News

Passings category

Radio KAOS’s Jim Ladd dies at 75

Posted December 18, 2023 by Floydian Slip

Jim LaddRadio personality Jim Ladd died Saturday at his home near Carmichael, CA. He was 75 and had suffered a heart attack.

The inspiration for Tom Petty‘s “The Last DJ,” Pink Floyd fans know Ladd for his appearance on Roger Waters‘s “Radio K.A.O.S.” album in 1987.

Ladd had been heard since 2011 on satellite radio Sirius XM, but his broadcasting roots went back to the heyday of FM radio with time logged at KMET and KLOS. He was also host of “Innerview,” a syndicated program that aired on more than 160 stations from 1974 to ’86.

 


Posted in Passings, Personnel, Roger Waters | Comments Off on Radio KAOS’s Jim Ladd dies at 75

Nick Mason collaborator Carla Bley dies at 87

Posted November 23, 2023 by Floydian Slip

Carla Bley conducts her band at the Pori Jazz Festival in Finland, July 1978Avant-garde composer Carla Bley, who wrote Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason‘s 1981 album “Fictitious Sports,” died Oct. 17. She was 87.

A prominent figure in the “free jazz” movement of the 1960s, the California-native released more than two dozen albums from 1966 to 2019.

She might best be known for her jazz opera “Escalator Over the Hill” (1973). Originally released on three LPs, it featured Jack Bruce of Cream and vocals by Linda Ronstadt. Melody Maker magazine named it Album of the Year.

Her collaboration with Mason easily could have been called “Carla Bley’s Fictitious Sports.” It was she who wrote all of the album’s numbers, played keyboards throughout and co-produced the effort with Mason. But as a member of the Floyd, Mason was guaranteed a hefty advance for any solo album, perhaps one reason his name graced the cover.

Bley was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2018. She succumbed to the illness at her home in Willow, N.Y., outside Woodstock. “Fictitious Sports” had been recorded at Bley’s Grog Kill Studio in that home’s basement in October ’79.

Photo: Carla Bley conducts her band at the Pori Jazz Festival in Finland, July 1978.


Posted in Nick Mason, Passings, Personnel | Comments Off on Nick Mason collaborator Carla Bley dies at 87

Pink Floyd animator Ian Emes dies

Posted July 28, 2023 by Floydian Slip

British artist and film maker Ian Emes, perhaps best known for his work with Pink Floyd, died last week at 73.

Emes created the animations that the band played during its performances of “Speak to Me,” “Time” and “On the Run” — all from “The Dark Side of the Moon” (1973). He also created a 55-minute film for the band’s “The Endless River” album in 2014; and a film to accompany “Nothing Part 14,” a 7-minute piece recorded by Floyd as part of the making of “Echoes” from “Meddle” (1971), and included in The Early Years: 1965–1972 (2016) boxset.

He also directed a film shown during Roger Waters‘s performance of “The Wall” in Berlin, Germany, in 1990.

Emes’s association with Floyd began in 1972 when keyboardist Rick Wright saw Emes’s animated short “French Windows” on the BBC’s “Old Grey Whistle Test” and contacted the artist. The piece was set to Floyd’s “One of These Days.”

“Pink Floyd called me!” Emes told The Birmingham Post in 2010. “They were my gods and they wanted to see me. I thought I had done something wrong initially. I thought they wanted to tell me off.”

On the contrary, the band commissioned Emes to create the “Dark Side” animations.

Emes also created a film for Linda McCartney‘s “The Oriental Nightfish,” recorded by Wings; a video for Duran Duran‘s 1982 track “The Chauffeur”; and did work for Mike Oldfield.


Posted in Passings | 1 comment

The Machine’s Joe Pascarell dies

Posted February 1, 2022 by Floydian Slip

Joe Pascarell, co-founder, guitarist and vocalist of Pink Floyd tribute band The Machine, has passed away. No age or cause of death was announced.

The band announced his death on social media last Tuesday:

“It is with the most broken of hearts that we announce the passing of our friend, bandmate, and brother, Joe Pascarell,” the post reads. “We’re eternally grateful for the lifetime of friendship and music we’ve shared on-stage and off, and we know he will be with us as The Machine continues on. Shine on, Joe.”

Pascarell founded what’s considered the oldest Floyd tribute group with drummer Tahrah Cohen more than 30 years ago. Among a relatively crowded field of groups devoted to playing the music of Pink Floyd, The Machine stands out as spinning an especially accurate representation.

“They duplicate the sound and hits of Pink Floyd with chilling accuracy,” wrote Matt Diehl of Rolling Stone. “(They) look nothing like Pink Floyd, but that doesn’t matter — they sound exactly like Pink Floyd, and that’s what counts,” Matthew Webber wrote in Spin.

The New York-based group has played venues throughout North America, and has toured as far away as Central America, Europe and Asia.

When the question is asked of us — as it often is by fans of the “Floydian Slip” radio show — who we think is the best Floyd tribute band, our answer for many years continues to be: The Machine.

The group is dedicating its Feb. 5 performance at Berkshire Theatre Group’s Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Mass., to Pascarell. They’ll be joined by Adam Minkoff.

Shine on, Joe.


Posted in Passings | 3 comments

David Gilmour engineer Kit Woolven dead at 71

Posted January 27, 2022 by Floydian Slip

Kit Woolven, who co-engineered David Gilmour‘s 1984 album “About Face,” died yesterday. He was 71.

Woolven was best known for his work with Thin Lizzy, including Lizzy-splinter projects from Phil Lynott and Wild Horses. He also did work with David Bowie, UFO, Tony Iommi and others.

He recorded “About Face” with Andy Jackson. That album was produced by Gilmour and Bob Ezrin.

Cause of death was not announced.


Posted in Andy Jackson, David Gilmour, Passings, Personnel | 1 comment

Photographer Mick Rock dead at 72

Posted November 19, 2021 by Floydian Slip

Syd Barrett photographer Mick Rock, the man who “The Man Who Shot the ’70s,” has died. He was 72.

A London native, Rock’s portfolio includes photos of David Bowie, Lou Reed, Queen, Joan Jett, Talking Heads, Sex Pistols, Blondie and many others.

Rock shot the cover photo for Pink Floyd co-founder Barrett’s “The Madcap Laughs” (1970). In 2001 he published the book “Psychedelic Renegades,” a 950-copy limited edition devoted to Barrett, who autographed 320 deluxe leather-bound copies.

(Photo: Nathalie Rock, 2010)


Posted in Passings, Personnel, Syd Barrett | 2 comments

David Gilmour black Strat retailer Henry Goldrich dead at 88

Posted March 7, 2021 by Floydian Slip

Henry Goldrich, the purveyor of Manny’s Music in Manhattan where David Gilmour bought his famed black Stratocaster in 1970, has died. He passed away Feb. 16 at his home in Boca Raton, Fla., at the age of 88.

Gilmour played the black Strat on many epic Floyd recordings for decades before selling it at auction in 2019 for $3.98 million. (He donated the proceeds to charity.)

Goldrich is also credited with introducing the wah-wah peddle to Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton.

Other artists he served included Pete Townshend, James Taylor, John Sebastian and Sting.

Manny’s closed in 2009 after 74 years of business.


Posted in David Gilmour, Passings, Personnel | 1 comment

Capitol/EMI’s Bhaskar Menon dead at 86

Posted March 7, 2021 by Floydian Slip

Bhaskar Menon, largely credited with making Pink Floyd a household name in the United States, died March 4 at his home in Beverly Hill, Calif. He was 86.

Menon, a native of Thiruvanthapuram, India, was founding chairman and CEO at EMI Music Worldwide, and served as president and CEO of Capitol Records in Los Angeles at the time Floyd released “The Dark Side of the Moon” in 1973.

“The story in America was a disaster, in that we really hadn’t sold records,” Floyd drummer Nick Mason says. “So they brought in a man called Bhaskar Menon who was absolutely terrific. He decided he was going to make this work, and make the American company sell (‘The Dark Side of the Moon’). And he did.”

Under Menon’s direction, “Dark Side” reached #1 on the Billboard chart and become one of the greatest selling albums of all time. In doing so he helped turn around Capitol’s finances, which were in shambles after the break-up of its biggest-selling act, The Beatles.

While helping steering “Dark Side” to success was perhaps his biggest achievement during the seven years he spent at Capitol, Menon also oversaw successful releases from other bands such as Wings, Steve Miller Band, Grand Funk Railroad, Linda Ronstadt, Helen Reddy and Natalie Cole.

Menon left Capitol in 1978 and the music business altogether in the early-’90s to found International Media Investments, an investment and consulting firm for media businesses.


Posted in Passings | 1 comment

“Wall” director Alan Parker dead at 76

Posted July 31, 2020 by Floydian Slip

Film director Alan Parker (center) died today after a lengthy illness. He was 76.

With more than two dozen films to his credit, Pink Floyd fans knew him best for directing 1982’s “Pink Floyd The Wall.”

Parker was nominated for Oscars twice — for “Midnight Express” (1978) and “Mississippi Burning” (1988) — and directed a number of musical films in addition to “The Wall,” including “The Commitments” (1991), “Evita” (1996) and “Fame” (1982).

“When I go to film festivals and they show my films, they always include ‘The Wall,’ and it’s always packed out,” he said in 2016. “So, it always appears wimpy to say I hated making it. I have mellowed a bit and say it was a ‘tortured but highly creative time’ – not to be repeated.”

Parker was one of an artistic trio that formed the film’s creative nucleus, which included animator Gerald Scarfe and Floyd’s Roger Waters.


Posted in Passings | Comments Off on “Wall” director Alan Parker dead at 76

Ennio Morricone dead at 91

Posted July 6, 2020 by Floydian Slip

Italian composer Ennio Morricone has died in Rome. He was 91.

He scored more than 500 film soundtracks, including a number of “spaghetti Westerns” for director Sergio Leone such as “A Fistful of Dollars” (1964), “For a Few Dollars More” (1965) and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966).

In 1999, Morricone composed music for “The Legend of 1900,” including “Lost Boys Calling.” Roger Waters provided lyrics for the song and recorded it with guitar work by Eddie Van Halen.

Waters’s recording is included on the film soundtrack, and a demo version appears on his 2002 collection “Flickering Flame: The Solo Years Volume 1.”

Morricone succumbed to complications following a fall and broken leg he suffered last week.


Posted in Passings, Personnel, Roger Waters | Comments Off on Ennio Morricone dead at 91