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

Diana Rigg - d. September 10th 2020

How I craved a Queen of Sin,
catsuited and a snug gun 
down the boot. A hidden
tiger, an impossible girl
to find, even if you had all
the time in the world.

Read about Diana Rigg here

Ronald Bell - d. September 9th 2020

When I awoke
you had received your calling,
a column of dry ice,
mirrorball still spinning.
Good times, always,
a life to celebrate. Come on!

Read about Ronald Bell here

David Bryant - d. August 27th 2020

This is the final end:
feel the perfect line 
from hand to jack, weigh 
the bias of the world
in your soft palm,
draw to a hair's breadth,
then ascend in a haze
of grit and tobacco.

Read about David Bryant here

Chadwick Boseman - d. August 28th 2020

Run forever, hero,
hand in hand with Bast
and Sekhmet, across
the endless veld,
where beautiful men
drop to one knee, bow,
and are held up to the sky.

Read about Chadwick Boseman here

Julian Bream - d. August 14th 2020

Come heavy sleep
and still the strings,
the squeak of frets,
the brush of fingertips,
the memory of timbre:
all else is resonance.

Read about Julian Bream here

Ben Cross - d. August 18th 2020

The screen life affords
just ten lonely seconds
to justify your existence,
to take arrows of desire,
speed, passion, elegance,
and secure them in time. 

Read about Ben Cross here

Wayne Fontana - d. August 6th 2020

After the game concludes

come the impossible years,

the impossible decades,

6-minute slots to deaf ears,

where groovy turns to gravy,

and yet, and yet, you were here.

Read about Wayne Fontana here

C P Lee - d. July 25th 2020

I learned to write this gibberish

in your mindless classroom - 

you, fluent in every language 

(except the serious ones), all

in sub-dialects of Mancunian,

words and music made bonkers,

blown like snuff into the world.

Read about C P Lee here

Alan Parker - d. July 31st 2020

Before the main feature

we sit in our own darkness,

waiting for someone to take us

where the dreamers go: versions

of hell, of history, of childhood,

the places, true and untrue,

beyond the cinema doors.

Read about Alan Parker here

'Rollerball' Mark Rocco - d. July 30th 2020

There is a chapter

in the Grapple Manual

dedicated to brawlers

and pocket battleships.

Its pages are red and blue, 

studded with white stars,

explosions of energy,

character, showmanship.

Read about Mark Rocco here