Stop Making Sense
Music-business legend Gary Kurfirst passed away from undisclosed causes while on vacation in Nassau, the Bahamas, January 13. A venue owner, talent manager, film producer and label founder, Kurfirst opened New York City's Village Theater, later known as the Fillmore East, in 1967. That same year, he began managing hard-rock band Mountain ("Mississippi Queen"), and ran a handful of talent agencies over the years whose clients included Toots & the Maytals, Peter Tosh, Talki
Forty-six years ago today, a group of teenagers gathered in a Portland, Oregon, studio to record a ridiculously simple anthem that would go on to become one of the most influential - and most misunderstood - songs in rock history. The group was the Kingsmen - none of whom was over age 17 - and the song was, of course, "Louie Louie," which sent shockwaves through the music world that are still being felt to this day.
As ubiquitous as it is now, "Louie Louie" spent the first decade of its l
