This town ROCKS magazine, fanzine for old-school guys
Bob Dylan turned 85! In this regard, we recall one of the most interesting musical stories of friendship and cooperation. This is the story of a lifelong friendship between Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. And…
Apart from rock and roll, as you can easily understand, I just love vintage junk. The Curtiss V-8 motorcycle was mentioned by me quite slightly and casually in an article about Boss Hoss with a…
The Notorious Bettie Page (2005) is a biopic about the main pin-up star directed by Mary Harron. Viewers may remember Harron from the provocative "American Psycho" (2000) and the drama "I Shot Andy Warhol" (1996).…
Eddie Van Halen was one of the rock musicians who loved cars in principle. His collection included everything from classic hot rods, muscle cars, and a Lamborghini Miura, which was a wedding gift from his…
Writing a review of a film almost a century old. Who's going to read it? Who needs it? Modern gadgets have taught us to swallow information on the fly, like a hamburger. It's still hot.…
What exactly creates rock and roll? Such a comprehensive question can easily lead to a dead end. Well, let's concretize: what musical instrument can we not do without? Without a voice, it's quite possible to…
Half a century has passed since the slippery red worm Malcolm McLaren implanted a tapeworm named "punk rock" into the bulging body of rock music. McLaren was right in his desire to return rock and…
Exactly ten years ago, the short horror film The Cut appeared online, the first Russian staged film with a psychobilly soundtrack. The main role, designated in the credits as Man with scar, was played by…
Do you remember how in the 2010s everyone got interested by the pseudo-eighties with their neo-retrowave and neon from all the cracks? In this special article series titled Cyberpunkabilly, I want to bring back this…
Practical interest in cloudless spaces has steadily waned since the golden age. If Yuri Gagarin had not been so well placed in the context of various propaganda sermons, we would not have remembered anything. How…
In nineteen sixty, a western was launched under the working title "Black Star", starring Elvis Presley and singing the title song. However, the producers quickly realized: the black star, according to the plot, was seen…
The sixties of the last century were the time of the birth of many screen legends that continue to live in the second quarter of the 21st century. One of them was released on world…
About one in three people will associate country music with wild western horror stories, where the vast emptiness of the prairies is inhabited by ghosts from ghost towns, and the restless souls of the shooters…
Reinhardt returned from the United States tired and disappointed. By that time, Grappelli was spending most of his soirée at the newly opened R-26 art salon owned by the Perrier family after the Nazis fled.…
Starting as a merchant settlement of Dutch colonists on the island of Manhattan, New Amsterdam was transformed into New York by the will of businessmen and the stubs of dynasties. Having existed for several years…
Rockabilly can be made from literally anything. This is one of the most convenient genres from the point of view of material processing, and the dance orientation of the original genre allows you to chew…
The title of one of O. Henry's most famous short stories, "The Roads We Choose," could become an epigraph to the fate of Robert Duvall, an outstanding master of American cinema and theater who recently…
Sometimes, at night, when you can't sleep, or some bad thought is gnawing at your brain, turn on the light, make a cup of tea, open a book about weirdos who picked up guitars in…
Wales is the birthplace of King Arthur and Tom Jones. Michael Barratt was born a little later, on March 4, 1948, turning out to be the eleventh (!) child in a family from which the…
In 2026, the heartthrob and romantic Chris Isaak turns 70 years old. It's worth remembering his cinematic achievements just once. In the early 90s, Chris became a superstar thanks to a single melancholic ballad Wicked…
I've been wanting to watch this first Johnny Cash movie Five Minutes To Live (1961) for a long time, before that I watched Columbo: Swan Song and Gunfight. And this movie is the first time…
The Yankees made their unprecedented doodle in the first decade of August 1945, but Japan was not going to surrender, only the complete defeat of the Kwantung Army by Soviet troops a month later forced…
One of the most famous music photos in history is Johnny Cash giving the middle finger, popularly known as "the bird". Usually, such iconic photos first appear on glossy album or magazine covers. However, this…
Today, our hero-lover is not a greased-hair rockabilly cat, but a real cowboy Luke, a rodeo rider who risks his health and life in order to last 8 seconds on the back of an angry…
It's hard to choose who to write a story about by February 14th. In rockabilly and country, half of the songs are about love, in one form or another. And the prophets of this bright…
Continuation of the story about Django and manouche (Chapter 1, Chapter 2). A lot of black jazzmen were from Louisiana, where they still speak French in Creole and Cajun dialects. After visiting Paris, they often…
In the opinion of the vast majority, there is no winter in the fabulous cowboy country. After all, you can ride a horse, spinning a lasso over your head and sucking on branded cancer sticks…
Who called Charles Hardin Holly "Buddy"? Perhaps these were his two older brothers, in whose antics Charlie always sought to participate on an equal footing. The whole family, with the exception of their father, who…
Dear friends, today is February 3rd, exactly 67 years ago in 1959, music died. We all know this sad date and what it is marked by. But despite repeated investigations and general cultural significance, this…
In 1987, Jim Dodge wrote Not Fade Away, a hymn novel to the free and restless souls of the early rock and roll era. His character, George Blow–off–the-head, rushes at top speed across the continent…
It so happens that a whole story unfolds behind one comment posted on the website. So, Rocket 3 is an English rockabilly trio from Leicester, UK with frontman Dave Wassell (vocals, guitar). At first, the…
The Hot Club De France was the brainchild of five Carnot Lyceum students who were passionate about jazz and eager to popularize it to the point of widespread presence. At the time of its opening,…
The year nineteen eighty-nine was a turning point: the Warsaw Pact countries, one by one, began to abandon the socialist path of development, falling into the twisted arms of NATO. The destruction of the Berlin…
In 1996, when the American indie scene was at their feet after the resounding success of Pulp Fiction and Desperate, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, instead of delving into psychological dramas or honing their signature…
It just so happens that winter holidays are for those who need winter holidays, and in the past serene weeks, many people have worked tirelessly to ensure these holidays. We are talking about simple workers…
Sylvain Chaume's brilliant tragicomic cartoon "The Trio from Belleville" begins with Rabelaisian burlesque, in the midst of which, not by chance, but quite naturally, the imposing Monsieur the guitarist appears, masterfully soloing, despite the crippled…
Nineteen sixty-eight was the debut year for both the magnificent Creedence Clearwater Revival and Jethro Tull, as well as for the absolutely fantasy Tyrannosaurus Rex, which, having shortened the name, will still prove themselves in…
Christmas is a time not only for sweet fairy tales, but also for dark, dangerous wonders. This collection of films is distinguished by the daring imagination of the creators, who are not afraid to offend…
As you know, franchises - with very few exceptions - last exactly three parts. Fast and Furious movie series, oddly enough, is also a trilogy. Because everything that happened after the Tokyo Drift is some…
The Last Ride: A Story Of Hank Williams will primarily interest fans of one of the first bad guy in the music business, and the first country music superstar: it's about Hank Williams, of course!…
Well, dear friends. It's time to take a slow, calm exhale, because all deadlines are closed or forgotten, which is essentially the same thing. The Christmas tree is decorated and lit with at least a…
Duccio Tessari, one of the founders of the spaghetti Western genre, was known to our viewers for a long time only as the director of the adventure film "Zorro" starring Alain Delon. Having appeared on…
There is a land that has never seen snow. There, a tornado grabs the first Dorothy and her dog Toto, casually sweeping away the neighbors' homes. For a short time, this land was ruled by…
Dedicated to the birthday and death date of the "coolest rock and roll scumbag" of our fucking world! Lemmy was born on December 24, 1945 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. He left for Valhalla on December…
One of my friends from The Boredom Breakers, who went on an untimely sabbatical, often said that rock and roll was most associated with New Year's holidays. The association is generally quite common: the film…
Perhaps it all started with the zoot suits. Although the word "zoot" is a corruption of the word "suit" by Blacks. Saying "zoot suit" is just tautology. Oversized banana trousers with a high waist, jackets…
Not only in country music, but also in early rock and roll, there is no one who was not influenced by Hank Williams. Why, even such powerful "colored" performers as Fats Domino and Ray Charles…
In a world of modern music dominated by electronic beats, vile ticking hi-hat and autotune, 23-year-old Elliot James Reay from the northern English town of Bury, like a time traveler, takes us back to the…
We continue the series "Treasure Island" about British rockabilly (Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3.) On May 21, 1940, the first loud roar of the newborn Anthony Esmond Sheridan McGinnity, the offspring of an Irish…
Little Richard, born on December 5, 1932, in Macon, Georgia, under the name Richard Wayne Penniman, was an elemental force who not only played rock and roll, he was rock and roll himself. With a…
The Celtic punks The Pogues, born in the dirty pubs of London in 1982, drove the Irish tradition like an awl under the edge of punk rock. It wasn't music — it was an autopsy…
How much can you do in 47 minutes? Well, it all depends on the situation. Eugene, the main character of the Rue Valley game, has a lifetime to live. After all, he knows for sure…
Everyone has their own Johnny Cash. For me, he first appeared in a comic book. It was said about country music in three frames: Hank Williams - Nashville, Johnny Cash - Cashville, Willie Nelson -…
Rockabilly-psychobilly performers tend to be in a confined space of voluntary stylistic constraints. They can be described as a kind of cube, the faces of which allow you to keep a template belonging to the…
Imagine Russian emigrants in the basement of a New York tenement, 1913. Irving and Jack Schott make coats and sell them door-to-door. But Irving is not just another tailor. In 1925, this guy with a…
In 1977, the place of the King of Rock and Roll was vacant for obvious reasons. Malcolm McLaren and his appendages immediately presented their princes. We will call them "McLaren Homuncules". It seemed that everything…
The film "Killing Faith" (aka Devil In The Dust, 2025) is a dark, hypnotic fusion of dark western and body horror from screenwriter and director Ned Crowley, which takes place in 1849 in the dangerous…
The continuation of the first part is about Halloween video games, which you can stick to and easily survive the long November weekend - especially for those sybarites who have nothing to do and who…
Howdy, folks. The article turned out to be quite huge, so without further ado, I present you 10 video games that, on the one hand, are well suited for one particular evening in late October,…
The years of the 80s became the golden age of horror, giving rise to many legendary franchises that are being exploited and reshot to this day. It was an era of bold experiments, where political…
Authentic Halloween celebrations for residents of the former Soviet Union are a task as meaningless and tedious as collecting baseball cards or reconstructing the Battle of the Alamo. In a different cultural context, we get…
The 1958 American thriller Vertigo is more than a film, it is a dive into the depths of the human psyche. Haunted by the ghost of a dead comrade and tormented by a fear of…
The diversity of American Protestant sects dates back to the 17th century, when English Puritans, Dutch Quakers and others fled to the New World. David Eugene Edwards, born on February 24, 1968, participated in the…
The B-movie Honey Don't (2025) is Ethan Coen's next solo project, shot without the participation of his brother Joel. The script was written in collaboration with the director's wife Tricia Cook, as in the case…
There was complete madness in the British charts of the late 1970s: punk was replaced by post-punk, which appeared, despite the prefix "post", before punk, heavy metal manes howled terribly, synthetic poppers writhed in romantic…
One of the most difficult tasks, along with a completely original billboard album, is a completely Russian-language rockabilly album. We've heard many times, mostly from each other, that the great and mighty is completely unsuitable…
Ask a Slavic person: "what is a holiday?" and in response you will hear that it is certainly an expanse at a long table, where the river of home-brewed beer flows, and copper pipes proclaim…
What kind of stooping nag brought these shorties to our saloon? The name of the nag is punk rock. It was this nag that completed the history of rock music, thoroughly defecating in the ears…
Imagine for a moment that a ghost might have a voice. Not the pitiful moan that comes from the attics of Victorian mansions, but a deafening, furious roar born somewhere at the junction of a…
While some films become famous, others become iconic. Hot Rod Gang does not belong to either the first or the second category. It cannot be found in lists like "100 movies you must see before…
It got colder. Plaid blankets are in short supply, sunlight looks like a mockery, if present at all, and inside the body you constantly want to pour hot tea, cold whiskey or warm milk. To…
One of the strange films of the 1970s, the magnetic road movie "Little Fauss and Big Halsy", avoiding templates, creates a sharp, nihilistic, but fascinating sketch of its era. The plot centers on a pair…
God didn't drive down Sodom for boogie-woogie. However, Jerry Lee Lewis was kicked out of the Southwestern Institute of Bible Studies precisely because the dean recognized the sinful boogie-reading of the hymn "My God Is…
Boredom and monotony are some of the worst things when it comes to the field of culture and art. And this is a stone in the garden of many, if not most billy musicians: riding…
Hank Ballard and his band The Midnighters released the single "The Twist" in 1959, with absolutely no intention of inventing a new dance. In general, Ballard often made direct allusions to carnal pleasures in his…
The long and wonderful life of American actor and director Robert Redford has come to an end. In cinematic terms, the movie of his fate has found its final cut. A legend of world cinema,…
Her voice is a quality mark in country music, a unique sensuality and timbre imbued with blues, swing and rockabilly drive. Patsy Cline is a legend who forever changed the sound of American music by…
The golden era of rock and roll is strongly associated with 45-inch single records. A full-length music album in our understanding, with a well-developed concept and unity of sound, is a sign of a later…
In the movie "Walk the Line," Johnny Cash's first wife is shown as an evil vixen who did not support his creative endeavors and threw tantrums at him. And June Carter is portrayed as the…
In the context of the Wild West, the pursuit of valuable minerals almost always means a gold rush. But gold can also be black, and it was quite hunted by dashing cowboys in their dashing…
There are many outstanding figures in 1950s rock and roll, but even among them, one shines like a supernova: Buddy Holly. He was allowed only 22 years to live and work, and Don McLean called…
Two things in the rockabilly universe are disappointingly rare. These are, firstly, purely female collectives, and secondly, the BRICS countries. Today we will kill two birds with one stone and listen to the compatriots of…
Johnny Cash for Americans is like Vladimir Vysotsky for Soviet citizens, his songs have become part of the cultural code. But there is a difference: Cash continued to delight and surprise with his work for…
Freddie Heath was born in 1935, a couple of weeks after Elvis, on the other side of the Atlantic, in one of the northern districts of London. When English teenagers were gripped by an epidemic…
The review is dedicated to the 35th anniversary of the release of the movie Goodfellas (1990) by Martin Scorsese. Let's immediately clarify the underlying meanings of the name of the tape. It would seem that…
If you want to watch (or have already watched) Corky's movie, it's probably not least because you want (or wanted) to see the main character's car in action - a very remarkable peach-pinkish Plymouth Barracuda.…
A pink-cheeked bumpkin who turned into a grizzly bear, William Orville Frizell was born in 1928, on March 31. The world immediately seemed to him like a kind of lair where you can have a…
It's always nice to see new faces on our cozy little stage. And today we will get acquainted with the Teutonic trio, which simply and tastefully prepares billy skit of medium strength, washing it all…
Leonard Horn's drama Corky (1972) is one of the best car films of the 70s. Corky is a young racing driver involved in stock car racing. The Car of the protagonist is a custom 1967…
"I'm all alone and lost in the woods!" my beloved Hot Rod Frankie sang pitifully. And there is something to be afraid of: everything is found in the forests. Even if they have been upgraded…
In the midst of World War II, the Pacific campaign of 1942, the Japanese are fleeing Guadalcanal, and the American Marines who survived the battles are trying to recover in Sydney bars. The sergeant nicknamed…
How often do we think about the past? I think it's quite common, especially considering the love for everything vintage. Experiencing losses is not an easy task, especially when the whole surrounding reality is going…
One day, a black man in a feathered Indian headdress and four white guys in masks of Mexican wrestlers met... It sounds like the beginning of an unfunny joke or a forbidden fairy tale for…
The crime drama MobLand (2025) from showrunner Ronan Bennett, creator of "Jackal's Day" and "Top Boy" takes us back to the Foggy Albion. Nostalgia for the 90s to the sounds of Prodigy, Jamiroquai and the…
Liverpool is a port city, and therefore has its own specifics: if you don't work at the docks, you work on a ship. If you don't work here or there, then you're dying. Ronald Wycherly…
On July 3, 2025, Robert Zemeckis' cult film Back to the Future (1985) turned 40 years old. Back To The Future has become a landmark event in pop culture and inspired many other feature and…