Charles Ball R.I.P.

CHARLES BALL, 61, one of the pioneers behind the postpunk No Wave movement, died last night in St. Petersburg, FL, of a heart attack. Ball, co-founder of N.Y.-based punk indie Ork Records, the first recorded home for Television, and founder of Lust/Unlust Records, was an influential producer, label owner and cross-cultural propagandist who put out records by Alex Chilton (the infamous “Bangkok”), Arto Lindsay’s DNA, Lydia Lunch’s Beirut Slump, Suicide’s Marty Rev, Mars, Robin Crutchfield’s Dark Day, The Individuals and impLOG’s Holland Tunnel Dive EP, among others. He attended Sarah Lawrence College and then Columbia University Film School, where he introduced a young aspiring rock critic named Roy Trakin, a fellow classmate, to the downtown N.Y. scene in the late ‘70s. Said Crutchfield: “It’s too bad Charles didn’t receive his proper due in his lifetime. His contributions to the DIY culture are massive in importance.” (8/14p)