Kept secret

EXCLUSIVE : Fledgling LA-based production outfit Fandomodo Films has hired Aishah Roberts as the company’s Director of Film Development, Europe & UK. Roberts, who starts this week and is based in Europe, will be responsible for development of Europe and UK-based film projects. The former actress set up film and TV production company Pyramid Four last year. Fandomodo’s slate includes the Untitled Brig Owens Story , a feature that will recount the story of NFL players Brig Owens and Jerry Smith during the Civil Rights era. Written by Tommy Oliver ( The Perfect Guy ), th e film will feature Joel Kinn a man ( Hanna ) as Smith, and is being produced by Anthony Kaan and Tommy Oliver . The film is set at the height of the civil rights movement between the mid-1960s and mid-1970s. Smith was secretly gay — a fact he kept hidden until his death from AIDS in 1986 — and Owens faced constant challenges and … [Read more...] about LA-Based Production Outfit Fandomodo Hires Director Of Development, Europe & UK

A new podcast, Lost Hills , will explore a series of strange shootings at a state park in Malibu, California, one of which ended with the murder of a 35-year-old father in front of his two kids. The eight-part series , hosted by journalist Dana Goodyear and produced by Western Sound and Pushkin Industries, will premiere March 16th. As Goodyear lays out in the new trailer for Lost Hills , the show is centered around the murder of Tristan Beaudette, the father who was killed June 22nd, 2018 while camping with his two young daughters in Malibu Creek State Park. Although there were no witnesses or suspects, after Beaudette’s death, other people started coming forward with stories of being shot at near the same campground. Ultimately, sheriff’s deputies arrested a drifter named Anthony Rauda and charged him with Beaudette’s murder, the prior shootings and a string of armed burglaries. But what seemed like an open-and-shut case grew increasingly tangled: Not only did Rauda claim he … [Read more...] about True-Crime Podcast ‘Lost Hills’ Investigates Mysterious Malibu Campground Murder

When guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro hit the road for the first time as a member of Neil Young and Crazy Horse in November 1975, one of his first gigs took place at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz, California. The nightclub is a short drive from Young’s Broken Arrow ranch and it holds just about 800 people, making it a perfect spot for the group to try out new material in front of a friendly, hometown crowd, and they returned again in 1976, 1984, 1990, 1996, and 1997. Details of the Seventies Catalyst gigs have been largely lost to time, while the later ones have only been heard via shoddy audience recordings. But a six-camera team along with a professional audio crew captured the November 13th, 1990 show from the Ragged Glory period. It was released a week ago on CD and DVD as Way Down in the Rust Bucket. Related Stories 'Way Down in the Rust Bucket' Is the Sound of Neil Young and Crazy Horse Getting Reinvigorated for the Nineties Neil Young's 'Archives: Volume … [Read more...] about Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s Frank ‘Poncho’ Sampedro on New Live LP, Why He Left the Band

Neil Young and Crazy Horse were halfway between Oslo, Norway and Gothenburg, Sweden when their 2013 summer tour came to a premature end. Crazy Horse guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro was headed downstairs from the top level of the band’s double-decker bus when they hit a little bump on the road. He grabbed onto the doorjamb with his left hand, but he didn’t realize that his road manager was about to close the door. “I actually felt the door slightly squeeze my fingers,” says Poncho. “I was thinking, ‘Hey, what’s that?’ He also felt it, and thought something was obstructing the door. So, he re-opened it and slammed it shut with all his might.” Poncho fell to the ground screaming. “When I looked at my fingers – from the tip of the fingernail to the cuticle – they were pointed straight up in the air,” he says. “They were just smashed to death.” Related Readers' Poll: The Best Neil Young Albums of All Time Readers Poll: The Best Neil Young Songs Related … [Read more...] about Neil Young Guitarist Poncho Sampedro Wants One Last Crazy Horse Tour