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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!

IN THE LIMELIGHT: THE VISUAL ECSTASY OF NYC NIGHTLIFE IN THE ‘90S

Cree McCree·October 20, 2020

Steve Eichner was the photo king of NYC mega-clubs. He is also a chameleon who moved seamlessly through the multiverse of colliding worlds that was New York City nightlife in the 1990s. Cree McCree talked with the photographer about his...

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TULI KUPFERBERG: THE RIGHT-NOW ART AND WORDS OF A FUG

Benito Vila·October 19, 2020

By the time Tuli Kupferberg formed the Fugs with Ed Sanders in 1964, he was already a longtime presence in New York’s downtown counterculture. He’d published poems, essays, pamphlets and books, and formed, with Sylvia Topp, his own publishing imprint,...

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BETTYE LAVETTE HAS HER OWN HELL TO RAISE!

Michael Shelley·October 15, 2020

With her powerful voice and magnetic personality, Bettye LaVette has had at least six different musical careers (and counting). She cut her first R & B singles as a teen for Atlantic, toured with Clyde McPhatter, Ben E. King, James...

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‘LIKE PUNK NEVER HAPPENED’: THE LEGACY OF THE NEW ROMANTICS AND ‘80S U.K. POP

David Chiu·October 14, 2020

Sweet Dreams, a new oral history by British journalist Dylan Jones, charts the musical about-face in the UK immediately after punk had run its course through the 1980s, and how that synth-based, fashion-conscious wave swept over the U.S. via MTV....

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MALCOLM MCLAREN: JEWISH MANAGER AS PROFESSIONAL TROUBLEMAKER

Gary Lucas·October 13, 2020

A new doorstopper-sized (900+ pages) biography of Malcolm McLaren by Paul Gorman got musician Gary Lucas thinking about one part of the former Sex Pistol/Bow Wow Wow impresario’s life that is often overlooked in all the stories: his Jewish roots....

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‘PUB ROCK’ WAS MORE THAN A LABEL

Adam Ganderson·October 12, 2020

Wilko Johnson (Dr. Feelgood) and Dave Tice (Buffalo, Count Bishops) talk to PKM and give us the scoop on the Pub Rock scene. Before punk arrived in London, a revival of basic, uncomplicated rock & roll, infused with R &...

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I FOUGHT THE LAW: FROM SONNY CURTIS TO THE CLASH

Scott Schinder·October 8, 2020

Sonny Curtis threw down a musical gauntlet known as “I Fought The Law” in 1958 and a legion of rock ‘n’ rollers have picked it up since, from the Bobby Fuller Four, who had a hit single with it in...

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NICO ICON AND THE BOHEMIAN, OR, HOW TO WALK A WOLF THROUGH PARIS

Gary Lippman·October 7, 2020

Carlos De Maldonado-Bostock was identified as a “bohemian” in the credits of the documentary film Nico Icon (1995), directed by Susanne Ofteringer. A friend of the German-born model, singer, Velvet Underground member, solo recording artist and icon, Carlos was a...

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GARY LACHMAN (NEE VALENTINE): A NEW YORK ROCKER SAILS INTO THE MYSTIC

Zack Kopp·October 6, 2020

Who would have thought that a former bass player for Blondie would transform himself into one of the world’s authorities on “the influence of the occult and esoteric thought on mainstream Western culture.” Indeed, this is the story of Gary...

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BEAT SURRENDER: RECLAIMING THE LEGACY OF LUCIEN CARR

Catherine de Leon·October 5, 2020

Lucien Carr wasn’t just the person who brought Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs together in New York, he also provided a “New Vision”—the name of his manifesto—around which this circle could initially unite, before they became known...

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BADFINGER: THE TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY OF ‘THE NEXT BEATLES’

Scott Schinder·October 1, 2020

Signed to Apple with direct hands-on help from all of the Beatles, particularly Paul (who gave them “Come and Get It”) and George (who co-produced their 3rd album), Badfinger was ‘on top of the world’ by the early 1970s. Ten...

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HARLEM OF THE WEST: SAN FRANCISCO’S FILLMORE DISTRICT

Richie Unterberger·September 30, 2020

Before the hippies swarmed in to reshape America’s counterculture—and before the city embarked on a disastrous urban renewal (or ‘redevelopment’) plan—the Fillmore District in San Francisco was a primarily Black cultural bastion on par with New York’s Harlem, teeming with...

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CARLA BLEY: LIFE GOES ON, SO DOES MUSIC

John Pietaro·September 29, 2020

Composer, pianist and activist Carla Bley was, from an early age, a rebel, turning her back on music at 14 to take up roller skating. By 17, she was working as a cigarette girl at Birdland. Having been given a...

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INSIDE FINGERED: BEHIND THE SCENES WITH FILMMAKER RICHARD KERN

Supervert·September 28, 2020

Richard Kern’s Fingered (1988) is one of the masterpieces of the Cinema of Transgression movement. With bruising performances by Lydia Lunch, Marty Nation, and Lung Leg, the film scandalized critics and incited protesters to attack screenings. Supervert and Richard Kern...

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Jack Kerouac based his muse/lover “Mardou Fox” in The Subterraneans on Alene Lee, a mixed race (Black/Cherokee) bohemian writer and intellectual who was a part of the NYC Beat circle of Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and Lucien Carr. Despite her intimate connection to these writers, the real Alene Lee is nowhere to be found in most accounts and biographies—partly due to her own reticence to speak. Erika Blair did some digging and presents a more rounded portrait of this fascinating woman. Read more!

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SAM CUTLER: LIFE WITH THE STONES, THE DEAD & OTHER WONDERFUL REPROBATES

ALL THE RAJ: HOW ‘NORWEGIAN WOOD’ UNLEASHED THE ‘INDIAN INVASION’

THE KNACK … AND HOW TO GET IT: AN INTERVIEW WITH PRESCOTT NILES

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PLEASE READ ME: THE BEST OF PKM FOR 2021, PART II

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RUTH UNDERWOOD: A MOTHER OF INVENTION

THE LONESOME DEATH OF DANNY RAPP: THE FRONT MAN FOR DANNY & THE JUNIORS

PRIDE TV: THE QUIET GAY HEROES OF SIXTIES SITCOMS

VIN DIESEL, ARTHUR RUSSELL AND ME

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IN THE LIMELIGHT: THE VISUAL ECSTASY OF NYC NIGHTLIFE IN THE ‘90S

TULI KUPFERBERG: THE RIGHT-NOW ART AND WORDS OF A FUG

BETTYE LAVETTE HAS HER OWN HELL TO RAISE!

‘LIKE PUNK NEVER HAPPENED’: THE LEGACY OF THE NEW ROMANTICS AND ‘80S U.K. POP

MALCOLM MCLAREN: JEWISH MANAGER AS PROFESSIONAL TROUBLEMAKER

‘PUB ROCK’ WAS MORE THAN A LABEL

I FOUGHT THE LAW: FROM SONNY CURTIS TO THE CLASH

NICO ICON AND THE BOHEMIAN, OR, HOW TO WALK A WOLF THROUGH PARIS

GARY LACHMAN (NEE VALENTINE): A NEW YORK ROCKER SAILS INTO THE MYSTIC

BEAT SURRENDER: RECLAIMING THE LEGACY OF LUCIEN CARR

BADFINGER: THE TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY OF ‘THE NEXT BEATLES’

HARLEM OF THE WEST: SAN FRANCISCO’S FILLMORE DISTRICT

CARLA BLEY: LIFE GOES ON, SO DOES MUSIC

INSIDE FINGERED: BEHIND THE SCENES WITH FILMMAKER RICHARD KERN

SAM CUTLER: LIFE WITH THE STONES, THE DEAD & OTHER WONDERFUL REPROBATES

ALL THE RAJ: HOW ‘NORWEGIAN WOOD’ UNLEASHED THE ‘INDIAN INVASION’

THE KNACK … AND HOW TO GET IT: AN INTERVIEW WITH PRESCOTT NILES

POLY STYRENE: BREAKING DOWN THE BONDAGE

WE NEVER LEARN: GUNK PUNK IN THE 1990S