Singer - actor - wrestling promoter - horror archivist - porn producer Johnny Legend exists in a bizarre cultural vortex whose undertows perpetually whirl him into an episodic cycle of shenanigans that just get curiouser and curiouser. The wild-eyed, weird-bearded, longhaired dynamo, internationally known as the Rockabilly Rasputin, is a manic force, one you can find at just about every unsavory corner of the Hollywood underground. Always vibrating with eerie vigor and scheming up his latest hustle, Legend is possessed with an unrivaled fascination for the offbeat, thrust upon him from earliest childhood: He grew up in San Fernando, where he befriended neighbor Tor Johnson, the hulking, chrome-domed grappler of Plan 9 From Outer Space infamy, but the relationship suffered somewhat, Legend says, "after he let me play with his coffin and I accidentally left it out in the rain." Monster culture was a natural for Legend: "I was at Forry Ackerman's house and got to meet Ed Wood. I had my copy of the first Famous Monsters, and had Wood autograph it. He wrote this strange message: 'Whenever better monsters are made, I'll try. Ed Wood Jr.'" In the early '80s, Legend, along with several other Rollin' Rock Records players, became K-Tel International recording artists, touring Europe with supercharged 1950s renegades Jackie Lee "Jack the Cat" Waukeen Cochran and Tony "Wild Man" Conn. These were wild, drunken blitzkriegs, with Wild Man and the Cat still raging over career implosions suffered two decades earlier; Legend acted as chaperon and devil's advocate. Legend usually appeared in full Confederate-general uniform, caterwauling "The South Will Rise Again" (from Herschell Gordon Lewis’ Two Thousand Maniacs) along with such demented originals as "Soakin' the Bone" and "Mexican Love," the latter a favorite of the late Dennis Wilson, one of a small army of celebrity affiliations Legend seems to magnetically attract.
From Russ Meyer ultravixen Kitten Natividad to the late film noir bruiser Lawrence Tierney, Legend has commingled with just about everyone. The melding of horror movies, rock & roll and lucha libre is hardly novel at this late date, but for Legend, it all converged with a frightening inevitability. He was responsible for the recording of Classy Freddie Blassie's immortal "Pencil Neck Geek" and later the movie My Breakfast With Blassie, and enjoyed associations with such wrestling aficionados as Andy Kaufman and the Aztec Mummy; Legend the horror actor has suffered gruesome ends in movies such as Bride of Re-Animator and Children of the Corn III.Legend's frantic pace is constant; curating an endless series of underworld sideshows, he pinballs on a hit-and-run, shock-and-thrill spree of film festivals, club dates, horror conventions, wrestling shows, acting jobs. He's always there, lurking in the shadows, rattling off staccato accounts of his bizarre feats, usually climaxing with a statement along the lines of "They finally pulled the plug and everyone went berserk and we had to beat a hasty escape." Legend never exaggerates - he doesn't need to.
1 comment:
Bonjours would it be possible to have the password of the album Johnny Legend .
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