, many more by Jazz Monroe | Pitchfork Vaughan Oliver, the graphic designer whose artwork was synonymous with 4AD and its corner of alternative rock, died peacefully with his family this afternoon (December 29) at the age of 62. Representatives for 4AD and the publisher Unit Editions confirmed the news to Pitchfork. After studying in Newcastle, Oliver moved to London in the 1970s to work in packaging design. But he yearned to apply his visual eye to music, later asserting that, during his small-town upbringing, “the local record shop was an art gallery for me.” After a chance meeting with 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell, Oliver became the label’s lone full-time employee in 1983. His distinctive album covers, sometimes abrasive or experimental, others darkly alluring, adorned nearly every record on the label until 1987, through his work with photographer Nigel Grierson as 23 Envelope. Oliver received full creative freedom and worked closely with band members, notably Pixies’ Black Francis. “There are so many images in Pixies songs it was a dream,” he told Design Week of the partnership in 2016. “I never had to take anything literally—other than Monkey Gone to Heaven—and even that song’s about something completely different; a hole in the ozone layer.” His signature output includes beloved covers for the Cocteau Twins, the Breeders, This Mortal Coil, Lush, and many more. After retiring 23 Envelope, Oliver operated under the studio name v23, designing for 4AD as well as elsewhere, including work with David Sylvian on albums like Secrets of the Beehive. Despite his broadening client base—he directed several music videos, and TV ads for Microsoft and Sony—Oliver remained on call for 4AD artists like Pixies (after their reformation), TV on the Radio (Return to Cookie Mountain), and Scott Walker (The Drift). He has exhibited work across Europe, in Tokyo and L.A., and at the V&A’s 20th Century gallery, where his work is part of the permanent collection. Unit Editions published Archive, a collection of Oliver’s work, in 2018; a selection can be found at v23’s Cargo Collective page. .

A lamp lighter, Finsbury Park, London , 1935, Topical Press Agency

In Bath recently & went for a guided tour around (by a past Master ) of the Old Theatre Royal https://oldtheatreroyal.com/museum/guided-tours/ It's like being on a film set ... kinda weird. There's also a complete museum down in the crypt. BTW, the Masons have a bit of a downer on the Rosicrusians, "heretics" apparently...

Well, stumbling around Youtube and chanced across this - I don't think it's been posted before (???). Some great shots of the interior of the Cocteau Chappelle St Pierre @ Villefranche-sur-mer can't speak for the commentary or other content ...

I've been doing a fair bit of reading on my Kindle during the lockdown, including a book by Guy Pratt and ones about Brian Eno and Chris Spedding. In the Spedding book Johnny Marr states that pre-punk Bill, Peter Townshend, Paul Kossof, Mick Ronson and Rory Gallagher were the players that he and his mates admired at the time.

Can anyone help? I used to watch in the very early 80s a BBC Music program entitled Oxford Road. If I remember correctly, Bill made an appearance on one episode? Can anyone confirm this? Somehow I have the audio to one of the programs; (if it is Oxford Road) and there is an amazing track on it by a band named Epsilon. It is entitled ‘What She Says Goes’; (I think). I have managed to get the track on to my computer and it now forms part of a brilliant mix-tape I’ve created. I have tried researching the band but have discovered nothing. Does anyone have any information about them?