Album Cover Hall of Fame News Update and Link Summary for February, 2024

Posted January 31, 2024 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

Hello to all of you – Hope that you all enjoyed the final days of the Holiday season, stuck with at least one of your New Year’s resolutions (such as the one where you commit to reading this newsletter each month and then share it with at least one friend) and have enjoyed the opening stanzas of this year’s cosmic symphony. I must admit that I’ve been a bit lazy up to this with regards to my research and writing for this site, but I’m beginning to feel the rhythm and hope to get back on tempo as we inch our way towards Spring.

On that note, let’s start this month’s summary, which I’ve posted a day early due to the fact that a couple of items take place on or soon after February 1^st and I didn’t want you to miss them. I’ve started this month’s missive by sharing some updated news on some of the recent award shows that have taken place (or, in the case of the Grammy Awards, will be taking place quite soon) and then continue on with an overview of the categories featured in our regular updates – album art/artist-related exhibitions, interviews, sales/auctions and other interesting miscellaneous items and, when that’s all been addressed, I’ll share a brief paragraph on a related topic that I found quite interesting and, therefore, was motivated to share with you all. Let us begin.

Album Cover Hall of Fame News Update and Link Summary for September, 2023

Posted September 1, 2023 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

Since I know that most of you are eager to get outside to enjoy the waning days of Summer (unless you’re suffering through heat troughs, the floods/flying debris of a hurricane or the smoke and ashes of a local forest fire), I’ll keep this month’s intro short and sweet.

If you haven’t seen it already, I invite you all to read my latest interview, this one with Professor Kenneth FitzGerald, with a focus on what serves as the basis of his new book Progress Music – https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2023/08/22/achofs-wide-ranging-interview-with-prof-kenneth-fitzgerald-author-of-the-book-process-music-songs-stories-and-studies-of-graphic-culture/ In addition, you’ll find new info on several interesting new shows, some fine books on a variety of album art-related topics, some nice new prints from some very talented people and, as always, a bunch of other fascinating things to look into but, for now, let’s get on with this month’s newsletter…

Album Cover Hall of Fame News Update and Link Summary for August, 2023

Posted August 1, 2023 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

The Summer season is now in full swing and, in many places, it’s a Summer unlike any we’ve ever had weather-wise. Here in Chicagoland, we’ve had a number of days of record heat, with the added bonus of unhealthy air courtesy of the forest fires now burning up large swaths of land in Canada. Will Mankind ever fess up to what it has done to bring us to this point and do what’s needed to reverse this downward spiral, or will we simply do the minimum and hope that we and the rest of the world can adapt and/or come up with a technological solution that precludes us from having to inconvenience ourselves?

What does this have to do with art, you ask? Throughout history, people working in the arts – writers, musicians, painters, poster and comic book artists, etc. – have used their talents to illustrate what’s been on their minds regarding what’s right and wrong with the world. Even in our little corner of the art world, album covers and posters have featured images designed specifically to express an artist’s take on the status quo, with the hopes that these images serve as a wake-up call to those that see them. From Rage Against The Machine’s cover photo on their self-titled debut album of a Buddhist monk who set himself ablaze in protest against corruption in his country (https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/rage-against-the-machine-political-album-cover/) to the apocalyptic cover image of the U.N. in flames found on Megadeth’s Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying and even the simple photo of Marvin Gaye looking up to the skies in the rain while asking “What’s Goin’ On?” (along with many others certainly worth mentioning), musical acts and the art directors they’ve worked with have tried to use their abilities to capture and hold the attention of anyone willing to listen so, if you’re like me, all we can hope is that each of us take the time to review, assess and then act on what we all know must be done to keep everyone alive and thriving. I take the time to do this newsletter since I know that there are several thousands of you that enjoy it, but I know that there are many things more important to our everyday lives, so while I appreciate your ongoing support, if one day everyone decided that, rather than read the newsletter, they’d take the time to clean up a local beach or park, help an elderly person do their shopping or attend a “go green” rally, I’d be very happy with that knowledge and not take it the least bit personally.

For now, for those so inclined, I’ll ask you to spend whatever time you’re willing to devote to reading through the ACHOF monthly newsletter to see what your favorite album cover artists might be doing these days to make the world a bit more beautiful, peaceful and musical. I’ve been making progress on a couple of new articles for you – one, an interview with Kenneth FitzGerald about his career and his new book Progress Music (featured in last month’s newsletter) and the other an article about music industry design education that I hope to post in the near future. While you’re waiting patiently for me to finish this work, I’d once again like to remind you that there are scores of interviews available on the ACHOF site, all which have been neatly categorized and reached via the ACHOF “Interviews” Main page – https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/album-cover-hall-of-fame-interviews-main-page/  Why not take a moment to take a look there (there’s a handy search box that will help you find what you need), with interviews going back to 2006 with some of your favorite album art-makers. Also, if you have any suggestions for me – ideas for articles, notices about events or adding/editing sections of the newsletter or web site, please feel free to share those with me. I read every email I get (and reply to them all) and really appreciate the feedback as it’s my hope to make this site/news source as good as it can be. For now, let’s get on with this month’s newsletter…

Album Cover Hall of Fame News Update and Link Summary for July, 2023

Album Cover Hall of Fame’s Latest News Update and Link Summary, posted July 1, 2023 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

The Summer season is now upon us and, if you’re like me, you’re looking for something interesting to do to occupy your free time. If you’re also like me in that you sit in a stupor while trying to figure out just what you really want to take the time to do from the seemingly-limitless list of possibilities – walk into town for a coffee, take a trip to the grocery store, catch the train for a trip into the city, tend to the herb garden, make a spreadsheet of all of the concert tix you’ve saved since the mid-1970s, etc. – maybe it’d simply make more sense to spend a little time reading through your favorite monthly newsletter to see what your favorite album cover artists might be doing to make the world a bit more interesting and beautiful…that’s it!

I’ve done almost nothing in my efforts to launch a newer, cleaner album cover artist-focused web site, as that would take time away from my research and writing (and the aforementioned leisure-time activities), but I have made some headway in adding more bios to the site, so it’s not been a total under-application of my resources (and, I got to see the new Van Gogh exhibit at the Art Institute ON THE SAME DAY that I attended the annual Chicago Blues Fest – see photos, below).

Album Cover Hall of Fame News Update and Link Summary for March, 2022

Posted March 1, 2022 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com (updated 3/4/22)

After nearly forgetting that February is a short month and that I had 3-4 fewer days to prep this monthly summary, something sparked inside my head and I realized that I had to get things together, so what you’re reading today comes as the result of a couple of self-inflicted bonks to the sides of my head. As a result, I’m hoping that everything is in order and makes sense since, after reviewing all of the materials I’d gathered, there seems to be a lot going on world-wide that should be of interest to fans of album cover art and the people that make it, so get ready for a fairly-lengthy summary article.