It was ten years ago today that the legendary Greg Shaw passed away. Still sorely missed. Here are tributes that Miriam and I posted at the time on our old Norton website... FALL 2004 We open with sad news that friend Greg Shaw passed away October 19. Here are a few words from the Norton crew. HE PUT THE BOMP by Miriam Linna If youve got em, go back and read all your old BOMP mags. It started as a mimeo in January 1970, each issue named after a different song until WHO PUT THE BOMP stuck. The first issue was DUKE OF EARL. It was one of those magazines where you read every word, start to finish, from the upbeat editiorials to the bejeweled letters column with regular blasts from Greil Marcus, Lester Bangs, Lenny Kaye, Nick Tosches, Kim Fowley, the Mad Peck — a mere legion of writerly tastemakers who were, first and best, hard core goofball fans of good records. Greg was a major motivator, a guy who wore his fandom on his sleeve and managed to express himself with class, intelligence and above all, conviction. He responded to every letter personally over the years, and was obviously driven by a need to share information-- Hey Kids! Spread The News! At one point in the seventies, he was mailing out weekly BOMP newsletters between issues of the mag so we didnt miss a moment of action in the rockin world. Gregs first record on his BOMP label was the Flamin Groovies You Tore Me Down, a significant start to todays BOMP Records empire. The fanzine-to-label formula was repeated by loads of us Bomp readers, fueled by Gregs can-do/gotta-do gusto. We miss his advice, sincerity, and generosity. With his passing, we lost a guy who truly knew the meaning of friendship, fanship, enthusiasm, loyalty, all that good stuff. By the time I met Greg in person in early 1977, he was already a major celeb in my eyes, having been hooked on BOMP magazine as a teen back in Ohio. Like most everybody I knew, we all rallied for back issues and followed advice given on records, fanzines and fellow fans. Greg gave equal time to old artists and new bands, kept us up to the minute with new info coming in from then and now, and kind of like a hepcat Joe Franklin, treated everyone, EVERYONE, like they were the toppermost of the poppermost. We salute you, Greg Shaw — gone but never forgotten. REMEMBERING GREG SHAW by Billy Miller The calls came in the other day following Greg Shaw’s passing. Each caller — Todd Abramson, Andy Shernoff, Tim Warren, Bernie Kugel, Phast Phreddie – some of our closest friends - all had their destinies in some way shaped by Greg’s pioneering spirit. More than anything, Greg was instrumental in bringing rock n’ roll fans together. In fact, the first words I ever uttered to my future wife Miriam were, “Aren’t you the girl that does the FLAMIN GROOVIES MONTHLY?”, the fanzine editorship she’d recently inherited from Greg Shaw. I met Greg in 1975 at the first Rock Ages Convention in New York City. I was addicted to BOMP magazine (or WHO PUT THE BOMP as it was called then) for several years and hung on every word Greg would write in BOMP, PHONOGRAPH RECORD MAGAZINE and CREEM. I’d comb his Juke Box Jury column like some OTB junkie with a racing form looking for the latest thrill. I think nearly every trip I made to the Post Office in the early seventies was to mail away for some Shaw-sanctioned blast. I bought King Uszniewicz’s 1974 debut on Greg’s say so. I bought Flamin Groovies imports, Carl Perkins collections, Move buttons. I had Greg’s Fats Domino and Del Shannon liner notes memorized. I don’t think I was ever quite as nervous as I was that day approaching Greg Shaw with a clammy handshake. I introduced myself to him and though he was very busy with the event, Greg took time to answer a bunch of my questions involving 45s I’d uncovered. Over the years, Greg would continue to be forthright in many ways, from filling in a nagging gap in some numbskull discography I was messing with to offering printing advice to securing our band a high profile Los Angeles date with the Plimsouls. In 1988, I represented our magazine KICKS as part of a magazine/fanzine writer panel at the BID Festival in Berlin. It was a pretty dismal scene, with the word “indie” constantly flying out of each and every unglued yapper. The geeks were surely inheriting the earth. Aside from the esteemed Lindsay Hutton of NEXT BIG THING magazine, the panel was made up of a half dozen writers from NME and various alternative and techno mags. These guys blew their hot air around the room, then Lindsay and I waved the flag for rock n’ roll. The moderator asked if anyone in the crowd had any questions or comments. Lindsay and I were at once stunned and honored to have Greg Shaw get up and launch into the most brilliant, articulate diatribe on the commitment of writing from the heart (Greg’s line “I see two people up there dictated by passion and I see six employees” will forever stick in my mind). To have the guy who provided me with such inspiration and confidence to follow my rackety dream actually go to bat on my behalf will always mean the world to me. It’s a sad day. We’ve all lost a true pioneer this time around. I can honestly say there would be no Norton Records or KICKS magazine had it not been for Greg Shaw’s visionary efforts.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 01:18:11 +0000