TRIBUTE: Mick Kluczynski
Below L-R: Robbie Williams and Mick in the Floyd dressing room, 1974; Mick (centre) with Phil Taylor, Paul Devine, Seth Goldman and Nick Mason on Pink Floyd’s 1975 North American tour;
Seth Goldman shows his appreciation to Mick whilst at Brit Row’s Long Island base, circa 1978; Lisa Anderson and Paul Gambaccini present Mick with the TPi Lifetime Award in 2005.
The Cure. the pro side of the industry that most people him and with all the naivety of a starry-eyed
By the early ’90s, Mick was growing tired of who’ve enjoyed seeing his events will never teenager, I asked him what his role was on the
touring and began concentrating on the one-off appreciate. But he was happy to spread the tour.
specials that would revolutionise his life, his word for best practice, honesty and delivering a “See that?” he said, gesturing towards the
career and indeed a generation’s perception of supreme result. stage. “I make all that happen.” Sixteen years
televised live music. “Back in 1992, when he heard I was writing later, I met Mick again, this time for professional
He began this process with Bob Birch and a piece for Live!, he asked to be interviewed, reasons. I recounted my teenage tale and he
Eve Watts at Birchwatt Events, but to enable along with his then business partner Bob Birch, almost choked with embarrassment!
a fuller transition and offer a “complete to try to explain what exactly it is (or was then)
event production solution”, he founded MJK that a production manager does. AWARD
Productions in 1994 with Kate Wright, his “This was quite adventurous in those still It was fitting that we dedicated this year’s TPi
business partner up until his death, who not very-tech days when the Internet and Awards to Mick. Four years ago, in the company
continues to look after MJK’s financial and full-on e-mail were still inconceivable outside of former colleagues David Gilmour, Phil Taylor,
logistical departments. of academia, so you toured with fax machines. ex-BRIT Awards producer Lisa Anderson and our
With MJK, Mick headed the technical But helping a wayward industry become more host Paul Gambaccini, he was presented with
production for The MOBO Awards, the VE50 professional, more proud of itself and its TPi’s prestigious Lifetime Contribution Award
celebrations, countless corporate events, the achievements, was always at the forefront of his in acknowledgement of his long and eventful
Spice Girls’ live debut in Istanbul, the Classical mind.” career.
Mike recalled the VE50 Hyde Park In 2004, when I interviewed him for our
celebrations at which Mr. K commented on the regular Vital Stats page, Mick revealed that
“His larger than life character Scottish Highlanders’ endless bagpipe rehearsals his greatest inspiration was The Band’s album,
introduced me to touring...”
outside his portacabin in the blazing July heat: Cahoots.
“If ah never hear another f***ing bagpipe in ma He described himself as a “born worker”
Robbie Williams life, laddie, it’ll be too f***ing soon for me!” and that whilst he had never been particularly
Mick backed the BRIT Awards production ambitious, the one thing that would have
effort as a showcase for new technology, as persuaded him to return to the touring life,
BRIT Awards and the aforementioned BRITs. Mike Lethby observed: “He sold those concepts would have been if The Dark Side Of The
He was also notable as one of the founding (and costs) up the line to the powers-that-be. As Moon had taken to the road once more with its
fathers of the Production Services Association he once said to me, ‘We can’t just sit here and original line-up. Thanks to politics and ultimately
(PSA) — now administered through TPi’s parent do the same sh*t year after year; we have to fate, that will forever remain a fantasy.
company, Mondiale Publishing Limited — as push it every time.’” His ‘advice to a teenage Mick Kluczynski’
well as being an original driving force behind Clearly, it was this attitude that resulted in was loaded with the accumulated wisdom of
the International Live Music Conference (ILMC). the first use on a mainstream UK live music TV a life lived to the full. “Do the same again, but
show of everything from a fully digital audio leave out the booze and the white powder.”
LEGACY production chain (from live sound to broadcast),
My fellow scribe, Mike Lethby, a former to 6mm LED screens, Syncrolites and many THE FINAL LOAD-OUT
editor at Live! magazine, recalled some of the other innovations. The Floyd camp has not been immune to
distinctive qualities that earned Mick such high sadness in recent years, having witnessed
respect. He said: “Mick was the production STARRY-EYED the passing of Syd Barrett, Richard Wright,
manager who — among many other things Although I’d enjoyed many an hour in Mick’s orchestral arranger Michael Kamen, band
and all the high standards that he in many ways company, either documenting his work on the manager Steve O’Rourke, recording engineer
pioneered — was one of the few who bothered BRIT Awards or listening to him reminisce about Nick Griffiths, tour managers Tony Howard and
to embrace the trade press, very specifically the days of yore over several long café lunches, Warwick McCreadie, and John Roden, who
because he wanted the world to understand it was actually back in 1977 that I first met him, served as monitor engineer on David Gilmour’s
how the business in the late ’80s/early ’90s albeit unwittingly. On An Island tour.
needed to change. I went with some older school pals to see And now, The Great Gig In The Sky has a
“It could no longer be a cottage industry the Floyd at Wembley Arena (then Empire Pool) new production manager. Safe journey, Mick.
having a good time; it was becoming a serious during their Animals tour and just before the TPi
profession that needed to deliver quality, gig started I spotted a stocky-looking chap walk Photography courtesy of
integrity and value to the client. Hence his out from the barrier at stage left. Phil Taylor, Seth Goldman,
start-up role in the PSA — a legacy he leaves to “As he headed for front of house, I followed Louise Stickland & Mike Lethby
Mick’s funeral was held at Mortlake Crematorium on Saturday 21 February. Donations to the MICK KLUCZYNSKI MEMORIAL FUND
will be distributed between the RSPB, The Orang-utan Foundation and The Child Carers Fund. See www.psa.org.uk for details.
08 • TPi MARCH 09
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