Mikal Gilmore

Last updated

Mikal Gilmore (born February 9, 1951) is an American writer and music journalist.

Contents

Early life and writing career

Gilmore was born to Frank and Bessie Gilmore, and was also known for being the younger brother of convicted criminal Gary Gilmore. In the 1970s Gilmore began writing music articles and criticism for Rolling Stone magazine. [1] In 1999, his Night Beat: A Shadow History of Rock and Roll was published by Anchor. [2] In July 2009, he released Stories Done: Writings on the 1960s and its Discontents. It was published by Free Press. [3]

Memoir

His brother, Gary, (December 4, 1940 – January 17, 1977) was an American criminal who gained international attention for demanding the implementation of his death sentence for two murders he committed in Utah. After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a new series of death penalty statutes in the 1976 decision Gregg v. Georgia , he became the first person in almost ten years to be executed in the United States. [4]

In 1994, Mikal published a memoir titled Shot in the Heart , detailing his relationship with Gary and their often troubled family, starting with the original Mormon settlers and continuing through to Gary's execution and its aftermath. Shot in the Heart received positive reviews, including a comment by New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani calling the book "Remarkable, astonishing... Shot in the Heart reads like a combination of Brothers Karamazov and a series of Johnny Cash ballads... chilling, heartbreaking, and alarming." [5] That year, Shot in the Heart won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize [6] and the National Book Critics Circle Award. [7]

In 2001, Shot in the Heart became an HBO film starring Giovanni Ribisi as Mikal, Elias Koteas as Gary, Sam Shepard as the brothers' father and Lee Tergesen as Frank Gilmore, Jr. The 1977 punk rock single "Gary Gilmore's Eyes" by the band The Adverts was used in the soundtrack of the movie. [8] The song is written from "the point of view of a hospital patient who has received the eyes of Gary Gilmore in a transplant." [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lester Bangs</span> American music critic and journalist (1948–1982)

Leslie Conway "Lester" Bangs was an American music journalist. He wrote for Creem and Rolling Stone magazines, and was a leading influence in rock music criticism. The music critic Jim DeRogatis called him "America's greatest rock critic".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lou Reed</span> American rock musician (1942–2013)

Lewis Allan Reed was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band The Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Although not commercially successful during its existence, the Velvet Underground came to be regarded as one of the most influential bands in the history of underground and alternative rock music. Reed's distinctive deadpan voice, poetic and transgressive lyrics, and experimental guitar playing were trademarks throughout his long career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Shirley</span> American novelist

John Shirley is an American writer, primarily of horror, fantasy, science fiction, dark street fiction, westerns, and songwriting. He has also written one historical novel, a western about Wyatt Earp, Wyatt in Wichita, and one non-fiction book, Gurdjieff: An Introduction to His Life and Ideas. Shirley has written novels, short stories, TV scripts and screenplays—including The Crow—and has published over 84 books including 10 short-story collections. As a musician, Shirley has fronted his own bands and written lyrics for Blue Öyster Cult and others. His newest novels are Stormland and Axle Bust Creek.

<i>SLC Punk!</i> 1998 film by James Merendino

SLC Punk! is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by James Merendino. The film centers around Steven "Stevo" Levy, a college graduate and punk living in Salt Lake City during the mid-1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Adverts</span> English punk rock band

The Adverts were an English punk rock band formed in 1976 that existed until late 1979. They were one of the first punk bands to achieve mainstream success in the UK; their 1977 single "Gary Gilmore's Eyes" reached No. 18 on the UK Singles Chart. The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music described bassist and founding member Gaye Advert as the "first female punk star".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Gilmore</span> American murderer

Gary Mark Gilmore was an American criminal who gained international attention for demanding the implementation of his death sentence for two murders he had admitted to committing in Utah. After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a new series of death penalty statutes in the 1976 decision Gregg v. Georgia, he became the first person in almost ten years to be executed in the United States. These new statutes avoided the problems under the 1972 decision in Furman v. Georgia, which had resulted in earlier death penalty statutes being deemed "cruel and unusual" punishment, and therefore unconstitutional. Gilmore was executed by a firing squad in 1977. His life and execution were the subject of the 1979 nonfiction novel The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer, and 1982 TV film of the novel starring Tommy Lee Jones as Gilmore.

<i>Dumb and Dumber</i> 1994 comedy film by Peter Farrelly

Dumb and Dumber is a 1994 American buddy comedy film directed by Peter Farrelly, who cowrote the screenplay with Bobby Farrelly and Bennett Yellin. It is the first installment in the Dumb and Dumber franchise. Starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, it tells the story of Lloyd Christmas (Carrey) and Harry Dunne (Daniels), two dumb but well-meaning friends from Providence, Rhode Island, who set out on a cross-country trip to Aspen, Colorado, to return a briefcase full of money to its owner, thinking it was abandoned as a mistake though it was actually left as a ransom. Lauren Holly, Karen Duffy, Mike Starr, Charles Rocket, and Teri Garr play supporting roles.

Anchor Records was a UK-based record label, co-founded by Ian Ralfini and the American Broadcasting Companies, which owned ABC Records in the United States, in 1974. ABC Records marketed (distributed) Anchor albums in the US, and Anchor Records issued many ABC albums in the United Kingdom as "ABC Records Marketed by Anchor Records."

<i>The Executioners Song</i> 1979 novel by Norman Mailer

The Executioner's Song (1979) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning true crime novel by Norman Mailer that depicts the events related to the execution of Gary Gilmore for murder by the state of Utah. The title of the book may be a play on "The Lord High Executioner's Song" from Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. "The Executioner's Song" is also the title of a poem by Mailer, published in Fuck You magazine in September 1964 and reprinted in Cannibals and Christians (1966), and the title of one of the chapters of his 1975 non-fiction book The Fight.

<i>Double Nickels on the Dime</i> 1984 album by the Minutemen

Double Nickels on the Dime is the third album by American punk trio Minutemen, released on the California independent record label SST Records in 1984. A double album containing 45 songs, Double Nickels on the Dime combines elements of punk rock, funk, country, spoken word and jazz, and references a variety of themes, from the Vietnam War and racism in America, to working-class experience and linguistics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T. V. Smith</span> English musician

Timothy "T. V." Smith is an English singer-songwriter who was part of punk band The Adverts in the late 1970s. Since then he has fronted other bands, as well as pursuing a solo career.

<i>Good Morning Revival</i> 2007 studio album by Good Charlotte

Good Morning Revival is the fourth studio album by American rock band Good Charlotte. The band began working on new material in early 2005, however, drummer Chris Wilson soon left the band and was replaced by Dean Butterworth. The group took a break to focus on their personal lives before reconvening in early 2006, and eventually reconnecting with producer Don Gilmore. He was dismissive of the new material that the band showed him, and on his recommendation Benji and Joel Madden left Los Angeles, California and settled in Vancouver, Canada. After writing a number of new songs there, the brothers felt they were heading in the right direction. Meeting up every two weeks, the band members showed off the songs they were working on; Gilmore was again dismissive, challenging them to write material that was different. Another batch of songs was written before recording began in July 2006 and concluded in September.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baggy Trousers</span> 1980 single by Madness

"Baggy Trousers" is a song by English ska/pop band Madness from their 1980 album Absolutely. It was written by lead singer Graham "Suggs" McPherson and guitarist Chris Foreman, and reminisces about school days.. The band first began performing the song at live shows in April 1980.

Shot in the Heart is a 1994 memoir written by Mikal Gilmore, then a senior contributing editor at Rolling Stone, about his tumultuous childhood in a dysfunctional family, and his brother Gary Gilmore's eventual execution by firing squad in 1977 for a murder he committed at a motel in Provo, Utah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James W. Rodgers</span> American murder

James W. Rodgers was an American who was sentenced to death by the state of Utah for the murder of miner Charles Merrifield in 1957. In his final statement before his execution by firing squad in 1960, Rodgers requested a bulletproof vest. His execution by firing squad would be the last to be carried out in the United States before capital punishment was halted by the U.S. Supreme Court. The death penalty was reinstated in 1976 and the first person executed in Utah subsequent to that date was Gary Gilmore in 1977.

<i>The Roxy London WC2</i> 1977 live album by Various

The Roxy London WC2 is a live album of recordings taken from various punk bands that played at The Roxy club in Covent Garden, London between January and April 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death (proto-punk band)</span> American rock band

Death is an American band formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1971 by brothers Bobby, David (guitar), and Dannis Hackney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Gilmore's Eyes</span> 1977 single by The Adverts

"Gary Gilmore's Eyes" is a single by the punk rock band the Adverts. The song reached No. 18 in the UK Singles Chart in September 1977 and earned the band an appearance on Top of the Pops.

MusicHound was a compiler of genre-specific music guides published in the United States by Visible Ink Press between 1996 and 2002. After publishing eleven album guides, the MusicHound series was sold to London-based Music Sales Group, whose company Omnibus Press had originally distributed the books outside America. The series' founding editor was Gary Graff, formerly a music critic with the Detroit Free Press.

Gary Gilmore (1940–1977) was an American criminal who was the first person to be executed after the US ban on capital punishment was lifted in 1976.

References

  1. "Mikal Gilmore". Rolling Stone . Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  2. Gilmore, Mikal (February 1999). Night Beat: A Shadow History of Rock and Roll. Anchor Books. ISBN   9780385484367 . Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  3. Gilmore, Mikal (July 2009). Stories Done. Free Press. ISBN   9780743287463 . Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  4. Hughes, Graham (28 June 1979). "License to Kill". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  5. "Shot in the Heart". Powell's Books . Retrieved November 1, 2014.
  6. "Previous Winners: 1994 Book Prizes". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on October 11, 2014. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
  7. "All Past National Book Critics Circle Award Winners and Finalists". National Book Critics Circle. Archived from the original on October 18, 2015. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
  8. Gilbert, Matthew (12 October 2001). "A SEARING TALE OF TWO BROTHERS". The Boston Globe . Retrieved 14 April 2011. The soundtrack rises from abstract notes of angst and irresolution into the anthemic punk of the Adverts' "Gary Gilmore's Eyes," a pounding symbol of the ...
  9. Sullivan, Jim (2 November 2003). "Box full of punk-rock aggression". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 14 April 2011. ... to the Adverts taking the point of view of a hospital patient who has received the eyes of Gary Gilmore in a transplant; Gilmore, the infamous killer executed by a Utah firing squad, had said he'd donate his eyes to science as they'd probably be the only body part usable.