Father Abraham - d. November 8th 2022

Where are you all going to?

Off to write more songs for you.

What’s the point of all these songs?

Simple tunes are never wrong.

When will we hear you again?

Sadly I do not know when. 

Why does your death make me sad?

You remembered me. I’m glad.

Read about Pierre Kartner (‘Father Abraham’) here

Maxi Jazz - d. December 24th 2022

God has drawn up his sad setlist:

you are on it, toasting epic poems

until the breakdown of all things.

Better get some sleep, get ready for 

the long dark all-nighter of the soul.

Read about Maxi Jazz here

Thom Bell - d. December 22nd 2022

Consider this mind blown,

strung out by strings, buried

under layers of silken brass. 

 

Consider this heart stopped,

this soul soothed by a look,

these ears yours at one listen.

Read about Thom Bell here

Mike Hodges - d. December 17th 2022

Let me go north again to seedy towns, 

dark as anthracite, where casinos throb 

and men circle like hawks. My life is a

tracking shot in saturated colour; for you

it’s a full-time job. Now, behave yourself.

Read about Mike Hodges here

Terry Hall - d. December 19th 2022

How I wanted to be you, tonic suit 

and sad eyes, playing Jerry's songs, 

blank expressions of a hollow world. 

The town has changed; you wouldn't

know it these days, not now that 

your band don't play no more.

Read about Terry Hall here

Angelo Badalamenti - d. December 11th 2022

I hear the strangest music;

out-of-focus, out-of-frame,

the score for a world slowed

down, spaces sounding louder

than notes, broken instruments

played by a band of bad angels.

Read about Angelo Badalamenti here

Chris Boucher - d. December 11th 2022

I heard the rumours of death,
thought I saw a corpse-marker
on his cold body: a writer killed
by his own imagination, his final
script all pyrotechnics and betrayal
...and yet, I never saw him die.

Read about Chris Boucher here

Herbert Deutsch - d. December 9th 2022

VCO to LFO to Pulse Width 

to Frequency to Resonance

to Modulation to Cutoff

to Square Wave to Sine Wave

to Synthesis to Synapse to Song

to Sensation; this is the great 

Patch Sequence of the world.

Read about Herbert Deutsch here

Ruth Madoc - d. December 9th 2022

We assemble all in yellow,

to mourn and play bingo.

We go down on our knees,

knobbly as they are. Tears

drip like 50’s drizzle; the toll

is three notes on a xylophone.

Read about Ruth Madoc here

Jet Black - d. December 6th 2022

A grizzled hulk haunts the riser,

picks up a pair of sharpened sticks,

pounds his kit till it is only splinters 

and spittle. The rhythm of anger  

is not reserved for youth, and besides,

we are already too old to die young.

Read about Jet Black here

Kirstie Alley - d. December 5th 2022

Life is a Kobayashi Maru test:

a no-win scenario, with oblivion

the only endgame. Smart people

re-programme their world, face 

death, rescue themselves from

obscurity, the great Neutral Zone.

Read about Kirstie Alley here