Martin Skidmore [RIP 2011]

RIP Martin :(

i didnt know the guy as well as a lot of people here but from his posts he was a very genuine and honest guy. RIP.

I did not know Martin, but I am very sorry for the loss of your friend.

Never got the pleasure to converse with him, but saw more than my fair share of his posts in the archive...seemed a very thoughtful, respectful, and intelligent guy.

RIP Martin

So, so, so sorry to hear this. He was always so nice to me, and to everyone. I'm just glad I got the chance to meet him when he was alive. RIP Martin.

RIP

A great guy. Rest in peace dude.

i just went back and read martin's lj for the last few months, and aside from kicking myself for not trying to send a few more words along after the facebook post months back, i am really astounded by the grace and humility and charity in those posts. obviously i'm sure he had and expressed a wealth of different emotions as all this went on, but the...grace (no other word, really) of those entries, especially in the last month or so, was really remarkable.

Didn't know Martin that well outside of Jukebox, but he was easily one of our MVPs, and always a pleasure to read. Rest in peace.

Ach, this happened a lot sooner than I expected :( Martin kept on posting to his Liejournal most days, after his diagnosis he went on a spree of reading all the books he'd always meant to get round to, which I thought was a sweet way of spending one's valuable last times. His descriptions of treatment were hard to read and heartbreaking, and it is more so now as he'd seemed to rally a little recently. Rest easy Martin, you were a gracious, kind and big-hearted guy.

Livejournal. ack what a typo :(

i'm deeply sorry i never got to meet martin. he was a decent and reassuring presence on ile and ilc for years. he was a wonderfully smart and informed guy, seemed to have read and seen everything, and wrote very well about it. i spent a whole afternoon a few weeks ago reading his reviews at the comics site he edited. i meant to drop him a line to tell him how terrific i thought it was -- too late now. :(

reading all the books he'd always meant to get round to

I should tear up at "books before I diary" but it's so Martin and so indicative of what strongo so rightly identifies as grace.

so often I come across really excellent insightful posts on bumped threads and look to see who it is and yes, it's Martin. Always enjoy his Singles Jukebox contributions too. I'd have liked to have known him better, and my thoughts are with everyone who did. RIP.

Tom's tribute:

http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/07/martin-skidmore/

Martin was the kind of contributor every community wants – quick to say something welcoming or smart, slow to anger, possessed of a working bullshit detector but enough of a gent to use it wisely. ILX would never have been any good without him and others like him in its early stages.

: ( terrible

RIP martin

Very sad, I knew him only from reading him here and on Singles Jukebox, but always appreciated his humor and insight and he seemed like a kind person.

RIP

i keep coming back to ilx because of what i saw in my early lurking days, though martin had very different interests than me and we rarely interacted he is part of what made this place special and we are diminished

wanted to send him some kind of simple words of well wishing or compassion recently but didn't, worried it would feel contrived given how little i've interacted directly with him over the years and years i've occupied the same virtual vicinity. but he was a good man, RIP.

Waking up to this is really sad. I admired Martin enormously as some kind of ultimate cultural polymath, he seemed to know something about everything, but he wrote in a such a human, accessible way so it wasn't intimidating how smart he was. I admired Martin because in his fifties he was probably living more than many do in their twenties. One couldn't help but find him frank, funny and engaging, and I know he's living a big hole in the world even bigger than the one on the Internet as a result. RIP Martin.

I believe his presence on ilx was mostly before my time - either that or we didn't bump elbows that much. still, I certainly recognize his name.

RIP man. fuck cancer!

RIP martin :-(

He was a kind man, good company, and a shrewd critical thinker, and I will miss him.

nearly ten years ago now, martin asked a group of his friends if we knew of any online communities that might interest him. i pointed him in the direction of ILX, and the rest is history.

i was friends with martin for more than twenty-five years, and am in no fit state to write anything very coherent just right now. but i can honestly say that i don't ever expect to meet anyone like martin skidmore ever again, and that today, a UNIQUE, one of a kind person has left us, left the world. He was a decent man and I will miss him very very much. In consolation, he was in a great deal of pain and misery at the end, and the hospital that he was in ensured that his passing was as peaceful as possible. He died with a large group of loving friends close by his side.

In one of his last emails Martin spoke of how wonderful his friends were to him. Helping him with everything and being there from him , he was never alone. I'd like to thank his friends for being there for him I know he appreciated you all so very very much.

Wish I had met him, he was a really nice guy and I wish I had emailed him more rather than a handful of times a year.
I don't drink so I'll listen to a funk album that isn't guitar focused! in his honour.

Aw nutz.
Martin was about the only ILX member to talk to me on the board other than Teeny. He was smart, kind and I wish I had known him IRL. *wiggy cries*

oh, and Ned Raggett too. Can't forget him!

Didn't interact with him very often on ILM, but I always liked his approach. Most of my interaction, if you can call it that, was from reading his Singles Jukebox blurbs and various comments he'd toss up on blogs. His insight and joy will certainly be missed.

didn't know him personally but read his contributions here and on TSJ - always one of my favorite reviews. heard the news while on a bus that was delayed on the side of the road, felt totally gutted and helpless - had no idea. RIP.

just sucks when ilxors die

oh, and Ned Raggett too. Can't forget him!

― Wiggywoo, Wednesday, July 27, 2011 7:13 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark

would it spoil the mood of this thread if i began addressing Ned as "Raggyroo"?

hugely sad news. Only met him once or twice, wish it had been more.

Christ. I never met him, but I wrote for him. The boosts of confidence he gave me when I'd send him something meant a lot to me.

Awful.

Like many here I didn't interact with him (at all, I think), but was always glad to read his inputs on many topics, and I noticed his absence when he vacated the premises. RIP.

He offered me a place to stay whenever I was traveling around London. Never had the opportunity to take advantage of his hospitality, but it was always a huge relief to know that there would be some place I could go should everything else fall through. I wish I had gotten to know him better. RIP Martin.

I hate to hear this. :( Fuck cancer!

That article upthread about soul music is so great.

I seem to remember Martin and I talking over some of the general points that would surface in the article during my visit -- the article wasn't written then, of course, but the ideas were obviously very close to his heart, and not just limited to questions of music.

It occurred to me on the way home that I'd brought him a small gift of thanks when I visited in 2003, some Cholula hot sauce, in that I had no idea if it was common stuff in the UK. Turns out he wasn't one for spice in his food, if I remember rightly! But he graciously thanked me, and I wonder what happened to the bottle -- hopefully someone put it to good use.

Momus has posted a tribute. Turns out a recent song of his was inspired by Martin:

http://mrstsk.tumblr.com/day/2011/07/28

Rest in peace.

I am sorry to read this, I feel bad that I didn't catch this thread earlier. I only read some of his posts here, but he seemed like a really good guy. RIP.

I've kind of moved past shock and into anger as I've been reading back through his livejournal entries. Anger at anyone/anything (whatever higher power you want to believe in) that could take someone away so quickly. I hadn't realized just how recent the diagnosis was. FUCK OFF cancer.

A giant among ilxors. I have a pile of books I read because he recommended them here and another pile that I'm still intending to read for the same reason. He was missed on the recent speculative fiction poll. And yes, that freakytrigger soul music article was terrific. RIP, Martin.

i never really interacted with him here but back in my lurker days i'm sure i bought at least one book based on something he wrote here that made me really want to read it. so, for that alone, RIP

The speed of it was a dreadful thing - I went round to his with some friends to see WWE's Money in the Bank last Monday, and he was in good form. All relative of course, he was in some pain and astonishingly skinny, but it was a normal social interaction, him greeting us at the door and showing us out afterwards. He was also very happy that, thanks to a stent recently fitted, he'd been able, while out seeing friends the day before, eat a cheeseburger. And of course, he was endlessly knowledgeable about the wrestling, and generous with his knowledge.

RIP, man.

ILX would never have been any good without him and others like him in its early stages.

I wasn't around that early but when old threads etc pop up this seems completely and demonstrably true

RIP

RIP Martin. I remember him fondly from the days when he used to post here regularly. I'm sorry I never got to meet him in person.

And of course, he was endlessly knowledgeable about the wrestling, and generous with his knowledge.

Haha I'd forgotten that he was a fan! Great story.

Having known of and read Martin as an editor and writer on comics for almost twenty years, it was fascinating to get to know so much more of him when I found my way to ILX. It's been a delight to read his ever-open, always inquisitive perspectives on the Jukebox since he left ILX. And I was very happy, and am even more so now, to have recognised him leaving the 10th birthday FAP as I was arriving, and to have gotten to chat with him for a few minutes before he headed off (and tell him how he was missed on ILC, much though he demurred!).

It's really, really great to know that he must have had a strong idea how valued he was by friends and peers, and that there were so many with him right at the end. Goodbye, Mr Skidmore.

RIP, awful.

So sorry to hear this. RIP Martin.