Prince: “I don’t believe in contracts”
It took me a while to unearth this report that I wrote after attending a small press gathering with Prince at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on December 13, 2005.
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Music
Ahmet vs. Dweezil Zappa
It’s sad to see the two sons of Frank Zappa engaging in a bitter public battle over money and birthright. The New York Times detailed the feud in April, sparking an open letter from Ahmet to his older brother, and an angry response [both links fixed; the brothers deleted their posts] from Dweezil.
Read moreDavid Bowie: The Brixton Years
David Bowie fell to Earth 69 years ago today, January 8, in this home at 40 Stansfield Road, Brixton. He lived here until he was about six, often dreaming of an exotic life filled with laughing gnomes, tin machines, and a beautiful Somali wife.
Read moreEddie Cochran’s last ride
A little over a year after “the day the music died”—when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash—Eddie Cochran met a similarly violent fate on April 17, 1960, dealing another critical blow to the fledgling rock ‘n’ roll genre.
Read moreLos Lobos at MacArthur Park, Los Angeles
Free is one of my favorite words, and Los Lobos are one of my favorite bands. Combine these two elements, and I made sure I was in the front row for the quasi-homecoming show by East L.A.’s
Read moreCelebrity graves in England
I’m a terrible person . . . to take on vacation.
You might want to lounge on the beach, or go shopping or eating. I just want to visit celebrity graves and miscellaneous death sites.
Read moreGeorge Harrison’s houses
It all started for George Harrison at No. 12 Arnold Grove in Liverpool, in 1943. He lived here until the age of 5 with his parents and three older siblings.
Read moreThe Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” turns 50
(Click here
Back in 1985 when I was in my last year at boarding school and filled with the usual teen anxieties, one of my greatest fears was that the upcoming 20th anniversary of the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” would pass without appropriate recognition.
Read moreOzzy Osbourne, Gene Simmons
Most days I wake up about 10 a.m., and it soon dawns on me that I have nothing to do until bedtime. Such are the perils of enforced early retirement.
Read moreLally Stott: Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, Cheep
Lally Stott would have been 75 in 2020. “Who’s Lally Stott?” you ask. Harold “Lally” Stott was an English singer/songwriter whose best-known creation vied with “Maggie May,” “My Sweet Lord” and “Brown Sugar” as one of the biggest songs of 1971.
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