R.I.P. Linda Stein: Former Punk Rock Manager Murdered in NYC

Linda Stein, a key figure in punk rock history as a manager of acts like the Ramones, was murdered, the NYC medical examiner has said.

Stein's body was found in her home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan Tuesday by her daughter. Stein was formerly married to Seymour Stein, at one time the president of Sire Records, which was the original record label for bands including the Ramones, Talking Heads, and Madonna.

Stein was co-manager of the Ramones, and she's credited with bringing the Ramones to England for a July 4, 1976 show, which is often called the start of the punk rock scene in Britain.

In recent years she was a real estate agent, where she was called "Broker to the Stars" because of her many clients in the entertainment business. Her clients included Madonna and Sting.

Her profile at Prudential Elliman, the real estate company she worked for, is rather modest in referring to her previous careers, saying simply, "She taught elementary school for six years and managed rock and roll bands in the 1970's and 1980's."

Wendy O. Williams Makes a Comeback..But NOT with TV's "Heroes" Cheerleader

After a lot of rumors, Punknews.org reported today that Hayden Panettiere, who plays the cheerleader on TV's hit show, "Heroes," will not play legendary punk-metal singer Wendy O. Williams in a new biopic about her band, The Plasmatics. The movie is said to begin filming in March 2008.

This middle-aged punk-rock fan will be glad to see Wendy O. Williams and her band are getting more exposure in front of today's music listeners. Punk rock was all about rebellion, but even in that genre The Plasmatics were pushing boundaries.

They had a large and loyal following, and were a punk rock band that could sell out concert venues that previously only more established bands were able to fill. Their music was loud and hard, and their live shows were famously audacious: Williams and the band (who often sported Mohawk haircuts) would cut guitars up with chainsaws, explode their speakers, smash TVs with sledgehammers, and on more than one occasion, bring a car on stage to blow it up.

Then there was Wendy O. Williams herself. She usually performed (and was often photographed) completely topless, with only small pieces of black electrician's tape covering the nipples to avoid censorship.

That wasn't enough to keep The Plasmatics out of trouble, though. Their wild stage act, which often included Williams simulating one or other sex act, got the band charged with numerous obscenity raps. Wendy O. Williams was arrested in Milwaukee in 1981 and was beaten after she allegedly resisted arrest.

Williams was nominated for a Grammy in 1985 for best Female Rock Vocal.
Wendy O. Williams recorded some solo albums after The Plasmatics broke up, but is said to have become increasingly unhappy with her life, and committed suicide in 1998.

Spooky Spanish Pop Music for the Day of the Dead and Halloween

UPDATE, Oct. 31st, 2014: L.A. radio station KCRW has put together a Dia de los Muertos/Halloween Playlist that you can stream on Spotify or listen to on YouTube. It includes spooky tracks from Kinky, Ozomatli, Los Carniceros Del Norte, and more. Enjoy!

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If you're marking Halloween or the Spanish occasion Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), you might want some tasty Spanish-language pop and rock music to accompany the festivities.

Ritmo Latino, the self-styled "booty-shaking" podcast that offers a fun variety of Spanish-language tunes, has once against put together a collection of tunes for Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. Some are spooky and Halloween-themed; others touch on the Day of the Dead or just have a supernatural feel.

[UPDATE: Sadly, the Ritmo Latino podcast is no more, and the Day of the Dead music files are no longer on the Internet. However, the radio program Alt-Latino has an article with 11 scary Spanish songs for Day of the Dead (and descriptions of some spooky stories).]

Here's the Ritmo Latino playlist, if you want to track down the songs and create your own playlist:

• Upground, "Suerte de Mi Muerte"
• Grupo Fantasma, "Chocolate"
• Maria Daniela y Su Sonido Lasser, "Miedo"
• Los Peyotes, "El Humo Te Hace Mal"
• Misterio, "Vampirella"
• Conjunto Jardin, "La Brujaæ
• Rodrigo y Gabriela, "Diablo Rojo"
• La Bruja, "Brujeriaæ

Have fun, dance along, and don't eat too much candy corn.

Mac OS 10.5 Leopard (OS X) Reviews and Info

Mac OS 10.5 Leopard came out yesterday, and there are plenty of reviewers busy kicking the tires. And they're almost unanimous in liking the experience.

Walt Mossberg, the highly respected personal technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, has tried out Apple's new operating system and writes about it on the All Things Digital Web site. Mossberg finds that Mac OS 10.5 is "evolutionary, not revolutionary," but is faster and easier to use than Microsoft's new operating system, Vista. (No surprise there; most Windows users who've upgraded to Vista would rather be back on Windows XP.)

Mossberg offers a good overview, but if you're a tech fan who really wants to get under the hood of MacOS 10.5 Leopard, check out the detailed review from Computerworld. It looks at Leopard's new Finder, improved apps like iChat and Mail, and running Mac and Windows under Boot Camp.

Computerworld also offers an extensive photo gallery of screenshots from Mac OS 10.5 Leopard.

NJ's Own Bon Jovi Opens New Prudential Center in Newark

New Jersey rockers Bon Jovi opened the Prudential Center in Newark with the first of the band's 10 shows in the brand-new arena last night.

Tomorrow night, the NHL's New Jersey Devils will play their first game in their new permanent home. "The Rock," as the new arena is being called, will also be the home arena for the Seton Hall University basketball team (from nearby South Orange), and a team in the Major Indoor Soccer League.

For the Prudential Center, the first major sports arena built in the tri-state area in a quarter century, the Bon Jovi shows are giving a jump-start to the opening of the new center. The Prudential Center has a number of high-profile rock and pop concerts scheduled for its opening weeks, including Mary J. Blige, R.Kelly, the raised-from-the-dead Spice Girls, and two shows featuring the hottest concert ticket in the country, Hannah Montana / Miley Cyrus.

The 10-night opening stand by Bon Jovi reminds me of a similar inauguration by a Jersey artist more than a quarter-century ago, when Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played multiple nights to open the new Meadowlands Arena (now to be called Izod Arena, formerly Continental Airlines Arena, formerly Brendan Byrne Arena).

Is this the long-awaited revival of downtown Newark? It may just be, with the slate of sporting events and concerts bringing a diverse crowd to the City. The Performing Arts Center, which features mostly classical music brings in a specific type of audience, as does the Newark Bears minor-league baseball team.

Free Download: Tribute to R.E.M.'s "Automatic for the People"

It makes me feel really old to admit it, but it's been 15 years since R.E.M.'s classic album "Automatic for the People" came out.
Now the music blog Stereogum is offering a tribute album to "Automatic for the People" called "Drive XV."

The free album download includes songs covered by artists including the Meat Puppets, Rogue Waves, Dr. Dog, Jana Hunter, You Say Party! We Say Die!, and the Shout Out Louds.

Did I mention, it's FREE?