Roy Trakin on Muck Rack

Roy Trakin

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Los Angeles
Pop culture pundit, rock critic vet, Noo Yawker exiled in L.A. since '85.

Roy Trakin’s Journalist Portfolio

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A Special Time in Rock: 1966 on the Sunset Strip : A kid might jam with Jimi Hendrix or hitch a r...

A Special Time in Rock: 1966 on the Sunset Strip : A kid might jam with Jimi Hendrix or hitch a r...

Los Angeles Times — The summer of 1966 on L.A.'s Sunset Strip was a time when many young musicians thought anything was possible. A teen-ager from the San Fernando Valley might wind up jamming with Jimi Hendrix, while a 14-year-old hitchhiking on Sunset Boulevard could get picked up by Phil Spector's limousine.

HITS Daily Double : Rumor Mill - DOO-WAH DIDDY

HITS Daily Double : Rumor Mill - DOO-WAH DIDDY

Hits — The "Saga Continues," indeed. Sean Combs' third Bad Boy/ Arista album, "P. Diddy and the Bad Boy Family... The Saga Continues" just debuted at #2 on the charts. The record began as a compilation of label artists such as Faith Evans, 112, Carl Thomas, Black Rob and G-Dep as well as newcomers Mark Curry, MC Kaine, the Hoodfellaz and Cheri Dennis, only to evolve into a P.

HITS Daily Double : Rumor Mill - KNIGHT TURNS TO DAYLIGHT

HITS Daily Double : Rumor Mill - KNIGHT TURNS TO DAYLIGHT

Hits — The Wilshire Blvd. headquarters of Suge Knight's newly revitalized Tha Row Records is a far cry from the last time I saw the rap mogul, when he was wearing faded-denim prison blues and dining on vending-machine burritos, just another number at Mule Creek State Prison in upstate California.

HITS Daily Double : Rumor Mill - IN UTERO: KURT COBAIN SPEAKS

HITS Daily Double : Rumor Mill - IN UTERO: KURT COBAIN SPEAKS

Hits — Nirvana's album Nevermind was out about two weeks on Oct. 9, 1991, when I conducted the following phone interview with Kurt Cobain. As we spoke, word came through that the video for the group's single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit," had just been added to what MTV then called its "Buzz Bin."

'Into the Night' Singer Benny Mardones Dies at 73

'Into the Night' Singer Benny Mardones Dies at 73

Variety — Benny Mardones, best known for his 1980 hit "Into the Night" - which cracked Billboard singles charts three separate times - died at his home in California on June 22 after a 20-year battle with Parkinson's disease, his producer Joel Diamond confirmed to Variety. He was 73.

PressReader.com - Your favorite newspapers and magazines.

PressReader.com - Your favorite newspapers and magazines.

pressreader.com — Connecting People through News. All-you-can-read digital newsstand with thousands of the world's most popular newspapers and magazines. Vast selection of top stories in full-content format available for free.

Don McLean Reveals 15 Things About 'American Pie'

Don McLean Reveals 15 Things About 'American Pie'

AARP — Don Smith/Radio Times via Getty Images McLean's debut album was released on the minuscule indie label Mediarts after being rejected, as the legend has it, by 72 others. The album produced "Castles in the Air" and "And I Love Her So," a song that became a Grammy-nominated hit for Perry Como.

Kenny G Is Back With New Album and New HBO Documentary

Kenny G Is Back With New Album and New HBO Documentary

AARP — Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images He's Kenny G and you're not. The man whose animated doppelgänger, a soprano-sax-wielding, frizzy-haired purveyor of "smooth jazz," obliterated the musical universe in the 2020 film Trolls World Tour, and who was summoned by no less than Kanye West to serenade his then-wife Kim Kardashian on Valentine's Day is not some jazz purist's feverish nightmare, but a self-effacing Seattle native who just happened to sell 75 million albums around the world.

Larry David, Jay Leno, Kathy Griffin Turn Out for Improv's 60th Party

Larry David, Jay Leno, Kathy Griffin Turn Out for Improv's 60th Party

Los Angeles Magazine — "Baptism by drunken fire" is how comic Bert Kreischer described coming up on the standup stage that launched the careers of so many