#gillian mccain

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[eternal--returned]

IGGY POP: I used to walk around London, through the park and stuff with this leopard jacket I had, a cheetah-skin jacket actually—it had a big cheetah on the back—and all the old men in London would drive by in their cars and they'd stop and try to cruise me. All I liked to do was walk around the streets with a heart full of napalm. I always thought "Heart Full of Soul" was a good song so I thought, What's my heart full of? I decided it was basically full of napalm.

Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain ֍ Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk (1996)

Iggy Pop in his cheetah-print jacket (c. 1970)

[cruelmiracles]

JOHN CALE: I hated Joan Baez and Dylan—every song was a fucking question!

Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain ǁ Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk (1996)

[veryslowreader]

Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain

The O.C.: "The Father Knows Best"

[stevepotterwrites]

“ But I mean, Patti at that Stooges thing– she was totally elevated, you know? I don’t know if she thought rock & roll was gonna be the form, but Patti knew she was gonna be a star in one way or another, and I certainly knew that too. The minute I saw her do the rock & roll thing; I could see this is it man! Her poems fit perfectly, and she evokes such rock & roll type archetypes, like Joan of Arc and stuff in her poems. I’ve been rereading some of her poems when that book from Norton came out, and I mean, those are early poems– there’s some really great lines in there! “

[suspirocotidiano]

Às vezes a arte é incompatível com relacionamentos (...) porque, quando você está criando arte, existe um certo egoísmo envolvido. Às vezes acho que os músicos ou artistas não deveriam nem pensar em ter um relacionamento permanente até estarem com trinta e tantos anos, porque até lá os relacionamentos sempre estarão em segundo plano em relação à arte. Artistas não são os melhores parentes.

Mate-me Por Favor – Legs McNeil e Gillian McCain

[poppletonink]

Jess Mariano: An Inspired Reading Recommendations List

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History Of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain

On The Road by Jack Kerouac

Sweet Dreams: The Story Of The New Romantics by Dylan Jones

Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

We Owe You Nothing, Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews by Daniel Sinker

Factotum by Charles Bukowski

The Green Mile by Stephen King

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Why Bowie Matters by Will Brooker

A Light that Never Goes Out: The Enduring Saga of the Smiths by Tony Fletcher

The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

1984 by George Orwell

Punk Avenue: The New York City Underground 1972-1982 by Phil Marcade

Emma by Jane Austen

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger

Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg

The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

[books-coffee-and-the-woods]

Top 24 Books of 2024

It's that time of year again!

I read 80 books this year, most of which didn't rearrange my brain like a Really Really Good book, however a significant number of them still left an impact and I'm going to come back to them again and again.

TOP 24

(in no particular order - especially impactful ones are bolded - rereads are marked with a *)

White Cat, Black Dog - Kelly Link

The Saint of Bright Doors - Vajra Chandrasekera

Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered - Karen Kilgariff & Georgia Hardstark*

The Stranger Beside Me - Ann Rule

Homesick for Another World - Ottessa Moshfegh

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored History of Punk - Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain

The Unicorn Series - Vicki Blum*

The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien*

Dead Mountain: the Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident - Donnie Eichar

Silver on the Road - Laura Anne Gilman

The Call is Coming from Inside the House: Essays - Allyson McOuat

Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik*

Picnic at Hanging Rock - Joan Lindsay

A Study in Drowning - Ava Reid

My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness - Nagata Kabi

Folk Songs for Trauma Surgeons - Keith Rosson

The Age of Magical Overthinking - Amanda Montell

The Mirror Visitor - Christelle Dabos*

High Times in the Low Parliament - Kelly Robson

Absolution - Jeff Vandermeer

A Dark and Drowning Tide - Allison Saft

A Handful of Time - Kit Pearson*

The Archive Undying - Emma Meiko Candon

The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Drunk on all your Strange New Words - Eddie Robson

Princess Jellyfish - Akiko Higashimara

Song of the Lioness - Tamora Pierce*

Devil House - John Darnielle

Hamnet & Judith - Maggie O'Farrell

Flyaway - Kathleen Jennings*

Chelsea Girls - Eileen Myles

Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil - Ananda Lima

[wanlittlehusk]

ok actual favorite reads of the year list

i'm very into you by mackenzie wark and kathy acker

mercury retrograde by emily segal

bear by marian engel

sex goblin by lauren cook

mona by pola oloixarac

unlicensed: bootlegging as creative practice by ben schwartz

the quick and the dead by joy williams

moby-dick by hermy

i used to be charming by eve babitz

someone who isn't me by geoff rickly

please kill me by gillian mccain and legs mcneil

this young monster by charlie fox

tentacle by rita indiana

stories in the worst way by garielle lutz

narrow rooms by james purdy

[antigoneikk]

Excerpts about Lou Reed from Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain

[rockingreads]

Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain: Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk (1996)

Based on everything I've read over the years, I'd say that the most essential, informative, and entertaining books about punk rock were George Girmac's Punk Diary: 1970-1979, Jon Savage's England's Dreaming, and Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain's Please Kill Me.

But it's the latter, uncensored oral history of this complicated and fluid musical genre -- as told by the scene's most legendary, brilliant, and often damaged characters -- that's undoubtedly my favorite, hands-down.

Now, this may be the slightly biased opinion of a long-time New Yorker, as Please Kill Me focuses primarily on punk rock's true birthplace and de facto capital ...

London? Surely, you jest!

But co-authors Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain do trace the genre's protean roots in Detroit's Stooges and MC5, before shifting their gaze Eastward to cover punk predecessors like Lou Reed, The New York Dolls, and even the humble Dictators.

And then the book dives headlong into the seedy mid '70s Lower East Side, taking you inside CBGB's (even its disgusting bathroom ... if you dare) to pogo, puke, and marvel through sweaty sets by the Ramones, Blondie, Television, Talking Heads, and all the other UNusual suspects, through a thousand, scandalous, eye-witness anecdotes that are, by turns, heady, horrifying, and hilarious.

Simply put, Please Kill Me is impossible to put down, and when you finish it, you may even find yourself starting over again!

Featured Records:

Television: Marquee Moon (1975)

Ramones: Rocket to Russia (1977)

The New York Dolls: The New York Dolls (1973)

Iggy & the Stooges: Raw Power (1973)

The Dictators: Go Girl Crazy! (1975)

Buy from: Amazon

[eternal--returned]

BEBE BUELL: Todd Rundgren introduced me to Patti. She was his girlfriend before me. I liked her immediately. She told me I looked like Anita Pallenberg, Nico, and Marianne Faithfull all rolled into one cream puff. Those were her exact words to me. Then she said, "You gotta cut your hair into bangs." At the time I had long hair and Patti told me to cut it with the bangs and stuff, so I did. Then she tried to talk me into dyeing it white, but I wouldn't. I used to drive Patti crazy. I'd go visit her every day. I would just show up on Twenty-third Street where she was living with Allen Lanier, you know, right after they'd just fucked or she was fixing one of her shrines or she was writing, but she'd always let me come in. We'd sit and talk and she told me, "I really want to sing." I'd tell her, "So do I." This is way before she started singing. So we'd put on records and sing to them at the top of our lungs. We'd put on "Gimme Danger" and try to imitate the attitude on the vocals, trying to get it right in our throats. Patty would say, "Yeah, this is how you learn how to sing." We'd use hairbrushes for microphones and stand in front of the mirror and sing. I had great times with her like that—she was really fun. Sometimes I would bring pot and Patti would not smoke a lot because she's just so smart and crazy that after two hits, she'd be like off, man—in the stratosphere, with philosophy and telling me stories about Sam Shepard. I was so young and crazy—I would always go running to Patti every time I had a problem with Todd. Patti still loved Todd a little, so it was hard for her to have this little brat coming over, asking her for advice about Todd when she still had a lot of feeling for him, even though she was living with Allen. Sometimes I would catch Todd and Patti hugging or something, and I would get very teenage about it. I'd go over to Patti and say, "Why you hugging my boyfriend?" She'd say, "Relax. It's okay, just cool out, little girl."

Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain ֍ Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk (1996)

[cruelmiracles]

LOU REED: They put the thing down your throat so you don't swallow your tongue, and they put electrodes on your head. That's what was recommended in Rockland County then to discourage homosexual feelings. The effect is that you lose your memory and become a vegetable. You can't read a book because you get to page seventeen and have to go right back to page one again.

Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain ǁ Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk (1996)

[ncwhereman]

Took me a minute to respond. Sorry bout that! 

I love reading and have been trying to read more lately. My favorite books are The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis, The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, and Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. Right now I’m reading Let the Right One In, a Swedish book about a child vampire. Do you like reading? Any favorite books?

For me some perfect albums are Band on the Run by Wings, Low by David Bowie, Vienna by Billy Joel, and Mystery Girl by Roy Orbison. I just love all of them.

i'm too trying to read more! another country by james baldwin and city of night by john rechy have been my favourites for a while. currently reading the sea, the sea by iris murdoch and i can't help remembering how much i also loved the bell and that i probably have to revisit it sometime. haven't read any of your choices (but i' know'm familiar with their adaptations of course) but they sound super interesting! i definitely have to try horror books, and i surely have to read more music nonfic 😭

those are superior albums!!! i actually never listened to any of them in full up to this point but i enjoyed them so much!

[wheretheeternalare]

2023 reading list :) bolded means i liked it

Companion Piece by Ali Smith Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayers The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov Lord Peter Views the Body by Dorothy Sayers Howards End by E. M. Forster The Raincoats by Jenn Pelly The Martian by Andy Weir The Minuteman Murder by Jane Langton The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco A Mercy by Toni Morrison Kindred by Octavia Butler Subculture: The Meaning of Style by Dick Hebdige Transformer by Ezra Furman Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin Rainbow Rainbow by Lydia Conklin Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston Still Life by Louise Penny The Best American Short Stories 2020 ed. Curtis Sittenfeld I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome Right Place, Right Time: The Life of a Rock & Roll Photographer by Bob Gruen A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews Island Zombie: Iceland Writings by Roni Horn There But For The by Ali Smith The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions by Larry Mitchell A Dream of a Woman by Casey Plett The Transgender Issue: Trans Justice Is Justice For All by Shon Faye The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia by Philip Sidney Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America by Esther Newton Bellies by Nicola Dinan A Question of Proof by Nicholas Blake Girlfriends by Emily Zhou Decolonize Drag by Kareem Khubchandani Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance by Johnny Rogan England Is Mine: Pop Life in Albion from Wilde to Goldie by Michael Bracewell Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

[suspirocotidiano]

Porque rock & roll tem a ver com perder o controle. O negócio não é se sentar no seu lugar e compreender tudo o que acontece. O negócio é ter uma experiência caótica.

Mate-me Por Favor – Legs McNeil e Gillian McCain