ACHOF Interview with 2024 Grammy Award winners Jeri & John Heiden of SMOG Design

ACHOF’s Mike Goldstein’s interview with SMOG Design’s Jeri and John Heiden on their 2024 Grammy Award-winning (for “Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package”) work for For The Birds: The Birdsong Project.

Posted March 28, 2024 by Mike Goldstein

This past year, as the result of the labor unrest and strikes that took place in various parts of the entertainment industry, award shows of all stripes have been eager to stress the importance of those who work behind the scenes in various roles in production and promotion. A recent example was during the 2024 Academy Awards show here in the U.S., during which the host brought out to the stage a large entourage of people from that event’s production crew so that they could take a bow in front of the luminaries who the show usually focuses its attention on. It was heartwarming to see the show of solidarity by most of the audience who seemed to understand the importance and significance of those who are credited but typically unseen, and it reminded me that, each year around this time, I venture to bring you an interview or two with some of those who are honored by industry organizations for their superlative productions in the area of packaging and promotion. While the award presentations for these honorees will probably not ever be included in a televised event (as they’re usually given out in pre-show ceremonies), I’ve been covering this business long enough to know that some people’s work over the years deserves special attention, and I’m proud to be able to do this in some (very) small way.

The subjects of this ACHOF interview are two people – partners Jeri and John Heiden of SMOG Design – who, for the first time in the many years since Jeri’s first Grammy Award nomination in 1986 (earning five more through 2024), were finally given the top award in their category – and their first as a duo – at the latest ceremonies this past February.

ACHOF Breaking News Update – Here Are The Winners Of The 66th Annual Grammy Awards In Packaging

Posted February 5^th, 2024 by Mike Goldstein

Unfortunately, I was airborne and couldn’t post this news in real time, but I still want to share the news that the Grammy Award Winners in the Packaging Categories were announced this past Sunday afternoon during the web-cast “66th Annual Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony” – with the ceremonies taking  place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, and I’m now pleased bring you the names of both the nominees and the winners in each of the three categories:

ACHOF Breaking News Update – Here are the winners of the Clio Music Awards in the Design/Packaging categories

Posted January 16, 2024 by Mike Goldstein

One of the most highly-anticipated music packaging-related awards competitions – the Clio Music Awards – is presented each year by an organization that knows a thing or two about who is doing great work in the world of promotion and packaging, that being the Clio Awards organization. Founded in 1959 to celebrate creative excellence in advertising, Clio honors the work and talent at the forefront of the industry in a variety of specialized fields, including: sports, fashion, music, entertainment, cannabis and health.

ACHOF Breaking News Update – Here are the winners of the 2023 Best Art Vinyl Awards competition

Special ACHOF Breaking News Update – January 11th, 2024, by Mike Goldstein

After perusing this year’s list of nominees and placing our votes, the producers of the annual Best Art Vinyl Awards have tabulated the votes, and the winners/top vote-getters are:

Interview with 2023 Grammy winner Dave Van Patten on the award-winning work for Rhino Records for the Grateful Dead

ACHOF’s Mike Goldstein’s interview with artist and illustrator Dave Van Patten on his 2023 Grammy Award-winning (for “Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package”) work for Rhino Records on the IN AND OUT OF THE GARDEN: MADISON SQUARE GARDEN ’81 ’82 ’83! package for the Grateful Dead.

Mike G’s screen grab of artist Dave Van Patten, with his co-winners Lisa Glines and Doran Tyson at the 2023 Grammy Awards ceremony

By Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

Posted May 11, 2023

Each year, I look forward to learning more about the talented people who bring their abilities to clients in the music industry, because each year I realize that there are many artists, from all different backgrounds and disciplines, who are asked to contribute to album package projects of all sizes and styles. The past few years, while serving as a judge for some of the better-known packaging awards, I get to see the results of efforts to produce packages that, at least to me, run the gamut from pedestrian (AKA “cookie cutter”) to truly inspired and everything in between. I’m typically most-impressed by artists and design teams that, rather than take the simple path (particularly on projects for clients with a well-establish design guide), try something new and exciting, even at the risk of ticking off the purists who will accept nothing but the status quo.

I personally experienced the wrath of fans for a particular anime series that the company I was working for adapted for an American audience, even BEFORE we showed any of it to the public (“don’t you DARE touch this or change that, or you’ll be sorry” was the typical threat), so when I learned more about how the team behind this year’s Grammy-winning package in the “Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package” category approached the project for their client – i.e., the Grateful Dead, the band with perhaps the most-integrated fan base in the music business – and made the decision to introduce some new graphics to the package, my first reaction was “I wonder if they felt the need to take alternate routes to the office for a while?” (perhaps that was a bit dramatic, but I’m damaged goods). Of course, I also wanted to know more about the coordinated effort to produce such an impressive package, so I took my questions to one of the people responsible for this year’s award-winning project – artist Dave Van Patten – to see what he could do to both illuminate the details of the creative/production effort and also show me proof that he’d survived (and in fact, been fortified by) the reactions of Dead fans to the set he’d help put together.

ACHOF Breaking News Update – 2023 Grammy Awards Winners

ACHOF BREAKING NEWS UPDATE for February 5, 2023 – posted by Mike Goldstein

The 2023 Grammy show – the 65^th annual show, just 10 months after the COVID-delayed 2022 Award Show and taking into account music/packages that were released between the first of October, 2021 and the last day September, 2022 – took place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA on Sunday, February 5th, 2023.The Grammy Award Winners in the Packaging Categories were announced earlier today during the web-cast Grammy Awards “Premiere Ceremony”, and I’m now pleased to share the info on who the winners were below:

2023 Screen Image for “Best Recording Package” category

Announcing the Winners of the 2022 ACHOF Reader’s Poll

posted November 22, 2022 by Mike Goldstein, Album Cover Hall of Fame.com

For the past 10 years, the contributors to the Album Cover Hall of Fame have worked to recognize and promote the talents of the people who’ve brought music fans and art collectors (and those of us that appreciate both activities) the best in retail and online music packaging, design, graphics and photography.

Helped each year by asking a panel of curators, gallerists, music marketing execs and writers/researchers who cover the topic to register their opinions, I’ve been able to deliver these details to my readers and, once a year in November, present the top vote-getters in our annual poll as inductees into the hallowed (virtual) halls of the ACHOF. What I haven’t been able to do until now is ask this site’s visitors and fans about their favorite album art-makers, and so to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first class of inductees into the ACHOF, I asked you all to participate in a poll that would serve to track and the report on your feelings about who of our past inductees deserved special commendation.

This year’s poll allowed you to look over the past winners in each of the active award categories and then asked you to select those who are your most-admired art directors, illustrators, designers and photographers, with the top vote-getters placed in special categories that will be called…well, what will we call them? We don’t want to call them “the best”, nor do we want to repurpose some of the popular names that the awards industry has used over time – “People’s Choice”, “Fan Favorites”, “Vox Populi”, “Diamond/Platinum/Gold Medal Winning”, etc. A quick trip to the thesaurus presents words and phrases like “title holder”, “prize winner” and “top dog”, among others, along with some that I think are a bit over the top, such as “conquering hero”, “vanquisher” and “numero uno”, so while I know that it had to have been something memorable and appropriate, I don’t think we’re quite ready to commit to anything beyond “Top Vote-Getters”.

ACHOF Interview with Grammy-winning art director Darren Evans about the All Things Must Pass 50th Anniversary Album Package

All Things Must Pass “Uber Deluxe Edition” Box Set

ACHOF’s Mike Goldstein interviews Grammy-winning art director Darren Evans about the All Things Must Pass 50^th Anniversary Album Package for George Harrison – Darren Evans, Dhani & Olivia Harrison, Art Directors – winners of the Grammy Award “Best Boxed or Limited-Edition Package” at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards show (2022).

Posted August 26, 2022 by Mike Goldstein

Throughout each year, the many members of the professional organizations related to the entertainment industry gather together to review the work product of their peers (or, in the case of several prominent media organizations, projects done by those they track and report on), select the best examples of that work and then honor those who produced and/or performed those works with awards that symbolize these achievements. Some awards are quite niche-oriented, perhaps representing a great example of creativity in a particular aspect of the work produced (like a product manufacturer’s award for best use their products), while others are much broader in scope and meant to bring a sense of great accomplishment, value and joy to both the winners and their fans. In the recorded music business here in the U.S., some of the most-coveted and highly-valued awards are those handed out by the Recording Academy, AKA “the Grammy organization”, with Grammy Awards handed out each year in dozens of categories, including three in the “Packaging” category.

ACHOF BREAKING NEWS for April 3, 2022 – Grammy Awards Update

ACHOF BREAKING NEWS UPDATE for April 3, 2022 – posted by Mike Goldstein

The Grammy Award Winners in the Packaging Categories were announced today during the web-cast Grammy Awards “Premiere Ceremony”, and I’m now pleased to share the info on who the winners were below:

In the “Best Recording Package” category, the nominees were:

American Jackpot / American Girls for Reckless Kelly – Sarah Dodds & Shauna Dodds, art directors:

Carnage by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis – Nick Cave & Tom Hingston, art directors;

2nd Generation Falangao Singing Group & The Chairman Crossover Big Band’s Pakelang – Li Jheng Han & Yu, Wei, art directors;

Serpentine Prison by Matt Berninger – Dayle Doyle, art director, and

Zeta by Soul Of Ears – Xiao Qing Yang, art director

and the winner was 2nd Generation Falangao Singing Group & The Chairman Crossover Big Band – Pakelang – Li Jheng Han & Yu Wei, art directors

Album Cover Hall of Fame Breaking News for March 15, 2022 – Award Show Update

The winners of the Making Vinyl Packaging Awards have been announced, and they are…

Posted March 15, 2022 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

After a several-month-long organizing, reviewing and voting process, the folks behind the Making Vinyl Packaging Awards have just announced the winners of the most-recent competition and, as both a participant in the process and as a fan of great work in the field of record packaging, I have to say that this year’s list (in the 15 categories represented) is an impressive and inspirational one. What’s all the more enjoyable to see is that musical acts and record labels both large and small have been included in the ”Best X” selections and that art producers both famed and up-and-coming will have their works admired by fans all over the world.

I’m going to highlight just a few of the winners here and then invite you all to click on over to a page on the Making Vinyl Packaging Awards site where you’ll find the complete list and all of the details on the winning designs – https://pro.evalato.com/3875/submissions?round_id=5257