Robert Glynn Fine

With great sadness we announce the loss of Robert Glynn Fine of Boulder, Colorado on Friday, October 27, 2023. He was 85 years old. Bob was born on February 25, 1938, in Corpus Christi, Texas to Lena Mozelle Smithson and Orville Jack Fine. He was their only child, though he had many aunts, uncles, and cousins. Bob had a long-term relationship with Jessie Friedman, and they had three children, Manzanita Fine (Larkin Gresham), Mingus Fine (Sarah Werner Fine), and Eartha Kuanon Fine Parris (Mike Parris). Later in life Bob was involved in a long-term relationship and eventual marriage to Laura Garrison and they had one child, Nicholas Fine.

Bob joined the Air Force at 17 years old, completing four years of service and earning an honorable discharge. He began pilot training classes at Lockheed Air Force Base but soon left the program to pursue his true passions, art and music, in San Francisco and the Bay Area.

Initially Bob studied fine art at the San Francisco Art Institute and later joined creative forces with visual artist Bill Ham and well-known jazz musicians Jerry Granelli, Fred Marshall, and Beverly Bivens. Bob loved all music, but his true passion specifically was for jazz. Among Bob’s personal jazz idols were Charles Mingus, Thelonius Monk, Rashaan Roland Kirk, Horace Silver, Billy Holiday, Pharoah Sanders, Sarah Vaughn, Charlie Parker, Miles, Mose, Charlie Haden, and John Coltrane. Bob was able to pass his great knowledge of jazz and the jazz world, and hours of musical pleasure, on to his children. This jazz and cultural immersion of music is treasured by them all. Bob and children also had a lot of good times together, as Bob shared his lifelong love of the sport of motocross and taught them all how to ride ‘dirt bikes’ (motorcycles).

In San Francisco, partnering with Bill Ham, Bob and Bill became the founders, pioneers, and innovators in developing the new medium that came to be known as ‘light shows,’ a fine art painting medium — painting with light — which Bill had developed in the early 60's. A spontaneous, flowing, ever-changing form of expressive painting, and very much aligned with music, these light shows caught the eye of Bill Graham. Graham was enamored of the art form and for years light shows created by Bob Fine and Bill Ham became the nightly backdrops and lighting for the renowned bands at the Avalon and Fillmore Ballrooms. Initiators of the art form of liquid light shows, Bob and Bill made a name for themselves in the Bay Area and beyond as the art form became popularized and known around the world.

While the rock scene popularized this new art form, known as light shows, the true purpose for Bob and Bill was the creation of a new avenue of fine art. With jazz drummer and bass player, Jerry Granelli and Fred Marshall respectively, and vocalist Bev Bivens, Bob and Bill developed an improvisational visual art - jazz experience celebrated by art critics and journalists in the US and Europe. They played settings such as the Monterey Jazz Festival, San Francisco Art Museum, and many others along with venues and festivals throughout Europe. They called themselves Light Sound Dimension, aka LSD. At the same time, they became a fixture in the San Francisco 60's scene, doing lights with famous bands of the era such as The Charlatans, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Grateful Dead, and Janis Joplin just to name a few, and additionally teaching the art form of liquid light shows to numerous eager followers.

Bob’s other great passion in life was his devotion to the spiritual and Buddhist teachings of India, Japan, and Tibet, which became his unwavering spiritual center from his youth and throughout the rest of his life. His greatest inspirations in this realm were Ramakrishna, Sai Baba, Suzuki Roshi, the Dalai Lama, the Sixteenth Karmapa, and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, among many others.

Bob and Jessie and their three children moved to Boulder in 1980 to be closer to the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Trungpa Rinpoche. In the 80’s Bob and Jessie’s lives took different paths, and Bob met Laura Garrison, who subsequently became his life partner. In Boulder, Bob continued to paint and create beautiful, welded metal sculptures. He continued light shows in public for a period and privately for friends and family years to come. Bob exhibited his drawings, paintings, and sculptures in many galleries and venues in the Bay Area, Boulder, and beyond and was the recipient of much recognition and many awards. The last award he received, and perhaps the most poignant, was presented to him at Roots Music Project in Boulder in the summer of 2023. The award plaque reads: Liquid Light Show Legend - Bob Fine, for his outstanding achievement in the art of Liquid Lightshow Technology.

Bob had a full life with many adventures, passions, heroes, and captivating stories to tell, but by far his most crowning achievement and most precious sources of joy were his beloved children: Manzanita, Mingus, Eartha, and Nicholas.

May You Rest in Peace, Dear Bob. KI KI SO SO