Benito Vila

Benito Vila is a features writer living on the East End of Long Island, where he can be found on the water when he’s not researching and typing. A former New York City design firm honcho, he occasionally still helps companies with their operations and marketing.

BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE: TRUTH, JUSTICE & BUFFY’S WAY

Benito VilaFebruary 17, 2021

Born on the Piapot Plains Cree First Nation Reserve in Saskatchewan, Buffy Sainte-Marie was raised by adoptive parents in Massachusetts, earned degrees in Orien...

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TULI KUPFERBERG: THE RIGHT-NOW ART AND WORDS OF A FUG

Benito VilaOctober 19, 2020

By the time Tuli Kupferberg formed the Fugs with Ed Sanders in 1964, he was already a longtime presence in New York’s downtown counterculture. He’d published po...

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AND IN THE END: A LOOK AT THE LAST DAYS OF THE BEATLES

Benito VilaSeptember 24, 2020

So much has been written and said about The Beatles that it’s rare when something fresh comes along. Ken McNab’s And In The End is something fresh. His book tak...

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FAMILY GUY: THE LEGACY OF SPALDING GRAY

Benito VilaJuly 21, 2020

When monologist-actor-writer-philosopher Spalding Gray departed this planet in 2004, he left behind timeless works like Swimming to Cambodia, Monster in a Box a...

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BASEBALL BOOKS AND MOVIES TO HELP MAKE IT THROUGH THIS SEASON

Benito VilaMay 6, 2020

A summer without baseball is cruel and unusual, and probably unconstitutional too. More to the point, it is unthinkable. Therefore, PKM’s Alan Bisbort and Benit...

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REBEL WITH A CAUSE: A DAUGHTER’S TAKE ON THE LEGEND OF NICHOLAS RAY

Benito VilaApril 13, 2020

As a film director, Nicholas Ray made some memorable films, like They Live by Night, In a Lonely Place and, of course, Rebel Without a Cause. As a father, he wa...

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FREDERICK WISEMAN: THE DIRECTOR WHO MAKES THE ORDINARY EXTRAORDINARY

Benito VilaMarch 25, 2020

At age 90, Frederick Wiseman is one of those living American masters who would, in a better world, need no introduction. And yet, as a pioneer of documentary fi...

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THE ENDLESS SUMMER OF JOHN VAN HAMERSVELD, ARTIST AND PUZZLE MASTER

Benito VilaFebruary 20, 2020

John Van Hamersveld is an art-school-trained modernist with roots in the California surf culture who was set loose in psychedelia, which he called “hippie moder...

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CAN’T FIND MY WAY HOME: OUR DRUG APOCALYPSE

Benito VilaJanuary 28, 2020

Punk’s holy trinity, if it has one, would be sex, drugs and rock & roll. For the past 30 years, author and filmmaker Martin Torgoff has examined the middle ...

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Charley Plymell eating with William Burroughs. Lawrence, Kansas. Photo by Allen Ginsberg. Courtesy: Allen Ginsberg Estate/Stanford University Libraries.

CHARLEY PLYMELL: OUTLAW POET & ORIGINAL PUNK

Benito VilaJanuary 6, 2020

Poet, publisher, provocateur and people-connector, Charley Plymell is, like fellow Midwesterner Ed Sanders, a floater among contingents of kindred spirits, from...

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WELCOME TO THE TRIDENT: WHERE YOU COULD GET ANYTHING YOU WANT

Benito VilaNovember 25, 2019

From its waterfront perch in Sausalito, the Trident’s clientele could see the San Francisco skyline and the Golden Gate Bridge. The club/restaurant was “a tripp...

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LISA LAW: CAPTURING THE SIXTIES AND BEYOND WITH HER TRUTH-TELLING CAMERA

Benito VilaOctober 28, 2019

Lisa Law and her camera, Dennis Hopper once said, caught “everyone” in the Sixties from the Beatles, Dylan and the Byrds to the Velvet Underground, Kesey, Krass...

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SPIT IN THE OCEAN: KEN KESEY’S FORGOTTEN BOOK SERIES

Benito VilaSeptember 26, 2019

Ken Kesey assembled his Merry Pranksters and other kindred spirits for one more, and final, prank—a semi-regular book series that contained pieces of his unfini...

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MY BOYS: STERLING LORD ON JACK KEROUAC, LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI AND KEN KESEY

Benito VilaJuly 22, 2019

The longtime publishing insider and agent Sterling Lord is still keeping the Beat flames burning for Kerouac, Ferlinghetti and Kesey. PKM's Benito Vila spent a ...

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Jim Storm on WHEN CAN I FLY?: MICHAEL BELFER, THE SLEEPERS AND TUXEDOMOONIt's like this no its like this comets and tombstones and kittens popping and hissing in our heads and sleepers neither animate nor inanimate but suturing the air with bloody angel songscapes.....no no no sublime just couldn't have been many the purer no nights to no nights crumbling into morning
A Web Revolution on LAURA NYRO: THE MIRACULOUS MAGIC OF HER MUSICTo Laura, just adding a bass was enough, where bringing in drums was ‘overproducing’ the record as far as she was concerned.
jerry simotas on THE LONESOME DEATH OF DANNY RAPP: THE FRONT MAN FOR DANNY & THE JUNIORSGreat story, Burt. I always wondered what became of Danny as I wondered how and where his artistry began in Southwest Philly. You explained everything in detail and I appreciate this immensely. I look forward to your other stories of singers and songwriters who made growing up in the 1950's

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THE ZONE IN BETWEEN: 1.5 – A HIDDEN ROCK & ROLL GENRE-PART TWO

DAVID AMRAM: ON KEROUAC, GINSBERG, MINGUS, SPIRIT AND FAMILY

LEONARD COHEN, PHIL SPECTOR: DEATH OF LADIES’ MEN

Best Of

PLEASE READ ME: THE BEST OF 2020, PART II

PLEASE READ ME: THE BEST OF 2020, PART I

LUX INTERIOR: WHERE ON EARTH DID YOU COME FROM?