GILBERT GOTTFRIED, NYC PUNK

2022-04-13T22:21:16+00:00April 13th, 2022|Comedy, Music|

Gilbert Gottfried was a fearless, hilarious, and truly great comedian. He also was a horror movie expert, a keeper of show business tradition and a gentle, humble man. Oh, and he was also a Ramone! Here’s the classic from USA Up All Night. 1-2-3-GIL!

PUNK ICON JORDAN MOONEY PASSES AWAY AT 66

2022-04-29T17:04:27+00:00April 6th, 2022|Essays, Fashion, Music|

The punk rock stylist and fashion icon has passed away in her home in Seaford on Sunday. Jordan styled the Sex Pistols, managed Adam and the Ants, worked at Vivienne Westwood’s famous store, Sex and starred in the film Jubilee by Derek Jarman. The actress, model, artist and vet has been mourned by the masses on social media.

SOMETHING HAPPENED TO FRANK SINATRA’S GRAVE

2022-04-04T20:16:01+00:00April 4th, 2022|Music|

I’d heard that something had happened to Frank Sinatra's grave. That someone defaced the memorial to the most important musical artist of the 20th century. Attacking Sinatra? This was like taking a wrecking ball to Graceland. Reading about it was one thing. I had to see for myself.

POSSUM HUNTING: ME, DADDY & GEORGE JONES

2022-04-04T17:56:49+00:00April 4th, 2022|Music|

George Jones’ drunk daddy used to wake him up as a child in the middle of the night and make him sing for him and his buddies or get a beating. Maybe that harsh pressure helped create a country diamond. Maybe it just created a mean SOB who also happened to be able to sing.

IGGY AT UNGANOS!

2022-04-02T15:51:26+00:00April 2nd, 2022|Music|

©2022 By Chris Campion | Behold… the transfiguration of Iggy Pop, during a legendary Stooges show at Ungano’s, New York City, which was recorded by Danny Fields and heavily-bootlegged for years.

G.G. ALLIN’S LAST DAY ON EARTH

2023-03-29T14:27:56+00:00April 1st, 2022|Music|

When I was doing a reading tour of the south last winter, I became friendly with Johnny Puke, from Charleston, South Carolina, where he books and manages the Tin Roof, a fun, dumpy punk club. Johnny told me that he was with G.G. the night he died and I thought it would be an interesting story to get on tape.

WHY WE STILL LOVE ANNA DELVEY!

2023-03-29T14:27:44+00:00March 19th, 2022|TV & Film|

When I first binge-watched nine episodes of “Inventing Anna” on Netflix a few weeks ago, I was appalled by the little sociopathic girl with the over-sized glasses, the crooked smile and that grating voice that reminded me of a broken fourth wheel on a broken grocery store cart; “You’re such a disappointment.”

RICHARD BERRY

2022-03-19T15:20:40+00:00March 18th, 2022|Music|

R&b singer Richard Berry doo-wopped onto the LA music scene in 1953 as part of his high school group The Flairs, three years before Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers became a household name and two years before Little Richard howled across the Billboard pop charts. It was a time when radio was segregated, and r&b was branded “Race Music” as a warning label to pearl-clutching conservative white America and played on separate stations.

FEAR OF A BLACK NEW HAVEN

2022-03-04T20:45:01+00:00March 4th, 2022|Essays|

Years back I lived in New Haven. There I resided in Westville, a mile or two out from Yale Law School where I was a student. An Orthodox priest and his wife rented part of their basement to me, a comfortable enough pied a terre with arresting Greek icons and cruciforms lining the walls just outside it. Joe Lieberman lived a few blocks away. He was famous.

NARRATIVE ORAL HISTORY OF THE MONTH: BUNNY YEAGER LAUNCHES THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION!

2023-03-29T14:27:33+00:00March 1st, 2022|Narrative Oral History Of The Month|

In 2001 I interviewed the delightful Bunny Yeager at the Lowe’s Miami Beach Hotel for The Other Hollywood, my narrative oral history of the porn film industry, and found her to be charming and forthright and underappreciated. Bunny had a fascinating life and really was one of the main liberators who helped launch America’s sexual revolution in the 1960s.

HOWIE PYRO SPEAKS — PART ONE

2023-03-29T14:26:33+00:00February 22nd, 2022|Music|

©2022 By Legs McNeil | In honor of Howie Pyro’s new liver and Jesse Malin’s benefit show for Howie’s medical expenses on Saturday, March 5th, I present Howie Pyro, the East Village Zelig, founding member of both the Blessed and D Generation.

ALICE COOPER: RIOT IN TOLEDO!

2022-04-29T17:11:16+00:00February 13th, 2022|Music|

Already frustrated by growing tensions within the band, the group was less than excited about their arrival in Toledo. Later, tour manager David Libert would be quoted saying, "If the Lord ever wanted to give the world an enema, this is where he would stick the goddamn nozzle."

JOHN WATERS TALKS PORN: THE MITCHELL BROTHERS, DEEP THROAT, TRACI LORDS & JOHN HOLMES

2022-02-10T17:23:45+00:00February 10th, 2022|TV & Film|

I called him and asked for an interview, and told him what I wanted to talk about—and he graciously accepted. I think he wanted to try out his new stand-up act on me, and as usual John was hysterically funny. In honor of Valentine’s Day 2022, I present to you John Waters on pornography—So get comfy, I think you’re going to enjoy this one….

THE RISE OF JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT

2022-01-26T01:04:31+00:00January 26th, 2022|Essays, Music, TV & Film|

"At age 20, artist Jean-Michel Basquiat emerged from the downtown scene with a budding sophistication equally rooted in abstract expressionism and the post-punk, no-wave, hip-hop, graffiti grit of the Mudd Club avant-garde." | ©2022 by Amanda Sheppard

THE STORY OF SUICIDE WITH ALAN VEGA & MARTY REV

2022-04-29T17:08:54+00:00January 25th, 2022|Music|

Suicide was anything but boring. Far from it. This was dangerous, wildly unpredictable, chaotic performance art. They were really quite a spectacle and left anyone who stumbled into their concerts at CBGB or Max’s with their mouth open, thinking, What the hell is this?

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