Died On This Date (February 26, 2011) Mark Tulin / Bassist For The Electric Prunes & Smashing Pumpkins

Mark Tulin
November 21, 1948 – February 26, 2011

Mark Tulin is best remembered as the bassist for influential ’60s garage psych band, the Electric Prunes.  Formed in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California in 1965, the band churned out several era-defining songs including “I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night,” “Get Me To The World On Time,” and “Kyrie Eleison/Mardi Gras (When the Saints),” which was prominently featured in the iconic film, Easy Rider.  Tulin was active in the group from its inception until 1968 and then for a reunited configuration from 2001 until his passing.  In 2009, he was asked by Billy Corgan to join Smashing Pumpkins, first in the studio for the recording of Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, and later to fill in on a few live dates.  Tulin also joined Corgan in his Sky Saxon tribute band, Spirits In The Sky, which included Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction.  Toward the end of 2010, he was back in the studio working on a new album with the Electric Prunes.  On February 26, 2011, while volunteering with an underwater clean-up on Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles, 62-year-old Mark Tulin collapsed and died.  Cause of death was not immediately released.

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The Electric Prunes

Died On This Date (January 12, 2009) Gary Kurfirst / Respected Manager and Label Veteran

Gary Kurfirst
July 8, 1947 – January 13, 2009

Gary Kurfirst was a respected artist manager, label executive and concert promoter.  Kurfirst got his first taste of the music industry when he began promoting dances while still in high school.  In 1967, he launched New York City’s Village Theater which soon became world famous as Bill Graham’s Fillmore East.  The following year, he created the New York Rock Festival which featured the likes of the Doors, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.  It has been said that the idea of Woodstock came to be thanks to the New York Rock Festival.  By the ’80s, Kurfirst was a well-established artist manager.  Over the course of his career, he guided the careers of the likes of the Peter Tosh, Toots & the Maytals, Talking Heads, the Ramones, Blondie, Jane’s Addiction, the Eurythmics and the B-52s.  Gary Kurfirst was 61 when he died suddenly of an undisclosed cause while vacationing in the Bahamas.

Thanks to Craig Rosen from Number1Albums for the assist.