MAKING THE WILDEST SHOW IN LAS VEGAS PART I: SAM

2022-04-29T13:34:15+00:00April 27th, 2022|Music|

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.

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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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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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."

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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

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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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