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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!

FILMMAKER DON LETTS: THERE AND BLACK AGAIN

Jennifer Otter BickerdikeSeptember 23, 2021

Don Letts, filmmaker, musician and DJ, came of age during the original punk scene in London. Born in England to Jamaican parents, Letts was always one of the few persons of color in what he, in this interview with Jennifer Otter Bickerdicke, cal...

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BUCK OWENS: THE COUNTRY LINK TO CALIFORNIA TWANG

Bob PomeroySeptember 22, 2021

Buck Owens (1929-2006), legendary singer, guitarist and country music entertainer, has never really gotten his due as an influence on rock & roll. For a brief window of time, before the Beatles turned the record industry on its head, the sounds ...

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LABELLE: THE TRIO THAT BROKE ALL THE MOLDS

Fiona McQuarrieSeptember 21, 2021

Labelle, the trio of Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash, turned the music world on its head, with their seamless vocalizing (honed singing doo wop in Philadelphia in the 1960s), wild ‘Space Deco’ costumes and extravagant stage shows. Their a...

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ROBERT DOWNEY SR.: FAREWELL TO AN UNDERGROUND FILM LEGEND

David StewartSeptember 20, 2021

When Robert Downey Sr.’s Putney Swope was released in 1969, America didn’t know what hit her. A surrealistic satire, the film hit all of America’s sore spots: racism, consumerism, political and corporate corruption, and Downey became a hero to t...

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MARTIN BARRE STANDS UP: JETHRO TULL AND BEYOND

Anthony PetkovichSeptember 9, 2021

For an impressive span of over five decades, Martin Barre and Ian Anderson were the two constant presences in Jethro Tull. Anderson’s voice, flute and songwriting shaped the band’s vision but Barre’s stellar guitar work was the essential ingredient f...

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SONNY VINCENT: AN ORIGINAL PUNK SPIRIT, STILL INTACT

Adam GandersonSeptember 8, 2021

As a teen runaway on the streets of New York, Sonny Vincent drifted to the kindred spirits in the punk scene. His original band, Testors, played CBGB and Max’s, and attracted a following before disbanding in 1981, at which point he formed Sonny Vince...

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MADE IN THE UK: PHOTOGRAPHER JANETTE BECKMAN

Amy HabenSeptember 7, 2021

After documenting the punk and post-punk scenes in the UK, Janette Beckman moved to New York in time to shoot the burgeoning rap and hip hop scenes, as well as gang life in East L.A. Amy Haben caught up with Janette Beckman for a conversation about w...

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IT’S THE TIME OF THE SEASON FOR COLIN BLUNSTONE & THE ZOMBIES

Valerie SimadisSeptember 6, 2021

The Zombies were part of the first British Invasion, along with the Beatles, the Stones, et al. What made them stand out were the delicate vocals by Colin Blunstone on hits like “She’s Not There,” “Tell Her No,” and “Time of the Season.” After record...

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SAN FRANCISCO: A HISTORY IN ROCK AND ROLL

Alan BisbortJuly 3, 2021

Mike Katz and Crispin Kott, self-described “rock and roll soulmates,” have done it again. With the recently published Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to San Francisco and the Bay Area, they’ve captured the magical city’s musical legacy with the same tir...

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REMEMBERING PUNK, THE MAGAZINE, MUSIC, MOMENT IN TIME

Legs McNeilJune 14, 2021

Five years after the punk wave had washed over New York and London, Legs McNeil looked back in anger and awe at what it had wrought. In this story from his archive—a version of which was published in High Times in 1982—Legs explains the how, when and...

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SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY: WHY MARIANNE FAITHFULL MATTERS

Sharon M. HannonJune 10, 2021

Marianne Faithfull has had a long, fascinating career since her days as the ‘It Girl’ of the Swingin’ London scene in the 1960s. Indeed, her best and far more interesting work has been done since those sometimes scandalous days. Tanya Pearson, founde...

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IRA ROBBINS: TROUSER PRESS, LASTING IMPACT & LIFE THEREAFTER

Richie UnterbergerJune 9, 2021

Ira Robbins began publishing Trouser Press in 1974 for all the right reasons: love of music on the margins, Anglophilia, fun. That he and co-founders Dave Schulps and Karen Rose didn’t know what they were doing was all the more reason to do it. In th...

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LOOKING WEST WITH LARRY MCMURTRY

Benito VilaJune 8, 2021

The writer and bookseller Larry McMurtry, who died earlier this year at 84, was a Texas native best known for film adaptations of his novels The Last Picture Show, Horseman, Pass By (Hud), Terms of Endearment and Lonesome Dove. PKM’s Benito Vila, in ...

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DAVID GREENBERGER: BEYOND DUPLEX PLANET

Alan BisbortJune 7, 2021

What began in 1979 for David Greenberger as a D.I.Y. newsletter for the residents at a Boston nursing home became, over the decades, an international oasis called Duplex Planet. Intelligent life on this planet includes Robyn Hitchcock, Dave Alvin, XT...

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The Plasmatics, fronted by the unmatchable Wendy O. Williams, may have been the most misunderstood rock ‘n’ roll band ever. Conceived as all of the following: performance art, social comment, consumer culture satirists, and rock ‘n’ roll band; the Plasmatics were impossible to categorize, falling somewhere between punk rock and Kiss/Alice Cooper (both bands were fans), their shows were a legendary as they were terrifying, featuring chainsaws, hammers, exploding cars and TV sets. PKM’s Adam Ganderson speaks with former ‘Matics Wes Beech and Richie Stotts and revisits the legacy of W.O.W. Read more!

Tom Kennedy on TINA BELL’S HIDDEN LEGACY: THE BLACK WOMAN WHO CREATED THE SOUND OF GRUNGEA very recent discovery for me, I can hear a massive Wipers influence but it doesn't scream typical grunge to me. Tina Bell had a great voice, and wow...what a beautiful looking person. Feels like all the ingredients were there, I can't help but think they'd have been snapped by
JimGlover on PHIL OCHS: BOUND FOR GLORYThanks Marc, I keep learning more about my old pal Phil now being a Legend. Phil and I were setup with foreknowledge of the JfK assassination before, during and after. I am still researching and about ready for a book. There is much out there by looking up Phil Ochs,
Tim Johnson on ROBERT JOHNSON: THE LEGEND VS. THE MAN VS. THE DEVILBrilliant article - so many of the things I love. If you check the words of Crossroads "I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees, asked the Lord above, have mercy... if you please" so different from the superficial idea that he met the devil there..he also mentions

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FILMMAKER DON LETTS: THERE AND BLACK AGAIN

BUCK OWENS: THE COUNTRY LINK TO CALIFORNIA TWANG

LABELLE: THE TRIO THAT BROKE ALL THE MOLDS

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LUX INTERIOR: WHERE ON EARTH DID YOU COME FROM?

All Please Kill Me Posts

FILMMAKER DON LETTS: THERE AND BLACK AGAIN

BUCK OWENS: THE COUNTRY LINK TO CALIFORNIA TWANG

LABELLE: THE TRIO THAT BROKE ALL THE MOLDS

ROBERT DOWNEY SR.: FAREWELL TO AN UNDERGROUND FILM LEGEND

MARTIN BARRE STANDS UP: JETHRO TULL AND BEYOND

SONNY VINCENT: AN ORIGINAL PUNK SPIRIT, STILL INTACT

MADE IN THE UK: PHOTOGRAPHER JANETTE BECKMAN

IT’S THE TIME OF THE SEASON FOR COLIN BLUNSTONE & THE ZOMBIES

SAN FRANCISCO: A HISTORY IN ROCK AND ROLL

REMEMBERING PUNK, THE MAGAZINE, MUSIC, MOMENT IN TIME

SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY: WHY MARIANNE FAITHFULL MATTERS

IRA ROBBINS: TROUSER PRESS, LASTING IMPACT & LIFE THEREAFTER

LOOKING WEST WITH LARRY MCMURTRY

DAVID GREENBERGER: BEYOND DUPLEX PLANET

FILMMAKER DON LETTS: THERE AND BLACK AGAIN

BUCK OWENS: THE COUNTRY LINK TO CALIFORNIA TWANG

LABELLE: THE TRIO THAT BROKE ALL THE MOLDS

ROBERT DOWNEY SR.: FAREWELL TO AN UNDERGROUND FILM LEGEND

MARTIN BARRE STANDS UP: JETHRO TULL AND BEYOND