POLY STYRENE: BREAKING DOWN THE BONDAGE
A new documentary film, Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché, clears up some of the mystery around the...
Cool People
WALT WHITMAN: THE FIRST AMERICAN PUNK POET?
The enduring image of Walt Whitman is as a bearded old sage living out his years in...
RAYMOND CHANDLER: THE PRIVATE EYE AS L.A. POET
Los Angeles may have found her Virgil in an Anglo-Irish-American detective novelist named Raymond Chandler (1888-1959). The character...
BELIEVE IT: MARCIA RESNICK’S LENS ON NYC
Photographer Marcia Resnick was fully embedded in the Downtown NYC scenes of the 1970s and 1980s. Her “Resnick’s...
BREAKIN’ THE LEVER OFF WITH HASIL ADKINS
The amazing West Virginian Hasil Adkins (1937-2005) was a one-man band (guitar, drums) who took rock ‘n’ roll,...
WHY BARBRA STREISAND MATTERS
As she nears her 80th birthday (April 24), Barbra Streisand remains a singular figure in American entertainment. By...
LEADERS OF THE PACK: THE ‘GIRL GROUP’-PUNK CONNECTION
Is there a link between the Ramones and the Ronettes? The Stooges and the New York Dolls and...
KEROUAC: ON THE VERGE OF FAME
After hand-delivering the final manuscript of On the Road to Viking Press in Jan. 1957, Jack Kerouac spent...
DOCTOR SAX AND THE GREAT WORLD SNAKE: KEROUAC’S FORGOTTEN OPUS
Written in Mexico in 1952 but not published until 1959, Dr. Sax is Jack Kerouac’s most enigmatic novel....
ALENE LEE: THE HEART OF A SUBTERRANEAN
Jack Kerouac based his muse/lover “Mardou Fox” in The Subterraneans on Alene Lee, a mixed race (Black/Cherokee) bohemian...
JACK KEROUAC AT 100: HIS MAGICAL JUKEBOX
Music was the food that fueled Jack Kerouac’s soul, drove his writing and brought him his rare moments...
TOWNES VAN ZANDT: FOR THE SAKE OF THE SONG
Townes Van Zandt (1944-1997) was a singer-songwriter whose work was popularized by Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard...
FILMMAKER GUS VAN SANT ‘NEVER LEFT THE BEAT INFLUENCE’
As an aspiring teenage artist, Gus Van Sant had his head turned by the writing of Jack Kerouac...
I HATE WORK: AVANT-GARDE DRUMMER MIKE PRIDE TRANSFORMS MDC HARDCORE INTO PIANO JAZZ
Two worlds came together when Mike Pride, a powerful presence on the NYC underground jazz and experimental music...