HAVE BO WILL TRAVEL

  7-17-12 LAME TO THEBRAIN..July saw the release of two classic BO DIDDLEY albums; his second LP "Go Bo Diddley('59) and his third LP "Have Guitar Will Travel('60). Like his first LP, his second was all killa, no filla. His third contains classics like "Mona" and "Cops and Robbers".   RAY DAVIES, while being a guest VJ on MTV back in the '80's, expressed dismay that George Thorogood's "Bad To The Bone" video would show George beating Bo in a pool game. I'd add that having George become the hero over Bo to all the poor kids in "the hood" was at best in rather dubious taste. You could've made the video and STILL lost the game, George...that's called the blues...

THUNDER FROM THE EAST

  7-16-12  BORN TOO LOOSE..July 15, 1952 is the B-Day of John Anthony Genzale, Jr. aka JOHNNY THUNDERS. I'll move over, Bloogers, and let Jimmy O. take over:

    "CHARACTER"

    by Iggy Pop 1993

" Well, I'll tell you,

One good thing at least

  about some of these junkies

was they had some character...

At least they played the damn guitar

like they meant it..

These white bread boys nowadays,

  knowin' all the score,

don't even know how to puke.

ARTHUR RAISED A KANE

7-13-12  KANE MUTINY...Here's the NEW YORK DOLLS, as usual looking impossibly cool and sublimely ridiculous simultaneously. ARTHUR "KILLER" KANE split the scene this day back in 2004. Even if you don't dig the Dolls ( ? ) you should check out the documentary about Arthur called "New York Doll." Like with RON ASHETON, it's gratifying to know Arthur got some respect/kicks before he bowed out. It's what was once called a "great human interest story", back when our stars were still recognizably human and had interesting stories to tell.

COMIC-CHAMELEON

7-12-12 THE BIG 'BANG BANG' THEORY..Today is the start of COMIC-CON. In this Blooge's photo IGGY is playing some character named Yelgrum (he's the one on the right) from a Star Trek-Deep Space Nine episode called "The Magnificent Ferengi" (I swear I didn't know that already, I had to look it up!).

While Nickelodeon's "Pete & Pete" captured a bit of James Osterberg's natural charm, for the most part Mr. Pop's acting career has not been memorable. He knows it too and he was wise to stop. Most of his life has been some kind of bizarro world version of Clark Kent/Superman(Jim/Iggy)anyway. So why should he bother to play act?

  Also on this day:

1. Curly Joe DeRita born in 1909.

2. IGGY's first wedding, back in '69. Since the bride was Jewish, best man RON ASHETON decided not to wear his SS outfit. He wore his Luftwaffe uniform instead.

I WANNA BE YOUR BONZO DOG

7-10-12  STOOGES OVER LONDON..From the July 8, 1972 pages of Melody Maker, an advert for a "IGGY POP, ex-Iggy & the Stooges" show on the 15th. As the late Ernie "DUTCH" Borgnine might have said: "Ex Stooges yer BUTT!!" This was the imfamous, pre RAW POWER, only European show by Iggy AND the Stooges (with the FLAMIN' GROOVIES!). In attendance were the FUTURE PUNKS OF ENGLAND (Johnny Rotten, Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Brian James, Siouxsie Sioux). It changed lives and was the REAL start of the British Punk scene. To quote Nick Kent: "The total effect was more frightening than all the Alice Coopers and Clockwork Oranges put together, simply because these guys weren't joking."

  P.S. Attention BONZODOG fans! Salivate over the line-up on the 8th!!

TURA! TURA! TURA!

7-10-12  FOUR DEGREES FROM IGGY..Child bride, internment camps, martial arts, gang leader, model, burlesque queen, police dispatcher, revenger, singer and subject of songs, movies, TV, Harold Lloyd, Billy Wilder, Tempest Storm, ELVIS, Russ Meyer, a cult legend; these are all part of the amazing life of the incredible TURASATANA, born today in 1938. Like Bogie as Rick, Boris as The Monster, Bela as Drac, MM as Lorelei, and Laughton as Bligh, Tura'a VARLA in Russ Meyer's "Faster Pussycat, KILL! KILL!" is one of American cultures most indelible icons. And she wrote much of her own dialogue, too ("I don't beat clocks, I beat PEOPLE!").

  IG/CONNECT: Tura worked with Russ who worked with Steve Jones ( "Who Killed Bambi?") who worked with IGGY.

FUN FACT # 1 : A young ELVIS proposed marriage to Tura, who turned The King down but kept the ring. Imagine a child by ELVIS and Tura!

FUN FACT # 2 : At the end of an episode of The Man FromU.N.C.L.E. ("Finny Foot Affair") Napoleon Solo asks Tura's character if she is going to join her dead boss in death by committing Hara Kiri. She replies: "You got the wrong century, JACK!"

FUN FACT # 3 : Varla is the first female movie character to kill a man with her bare hands.

ERNIE R.I.P.

7-9-12 BONUS BLOOGE GOING DUTCH..Yesterday 7/8/12 the great ERNEST BORGNINE shipped out for the last time. Some friends and I watched the WILD BUNCH last night as a tribute. There's at least a dozen iconic Ernie moments in the film; here's a fitting one:

"I think the boys are right.  I'd like to say a few words for the dear, dead departed.

  And maybe a few HYMNS'D be in order.   Followed by a church supper...WITH A CHOIR!"

Thanks, EB...we "wouldn't have it any other way."

P.S. This photo is a shot of Ernie and your's truly at a book signing in 2010