Tag Archives: Yes

Music, Pop Culture

RIP Yes Bassist Chris Squire

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Chris Squire With Bass

Ultimate Classic Rock reports that Chris Squire, legendary Bass player for the progressive rock band Yes has died (June 28th, 2015) after a battle with Leukemia. He was 67 years old. This kills me, as Squire was one of my rock heroes and my favorite bass player ever, followed by John Entwistle and Dennis Dunaway of Alice Cooper. Not only was Squire a phenomenally innovative bass player, but he was also one of the first bassists to release a solo album (1975’s Fish Out of Water) on which the bass is played as a lead instrument with no other guitars appearing on the record. Continue reading RIP Yes Bassist Chris Squire →

Arts and Culture

Yes Octopus Mural in DUMBO

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Yes Octopus Mural
All Photos By Gail

In September of 2103, NYC-based design firm Sagmeister & Walsh was commissioned by the DUMBO Improvement District in partnership with Two Trees Management Co and the NYCDOT Urban Art Program to paint two 80 foot long murals on the walls of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway underpass, on Jay Street in Dumbo. The firm collaborated with renowned Japanese illustrator Yuko Shimizu and created two large typographic messages to sit on the facing walls. A fierce Octopus and its tentacles form ‘Yes!’ on one side, and a graphic black and white version (not shown) covers the opposite wall. Both murals were hand painted by Coby Kennedy.

Yes Octopus Mural Detail

Music, Pop Culture

Morrison Hotel Gallery Presents The Melody Maker Photography of Barrie Wentzell

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Jimi Hendrix Color Portrait By Barrie Wentzell
Apparently, Jimi Hendrix Always Dressed Like This (all Post Photos By Gail, Click any Image to Enlarge)

Every picture tells a story. During his career, Photographer Barrie Wentzell collected an endless cache of unheard stories from and about many of rock’s greatest legends that would blow your head right off. From 1965 to 1975 – certainly one of the (if not the) most vibrant and fertile decades for Rock & Roll music and culture — Wentzell shot both live performance and candid, intimate photographs of everyone who was anyone: from Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles to The Kinks and Led Zeppelin for the UK weekly music rag, Melody Maker. Continue reading Morrison Hotel Gallery Presents The Melody Maker Photography of Barrie Wentzell →

Film and Television, Pop Culture

RIP Sherman Hemsley, Gong Fan

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Sherman Hemsley as George Jefferson
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Best known for his role as George Jefferson on the popular 1970s sitcom, The Jeffersons (a spinoff of All in the Family, on which he also starred as the same character), actor Sherman Hemsley passed away on Tuesday, July 24th at the age of 74. While Hemsley is primarily famous for his acting resume, he was also a musician who once collaborated with Jon Anderson of Progressive rock band Yes. And according to a 2009 article from Magnet Magazine, Hemsley was an eccentric, prog rock aficionado who had a sweet spot for the band Gong. Read on and have your mind blown little at This Link.

Music, Pop Culture

Happy Birthday, Steve Howe!

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Guitarist Steve Howe of Yes
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Yes guitarist (also a member of Asia) Steve Howe was born on this day April 8th, in 1947. The band Yes was a passionate favorite of mine growing up in the seventies. In fact, one of the most crazy fun and highly memorable concerts I’ve attended was the co-headlining concert of Yes with Peter Frampton back in the summer of 1976, which took place before a crowd of 55,000 people at Anaheim Stadium in Southern California. Although he does not enjoy the level of continued buzz as, say, a player like Jimmy Page, to give you an idea of his popularity during Yes’s heyday, Steve was voted Best Overall Guitarist in Guitar Player magazine five years in a row from 1977 to 1981. Below, please enjoy a live clip of Steve playing “The Clap” and also the acoustic ballad “Mood For Day” to hear an example of his one-take perfection. Happy Birthday, Steve!