Ric’s uncle, Patrick Giordano, passed away in his sleep on Thursday, July 18th at the age of 93. Patrick appears in many of the stories and photos captured throughout Ric’s life on the website. He also served as the executor and caretaker of Ric’s estate.
Stephane Sosnow recently shared a photo taken in her parents’ Brooklyn driveway of Ric returning home from Los Angeles after interviewing Vincente Minelli and Sam Fuller (circa 1976).
Geoff Edgers’ new book follows the creation of the historic collaboration between Run DMC and Aerosmith. One chapter is devoted to producer Rick Rubin’s rise from the dorm rooms of NYU to his creation of Def Jam and his success as a producer. Ric Menello’s relationship as Rick’s mentor and friend is explored and highlighted.
View Geoff Edgers’ Book: Walk This Way: Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and the Song that Changed American Music Forever.
Adam Horovitz and Michael Diamond’s Beastie Boys Book is a massive, 600-page crazy quilt of ideas, photos, and writing that charts their long-storied musical career. Ric Menello is mentioned when they briefly discuss their early days of making music videos(although, he did not direct the “She’s on It” music video).
View Adam Horovitz and Michael Diamond’s Book: Beastie Boys Book
Slick Rick Album Package
Slick Rick celebrated the 30th anniversary of the release of the Children’s Story album and video with a special edition album and a series of interviews.
Best of ’88: Slick Rick on the Greatest Story Hip-Hop Ever Told
In 2015, our cousin Ron Menello found a series of boxes that contained some of the comic books that Ric had collected as a boy. The boxes were stored in old wooden file cabinets in our Grandmother’s garage. Ric had outgrown his comic-book phase a long time ago, and his collection was all but forgotten. In time, they would show that his enthusiasm for all forms of media – from toys to comic books to movies and literature – was developed and fine-tuned long before his adulthood.
On this third anniversary of his passing, we take a small glimpse back on these weathered comics that maintain his wild, inventive spirit within them.
We honor Ric on this second anniversary of his death with a special update to the website. Mel Neuhaus has shared some of the video he shot on his cellphone on Christmas at a get-together in Brooklyn. We have also added a rebuttal to Richard Brody, an updated biography, and a new piece in the Recollections of Ric stories.
On Christmas 2012, Ric, at a casual get-together with a group of friends in Brooklyn, was coaxed into singing a few songs. Mel pulled out his cellphone and recorded two of them. They remained on his phone until he was able to recently transfer them.
Ric chose to sing “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” a song sung by Gene Pitney that was based upon the eponymous movie’s plotline but not used in the film. The John Ford film was one of Ric’s favorite movies.
It was the last Christmases Ric would spend with his family and friends before his death in March of the following year.
One of Ric’s final screenwriting assignments before his untimely death was an adaptation of the book Making the Wiseguys Weep: The Jimmy Roselli Story by David Evanier. Producer Neil Jesuele is currently putting together financing for the project. It is an excellent screenplay and we look forward to the film coming to fruition. In the meantime follow the links for updates:
Making the Wiseguys Weep website.
The life of Jimmy Roselli: Read about the Life of Jimmy Roselli
David Evanier’s book: View David Evanier’s Book
Rick Rubin returns to his NYU Dorm Room. A nice piece on the start of it all. In Memory of Weinstein Hall’s “Mr Ricc” Menello.