Luke Rhinehart - d. November 6th 2020

One says ticket to oblivion
Two says dark ignominy
Three's merely a someone
Four is the fate of memory
Five's a critic's absolution
Six says you live in eternity

Read about Luke Rhinehart here

Diego Maradona - d. November 25th 2020

This is to mark 

the empty space

you swaggered through,

grass rippling in your wake, 

a squat, lengthening shadow,

half angel, half devil,

hands and feet of a God

Read about Diego Maradona here

Des O'Connor - d. November 14th 2020

To entertain is to pretend,
not once, but every night,
to be at one with the air,
to hold the note to the end,
leaving a smile like moonlight
shining on an empty chair. 

Read about Des O'Connor here

Geoffrey Palmer - d. November 6th 2020

Bit of a cock-up
on the being alive front.
I blame the Trotskyists,
Maoists, Guardian readers.
Bleeding hearts. The NHS.  
Bloody foreign surgeons.
Bloodsuckers all.
Bloody disgrace.

Read about Geoffrey Palmer here

John Sessions - d. November 2nd 2020

We leave little behind

as singular as the heavy

tread of our voice. Find

another voice, find many: 

a chorus of ghosts, sign 

of a craft extraordinary.

Read about John Sessions here

Sean Connery - d. October 31st 2020

Kiss. Shrug off the danger.

Kiss. PPK under the pillow.

Bang. A spectre does not knock.

Bang. Licence revoked.

Read about Sean Connery here

Nobby Stiles - d. October 30th 2020

Spit out that song
for the spoilers, short 
on skill, wit, physique,
whose call is to compete, 
to urge, when all is lost. 
Swing that rattle
for the tiny, toothless,
dancing destroyers.

Read about Nobby Stiles here

Bobby Ball - d. October 28th 2020

I seen yer through fug

o Workingmens' smoke,

ole in tha kecks, Medlock 

in tha veins, muck or nettles,

proper monkified, an ah sez

eeyafflaff, dunt yer?

Read about Bobby Ball here

Frank Bough - d. October 21st 2020

Quiet on the studio floor, coming 

to you in five, Frank - ready? 

Up to Eddie Waring in Oldham, 

in the cold of the Watersheddings

where both hookers are called Bert

and the lines are just fresh paint.

Read about Frank Bough here

James Randi - d. October 20th 2020

I won’t believe he’s really dead. Take

his pulse. Is he holding his breath? Fake.

A trick. Misdirection or suggestion. Wake

him up because I have questions. I’ll make

him talk. Look, he’s laughing, for God’s sake.

Read about James Randi here

Herbert Kretzmer - d. October 14th 2020

Despite the chill
that autumn brings
and those bitter tears,
heavy on my tongue,
I smile for you, when
I hear the people sing
your songs of yesterday,
when you were young.

Read about Herbert Kretzmer here

Bunny 'Striker' Lee - d. October 7th 2020

Drum roll for the keeper
of the keys to the kingdom
of bass, that treasured isle.
Flying the flag of low-freq,
deep symbol of eternal echo,
striker of the sharpest snare,
now and forever be.

In Dub
Drum roll
           keys
    bass
Flying
          cymbal                echo
                                     snare
                    rever b

Read about Bunny Lee here

Johnny Nash - d. October 6th 2020

How does your voice
stir up the sunshine?
Why does your song
pour sugar on me?
The more I find out
the less I know.

Read about Johnny Nash here

Eddie Van Halen - d. October 6th 2020

The earth shakes,
an eruption of magma,
power chords.
A figure stands alone
on molten rock,
fretboard aflame:
Frankenstrat's Monster.

Read about Eddie Van Halen here

Helen Reddy - d. September 29th 2020

The DJ spins a manifesto,

too impassioned to ignore,

how strong begets strong,

invincible, and more.

Tell the radio goodnight,

but not before you roar.

Read about Helen Reddy here

Mac Davis - September 29th 2020

A crowd gathers round

a smart young man,

a singular pen among

the drunks and cheaters,

an unlikely conscience.

And his mama cries.

Read about Mac Davis here

Juliette Grèco - d. September 23rd 2020

Ta voix est une boucle de fumée,

une page avec un million de poèmes,

toute délicatesse, souplesse, doigteé,

la chanson qui brûle,

et le fera toujours.

Your voice is a wisp of smoke,
a page with a million poems, 
all delicacy, suppleness, skill,
the song that burns, 
and always will.

Read about Juliette Gréco here

Michael Lonsdale - d. September 21st 2020

Death is the unloved season:

it is the draught that blows 

through the unholy labyrinth, 

the tyranny of empty space,

the harm that comes to all.

Read about Michael Lonsdale here

 

Shere Hite - d. September 9th 2020

Light flares, skin hums,
and the universe centres
on this place, this now.
You wrote freedom anew,
independence, adventure,
opened up the life to come.

Read about Shere Hite here

Frederick 'Toots' Hibbert - d.11th September 2020

When I do the reggay
I do the right thing -
righteous rocksteady,
gospel style, pyramid
label, forty-five. That's
always been my number.

Read about Toots Hibbert here