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The latest articles on PleaseKillMe.com – music, art, culture, fashion, poetry and movies from the 60s through today. This Is What’s Cool!

KEITH RELF: WHEN A YARDBIRD FLEW SOLO

Richie UnterbergerJune 4, 2020

Though the guitarists for The Yardbirds got all the ink, the band’s other three members—bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, drummer Jim McCarty and vocalist Keith Relf—stood on equal footing with Clapton, Page and Beck. Relf, in particular, seemed on the cus...

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VISUALIZING ROKY & THE 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS

Eric DavidsonJune 3, 2020

The music of the Texas garage band 13th Floor Elevators needs little introduction to PKM readers. They were among the first bands to collectively hitch their wagon to LSD, even coining the term "psychedelic rock". But there was a visual side to Roky ...

All Please Kill Me PostsEric DavidsonInterviewsMusicians0 Comments 0

THE CULT OF COSMOPOP: TRUE BELIEVERS IN THE ARIZONA OUTBACK

Joseph L. FlatleyJune 2, 2020

In southern Arizona lies the compound of a religious group, the Global Community Communications Alliance (GCCA). The charismatic head of the GCCA is ‘Gabriel of Urantia,’ aka Tony Delevin, a frustrated Pittsburgh musician. Delevin’s defining reason f...

All Please Kill Me PostsJoseph L. FlatleyMusicians0 Comments 1

FATHER’S DAY GIFT GUIDE

Alan BisbortJune 1, 2020

All the mothers of the world are showered with bowers of flowers and other sweet-smelling powders on Mother’s Day. And, of course, as Abe Lincoln put it, it is altogether fitting and proper that we do this. But what do the men get on Father’s Day? So...

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PRIVATE SORROW: REMEMBERING PHIL MAY OF THE PRETTY THINGS

Valerie SimadisMay 28, 2020

Phil May was one of the originators of the British rock sound of the 1960s: equal parts R&B, psychedelia and hard-driving rock & roll. He fronted The Pretty Things, a band that, with a break here or there, could have been as big as the Stones...

All Please Kill Me PostsCool PeopleMusiciansR.I.P.Valerie Simadis1 Comment 3

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 ...

All Please Kill Me PostsBurt KearnsCool PeopleR.I.P.1 Comment 12

UNMASKED: THE PHANTOM SURFERS’ JOHNNY BARTLETT HANGS TEN

Anthony PetkovichMay 26, 2020

San Francisco’s longest surviving (and only masked!) instrumental surf band, The Phantom Surfers, have been riding the various musical waves since 1988, in that time amassing an international following while carrying the torch for surf music. They na...

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ALL THE YOUNG DROOGS: MONKEY FROM THE ADICTS SPEAKS

Amy HabenMay 25, 2020

Part of the first wave of punk bands in the U.K., the Adicts hit their stride in the 1980s and never looked back. Still active and still sporting garb from the rack of Clockwork Orange, the Adicts played in New York last year, where PKM’s Amy Haben m...

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JOHN DOE: X MARKS THE SPOT

Robert GourleyMay 21, 2020

One of the breakout bands from L.A.’s original punk scene, X has just released ALPHABETLAND, its first album with the original lineup since 1985. The album arrives on the 40th anniversary of their debut, Los Angeles, and is as fresh and fast a sonic ...

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LITTLE RICHARD: THE ORIGINAL PUNK

Parke PuterbaughMay 20, 2020

Rock ‘n’ roll lost one of its true originals last week, when Richard Penniman, the incomparable Little Richard, shuffled off this mortal coil. He was one of the few remaining entertainment figures of any medium or musical genre who was recognizable t...

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ESCAPE FROM VIETNAM: AN ISLAND OF PEACE IN THE MIDDLE OF A COMBAT ZONE

David StewartMay 19, 2020

At the height of the Vietnam War, a renegade monk created a haven for peace on an island in the middle of the Mekong Delta. Deserters from all sides of the conflict found refuge there. Among those who regularly visited the island during these dark ti...

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FAREWELL, GEM SPA: AN EAST VILLAGE INSTITUTION BITES THE DUST

Larry BaumhorMay 18, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic is not just killing and sickening people; it’s decimating small businesses, some with storied histories. Few Lower East Side businesses had a more storied history than Gem Spa, the home of egg creams and countercultural rebellio...

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THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW #4: BRIAN ENO

Billy HoughMay 14, 2020

When “Eno is God” started appearing in spray paint all over NYC in the 70’s, most people were mystified. Those who were not, however, were familiar with the small-in-stature, huge-in-output genius behind Roxy Music’s otherworldly sound, David Bowie’s...

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SAVAGE IMPRESSIONS: BRUCE LICHER & INDEPENDENT PROJECT RECORDS

Richie UnterbergerMay 13, 2020

Bruce Licher’s rise to the top of post-punk graphic design began in 1980 as a means to package the music for his own bands, Project 197 and Savage Republic. Gradually, his “handmade” style—out of the ordinary, eye-catching graphics created on letterp...

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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!

Roger Dutton on REMEMBERING MICHAEL MCCLURE: THE REAL LIZARD KINGTosh Berman's article on Michael McClure is fabulous. I thoroughly enjoyed reading each and every word. I agree wholeheartedly with his outlook on MIchael as a person and a poet. I'm a little soft, however, on the idea of Michael inheriting JDM's Lizard King moniker. Thanks for the article and
John Battles on PRIVATE SORROW: REMEMBERING PHIL MAY OF THE PRETTY THINGSA fitting tribute to an uncompromising Artist. Simadis summed up The Pretty Things' importance very well. I had the good fortune to see Phil May perform three times , and he never faltered as a charismatic frontman with remarkable conviction.The man kicked serious ass , in other words.
Maryjane Calyx on FRED WILLARD WAS FOREVER YOUNG: AND REALLY REALLY OLDThis is news to me, and very sad news; a real loss certainly. But wow! I sure as heck am thankful that Fred Willard was here and gave me so many reasons to laugh heartily over and again. My faves: Fernwood, Tap, History of White People... Thank you Fred! Love,

All Posts

KEITH RELF: WHEN A YARDBIRD FLEW SOLO

VISUALIZING ROKY & THE 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS

THE CULT OF COSMOPOP: TRUE BELIEVERS IN THE ARIZONA OUTBACK

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

All Please Kill Me Posts

KEITH RELF: WHEN A YARDBIRD FLEW SOLO

VISUALIZING ROKY & THE 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS

THE CULT OF COSMOPOP: TRUE BELIEVERS IN THE ARIZONA OUTBACK

FATHER’S DAY GIFT GUIDE

PRIVATE SORROW: REMEMBERING PHIL MAY OF THE PRETTY THINGS

FRED WILLARD WAS FOREVER YOUNG: AND REALLY REALLY OLD

UNMASKED: THE PHANTOM SURFERS’ JOHNNY BARTLETT HANGS TEN

ALL THE YOUNG DROOGS: MONKEY FROM THE ADICTS SPEAKS

JOHN DOE: X MARKS THE SPOT

LITTLE RICHARD: THE ORIGINAL PUNK

ESCAPE FROM VIETNAM: AN ISLAND OF PEACE IN THE MIDDLE OF A COMBAT ZONE

FAREWELL, GEM SPA: AN EAST VILLAGE INSTITUTION BITES THE DUST

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW #4: BRIAN ENO

SAVAGE IMPRESSIONS: BRUCE LICHER & INDEPENDENT PROJECT RECORDS

KEITH RELF: WHEN A YARDBIRD FLEW SOLO

VISUALIZING ROKY & THE 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS

THE CULT OF COSMOPOP: TRUE BELIEVERS IN THE ARIZONA OUTBACK