ACHOF – Other Interviews (authors, film-makers, curators, etc.)
Juan Betancourt – When we look at your favorite album covers, we realize that they’re static images, capturing just one moment in time, but haven’t you ever wanted to see what’s just out of frame, or what happened right before (or what’s next)? Talented animator/album art fan Juan Betancourt does all the time and, back in 2014, I asked him to share more about this topic and his portfolio of animated album covers https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/interview-with-juan-betancourt-animated-album-covers/
Roddy Bogawa – Motivated by a desire to learn more about the man who’d created so many of the images that he’d seen over the course of his life as a dedicated music fan – without realizing that they’d all been done by one designer – film-maker Roddy Bogawa took advantage of a connection through a colleague to pitch the idea to Hipgnosis partner/art director Storm Thorgerson about working together on a film (2011’s Taken By Storm) that would give viewers both a career retrospective and some insight into an artist’s creativity and the hands-on/real-world development and production processes behind his instantly-recognized work product. We covered a LOT of ground, and so the interview’s in two parts
Part 1 – Topics covered include Storm’s work for Pink Floyd (Animals, Dark Side of the Moon); Black Sabbath (Never Say Die) and The Cranberries (Wake Up and Smell The Coffee) https://rockpopgallery.typepad.com/rockpop_gallery_news/2011/06/index.html
Part 2 – A bit more on Pink Floyd (A Momentary Lapse of Reason); Peter Gabriel (Peter Gabriel’s first album) and Audioslave (Audioslave), plus general discussion topics https://rockpopgallery.typepad.com/rockpop_gallery_news/2011/07/index.html
Matthew Chojnacki – When it was released in September, 2011, author Matthew Chojnacki’s Put the Needle on the Record was the immediate recipient of much critical praise, ending up on many a “Best Of” list of 2011’s most-important books about music, art and Pop Culture. The book contains info on hundreds of record sleeves from the 1980s, and interviews with a wide range of people involved in the creation of these works https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/interview-with-author-matthew-chojnacki-about-his-book-put-the-needle-on-the-record/
Paul Ford – My coverage of a 2016 art show on the U.K.’s Isle of Man featuring the works of noted artist Roger Dean included details of a set of postage stamps that the island was producing based on Dean’s fantastic artwork. Tracking down the person responsible for these stamps – Paul Ford, the Stamps and Coins Coordinator – I talked to him about the images included in the collection (called Islands & Bridges and including works for Blind Owl, YES and Uriah Heep) and what it was like to collaborate with this renowned talent https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2017/02/14/interview-with-isle-of-man-pos-paul-ford-on-the-islands-and-bridges-stamp-set-by-roger-dean/
Mike Goldstein – in addition to my regular duties writing and editing for the ACHOF site, there have been several times that I’ve felt the need to spout off on a few topics, such as the two articles I wrote in 2010 about a) some of the things I didn’t realize about a fantastic rock and roll photo show (and accompanying book) I’d attended – “Who Shot Rock & Roll – I Didn’t Know That!…” https://rockpopgallery.typepad.com/rockpop_gallery_news/2010/02/index.html
and b) a dive into the many Album Cover Art Books that live on an over-stuffed book shelf above my desk https://rockpopgallery.typepad.com/rockpop_gallery_news/2010/07/index.html
Adnan Lotia – After reading about this designer/educator’s hobby – analyzing famous album cover images and then re-creating them with LEGOS (yes, you read that correctly) – and the fascination the media had with his work, I reached out to him to find out more about what started him down this path, what he’s accomplished thus far and what his take was on album cover designs of the past and present. A great look into a truly creative and inspired mind (2022) –
ACHOF Interview with Adnan Lotia about his LEGO-ized album cover art project
Emilie Sandy – Using her professional relationships with photographers including Anton Corbijn, Chris Gabrin, Gered Mankowitz, Terry O’Neill and others, U.K.-based photographer Emilie Sandy collaborated with these talented people several years back to have them re-create (to the best of their ability) and/or re-interpret some of their best-known album covers. The resulting series of images was called “Deja Vu” and I interviewed Emily about her project in early 2015. Featured artists included The Beatles (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Revolver); Elvis Costello (This Year’s Model); Maryanne Faithful (Come My Way) and Miles Davis (Tutu), among others https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2015/03/06/interview-with-emilie-sandy-deja-vu-album-artist-portrait-series/
Conrad Swartz – In 2014, I received an email from a nice man who, in addition to being a professor of psychiatry at the famed Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland, OR, was also a working musician and an art collector who used (with permission) paintings from his own art collection on the covers of his band’s CDs, so I wanted to share the details of what it is like for not-quite-major-label musical acts to find just the right artwork for their own music packaging https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2014/04/03/featured-album-cover-fan-collection-conrad-swartz-the-insanitizers/
Album Cover Hall of Fame.com 