Dan Hicks
December 9, 1941 - February 6, 2016
Dan Hicks has been one of my top 10 favorite artists (maybe even #1) for over 40 years. I’d have to say that my concert-going highlight was making him laugh. It was a few years ago at a meet & greet after a concert at the Boulton Center in Bay Shore, NY. I brought with me a print-out of a screen cap from a US Open Golf tournament. It was a captioned shot of Dan Hicks - the sportscaster, NOT the amazing musician. I showed it to the “real” Dan. He laughed and called the guy in the picture the imposter. He said he would autograph it. He did!

Mark Jacobson
January 1951 - April 2011
A Very Important Person to me - one of my oldest and dearset friends. We shared a lot of music and music experiences together. The hours spent in my room listening to new album after new album... I will never be able to listen to much of this stuff without thinking about him, which is just fine with me - especially some of the slightly more obscure artists/albums we got turned onto thogether: The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Sweet Thursday, Mark-Almond Band, Goose Creek Symphony, Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, Firesign Theater, A Child's Garden Of Grass, Zobo Funn Band. Of course we also listened to the more mainstream contemporary, progressive music like The Dead, David Bromberg, The Band, Cream, The Doors, Zeppelin, Moody Blues...Shit, the list goes on forever. Mark worked for WLIR during their heyday and we saw many Tuesday night Live concerts @ Ulrtra Sonic Recording Studio in Hempstead. Yeah, he's a music VIP all right. I can't believe I will never see him or speak with him again.

I can't believe I actually got to see him at his barn studio in Woodstock, N.Y. I'm sure that all the shows there, by virtue of the performers, the music and the venue, were unique. The show I saw added one more level. The first half hour or so was totally acoustic, and except for a bag of flashlights that they hurriedly ran out to buy, in the dark. There was an accident down the road and it took out a power line. They were all ready to play before the power was restored...so they did! Bet that doesn't happen very often.
Levon Helm
May 25, 1940 - April 19, 2012

Michael Rothbard
Anyone who’d been to IMAC (Inter-Media Art Center) in Huntington, NY, knows Michael. He’s responsible for some of Long Island's best concerts. He was a friendly, gracious, and welcoming man. I took a workshop (TV production & editing) run by Michael sometime around 1980. Decades later I had the chance to speak with him at one of the IMAC concerts and I mentioned the workshop. His first question was: “did you enjoy it?” I did!
Newsday WFUV Blog

"...And when the band you're in starts playing different tunes..." On July 11, 2006, David Bowie said: "I can't tell you how sad I feel. Syd was a major inspiration for me. The few times I saw him perform in London at UFO and the Marquee clubs during the sixties will forever be etched in my mind. He was so charismatic and such a startlingly original songwriter. Also, along with Anthony Newley, he was the first guy I'd heard to sing pop or rock with a British accent. His impact on my thinking was enormous. A major regret is that I never got to know him. A diamond indeed."
Syd Barrett
January 6, 1946 - July 7, 2006