July 15th, 2009 by admin
News about Dash Snow’s death has now been reported by the Guardian, the New York Times. Gawker broke the story yesterday, erroneously writing he was two years shy of his 30ieth birthday; Dash Snow died 27 years old.
Writer Ariel Levy wrote about Dash in much-read feature in New York Magazine two years ago:
“What makes the legend richer is that Dash Snow could very easily have lived a different kind of life, been a different kind of artist. Snow’s maternal grandmother is a De Menil, which is to say art-world royalty, the closest thing to the Medicis in the United States. His mother made headlines a few years ago for charging what was then the highest rent ever asked on a house in the Hamptons: $750,000 a season. And his brother, Maxwell Snow, is a budding member of New York society who has dated Mary-Kate Olsen. But Snow has concocted something else for himself. He has been living as hard as a person can-in and out of jail, doing drugs, running from the police-for a decade. He’s unschooled, self-taught.”
The web is filled with a mix of caring and vicious comments about Snow’s art and lifestyle, which go hand in hand. Fact is he was addicted to heroin, but his art was also displayed in major galleries in NYC, London, and LA–including the Whitney Biennial, and some of his works picked up by collectors over the past few years. There’s little doubt that Dash Snow, given this article, his De Menil pedigree, the anarchistic creative crew he was part of, and the widespread news about his death will leave a legacy like the rest of The 27s. The young, tragic death of an artist always seems to do that.
(c) 2009 by Mordechai Rubinstein
July 14th, 2009 by admin
Visual artist Dash Snow who became notorious for his graffiti around New York City died today from a drug overdose aged 27. Dash is the latest in a string of nearly 40 significant artist deaths at 27 over the last century. Other famous 27s include Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and members of the Grateful Dead, Big Star, Badfinger, the Stooges, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Manic Street Preachers, and The Mars Volta.
Dash Snow’s death was confirmed earlier today by his grandmother, Christophe de Menil, an art collector and philanthropist.
He was a hard-living soul who will was already an underground legend thanks to his muse-like status in photographer Colen McGinley’s drug addled and intimate work.
Dash often made collages that he assembled from found images and also used video and his own photography in exhibitions in NYC, Los Angeles, and London.
New York Magazine ran a feature about Dash and his crew titled “Warhol’s Children” January 7, 2007.
In 1988 Jean-Michel Basqiuat, modern art’s graffiti genius (and friend of Andy Warhol), died from a drug overdose aged 27 as well.
Samadhi Creations’ award-winning non-fiction graphic novel “The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock & Roll,” which was published to great acclaim earlier this year, retells the history of rock & roll seen through the lives and legacies of the three-dozen musicians who each died at the age of 27.
June 4th, 2009 by admin
We met a lot of people at Book Expo, but one of our favorite encounters was with music industry veteran Mike Ragogna, who writes two weekly columns for the Huffington Post. His latest is about the books that he found most interesting at Book Expo and we’re psyched to see that The 27s was one of them. Read the article about The 27s at Book Expo here.
June 2nd, 2009 by admin
The 27s won the 2009 IPPY award for popular culture
We just came back from New York City and Book Expo, which is the largest book trade show in the country. Long lines for our official author signing and we even ran out of books. Thanks to everybody who showed up!
Friday night we headed down to The Providence, a former church and recording studio where Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and even Guns N Roses have all laid down tracks. It’s a really cool club and definitely worth checking out if you’re ever on the west side.
The Independent Publisher Book Awards is a broad-based awards program to laud the best in independent publishing and we were up against the best of the best produced in small, medium, and university presses across the country.
The show, which you probably understood by now, was held at The Providence and The 27s won silver in the popular culture category. David Byrne of the Talking Heads won this last year for one of his books, so we’re psyched for the recognition.
April 5th, 2009 by admin
Parts of Eric Segalstad’s interview with NPR’s Robert Smith about The 27s is posted here, at least an hour before it officially airs on All Things Considered.
April 5th, 2009 by admin
Today marks the 15th anniversary since Kurt Cobain’s untimely departure. His death popularized the idea of The 27s across pop culture. Listen to NPR’s All Things Considered later today (5-6pm) to hear a short segment featuring an interview with The 27s author Eric Segalstad.
Find your local NPR station here and spin your favorite Nirvana tracks in the meantime.
April 1st, 2009 by admin
Happy birthday to the incredible Minuteman D. Boon.
March 31st, 2009 by admin
We were on theTodd N Tyler show this morning talking about The 27s. Those guys over in Omaha have a fun show every morning of the week, which is syndicated all the way to Burlington, VT. We had a blast hanging out on the air with them. Here’s a link to the podcast. Thanks guys!
March 16th, 2009 by admin
Two weeks ago we had a three-way conversation with the lovely Victoria Joyce of Sugarbuzz magazine, an on-the-verge music zine outta California. She writes some cool stuff about The 27s, but most importantly, she read the book between the lines and add her own voice and personality to the piece, telling her readers what she got from the book. Here are some samples:
“This Rock Epistle goes from cool to creepy and back to cool.”
“The tone of the book is magical and modern, a little sad but goes to the wealth of material these artists produced and applauds their passion.”
“Hendrix did Carson? Yes! Some amazing facts come to light in this amazing new book.”
Read the review and check out Sugarbuzz here.
Thanks Victoria!
March 5th, 2009 by admin
We were asked by Mick Box to spread the word about his 2nd annual “Shirt of My Back Auctions.” It’s a great cause, so check it out.
J&E
“Hello!
Well I want to thank you for taking the time to read this!
As you know I have a Cancer Charity organised called “The
Shirt Off My Back”. This started purely as the name suggests
as a way of bidding for my stage shirts and the money going
to UK Cancer Research Charity.
However as often happens with these things it has grown a
little and we are auctioning items like stage shirts,
guitars, UH memorabilia etc and many more exciting things. I
hope that in 2009 we can raise some more money for this
worthy cause as I do not know one person who has not been
touched young or old in someway by this awful disease.
As my good Mother who passed away in 1987 to Cancer used to
say “every little bit helps Mick”, so with the kind help of
Dave White we have set up this webpage to start off the
auctions for 2009. Once again I thank you for reading this
and for those of you that participate my heartfelt thanks go
to you as we continue to fight to make the world a better
place and find a cure.
‘Appy days!”
For more information, to get involved or to make a donation visit Mick’s site here:
http://www.mick-box.net/shirtoffmybackauctions/