Stephen Sondheim - d. November 26th 2021

They dim the lights

as you make your exit

with your usual flair,

note-perfect, 

sure of your lines,

the sum of all song.

Read about Stephen Sondheim here

 

Mick Rock - d. November 18th 2021

The past is a fast-blurring photo,

a radio slowly drifting off-station.

My shelves heave with long-

players, your covers a peepshow,

your images rock's bright blazon,

bending white light around song.

Read about Mick Rock here

Wilbur Smith - d. November 13th 2021

My father quartered the veldt

at your side, shot at big game, 

missed, dug for diamonds, 

found none, searched for 

the place where the lion feeds, 

lived the hard fiction of real men.

Read about Wilbur Smith here

Gerald Sinstadt - d. November 10th 2021

Resist cliché. Find ways 

to say what we see 

but don’t see:

the art in technique, 

the beauty in graft, 

the game as theatre, 

the sport as life.

Read about Gerald Sinstadt here

Clifford Rose - d. November 6th 2021

We knew it was only an act, 

but oh how you breathed life 

into death, banality into evil,

smiling that unsmile, a study 

in terrible duty, quiet horror.

Read about Clifford Rose here

Andrew Barker - d. November 6th 2021

We follow 

your state ritual: 

kick drum boom,

low-pass filter,

white noise snare,

hi-hat skitter, claves,

squelch, handclaps,

and the joy of acid.

Read about 808 State here

Lionel Blair - d. November 4th 2021

Still on air, your slight figure,

all alone on the darkened stage,

soft-shoeing it through the taps,

drops and brushes of a routine

begun as a child, so quietly 

thrilling from overture to finale

that you could not bear to finish.

Read about Lionel Blair here