Please Kill Me

29/03/2022

A new documentary film, Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché, clears up some of the mystery around the remarkable biracial woman born Marian Elliott. The film, directed by Paul Sng and Celeste Bell, Poly’s daughter, is also a welcome reminder of the power of X Ray Spex and London punk scene to shape cultural conversations. It arrives soon after the appearance of Dayglo: The Poly Styrene Story, co-authored by Bell and Zoë Howe. Neither portrait flinches from the darker aspects of Poly Styrene’s struggles with mental illness, racism and sexism, or her finding refuge as a Hare Krishna devotee. Richie Unterberger spoke with Howe about Poly Styrene for PKM.

A new documentary film, Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché, clears up some of the mystery around the remarkable biracial woman born Marian Elliott. The film, directed by Paul Sng and Celeste Bell, Poly’s daughter, is also a welcome reminder of the power of X Ray Spex and London punk scene to shape cultu...

28/03/2022

Philippe Marcade, Senders lead singer, talks to Legs and Gillian about his memories of Johnny Thunders and the New York Dolls, Nancy Spungen, Sid Vicious, CBGB’s, Blondie, Richard Hell and more

Philippe Marcade, Senders lead singer and Johnny Thunders’ close friend talks about his memories of Nancy Spungen, Sid, CBGB’s, Blondie, Richard Hell

28/03/2022

Eric Davidson, front man of the Ohio-based New Bomb Turks, is equally adept at rocking, rolling and writing. During the 1990s, the Turks were rolling, too, through the clubs of the Midwest, South, West, Northwest and even a few cities in Europe and Japan. They released more than 10 albums and EPs in the 1990s and early 2000s on numerous indie labels. Somehow, despite the drunkenness and mayhem, Eric retained enough functioning brain cells to keep a record of unfolding events, resulting in We Never Learn (Backbeat), first published in 2010 and re-published this month in a new “expanded” edition. We spoke with Eric Davidson about it all.

Eric Davidson, front man of the Ohio-based New Bomb Turks, is equally adept at rocking, rolling and writing. During the 1990s, the Turks were rolling, too, through the clubs of the Midwest, South, West, Northwest and even a few cities in Europe and Japan. They released more than 10 albums and EPs in...

27/03/2022

PKM continues its series of formative women in punk! This installment takes us into the explosion of the British punk scene with a look at musicians, designers, activists, journalists & photographers – including Siouxsie Sioux, Soo Catwoman, Poly Styrene, Caroline C**n, Vivienne Westwood and more

PKM continues its series of seminal women in punk! This installment takes us into the explosion of the British punk scene with a look at musicians, designers, activists, journalists & photographers - including Siouxsie Sioux, Soo Catwoman, Poly Styrene, Caroline C**n, Vivienne Westwood and more

27/03/2022

We profile 10 more women who left their mark on punk, including a club owner, a photographer, a zine editor, a bandleader/bodybuilder, songwriters, musicians, and singers.

PKM profiles 10 more women who left their mark on punk, including a club owner, a photographer, a zine editor, a bandleader/bodybuilder, songwriters, musicians, and singers.

27/03/2022

Women played major roles as musicians, writers, photographers, artists, clothing designers…and still do

Women played major roles as musicians, writers, photographers, artists, clothing designers - A look at some of the pioneering women in punk

26/03/2022

Happy Birthday to bassist Carol Kaye, who turned 87 on March 24th! Kaye started as a jazz solo guitarist, working the club scene of 1950s LA, when she was asked to work on some studio tracks for Sam Cooke. Though she loved the bebop jazz scene, Carol was a single mother with three kids and so to the studios she went, eventually switching to bass. She ultimately changed the very sound and role of that instrument in pop music as a member of what drummer Hal Blaine dubbed The Wrecking Crew (but which Carol has called The Clique). By any name, these were the session musicians who shaped some of the biggest hits of the 1960s, after which she went back to playing live gigs and working in movies and television, writing and teaching, which she is still doing in her 80s. Michael Shelley talks with the amazing Carol Kaye for PKM.

Carol Kaye started as a jazz solo guitarist, working the club scene of 1950s LA, when she was asked to work on some studio tracks for Sam Cooke. Though she loved the bebop jazz scene, Carol was a single mother with three kids and so to the studios she went, eventually switching to bass. She ultimate...

25/03/2022

Happy Birthday to the late, great "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin, who was born on this day in 1942. From the PKM archives, Christine Ohlman, herself a soul queen and a musical staple on Saturday Night Live, takes us through the roster of Soul Music Queens, introducing us to those women who’ve got “it.” Soul, that is.

Christine Ohlman takes us through the roster of The Queens of Soul: Aretha Franklin / Irma Thomas / Etta James / Dionne Warwick / Tina Turner / Dusty Springfield / Mavis Staples / Ann Peebles

25/03/2022

D. Boon, guitarist, vocalist and artist extraordinaire for The Minutemen, was born on April Fool’s Day in 1958. His death, in a 1985 van accident, is one of punk rock’s greatest early losses. This video, however, celebrates the life, humor and talent of the man, along with the skills of his bandmates Mike Watt and George Hurley. Happy birthday, D. Boon, wherever you are!

Every week PKM features another cool video - check out this week's video!

24/03/2022

The enduring image of Walt Whitman is as a bearded old sage living out his years in his Camden home. And yet, he was still a relatively unknown writer into his 40s, living with his mother in Brooklyn and wandering Manhattan’s streets at night. During this time, he went underground (literally) to Pfaff’s, a below street-level saloon catering to artists and writers at Broadway and Bleecker. For four years (1858-62), he was a regular there, along with Adah Isaacs Menken, Thomas Nast, Ada Clare and Fitz Hugh “Hasheesh Eater” Ludlow, all of whom pushed the Downtown borders as the punks would do more than a century later. Once the Civil War started, Whitman left NYC and became the poet we know today. But his transformation took place in Manhattan. On the anniversary of Whitman’s death (March 26), we offer this reflection.

The enduring image of Walt Whitman is as a bearded old sage living out his years in his Camden home. And yet, he was still a relatively unknown writer into his 40s, living with his mother in Brooklyn and wandering Manhattan’s streets at night. During this time, he went underground (literally) to P...

23/03/2022

Los Angeles may have found her Virgil in an Anglo-Irish-American detective novelist named Raymond Chandler (1888-1959). The character Chandler led through L.A.’s underworld in 7 now-classic novels was Philip Marlowe, a wise-cracking private eye whose clients dragged him through the heart of the city’s darkness but whose native wits saved him, more world weary but no worse for wear. Chandler singlehandedly elevated the crime novel into literature and Hollywood adaptations of his work, starring Bogey, Mitchum and others, set the standard for American film noir.

Los Angeles may have found her Virgil in an Anglo-Irish-American detective novelist named Raymond Chandler (1888-1959). The character Chandler led through L.A.’s underworld in 7 now-classic novels was Philip Marlowe, a wise-cracking private eye whose clients dragged him through the heart of the ci...

22/03/2022

Happy Birthday to the late Keith Relf, born on this day in 1943. Though the guitarists for The Yardbirds got all the ink, the band’s other four members—bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist (and later bassist) Chris Dreja, and vocalist Keith Relf—stood on equal footing with Clapton, Page and Beck. Relf, in particular, seemed on the cusp of a brilliant post-Yardbirds career when he died from an accidental electrocution in 1976. Richie Unterberger spoke with Samwell-Smith and McCarty about their former frontman.

Though the guitarists for The Yardbirds got all the ink, the band’s other three members—bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, drummer Jim McCarty and vocalist Keith Relf—stood on equal footing with Clapton, Page and Beck. Relf, in particular, seemed on the cusp of a brilliant post-Yardbirds career when ...

22/03/2022

British filmmaker Alex Cox made his name with Sid and Nancy and cult-fave Repo Man. However, his epic story of greed, Latin American politics and U.S. chicanery, Walker (1987)—set in Nicaragua in the mid-1800s—should have been his pinnacle. With a soundtrack by Joe Strummer, bravura performances by Ed Harris and Peter Boyle, and timeless theme of American interventionism, Walker seemed ‘can’t-miss’. Uh, not so fast. Released in the middle of the Iran-Contra Hearings to mostly negative reviews, the studio turned its back on the film and took a major loss. Criterion has now come to the rescue with a restored reissue of Walker. PKM’s David Stewart caught up with Alex Cox to discuss Walker and other cinematic topics.

British filmmaker Alex Cox made his name with Sid and Nancy and cult-fave Repo Man. However, his epic story of greed, Latin American politics and U.S. chicanery, Walker (1987)—set in Nicaragua in the mid-1800s—should have been his pinnacle. With a soundtrack by Joe Strummer, bravura performances...

21/03/2022

Lisa Law and her camera, Dennis Hopper once said, caught “everyone” in the Sixties from the Beatles, Dylan and the Byrds to the Velvet Underground, Kesey, Krassner and the Dead. She was also “everywhere” in that time, from the Sunset Strip to Monterey Pop, the Human Be-In and Woodstock. Since that time, Lisa has continued her photographic work but has also made documentary films and been a tireless environmental and antiwar activist and lecturer.

Lisa Law and her camera, Dennis Hopper once said, caught “everyone” in the Sixties from the Beatles, Dylan and the Byrds to the Velvet Underground, Kesey, Krassner and the Dead. She was also “everywhere” in that time, from the Sunset Strip to Monterey Pop, the Human Be-In and Woodstock. Sinc...

21/03/2022

Photographer Marcia Resnick was fully embedded in the Downtown NYC scenes of the 1970s and 1980s. Her “Resnick’s Believe It” feature in the Soho Weekly News (1979-82) was essential viewing, as she specialized in the ‘Bad Boys’ of the city, from Johnny Thunders to Roy Cohn. Sandra Hale Schulman met Resnick as a young curator in 1984, assisting with a wild show that featured her controversial John Belushi photographs. She shares some memories of that time and flashes forward to celebrate a new retrospective of Marcia Resnick’s finest work, As It Is Or Could Be, traveling to three venues over the next year.

Photographer Marcia Resnick was fully embedded in the Downtown NYC scenes of the 1970s and 1980s. Her “Resnick’s Believe It” feature in the Soho Weekly News (1979-82) was essential viewing, as she specialized in the ‘Bad Boys’ of the city, from Johnny Thunders to Roy Cohn. Sandra Hale Schu...

20/03/2022

It may have started with Marvel vs. DC but it led to Robert Crumb and an Underground movement that has only grown since the 1960s

19/03/2022

A contemporary of Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, and Francesco Scavullo, William “Bill” Helburn was at the top of his profession from the early 1950s through the 1960s, with bylined covers and editorial images in the pages of such magazines as Harper’s Bazaar, Life, and McCall’s. Helburn also worked extensively in advertising. Throughout his career Helburn strove to grab the viewer’s attention, “Shock value was a term that was used. And I meant to shock people as much as I could.” A few years ago Gillian McCain went to Connecticut to buy some photos and talk with Helburn.

Interview by Gillian McCain - A contemporary of Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, and Francesco Scavullo, William “Bill” Helburn was at the top of his profession from the early 1950s through the 1960s, with bylined covers and editorial images in the pages of such magazines as Harper’s Bazaar, Life,...

19/03/2022

When I first started working at the legendary Poetry Project in 1991, my boss, Ed Friedman, suggested I do a Friday Night Event Series and gave me carte blanche to do whatever I wanted. It was a dream come true.

This is part one of a transcription of a Q&A filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker did at the Poetry Project in May of 1994 with Gillian McCain.