ELIZABETH HAND INTERVIEWED BY LEGS MCNEIL – PART 2

2023-12-18T04:17:57+00:00June 12th, 2023|Books We Love, Narrative Oral History Of The Month|

The long-awaited conclusion to Legs McNeil’s interview with his friend Elizabeth Hand, the acclaimed author of more than fifteen books, including the Cass Neary mysteries. Her upcoming novel, A Haunting on the Hill, was inspired by Shirley Jackson’s classic The Haunting of Hill House. In Part I, Legs and Liz talked about the iconic Cass, the punk rock photographer turned reluctant amateur sleuth. In Part II, Liz tells why she was selected by Shirley Jackson’s family to carry on the literary tradition – and more.

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EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT FROM THE NEW LAWRENCE TIERNEY BIOGRAPHY: THE TOUGH GUY RETURNS TO HOLLYWOOD

2022-12-19T00:45:45+00:00December 9th, 2022|Books We Love, Literature, True Crime, TV & Film|

The first biography of the legendary and notorious actor Lawrence Tierney was published on Tuesday, December 6, by the University Press of Kentucky. Lawrence Tierney: Hollywood’s Real-Life Tough Guy, by Legsville contributor Burt Kearns, traces Tierney’s career from his overnight success in the 1945 film Dillinger, through the drunken scenes, brawls, and arrests that derailed his career, to his “rediscovery” by Quentin Tarantino in Reservoir Dogs.

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PUNK METAPHYSICS: A CONVERSATION WITH TAMRA LUCID

2022-10-21T17:29:52+00:00October 21st, 2022|Books We Love, Literature, Music|

Lucid spoke about punk rock, politics, metaphysics, and more in this email exchange with Happiness author Zack Kopp. “To me punk and metaphysics seem to belong together,” says Tamra Lucid. “Both are rebellions against bullshit. And what is punk anyway? Punk can be for peace or violence, for racism or for equality, for noise or pop, for anarchy or for Broadway. My band has never fit any category. Sucks for algorithms, but so much fun!” Lucid Nation co-founder Ronnie Pontiac was mentored by American metaphysician Manly Palmer Hall (1901-90) at his Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles before the band started playing shows in 1994.

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EXCLUSIVE! THE LOST INTERVIEW: AL MARTINO & THE FIGHT TO PLAY JOHNNY FONTANE IN THE GODFATHER

2022-10-21T17:20:46+00:00July 16th, 2022|Books We Love, Literature, TV & Film|

Al Martino played crooner (and wedding singer) Johnny Fontane. It was a role that Frank Sinatra tried to rub out. Frank believed the character in Mario Puzo’s novel was based on him, but it was a role Martino knew was his. A popular Italian-American balladeer in the early 1950s, he’d been forced to move to Great Britain after he defied the mobsters who’d bought his management contract. Martino returned to America and fought his way back onto the charts and success in the 1960s.

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FORBIDDEN BEAT – THIS IS NOT A “DRUMMER BOOK”

2022-04-22T13:50:55+00:00April 22nd, 2022|Books We Love, Music|

Here’s something I discovered over the last couple of years: Tell somebody you’re putting together a book about music and their response is usually something like, “Cool! I love music.” Tell them it’s a book revolving around punk drummers and the response is more like, “Damn. I hate math.” | ©2022 by S.W. Lauden

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