Bobby Beausoleil, age 19
In 1969 a young dude named Bobby Beausoleil bought some mescaline for a motorcycle gang called the Straight Satans (not to be confused with Shelby’s biker gang, the Lucifags). Apparently, this mescaline was bad (or just a little weak) and The Satan’s were bummed. So much so that they demanded their money back. Totally PO’d, Bobby went back to the dude he scored from and was like “hey Gary Hinman, WTF?”. Hinamn was like, “blow me dude”. So Bobby decided to roll up to his pad with a couple of brutal she-bros, namely Susan Atkins and Mary Brunner. These chicks weren't the cutest, but they tripped balls and hung out naked so you wouldn’t be bummed to have them around. Anyway, they tied Hinam up and were like “where’s the money shithead?” Again, Hinman told them to fuck off. So Bobby had no choice but to call up another bro, a short dude named Charles Manson. Charlie came in and was like, “hey guys, I brought this knife. Have you guys seen Reservoir Dogs? Oh, that’s the future? Huh” and proceeded to cut Hinmans face open, taking off one of his ears. Bobby took the knife and stabbed Hinman to death the next day (long night, right?). When the sun was rising in Malibu, Bobby was scooping up handfuls of Hinmans blood, which he then used to write “Political Piggy” on the walls of his pad. Why political piggy? Cuz they were trying to start a race war (pretty obvz dude). A little later that summer (best summer ever) Bobby was arrested while sleeping in the back of Hinman’s car (all-star hessian move right there). Did I mention Bobby was 22? Young dude. Anyway, het got sentenced to death. But then California gave up on capital punishment for a bit in ‘72, so they switched it over to life. Where’s Bobby now? Still in Jail. He’s up for parole in three years.
ladies?
So besides stabbing dudes, Bobby had other talents. Namely being an excellent musician and a decent actor (he was in a movie called the Ramrodder, anyone seen it?). He played in a band called the Grass Roots (which later became LOVE) and his nickname was Bummer Bob. “Why you always stabbing dudes Bobby, what a bummer” is most likely how that came about.
So while Bobby was in jail, sometime around the late 70’s, he was hit up by this dude named Kenneth Anger who wanted him to do a soundtrack for a film called Lucifer Rising. Anger's first choice, Jimmy Page, was busy doing some other shit (who knows what) and Bobby was sort of the obvious second choice. For those that don’t know, Kenneth Anger is like the Rob Halford of experimental film. He loves Satan, motorcycles, leather, studs and actual studs, as in dudes. Somehow, Bobby and Anger convinced the prison officials to let him write and record this film score, WHILE SERVING A LIFE SENTENCE FOR MURDER. That very score, the Lucifer Rising soundtrack, is what I’ve got for you today.
Want to see the movie? It’s good.
Kenneth Anger has been a favorite of mine for many years. When I first laid eyes on his experimental short film Scorpio Rising, it stirred something deep inside me where the satanic intersects with the homoerotic. He's a crazy dude, and he's still around LA making art and doing weird Kenneth Anger stuff. This soundtrack for Lucifer Rising is pretty fucking sweet, I'm sure you'll dig it.
Kenneth Anger now, still bad as fuck
You'll probably also dig Scorpio Rising too. I know you.
trip out
6 comments:
as usual
some of the best writing of any music blog
or any blog, period
cool. the spontaneity got me going.
Hey, Creed Bratton from The Office was in the Grass Roots. Crazy.
They actually made a joke about Creed & The Grass Roots on The Office once, although I can't recall which episode...
PS Sean, nice work on this one.
The "Booze Cruise" episode? Creed jams on guitar for a minute. Saw Creed, Oscar, and Angela host an improv a year or two ago. Creed was fucked, in the greatest way possible. He just told acid stories, no jokes, but I've never laughed harder.
Great stuff! :D Jimmy Page recorded an hour's worth of bullshit guitar feedback ass noises because he was too busy shooting up heroin to care and Kenneth Anger rejected it and went looking for Bobby. He also allegedly put a curse on Jimmy Page for dissing Satan by-Anger-proxy too.
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