When news of Anne Winter's death yesterday began circulating through the scene, it was like a lake freezing. Lives came to a halt, all energy being redirected toward remembering and paying tribute to a person who touched so many lives in Kansas City's musical, artistic, cultural and just-plain-human realms.
Winter died yesterday in her home at the age of 45. For 18 years, Winter and her husband, Kurt von Schlemmer, owned and operated Recycled Sounds.
Until it closed in 2006, the midtown record store was a haven of both good taste in music and undying support for the local music scene. To just about anyone who came of age in the '90s in Kansas City and sought out or played underground, indie, alternative rock, hip-hop, punk, singer-songwriter -- you name it -- the place was, if not personally significant, at least well known.
Earlier this afternoon, friends and former employees stopped by the old storefront (now occupied by Clint's Comics) to pay respects, adding flowers, cards, mardi gras masks and the like to a makeshift memorial shrine set up for Winter. The picture taped inside the window showed Winter in her regalia as queen of a recent 18th Street Mardi Gras parade.
Update: Some local musicians have set up a fund to collect donations to help Anne's family. It's at AnnieWinter.org.
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Ann came to a poetry reading I gave at The Writer's Place in 1997. She became of of my biggest fans in Kansas City. When she told me she was born in Iowa City, we instantly had something in common, as I went to school there. She was also a big fan of cowboy stuff. One day I went into the store and told her that Boomerang had a Roy Rogers watch for sale in the original box for a very good price. She immediately left to go pick it up. I never got to spend much time w/ her, but we always enjoyed it when we did. I miss her tremendously and treasure the music she turned me on to.
Some who posts as "anonymous" dOesn't deserve explanations or details about anything. C'
mon- isn't that ironic - asking for full disclosure? Furthermore, anne's children will continue to live and grow in this community. The people reporting this story are also mourning a friend so have some decency. Did it ever occur to you that if you don't know you don't need to know?
I also owe a lot to Anne Winter.
She was the first person to consign my zines at her shop when I was 14. She got me into community organizing around free speech, and she supported me in my creative pursuits all the way through my 20s, after I'd left K.C. . Anne came to my reading in town, bought a book and stood in line to get it signed. Seeing Anne brought tears to my eyes, because I can physically trace how different my life was after I met her. It is in everything I do. I got to tell her how much she'd changed my life, and i'm so glad to have had the chance. That was the last time I saw Anne Winter, but her stamp will be on me forever.
I send my dearest condolences to her husband and children.
This is a very sad day.
I was at Anne's funeral this afternoon. The chapel, a fairly sizable room, was full up and the crowd filled the hallways and the entry. It would have been impossible to fit any more people in the funeral home. I'm sorry I missed the Friday memorial.
I'm old enough to remember Love Records at the location that was Dirt Cheap/Recycled Sounds. I first met Ann as a customer and then in the early 1990s for a couple of years I would get vinyl and posters from Ann that I sold on consignment in flea markets. A few years after that she asked if I would be interested in being a partner in her opening a second store in Lawrence, but I was too timid to say yes. I found Ann to be a kind, warm and enthusiastic person who was definitely in business for the fun/joy of it. Having not seen her for probably 4-5 years I am deeply saddened and shocked by her untimely passing. Best to her husband and children.
I remember helping to put on a show at Recycled Sounds for Amnesty. We had to take all the records and bins out and put them in the basement to have space for all the people and the stage. We had a human chain to pass box after box of records down the stairs. It was cool that so many people volunteered to do that. But the really amazing part came when just as many people stuck around to get it all back in place so the store could open the next day.
People did it because they loved her. She'll be missed.
I worked for Anne at Recycled Sounds long ago... still the best job I have ever had. She was a great lady-- strong, independent, funny, and smart. She loved music and loved her family. It is such a huge loss -- I wish she was here now so she could see how much she the people around her cared for her. It tears me up-- all I can think to say is, everyone hold your loved ones tight to you and tell them how you feel -- life is just too fleeting and short.
To the family and friends of Anne .. may your thoughts of her be wonderful and shared with the two young children that are left behind. My the fine the stories that will be told such wonder that as years pass that they too share them with their children and Anne's ICON will never fade.
To others: in this time no reason should be given of the death but instead hold the wonderful times and thoughts of one so dear and reach out to the family in their time of saddness....
Anne will be missed most of all for her unrelenting energy and sincerity, and for her vast musical knowledge. I will never meet another person with so much to offer, and who asks so very little in return. I wish this were all a bad dream!
I worked with Anne back in the late 80's and early 90's when she helped the local Amnesty International Group promote human rights. I don't normally read the obituaries, but her obituary caught my eye this morning. We lost a vibrant activist and good person with her passing.
I urge everyone to visit the website for her children's education fund. I am administering my mother's estate and I can tell you that the costs and hardships incurred after a death are severe.
I used to drive more than an hour each way from the small town I grew up in just to go to Recycled Sounds in the 90s. I remember seeing Anne around the store back then, but never spoke to her. I just thought she must have been the coolest for having such an awesome store. I moved away for years and then back to KC last year. I was sad to see the store had closed. When Anne had the last record sale at Record Bar over the summer I went and bought a whole bunch of stuff. Whenever she would see me looking at certain records she would come over and tell me a story behind it. One of them had a personal message to her written on the cover by the band. I remember feeling kind of bad for buying it. R.I.P.
My favorite thing about Anne was her laugh. It was like an engine, full bodied, resonating through all around her. It's so much like the impact she has on thousands, everything Anne did was always robust with a harmonious sonority to her community, friends, and loved ones. I owe so much to Anne and the work she did. I wish I could have said "Thank You" before her passing. I will always miss her, and grieve a little every time I walk into a record store, or even listen to a record. The sound of Anne Winter, which has a permanence for all who new her, is a sound we will never forget. Thank You Anne!
Calvin
Look, this is a blog for the KC/Lawrence music scene -- not Reuters -- and Nick and I control the content as we deem appropriate.
I posted the above tribute at the end of a strange, sad day, and though I was pretty sure I knew the details of Anne's death by that morning, I didn't feel like being the first person to out the details publicly.
You people who had to drag your beef over the Dennis Hess photo into this discussion should consider listening to your own cries for sensitivity.
Kurt, Danny, b., Dave -- everyone who took the time to share their feelings here, thank you. Don't pay attention to the jerks. I know you don't anyway.
I am new to Kansas City, and reading about the H1N1 article I caught sight of the place I seldom ever read, Obituaries. I had no idea who Anne Winter was, (and will continue to be for many), but I appreciate the website link because as I read the obituary; I thought that she was someone people would enjoying knowing. I am so glad that she had a life that shone so brightly. I admit, also, to a curiosity about what happened, but only so far as to wonder how to connect in a positive way with the legacy of this stranger who, oddly, felt like no stranger at all--but a welcoming soul. We all have our points of interest here, but however she left this life, she did not leave without a mark. Can that be how I might plug in, a stranger perhaps, to this legacy--remember to LIVE so that, like Anne, this life I have, can also touch others. Well, that is how Anne inspired me.
Jeff
I was Anne's husband and father to our children. Your right/need to know is valid and I will share that information when I have a chance to breathe. Thanks for your patience and the outpouring of love, support and appreciation. It is deeply felt.
Her death, so tragic. If it is determined suicide it should be discussed- it's important to understand how depression can infiltrate anyone, but until her death is ruled a suicide by the police we should wait, it's a great deal to absorb.
horrible
Seems to be a double standard for reporting when it comes to suicide. If the Pitch likes you they will report it one way. If they can sell papers they will show your dead bloody body.
I liked the story about Hess and thought it very interesting but the photo was over the top. Very wrong. You should have told us she committed suicide.
I have a great deal of respect for Anne, and adored her for her many contributions to our city and culture.
Her passing has me fairly shook.
That said, I respect the notion that we are not necessarily entitled to information regarding her cause of death. Especially if the circumstances were that of a questionable nature (ie: suicide, overdose, etc.)
However, when reporting a death of a relatively young and prominent member of a community is thoroughly incomplete journalism to not at least note one of the following:
A) cause of death.
B) cause of death not yet known.
-or-
C.) Family wishes details regarding death be kept confidential.
Her cause of death may not be known at this time (not unusual when someone dies so young) or her family may not wish to share it publicly. �We certainly have no right to this information and to expect the media to hound the family for it in order to satisfy your macabre curiosity is really astounding.�
Furthermore, it is not incompatible for a community icon to be afflicted with depression. �Like cancer, it can strike without warning, afflicting the young and old, rich and poor, pillars of society and ne'erdowells. �Like cancer, many do recover but some, despite the best treatments and supportive families, don't survive.
��
May�her�beautiful legacy comfort those who are grieving. ����
I too want to know why she died. She was so young. And if she was such a community icon, why would she commit suicide? There are way too many unanswered questions in this story. I came to The Pitch assuming I would get more info than The Star and all I see is a rewrite of the same story.
RIP to a beautiful lady.
Dan. Was the manner if her death news to you? Because for an apparent OVERWHELMING number of readers, it appears it is just the fact of her death that is news.
You seem to be the only cunt repeatedly concerned with the morbidity of how and why people die.
So, best advice, buy a fucking police scanner so you can pretend to have a life.
Sorry, but it is called "journalism." Maybe you should read the Dennis Hess story this week where it was proclaimed not only how he committed suicide, but also showed his dead, bloody, body.
Anne, you will be missed. You were an icon in Kansas City. I don't know what I would have done for so many of Ben's gifts if you and Kurt would not have had Recycled Sound. God Speed Sister...We will take care of your family. Please watch over us all.
A gathering is planned at 7:30 Friday evening at the Rime Buddhist Center in Kansas City.
A visitation is scheduled from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday and a service at 1 p.m. Tuesday, both at the Muehlebach Funeral Home, 6800 Troost.
KCUR (public radio, hope I have the call sign right) said at 4:45 pm today she died of suicide.
When a young woman of 45 dies readers want to know "WHY." Neither you or the Star will inform readers regarding the cause of death.
You are willing to show a photo of a dead guy with blood running down his chest. Is it a double standard when it comes to women?
There were quite a few early all-ages shows at El Torreon where I ended up sitting in my truck waiting for the doors to open because I'd come out even earlier to stop by Recycled Sounds before the show.
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