Martin Skidmore [RIP 2011]

man all of the comics-related tributes have made me both happy and sad. happy to see martin's impact on the artform i treasure above all others and sad to realize that for a guy who shared the same virtual space with me for so many years i never had any idea til now (!) how much martin had a hand in the world of brit comics. i mean i always knew him as a deeply steeped and incredibly wise fan but its so weird (and wonderful) to me that he had a hand in (say) "st. swithins day," which i always remember as a g. morrison work i was immensely pleased to track down back when i was a middle schooler and the guy's work meant the world to me.

I was impressed when I realized that Martin had edited and published one of my favourite comic books, a work of which I have been very fond for over two decades now. We talked about this quite a few times.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Swithin's_Day_(comics)

wow, i love that book; had no idea martin was involved with it

Martin was the editor, but not the publisher. The only other staff listed on the first issue is a G0rdon Nei1 as production manager and promotions officer, replaced by issue 4 with Nig3l Mackay as marketing manager.

Rest in Peace, Martin

I made a spotify playlist of Martin's party tape(s) as posted here my party tape

http://open.spotify.com/user/onimo/playlist/6Dbyt3MYfbdtwtJPxGtO7g

just need to find a spare 8 hours to play my way through it

onimo, that's wonderful, i'm gonna share the link with some of martin's non-ilx pals, they'll love it.

a chap called mark 0liv3r, who was in the british amateur press association w martin back in the day, got in touch w/ this:

"When I heard the news about Martin yesterday I went up in the loft and found the mixtape he sent me back in my early B-APA days (I'm guessing 1988). I've converted it to MP3 and uploaded it here:

https://rapidshare.com/files/1256012067/Skidmore_MixTape_1988.zip

It's a really eclectic mix, and a great listen. Feel free to share the link with anyone who might be interested. It's compressed with 7zip."

I should add that the sound quality is p ropey - martin s used to tape LOTS of stuff from the radio, mainly from peel and andy kershaw. Anyway, here's the tracklisting:

Boogie Woogie Like A Knife In The Back

Side 1: God Is Not A Stormtrooper

Clarence "Frogman" Henry - Ain't Got No Home
Bhundu Boys - Ndoita Sei
Killdozer - Hamburger Martyr
Victor Lundberg - Open Letter To My Teenage Son
James Carr - Pouring Water On A Drowning Man
Ronnie Dawson - Action Packed
Tom Waits - Yesterday Is Here
Salif Keita - Souareba
Wynona Carr - 'Till The Well Runs Dry
Eugene Chadbourne - Bo Diddley Is A Communist
Bo Diddley - Cops And Robbers
George Jones - Good Year For The Roses
The Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet
Mahlathini & The Mahotella Queens - Thokazile
Billy Ward & His Dominoes - The Bells (Clyde McPhatter on 'vocals')

Side 2: At The First Moment Turn Away From Unclean Thoughts - AT THE FIRST MOMENT

Stanley Winston - No More Ghettos In America
Frankie Ford - Sea Cruise
John Lee Hooker - TB Sheets
Eddie Fontaine - Nothin' Shakin' (But the Leaves On The Trees)
David Rudder - Madness
Amayenge - Minise Minise
Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up
Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Hear Voices
Merle Haggard - Today i started Loving You Again
The Four Brothers - Uchandifunga
LL Cool J - The Do Wop
Bob Rogers - The Teen Commandments
Esquerita - Esquerita & The Voola (World's greatest pianist)
Dan Pickett - 99 1/2 Won't Do

The Stanley Winston song that opens side two of the tape was def. one of martin's especial favourites, along w. James Carr's version of Dark end of the Street and a zillion others.

Hope to listen to the onimo playlist after the optimo playlist posted on another thread.

Is Dan Pickett different from Wilson Pickett?

re: dan pickett - yep

http://www.wirz.de/music/pickdfrm.htm

this is dreadfully sad

i remember his posts from back in the day and he seemed like a fine person and estimable polymath

condolences to all who knew him

At The First Moment Turn Away From Unclean Thoughts - AT THE FIRST MOMENT

<3

martin s interviewing dave sim at a uk comic convention, late 1980s (photo via frank pl0wright)

http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc497/WardFowler/5991269711_70ac9d0d02.jpg

Great, great photo.

had sim gone bonkers yet? martin's expression suggests this was happening THEN AND THERE

had sim gone bonkers yet? martin's expression suggests this was happening THEN AND THERE

late 80s would have been the time of Church And State and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, so yah - Sim was just beginning to fray around the edges.

Depends how you rationalise Sim's bonkers-ness. I reckon this is pretty early into Jaka's Story, which in my exegesis is consistent with the later Jaka i.e. already into bonkers territory.

Even though I knew he was unwell, this was still a terrible blow. I loved reading him on here and at various places around the web, but also remember fondly the time I was in London and attended a FAP he was at. Would have been 7 or 8 years ago now. He chatted warmly with me about this and that as if he had known me for years, even though we'd just met and hadn't even really had any direct interactions on ILX. My heart goes out to his friends and family, online and off. Great guy, too soon, undeserved pain. RIP Martin.

I only knew him from his music posts here. RIP

late 80s would have been the time of ... the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, so yah - Sim was just beginning to fray around the edges.

considering Martin's taste and life, to say that it's "bonkers" to be opposed to the jailing of one adult for selling other adults books that include scenes of lovemaking between adult characters in relationships is rather o_0

nice to have mark s back, so sad that these are the circumstances that occasioned it. i don't know if he was like this in real life but here on ILX martin always seemed very self-assured, like he didn't have anything whatsoever to prove. which was appreciated.

Came across another tribute that I don't think has been linked here yet:
http://tonykeen.blogspot.com/2011/07/martin-skidmore.html

And another:
http://lucidfrenzy.blogspot.com/2011/07/rip-martin-skidmore-good-amateur-table.html

As noted <a href="a memorial page for martin skidmore;>here</a> we're planning a memorial page to Martin (probably using Freaky Trigger's server space, though not FT-branded): this would include some pictures of him, a short account of his achievements, a full set of links to the many very moving obits that have now gone up and to some of his best-loved pieces -- and also some kind of section encouraging people to swap stories about him, fond, funny, fascinating, gathered from comments threads, message boards, and elsewhere.

There are several posts on this thread that we'd like to use: I'll email people individually, but if you haven't heard and want to contribute something, please feel free to email me.

oh ffs: well it works anyway, even if it is inelegantly coded (i will not be designing the page in question, APPARENTLY)

a memorial page for martin skidmore

May you rest in happiness and peace, Martin.

I've been on ILX about 8 years and only attended 1 or 2 meetups, but I certainly remember Martin and his instant amiability. Seemed like a lovely guy and I'll miss his odd comics posts on ILC. RIP.

Keep trying to think of a way to express in real life why I would feel sad about this but it's kind of difficult and ends up coming out like Dorothy trying to describe her trip to Oz:

"You see there was this internet message board called ILX and there was this fellow named Martin, and whenever he posted something everybody would pay attention. He loved comics and cricket, M. John Harrison and Joyce Carol Oates, soul music and Japanese art- oh, all sorts of things. And then he and Mark S and Tom E would - oh, it was really quite extraordinary."

"What's that you say, a computer, eh? Maybe you need to take a rest from staring at that screen and go outside and get some fresh air."

But there is something that pretty much expresses exactly how I feel and it was something Gear wrote on Liz D's memorial thread, which I haven't looked since it was first posted but have certainly thought about more than once, and which I will cut and paste here, I hope he doesn't mind and nobody else minds.

the way this has troubled me over the past few days, perhaps irrationally, has given me pause, in that it makes me feel particularly vulnerable and powerless. emotionally speaking, that is. i've had more contact with some people on ilx than others on here, liz being somewhere in the middle i suppose, and it's made me realize how much it would affect me if anyone else were to be in a similar situation as she is. i've searched through the archives a number of times in recent days for other reasons and inevitably i've come across several liz postings and it kills me. because there's something alive and immediate about any post on here, even one from four years ago.
and some might think, 'gear, you're overreacting', but that doesn't take into account that everyone here has a very distinct personality. to see a post from roxy or jon or teeny or liz or amateurist or alex nyc or spencer or allyzay or blount and to think, 'oh of course they'd say that' is to realize you've come to know people on here and you have a certain affection for them and if any one of them were to be snatched away, it would hurt.

i told my father about this and he related a story about how when he and my mother were working at first national bank of chicago in the early '70s, there was a security guard downstairs in the lobby who they always saw standing in one corner. he was there the first two years they were. they never spoke to him, he was always just at his station in the corner, reading the paper, drinking his coffee. one morning he wasn't there, the same morning there was a particularly terrible train accident in chicago. they discovered the next day that this man had been killed in the accident. my father says everyone he knew at the bank, most of whom had never spoken to this very quiet, private fellow, were affected for a long time. he told me that he has never forgotten this man and to this day, whenever business takes him back to first national, he'll look to his corner and remember him fondly.

right now i don't want to not ever meet liz. if i don't have the opportunity to do so, i still think i'll always remember her.

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Wednesday, July 13, 2005 11:20 AM (6 years ago)

i got the phone call about this several days ago and have still not managed to deal with it, emotionally, at all

martin was one of the first people i met when i first moved to london in 2003. we played bar billards, of course. i almost beat him in a fluke match and then got thoroughly schooled in the next. he was an extraordinarily clear and patient writer. i can't ever remember him going easy on any work of art, for any reason, but those things he liked he celebrated endlessly. i wish that the culture of italian and french and japanese comics had come to britain in his lifetime. i wish the art and comics world had found more of a place for his intellect. i wish he had taken better care of himself. i wish he were still alive.

i'm trying to put my finger on his mein and can't do it - "wry" doesn't really get it. he was grumpily amiable. he always had tired eyes. yes it was bad, things were bad, his eyes seemed to say, but here's a couple of reasons you might get on with a few things anyway. i'm failing terribly at this i know

tom gets it perfectly on freaky trigger of course:

an endless, unshowy curiosity, a frank and level judgement, and the depth of experience to give that judgement weight.

i just came upon this news. what an awful thing. one of the names that always stuck out, fixed below something worth reading, when i found this website. RIP.

one of the names that always stuck out, fixed below something worth reading

^^^

"yes it was bad, things were bad, his eyes seemed to say, but here's a couple of reasons you might get on with a few things anyway."

Hand, I admire the stoicism of this plausible formulation.

thank you pinefox, though i fear it doesn't quite get at the core of the man. Ewing has managed it better.

Am I allowed say that I found him funny? I used to love his allusions to his louche lifestyle.

yes!! his total, disarming frankness about sex!

Those are the posts I imagine in a wide Somerset accent.

I felt like I had led such a sheltered life after reading those posts.

Is there any sort of memorial charity fund that people are donating to? If so, I'd like to donate.

Am I allowed say that I found him funny? I used to love his allusions to his louche lifestyle.

― The New Dirty Vicar, Friday, August 5, 2011 5:14 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yes!! his total, disarming frankness about sex!

― Dark Noises from the Eurozone (Tracer Hand), Friday, August 5, 2011 5:23 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

yes, i meant to say this but was too cautious.

Woah, I only just caught this. Martin was one of the first ILXors whose name I would recognize on ILX. He was also among the first group of ILX people I met in person, way back in 2000? 2001? at The Pint Pot on Tottenham Court Road- I wonder how many of those people are still regular posters - Steve? Julio? Kate?Mark C? Tom? I guess Matt is still around... I remember Martin being among the first of the group that I spoke to and he was very friendly indeed, as always somewhat recognizable from his online persona but in other ways not. I wasn't aware of his health problems but he seemed to have lived in interesting if complex life and had a sincere and obvious passion for the people and things he loved. RIP

Hi Adam yes I remember the pint pot - does it have Karaoke? - that was a wonderful evening.

Kind of want to start on Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy. Martin discovered him a few months ago and naturally enough went on to read a few quickly.

Haha, I just figured out who you are.

Never met the guy , but he was an excellent contributor back in the glory days of I Love Comics. RIP.

I've been on a vacation, so I only heard the news today, and even though this was expected it's still terribly sad and unfair for us to lose such a human being. Like many others I only knew Martin via the internet, but his immense knowledge and generous personality certainly made a big impression me. Good night and farewell, Martin.

Adam - I remember that night! Martin and Mark S had promised/threatened a rendition of All The Things She Said, complete with lezzing up. It goes without saying we were deprived of this...

"complete with lezzing up" <-- i am not at all sure i recall this aspect of the promise