Today the educational underground pirate podcast has dropped anchor at nostalgic Malibu. Just a little ways from the nude beach, near Leo Carrillo State Park. You remember Leo. He played Pancho on the Cisco Kid TV show we watched on our old BWTVs.
LA is near, and so much of this is connected to Hollywood. Not far from here, I danced on the roof overlooking the tennis court owned by Fatty Arbuckle.
Rock and Roll and Hollywood have always shared a rocky horror show of a relationship. Rock stars want to be movie stars. But something isn’t right. Elvis made 31 forgettable movies before we got Prince in Purple Rain.
Then you have movie stars playing rock stars. Gary Busey as Buddy Holly. Val Kilmer becomes the Lizard King. Rami Malek wins the Oscar as Freddie Mercury. Austin Butler channels Elvis. Tom Hanks play Col. Tom Parker and Geppetto in the same year. He wants to make the King of Rock and Roll a real live boy.
If a life in music can be shaped into a 2-hour biopic, the icon gets introduced to a new generation, the record sell again, and that elusive shot at immortality gets a kick in the career.
So it’s not surprising when the conversation flips, when music gets to tell you the story of Hollywood, it’s a bit of a dream balloon with a slow leak. Rock and roll is truth, and the truth is Hollywood devours it’s young and old, it’s women, it’s children.
But that’s another story. In this episode of Old School, its lights, action, camera, Botox, Beverly Hills lunches, press agents, brick and mortar studios, “to stream or not to stream,” and loud slaps at the Oscars.
Pop music attempts to gaze beyond the fantasy, but loves a good pool party. especially if it happens at Hugh Hefner’s Playboy mansion and you get to hang out with Mama Cass, Steve McQueen, Bruce Lee, and Sharon Tate.
Once upon a time in rock and roll…We are Going, Going, Gone Hollywood. Fasten you seatbelt, it’s going to be a bumpy night.
HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD Frances Langford, Johnnie Davis, Benny Goodman and His Orchestra (1937)
I LOVE L.A. Randy Newman (1983)
WELCOME TO HOLLYWOOD The Aylum Choir: Leon Russell & Marc Benno (1972)
HOLLYWOOD SWINGING Kool and the Gang (1974)
ACT NATURALLY Buck Owens and the Buckaroos (1963)
HOLLYWOOD The Runaways (1977)
GIRLS ON FILM Duran Duran (1980)
MY BABY LOVES A WESTERN MOVIE The Olympics (1958)
COWBOYS FROM HOLLYWOOD Camper Van Beethoven (1985)
LITTLE HOLLYWOOD GIRL The Everly Brothers (1977)
HOLLYWOOD #1 Thunderclap Newman (1969)
SKATEAWAY Dire Straits (1980)
HOLLYWOOD Rick James (1978)
SPILL THE WINE Eric Burdon and War (1970)
HOLLYWOOD STOMP Victoria Spivey (1937)
DOWN IN HOLLYWOOD Ry Cooder (1974)
KING OF THE SILVER SCREEN Alice Cooper (1977)
SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES The Drifters (1964)
CELLULOID HEROES The Kinks (1972)
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