THE L.A.P.D. vs. BLACK FLAG!
Excerpted from CORPORATE ROCK SUCKS: The Rise and Fall of SST Records by Jim Ruland. Copyright © 2022. Available from Hachette Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
MAKING THE WILDEST SHOW IN LAS VEGAS PART I: SAM
Louis Prima, Keely Smith and Sam Butera revolutionized Las Vegas, the lounge scene and 20th century popular music when they launched their spectacular act in December 1954 at the Sahara hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The story of their success has never been told in full, and never accurately – until now. Based on long-hidden interviews with the principals and extensive research, Burt Kearns reveals how all the parts fell into place, long before that historic debut. In Part One, we meet the man who answered the call of The Wildest, the key player without whom this success story would never have happened.
FORBIDDEN BEAT – THIS IS NOT A “DRUMMER BOOK”
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
IN CONVERSATION WITH BOBCAT GOLDTHWAIT & LEGS MCNEIL – PART 2
©2022 by Legs McNeil | Legsville welcomes comedian, actor, writer & director: Bobcat Goldthwait. A Legsville Oral History.
GILBERT GOTTFRIED, NYC PUNK
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
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
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
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 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
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.
WE’VE GOT GAYLE!
By Amy Haben
RICHARD BERRY
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.
HOWIE PYRO SPEAKS — PART ONE
©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.
POLY STYRENE’S EVOLUTION: FROM PUNK ICON TO CULT MEMBER
©2022 by Amy Haben | "The X-Ray Spex singer’s daughter, Celeste Bell, has made an award-winning documentary on her mother’s inspiring yet dysfunctional life."
VIDEO OF THE MONTH: WITCH FEVER – IN BIRTH
Director/Producer/Editor: Sam O'Leary -- DOP: Dann Cooper -- Set Design: Jan Siwilewicz -- Production Assistant & Make Up Artist: Roma Lucia Allenby
ALICE COOPER: RIOT IN TOLEDO!
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."
THE MANY LIVES AND GANGSTER DEATH OF JOHNNY “GUITAR” WATSON
Johnny “Guitar” Watson was a hardcore guitar gunslinger with a sound described as “an icepick to the forehead.” He was the Gangster of Love, and he proved it in the way he played, the way he lived – and the way he died.
THE 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS & MOVING SIDEWALKS!
©2022 By Amanda Sheppard | A glimpse into the Texas psychedelic rock & roll scene in the 1960s.
THE RISE OF JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
"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
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?
REMEMBERING RONNIE SPECTOR BY JESSE MALIN
"She was always doing new things, but she still stayed connected to her roots and wasn’t too cool to show up and play at a small downtown club with punk bands and her friends."
DEE DEE RAMONE – PORTRAIT OF A PUNK
By Dee Dee Ramone, As Told To Legs McNeil
BLACK FLAG: ANATOMY OF A LAWSUIT BY KEITH MORRIS (AS TOLD TO LEGS MCNEIL)
Keith laid out the entire history of the hardcore scene. It probably helped that I started off by saying, “Talk to me like I’m a moron and don’t know any of this stuff.”
THE LEGEND OF JOHNNY THUNDERS
By Tom Wynbrandt | “The rooster hair, the platform shoes, the quiet acceptance of all the adulation— I’d never seen anyone quite like him.”
PUNK PODCASTS!
Assembled by the editors at Legsville
VIDEOS WE LIKE!
Assembled by the editors at Legsville
VIDEO OF THE MONTH: GAYLE – ABCDEFU
Director: Jimmy Fisco | Co-director: GAYLE | Producer: Kristina Russo
HOW I SURVIVED THE PANDEMIC BY BILLY HOUGH
Billy gives us "Songs in a Time of Crisis" ... Check it out!
THE ROCK AND ROLL EXPLORER GUIDE TO LOS ANGELES PRESENTS: THE MONKEES
By Mike Katz and Crispin Kott | “The music on our records has nothing to do with us. It’s totally dishonest. We don’t record our own music. Tell the world we’re synthetic because, dammit, we are! We want to play our own.” - Mike Nesmith, the Monkees (TV Guide, September 23, 1967)
HEAVY METAL IS FUN AGAIN!
Here's 5 reasons why you should be paying attention to the New Wave Of Heavy Metal.
BOOKS WE LIKE! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BY THE EDITORS AT LEGSVILLE
"RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME: THE LIFE OF A ROCK & ROLL PHOTOGRAPHER" BY BOB GRUEN From BobGruen.com: An [...]