Bad news – Page 1 – Music – Dallas – Dallas Observer: “The pain of losing a friend is never easy, but it becomes infinitely harder when that loss is a result of a conscious decision. The suicide of Mark Migliore, a successful engineer and investor who used his money to document the psychedelic music scene through his Rockadelic Records, has left the Texas psych scene reeling.
Migliore, who co-owned the vinyl-only label with Rich Haupt, was dedicated to psychedelia both historic and contemporary, preserving both the efforts of unknown ’60s acts (for which he searched relentlessly) like Dark Shadows and offering current Dallas psych bands like the Burnin’ Rain a place to be heard. Obscure and seldom remarked upon here, Texas psychedelia is hugely popular in Europe, where bands that Americans seldom hear about get eight-page magazine spreads complete with color photos.
Migliore grew up in Dallas and attended Jesuit High School. His family was already well-off, but his skill as an engineer and his investment acumen–particularly in real estate–made him quite wealthy. A source who worked with him at Texas Instruments in the early ’80s recalls a ‘guy who was good at his job but still cool and very much into music; back then he kinda had a new-wavey haircut–which wasn’t common there.’
Migliore’s wealth allowed him to indulge his love and many local musical adventurers–J. Bone Cro’s Womb Tune Records, Mike Pemberton and the Burnin’ Rain, and the Vas Deferens Organization, to name but a few–relied on him to various degrees. It also allowed him to indulge a serious drug habit which in the past few months had resulted in behaviors eccentric and unacceptable even by rock ‘n’ roll standards. The death last year of Chris Edgerton, his running buddy in every sense of the word, reportedly had a profoundly destabilizing and depressing effect on him. Migliore had recently checked himself into Minnesota’s heavy-duty Hazelden rehab facility, but left after only a few days. Upon returning to Dallas he found many concerned friends with helping hands extended, but it was somehow not enough. Last week he got into his car, drove out of town, and put a gun to his head.
‘He was successful on so many different levels that it’s really hard to understand,’ says Vas Deferens’ Matt Castille, mirroring the incomprehension and pain of Migliore’s friends; although his mission was obscure, more than a dozen people called Street Beat after the news broke, expressing shock and dismay. Haupt says he will continue with Rockadelic and honor all the label’s obligations, but the more troublesome implications of Migliore’s death remain. If Migliore could see the pain and sadness produced by his departure–if he could feel the void that so many now are feeling–perhaps he would reconsider, but of course it’s too late for that. It always is.”