Monthly Archives: October 2006

Music, Pop Culture

Sandy West, Runaways Drummer and band Co-Founder, Succumbs to Lung Cancer

Sandy West Portrait On Kit
Image Source

10/21/06 – Los Angeles, CA.

Sandy West, drummer for the influential 70s band The Runaways, died Saturday, October 21, 2006 after a long battle with lung cancer.

She left an indelible mark on rock music as a founding member of The Runaways, which featured fellow rockers Joan Jett, Lita Ford and Cherie Currie, and as a leading inspiration for a number of notable musicians, both male and female. Many young musicians can trace their inspiration directly to the first time they heard “Cherry Bomb.”

Continue reading Sandy West, Runaways Drummer and band Co-Founder, Succumbs to Lung Cancer →

Music, Pop Culture

The End of An Era: CBGB Closes Its Doors

Ramones 1975 CBGB Bob Gruen
The Ramones Standing Outside CBGB in 1975, By Bob Gruen. Worth a Thousand Words, at Least (This Photo by Gail)

This past Sunday night, a few of my more rock-savvy friends went downtown to the place where Bleecker Street meets The Bowery for the final concert performance at CBGB before that legendary club closed for good. While I’m not generally a huge supporter of people who don’t pay their rent (and think they can get away with it), it’s a shame that club owner Hilly Kristal made the tragic mistake of thinking he’d be bullet proof to eviction in a town where real estate is more precious than gold or diamonds. But that’s hardly the point anymore. Continue reading The End of An Era: CBGB Closes Its Doors →

Music, Pop Culture

The Other Way of Not Stopping: An Interview with Stewart Copeland

stewart copeland circa 2006
I don’t care what anybody says about Sting being some kind of a Sex God: Stewart Copeland is smokin’ hot!

“I’m a cartoon American, with a deep understanding of the English psyche. I went to British boarding school. As an adult I was in England. My band, The Police, was an English band, I broke out of England. I’m more English than I care to admit. Although, like I said, I’m American, goddamit.”

The (former) drummer for The Police said that and a whole bunch of other very cool, crazy fucked-up stuff in my friend Ian’s amazing Interview with Stewart Copeland up now at Ink19.com. Nice work, Ian!

Film and Television, Pop Culture

Separated at Birth: Lorenzo Borghese and Trent Reznor

Lorenzo Borghese
Bachelor Number Nine

Has anyone out there noticed that Lorenzo Borghese, star of the 9th season of the semi-retarded reality freak show The Bachelor bears an amazing resemblance to the professionally morose Industrial music genius Trent Reznor? I sure did.

Trent Reznor 2006
Trent “Nobody Loves Me” Reznor

Of course, this line of thinking gets me to hypothesizing about how fun and utterly twisted it would be if ABC recruited Trent to be the next Bachelor contestant. Can you just imagine Trent looking for his potential life mate among 25 assorted Type O Negative fans and would-be-Myspace-Porn-Stars diluted with a few blonde-and-brainless-cheerleader types? How much would that rule?

Again, it reminds me of this silly article I wrote for the print version of Ink19 about ten years ago (back when I was a confused, horny fan who hadn’t yet figured out what an utter fraud Trent is) called Dream Date With Trent Reznor. Good times. I wish that piece was archived somewhere because it would be good to haul it out for a few belly laughs. But hopping back on my original train of thought, maybe if Trent could find true love and get laid on a regular basis, he could write some songs that didn’t go on and on about how depressed he is and how much it sucks to be a millionaire rock star who’s probably turned more sex than I’ve had. Yawn City.

Music, Pop Culture

Happy Birthday Al and John!!

Al Gail And Nikki
Angie, Al, Gail and Nikki Wear Cowboy Hats!

I would like to wish a Happy Birthday (and Happy Columbus Day) to my pal Al Jourgensen and also to the late great John Lennon, both of whom must be honored and feted for their signifcant contributions to modern music. Jesus Built My Hot Rod, indeed.