Hamish Kilgour memorial fund.

Above: Hamish Kilgour playing drums, like no other.

Last December when word spread that Hamish Kilgour (musician most well known for his work with The Clean, The Great Unwashed and The Mad Scene) had gone missing it was difficult not to feel an ominous sense of dread. The memory of a similar disappearance by Sam Jayne two years earlier was still fresh. In our brutally capitalist society it's not enough to be a creative genius. One must also take on the sometimes daunting task of being a successful entrepreneur, as well. What a bother. We must "earn" our way through this world, which can often be confusing and disorienting to one who just wants to play the blues. This can lead to a number of unfortunate outcomes: lack of income, unstable housing situation, neglected mental and physical health. During his 65 years Hamish experienced all of that.

Sadly, Hamish Kilgour, a sensitive, kind and supportive fellow, left this world at the end of last year. Sad for his family, band mates, legions of fans and his teenage son, Taran. Several close pals and associates of Hamish, including Samara Lubelski, Miggy Littleton (both former band mates in The Mad Scene) and Ben Goldberg (who released Hamish's solo album All of It and Nothing on his Ba Da Bing! Records) organized a "GoFundMe" site to raise money to support Hamish's son, now that he cannot. Lisa Siegel, mother of Taran and co-fonder with Hamish of The Mad Scene, says "It's really good. First of all I feel kinda weird about it, but they said 'don't you want Taran to see how people really loved his dad and appreciate him?' People want to do something, I'm really grateful for that."

Sally (The Croutons, The Mad Scene) wrote the text for the site as a celebration of Hamish:

   "Honoring the legacy of Hamish Kilgour

Samara Lubelski, has known Lisa and Hamish since way back. On the telephone this week she had many sweet memories of Hamish. "They were on the NY scene back in the '90s. We were all hanging out, everyone doing music and all that. I'm tight with Hamish - - - I needed someone to play some drums on this record, and he played the kit, he played hand drums. We did a bunch of shows together; live it was always hand drums. He's got a feel, always. Whenever he came over to my place he always said something nice. Always, something thoughtful. A whimsical guy, you could always tell when it was him playing drums, playing guitar. He's awesome."

 

That about sums it up. Please visit the Hamish Kilgour GoFundMe site and give big.

Above: artwork by Hamish Kilgour. Besides playing multiple musical instruments, Hamish was an accomplished visual artist. Many of the phonograph record covers by The Clean and The Mad Scene featured drawings and paintings by Hamish Kilgour. The above piece, "Tiki 6" was given to Samara Lubelski (note "For S" in lower left hand corner). As for the subject matter of this particular work, "Hamish and I never talked about it, but I always figured Tiki 6 was the name of that particular model of Hamish robot."