TAV FALCO – MAKE ME KNOW YOU’RE MINE
Some questions are easier to answer than others. If your question is, “Who is Tav Falco?” there is no easy answer. Todd McGovern asks filmmaker JP Olsen.
Todd McGovern
POKIN’ AROUND WITH THE MUFFS
LA's Favorite Power-Pop Trio on the Secrets of Longevity - by Todd McGovern - I’ve been a fan of The Muffs since their eponymous release in 1993, drawn by the power of their staccato pop songs, catchy lyrics and of course, Kim Shattuck’s sweet voice and guttural trademark scream.
NIAGARA: DETROIT ROCK ROYALTY ON MUSIC, ART, & RON ASHETON!
NIAGARA: DETROIT ROCK ROYALTY ON MUSIC, ART, & RON ASHETON! - The True Story of Niagara, Destroy All Monsters & the Desecration of Detroit
“TROUBLE BOYS: THE TRUE STORY OF THE REPLACEMENTS”
Bob Mehr, author of the new biography, “Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements,” was only 11 years old at the time, but the ‘Mats [the band’s nickname, short for Placemats] performance that night left quite an impression on his young mind.
THE GOSPEL OF BOB DYLAN
It’s been said that it happened in a Tucson hotel room in 1978, when Jesus first visited Bob Dylan. Dylan later said that he “sensed a presence in the room that couldn’t have been anybody but Jesus…the glory of the Lord knocked me down and picked me up.”
Crispin Hellion Glover: Clowny, Clown Clown
by Todd McGovern - In the early 1990s, I became obsessed with Crispin Hellion Glover. It was not so much his legendary appearance on Late Night With David Letterman, when he (or his alter-ego, Rubin Farr) came close to kicking Dave in the face with his black stacked boots.
A SAD AND BEAUTIFUL LIFE. MY CONVERSATION WITH JOHN LURIE!
By Todd McGovern - No one epitomized the melding of music and art that took place in downtown Manhattan of the 1970s and early 1980s more than John Lurie. He didn’t so much burst onto the scene as help create the scene itself. To this day, John Lurie escapes categorization – Lurie is a self-taught musician, painter, actor, director and storyteller.
PROTO-PUNK PIONEER: AN INTERVIEW WITH RADIO BIRDMAN’S DENIZ TEK
by Todd McGovern - Power and high-energy are two of the more accurate descriptors of Radio Birdman and the music of Tek’s childhood in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “It was an amazing place to grow up. Talk about being spoiled! It’s 1968 – 1969, you know. I’m only sixteen-years-old and I can’t go to bars, but I could see all this great music in the parks. Free concerts every Sunday afternoon in the summer with great local bands like the MC5 and the Stooges.
CHILLER IN CHOWCHILLA!
by Todd McGovern - The Chowchilla kidnapping was one of those crimes that could have only happened in a certain place during a certain period: California in the Seventies.
AN INTRODUCTION TO CHARLES NELSON REILLY
by Todd McGovern - A performer who broke into the entertainment business with an uncredited role in Elia Kazan’s 1957 film, A Face In The Crowd, Charles Nelson Reilly got his big break (along with fellow comic genius, Paul Lynde) in the 1961 production of Bye Bye, Birdie. In 1964, he was in the original cast of “Hello Dolly,” alongside Carol Channing.
But the Charles Nelson Reilly we know and love was from the game show, “Match Game” from 1973-1982.
PAUL LYNDE – COMIC GENIUS
by Todd McGovern -
Sarcastic, cynical, irritable, cutting, caustic and abrasive. Who am I talking about, John Lydon?
No, I’m referring to – thanks to syndication – that 1970s gift that keeps on giving – comic genius Paul Lynde!
“SAY YOU LOVE SATAN!” The Strange Case of Ricky Kasso
The Strange Case of Ricky Kasso - by Todd McGovern - Ricky Kasso was his name and performing Satanic rituals in the woods was his game. Don’t believe me? Go ahead and Google his name and that same image will be staring back at you from your computer screen.
Spurred by a drug deal gone bad, Kasso and a two of his reprobate cohorts (Jimmy Troiano and Albert Quinones) lured high school classmate Gary Lauwers to a wooded area in Northport, Long Island. High on PCP, Kasso bites Lauwers in the neck, then stabs him in the chest. Over the course of three hours, Lauwers is tortured and commanded to say, “I love you, Satan.” When he responds by saying, “I love my mother,” Kasso ups the torture ante, ultimately killing Lauwers.
![By Michiel Hendryckx (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://pkmhost16.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Allen-Ginsberg2.jpg)
WHERE IS ALLEN GINSBERG WHEN WE NEED HIM?
The Ballad of the Skeletons and the 2016 Republican Debates by Todd McGovern Having had a week to...
The Weather Underground, Guinness World Records and the Real Legacy of Altamont
A Conversation with Documentary Filmmaker Sam Green - by Todd McGovern - Who can forget those stories? Roy Sullivan was a park ranger in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. In his 35 years on the job, he was struck by lighting seven times, surviving them all. Known as the “Human Lightning Rod,” he died in 1983 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The reason? Unrequited love.