good-bye, sweet and talented friend

After a long and brave fight with brain cancer, our friend and former roommate, Logan Whitehurst, has passed away. Everyone is so sad that he's gone, but of course it is also a relief that he is not in any more pain.



Logan was in several bands, including The Velvet Teen, and his own solo project, Logan Whitehurst and the Junior Science Club. Both bands have huge fan followings, who will undoubtedly be broken hearted. The latter, LWatJSC, was featured on the Doctor Demento show, and were something similar to They Might Be Giants. Logan churned out songs by the handful, and although he had all kinds of musicians collaborate with him on recordings, he was the Jr Science Club, flanked only by Vanilla the Plastic Snowman.

We shot these press photos in 2003.





Logan was also a supremely talented visual artist - he drew cartoons, and did etchings when he had the chance. He also did graphic design for bands including his own and others. My favorite artwork of his was this beautiful series of a bird's life in the city and the sky. He spoke of getting back in the printing studio to make up some more copies of that series, and I am so sad that he never had the chance.

His silly cartoons and songs were well loved, and were balanced by the beautiful, poignant songs he played and sang on, as well as some of the most amazing etchings I have ever seen. Although it was a long time coming, there were all kinds of ups and downs with his illness - one minute cancer free, the next receiving a fatal sentence, and back and forth for years. We were living with him when he initially got sick, and we all thought and hoped that it was something much, much more benign.


I am happy that he is no longer in pain or struggling to speak or otherwise move; but I can't believe he's really gone.






He leaves behind a very loving family, friends, fans, an amazing and astoundingly prolific collection of audio and visual arts, and one very very sad snowman.