Tag Archives: 2020

RIP Pentti Linkola (1932 – 2020)

Pentti Linkola was a Finnish academic and radical ecology-activist.

So radical that in the Anglosphere he is known as an ecofascist.

Itke rakastettu maa (Cry, Beloved (Land), 1988)

He first came to the attention outside of Finland when Dana Milbank interviewed him for the WSJ.

That article was “In His Solitude” (1994), and it cited him as saying:

“We still have a chance to be cruel. But if we are not cruel today, all is lost.”

What exactly does he mean by being cruel?:

“End Third World aid and asylum for refugees, so millions die. Try mandatory abortions for those with two children. And then find some way to get rid of the extra billions of people. With 2.5 times more humans than earth can support, another world war, he says, would be ‘a happy occasion for the planet.’ Living alone in primitive style here without running water or car, the fisherman likes to compare humanity to a sinking ship with 100 passengers and a lifeboat that can only hold 10. ‘Those who hate life try to pull more people on board and drown everybody. Those who love and respect life use axes to chop off the extra hands hanging on the gunwale.'”

“In His Solitude” (1994)

Next to this there is “Humanflood”, a four-page text of his hand featured in Apocalypse Culture II (2000) which I have been unable to identify.

And then there is his book Can Life Prevail? (2011), a translation of Voisiko elämä voittaa (2004), is still in print.

The metaphor of the lifeboat [above] was probably taken from the 1974 essay “Living on a Lifeboat” by Garrett Hardin, an essay which was the basis for what has become known as lifeboat ethics.

RIP Patrick Gibson (? – 2020)

Patrick Gibson (ne Francfort) was French musician. He was the drummer of the Gibson Brothers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZKOjuh-cTs
“Cuba” (1978)

Their disco was not my type of disco … but hey … as I often say … you can’t argue with popular.

To his credit, Patrick seemed to have played the drums on the recently deceased Manu Dibango album Manu 76 (1976).

Patrick was in his sixties. Seeing recent photos of the trio seems to confirm that covid and obesity are bad company.

The Gibson Brothers were managed by Jean Kluger (born 1937) and Daniel Vangarde (born 1947). Vangarde’s real name is Bangalter and he is the father of Thomas.

RIP Sergio Rossi (1935 – 2020)

Sergio Rossi was an Italian shoe designer.

I discovered his work by finding a page dedicated to misogynistic advertising.

Here is the image I discovered, white stockings, white shoes, only the legs are visible, in a Mondriaan-like framework.[1]

Disembodied legs as depicted in this Rossi advertisement haven an aphrodisiac effect on me.

RIP Bill Withers (1938 – 2020)

“Who Is He (And What Is He to You)?” (1972)

Bill Withers was an American singer-songwriter known for songs such as “Lean on Me”, “Use Me” and “Ain’t No Sunshine”.

I give you “Who Is He (And What Is He to You)?” (1972) because it’s one of the best adultery songs ever with the unforgettable opening lines:

A man we passed just tried to stare me down
And when I looked at you
You looked at the ground

While researching this death, I came across a rather smart piece of music criticism by the American author Robert Christgau (born 1942):

“Withers sang for a black nouveau middle class that didn’t yet understand how precarious its status was. Warm, raunchy, secular, common, he never strove for Ashford & Simpson-style sophistication, which hardly rendered him immune to the temptations of sudden wealth—cross-class attraction is what gives ‘Use Me’ its kick. He didn’t accept that there had to be winners and losers, that fellowship was a luxury the newly successful couldn’t afford.

RIP Cristina (1959 – 2020)

“Disco Clone” (1978)

Another coronavictim.

 Cristina was an American singer who belongs to the entourage of August Darnell and ZE Records.

By extension she was part of the whole ‘artistic disco’ stable of Patrick Adams, Arthur Russell, Larry Levan and Bob Blank.

You might also call the field she was active in self-conscious or tongue-in-cheek disco or sarcastic disco.

Too many words, I stop here.

RIP Gabi ‘D. A. F.’ Delgado-López (1958-2020)

“Der Mussolini” (1981)

This happened last week.

Gabi Delgado-López was a Spanish-born German musician, co-founder of Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft.

He is known for singing compositions such as “Der Mussolini” (1981). This song, together with “Los Niños del Parque” (1981) by Liaisons Dangereuses and “Numbers” (1981) by Kraftwerk put Germany on the map in black America and the dance music world.

If you listen to the full Alles ist gut album where “Der Mussolini” comes from, you cannot help but wonder if D.A.F. listened to Suicide. The sighing voice on “Mein Herz Macht Bum” would give them away.

RIP Krzysztof Penderecki (1933 – 2020)

Krzysztof Penderecki was a Polish composer of 20th century classical music, a period characterized by the use of dissonance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHIjVdHBEi8

Outside of the classical music domain his music has been popular in horror films. The piece Polymorphia (1962) for example, is used in The Exorcist (1973) and in The Shining (1980).

And then there is his opera based on the book The Devils of Loudun (1952) by Aldous Huxley. The story of the Loudun possessions is highly remarkable and any occasion to bring it to your attention, shall be grasped.