Lackawanna Plaza was a small shopping mall in Montclair, N.J., built in an old historic train station that dates back to 1913. Roughly 10 years ago, the anchor tenant, a Pathmark supermarket, closed down and whatever stores were left in the mall followed shortly thereafter. It went completely dark.
Recently the old mall has reopened as Lackawanna Station, an event space and art hub, along with a couple galleries, a bar, stage, record store and some pop-up retail. But what has visually transformed the ghost mall is the murals that surround the space, including on what used to be the walls of the old Pathmark.
Jeks and JerkfaceD*FaceJeks OneJeksJerkfaceBKFoxxMichael ReederYok & SheryoMarguerite Kaufer
Ike Turner could stake a claim as the father of rock and roll. In 1951 he came out with a song called “Rocket 88” that some say is the first rock and roll record.
But that’s not what he’s known for. Instead he’s remembered for the Ike and Tina Turner Revue and, he’s remembered as the abuser of his musical partner and wife Tina.
The Ike and Tina Turner Review ended abruptly in 1976 when Tina pulled out and filed for divorce. The details of Ike’s abuse would come out in the 1987 autobiography “I, Tina” and the 1993 movie “What’s Love Got to Do with It.”
Ike once offered this rather lame explanation (Frank Spotnitz, UPI, Aug. 23, 1985):
“Everybody has fights.
“Some of them say I beat her, I was brutal to her. I think you can look at her and see about how brutal I’ve been. Anyway, everybody loves her today, definitely think if I was brutal to her – I’m saying if I was – and she’s the one everybody loves today, well then they should be proud I was brutal because she’s what they like to hear.”
Another member of the Ike and Tina Revue would later come out with charges of abuse by Ike. “American soul singer P.P. Arnold has penned a memoir called ‘Soul Survivor,’ in which she alleges that, during the time she was a member of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, Ike Turner ‘trapped her in a room and raped her.’ The allegation was published in an interview she did with the Telegraph in the U.K. ahead of the book’s release there.” (Thania Garcia, Variety, July 5, 2022)
It wouldn’t be long before Ike Turner’s musical resume would be dwarfed by his rap sheet.
In a obit with the headline ‘Visionary Turned Villain’ written by Chicago Tribune music critic Greg Jot (Dec. 13, 2007), he noted:
“He was arrested 11 times in the ’70s and ’80s for various offenses, mostly drug-related. In 1990, he was convicted of possessing and transporting cocaine, and the next year, as he and Tina were being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he was sitting in a prison cell, completing an 18-month sentence.”
In 1974 he “was arrested with the other three defendants at a recording studio March 26, on a warrant accusing them of using studio telephones equipped with ‘blue boxes.’ Authorities said a blue box is a multifrequency device that permits telephone calls to be placed to any dialing point without being recorded by the phone company’s automatic equipment. (Miami Herald, Aug. 8, 1974) Those charges were dropped.
The Albuquerque Tribune had this story on July 14, 1981:
“Rock star Ike Turner, facing trial this month on charges he shot his newspaper delivery man, has been arrested by narcotics officers who reportedly found a small quantity of cocaine in his briefcase. Turner is due in Torrance Superior Court July 27 for trial on charges he shot Andrew Francis in the ankle. Turner pleaded innocent June 18 to a felony count of assault with a deadly weapon. The entertainer, half of the former team of Ike and Tina Turner, allegedly fired two shots at Francis earlier this year in front of the musician’s home. The incident reportedly was triggered when Francis hit Turner’s dog with a newspaper.” The paperboy, who was an adult male, eventually won an $11 million judgment against Turner.
Six years later (Aug. 31, 1987), Newsday had this:
“In December the rhythm and blues musician said he completed a drug recovery and said he kicked a 16-year cocaine habit and vowed to ‘stay sober for the rest of my life’ as he attempted to revive his career. Yesterday it was disclosed that he is being held in lieu of $2,500 bail in Los Angeles on charges of possessing cocaine after police stopped his car as part of a routine traffic check. Police said that Turner, 55, and another man were arrested late Wednesday night in West Hollywood, and that Turner had a quarter of an ounce of cocaine in his possession.” That incident resulted in a one-year jail sentence.
After their breakup, Tina Turner went on to become ‘the queen of rock and roll.” She was playing stadiums and arenas. Ike’s comeback was a lot different.
Twelve years later Richard Scheinn of Knight-Ridder Newspapers (Nov. 6, 1988) wrote about Turner’s attempt to get his career back on track playing clubs in California.
“Clubs in San Rafael and Cotati had cancelled Turner’s gigs for lack of advance sales. Then, to salvage dates in Soquel and San Francisco, Turner accepted a pay cut for the band from about $2,500 to $1,500 a night.”
Scheinn caught one of the shows at a club called O.T. Price’s.
“The dance floor is full, but it soon becomes apparent that the music is missing a certain edge, a certain groove and commitment – Turner had spoken earlier about the challenge of teaching his new band to ‘sound and feel real.’ Most of the audience remains in its seats, not looking terribly thrilled, as the band rolls through Sly Stone’s ‘I Want to Take You Higher,’ followed by a country tune, a slick pop-soul tune and the inevitable ‘Proud Mary,’ once an anthem for Ike and Tina. Turner looks a little sheepish, fades into the background, then smiles and gives a thumbs-up sign to the audience as he runs off the stage at the end of the set.”
In 2001, 23 years after his last record, Turner released a new album ‘Here and Now.’
His complicated legacy is demonstrated by this story.
“(St. Louis) Mayor Francis Slay denied a request to honor Turner by making Sept. 2 ‘Ike Turner Day’ in St. Louis, the same day Turner was scheduled to play at the Big Muddy Blues Festival. Some had complained to the mayor that honoring a man who has admitted hitting his ex-wife would send the wrong message.” (Cheryl Wittenauer, AP, Dec. 13, 2007)
Turner died in 2007 at his home in suburban San Diego. He was 76.
One unfortunate part of his legacy has apparently lived on: “Ike Turner Jr., son of the late legendary singer Tina Turner and former husband and musical partner Ike Turner, was arrested Saturday, May 6, and has been charged with crack cocaine possession and tampering with evidence.” (Danielle Bacher, People, June 21, 2023)
Eva Narcissus Boyd of Bellhaven, N.C., was 15 years old in 1958 when she left her home and headed to Brooklyn. She supported herself with housekeeping and babysitting gigs. Among her employers were the songwriting team of Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Boyd could sing and King/Goffin could write hit songs. There are a few different versions of how this happened but by 1961 Boyd had become Little Eva and her rendition of the King/Goffin composition “The Loco-Motion” was a number one hit record that sold over a million copies.
Little Eva with Carole King and Gerry Goffin
Little Eva had some other hit singles, including “Keep Your Hands Off My Baby” and “Let’s Turkey Trot,” but none of the stature of “The Loco-Motion.” For about 10 years she was a popular attraction on the Motown circuit. She would later tell Chuck Darrow of the Asbury Park Press:
“’I had a ball, I had a great time.’
“Besides, she reckoned she was financially secure thanks to the expected royalties from ‘The Loco-Motion.’ In the late 1970s, she learned the truth. ‘I found out I didn’t have any income,’ she recalled. ‘I thought I’d have money to live on the rest of my life, but I didn’t. I really don’t know how it happened.
‘A lot of artists just didn’t get them (royalties). I got some, but not what I should have gotten. The record company was holding them. You just have to get a lawyer to go get them (royalties).’
“The realization ‘disgusted’ her so much that she abandoned show business. But the move was not beneficial. ‘I was living in poverty – welfare, food stamps. The only singing I did was in church.’ Adding insult to injury were several performers who were passed off by unscrupulous promoters as Little Eva.” (Asbury Park Press, Aug. 30, 1992)
“By 1971, when Boyd finally abandoned the tarnished glitter of New York to return to Eastern North Carolina, her bank account was as hollow as her crushed spirit. The following 17 years found her moving from job to job, on and off welfare, struggling to support her five children and maintain the dignity that once came so easily.
“Music had long lost its charms. ‘I could’ve gone back and kept on doing gigs, I suppose, but I didn’t care. I just didn’t want to.’
“In 1977, Boyd moved into a mobile home in Kinston to live with family members. She scored a house of her own but more money problems forced her to move to a government housing project. Her husband of more than 20 years died in 1982, and she found herself plagued by depression.” (Brian McCollum, Charlotte Observer, Sept. 16, 1994)
In 1987, an AP reporter caught up with her working at Hanzie’s Restaurant in Kinston.
“’I don’t locomote no more,’ said Eva Boyd as she wiped the counter at Hanzies Grill, a soul food restaurant here. It’s been 25 years and 50 pounds since Ms. Boyd was known as Little Eva, the girl singer of the ’60s who hit the top of the charts with one song, ‘The Loco-Motion.’
“She performed with James Brown, Sam Cooke, Diana Ross and the Supremes and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, to list a few.
“Although the fees from her performances sometimes were as high as $3,000, she said she got very little of it.
“’That’s the way it is in the business,’ she says. ‘You get in it and you get what you get and they get what they get and that’s the way it is. I was young and naive and I really didn’t know the business end.’” (AP, Aug. 16, 1987)
Susan Ladd of the Greensboro (N.C.) News and Record, interviewed her that same year (Aug. 18, 1987). She found “A plain-spoken woman with a lively sense of humor and more than her share of common sense, Eva Boyd, 43, now sings to glorify the Lord.”
But Eva Boyd was to become Little Eva once again. Her comeback is described in the Charlotte Observer story by Brian McCollum (Sept. 16, 1994).
“Boyd stayed low-profile until 1991, when she was finally talked into performing again. Her return gig took place at New Jersey’s Meadowlands, at a rock ‘n roll reunion show in front of 22,000 fans. The date was June 29, 1991- Eva Boyd’s birthday.
“‘When I walked onstage, I told everybody, ‘Good evening,’ and then I said, ‘I thank God for my talent and I thank you for … having me back out here again,’ she said.
“‘I still didn’t want to do it. But then I saw the reception, and I realized it was right.’ Boyd felt tears.
“’It was a loving reception. I hadn’t been sure the people would still love me. Emotionally, I got healed that night.’”
Stan Woodard of the Muskegon Chronicle (May 20, 1996) reviewed one of her shows.
“Fans of all ages welcomed Fabian, Little Eva and the Drifters to the Walker Arena Sunday for a history lesson in rock ‘n’ roll.
“Little Eva is energy, and she poured her heart out to covers of ‘Dancin’ In The Street,’ ‘The Twist,’ and Gary U.S. Bonds’ hit, ‘New Orleans.’
“…the audience of 3,600 went absolutely off the wall standing, clapping, and stomping their feet all the way through her best-selling effort.”
Little Eva would continue to perform until October 2001. She had been diagnosed with cervical cancer and at that point no longer had the strength to do it.
Eva Boyd passed away on April 10, 2003. She was 59. She was buried in an all-black cemetery in her hometown of Bellhaven that dated back to the 1800’s.
“A new stone marker on the grave of pop singer Little Eva, of ‘Loco-Motion’ fame, was unveiled in her hometown of Belhaven Saturday.
“A local monument maker, Quincy Edgerton, volunteered to build a marker for Eva Narcissus Boyd Harris after seeing a story on WRAL-TV about how her cemetery had fallen into disrepair. Only a rusting tin marker identified the site of her grave in Black Bottom Cemetery.
“A ceremony on Saturday unveiled the stone monument that Edgerton and his crews installed at Little Eva’s resting place.
“A locomotive, etched in the stone, roars above the carved name of ‘Little Eva’ Bishop Eva N. Harris, June 29, 1943–April 10, 2003.”
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(Note: Newspaper articles that do not include links were accessed on Newspapers.com.)
We don’t always remember the guy who was second. But Buzz Aldrin’s number 2 was pretty monumental. He was the second person to walk on the moon. As the lunar module pilot on the Apollo 11 mission, Aldrin followed Neil Armstrong onto the moon’s surface.
Being number 2 didn’t stop Aldrin from returning a hero. He has been awarded many citations and accolades, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, and three Air Medals. Space Systems Command Public Affairs
But there is another side to the landing story. “Buzz Aldrin, human being, is the man who fell to Earth with a thud. Six years after he co-starred with his Apollo 11 crewmates in the climax of the Industrial Revolution, ‘Dr. Rendezvous’ was a failed used car salesman with a nervous breakdown just over his shoulder and a battle with the bottle looming over the horizon.” (Jim Ash, Florida Today, July 20, 1989)
“Aldrin coped with…the stress of the world tour, and his subsequent notoriety through drinking and descended into alcoholism, depression, infidelity, and divorce from his first wife, Joan. Aldrin wrote about these struggles in two autobiographical books, Return to Earth and Magnificent Desolation, stating, ‘At first the alcohol soothed the depression, making it at least somewhat bearable. But the situation progressed into depressive-alcoholic binges in which I would withdraw like a hermit into my apartment.’ Other marriages and divorces followed. Aldrin made a slow climb back to sobriety and mental health.”
Once sober, Aldrin continued to be an untiring supporter and advocate of space exploration.
“…he has, since the mid-1980s, served tirelessly on the Board of Governors of National Space Society, a large pro-space organisation. But always, his core ambition has been to push the development of human spaceflight beyond Earth orbit.
“Buzz founded the Human SpaceFlight Institure to seek more collaborative approaches to leaving our planet, and is seeking to create a global alliance of spacefaring nations to facilitate international cooperation in space exploration and development.” (Rod Pyle, Sky at Night Magazine, Dec. 13, 2024)
(photo by Gage Skidmore)
He told People magazine (July 20, 2024): “Obviously, I think that getting back to the moon is important. But dreams, exploration and discovery, followed by more dreams, exploration and discovery, are at the heart of being human. For our species, for our nation and for the future of humankind, we need to keep daring, engineering and dreaming about reaching further out into the universe. We need to keep exploring.”
What he has in mind specifically is Mars. In an Op-Ed piece published on CNet, Aldrin wrote: “‘Human nature — and potentially the ultimate survival of our species — demands humanity’s continued outward reach into the universe.’
“He’s not talking about ‘clever robots’ or rovers, either. Aldrin said that as much as he appreciates NASA’s work on unmanned missions, it’s time Mars is explored ‘by living, breathing, walking, talking, caring and daring men and women.’”
His commitment to space exploration is the reason Aldrin gave for supporting Trump in last year’s election. He told Mike Wall of space.com (Oct. 30, 2024): “…under the first Trump Administration, I was impressed to see how human space exploration was elevated, made a policy of high importance again,” Aldrin added. “Under President Trump’s first term, America saw a revitalized interest in space. His administration reignited national efforts to get back to the moon, and push on to Mars — programs that continue today.”
Aldrin has demonstrated his own appetite for exploration:
“In 1998 he traveled to the North Pole and, in 2016, Aldrin visited Antarctica, charting his journey on his Twitter account. He developed altitude sickness at 9,000 feet shortly after arriving, however, and he was rushed to a hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he remained for a week suffering from fluid on his lungs, according to Phys.org. Responding well to antibiotics, he recovered and said he didn’t have any regrets. He was the oldest person to travel to the South Pole, after all.” (David Crookes, livescience.com, Dec. 6, 2021)
Aldrin’s later years have not been without some chaos. Apparently there are some conspiracy theorists out there who have suggested that the whole moonwalk thing never happened. Aldrin ran into one of them.
“On September 9, 2002, astronaut Buzz Aldrin—the second human to set foot on the moon—is walking outside a Beverly Hills hotel when a conspiracy theorist starts harassing him and accusing Aldrin of lying about the Apollo 11 moon landing. Incensed, Aldrin punches his heckler in the face.
‘You’re the one who said you walked on the moon when you didn’t,” Bart Sibrel told Aldrin as he walked by his filming crew outside the Luxe Hotel. ‘Calling a kettle black …’
“‘Will you get away from me?’ an irate Aldrin warned the man in the incident caught on video.
“Sibrel responded, ‘You’re a coward and a liar and a … ‘
“Aldrin, then 72, socked Sibrel in the jaw, right when he finished the sentence with ‘thief.’” (history.com, Aug. 23, 2023)
A couple years earlier, Aldrin had some legal issues with his family. In 2017 the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that “Buzz Aldrin’s son is trying to stop his father from transferring assets in the latest dispute between the Apollo 11 moonwalker and two of his children over whether he is capable of managing his affairs. Andrew Aldrin’s lawyer sent a letter to an associate in Morgan Stanley’s private wealth management division with instructions not to transfer any assets from two financial accounts in the trust, which names the younger Aldrin as trustee. Buzz Aldrin, 89, has tried to terminate the trust and wants the assets distributed to him. Morgan Stanley asked a Florida court last week to decide if it should follow the instructions of Buzz Aldrin or his son.”
Aldrin then sued his children.
“Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin has launched a legal battle against his children and family foundation, accusing them of abusing his trust and finances nearly 50 years after his historical moon landing.
“The 88-year-old Aldrin’s children, in turn, say they fear he is a victim of manipulation by parties seeking to take advantage of his money and reputation.
“In a civil suit filed this month in Brevard County Circuit Court, Aldrin, a Satellite Beach resident, claims his son, daughter and a former manager have misused credit cards, refused to disclose financial information and mismanaged social media accounts and other media obligations.
“Aldrin further says they have slandered him, telling others that he has dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and have refused to let him marry and undermined romantic relationships.”
It all came to nothing as reported in the Guardian (March 13, 2019)
“A lawyer for Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin said on Wednesday that a legal fight over whether Aldrin is competent to manage his affairs is over.
“Attorney Keith Durkin said Wednesday that two of Aldrin’s adult children have withdrawn their petition seeking guardianship of Aldrin’s affairs, and the former astronaut, the second person to walk on the moon, has dropped his civil lawsuit against his children and former manager.”
Mike Schneider of the AP (March 13, 2019) got statements from both parties:
“‘This was the most charitable way to manage a difficult situation, as this year, which marks 50 years since we first stepped foot on the moon, is too important to my family, the nation and me,’ said Buzz Aldrin.
“‘We truly appreciate the support we have received from so many and ask, again, for your understanding and respect as we continue to work through this as a family, in a private manner,’ the Aldrin children said.
In 2013, Aldrin celebrated his 93rd birthday by getting married for the fourth time to Anca Faur. He told Today he has “never been happier in my life than now with my time with Anca.” (Francesca Gar, Today, July 20, 2024) Faur is a 66-year-old chemical engineer from Romania who met Aldrin at a work event.
(photo by Gage Skidmore)
Rod Pyle of Sky at Night Magazine, whose story I cited earlier, met up with Aldrin last December. Here’s what he found: “Buzz Aldrin has not slowed much. He still stands ramrod-straight, speaks with energy and passion, and continues to generate new ideas constantly.”
Jasper Johns grew up in South Carolina. At various times in his early life he lived in Allendale, Columbia and Lake Murray. He graduated from Edmunds High School in Sumter and attended The University of South Carolina for a while before heading off to New York.
Several of his works, like the untitled one above, are in the collection of the Greenville County Museum of Art. Here are a few others.
Ventriloquist Souvenir Painting with Two Balls
Other Carolina artists whose works are in the GCMA collection.
Lame Man, William Henry Johnson (born Florence, S.C.)Untitled, Corrie McCallum (Sumter, S.C.)End of Market, Corrie McCallum The Orangeburg Massacre, Merton D. Simpson (born Charleston) The Orangeburg Massacre was the 1968 shooting of students at State College of South Carolina in Orangeburg who were protesting racial discrimination. They were fired upon by the South Carolina Highway Patrol. Three students were killed.Calendar, Thomas Sills (born Castalia, N.C.)
The Greenville Museum also housed an exhibit by Washington, N.C.-based artist Rob Roy.
The Reedy is a 65 mile long river that flows through the upstate region of South Carolina including the city of Greenville. Along the banks of the Reedy is the 19-mile long Swamp Rabbit Trail, built along the path of an old rail line. The trail connects several small city parks creating a linear park through Greenville along the river.
Falls Park
Liberty Bridge. Pedestrian suspension bridge designed by Miguel Rosales.Remains of the 19th century Vardry Mill.Rose Crystal Tower, Dale ChihuliPedrick’s GardenA great place to raise a family.
Cancer Survivors Park
The Welcome, Charles Pate, Jr., and Charles Pate, Sr.Banks of the Reedy Amphitheater Fear Not, Charles Pate, Jr.Turning Point, Yuri Tsuzuki
Unity Park
Honor Tower is scheduled to be completed this summer.
Major Rudolf Anderson Jr. Memorial
Major Rudolf Anderson Jr., who grew up in Greenville, flew reconnaissance missions over Cuba in planes like this one during the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was the only U.S. fatality of that crisis when his plane was shot down over Cuba.Major Rudolf Anderson Jr. Bridge
Amy Sherald is perhaps best known for the above portrait of Michelle Obama. It is the official portrait of the First Lady. Sherald paints images of everyday Black Americans. Her works are currently on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The exhibit is titled “American Sublime.”
HangmanAll Things Right and Beautiful They Call Me Redbone, But I’d Rather Be Strawberry ShortcakeFreeing herself was one thing, taking ownership of that freed self was anotherShe had an inside and an outside now, and suddenly she knew how not to mix themSaint WomanThe BathersA Bucket Full of Treasures (Papa Gave Me Sunshine to Put in My Pocket)What’s precious inside him does not care to be known by the mind in ways that diminish its presence.A Golden AfternoonThe Rabbit in the HatThe Boy with No PastTry on dreams until I find one that fits me. They all fit me.A God Blessed Land (Empire of Dirt)Planes, Rockets and the Spaces in BetweenAs American as Apple PieAmerican GritTrans Forming LibertyFor Love, and for CountryBreonna Taylor. Sherald was commissioned by Vanity Fair magazine to create this portrait.
The High Line is an elevated linear park on the West Side of Manhattan not far from the Hudson River. It was created along what was once a New York Central Railroad line. The old rail tracks are visible through much of the park. The first segment of the High Line was opened in 2009. It is maintained by New York City Parks and Recreation.
The photos below start at the southern end of the High Line on Gansevoort Street, near the Whitney Museum, and proceed north to 33rd Street in Hudson Yards. Along the route are several art installations.
Car-grass screen 2 and car-body screen 2, Tisha Hsu
Soft Power, Alex Da CorteThe Creation of the Creatures of Day and Night, Rosana PaulinhoThe Sun is a Flame that Haunts the Night, Tai Shani
Just in case you don’t recognize the name, here’s a little reminder.
Exene Cervenka and John Doe formed the Los Angeles punk rock band X in 1977. In 1980 they released their first album ‘Los Angeles.’ They would become one of the most popular punk bands ever. While there have been various hiatuses, the four original band members have continued, however sporadically, to record and tour together for more than four decades.
In addition to being her partner in forming the band, Doe and Cervenka were married. It was the first of three failed marriages for Cervenka.
In addition to her work with X, Cervenka did some solo recording and was part of two other bands, the Knitters and the Original Sinners. She wrote some poetry, experimented with spoken word and produced some art.
This story, by Tom Latham in the East Bay Times (March 3, 2006), describes how Cervenka made collages out of found objects.
“Since she first started touring with Los Angeles firebrands X in the late ‘70s, Cervenka has kept one eye on the stage, one eye on the street for kooky collectibles. Whatever she stumbled across that appealed to her, she’d pick up. Any source was fair game — thrift stores, flea markets, truck stops.
“‘But mostly off the street,’ she says. ‘Gum, candy and snack wrappers. A white wooden sign stenciled with the word ‘God.’… I’ve gathered a million different things, and I still have’em,’ Cervenka says. ‘And then I put it all together and make art out of it.’
“Cervenka, who just turned 50, used to think of trash collecting as just a hobby. Until last year, that is, when the Santa Monica Museum of Art got wind of her found-art collages (plus mixed-media concepts she’d kept hidden in more than a hundred journals) and commissioned an exhibit dubbed ‘America the Beautiful.’”
In 2006, Cervenka left Los Angeles and headed for Missouri.
“…the queen of L.A. punk moved to Jefferson City in 2006 to create collage art in a large barn. She writes, and she is still making music. ‘When you live in a big city your whole adult life, it’s nice to get away,’ she explained, ‘and I didn’t grow up in a big city; I grew up in small towns.’ Cervenka now enjoys the luxuries of rural life, appreciating her limestone house and the Black Angus cows that dot her horizon.” (Columbia [Mo.] Daily Tribune, May 1, 2008)
It was an appreciation that wouldn’t last. Four years later she was back in California, this time settling in Orange County.
In 2009, Cervenka announced that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
“Exene Cervenka, a founder and vocalist of the Los Angeles punk and rockabilly band X, said in a statement released Tuesday that she has multiple sclerosis. Ms. Cervenka, 53, said in the statement that she had not been feeling well for several months and that she probably had the condition for some time. She added that the diagnosis would not affect plans for an X tour or a solo record scheduled for the fall, and directed fans to Sweet Relief, a charity for uninsured musicians founded by Victoria Williams, who has also been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.” (Dave Itzkoff, New York Times, June 2, 2009)
She would later question that diagnosis.
“Fifteen years ago, I got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, can you believe that? And then another doctor said, ‘No, you don’t [have it],’ so I went with the doctor who said, ‘No you don’t.’ About six years went by and something else weird happened, so I went to this doctor who said, ‘You definitely have it and you’re going on this medication.’ I had to start giving myself shots everyday for a while, and then I ran out of money and had no insurance, and the shots are really expensive — $7,000 for three months. So I just said, ‘Well, I may have it, I may not,’ but I can’t take the medicine anymore because I cannot afford it.
“I did a picture collage for someone I didn’t know, and her friend’s brother is the head of neurology at a hospital near me. He agreed to see me for free — he’s trying to figure out what it is. It’s a very hard thing to diagnose and I’m finding, from being public with my diagnosis that many, many women are coming to me and saying the same thing happened to them. They were told they had this, that, or the other, but it’s some immune system thing that people can’t quite pin down. The systems are similar but nobody knows what it is. It’s weird. I’m just going along trying to be healthy.” (Melissa Fossum, Phoenix New Times, Dec. 6, 2011)
In January of 2009, she and John Doe were in Seattle performing at a party celebrating the inauguration of Barack Obama. But Cervenka’s world views would later take on a darker tone. This came to a head in 2014 after a mass shooting near the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Billboard reported this (Chris Payne, May 29, 2014):
“On Friday May 23, gunman Elliot Rodger killed six people and wounded 13 others during a rampage in Isla Vista, Calif., near the campus of University of California Santa Barbara. But Exene Cervenka, singer of the long-running punk band isn’t completely convinced.
“Over the past several days, Cervenka has taken to Twitter to share numerous conspiracy theories involving the tragedy, writing, ‘added a video to a YouTube playlist… Santa Barbara Shooting Staged For Gun Control.’ In another, she wrote, ‘So sick of these hoaxes.’
“The 58-year old’s Twitter page is covered with various bits of anti-establishment paranoia, White House conspiracies, UFO stories and the like.”
Mary Elizabeth Williams, a senior writer at Salon, was pretty blunt is her assessment (May 29, 2014):
“There are few letdowns in life quite like the one that comes when you realize one of your heroes is a total crackpot. And for a whole lot of music fans just like me, the mounting evidence that (a) legendary punk goddess has gone off the rails is a real blow.
“In recent months, Exene Cervenka — author, artist and, most notably, frontwoman of X — has taken to using social media as a means of expressing her support for various truther theories. Just two months ago, Dangerous Minds called her the worst thing you can call another human being: ‘the new Alex Jones.’
“So when Cervenka links to a video that calls Richard Martinez, whose son was gunned down by Elliot Rodger on Friday, an ‘actor,’ she is spreading hurt. She is using her fame and her platform to bring a savage amount of additional grief on people who’ve lost their children. It’s unconscionable that she’s making this a public spectacle. But then, that’s what truthers do. They harass and belittle already vulnerable people and make already terrible events exponentially worse. And Exene Cervenka is no longer a punk hero. She’s just a punk.”
(Photo by Charlie Llewellyn)
Better that she turn her attention back to music. In 2020, the full band released its first album in 30 years. Rolling Stone had this to say (Kory Grow, May 12, 2020):
“After a nearly 30-year gap between records, Los Angeles’ punk laureates X havedared to make a new album.
“Alphabetland, the band’s eighth album overall and first with virtuoso rockabilly guitarist Billy Zoom since 1985’s Ain’t Love Grand!, is a rare animal among comeback records — it both feels like a continuance of the band’s classic Eighties sound and it’s actually good.
“The only head scratcher is the album’s closing cut, ‘All the Time in the World,’ a jazzy, spoken-word track with Cervenka’s bummer verses about dying and atmospheric guitar courtesy of the Doors’ Robby Krieger; it’s a novelty you won’t want to hear more than once.”
Yet another record would be forthcoming last year in addition to a tour which they claim will be their last.
Daniel Kohn reviewed the album in the LA Times(July 30, 2024):
“The best thing that can be said about ‘Smoke & Fiction,’ which clocks in under 30 minutes, is that it has all of the traits of a late-era X album: the heavy punk mixed with elements of roots rock, contemplative lyrics and roaring riffs.”
In the Boston online magazine The Arts Fuse (Sept. 23, 2024), Paul Robicheau offers a look at Cervenka on this supposedly final tour.
“A signpost declares ‘The end is near’ in branding for X’s current tour, which the band warns will be their last — like the solid new Smoke & Fiction, billed as the final album that X will make. That’s not an unreasonable expectation given the punk-rock quartet’s age.
“X isn’t staggering to the finish line either way. The band’s bracing Sunday show at Tupelo Music Hall (allegedly X’s first-ever New Hampshire gig) displayed the group’s versatility, vitality and heart though a tight, engaged 80-minute show.
“The diminutive Cervenka, in embroidered jacket (including the symbols X, 77 and ?, and minidress that pictured dogs playing cards) remained the central wild card. She faded in and out of the spotlight at the mic, an impish enigma crossing and waving her arms, interlocking her fingers and mussing her hair. And she appeared to be having fun in the band’s cover of ‘Breathless,’ playing up her phrases in a moaning Elvis inflection with sighs around the chorus.”
Shows have continued to be booked this year, the last listing being in August.
(Note on sources. No links are provided for stories from the New York Times and Rolling Stone since these stories are behind a paywall. Other newspaper stories cited without a link were accessed through newspapers.com.)
Tommy John is the popular name for Ulmar Collateral Ligament reconstructive surgery, an operation most commonly performed on the elbows of major league pitchers. Tommy John is also the name of a brand of men’s underwear that may or may not be popular but is heavily advertised.
1981
But the real Tommy John was a major league pitcher. And a good one at that. He pitched for six different teams including the Dodgers and the Yankees and was a four-time all-star. John’s career spanned 26 seasons, from 1963 to 1989, a feat made all the more remarkable when you consider what he is most famous for: being the first person to have a surgery in 1974 that according to estimates has now been performed on more than one-third of major league pitchers.
He was, in the words of Todd Civin of Bleacher Report (May 31, 2018) “a fair-haired guy from Terre Haute, Indiana. A guy who nearly had his dream snatched from his very grip after 13 years playing the game he loved. A guy who opted to be the Guinea Pig for a revolutionary surgery that would save the careers of hundreds of his baseball brothers over the next thirty years.”
Following his lengthy career, John did what many former ballplayers do. He tried his hand at broadcasting and at coaching. He was manager of the now defunct Bridgeport Bluefish of the independent Atlantic League of Professional baseball for 2-½ years from 2007 to 2009. Under his tenure the team had a record of 159-176.
He also has done some motivational speaking. He is still listed on the web site of the All American Entertainment speakers bureau. He can be booked as a keynote speaker for a fee ranging from $50,000 to $100,000.
John had four children with his first wife Sally Simmons. The youngest of his children, Taylor, committed suicide in 2010 at the age of 28.
“John uses his celebrity and his ‘Let’s Do It’ Foundation to raise funds for and create awareness of a topic close to his heart, suicide prevention.
“As a child, Taylor acted in the Broadway play, ‘Les Miserables.’ He was an illusionist and singer who loved the arts.
“But he also had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and took several medications.
“Through the ‘Let’s Do It’ Foundation, John raises money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention at its Chicago location, the city in which Taylor resided when he died.” (Sue Loughlin, AP, March 15, 2014)
2008
One thing John has done throughout his adult life is play golf. A story in the Desert Sun (July 20, 2019) by Andrew I. John offered a glimpse of Tommy John’s lifestyle in the Palm Springs area where he makes his home.
“Three or four times a week, when the temperatures are manageable, he and girlfriend Cheryl Zeldin (now his wife) hit the links and together swing their way through nine holes. They’re usually done in about an hour and a half, and often return home as bighorn sheep from the surrounding mountains feed on the grassy 11th hole fairway in their backyard at the PGA West’s Arnold Palmer Private Course. At 76, his balance isn’t what it once was, and he’s had a couple of painful falls. Over the years, he’s endured procedures to his knees, hips and, of course, the left elbow that put his name in the dictionary and revolutionized the game of baseball.”
For a man whose fame is tied to a surgical procedure, John has in recent years experienced a number of health issues. He contracted a case of COVID that was life threatening.
“COVID had stricken John and his wife, Cheryl, said he could barely walk when they returned from Nashville to their La Quinta, Calif., home on December 12, 2020.
“They took him to Eisenhower Health Center in La Quinta.
“‘They sent him home the next day,’ Cheryl said.’He couldn’t stand up, he couldn’t go to the bathroom. Five times they sent him home.’
“John would be in and out of Eisenhower for five weeks. He is thankful it wasn’t five weeks and one day.
“‘I had two huge blood clots in my upper and lower lobes of my lung,’ he said.
“Finally, Cheryl texted Dr. Dan Oakes, an orthopedic surgeon friend who would send all the necessary information to Dr. Antreas Hindoyan at Keck Medical Center of USC.
“‘And at 3:30 in the morning,’ Cheryl said, ‘Dr. Hindoyan said, ‘Get him out of that hospital! I have an ambulance downstairs, he’s going to die.’ So they transported him to Keck Medical. They had him in surgery at 6 and broke up two massive blood clots in his lung.
“‘They saved his life.’” (Steve Serby, New York Post, May 29, 2022)
Curiously John’s oldest son, Tommy John III, is a chiropractor who has made statements claiming that the coronavirus pandemic didn’t exist.
Just last month a story on the MLB app by Bill Ladson (March 22, 2024) reported on John’s latest health challenge, a bladder cancer diagnosis.
One thing John does not do in his spare time is watch baseball, which he now claims is “unrecognizable.”
“Though he rarely watches any part of a game, he has strong opinIons of today’s ML.B. He doesn’t care much for the robot umpire introduced this summer in the minor leagues ‘An umpire is a part of baseball,’ he says, and he scoffs at instant replay.
“Don’t get him started on bat flips. ‘They would‘ve (been) hit the next time up with the ball in their ear,’ he says.” (Palm Springs Desert Sun, July 20, 2019)
One question that has always followed John is why he wasn’t elected to the Hall of Fame. He recorded more wins than any non-drug using pitcher (see Whatever Happened To? Roger Clemens) who is not already in the hall.
He told Damon Amendola of CBS Radio (May 17, 2024) “I should’ve been [in Cooperstown] years ago. For whatever reason — well, I know the reason… There was one player who was voting against me all the time and [helping get] in other players.”
More recently he came up with the curious explanation that he was not voted into the hall because he voted for Donald Trump. Curious because John was on the ballot for Cooperstown between 1995 and 2009. Trump was first elected in 2016. Only Trump himself could follow that logic.
Oh, and one more thing. About the underwear.
“John and his rep would like readers to know that he has no relationship to Tommy John Underwear. John said he considered a lawsuit but abandoned it after attorneys he approached for representation wanted $250,000. People ask him about the underwear, he says, ‘all the time.’
“‘My girlfriend called the company and said she was representing me and that they should think about using me as a spokesperson,’ John said. ‘Their reply was they don’t have it in their budget.’” Graham Womack, Sporting News, Feb. 23, 2016)
(Note on sources: Newspaper articles that do not include links were accessed on newspapers.com)
off the leash 