Gina Lollobrigida - d. January 16th 2023

In the city of film
you are always
in the frame,
everywhere,
and all the time.
beautiful, dangerous,
larger than life,
larger than death.

Nella città del cinema
sei sempre
nella cornice,
ovunque,
e tutto il tempo.
bella, pericolosa,
più grande della vita,
più grande della morte.

Read about Gina Lollobrigida here

Yukihiro Takahashi - d. January 11th 2023

Here’s to the solid-state survivor,
both drummer, machine, and neither,
a metronomic hand across cultures,
beating out patterns of the future. 

Read about Yukihiro Takahashi here

Lisa Marie Presley - d. January 12th 2023

What lives are lived in twilight,
in the shadows cast by Gods?
Some will blink themselves
into light of their own; others
only serenade the lost, trying
in vain to duet with the dark.

Read about Lisa Marie Presley here

Jeff Beck - d. January 10th 2023

I heard you through distortion,
the fractured fuzz and buzz
of an overdriven Fender on the
verge of a nervous breakdown.
Once you were everywhere, baby,
but nowhere is where you’re at.

Read about Jeff Beck here

Stephen Greif - d. December 23rd 2022

Summon the mutoids
to bear his shadow,
black-cauled in leather
to a place beyond law
and its disfiguring power.
Launch the Pursuit Ships;
Speed: Time Distort Ten.

Read about Stephen Greif here

Fay Weldon - d. January 4th 2023

The she-writer turns a page,
sets the pen to work. Rage
becomes ambition, resolute
and daring, a devil in a suit
of parables. Men, be afraid;
your world is quickly unmade.

Read about Fay Weldon here

Alan Rankine - d. January 3rd 2023

strangenessandglamourspectacular
musicinnonsensevernacular
chaosandmelodysingular
nothinginsomethingparticular

Read about Alan Rankine here

Kelly Monteith - d. January 2nd 2023

Take me to gentle tributaries

of laughter, where exotic creatures

bask in their obscurity, species

that shouldn't work but do, creators

of commonplace absurdities

and jokes long lost to fleeting nature.

Read about Kelly Monteith here

Vivienne Westwood - d. December 29th 2022

Take this taffeta
and tear it, blitz

the chintz, sex it up

until it sells itself.

Stick a safety pin

in the critic's eye. 

Down with fashion,

here's to fuck off.

Read about Vivienne Westwood here

Pelé - d. December 29th 2022

If you would see beauty,

give him the ball and

a yard of grass; let him

conjure space from air, 

turn a game into a ballet,

here, now, and for all time.

Read about Pelé here

John Bird - d. December 24th 2022

I'm talking to Sir George Parr,

Junior Minister for Satirical Affairs.

Sir George, would you say satire

is safe in your hands? Yes, its future
is safe with us; today's parody

will, after all, be tomorrow's policy.

Read about John Bird here

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