Content Is King » Music + Movies

Moguls or Murders? The Men Behind Rockstar Games

admin — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 23:26:38 +0000

A rediscovery from the archives: My rare interview with Rockstar Games (Grand Theft Auto) heads Terry Donovan and Sam Houser from RayGun Magazine… Enjoy!

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Perry Farrell’s All-Star Karaoke

admin — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 23:09:29 +0000

Click above to download PDF

PJ Harvey: What Becomes An Icon?

admin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:25:00 +0000

Just rediscovered my FLAUNT Magazine interview with a longtime favorite, Miss Polly Jean Harvey (Click below to download full PDF)

A Select List Of People I’ve Interviewed

admin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:05:36 +0000

Chefs

Mark Andelbradt, Paul Bartolotta, Geno Bernardo, Osamu Fujita, Martin Heierling, Jean Joho, Emeril Lagasse, Scott Linquist, Shawn McClain, Michael Mina, Rick Moonen, Bradley Ogden, François Payard, Luciano Pellegrini, Guy Savoy, Kerry Simon, Alex Stratta, Masa Takayama, Charlie Trotter, Jean-Georges Vongerichten

Actors, Directors and Personalities

Ben Affleck, Jessica Alba, Alison Anders, Greg Araki, Samaire Armstrong (Entourage, Dirty Sexy Money), David Arquette, Desmond Askew, John August (Go, Charlie’s Angels)

Alec Baldwin, Elizabeth Banks, Roseanne Barr, Kristin Bell (Heroes, Veronica Mars), Lorraine Bracco, Wayne Brady, Michelle Borth (HBO’s Tell Me You Love Me), Steve Buscemi

Kelly Carlson (Nip/Tuck), Kristin Chenoweth (The West Wing), Steve Coogan (24 Hr Party People, Alan Partridge), David Cronenberg, Russell Crowe, Jon Cryer

Matt Damon, Jonathan Demme, Ted Demme, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Taye Diggs, Robert Downey Jr., David Duchovny, Kirsten Dunst

Jon Favreau, Jerry Ferrara (Entourage), William Fichtner (Prison Break, Black Hawk Down), Clare Forlani, Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous, Wristcutters), Edward Furlong (Terminator 2, American History X)

Beau Garrett (Turistas, Fantastic Four), Janeane Garofolo, Rebecca Gayheart, Larry Gordon, Maggie Grace (Lost), Greg Grunberg (Felicity)

Anthony Michael Hall (Breakfast Club, The Dead Zone), Eddie Izzard, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Spike Jonze, Tommy Lee Jones, Mike Judge

Kim Kardashian, Stacey Keach, Arielle Kebbel (American Pie Band Camp), Ben Kingsley, Neil LaBute, Diane Lane, Heath Ledger, Tea Leoni, Doug Liman, Eva Longoria, Baz Luhrman, Robert Luketic

Ewan MacGregor, William H. Macy, Romany Malco (Weeds), AnnaLynne McCord (90210), Eric McCormack (Will & Grace), Jay Mohr (Action, The Ghost Whisperer), Sophie Monk, Mandy Moore, Bill Murray, Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy)

Anna Paquin, Audrina Patridge, Bill Paxton, Jesse Peretz, Todd Phillips, Matt Pinfield (MTV, VH-1), Joe Piscopo, Whitney Port, Jaime Pressly

Sam Raimi (Spiderman), Keanu Reeves, Brad Renfro, Ryan Reynolds, Emmy Rossum (Phantom), Geoffrey Rush

William Shatner, Vinessa Shaw (Eyes Wide Shut, 3:10 To Yuma), Ally Sheedy, Jamie-Lynn Sigler (The Sopranos), Kevin Smith, Brittany Snow (Hairspray), Kevin Spacey, David Spade, Steven Spielberg, Sylvester Stallone, Julia Stiles, Ben Stiller, Domenique Swain (Lolita)

Noah Taylor (Shine, Pirates of the Carribean), Dita Von Teese, Charlize Theron, Christopher Titus, Stanley Tucci

Gabrielle Union, Amber Valetta, Gus Van Sant, Vince Vaughn, Natasha Wagner, Paul Walker, Patrick Warburton, Estella Warren, John Waters, Olivia Wilde, Michelle Williams, Owen Wilson, Scott Wolf (Party of Five, Everwood), John Woo

David Zucker (Airplane!, Scary Movie 3/4)

Musical Artists and Producers

Atari Teenage Riot, Dan the Automator (Dr. Octagon/Gorillaz), Burt Bacharach, Beastie Boys*, Beck*, Natasha Bedingfield, Archie Bell, Tony Bennett, Jello Biafra, Bo Bice, Mary J. Blige, Boss Hog, Holly Brook, Bobby Byrd, Mariah Carey, Nick Cave, Citizen Cope, George Clinton & P-Funk, Bootsy Collins, Julian Cope, John Doe, Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs/Twilight Singers), the Dust Brothers, Hillary Duff

Earth Wind & Fire, Elastica, Perry Farrell, The Frogs, Greg Ginn, Girls Against Boys, Greyboy, Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters/Nirvana), Gwar, PJ Harvey, Richard Hell, Robyn Hitchcock, Holland, Dozier & Holland, Jamiroquai, Jawbox, the JBs, Wyclef Jean, Jesus Lizard*

Kool Keith, DJ Keoki, KMFDM, Gladys Knight, Korn, Ben Lee, La Ley, Lords of Acid, John Lydon (Sex Pistols/PiL), Ian MacLagan (Small Faces/the Faces), Mazzy Star, Meat Beat Manifesto*, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Ministry, Monster Magnet, Scotty Moore (Elvis’ guitarist), Mudhoney, Wayne Newton, Nickelback

Ohio Players, Yoko Ono, Ozomatli, Prince Paul, Pavement, Pigface, Portishead, Phil Ramone, Red Hot Chili Peppers*, Royal Trux, Gil Scott-Heron, Adrian Sherwood, Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park/Fort Minor)

Slash, Smashing Pumpkins*, The Smithereens, Sonic Youth, Soul Asylum, Soul Coughing, Jon Spencer (Pussy Galore/Blues Explosion)*, Spinal Tap, Candi Staton, Supergrass, John Taylor (Duran Duran), The Temptations, Thrice, Thrill Kill Kult, Urge Overkill, Dave Vanian (the Damned), Veruca Salt, Vitamin C, Don Was, Craig Wedren (Shudder To Think, film composer), Ween*, Weezer

Moguls and madmen

Author Terence McKenna; Industrial/interior designers: Dodd Mitchell, Thomas Schoos; Master mixologist Tony Abou-Ganim; LPGA Pro-golfer Natalie Gulbis; Music Supervisors Karen Rachtman; Chris Douridas, Randy Poster, Happy Walters; Brett Gurewitz (Epitaph Records); Nightclub owner Jason Strauss (Tao, the Mansion, Lavo); Photographer/filmmaker Richard Kern; Rockstar Games’ Sam Houser & Terry Donovan; Skincare guru Kate Somerville; TV producer David Saltz; Water feature engineer Mark Fuller (WET Design); Professional poker player Jennifer Harman

Funny Folks: David Spade, Roseanne

admin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:32:45 +0000

Click on the images above and below to download full PDFs of features on two great comedians, David Spade and Roseanne.

Pussycat Dolls’ Nicole Rocks Out

admin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:16:43 +0000

Pussycat Dolls' Nicole Scherzinger onstage Las Vegas 10/2/09

Those who might question the musical chops of Pussycat Dolls’ lead singer Nicole Scherzinger would be silenced if they saw her performance last night (Oct 2) during a Mirage resort anniversary party hosted by guitarist Slash. Perhaps the most unexpected guest of the rock-legend heavy roster, Scherzinger joined Slash and friends onstage first for a metal version of PCD’s “When I Grow Up,” and then recalled both Heart’s Nancy Wilson and Tina Turner in an undeniably ripping version of “Whole Lotta Love.” Did she kill it? More like she tore it into shreds and hurled it from a freeway overpass.

The next guest, Courtney Love (making a rare stage appearance in recent times) promptly got on the mic and said “I just got my ass handed to me–I can’t follow that!”

Pussycat Dolls' Nicole Scherzinger and Courtney Love embrace backstage, Las Vegas 10/2/09

Afterward, Nicole was overheard backstage saying “I just learned that Led Zeppelin song yesterday.” Other performers on the show–filmed for the US A&E channel–included Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, Guns’N'Roses alums Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan [thx MA], Chris Daughtry, Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen and Cypress Hill rapper Sen-Dog. Nicole and Courtney returned to the stage together along with all performers for an encore of G’n'R’s “Paradise City.”

Elsewhere in town that night, Paris Hilton and her thinspo friends held an invite-only bikini evening fashion show at the Hard Rock Hotel pool to introduce Hilton’s sunglasses line– Apparently declaring it hip again to wear ’sunglasses at night.’

VEGAS Magazine Cover Stories

admin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:52:48 +0000

From 2006 to 2009, as Contributing Editor, I wrote 13 celebrity cover profiles for luxury title VEGAS Magazine. Click on the cover images below for excerpts…

Elizabeth Banks Vegas Magazine September 2009

Olivia Wilde Vegas Magazine January 2007

Eva Longoria Vegas Magazine Februrary 2007

Vanessa Marcil Vegas Magazine March 2007

Jamie-Lynn Sigler Vegas Magazine May 2007

Tea Leoni Vegas Magazine July 2007

Brittany Snow Vegas Magazine August 2007

Saffron Burrows Vegas Magazine November 2007

Gabrielle Union Vegas Magazine March 2008

Jaime Pressly Vegas Magazine August 2008

Whitney Port Vegas Magazine October 2008

Kim Kardashian Vegas Magazine November 2008

Emmy Rossum Vegas Magazine May 2009

ELIZABETH BANKS (40 Year Old Virgin, Spiderman)

OLIVIA WILDE (Turistas, House)

EVA LONGORIA

VANESSA MARCIL (NBC’s Las Vegas)

JAMIE-LYNN SIGLER (The Sopranos)

TEA LEONI

BRITTANY SNOW (Hairspray)

SAFFRON BURROWS (Boston Legal)

GABRIELLE UNION (Bring It On, Meet Dave)

KRISTIN BELL (Heroes, Forgetting Sarah Marshall)

JAIME PRESSLY (My Name Is Earl)

WHITNEY PORT (The Hills)

KIM KARDASHIAN

EMMY ROSSUM (Phantom)

My Slack Rages: Rhino Reviews, Features

admin — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:37:43 +0000

Celebrating the discovery of some rare blues 78s on a trip down South!

A few years ago, Rhino Records’ website had a great run of posting original indpendent content. Luckily, they’ve kept most of it on the site since…though the recent changes in staffing there alarmed me enough to post all the links to my work here. Check it out while you can!

One of the gratifying things about writing for online sites is the opportunity to see reader responses posted, as in the articles below…

Tightening Up With Archie Bell

Elvis’ Original Guitar Man Scotty Moore

Legacies:

James Brown:Father of the Funk Part 1, Part 2

Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett

Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun

Producer Arif Mardin

AUDIO PODCAST INTERVIEWS

Gladys Knight

The Temptations

Holland, Dozier, Holland