Tim Carr, a Hopkins-bred entertainment entrepreneur whose career included producing an influential new-music festival for Walker Art Center and signing the Beastie Boys to a key record contract, was found dead Wednesday in his rented apartment in Pattaya, Thailand.

There was a long knife wound across his chest when his naked body was found, according to Phuket News. There were signs of a disturbance and evidence of drug usage, including prescription medication, the report said.
Carr, 57, had been in Thailand working on a movie about a rock band.

A former music critic for the Minneapolis Tribune and other local publications, Carr worked in the performing-arts department of Walker Art Center in the late 1970s and famously produced M80: The No, New Now Wave Festival at the University of Minnesota fieldhouse featuring outsider and experimental young bands from throughout the world including Devo, Richard Lloyd, the Suicide Commandos and Monochrome Set.

Carr became a talent executive at record labels (Capitol, Warners, DreamWorks) in New York and Los Angeles, signing the Beastie Boys to Capitol where they recorded their landmark "Paul's Boutique" in 1989.

Among the artists with whom he worked were Babes in Toyland, David Byrne, Megadeth, Joan Jett and Cibo Matto.

Carr moved to Thailand a few years ago to write a novel.

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