THE FALL AND RISE OF ERVIN NYIREGYHAZI, L.A.’s SKID ROW PIANIST
A one-time prodigy from Hungary, who was composing music at age 5, wowing audiences with his percussive piano...
Tony Mostrom
DECOUPAGE!: L.A. POST-PUNKS ON TV! SEALED WITH A KITSCH!
In the late ’80s, L.A. performance artist and musician Craig Roose took his breezy, ‘60s-obsessed “drag” character “Miss Summer...
LIKE A VIRGIN: WHEN RICHARD BRANSON’S LABEL MATTERED
The success of Mike Oldfield’s album, Tubular Bells (1973) immediately put Virgin Records, Richard Branson’s brand new label,...
ROBERT JOHNSON: THE LEGEND VS. THE MAN VS. THE DEVIL
There’s Robert Johnson the country blues legend and Robert Johnson the man and somewhere in the mix is...
GUITARIST DEREK BAILEY: FREE FOR ALL IMPROVISOR
Derek Bailey (1930-2005) was a successful guitarist playing pop music in dance halls and jazz in nightclubs in...
THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER: THE HOTTEST OF COLD CASES
On January 15 1947, the body of a murder victim was found in a weedy, vacant lot in...
BLOOD FEAST: THE STOMACH-TURNING CINEMA OF HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS
A former English teacher and mail-order salesman from Detroit named Herschell Gordon Lewis saw an exploitable niche in...
GEORGE BARRIS & ED “BIG DADDY” ROTH: THE STONES VS. BEATLES OF ‘60s L.A. KAR KULTURE
Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and George Barris created a new visual language that captured the unbridled spirit of...
SLASH RECORDS, OR LET’S HAVE A WAR
Slash, the indispensable fanzine that charted the Los Angeles punk scene (1977-80), gave birth to a record label...
YOU CAN’T WIN: WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS AND THE REAL JACK BLACK
Jack Black was a burglar, rambler, jailbird and writer whose lone published memoir, You Can’t Win (1926), was...
DO YOU RESPECT (ED) WOOD? A PRIMER ON THE ‘WORST DIRECTOR OF ALL TIME’
The real-life Edward D. Wood, Jr. was far more interesting than the character depicted by Johnny Depp in...
LAUNCHING WARHOL AND POP ART: WALTER HOPPS AND HIS FERUS GALLERY
As we enter a new Roaring Twenties, let’s recall two renegade art dealers who kickstarted modern art back...
LISA FANCHER: STEERING PUNK’S FINAL FRONTIER IN LA
Often overlooked by punk history’s gatekeepers, Lisa Fancher’s venerable Frontier Records label is celebrating 40 years of important...
THE ROOTS OF ROCK RUN DEEPER THAN ROBERT JOHNSON
Eric Clapton, rightfully, revered the mysterious Southern bluesman Robert Johnson and, because of that, some dubbed him the...