Morphine Frontman Remembered With Live Music, Radio Show
A private memorial service for Morphine frontman Mark Sandman will
be held Friday (July 9) in Boston, according to the late
bandleader’s label, Dreamworks Records. Details for a public
ceremony are expected to be announced soon.| Several tribute shows
are also being lined up for Sandman. On Thursday, Boston’s Lizard
Lounge Club plays host to an informal show featuring Club d’Elf, a
band led by Sandman’s former Hypnosonics bandmate Mike Rivard. John
Medeski of Medeski, Martin and Wood will also play. An official
tribute concert is being planned for Beantown’s Middle East on July
25, but there’s no word yet on who’s performing at that show.
Finally, WFNX-FM will air a two-hour special dedicated to Sandman’s
music this Sunday at 11 p.m.
Meanwhile, Sandman’s friend and publicist, Carrie Svingen, shed
some light on the frontman’s last hours. “By all accounts, Mark’s
last day, spent in a small, historic town outside Rome, was a
joyous one. Practicing Italian with the locals and soaking in the
culture, he was in his element. On stage in a beautifully situated
venue in front of thousands of adoring fans, he could not have
scripted a more sublime setting. Shortly before he collapsed, he
recited the lyrics to ‘Mona’s Sister’ (an old Treat Her Right song)
in Italian. The crowd was ecstatic that he had reached out to them
in their own language. We can take some comfort in the fact that
Mark left us doing what he loved most, performing and giving his
all to his fans.”
Sandman died Saturday of a heart attack two songs into a Morphine
performance in Palestrina, Italy, thirty miles east of Rome. The
band was in the midst of a two-week tour of Europe before they were
to head back to the States for a twelve-date tour. Shortly before
his death, Sandman turned in a live album, which is tentatively
scheduled for release this fall. Sandman’s family continues to ask
that in lieu of flowers donations be sent to the Mark Sandman Music
Education Fund, c/o Morphine, P.O. Box 382085, Cambridge, MA 02238.
The fund was established to aid music education in the Cambridge
public school system.