Gloomy Tunes: Jim Rodford, The Zombies, RIP

We would be remiss for not taking note of the death of Jim Rodford, the bass player for the Zombies. Not just because the Zombies are the perfect band for a website called “ObitMagazine” to support, but because the Zombies were one of the great, and all-too-often overlooked bands from the British Invasion. Sure “Tell Her No,” and “Time of the Season” were big hits (the latter coming a year after the band broke up), but their second (and final) album, Odessey and Oracle, is one of the finest albums ever made, a lush, swooning album that in its ambition and delicate melancholy can easily stand beside the Beach Boys Pet Sounds.

Jim was also a member of the Kinks during their late 70s revival, so we’re including “(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman,” the Kinks’ successful move into a disco-fied sound.

Steven Mirkin

Steven Mirkin’s diverse career has taken him from politics to pop culture to high art, offering him a front row seat to some of the most fascinating events and personalities of our time: writing speeches, fundraising appeals and campaign materials for Ed Koch, John Heinz and independent presidential candidate John B. Anderson; chronicling the punk/new wave scenes in New York and London; interviewing musicians such as Elton John, John Lydon and Buck Owens; profiling modern masters Julian Schnabel, Paul Schrader and Jonathan Safran Foer; and writing for TV shows including 21, The Chamber, Let's Make A Deal, and Rock Star: INXS.