Hallucinations From Hell - Confessions of an Angry Samoan - Gregg H. Turner

 

This is a collection of short stories chronicling tales of LA's seedy side'n'crazy characters, as well Turner's alter ego life as a member of Vom'n'the Angry Samoans and as a college mathematician. Turner initially made a name for himself as a rock'n'roll critic, then formed the aforementioned punk rock combos before turning to the life of academia, but still continuing to make music, just a little less...overly vile as those groups and a bit more 60's pysch oriented. I believe that this is his first book of fictional/fictional-ish stories and the subject matter varies as much as his life has, although he continues to write in his r'n'r critic style.

Considering that he lived in the LA area in the 70's and 80's, when there were innumerable unbalanced individuals inhabiting the city as well as the punk rock scene that he was a part of - part of the more extreme side of that scene, to be precise - it's difficult to tell where reality ends and fiction starts, or whether it's all just a bit blurred. Most of the stories are of random encounters but occasionally he'll talk of friends or of the music scene and at least once he gives a names-have-been-changed-to-protect-the-guilty accounting of the Samoans although, again, how much is true is up to the reader, I suppose. (There is a later chapter that more or less encapsulates the Vom/Samoans brief history).

I'm pretty sure that the chapter dedicated to Roky Erikson is as true as any part of Roky's mythos is true - and it is quite entertaining, as well! Wish I had been to that show at the Palamino, but I think I wasn't in LA yet. It seems that it must have been quite something to deal with Roky while running errands or having breakfast and lots of big tips were left at previously unsuspecting restaurants.

If you know his name then you probably already know whether or not you want this, but for those interested in the weirder side of LA, or are interested in the early west coast punk scene, or are a mathematician, you'll want to pick this up! Great writer and a damn nice guy, too! (And, I'm told, he's also a good and entertaining teach!)