Best Of

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

NICO: THERE SHE GOES AGAIN, A MEDITATION ON DEATH, BEAUTY AND ARTISTRY

Billy HoughOctober 24, 2019

Nico (Christa Paffgen) was many things to many different people, including Andy Warhol, Lou Reed, Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, Alain Delon and numerous other collaborators. But to performance artist Billy Hough, Nico was “the most underrated/overexposed ...

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THE JOY OF DESOLATION: TAKING PUNK ROCK TO THE DESERT

Richie UnterbergerOctober 16, 2019

Putting on punk shows in Los Angeles in the early 1980s became near to impossible with the lack of venues and police harassment of those events that did manage to find one. So a young promoter, Stuart Swezey, took bands like Redd Kross, the Minutemen...

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WHEN JACK KEROUAC HAD HIS CRACK-UP

Paul Maher, JrOctober 8, 2019

Spiraling down a silo of despair and drunkenness in the wake of his On The Road/Dharma Bums celebrity as ‘king of the Beats’, Jack Kerouac longed for a safe haven. Poet/publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti heeded the call, loaning Kerouac his cabin at Big...

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JABBERJAW: WHEN AN L.A. CLUB CREATED ITS OWN SCENE

Lucretia Tye JasmineOctober 1, 2019

What started as an all-ages coffee bar and acoustic venue in 1989 turned into a must-play showcase for local and out of town bands. Jabberjaw’s roster included L7, Bikini Kill, Iggy Pop, Elliott Smith, Hole, Beck, and many others. In its nine-year ru...

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ROGER MCGUINN: A NOTORIOUS BYRD BROTHER FINDS PEACE

Larry Ratso SlomanSeptember 16, 2019

Roger McGuinn, as a founding member and guiding force of The Byrds, had a huge impact on rock 'n' roll of the 1960s, before embarking on a long and distinguished solo career that continues today. His fellow member of the Rolling Thunder Revue, Larry ...

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THE MURDER OF ALFALFA

Burt KearnsAugust 27, 2019

Carl ‘Alfalfa’ Switzer was the most popular star of the classic Our Gang comedies. But the facts of the Little Rascal’s untimely death have been clouded in Hollywood Babylon myth... until Burt Kearns & Jeff Abraham started digging. by Burt Kearn...

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GARY PANTER: LIFE AFTER PUNK & PEE WEE

Eric DavidsonAugust 19, 2019

Raised in Texas, artist Gary Panter moved to L.A. in the late 1970s and made an immediate mark on the L.A. punk scene with his now iconic poster for the Screamers, among many other fliers, posters and comic strips in Slash. But his amazingly varied a...

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BE KIND TO ME: THE MUSIC AND ART OF MICHAEL HURLEY

Gregory DaurerAugust 7, 2019

Michael Hurley could be called the godfather, or grandfather, of ‘freak-folk” but the Oregon-based singer, songwriter, artist and storyteller’s roots go back to his childhood in rural Pennsylvania and early forays into New York City, where he found k...

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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 memorable day in New York with the 99-year-old prince of letters, the man to whom Jack Ker...

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TORN BETWEEN TWO LOVERS: KEITH MOON & WAYLON JENNINGS

Pamela Des BarresJuly 11, 2019

Could any two musicians appear to be more different than the solidly grounded country music "outlaw" Waylon Jennings and The Who's manic, sometimes maniacal drummer, Keith Moon? Pamela Des Barres found something to love in each of these men and remem...

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VIVIEN GOLDMAN AND REVENGE OF THE SHE-PUNKS

Eric DavidsonJuly 8, 2019

From her pre-punk perch as a record company publicist and journalist in London, Vivien Goldman immersed herself in the sounds that most moved her--reggae and then punk--and began making music of her own. She was the author of the first books on Bob M...

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‘WHERE’S THE BAG, MR. KARDASHIAN?’: OR, HOW I EXPOSED O.J. SIMPSON’S ACCOMPLICE AND SET THE STAGE FOR A TV EMPIRE

Burt KearnsJuly 3, 2019

Four weeks after the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, a tabloid news producer made a discovery that stunned the world and turned a family name into a billion-dollar brand. Twenty-five years later, Burt Kearns tells the story of his gr...

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ON THE ROAD WITH BOB DYLAN, REVISITED: A ROLLING THUNDER REVUE STORY

Larry Ratso SlomanJuly 1, 2019

Larry Sloman covered the Rolling Thunder Revue for Rolling Stone, and he got more than he bargained for, including his nickname "Ratso," courtesy Joan Baez. He shares some amazing memories with PKM from his time in the front row of rock & roll hi...

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PRIDE TV: THE QUIET GAY HEROES OF SIXTIES SITCOMS

Burt KearnsJune 28, 2019

The faces of these three actors were familiar to Baby Boomers raised on TV situation comedies. Their private lives were not. In a way, though, they helped to blaze trails for which they were never given credit. by Burt Kearns & Jeff Abraham W...

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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 trippy space ship” whose passengers just happened to be a Who’s Who of rock & roll (the Stones, Quicksilver, Crosby, Garcia, Lesh, Sam Andrew, Peter Stampfel) and Hollywood (Clint Eastwood, Warren Beatty, Sterling Hayden) and elsewhere (Alan Watts, Sonny Barger, Bill Cosby), not to mention Robin Williams was one of the busboys and the tequila sunrise was invented at the bar. The Fifties became the Sixties at the club, then the Sixties became the Seventies…Benito Vila takes us back, through the words of those who were there. Read more!

Quentin Chip on OUT TO SEA WITH THE OUTLAW COUNTRY CRUISEQuite a line-up I must admit. I've met Lee Perry , Kinky and Kris Kristofferson unfortunately not on the same boat but on separate occasions. All highly intelligent geezers who would be incongruous in the tawdry world of rock 'n' roll but have successfully carved a niche for themselves in
Jan Collins on CHIP TAYLOR: THE HAPPY GAMBLERInteresting he skipped over the Carrie portion of his return to music.....
Dave Brock on THE PUZZLING CASE OF PATTI SMITH: GROUNDBREAKER, ‘GODMOTHER OF PUNK’ AND YOUR MOM’S FAVORITE AUTHORNitpicky, I know, but "Kids Are People Too" was a Sunday morning show, not Saturday. My former uncle (aunt's ex-husband) worked on the show. I got to meet KISS and Patti (amongst many others) and even Gene Simmons was nicer than Patti. She was really nasty to me, my sister,

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OUT TO SEA WITH THE OUTLAW COUNTRY CRUISE

CHIP TAYLOR: THE HAPPY GAMBLER

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW #1: THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO

Best Of

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

CAROL KAYE: THE BOSS OF THE BASS GUITAR

MARSHALL CRENSHAW IS HAVING ANOTHER FIELD DAY

Best Of

NICO: THERE SHE GOES AGAIN, A MEDITATION ON DEATH, BEAUTY AND ARTISTRY

THE JOY OF DESOLATION: TAKING PUNK ROCK TO THE DESERT

WHEN JACK KEROUAC HAD HIS CRACK-UP

JABBERJAW: WHEN AN L.A. CLUB CREATED ITS OWN SCENE

ROGER MCGUINN: A NOTORIOUS BYRD BROTHER FINDS PEACE

THE MURDER OF ALFALFA

GARY PANTER: LIFE AFTER PUNK & PEE WEE

BE KIND TO ME: THE MUSIC AND ART OF MICHAEL HURLEY

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

TORN BETWEEN TWO LOVERS: KEITH MOON & WAYLON JENNINGS

VIVIEN GOLDMAN AND REVENGE OF THE SHE-PUNKS

‘WHERE’S THE BAG, MR. KARDASHIAN?’: OR, HOW I EXPOSED O.J. SIMPSON’S ACCOMPLICE AND SET THE STAGE FOR A TV EMPIRE

ON THE ROAD WITH BOB DYLAN, REVISITED: A ROLLING THUNDER REVUE STORY

PRIDE TV: THE QUIET GAY HEROES OF SIXTIES SITCOMS

OUT TO SEA WITH THE OUTLAW COUNTRY CRUISE

CHIP TAYLOR: THE HAPPY GAMBLER

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW #1: THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO