Email Author Jonny Whiteside

2013 Stories by Jonny Whiteside

• The Italian Job

  published September 19, 2013

  With roving goombahs, rolling bocce balls, flowing Chianti and a dizzyingly aromatic garlic-onion-sausage atmosphere, the Feast of San Gennaro is... More >>

• The Man Behind the Chainsaw

  published September 12, 2013

  While one contemporary reviewer called infamous horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre "a vile little piece of sick crap with literally... More >>

• Silver Screens

  published August 22, 2013

  Old Hollywood -- the real Hollywood once populated by Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Ramon Navarro, Gloria Swanson, Don Ameche, Claire Trevor... More >>

• The Artist Currently Known as Prince

  published August 8, 2013

  In American pop culture, no artistic figure is more exciting than a black man with a guitar. Yet as we've degraded from Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley... More >>

• Zap Comix' Robert Williams

  published July 25, 2013

  When Robert Williams arrived in Hollywood 50 years ago, he was conscious of its status as the epicenter of outsiders. The Albuquerque... More >>

• Piano Man

  published July 18, 2013

  When it comes rocking a piano's 88 keys, few have the feel, facility and flair of veteran British player Ian McLagan. A natural-born rock & roll... More >>

• He Was a Zombie Before Zombies Were Cool

  published July 4, 2013

  Forget the moment's annoyingly overhyped zombie craze and dig in with the one and only Ron Athey, a man whose self-proclaimed status as "a living... More >>

• The Kiss of Death

  published June 27, 2013

  To say that Detroit proto-punk trio Death merely anticipated New York's late-'70s African-American punks Pure Hell and D.C. hardcore band Bad... More >>

• Exploiting Haiti

  published June 20, 2013

  In a world roiled by such dire threats as religious extremism, killer tornadoes and untreatable new viruses, one danger invariably outstrips all... More >>

• Rhythm and Bonds

  published June 13, 2013

  Back before the British Invasion derailed America's early-'60s, multiracial, dance-crazed, Big Beat revolution, our pop-music arena was a... More >>

• A Cult Classic

  published June 6, 2013

  California has an all-too-rich heritage when it comes to brainwashing cults led by megalomaniacs. Whether it's Charles Manson, L. Ron Hubbard, Jim... More >>

• The Real Housewife of Tombstone

  published May 30, 2013

  All too often in the Golden State we forgo our identity as Westerners, opting for lingering shame over Manifest Destiny's bloody legacy rather... More >>

• Not Your Parish Fish Fry

  published May 23, 2013

  For the last year or so, longtime Los Angeles merchant Billy Shire has been presenting a "21st-century salon" at his monthly Thursday Night Fish... More >>

• Temple Worship

  published May 16, 2013

  There are very few genuine mysteries left in our over-developed 21st century, but autism stands as one. The pervasive neurological disorder casts... More >>

• The Outspoken Chick

  published May 9, 2013

  In country music, the "girl singer" has always faced an uphill climb. And when she steps out of line -- as with Loretta Lynn's 1975... More >>

• The Ecstasy of the Agony

  published May 2, 2013

  North Hollywood's California Institute of Abnormal Arts is a wondrous spot, sort of a man-made Bermuda Triangle, where the unnatural collides with... More >>

• Elvis and the Birth of Rock and Roll

  published April 25, 2013

  Photographer Alfred Wertheimer's famed 1956 series of Elvis Presley shots presents an oddly austere black-and-white dreamscape, one so well... More >>

• Deep Throated Singing

  published April 18, 2013

  Burbank may be reeling from a wrongful-death suit brought by the family of a Burbank Police Department veteran who shot himself on a public... More >>

• The Monster Mash

  published April 11, 2013

  Whether scaly, one-eyed, furry, slimy, winged, shambling or even undead, monsters are a near-universal fascination. Yet lurking among us are a... More >>

• How to Win Friends and Piss Away an Acting Career

  published April 4, 2013

  Tough-guy character actor Tom Sizemore's mind-boggling devotion to the fine art of self-destruction has long been legendary. With his new tell-all... More >>

• Spring? Sprung

  published March 28, 2013

  If the post-Easter egg hunt doldrums kick in a bit too hard this year, the Spring Equinox Extravaganza might be the perfect antidote. This... More >>

• Oh Andrew (Yes Andrew)

  published March 14, 2013

  Rock & roll has produced plenty of fascinating behind-the-scenes characters -- Sam Phillips, Kim Fowley, Jack Nitzsche, Huey P. Meaux -- but... More >>

• S Is For Snuff Film

  published March 7, 2013

  Ah, death. Socrates called it "the greatest of all human blessings," while J.M. Barrie asked, "Why fear death? It's the greatest adventure of... More >>

• Before There Was Elvira

  published February 28, 2013

  In the lurid pantheon of Tinseltown demonology, very few can begin to approach the infernally revered altitude, which Maila Nurmi, aka Vampira,... More >>

• Follow Exene to the Library

  published February 28, 2013

  You gotta love Los Angeles, this strange showbiz city where a civic institution like the Central Library is willing -- and able -- to host such a... More >>