ACHOF BONUS NEWS CONTENT –
UPDATED September 2, 2020
By Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com
Just as I was hitting the “publish” button on my site – the one that sent my September 1 update out into the EtherWebs – several new alerts arrived that were timely enough that I thought it important to share them with you (as if I didn’t give you enough to read and ponder on Tuesday!). So, here ya go:
a) During its initial 15-year run as a print publication (based in NYC), Wax Poetics provided its readers a penetrating mix of long-form coverage of music industry/record collecting topics – with particular interest paid to the musicians and visual artists fueling the rise of hip-hop music into becoming the most-consumed genre in the record business. While the print pub mailed its last regular issue back in 2016 (although they’ve released several specialized issues since), demand for high-impact, high-quality music journalism hasn’t waned, and so a group of enterprising individuals based in Amsterdam and an editorial team that includes three of the publication’s founders has launched a project that aims to resurrect the print pub AND expand it online into something they’re calling “a membership-based music journalism platform for music fans that like to dig deeper.”
According to the information you’ll now find on the project’s Kickstarter site –https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/waxpoetics/wax-poetics? – the team behind Wax Poetics 2 will “continue to release two signature heavyweight print journals each year, while also launching our brand new digital members-only hub. More than just a website, this will be a multimedia playground taking you on a journey of music discovery across written, audio and video content.” With a pledge of around $77.00 (U.S.) – going up to approx. $84 after September 6th – supporters can become “Founder Members” and will receive a) Two signature Wax Poetics journals per year, delivered, including the limited-edition 20th Anniversary issue (dropping in 2021) and will have their names printed in the new Wax Poetics Volume 2, Issue 01; b) Access to the members-only site, which can be personalized to highlight the topics you’re most-interested in (weekly news, exclusive articles, podcasts, documentaries, deep dives into the WP archives and more); c) the Exclusive Founder Member benefit package, which includes a limited run exclusive founder member sticker pack and exclusive offers on back issues and merchandise (you’ll also get access to exclusive members-only offers from partners) and d) perhaps, most-intriguingly, Founder Members will have the opportunity to be the very first to join our Wax Poetics community, helping shape what the platform becomes. How cool is that?
They’re looking to raise a little over $107,000 by the end of day, September 30th, and so I do hope that you’ll go and throw your support behind their efforts to continue on in their good work on behalf of all record lovers around the world.
b) During this world-wide pandemic, people all over the world have worked hard to keep themselves busy with projects – learning a new language, baking bread, re-arranging the furniture in the rec room, etc. – so it’s no surprise to find an article like the one I found on the Geek Mom site – https://geekmom.com/2020/08/be-the-artist-art-of-the-album-cover/ – that, after an introduction on the topic of album cover art, offers readers help and instruction on how to create their own record covers. And rather than just send us out without some creative direction, the authors ask that we work to create the cover images for the records – in both 12” LP and 7” single formats – that would be the soundtracks to our favorite books. Samples shown include LP covers for the Wings of Fire books that serves both as an homage to one of the book’s dragons named Tsunami and a parody of the classic Pink Floyd DSOM prizm and for The Collected Works of Edgar Allen Poe, including a single for the hit track “The Raven”. Adorable, right?
My only concern is what to do if your favorite book is Morgan & Wardle’s The Art of the LP?
c) I nearly forgot to remind you all that, now through September 9th on the Julien’s auction site, you have the opportunity to both bid on some exclusive and rare music memorabilia while at the same time send funds into the coffers of the MusiCares organization, a four-star charity established by the Recording Academy “to safeguard the health and well-being of all music people” and one that I’ve supported for 20 years (they’re really good people and do great work).
When you click on over to the “MusiCares Charity Relief Auction” site – https://www.julienslive.com/m/view-auctions/catalog/id/354 – you’ll find items (many autographed) from a number of your favorite musical acts and other celebrities, including (but not limited to) Barbra Streisand, the Bee Gees, Bill Wyman, Billie Eilish, Blake Shelton, Bono, Brad Whitford, Carlos Santana, Carole King, Cher, Chrissie Hynde, Clint Black, Coldplay, Darius Rucker, Depeche Mode, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Gene Simmons, Hans Zimmer, Harry Styles, Joan Jett, Keith Urban, Luke Combs, Nicole Kidman, Ozzy Osbourne, Patti Smith, Peyton Manning, Rascal Flatts, Ringo Starr, Robert Plant, Ronnie Wood, Shawn Mendes, Taylor Swift, Sir Tom Jones, Tom Petty, Tom Waits, Tony Iommi and Willie Nelson. Stage-worn clothing, box sets, musical instruments, photographs, posters, jewelry and a lot more (nearly 70 items). I’ve got my eyes on a beautiful photo print of the Grand Ole Opry building by photographer Jim McGuire (starting bid, $150) – wish me luck – but, in the meantime, why not take a look yourselves and support both your own collections and the needs of musicians, many of whom continue to suffer while the live music business remains shut down due to COVID-19…
d) Those of you with long memories (this reference goes back nearly one full year – that’s COVID + 6 for those of us following the new “official” world calendar) will recall the interview article/collection overview I did with super-collector Dr. Richard Forrest, whose in-depth knowledge and dedication to record cover imagery continues to impress and inspire pretenders like myself. I’m honored to admit that Richard is a regular visitor to the ACHOF site (and a reader of my news feed) and so, after he’d read my most-recent summary which included an item about Sgt. Pepper’s co-designer Jann Haworth’s collage now on display in Salt Lake City, he sent along some information and photos of another of Ms. Haworth’s album cover-related projects that I knew I’d want to share with you and so now, with his permission, I have. Here’s the text of what he thought we should all know and appreciate:
“Dear Mike – Thank you for the ACHoF September update with the description of Jann Haworth’s Salt Lake City mural. I feel very strongly that Peter Blake has all but erased Jann’s contibution to the creation of the Sgt. Pepper cover and feel a need to rectify this.
When, in 2009, I curated an exhibition of Peter Blake’s record cover art, I felt that Jann had been hard done by in seldom (if ever at that particular time) being recognized as the cover’s co-designer, I contacted her for her views on this and we started a correspondence. I recently asked her if she had designed any other record covers in the fifty-odd years since the Pepper album, and I received this picture of a record cover made in 2017 as homage to her friend Joe Ephgrave (who, as you know, painted the Sgt. Pepper drum and then promptly disappeared). Joe had designed the tiger motif that Jann transferred to Wellpappe corrugated board and her son made the record label.
Apparently she made two copies, one in a museum and one in private hands. I realized I wouldn’t be able to buy, borrow or steal one of the only two copies in existence, so, true to my normal ethos (and with Jann’s permission), decided to make a reproduction which, I was really thrilled to find, Jann was impressed with (see pictures, below)!
Richard’s reproduction – Photo courtesy of Dr. Richard Forrest
Jann’s original – Photo courtesy of Dr. Richard Forrest
Stay safe and well and keep up the good work!
Best regards, Richard”
(Editor’s Note – if you’d like to revisit my article on Dr. Forrest and his impressive album art collection, here’s the link – https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2019/08/02/achof-featured-fan-portfolio-a-tour-through-collector-richard-forrests-favorite-album-covers/)
Until next time – Mike G
Unless otherwise noted, all text and images included in this article are Copyright 2020 Mike Goldstein and AlbumCoverHallofFame.com – All Rights Reserved. All of trade names mentioned in these summaries are the properties of their respective owners and are used for reference only.
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