RIP Lt. Col. (Ret.) Richard Glenn Rutan.
Pilot who flew around the world, nonstop and unrefueled, in nine days, three minutes and 44 seconds in an aircraft called ‘Voyager,’ designed by his younger brother, legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan.
Legend.
British actor Bernard Hill, best known for his supporting roles in “Titanic” and “The Lord Of The Rings” trilogy, died on Sunday aged 79, his agent announced.
I remember him best from his superlative portrayal of Yosser Hughes in that classic early 80s British series “Boys From The Blackstuff”.
Sgt. Frank Gilroy has hung up his badge
RIP…
Last time I saw him he was parodying his A Country Practice character and doing late-night ads for erectile dysfunction treatments.
The internet never forgets
Has my all time favourite lines/speech in a movie. And the scene in general is probably a top 5er.
Ignatius Jones, he of Jimmy & The Boys fame.
Jimmy & The Boys pre-dated the pisspoor shock-rock acts like Machine Gun Fellati0 (and any number of the modern tryhards) by many years, and were every bit as outrageous as bands like The Tubes and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Released pretty decent (albeit extremely camp) covers of “I’m Not Like Everybody Else” and “They Won’t Let My Girlfriend Talk To Me”.
Of course, Molly loved them and duly got them on Countdown. The extreme campness of their act (albeit airbrushed for TV) was totally lost on the 10-11 year-old me watching at the time, but is completely obvious when you see footage these days… I mean, they had a full-blown transvestite on keys…
He had the dubious honour of signing a six-album solo deal with Festival post-J&TB and failing to deliver even one album (only one single, written by Steve Kilbey, was ever released).
I believe he became the director of the Sydney NY’s Eve festivities and was involved in the Sydney Olympics opening/closing ceremonies.
Having seen Jimmy And The Boys play live at Bombay Rock c. 1979/80, I can confirm that they were indeed outrageously over the top, unlike any other act and fascinatingly entertaining.
And now Steve Albini, gone at 61.
RIP.
Oh man, this guy produced (or “engineered” as he preferred) so many great records…
As much as I liked his production sound, I really admired his anti-establishment attitude and his ethics towards music production. He insisted on being paid as a hired hand and refused to take royalties. He had his own recording studio, but ran it himself, even answered the phone himself.
Reckon his quote from Kim Deal sums up his uncomplicated approach to recording…
“Some producers really become a fifth member of the band, and they really, like, agonize over every decision. But what we had was… we’d go, ‘Do you like this guitar sound, or this guitar sound?’ And he’d go, ‘I don’t give a ■■■■. It’s not my band! Do whatever the ■■■■ you wanna do. Just tell me when you’re ready and I’ll put the mikes on.’”
And I find it quite fascinating that he was able to make enough money from playing poker professionally that it enabled him to charge artists next-to-nothing for his services across his whole career.
For a song and its production that basically laid the sonic platform for an entire genre. it’s hard to go past…
I hear he liked the sax.
Oh no, not Albini. Feels way too soon. Brilliant engineer, great bands, always great to read or to hear talk.
Game of Thrones Star?
I had to check and see what role he played.
Had to do the same.
RIP Eric “ET” Thorngren…
Two great recording engineers gone within 24 hours.
His name might not mean much to many but, if you grew up in the 80’s you’d find his name on many a record, particularly on those 12" extended mixes which were so prevalent back then. Those were his bread n’ butter, but he also moved into production and worked with artists such as Talking Heads, Robert Palmer, Debbie Harry and Squeeze.
One of his best known works (engineered and mixed by)…
Not even knowing who he was until now I can see the connection/influence/similarties between some artists you mentioned, now to go check which albums he worked on for each artist.
