I review cinematographic products related directly as well as tangentially to rock history and tell the stories of the artists, businesses, and technologies that fueled the development of this glorious cultural mutant known as Rock n' Roll.
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Green Room (2015) Dead Kennedys, SLAYER, Minor Threat
Season 2 · Episode 2
Saturday, August 23, 2025 • Duration 03:53:19
Like Whoopie Goldberg in Sister Act 2 I'm back in the habit! Time for some SoCal thrash metal, hardcore CA punk, hardcore D.C. punk and Jeremy Saulnier's super violent thriller "Green Room". Come for the sadness of what it's like touring in a van and stay for Captain Picard's nazi goons murdering the JJ Abrams reboot version of Pavel Chekov.
Sources for this episode include American Hardcore by Steven Blush, Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad, SLAYER 66 2/3: The Jeff and Dave Years by D.X. Ferris, and Going Underground | American Punk 1979-1989 | by George Hurchalla.
#3 on White Zombie (1932) AND WHITE ZOMBIE: Sean Yseult, Rob Zombie, Jay Yuenger, Ivan DePrume
Season 2 · Episode 1
Saturday, January 25, 2025 • Duration 02:34:57
Today is the IVAN DEPRUME INTERVIEW EPISODE! WOOOO!
Also featuring more retrospective on the 1932 White Zombie film and narratives provided by Rob Zombie, Sean Yseult and Jay Yuenger from old interviews and blogs and books. The fine people at Radish Mattress and I will cover, among other topics:
Ivan’s upbringing in Brooklyn, his drum heros, and how he fit into the band over the years
Rebuilding the engine on the White Zombie van for their early tours
The elements of his 1992 drum kit that he still owns and uses in his recent projects
How his mother got to America to escape Nazi occupation and death camps in Ukraine and Poland
The Boundless Joy album and tour last year
His best times in the gym with Rob Zombie
His impression of every White Zombie guitarist over the years
His view of Sean and Rob’s separation and how it led to the splintering of the band’s family vibe
How he ate on the first European tour after blowing all his per diem money on a bitchin pair of leather pants
The scary encounters on the road to places like revolution-wracked Yugoslavia and the Berlin Wall when it was torn down
The bogus story Rob made up about why Ivan left White Zombie and the audio of Rob making bullshit up onstage on Phil’s first night behind the kit
Ivan’s views on how to best live life and take care of the people and communities around us
My breakdown of Victor Halperin’s techniques in the film “White Zombie” and the way the movie made me feel all these years after first seeing it in 1996
An exploration of Jay Yuenger’s studio notes on “La Sexorcisto” and “Astro Creep” including the Phaser trick on “Blur the Technicolor”
A dip back into Rob Zombie’s history starting after his “PeeWee’s Playhouse” experience and the indie NYC noise band scene White Zombie was entrenched in at the time. Also his time doing layout and typesetting for little known porno mags
A wrap up of Sean Yseult’s narrative on her years in the band and the noble modesty she displays by not using it to air any dirty laundry and simply highlight all the fun times and great people she experienced when the band got big. I mean, lots of other people would make an entire book about what it was like in the 80s and 90s if they were involved romantically with Rob Zombie, Dave Wyndorf and Al Jourgensen, right? But instead you get drawings and handwritten sheet music and cool electric basses and homemade costumes and cocktail party themes.
From the Patreon collection #4
Season 1 · Episode 83
Wednesday, July 24, 2024 • Duration 02:04:18
From time to time, I will populate the main feed with a Patreon episode that's at least a year old so casual listeners might get a taste of all the extra scholarship that does occur, but lands nowhere near a published episode:
Bowie in ‘74
The rest of the SPIN 1995 readers poll
Wanda Jackson’s book
One glimpse of the Beatles
1982 Penelope Spheeris interview
More Nick Tosches!
Gilbert Gottfried on “Spirit in the Sky”
Tom Waits recording in the early 2000s with Mark Howard
From time to time, I will populate the main feed with a Patreon episode that's at least a year old so casual listeners might get a taste of all the extra scholarship that does occur, but lands nowhere near a published episode:
Original description for this episode:
Shaboom! Two hours of hotness for you today in the wake of my recent 3-parter on The Crow via the main feed. This was a nice slice of all-over-the-place pie, as the whole Patreon endeavor will surely continue to be.
So Today we gots:
A quick look at a (post)90s rock book
A Spin Reader’s Poll
Go Head in the Rain
Sun Records stories - Roscoe Jordan on Ike Turner,
Then Nick Tosches on Jackie Brentston,
Two onstage deaths in Rock
Gilbert on where the love grows
The history of Altamont continued, featuring Monterey Pop and Bill Graham + the establishment of both Fillmores East and West
La Bamba! (1987) #2 | Ritchie Valens & Luis Valdez
Season 1 · Episode 81
Sunday, June 2, 2024 • Duration 03:04:40
Today we finish up Ritchie's story with some more background on the filmmaker and the movie I've come to love even more and apparently get goddamn defensive about.
Reviewing the legacy of the film via a look back with Valdez and Lou Diamond Phillips
TV Tropes about "La Bamba!"
My takeaways about the making of the film in 3 parts
A look back at Luis Valdez's career and activism featuring a note about his cousin ("that vato?") Caesar Chavez and the work of Teatro Campesino
A brief look at the historical significance of American Pauchocos with a detour into some James Ellroy because I wanted to and it's my show, dammit
More of Ritchie Valens' life story and rock n' roll legacy continued from last episode
Me getting REAL cranky about a douchey Pitchfork article I read while conducting research for this one
An update on the show's ongoing relationship with Radish Mattress, Inc
From time to time, I will populate the main feed with a Patreon episode that's at least a year old so casual listeners might get a taste of all the extra scholarship that does occur, but lands nowhere near a published episode:
Today: A return to Tosches! Checking in on the state of the Stones as they prep for a return to American crowds in '69. And an exploration of the relationship between SUN and CHESS records from 1950-1951, around the time of "Rocket 88", as well as why it's called "The first Rock n' Roll record" by some. It's really not, but the question of what actually is is kind of dumb anyway.
From time to time, I will populate the main feed with a Patreon episode that's at least a year old so casual listeners might get a taste of all the extra scholarship that does occur, but lands nowhere near a published episode:
Today we have: Ed Ward, Nick Tosches, Christopher Hitchens, a bad Nine Inch Nails biography, 70s DEVO origins, and lots of guitar modulation effects.
I don't know how to warn you I might get a little wibbly-bibbly in the wobbles during this one. Verklempt, if you will. Similar to the way I was on the CROW episodes processing the loss of Brandon Lee all over again. Ritchie was clearly a marvel and a unique talent in ways I didn't understand until now. To be a guitar hero and a hit songwriter and a teen idol at the same time is a hurculean accomplishment for a 17-year-old kid from Pacoima, California in 1958. And I struggled a bit when jumping on the mic right after my research. This goes back to me being a little kid when I saw the film and begged my dad for a cassette tape of the soundtrack, which I treasured. Rock n' Roll, baby. Rock n' roll.
It's gonna be a bit of this n' that:
The first impressions of Ritchie by his most prominent biographer, Beverly Mendheim, while she struggled to suss out his ethnicity as an impressionable teenager
The career struggles and ongoing activism of Lou Diamond Phillips, who is more consistently successful as an actor than many would realize (Me. I mean me, until now)
The masterful music editing of Curt Sobel on La Bamba! while working closely with Los Lobos and director Luis Valdez (more on him in the next episode!!!)
Ed Ward's dumbass take on Ritchie in the modern era that rivals even his awful reviews of The Beatles back in the late 60s
Readings from a very concise, but effective bio on Ritchie taken from a guitar tab book that I highly recommend
Bonus material: The Diablo Guitars Interview with lil' ol' Moi
Season 1 · Episode 77
Saturday, March 30, 2024 • Duration 02:18:29
I shared a link to this youtube video when it came out, but providing audio now for anyone who would like to listen. It's been a couple months, so I don't feel like this cuts into their Youtube traffic at all. And even if that was the case, I'm unsure as to whether this interview series will even continue now that Glenn himself is no longer with the brand. Enjoy!
Hello and get ready for so much Van Halen once again! And Better Off Dead! So much good stuff that could have only happened in the 1980s converging in one place. Along with more 70s Van Halen history too, of course. We'll cover stuff like:
Savage Steve Holland's real life experiences that went into his script, and later work in children's cartoons
Michael Anthony's first meetup with Sammy Hagar
Eddie's challenges in early life as a shy kid would couldn't speak english in America
His challenges shaking off the controlling influence of David Lee Roth and Ted Templeman making "1984" the way HE and Alex and Donn Landee wanted to
John Cusack's initial hatred of "Better Off Dead" and his eventual backpedal
The Van Halen family's journey from The Netherlands to Pasadena by boat and by train
My shock at finding out Alex's drums on certain songs were actually an electric kit
Al, Mike, and Sammy's soundcheck routines and gear specs on the 1993 tour
The AC/DC songs Eddie says inspired "Panama" and "Drop Dead Legs"
The making of Van Halen 2 and how it was intentionally different from the debut album
How "Fair Warning" influenced what happened on "Diver Down" which in turn influenced "1984"
Eddie's on-the-road-all-night-every-night initial fling with Valerie Bertinelli that morphed straight into their marriage
What happens when a couple of lucky young dudes from Pennsylvania get to party with Van Halen and MTV doesn't know how to keep up with it all
AND SO MUCH MORE. Including lots of my musical interludes and suprise voices from throughout time and space! Even more than usual.
Please remember that Rock n' Roll is the best, and so are you!
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And through it all there’s plenty of helpful input from our sponsor representative brand officer CEO of Radish Mattress/Bootleg Ayhueasca of Canton, Ohio Inc. We praise and thank them for their partnership, and all heads must bow and each tongue shall confess and every knee shall bend for Radish Mattress.
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