Best Of

A selection of our top stories, for your reading pleasure…

FRED WILLARD WAS FOREVER YOUNG: AND REALLY REALLY OLD

Burt KearnsMay 27, 2020

For 60 years, Fred Willard made us laugh playing the same character, from early comedy club gigs with Vic Greco and appearances on Steve Allen’s and Ed Sullivan’s shows to countless appearances on David Letterman’s and Jimmy Kimmel’s shows. And then ...

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SHOOTING STIV BATORS AND LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH

Chris EptingMay 7, 2020

When he was a senior at Boston's Emerson College in 1982, Chris Epting was enticed by members of Lords of the New Church (Stiv Bators, Brian James, Dave Tregunna, Nick Turner) to tag along on a short band tour with a video camera. They wanted their o...

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DENNIS HOPPER’S BLUE PERIOD: THE MAKING OF OUT OF THE BLUE (1980)

David StewartMay 4, 2020

Dennis Hopper followed the success of Easy Rider (1969), which he directed and claims to have co-written, with the abject failure of The Last Movie (1971), a shambling, incoherent, drug-fueled epic set in Peru. He then spent the next decade as Hollyw...

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REMEMBERING VICTOR HAYDON: THE MASCARA SNAKE, FAST & BULBOUS

Pamela Des BarresApril 30, 2020

Pamela Des Barres’ life changed completely when she met Victor Haydon, first cousin to Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart) and later The Mascara Snake in his Magic Band. A high school infatuation became a lifelong connection to “Uncle Vic,” an artist, ...

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A RIOT GRRRL PRIMER: REVOLUTION GIRL STYLE NOW

Sharon M. HannonApril 2, 2020

As Bikini Kill makes plans for their first tour in 23 years, PKM revisits the roots of the Riot Grrrl movement that the band helped bring to life. Sharon M. Hannon has prepared an annotated timeline of events and red-letter dates. As Bikini Kill Kath...

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BASIL WOLVERTON: AMERICA’S WEIRDEST ARTIST

Alan BisbortMarch 31, 2020

Cartoonist Basil Wolverton (1909-1978) cast a large, if sometimes unrecognized, shadow over the underground comix of the 1960s and punk graphics of the 1970s and 1980s. Robert Crumb and his two cartooning brothers were smitten with his work in MAD ma...

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TAQUILA MOCKINGBIRD: KEEPING PUNK HISTORY ALIVE IN L.A.

Lucretia Tye JasmineMarch 3, 2020

Taquila Mockingbird developed a following in LA with her various bands (punk and jazz) beginning in 1977, and she became a fixture on the LA punk scene when, from 1980-1984, she booked acts as Do Monkey Productions with Richard Skidmore for New Wave ...

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CAROL KAYE: THE BOSS OF THE BASS GUITAR

Michael ShelleyFebruary 12, 2020

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MARSHALL CRENSHAW IS HAVING ANOTHER FIELD DAY

Eric DavidsonFebruary 11, 2020

The master of power pop burst on the scene in 1982 with a debut album that turned heads and ears, spawning rave reviews and respectable enough sales to suggest a star was born. But then, in the post-punk shuffle, Crenshaw’s fresh face and fresh sound...

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PENELOPE SPHEERIS: FILMING ROCK & ROLL

Nora NovakFebruary 5, 2020

Penelope Spheeris jolted the cinema world with her debut feature The Decline of Western Civilization in 1981, a blistering look at the LA punk scene, and then continued that theme in Suburbia (1983), about abandoned kids living in abandoned houses in...

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LISA FANCHER: STEERING PUNK’S FINAL FRONTIER IN LA

Tony MostromFebruary 3, 2020

Often overlooked by punk history’s gatekeepers, Lisa Fancher’s venerable Frontier Records label is celebrating 40 years of important punk rock releases. Without her there to release some of the first music by the Adolescents, Circle Jerks, Black Rand...

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MISS PAMELA’S FAMILY SECRETS

Pamela Des BarresJanuary 30, 2020

Every family has its secrets and closeted skeletons, which remain locked up unless one of its members spills the beans. Pamela Des Barres’ mother, a down-to-earth beauty from Georgia, did just that to her daughter late in life—and long after Pamela’s...

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JOHN PEEL: HIS LIFE AND MUSICAL LEGACY

Richie UnterbergerJanuary 16, 2020

So revered in the UK that he made the top 50 in a BBC poll of ‘Greatest Britons of all time,’ John Peel (1939-2004) shaped popular culture in ways that Americans may never know or understand. As a pirate radio deejay, a band manager, promoter and che...

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ARTIST RALPH STEADMAN CELEBRATES HUNTER S. THOMPSON AND THE BIRTH OF GONZO

Gregory DaurerJanuary 13, 2020

Without the visuals by longtime collaborator Ralph Steadman, Hunter S. Thompson may have never gone full ‘gonzo.’ It is hard, in fact, to think about Thompson without recalling Steadman's extraordinary, warped, nightmarish and beautiful renderings. S...

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Carol Kaye started as a jazz solo guitarist, working the club scene of 1950s LA, when she was asked to work on some studio tracks for Sam Cooke. Though she loved the bebop jazz scene, Carol was a single mother with three kids and so to the studios she went, eventually switching to bass. She ultimately changed the very sound and role of that instrument in pop music as a member of what drummer Hal Blaine dubbed The Wrecking Crew (but which Carol has called The Clique). By any name, these were the session musicians who shaped some of the biggest hits of the 1960s, after which she went back to playing live gigs and working in movies and television, writing and teaching, which she is still doing in her 80s. Michael Shelley talks with the amazing Carol Kaye for PKM. Read more!

Fabrizio on VISUALIZING MARC ALMOND: JAMIE MCLEOD’S CAMERA EYEI dont agree at all on McLeod's view on "crowdfunding". The fans freely choose to support they're favourite artist's project, often knowing that they would buy the finished product anyway. I'm bei surprised by Jamie's strong statement, describing those who engage in this practice as "lowlives", as Marc Almond himself
Alan (V.) Karr on THE SOUND OF PHILADELPHIA: RIDING THE CAMEO PARKWAY WITH JOE RENZETTI“96 Tears” did not originate in Philly - it was recorded in Bay City, Michigan by an indie label based in San Antonio, Bego/Pa-Go-Go. ?...were from Michigan as well. Aggressive licensing tactics for masters originating with smaller labels by a young Neil Bogart gave C-P a short lived revival before
makingleftturns on YOU CAN’T WIN: WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS AND THE REAL JACK BLACKAbsolutely engrossing. I simply can't get enough. Even when the subject is someone I could care less about (this article is right up my alley), I still must read.

All Posts

HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT: UNRAVELING A MYSTERY

THE INTREPID TRAVELLER: KEN BABBS ON THE MERRY PRANKSTERS, THE BEATS, THE DEAD, WOODSTOCK, AND MUCH MORE

THE MEKONS: STILL THRIVING ON LOW EXPECTATIONS

Best Of

FRED WILLARD WAS FOREVER YOUNG: AND REALLY REALLY OLD

SHOOTING STIV BATORS AND LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH

DENNIS HOPPER’S BLUE PERIOD: THE MAKING OF OUT OF THE BLUE (1980)

Best Of

FRED WILLARD WAS FOREVER YOUNG: AND REALLY REALLY OLD

SHOOTING STIV BATORS AND LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH

DENNIS HOPPER’S BLUE PERIOD: THE MAKING OF OUT OF THE BLUE (1980)

REMEMBERING VICTOR HAYDON: THE MASCARA SNAKE, FAST & BULBOUS

A RIOT GRRRL PRIMER: REVOLUTION GIRL STYLE NOW

BASIL WOLVERTON: AMERICA’S WEIRDEST ARTIST

TAQUILA MOCKINGBIRD: KEEPING PUNK HISTORY ALIVE IN L.A.

CAROL KAYE: THE BOSS OF THE BASS GUITAR

MARSHALL CRENSHAW IS HAVING ANOTHER FIELD DAY

PENELOPE SPHEERIS: FILMING ROCK & ROLL

LISA FANCHER: STEERING PUNK’S FINAL FRONTIER IN LA

MISS PAMELA’S FAMILY SECRETS

JOHN PEEL: HIS LIFE AND MUSICAL LEGACY

ARTIST RALPH STEADMAN CELEBRATES HUNTER S. THOMPSON AND THE BIRTH OF GONZO

HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT: UNRAVELING A MYSTERY

THE INTREPID TRAVELLER: KEN BABBS ON THE MERRY PRANKSTERS, THE BEATS, THE DEAD, WOODSTOCK, AND MUCH MORE

THE MEKONS: STILL THRIVING ON LOW EXPECTATIONS

VISUALIZING MARC ALMOND: JAMIE MCLEOD’S CAMERA EYE

JONI MITCHELL: A RECKLESS DAUGHTER’S BRILLIANT JOURNEY