"My man MCA's got a beard like a billy goat!"
Nathanial Hörnblowér AKA Adam Yauch AKA MCA
Born 5 August 1964; Died 4 May 2012
Published: 11/05/2012
MCA was always my favourite Beastie Boy. Maybe it was his rough, craggy, husky rap voice that -put against the relative squeal of Mike D & Ad Rock- was always more pleasing to listen to. Maybe it was his creativity that I liked so much. His Photography was always great, Nathanial Hörnblowér's videos rocked the spot, and his non-bboy antics, co-founding Oscilloscope Laboratories & the Milarepa Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting awareness about the Chinese government's unjust treatment of native Tibetans.
The Beasties certainly illuminated my life from the very start, but Paul's Boutique, Check your head & Ill communication will always put a smile on my face. I only saw them play live once, back in Manchester in 1992, promoting my favourite album of theirs; Check your Head. The gig was classy even if not many people turned up (they were touring the UK with The Rollins Band).
Yauch died in NYC after a lenthy fight with cancer, was only 47 years old. People die every day, but it's the talented ones that will be missed the most.
Ken Russell
Born 3 July 1927; Died 27 November 2011
Hero: Ken Russell
Published: 01/12/2011
If ever there was a person to describe as an enfant terrible, it was Russell, who sadly passed away last week after much illness. Russell's contribution to British Television & cinema in the 1960s & 1970s was enormous. His creativity and daring-do would usually attract a lot of attention - some of it unfairly negative. Boundaries need to be pushed, and with films like Women in Love and The Devils, Russell pushed 'em all.
Russell attended Pangbourne Naval College a few years before another hero of mine Jeffrey Bernard. Both of them hated it. After his Naval expedition, Russell flirted with ballet and photography, eventually working for the BBC making televisual biographies of classical composers for the arts programme Monitor.
With a large amount of documentary and TV work under his belt, Russell moved into movies, making such films as Billion Dollar Brain, The Music Lovers, Altered States, Tommy and, of course The Devils. Russell's career was always up and down throughout his career, but he never stopped working. He made countless documentaries and In his later years he was producing his own films himself, some of which were distributed online.
Coincidentally, it was only a couple of days prior to his death that I learned of the re-release of his masterpiece The Devils on DVD. It'll still be a cut version, but at least its a start. What a pity Warner Brothers couldn't care less about such an amazing work of art. Tut, tut, tut. And then there were the incidents with the BBFC, where his films Women in Love and The Devils were deemed worthy of cuts and/or careful editing. Those two films in particular are classics, no question, and are perfect examples of the kind of genius that Russell was. Thankfully his work will live on.
Do you want to know more? Worldwidegimp recommends:
His autobiography A British Picture is a good read.
There's a good Timeshift documentary from the BBC, about the BBFC and censorship. It includes segments about Women in Love and The Devils. An article on that bloody mess is here.
Best of all for Russell fans, is a BBC DVD Box Set of all his early films for the Monitor Arts show. Unusually, this set was released in North America only. Kind of ironic considering the BBC roots. It's a 3 disc set which features 6 films and 2 extras about the man himself. Essential.
Heroes & Villains Archive pages (It's not just about dead people)
Anna Karina: The Darling of the Nouvelle Vague
