Brendan Mullen

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Rap and Revelation

Brendan Mullen
Photo by Jack Gould One of several remarkable things rapper would-bes Benyad and Mazik did after they first began calling themselves Blood of Abraham around ’92 was talking Compton gangster-rap icon Eazy-E into letting them perform during a gang-truce event he was hosting at Gazzarri’s on Sunset Strip (now the......

Down Town

Brendan Mullen
Ugly Duckling is an unlikely trio of fun-loving Anglo hip-hop weirdos consisting of one stoner party dude, one crate-diggin’ record-collector obsessive who still dresses in Puma gear, and a 6-foot-6 teetotalin‘ born-again Christian former basketball player, the three of whom originally came together to rock their hometown house parties in......
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Heliocentric World

Brendan Mullen
Photo by Edward Clover Sun Ra was a big-band leader and autodidactic mystic who throughout his fascinating 60-plus-year career as a musician-teacher had an amazing habit of magically showing up at those precious points in history when something new was happening, usually some pre-existing musical genre that was about to......
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Unchained Melody

Brendan Mullen
VARIOUS ARTISTSThe Unbound Project Volume 1 (Realized) ”The Unbound Project is a gathering of voices inspired by issues surrounding the U.S. Criminal Justice System. Its purpose is to entertain while raising questions and inspiring dialogue . . .“ High on the list of most passionate political issues in the heavily......
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Goodbye, Tomata du Plenty

Brendan Mullen
David Xavier Harrigan, a.k.a. Tomata du Plenty, lead vocalist for the Screamers (‘77–’81), died of cancer in San Francisco on Monday. He was 52. Born near Coney Island and raised in Montebello, Tomata was the son of Irish immigrants. He is survived by two sisters. One of L.A.’s all-time biggest......
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Rik L. Rik, 1961–2000

Brendan Mullen
Rik L. Rik, a co-founder of the obscure but influential L.A. punk band F-Word, died last Friday after a six-month bout with brain cancer. He was 39. Born Richard Elerick in Covina, California, Rik co-founded F-Word in 1977 with guitarist Paul Sercu (a.k.a. Dim Wanker). As 16-year-old high school kids,......
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Down for the Good Life

Brendan Mullen
Photo by B+ 1. Spring-Summer ’92 was the big turning point, a defining time for a new, vigorously youthful and positive hip-hop movement born and bred in Los Angeles. As the inevitable backlash to the ongoing glut of cash-in post-N.W.A hoo-bangin’ gangsta rap, this was a fresh, idealistic consciousness showing......
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Sound of the Taurus

Brendan Mullen
Photo by Beth Herzhaft TURNER BROS. Act 1 (Luv N’ Haight) SONS & DAUGHTERS OF LITE Let the Sun Shine In (Luv N’ Haight) Warning: These two re-ishes by Ubiquity’s Luv N’ Haight imprint are strictly for ultra-hard-boiled R&B/soul freaks, and the casual reader is advised to move on to......
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Bob Forrest Tells All

Brendan Mullen
Photo by Debra DiPaoloAFTER BURNING NEARLY AS MANY BRIDGES AS THE Roman army, Bob Forrest kicks off his first post­Thelonious Monster album by announcing remorse. He's not gonna do it again, he's not going through it all again, Bob yowls on You Come and Go Like a Pop Song, his......
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'Thees Ees Zee Reel Shit!'

Brendan Mullen
Photo by Kerry ColonnaTHERE WASN'T MUCH HAPPENING IN UNDERGROUND publishing in L.A. around the mid-'70s. The post­Art Kunkin L.A. Free Press was making its final descent into absolute irrelevance. The only thing worth a damn in the Freep was Charles Bukowski's hilarious column "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" and......