Top 13 (of the Week)

Sure,you know what's cool. But do you know what's really fuckin' FAR OUT? That's where Advanced Demonology takes over. Every week, (K)en and (S)wilson trudge through the murky waters of the pop culture hellscape, dredging up sparkly morsels of wonder. These are the result of our latest foray into the world of the weird, our wildest, wiggest-out picks of the week. Call it our 13 Point Program.

13. Virgin Witch on Blu-ray!
Virgin Witch (1971) is a must-see for all budding demonologists. Here's the set-up: two groovy chicks - models, of course - show up at some notorious lesbian's gothic castle in the middle of nowhere (which, in 70's Britain, could seriously be nowhere) to land a modeling contract. They figure, what the hell, if they've gotta make out with the ol' broad, what's the harm? But when they get there, they find out there's way crazier shit than girl-on-girl antics going on - witchcraft is afoot! Will they be forced to join the evil Sapphic coven? Probably! Great stuff and now it's mastered in HD! (K)

12. The Police Tapes
Ride around with the cops in the South Bronx in 1976. This documentary was shot on one of the first video cameras available by the  people that brought you An American Family. It was the inspiration to the show Cops and Hill Street Blues. The Bronx in the seventies were some of the meanest of all mean streets in history. It's completely mesmerizing. (S)

11. Shuffler.Fm
So say you're like me (aging), and you find it difficult to get a hold on what "the kids" are listening to these days. You show up at the record shop on new-release day and you're mystified: who are these people and what do they do? Is Poor Moon techno or folk? Honestly, what the hell, Poor Moon? You know in the 80's, you knew what you were dealing with. Nobody thought Slayer might have been synthpop. Anyway, Shuffler.FM to the rescue. This swell Ipad app (you can also use it on the web) collects all the latest tunes from hundreds of music blogs and divides 'em up by genre. In the mood for Psychedelic (yes)? Post-rock (no)? Whatever floats your boat, you press the button and it takes you to the latest jams available in your chosen genre, and there's a handy music-player at the bottom that converts whatever format the original song was posted in, so you don't have to worry about what buttons to push. Super helpful, and a great way to discover great new tunes. (K)

10. Rasputin Stash
With one of the best band names in funk history and a record called The Devil Made Me Do It, this Chicago funk outfit was destined for advanced demonological heights. I'm pretty sure this was what the character J.J. Walker was getting down to off screen in Good Times.  Each song is like a still life from the inner city seventies: Mr. Cool, Hit it and and pass it,  I can feel your jones, you've opened my mind and the devil made me do it. yeah. For sure. (S)

9. The B-Music of Jean Rollin

Jean Rollin was one of the all-time great weirdo film auteurs. Back in the 70's, he made an amazing series of "erotic" vampire films, dreamy, hypnotic, low-budget gems like Lips of Blood and Fascination that were made with barely any money (and, for the most part, barely any script either) but delivered big on woozy atmosphere, abundant French-hippie-death-goddess nudity, and haunting tunes. Several of his films were recently released on Blu-ray, but The B-Music of Jean Rollin 1968-1979 is the first (far as I know) compilation of music from his soundtracks. And it's as trippy as you think it is. (K)

8. Apres Ski Soundtrack

The soundtrack to some French Canadian ski movie that involves naked chicks. Although I'm dam near obsessed with female nudity, I'm really not interested in skiing, so I haven't tracked down the movie. The soundtrack is great, though.  French language easy funk, barroom sing a longs,  mindless mood music and slow Gainsborge-esque sex dirges, interspersed with clips from the film  that I don't understand, but the add to the atmosphere.  I haven't actually paid for the thing I've been playing it off of band camp while I cook. (S)

7. 10 Billion Earths?! 
Seems like just last year, astronomers were guessing there was about 30 or so possible Earth-like planets in our galaxy. Now, according to an article in Wired this week, that number has gone up. Way up. There might be 10 BILLION PLANETS in the galaxy. We are definitely not alone. I hope for Swilson's sake the rest of the galaxy digs Loner Rock. (K)

6. Tabloid
Errol Morris brings us the story of  former miss Wyoming, Joyce McKinney. In 1977 she decided to kidnap her ex-boyfriend, a devout Mormon, and deprogram him by chaining him up and having nonstop sex with him for three days. Great idea, huh?  It became a Tabloid sensation in Uk and the story becomes, somehow, linked to cloning!?!?! It needs to bee seen to be believed. Or maybe not believed. (S)

5. Orion's Beethoven was a space rock band from Argentina who released a couple of kooky records in the late 60's that straddled symphonic-prog, acid-battered, space-y, proto-metal thud, and free jazz freakouts. Their Superangel album (1973) was probably their high-water mark, but this killer black n' white film clip from some festival in Buenos Aires is a stone-groove too. The fellas clearly have very little control over their instruments, but they look awesome trying to wrangle their wayward sound. (K)

4. A Real Cool Time Revisited: Swedish Punk, Pop and Garage Rock 1982-1989
In case you don't know, Rock is not dead. It just retired and moved to Scandinavia. The 80's was such a great time to experience the mid-sixities. The Swedes on this bone crushing comp of stomp rock '65 revival have a way with it. Maybe it was all the raping and pillaging from the long ship glory days?  (S)

3. Teen A Go Go 
Great documentary on the mid 60's Fort Worth Texas garage rock scene. Nobody ever got famous - Larry and the Blue Notes are pretty much the headliners in that pack of outsiders and never-weres, but the stories are great, the footage is fun and obviously rare (most of it is super 8!) and the sense of enthusiasm from those long-gone days is infectious. Teen out and turn on! (K)

2. The planet Saturn makes the best space rock!
Saturn emits some pretty intense radio waves and the Cassini spacecraft picks em up. Check  it out! It's better than most space bands here on earth. I predict this planet will be the biggest name in show biz by the year 2112. Mark my words... (S)

1. The Pierces - new album You and I 

Last episode of the Advanced Demonology podcast, I mentioned how nobody actually sounds like Fleetwood Mac except Fleetwood Mac. Well, I take it back. This record sounds like fuckin' Fleetwood Mac. Late 70's cocaine and mayhem era. Plus, they're two hot sisters. And one of 'em is half of the awesome James Levy and Blood Red Rose (hint: she's not James Levy). I dig it! (K)

Top 13 (of the Week)

Sure,you know what's cool. But do you know what's really fuckin' FAR OUT? That's where Advanced Demonology takes over. Every week, (K)en and (S)wilson trudge through the murky waters of the pop culture hellscape, dredging up sparkly morsels of wonder. These are the result of our latest foray into the world of the weird, our wildest, wiggest-out picks of the week. Call it our 13 Point Program.

13.The Shrine

The only reason they are number 13 is because they deserve that auspicious number. Just check out that photo! That's what it all should be. The Shrine are from Los Angeles and although I think they should change the name of the band to the name of any one of the songs on the demo: Freak Fighter, Primitive Blast, Wasted Prayer, or Zipper Tripper, they are even a good candidate for the name "Engine Beast" (that's a name that Ken came up with?), and even though I've never seen them play, I'm convinced they are the best band in the City of Fallen Angels. Check out the "Bless Off" demo. It's a primitive blast!!! Get in the van, sorry the passenger seat is a mess……(S)

12. Gram Parsons' Weekend at Bernies adventure

Apparently everybody already knows this story, but I just read about for the first time this morning. Turns out after country-rock's reigning drug casualty Gram Parsons finally kicked the bucket in '72, his manager STOLE HIS BODY FROM THE AIRPORT, took it out to the desert, and SET IN ON FIRE. Because, you know, that's what Gram wanted. Kooky! (K)

11. Andrea True

70's porn star turned 70's disco star. Andrea moved to New York City in the late 60's to become an actress. Having trouble breaking into legit movies she decided she'd take a few "adult" roles in order to get her name out there to producers. It didn't work. She got stuck in porn and appeared in over 60 hardcore features . After a finical debacle involving the Jamaican government and a Caribbean real estate company, she decided that music was her ticket out of porn. It worked! For a while at least. In 1975 she recored "More, More, More".(S)

10. Phantom Limb

British country-soul outfit with a blues-y belter up front. It's like that Tina Goes Country record with a twist of early Black Crowes revival rock. I'm not sure how you couldn't like this. (K)

9. My Living Doll

My Living Doll was a TV show that aired in '64-65. It starred Bob Cummings (Love That Bob!) and Julie "Catwoman #1" Newmar. It's pretty high concept. Bob's a psychiatrist whose buddy invented a sexy robot (guess who?) and then flaked off to Pakistan (?) for some unknown mission and asked Bob to look after her for a few months. So he keeps her in his apartment and tries to turn her into the "perfect woman" (i.e. totally subservient), but the more she learns about people (mostly from watching TV), the feistier she gets. The whole thing is completely delightful. I'm not sure why they only released half the season, but any Newmar is good Newmar. (K)

8. Loleatta Holloway : The Hotlanta Soul of Loleatta Holloway

This is a collection of tunes she recored for the Atlanta based Aware label before she moved over to Salsoul and became a dance disco diva. Too much soul to control!!!! (S)

7. On The Road With The Ramones by Monte A. Melnick

This book is indispensable to any Ramones fan. It was put together by the road manager, the behind the scenes war chief, who fought side by side with Forrest Hills favorite sons for two thousand plus shows. It's a fast, 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4, furious look at punks big bang, more up close and personal than almost anything else out there.(S)

6. Ruthann Friedman

A lot of time I order shit on the internet and then forget I did it until a package shows up at my door. And then I'm like, "When the fuck did I order a Ghost t-shirt and seven purple wristbands?" But then I'm always happy to get 'em, because I have fantastic taste, especially when I'm picking out stuff for myself. This week I got a package from Drag City (home of Neil Hamburger and DWarr!), and inside was a 7" single by one Ruthann Friedman. Who is that? Well, I think I bought it based on the cover - I'm a sucker for hippie death goddesses - but it turns out, she's right up my musical alley anyway. Ruthann was an acid-queen from SF and almost ended up singing for Jefferson Airplane, but instead wrote a funky psyche-folk album called Constant Companion that I only found out about 20 minutes ago but am suitably psyched about. This single has a couple non-album tracks from around that era (1970). One's about peace. It's called White Dove. The other one's about psychotic bikers. It's called Motorcycle Madness. Both are awesome. Also, there's no label on the actual 7". It's just black. Cool! (K)

5. Erwin Rommel

I just watched The Desert Fox starring James Mason, although the film has some weak spots it's pretty dam good. It brilliantly incorporates real WWII footage in with staged combat scenes and really get's ya thinking about this strange Anti-Hero. Regarded as a humane and professional solider he ignored orders to kill captured british commandos, jewish soldiers and civilians. He knew Hitler was nuts. Tried to assassinate him and failed, than was forced to commit suicide! It's all a very heavy metal. Has any band done a concept album about this guy? The Shrine? Engine Beast?(S)

4.Phenomenal Handclap Band

It's kinda like glam, disco, pop, and soul all mashed up with samplers and whatnots played by groovy longhairs and their foxy mamas. It's one of these deals where you really want in, but you know it's gonna end up in some sorta Manson-esque blood sacrifice somewhere down the line. I'm into it, though. If Swilson had a bunch of funky friends, he might have ended up doing something like this. But Swilson is a loner, so that will never happen. (K)

3.Santo Gold Informercial

An absolutely lysergic late night informercial that fried the mind of an entire generation.(S)

2.My new favorite Charlie's Angel: Kate Jackson.

I've been staring at this photo all week. Dreamy! (K)

1.John, the Wolf King of L.A.

Basically a farewell letter to the world sent by John Phillips, before giving himself alternate injections of cocaine and heroin, every fifteen minutes of every day for the next fifteen years. The backing band is L.A.'s Wrecking Crew. Depressing and beautiful, the way ya want it. (S)

Top 13 (of the Week)

Sure,you know what's cool. But do you know what's really fuckin' FAR OUT? That's where Advanced Demonology takes over. Every week, (K)en and (S)wilson trudge through the murky waters of the pop culture hellscape, dredging up sparkly morsels of wonder. These are the result of our latest foray into the world of the weird, our wildest, wiggest-out picks of the week. Call it our 13 Point Program.

13. I can read the goddamn NME again! You know, back in the 80’s, one of the highlights of my high-school week was stopping by ye olde newsstand and picking up the latest issues of NME, Melody Maker (RIP) , and Sounds (RIP), the UK’s weekly music papers. Back then, whatever was happening in music happened there first, and it was pretty thrilling to read about future–legends like Zodiac Mindwarp, Jesus and Mary Chain, Manic Street Preachers, Oasis etc. when they were still grubby local bands. Said olde newsstand gave up on the rock weeklies decades ago, and I think the last time I had my hands on an NME (now glossy, used to be newsprint) was 2002-ish. But Stacey just bought us the new Ipad, and turns out, you can get digital subscriptions to the NME on the Ipad for $20.00 a year. Sweet. Now I can join the hype wagon again, get super into a band for 6 months, and then abandon and slag them as soon as they start getting popular! Just like in the good old days. Except now probably Lush won’t be in the cover every week, getting into antics.  They probably have health insurance and sensible shoes by now. (K)


12. Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974) - This is a killer chase film!!! The cast oozes charisma, Susan George (sexy as all hell!), Peter Fonda (cool as all hell!), Adam Roarke (intense as all hell!) and Vic Morrow (foreshadowing his death by helicopter as hell??).  Non-stop action! Complete with a post-Easy Rider 70's ending (spoiler alert). (S)

11. Dennis Fridulin Canadian loner-rock practitioner who released a gentle—yet-unsettling album of downer-folk, Lay By Me, in 1978. Don’t know what happened to him after that, but the fact that he’s virtually non-existent on the internet suggests something terrible happened. Probably bears or Satanists got him. If you ever get the chance, check out his album. It’s like falling asleep on your weird uncle’s couch while he’s out on a tear somewhere. Comfortable and cozy now, sure to cause you distress later. (K)

10. Night Birds - None of the great hardcore punk of the last 20 years have actually played hardcore itself. Mostly they play some other form of music with a hardcore intent, to a suburban hardcore audience. This is not a Jab by the way, just an observation. Night Birds are no different, basically they fuse balls to the wall punk intensity, with a Molotov cocktail of surf rock and good, old fashioned, fraternity woolly-bully type headbangs, at 90 mph.  It's really "freekin"  fun!  P.S. they are from the Jersey shore, same as Swilson! (S)

9. Speaking of Swilson, I think he should play here. Slab City is in the Colorado desert. Basically it’s a lawless city of squatters and RV dead-enders, full of freaks, outcasts, and desperate desperadoes of all shapes and stripes. It’s like a pre-post apocalyptic wonderland! If Helter Skelter (or the Road Warrior, or the Walking Dead) ever goes down for real, the residents of Slab City will be fully prepared to reap the whirlwind. If you’re looking to get really, really lost, you know where to go. (K)

8. Amebix - I love crust punk. Everything about it. I just never had the balls to drop out and live  in a squat, beg for change , spend it on dope, than blame society.  It takes a certain kind of abusive parent or a strangely twisted sense of entitlement to fully embrace the life style. You can , on the other hand, enjoy the bands form a distance, which are all great! Amebix is considered by many to be a seminal crust punk band. It's Motorhead meets Crass. Fuckin awesome man! (S)

7. Inez Foxx was a semi-successful R&B singer in the mid-60’s, but she really hit her stride with her one and only album, 1973’s Inez Foxx at Memphis (Stax/Volt), an album full of hard, greasy funk and groovy soul-sister wailing. What a bad-ass. Where’d she go? What’s she doing now? Who knows, but where/whatever it is, I’m assuming it’s fonky. (K)

6. Jim Carroll – The Basketball Diaries.  Poetry is officially dead and Jim Carroll might be world's  last great poet. If you've only seen the film version of the Basketball Diaries do yourself a favor and read the book. It's fucking hilarious. Something the film is not! Here's  the thing, drugs are fantastic for kids to do. Dope totally fits in with the search for identity and the meaning of life. Only problem is some drugs are horribly addictive. Your lust for life and the search for man's ultimate meaning becomes a search for 20 bucks, so you can buy yourself a daily ticket away from the worst flu-like symptoms you could ever imagine.  Basketball Diaries doesn't balk from this comedic irony. (S)

5. Ritual America: Secret Brotherhoods and Their Influence on American Society: A Visual Guide. New book from Feral House (and co-authored by Feral’s head honcho Adam Parfrey) that blows the lid on the hiding-in-plain sight secret societies that lurk in every American city and town. What’s with the Shriners and those fezzes? What the hell is an Ecumenical Pancake Breakfast? All questions are answered, and with ample photographic evidence. Just be aware that if you read this, you won’t just be on to them – they’ll be on to you, too. (K)

4. Pacifico - A beer named as such because the brewery is on the Pacific ocean in the port city of Mazatlan, Mexico. It's a great way to power through the "spring ahead" time change. Add a little lime. (S)

3. Megaton Leviathan – I don’t even know how to describe these dudes. Sure it’s heavy and lumbering and doomy, but it’s also pretty tranquil and meditative and hook-y. Is this the birth of Easy Doom? (K)

2. Into the Deep: America, Whaling & The Word - Like or not the Whaling industry shaped america. It certainly shaped New England (Ken's home turf, and the home land of most of my ancestors). This PBS documentary delves head first into the subject with the riveting tale of the Essex, the doomed Nantucket whaling ship that served as the inspiration for Moby dick, as the central character. I also learned what a "Nantucket Sleigh ride" was, besides a record by Mountain. (S)

Watch Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World on PBS. See more from American Experience.

1. Teenage exorcists! Clearly, their dad ruined ‘em but good, but forget the tragic/goofy aspects of this loony tale and just dig the aesthetics of it: three hot teenage sisters who, for a nominal fee, will drop by your place and exorcise any “demons” currently infesting your rotten soul. Swilson, we gotta get these chicks on the show! (K)

(Proto) Hippie Death Goddess (of the Day)

...finally got my mitts on a copy of Kneffy's infamous English-language (sorta) album From Here On It Gets Rough, and figured I ought to share my enthusiasm for the lady.

Hildegard Knef (RIP) grew up in Germany, and despite being German herself, somehow found herself in a prisoner war camp during WWII. Eventually she got out  and, thanks to her breathless beauty, managed to carve out a decent career as an actress. Somewhere around the time she married her first (American) husband, she decided to give singing a whirl. Lo and behold, she had an awesome/amazing/ridiculous husky, low-register voice, which sounded positively mind-bending when she sang in English with that  crazy accent of hers. Reminds me of what Ingrid Pitt would've probably sounded like, if she wanted to add "chanteuse" to her resume.

Eventually Hildegard wrote an autobiography detailing her life during wartime (she dressed up like a male German soldier to avoid getting raped by the Russkies!), and it became a bestseller. She also appeared on Broadway. All in all, a pretty full life. She died in 2002, age 76. Smoking. So that's how you get a voice like that!

Anyway, lovely to look at, even lovelier to listen to. Thanks for the goodtimes, Hildy.

- Ken 

top 13 (of the Week)

Sure,you know what's cool. But do you know what's really fuckin' FAR OUT? That's where Advanced Demonology takes over. Every week, (K)en and (S)wilson trudge through the murky waters of the pop culture hellscape, dredging up sparkly morsels of wonder. These are the result of our latest foray into the world of the weird, our wildest, wiggest-out picks of the week. Call it our 13 Point Program.

13. George Harrison - Beware of ABKCO

All advanced demonological roads fortunately and unfortunately lead back to the Fab Four. Everybody listened to them back in the daze, from Buffalo Springfield to Black Sabbath. It was the one thing almost everybody agreed on. George, the coolest and most understated of gang, recorded these demos for his "All Things Must Pass" record. It's nice to hear these tunes before that lovable megalomanic Phil Spector got his hands on 'em. (S)

12. James Levy and Blood Red Rose

I don't really know anything about James Levy except that he's a singer-songwriter type from Vermont. I don't know much about Alison Pierce, either, expect that she's one-half The Pierces, who do that accordian-driven goth-pop theme song to the Pretty Little Liars TV show. What I do know is that Levy and Pierce - as James Levy and Blood Red Rose - have a new album out, Pray to Be Free, and it's lead-off single, Sneak Into My Room, is amazing. If you dig Nancy n' Lee - or Serge n' Jane - you'll love this. Harmonies so sweet it makes me wanna cry. The album isn't quite as good as the single (is it ever?), but still, well worth checking out. (K)

11. Portable Darkness: An Aleister Crowley Reader

If you've ever tried to trudge through Crowley's writings without being a full blown occultist freak, than you know how impossible it is to access what the cat was all about. Well the Portable Darkness is your 3 day pass. It's a small collection of his writings on his favorite subjects: Qabalah and Magick, Yoga and Magick, Sex and Magick, Magick and Law, and Lies. In laymen's terms he was a proto Freek reacting very psychedelically to the very un-psychedelic attitudes of post victorian England. Well worth putting aside any anti-new age sentiments that one might have for the few hours it takes to read this. (S)

10. Lonnie Mack - Untouched by Human Love

In 1963, country/blues/rockabilly pioneer Lonnie Mack released an instrumental single called "Wham" that leaned so heavy on the tremelo bar that rock n' roll basically just decided it was his deal and started calling it the "Whammy Bar". Lonnie went through many different stages and styles in his career (he's still alive and well and whamming it up but good), but 1969 was definitely one of high points, when he released two great albums, Glad I'm in the Band and Whatever's Right, full of his aggressive, soul-powered guitar and poppy, hook-heavy, bloozy, hippie-rock. Check out the killer "Untouched By Human Love" from Whatever's Right for a prime example of Lonnie's signature style. (K)

9. The Unband

Thanks To Ken, Swilson finally discovered the Unband and you all should too. Where were these guys all my life? Very Hot hot this week! (S)

8. Farrah. Sometimes you forget, seeing that the 70's are drifting further and further away, and then you stumble on a photo of her and it all comes back to you. The golden-haired goddess of the Me Generation, now and forever. (K)

7. Gypsy Girl (1966)

Hayley Mills stars as the emotionally stunted Brydie White who takes to burying dead animals in a church cemetery after the shooting death of a child hood friend. The town comes unglued and drives Brydie to take up with a band of Gypsies…sorta. This is a weird movie, it's got a great energy.(S)

6. Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (2008)

Great documentary about the sweet-spot in Hollywood (late 20's to late 30's) when the movies really WENT FOR IT, and films were filled with vice and debauchery of all kinds, before the Hays Code "cleaned Hollywood up" and left America to suffer through a decade or two of Mickey Rooney and Doris Day. There's also a corresponding book. I haven't read it yet, but I'm sure it's just as illuminating. It's available on Netflix and Amazon as part of the "Forbidden Hollywood" pre-code collection from TCM. (K)

5. Lantern - Burned Youth

Mellow, Exile on Main Street, pop-a-delic , swaggering, sing-a-longs from the urban backwaters of Philadelphia. Shake The 8-Ball the future Is always hazy.(S)

4. Doug Jerebine is Jesse Harper

Jerebine was a 60's garage rock hero in his native New Zealand, known for his impressive, inventive, and whacked-out guitar style. In '69 he split NZ and moved to London, where he changed his name to Jesse Harper (JH - you know, like Jimi Hendrix!) got a band together and released a demo of heavy, Hendrix-y psyche-rock. The demo was a winner and Doug/Jesse was being courted by major labels, but the dude had an epiphany - as many did back then - and split for India, where he joined the Krishnas and vanished from the rock n' roll map for over 30 years. Luckily, acetates of the demo survived and have been released once or twice over the ensuing decades, most recently by Drag City (home of the Jimi Hendrix of comedy, Neil Hamburger) ensuring Doug's status as a well-deserved cult-rock hero. Loud, wild, groovy, and seriously far-out, "Is Jesse Harper" is a tantalizing glimpse into what was and what could have been. (K)

3. Edgar Winter Group - They Only Come Out At Night

Did you guys know that every song is really good on this record? I didn't until this week. Not just Frankenstein and Free Ride ( those are still the best tunes but..). It's real beer can in the afternoon jammer. Great if your unemployed on a hot March afternoon. (S)

2. The Eccentropedia

Headpress is one of the most consistently inventive/alarming book publishers in operation (they even released a book by yours truly once). Almost everything they put out is aggressively weird/awesome, and their latest release is no exception. The Eccentropedia promises over 500 pages (!) of real-life weirdos:

" The most comprehensive book on eccentrics ever published. Everyone from George Adamski, ufo contactee, to Nicolas Zuniga Y Miranda, self-professed ‘President of Mexico’. Entries include both the contemporary (Michael Jackson) and the less familiar (Martin Van Butchell, dentist). An A-Z of eccentrics! 266 true stories of the most original and outrageous people on earth, from bad poets to transsexual evolutionary theorists this encyclopedic guide covering ancient times to the present, includes reams of material never seen in book form before. Famous eccentrics like King Ludwig, Salvador Dalí and Howard Hughes rub shoulders with a host of lesser-known, but equally colorful, characters in these - mostly - life-affirming stories. There are unsuspected parallels and connections throughout creating an alternative, off-kilter history of the world."

Sounds great, right? The book comes out in June, but you can pre-order it (in various editions) now, and you can take a peek inside, at the Headpress site. (K)

1. Ronnie Montrose -R.I.P.

Ronnie started out as journeyman guitar player and session musician, He played on Van Morrison's "Tupelo Honey" and Edgar Winter Group's "They Only come Out At Night" before starting Montrose With Sammy Hagar. He had a very heavy, straight to the throat , no frills, bring the fire way of playing the guitar. A wizard a true star. He was 64. Rest In Peace Ronzo. (S)