DENNIS LOREN MEMORIAL TRIBUTE
LET GO: His work was introduced to the world during his four years as Art Director for Blitz Magazine - The Rock And Roll Magazine For Thinking People. From there, he went on to establish one of the most diverse and acclaimed legacies in thie history of the recording industry. We salute our dear friend DENNIS LOREN, who succumbed to a lengthy illness on 18 May. (Click on above image to enlarge).
THINKING PEOPLE:
REMEMBERING
DENNIS LOREN
(1945 - 2026)
By Michael McDowell
Without Dennis Loren, there may well have never been a Blitz Magazine - The Rock And Roll Magazine For Thinking People.
The world of music in Southeastern Michigan in the mid-1960s was anything but a one size fits all scenario. While it was the visionary work of such rhythm and blues-inspired companies as Golden World, Ric-Tic, Revilot and the Motown family of labels, as well as the ambitious and second to none first generation garage rock championed by the likes of the Unrelated Segments, the Wanted, the Tidal Waves, the Human Beings, Bob Seger And The Last Heard, tthe Bossmen, the Shy Guys, the Rationals, Terry Knight And The Pack, the Pleasure Seekers, Question Mark And The Mysterians and countless others that largely put the area on center stage, diversity and creativity in any capacity were most assuredly the order of the day.
This was borne out most consistently at suburban Detroit's beloved WKNR Keener 13, where station mastermind Bob Green's Intelligent Flexibility thesis guided such like minded visionaries as Paul Cannon, Jerry Goodwin, Scott Regen, J. Michael Wilson and Ted Clark, as they showcased a richly diverse platform that gave equal footing to everyone from Mongo Santamaria and Dean Martin to the Blues Magoos and the Parliaments.
It was that cerebrally charged atmosphere in which Dennis Loren found himself. Born Dennis Loren Kranich, Loren followed his high school graduation in 1964 with a tour of militarty duty in Europe. While there, Loren enjoyed the once in a lifetime blessing of witnessing a live performance by the enormously influential and groundbreaking composer and saxophonist John Coltrane.
That experience was enough to solidify his resolve to make his own mark. Upon his discharge from military service, Loren relocated to California's Bay Area for a season. While there, he developed a working relationship with many of the area's industry front runners.
By the mid-1970s, Loren found himself back in Michigan. The discipline he had learned during his time in the military served him well, as he navigated the responsibility of single parenthood for son Ben while plying his trade at various graphics and production houses on Detroit's east side. Among other things, Loren also tried his hand at both recording (Let Go) and as a label head (the short lived Stone Soup Records).
Despite those commitments, the timing could not have been more fortuitous. With the musical mainstream still in the throes of a protracted aesthetic slump, the faithful grew increasingly discontented, to the point of being motivated to the degree of taking matters into their own hands and initiating large scale change. Despite the technical limitations of that pre-internet era, the members of the diehard contingent eventually found one another and began to assert themselves in accordance with their respective God given capabilities.
Most notably, a cadre of like minded musicians (including Cinecyde, the Romantics, Flirt, the Mutants and others) joined forces and began to release singles on their own labels. In turn, Blitz Magazine chronicled it all via a series of mimeographed newsletters that sang their praises, as well as the praises of the pioneers that inspired them.
At an area record collectors convention in late 1976 (one of many hosted by the late Stu Shapiro), Blitz Magazine Editor/Publisher Michael McDowell and long time colleague and contributing writer Jerry Schollenberger were in attendance as vendors, offering everything from rare and collectible 45s and albums to a selection of indie releases from the burgeoning, so-called punk/new wave movement. Also on display was a selection of some of the seventeen mimeo editons of the Blitz Magazine newsletter that had been published to date.
It was that latter item that caught the attention of Dennis Loren. He approached Blitz Magazine's exhibit and introduced himself.
"I've seen your work before", he said.
"I really like what you do. But I think you can take it to the next level. You should make a full length magazine out of it".
A meeting at Loren's Detroit home followed days later. Long story short, the first full length edition (#18) of Blitz Magazine made its debut in the early weeks of 1977, featuring interviews with musical visionaries Jan And Dean and a wealth of reviews of new releases (in The Shape Of Things To Come column) and rare vintage ones (as chronicled in the Classics Revisited section).
Throughout the remainder of the decade, Blitz Magazine and Dennis Loren spent countless nights over a light table proofreading and refining accordingly with X-Acto knife in hand, assembling nearly twenty more such editions of what by then had become known as Blitz Magazine - The Rock And Roll Magazine For Thinking People. In the process, Loren brought on board a number of his esteemed colleagues to offer their expertise, from book and magazine distributor Bob Tremaine to Spikedrivers co-founder and front man Ted Lucas (who provided a wealth of first hand information on the ins and outs of the industry) and one time MC5 manager John Sinclair, who regularly contributed to the typesetting process from his Detroit offices.
When Blitz Magazine relocated operations to Southern California in late 1979 - early 1980, a new team had to be assembled out of necessity. Various responsibilities kept Loren from following suit for the time being, although that decision proved to be fortuitous. Various other publications lined up in demand for his services, inspiring him to try his own hand at editorship with the acclaimed RPM Magazine. His work as a graphic designer could be found on the covers of releases by many of the area's leading musical lights, eventually bringing it full circle via his contributions to major career spanning releases by Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service.
Upon his return to California in the closing years of the twentieth century, Loren joined forces with the great Bob Keane, who opted to give his vaunted Del-Fi label one last moment in the spotlight with a series of acclaimed new releases. Meanwhile, Loren's son Ben concurrently found himself as one of the prime movers and shakers in the burgeoning communications industry in the Pacific Northwest.
Various family obligations eventually necessitated Loren's return to Michigan during the early years of the twenty-first century. While we attempted to stay in touch in various capacities, the demands of the day to day prevented doing so on a more frequent basis. Nonetheless, there were a number of highlights, including a magnificent night spent with the Flamin' Groovies during their fiftieth anniverary tour in 2015.
True to form, Dennis Loren was quick to divert attention away from himself, preferring to sing the praises of those who inspired him or whom he in turn mentored. To that effect, a proposed lunch meeting just months ago fell through the cracks when various commitments once again became the order of the day.
However, in Loren's case, the cessation of communications came as the result of his own relatively low key battle against various health concerns. He had been persevering in his fight for a number of weeks, when a sad announcement came on the morning of 19 May from his cousin, Robin Branch Stewart Bowden.
"My dearest big cousin Denny passed away yesterday", she said.
"I've known him my entire life as kind, gentle, creative and a wonderful storyteller".
Indeed, Dennis Loren was all that, as well as a visionary who took the concept of thinking people to the next level. He would have celebrated his eighty-first birthday in June. Memorial services are pending.
posted by BlitzMagazine at 12:11 PM
