RIP: Mark Kamins, Early Madonna Producer

Pioneering DJ and producer Mark Kamins, who was instrumental in facilitating the signing of Madonna to Sire Records in 1982, has died. He was 57. According to BlackBook, on Feb. 14, he suffered “a massive coronary” in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he has been teaching. Word spread on Facebook, where many friends of the Downtown New York City scenester posted remembrances. The particular poignancy of his passing is surely the marking of the chronology of those connected to the incipient development of the biggest musical star of our time -- the mortality surrounding the cultural immortal that is the Queen of Pop.