LA Reader

Robert Fripp: The Small Mobile Intelligent Pest Of Rock 'N' Roll

Interview by Don Snowden, LA Reader, August 1979

IT SEEMS peculiarly appropriate that, on my arrival at Polydor Records' West Coast offices on Sunset Boulevard, virtually everyone is engaged in a frantic search ...

Wall of Voodoo: A Nagging Question: What’s Behind The Wall Of Voodoo?

Report by Don Snowden, LA Reader, May 1981

ONE OF THE prime joys of being an ardent music fan is the sense of exhilaration that runs through you when you stumble on something ...

Kim Fowley: Tycoon of Trash: The Life And Grimes Of Kim Fowley

Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, LA Reader, June 1983

"Only the mice and the great ones are happy when I arrive" ...

Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson: Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson: Folks Called Him Mr. Cleanhead

Obituary by Kirk Silsbee, LA Reader, September 1988

TWO YEARS ago Eddie Vinson took part in a sax summit show at the Music Machine in West Los Angeles. In the artist's lounge before ...

Chuck Jackson in Three Acts

Profile and Interview by Kirk Silsbee, LA Reader, November 1990

AN OFT-REPEATED myth about American popular music is that the early 1960s were a fallow period, dominated by greasy teen idols named Bobby. Supposedly, domestic ...

Hank Ballard and the Midnighters: Hank Ballard: A Talk With Mr. Twister

Interview by Kirk Silsbee, LA Reader, August 1993

If you not movin' your hips, it just ain't happenin'. – Hank Ballard on dancing ...

Kirsty MacColl

Interview by Erik Himmelsbach, LA Reader, November 1993

ALTHOUGH I liked punk when I was growing up, my real adolescent obsession was with women who went pop. From Lene Lovich and Blondie to ...

Victoria Williams: Victoria, Victorious

Interview by Erik Himmelsbach, LA Reader, October 1994

THE WINDING drive up to Victoria William's house in Laurel Canyon inspires an unshakable seventies-era image – a la Joni Mitchell's ‘Ladies of the Canyon’ ...

After 40 Years, the Homeboys Are Still Cruisin' With Dick "Huggy Boy" Hugg

Retrospective and Interview by Kirk Silsbee, LA Reader, November 1994

AT LAST SUMMER'S Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona, one of the most popular attractions wasn't a thrill ride, exhibit, installation or culinary offering. ...

Go-Go's, The: The Go-Go's: The Beat And How To Get It (Again)

Profile and Interview by Erik Himmelsbach, LA Reader, November 1994

"YOU LOOK FAMILIAR," Kathy Valentine says as she scavenges through the remains of what were once many bags of bagels. "We didn't have our way ...

Cholly Atkins: The Man Who Taught Motown How to Dance

Retrospective and Interview by Kirk Silsbee, LA Reader, January 1995

CHARLES "CHOLLY" ATKINS has had two careers, and he has flourished in both. In the golden age of tap, he was half of one ...

Darlene Love: Love Affair

Interview by Kirk Silsbee, LA Reader, February 1995

VOCALIST DARLENE Love's career is filled with ironies. She is most closely identified with Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" recordings, made in Los Angeles in ...

Traci Lords: Techno Queen of Melrose Place: Traci Lords

Report and Interview by Danny (Shredder) Weizmann, LA Reader, April 1995

Seven years ago, Traci Lords was an underage Porn Queen. Now she's America's Girl Next Door. ...

Letters To Cleo: Letters to Cleo: What’s To Be Bummed Out About?

Interview by Erik Himmelsbach, LA Reader, July 1995

LETTERS TO CLEO frontwoman Kay Hanley sits at a pay phone in a strip mall in Augusta, Georgia, near the Garden City Music Hall, where ...

Medicine: In The Proper Dosage

Interview by Erik Himmelsbach, LA Reader, September 1995

BRAD LANER needs to stand up. After a half hour of kneeling against his bed in a sort of praying position – simultaneously answering questions ...

Van Dyke Parks: California Dreamer

Interview by Erik Himmelsbach, LA Reader, November 1995

THE KITCHEN door swings open, and a tiny voice wafts into the dining room, warbling with gusto "...are the luckiest people in the world." Suddenly, ...