died on June 6<\/a> at the age of 77.<\/p>\nI never met Gene, but I read his work. He did plenty of other entertainment coverage in film and the performing arts, but I\u2019d like to focus on his music writing here.<\/p>\n
Gene was a champion of The Flaming Lips, when they were still very outside the mainstream. Giving shine to the band in the state\u2019s largest newspaper led to many suburban normies \u2014 including myself \u2014 to discover the band for the first time. He did the same for Chainsaw Kittens, Starlight Mints, The Mimsies and more.<\/p>\n
In the early 1980s, he thoughtfully explained the genre labels of \u2018punk\u2019 and \u2018new wave,\u2019 addressing some negative connotations while giving readers an entry point to discover new music.<\/p>\n
In a concert review of punk band X in 1982, his words captured the look, sound and feel of The Bowery in OKC: \u201cThe sweaty throng seemed to be an even balance of conventionally dressed music lovers and those decorated more appropriately with spiky, close-cropped hair, leopard-skin pants, black Spandex, battered leather, bizarre makeup, etc. Men and women stood side-by-side on chairs and all along the railing surrounding the crowded dance floor, bruising each other with their hips and steadying themselves by hanging onto the flimsy metal framework of the ceiling\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
He also gave insight into what music sounded like in album reviews, like this 2003 review of Infinite Keys<\/i> by Tulsa band Ester Drang: \u201cThe crystalline instrumentation of the piano-laced \u201cI Don\u2019t Want to Live (in a World of Infinite Keys)\u201d and the catchy-yet-gentle sway of the guitars and variety of keyboards on the beautifully bittersweet \u201cNo One Could Ever Take Your Face\u201d are more conducive to introspective gazing at one\u2019s footwear than to bouncing off one\u2019s walls.\u201d<\/p>\n
A good music writer takes you places you\u2019ve never been and piques your interest in sounds you\u2019ve never heard. Gene did both well and his readers were better for it.<\/p>\n