Michael Simmons
Michael Simmons is a musician, journalist, filmmaker, and activist. He was dubbed "The Father Of Country Punk" by Creem magazine in the 1970s, edited the National Lampoon in the '80s, and won the LA Press Club Award in the '90s. He's written for the LA Weekly, LA Times, Rolling Stone, Penthouse, High Times, Arthur, Mojo, and The Progressive.
39 articles
List of articles in the library
Live Review by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 22 May 1997
KIM DEAL of the Breeders is the anti-Madonna (and Madonna is the postmod Charo) She's so unpretentious, so lacking in showbiz guile, so kid-sisterly And ...
Interview by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 5 June 1997
Brother Wayne Kramer's automythological masterpiece ...
Negativland: Siedpsip (Seeland Records)
Review by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 11 September 1997
If the Medium is the Mess, thank the maker of Negativland. ...
The Holy Modal Rounders: Grin 'n' Spin: Millennial Yarns from the Holy Modal Rounders
Profile and Interview by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 2 September 1999
DURING THE early stages of a hallucinogenic drug trip, the voyager experiences giddiness and a vision of existence as a zany, absurdist cartoon. Eccentricity in ...
Grateful Dead, Phish: The Grateful Dead: So Many Roads (1965–1995)/Phish: Hampton Comes Alive
Review by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 26 April 2000
ONE MORE NEGATIVE remark about hippies or the Grateful Dead and you punk-rock bullies will have petunias shoved down your throats. ...
Jimi Hendrix: The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Review by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 29 November 2000
Heroes are important. They make you want to stay alive when you aren't sure whether you've been left behind, or are about to be run ...
Steve Earle: Country Maverick Steve Earle vs. The Nashville Machine
Report and Interview by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 20 December 2002
"LATELY I FEEL like the loneliest man in America," writes Steve Earle in the liner notes of his most recent album, Jerusalem (Artemis). ...
Steve Earle: The Progressive Interview
Interview by Michael Simmons, The Progressive, February 2003
"LATELY I FEEL like the loneliest man in America," writes Steve Earle in the liner notes of his most recent album, Jerusalem (Artemis). ...
Comment by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 18 October 2006
Dear Jann, We both know that Rolling Stone – the magazine you founded and remain Editor and Publisher of – has been the subject of endless ...
Daniel Johnston: The Reporter and Daniel Johnston
Report by Michael Simmons, Artillery, November 2006
We all come from families and spend the rest of our lives embracing and escaping them and creating new ones. Art breeds its own family. ...
The Doors return to Sunset Boulevard
Retrospective by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 8 November 2006
EVER SINCE Jim Morrison cancelled his subscription to the resurrection in 1971, the Lizard King phenom has raged on. If you saw the Doors live, ...
John Stewart: Daydream Believer: John Stewart, 1939-2008
Obituary by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 21 February 2008
JOHN STEWART – singer, songwriter, guitarist, artist, husband, father, grandfather, Californian, American – was scheduled to perform at McCabe's in Santa Monica on Saturday, February ...
Obituary by Michael Simmons, MOJO, April 2008
American singer and songwriter John Stewart died on January 19. His friend Michael Simmons says goodbye. ...
Ed Sanders: The American Bard Takes On Katrina
Essay by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 1 April 2008
THERE IS A GIANT in our midst and his name is Edward Sanders. Ed was born in 1939 in Kansas City, Missouri. He moved to ...
A Half-Century of McCabe's Guitar Shop
Report by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 25 September 2008
Little shop of adorers ...
Review by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 29 January 2009
For the second year running, a new Karen Dalton record is my choice for The Album of the Year. ...
Chris Darrow, Kaleidoscope: Chris Darrow's Kaleidoscopic Vision
Profile and Interview by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 25 February 2009
HE HAS AN upcoming tribute concert and box-set release and yet the question many will ask is, "Who is Chris Darrow?" ...
Grateful Dead: Dead Without Garcia: Is It Worth the Effort, or a Waste of Time?
Comment by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 6 May 2009
"THE FIRST Prankster ruleis that nothing lasts forever," said Merry Prankster chieftain Ken Kesey in 1966, the same year the Grateful Dead, the in-house band ...
Sunny War: Songstress-Musician Sunny War
Profile and Interview by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 15 July 2009
ON THE TINY YouTube screen is a close-up of a diminutive black woman who looks about 12 but is, in the video, 16. Her hair's ...
Bob Dylan: Dylan's Christmas Album: First Listen!
Report by Michael Simmons, MOJO, October 2009
SANTA DROPPED Bob Dylan's Christmas Album Down Mojo's chimney last night, and as we celebrated with premature mince pies and stollen it provided plenty of ...
Barry Goldberg & Bob Dylan's Secret Gem
Profile by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 18 March 2010
ONE OF THE QUIET GEMS OF 2009 was an album originally produced by Bob Dylan in 1973. Other than his own work under the pseudonymous ...
Lowell George, Little Feat: Lowell George: Time Loves a Hero
Retrospective by Michael Simmons, MOJO, May 2010
A '70s guitar visionary and genius songwriter, Lowell George of Little Feat is rock's lost star. Michael Simmons pays tribute. ...
The Fugs: For The Benefit Of Tuli Kupferberg
Report by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 15 June 2010
For those who trot out the tired cliché of hippies morphing into stockbrokers, check out the Fugs. No sell-out here. ...
Bob Dylan: "Bob Knew There'd Be Butting Of Heads"
Retrospective and Interview by Michael Simmons, MOJO, July 2010
HOW DYLAN'S FIRST ALBUM OF ORIGINAL MATERIAL SINCE 1990 BECAME A WAR OF WILLS, AND AN ARTISTIC TRIUMPH. AS TOLD TO MICHAEL SIMMONS. ...
Kinky Friedman: I Was a Texas Jewboy
Memoir by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 29 July 2010
MY FIRST LIVE sighting of Richard "Kinky" "Big Dick" Friedman was at Max's Kansas City in New York in 1973. He was headlining Upstairs at ...
Retrospective and Interview by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 3 January 2011
The late Phil Ochs, one of the greatest singer/songwriters of the 1960s in a rarified perch with Dylan, Joni and Cohen, wasn't a household name ...
Retrospective and Interview by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 12 May 2011
I'M 56 YEARS old. Old enough to remember one president's assassination and another's resignation, black people getting beaten for insisting on the right to vote ...
Interview by Michael Simmons, MOJO, February 2013
Shooting up with Ray Charles, blown away by Katrina, the voice of New Orleans has seen tough times. Now Keith Richards is reaching out. "I ...
Van Dyke Parks Keeps On Cyclin'
Retrospective by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 29 March 2013
Van Dyke Parks remains in forward motion despite the fickle tastes of the Entertainment-Industrial Complex. An eloquent raconteur and great wit, he's philosophical about the ...
Memoir by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 5 April 2013
"I WANNA BE a neuron – I don't wanna be the brain," said all-night radio host Bob Fass in the 1960s to his audience. "We're ...
Jefferson Airplane: Tripping With Jorma Kaukonen At The Psylodelic Gallery
Retrospective and Interview by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 28 June 2013
Given that the Jefferson Airplane and Tuna are two of the mightiest hippie bands to emerge from the '60s, it made sense that Jorma Kaukonen ...
Carlene Carter and the Unbroken Circle
Interview by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 8 June 2014
If there's a better hardcore country record in 2014 than Carlene Carter's Carter Girl, I haven't heard it. ...
Dr. John: Welcome to the Big Easy
Retrospective and Interview by Michael Simmons, MOJO, October 2014
FROM HIS 1968 DEBUT ONWARDS, THE MUSIC OF DR. JOHN HAS BEEN MARINADED IN THE PSYCHEDELIC VOODOO OF NEW ORLEANS. NOW, WITH A TRIBUTE TO ...
Steve Earle: "Mississippi, It's Time!"
Interview by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 11 September 2015
"IT'S LARGELY ABOUT EMPATHY," says Steve Earle of his mandate as a songwriter. "The job is about empathy whether you're writing love songs or political ...
Professor Longhair: Live In Chicago
Review by Michael Simmons, MOJO, January 2016
Previously unreleased live set of the New Orleans R&B pianist at his best. ...
Interview by Michael Simmons, MOJO, January 2017
DECKED OUT IN an all-black suit, Robbie Robertson exudes elegance and a well-read intelligence – the latter all the more fascinating given his teenage education chicken- pickin' in honky-tonks ...
Joan Baez: Royce Hall, Los Angeles
Live Review by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 13 November 2018
ON SATURDAY, NOV. 10, Royce Hall at UCLA was sold out for Joan Baez's Fare Thee Well… Tour 2018. At the age of 77, the ...
Nirvana: Danny Goldberg: Serving the Servant – Remembering Kurt Cobain (Ecco)
Book Review by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 12 April 2019
MUSIC BIZ macher, political activist and author Danny Goldberg's new book is Serving the Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain (Ecco), a reminiscence of his time as ...
Nick Cave, Larry "Ratso" Sloman: Ratso Has A Record (and a duet with Nick Cave)
Comment by Michael Simmons, Dangerous Minds, 25 April 2019
WHAT MOST PEOPLE dream about, Larry "Ratso" Sloman makes happen. Anyone who's read Ratso's first book, 1978's On The Road With Bob Dylan, has witnessed ...
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