The Explanation
(for those who require one)

And, of course, that is what all of this is -- all of this: the one song, ever changing, ever reincarnated, that speaks somehow from and to and for that which is ineffable within us and without us, that is both prayer and deliverance, folly and wisdom, that inspires us to dance or smile or simply to go on, senselessly, incomprehensibly, beatifically, in the face of mortality and the truth that our lives are more ill-writ, ill-rhymed and fleeting than any song, except perhaps those songs -- that song, endlesly reincarnated -- born of that truth, be it the moon and June of that truth, or the wordless blue moan, or the rotgut or the elegant poetry of it. That nameless black-hulled ship of Ulysses, that long black train, that Terraplane, that mystery train, that Rocket '88', that Buick 6 -- same journey, same miracle, same end and endlessness."
-- Nick Tosches, Where Dead Voices Gather

Twilight of the Dreamboats #72

Washington, D.C.

Scenes from The Wild West #16

 Main Street, Goldfield, Nevada, 1904.

The Art of Cinema #551


The Stranger
(Orson Welles; 1946)

Artists in Action #787


Webb Pierce goes for the economy model.

The Friends of Flagg #27


Heroines of Hollywood
More famous faces, some drawn with malice aforethought. Clockwise: Claudette Colbert, Joan Crawford, Kay Francis, Marlene Dietrich, Katherine Hepburn, Mae West, Constance Bennett.

When Legends Gather #786

Alma and James Agee with Delmore Schwartz
photograph by Helen Levitt, 1939.

Before and After #309: Shane MacGowan

Before

After

Before and After #308: Aretha Franklin

Before

After

The Art of Cinema #550

The Shopworn Angel
(H.C. Potter; 1938)

And Then It Was Ephemera #69

The Golden Age of Prurience #79

The Heretofore Unmentioned #171

Rex Ingram

Jokers, Smokers and Midnight Tokers #7


Carl Sagan on Marijuana.

The Rhythm Method #6

Johnny Ramone
Rhythm Guitar

Sex Education #192

Charlotte Rampling

And Then It Was Ephemera #68

They Were Collaborators #833

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio

Marilyn in Action #82

Marilyn discloses

Seminal Image #1092

Lonely Are the Brave
(David Miller; 1962)

the gunslinger guide to karel zeman #5

Na Kometě (On the Comet), 1970

annals of public performance #62


Led Zeppelin do a spontaneous set at a small venue (Southeast Asia, 1971)

The Art of the Gig #55

In the Studio #128


The Doors

When Legends Gather #785

Andy Warhol, Paul Morrissey and Tennessee Williams

The Frame Within the Frame #67

Fanny och Alexander
(Ingmar Bergman; 1982)

Bobby: Scenes from a Life #8

Bobby wanders the countryside

Weekend #17

How to Read... with Richard Avedon! #15

Carl Theodor Dreyer

The Art of the Gig #54

The Beatles at Busch Stadium, St. Louis, 1966.

Radio Free Gunslinger #45: Best of . . .


This edition of Radio Free Gunslinger entails a look back at its first 30 episodes.

It is entitled 'Best of . . . '

Radio Free Gunslinger will return for a second, action-packed season on June 10.

The Content

The Swingle Singers - Fugue in D Minor
Mathiew Herkowitz - Bach à la Jazz
Bobby Gutesha - Inventio 13
Bud Powell - Bud on Bach
Jacques Loussier Trio - Aria

The Boyer Brothers - Step By Step
The Harmonizing Five - Let's Keep on Praying
The Sons of the South - Didn't It Rain, Children
Bob Angliano Quartet - Bye and Bye
The Young Gospel Singers - I Can Call Jesus Anytime

Lea Nixon - Off to Find a New Land
Donovan - The Entertaining of a Shy Girl
Anthony Phillips - God, if I Saw Her Now
Chad & Jeremy - Sister Marie
Candelight - That's What I Want

Kate Kuhl - Matrosenleid
Comedian Harmonists - Wenn der Wind weht über das Meer
Weintraubs Syncopators (w. Rudolf Nelson) - Wenn du Meine Tante Siehst
Anna Sten - Ich weiß nicht, zu wem ich gehöre
Max Hansen - Ich bin vom Rockefeller grad das Gegenteil

Eddie Hodges - Seein' is Believin'
Lesley Gore - No Matter What You Do
Frédéric Chopin - Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 66 (arr. by Jack Nitzsche)
The Turtles - You Know What I Mean
Frankie Laine - I'm Gonna Be Strong

Gil Scott Heron - Home is Where the Hatred Is
The Watts Prophets - Saint America
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On?/What's Happening, Brother? (live)
The Last Poets - Before the White Man Came
The Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band - Everyday People

Nick DeCaro and Orchestra - I'm Gonna Make You Love Me
The Match - Thru Spray Colored Glasses
Don Costa - Punky's Dilemma
The Cowsills - We Can Fly
The Frugal Sound - Back Street Girl

Disco Tex & The Sex-o-lettes - Get Dancin'
Candi Staton - Young Hearts Run Free
Shirley & Company - Shame, Shame, Shame
Wild Cherry - Play That Funky Music
Andrea True Connection - More, More, More, Pt. 1

Kid Smith and Family - Mama, You're a Mess
Walter Morris - Betsey Brown
Fiddlin' John Carson, w. Moonshine Kate - Swanee River
The Grant Brothers & Their Music - Tell It to Me
Ben Curry (Blind Bogus Ben Covington) - Adam and Eve in the Garden

Jerry Vale - Pretend You Don't See Her
Ray Barretto - El Watusi
Jackson Browne - Late for the Sky
The Aquatones - You
Hoagy Carmichael - Stardust

In the Crowd #1


Buddy Holly (far right) watches Elvis 

They Were an Item #164


Dee Dee Ramone & his wife, Barbara

civic portraiture #42


Kurt Cobain

how to peddle the zeitgeist #6

Learning To Read The Subtitles #2

She worked in a brothel in the city.

Scenes from The Wild West #15

Nat Love aka Deadwood Dick

Scenes from The Wild West #14

The Sundance Kid and Etta Place

Scenes from The Wild West #13

Laura Bullion "The Thorny Rose"  
Mug Shot, St. Louis, 1901.

They Were an Item #163

Jean Harlow and Howard Hughes

Artists in Action #786

Pablo Picasso disguises himself as Popeye

In the Studio #127

Mickey Baker and Sylvia Vanderpool Robinson

Twilight of the Dreamboats #71

Bobby: Scenes from a Life #7

Bobby reads up on Psychology, as irony descends

When Legends Gather #784


Muddy Waters & Nick Tosches

And Then It Was Ephemera #67


The hardest working man in laundry (1969)

artists in action #785


Elvis gets into some pinball

Scenes from The Wild West #12

The Dodge City Peace Commission, 1883.

 From left to right, standing: W.H. Harris, Luke Short, Bat Masterson, W.F. Petillon.
Seated: Charlie Bassett, Wyatt Earp, Frank McLain and Neal Brown

And Then It Was Ephemera #66