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©2009 by Alan White

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It was the talk of the town when Lisa Neville got her new digs in Morro Bay. A beautiful place full of friends making sure the house was properly warmed. . . and spending a late night in the hot tub, under the stars.

1981 Defining Musical Moment: Teena Maria - Portuguese Love

1982 Places and Faces

Dark Crystal
Pretty cool stuff. Upon the release of the new Jim Henson, Frank Oz movie Dark Crystal, a local coffee shop across the street from the Los Angeles Museum of Art, had several of the full size characters on display.

Don Reed's 9th
The parking area behind the Director's Guild bristled with activity as stars and fans alike poured into the theater for the 9th Annual Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Awards show. Yeh, another effort that would never hit the airwaves, but none-the-less, but that certainly didn't keep anyone from having a good time. I was still working for the Academy in one capacity or another, despite Don's reducing me to the rank of "Nobody". My name would never appear on Academy documents again and every year his award show was not picked up by the studios reminded him I was right about his ego destroying the Academy. After 20 plus years of working non-stop for Don, his only comment about me in the Documentary My Life with Dracula was he thought I was having an affair with Rock Hudson.
 

A Day Out for
John Carradine
Not to be outdone by his son Keith, Carradine senior put his voice to vinyl with the help of flutist Bud Shank. With the help from record producers Open Sky Records, the Academy held a Halloween tribute to John Carradine at the Norris Theater at USC. There was a goodly crowd from Eric Hoffman, Don Glut and a number of speakers.

The program was launched by William Marshall, followed by some film clips and a talk by Forry Ackerman "The Films of John Carradine". This was followed by Dale Winogura's dissection of "John Carradine on Stage"; Record producer Martin Scot Kosins followed with "Working with John Carradine" and the day wrapped up with an award presentation to Carradine by Anne Lockhart and Kevin Glover. Photo shows Martin Scot Kosins handing award to Gayna Shireen with Carradine to her left. Forry looms in the background. I produced the event invitation which is HERE. (Photo from the Del Valle Archive).

Martin Scot Kosins went on to produce a series of animal memorial music and poems.

Queen for a Day

Having a giant ocean going vessel named for you is one thing, having it turned into an American Amusement is yet another. Having it host the First Queen Mary "Ink-N-Iron" Tattoo Convention is quite another.

But here it was, a sea of color, art and willing flesh.

Odd who you might bump into down there. They say it's "Always the quiet ones" and certainly there was no one quieter than Richard Simonton. In fact, his entire family was as reserved, limp, cold fish and passive usually reserved for the freshly embalmed. Hard to think they made millions in Muzak.

This completely anemic family had an amazing home in Toluca Lake where Don Reed and I would visit frequently enjoying their in-home theater where they would screen unseen classics like Dirigible, The Shock, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and others. Plus, with their lavish pipe organ set-up, hear concerts from the masters like Gaylord Carter.

Except for the daughter Lacey mentioning I had a trashy girlfriend, I found it impossible holding a conversation with anyone in the family - it was like talking to wallpaper.
 

Robert Williams with his
"Low Brow" art

< Richard Simonton
and
<< The Dragon Lady

I was thunderstruck finding Richard (aka Doug Malloy) at the tattoo fest, sporting an entire "sleeve" on his right arm. Later it became clear there was more afoot as written on "The World is Insane" website:

It gets weirder. Not only was he a mild mannered executive by day and a participant in gay bdsm culture by night, he also was great personal friends with silent movie star Harold Lloyd and a huge aficionado of theater organ music. All was going fine for Doug with his homosexuality an open secret with his family and friends and he got along jolly with his Toluca Lake neighbors such as Bob Hope, Olivia de Haviland and Walt Disney’s brother Roy.

And then… “he sustained brain damage from an event which nearly killed him.” And so he began piercing his dick, balls, taint, etc. and writing his very short autobiography “The Adventures of a Piercing Freak.” So there you have the unflattering truth for all you modern primitives out there. Gratuitous body modification was invented by a closeted, gay, Muzak executive after he suffered brain damage.

More "Doug" HERE.

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