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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!

THE INTREPID TRAVELLER: KEN BABBS ON THE MERRY PRANKSTERS, THE BEATS, THE DEAD, WOODSTOCK, AND MUCH MORE

Gregory Daurer·July 1, 2020

How did a basketball-playing Marine Corps lieutenant from Ohio become a driving force for the Merry Pranksters, an emcee for the Grateful Dead, farmer, novelist, publisher and raconteur? The ageless Ken Babbs talks with PKM’s Gregory Daurer about how he’s...

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THE MEKONS: STILL THRIVING ON LOW EXPECTATIONS

Mark Jacobson·June 30, 2020

The punk-era holdouts The Mekons, originally from the UK but now scattered worldwide, were set to reunite to record their 23rd album. Then COVID-19 hit, and they went to Plan B. Plan B resulted in Exquisite, the aural equivalent of...

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VISUALIZING MARC ALMOND: JAMIE MCLEOD’S CAMERA EYE

Alan Bisbort·June 29, 2020

Art photographer Jamie McLeod was a collaborator with and muse for the megastar Marc Almond (Soft Cell, Marc and the Mambas, solo artist) for 20 years. In that time, McLeod helped visually shape Almond’s public image, fusing his pop star...

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JONI MITCHELL: A RECKLESS DAUGHTER’S BRILLIANT JOURNEY

Scott Schinder·June 25, 2020

Joni Mitchell was a “folk singer” for two years, but she has been an artistic badass for more than half a century since then. Her pioneering work and enduring influence over the decades are, however, often reduced to that early...

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FAT WHITE FAMILY’S LIAS SAOUDI ON BLM AND FINDING A MUSICAL WAY FORWARD

Ingrid Marie Jensen·June 24, 2020

The multi-ethnic South London-based Fat White Family has been called the ‘sonic equivalent of society coming unhinged.’ Their raucous onslaught is leavened with humor and social commentary, as seen in the titles of their albums (Champagne Holocaust, Serf’s Up) and...

All Please Kill Me Posts Ingrid Jensen Interviews Musicians

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YOU CAN’T WIN: WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS AND THE REAL JACK BLACK

Tony Mostrom·June 23, 2020

Jack Black was a burglar, rambler, jailbird and writer whose lone published memoir, You Can’t Win (1926), was an important early influence on William S. Burroughs and, through him, the other Beat writers. With a film adaptation of the book,...

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TORI AMOS ON RESISTANCE: CREATIVE OPPOSITION

Amy Haben·June 22, 2020

From her earliest days as a child piano prodigy and lounge player in Washington D.C. clubs, Tori Amos has met resistance but never backed down from it. Battling tirelessly and, ultimately, with success against the male-dominated music industry, she has...

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MEDIUM COOL: HASKELL WEXLER’S HOT PROPHECY

David Stewart·June 18, 2020

The Oscar-winning cinematographer (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) Haskell Wexler turned his hand to film direction with Medium Cool, set during the ‘Police Riot’ in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention in August 1968. Too hot for its own studio...

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BEBE BUELL: MUSING ON MUSES AND OTHER FANS

Bebe Buell·June 17, 2020

Before embarking on a musical career of her own, Bebe Buell was a much in-demand model but was most often seen as the second fiddle to the famous rock musicians she was dating. She, however, saw herself as the Muse...

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WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS: A WORD FROM THE WISE GUY

Billy Hough·June 16, 2020

Billy Hough is a longtime fan of William S. Burroughs. He sees parallels between Burroughs’ writings and our present moment. We will let Billy explain it all to you. The country has been taken over by a fascist regime using...

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HOW HOLLYWOOD HANDLED THE HIPPIES

Jim Allen·June 11, 2020

By the late 1960s, Hollywood had been infiltrated by psychedelia as a recreational pastime (pot, LSD, peyote were already in wide use among the film set by the late 1950s). How that mindset translated to the screen was another story....

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THE STORY BEHIND DINO VALENTI’S HEY JOE AND LET’S GET TOGETHER

Alan Bisbort·June 10, 2020

This is a story about singer-songwriter Dino Valenti and two songs for which he has songwriting credit that defined the Sixties. It also stars Edie Sedgwick, Jimi Hendrix, The Kingston Trio and Folsom Prison. This is a story about two...

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LETTER TO A FIRST-TIME THOMAS PYNCHON READER

Gary Lippman·June 9, 2020

Thomas Pynchon, the great American novelist, may be best known for being invisible. (Although he did do a voiceover on an episode of The Simpsons). Who is he? Where does he live? He is also known for being Too Damn...

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SECOND FIDDLE TO NO MAN: BEVERLEY MARTYN AND LINDA THOMPSON

Fiona McQuarrie·June 8, 2020

The talented singer-songwriters Beverley Martyn and Linda Thompson faced an unfair hurdle in their careers: Though accomplished before meeting either of their husbands, they are best known for who they married and with whom they collaborated, John Martyn and Richard...

All Please Kill Me Posts Fiona McQuarrie Interviews Musicians

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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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All Please Kill Me Posts

THE INTREPID TRAVELLER: KEN BABBS ON THE MERRY PRANKSTERS, THE BEATS, THE DEAD, WOODSTOCK, AND MUCH MORE

THE MEKONS: STILL THRIVING ON LOW EXPECTATIONS

VISUALIZING MARC ALMOND: JAMIE MCLEOD’S CAMERA EYE

JONI MITCHELL: A RECKLESS DAUGHTER’S BRILLIANT JOURNEY

FAT WHITE FAMILY’S LIAS SAOUDI ON BLM AND FINDING A MUSICAL WAY FORWARD

YOU CAN’T WIN: WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS AND THE REAL JACK BLACK

TORI AMOS ON RESISTANCE: CREATIVE OPPOSITION

MEDIUM COOL: HASKELL WEXLER’S HOT PROPHECY

BEBE BUELL: MUSING ON MUSES AND OTHER FANS

WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS: A WORD FROM THE WISE GUY

HOW HOLLYWOOD HANDLED THE HIPPIES

THE STORY BEHIND DINO VALENTI’S HEY JOE AND LET’S GET TOGETHER

LETTER TO A FIRST-TIME THOMAS PYNCHON READER

SECOND FIDDLE TO NO MAN: BEVERLEY MARTYN AND LINDA THOMPSON

ORK RECORDS: STARTING AN INDIE-ROCK REVOLUTION ONE SINGLE AT A TIME

Paulo César Gadioli: How PKM Changed My Life

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DAVID GODLIS: THE STREET PHOTOGRAPHER AT CBGB