Sheila E. – Queen City Sounds and Art

David Libert, photo courtesy David Libert

David Libert has lead a storied life in his more than fifty years in rock and roll as a musician, songwriter, tour manager, booking agent, producer and, briefly, drug dealer on Sunset Strip. He recently collected many of his memories of that career in his recently released autobiography Rock and Roll Warrior (September 23, 2022, Sunset Blvd. Books). In his youth Libert was a member of The Happenings who scored hit records including “See You In September” and a cover of “I Got Rhythm” that spent several weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles charts peaking at number 3. While in that band Libert was the de facto guy that did all the unglamorous things in a band that a manager usually performs and that lead to his stint as the tour manager for Rare Earth before taking on that role with the band Alice Cooper from 1971-1975—arguably the group’s most productive creative period. After moving to Los Angeles following that run with Alice Cooper he came to represent George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic, Bootsy’s Rubber Band and The Runaways. Libert also represented Living Colour, Sheila E., Vanilla Fudge, Cactus and a bevy of other artists. Libert turned 80 on January 20, 2023 and his autobiography and his recollection of his life and career are extraordinarily lucid and entertaining. In the interview listen for Libert’s amusing and interesting story about Guns N’ Roses.

Listen to our interview with Libert on Bandcamp and to order a signed copy of Rock and Roll Warrior please visit Sunset Blvd. Books.

Doom Flamingo do a lot of stylistic time traveling on its single “303 Love.” Ross Bogan’s pulsing, ascending, distorted synth is like something out of a Daft Punk song and the commanding, sultry vocals of Kanika Moore are reminiscent of the R&B/soul of Sheila E. circa The Glamorous Life. The rhythm is all swinging, powerfully accented funk but the sound might be in the realm of synthwave especially with Thomas Kenney’s bombastic, processed guitar like the tasty licks from a 1980s pop song. It could all border on cheese with some of the throwback sensibilities because the musical alchemy works perfectly and the song feels like something very much in the moment and made for the modern dance floor. Listen to “303 Love,” might we assume it’s more a reference to a Roland bass synthesizer rather than the Colorado area code though that works too, on YouTube and follow Doom Flamingo which includes Ryan Stasik of Umphrey’s McGee fame at the links below.