35 episodes

TALES OF. . . MY DEAD HEROES is the second season of podcasts from Josh Alan Friedman. But DEAD is a politically incorrect term. Their songs and books and records resonate everywhere, and if you haven’t heard their actual voices, pull up a chair and listen. Novelist Mario Puzo, songwriters Jerry Leiber (Leiber & Stoller) and Doc Pomus, Broadway composer Cy Coleman, original Thunderbirds bassist Keith Ferguson, Atlantic Records producer Joel Dorn, Tiny Tim. . . . And check out TALES OF TIMES SQUARE: THE TAPES. This 17-episodes series captures the voices of Lost New York. Old fighters, strippers, burly-Q men, peep show girls, cops and the priest who tried to save them. Come bend your ear: www.blackcracker.fm

Tales of... by Josh Alan Friedman Josh Alan Friedman

    • History
    • 4.8 • 46 Ratings

TALES OF. . . MY DEAD HEROES is the second season of podcasts from Josh Alan Friedman. But DEAD is a politically incorrect term. Their songs and books and records resonate everywhere, and if you haven’t heard their actual voices, pull up a chair and listen. Novelist Mario Puzo, songwriters Jerry Leiber (Leiber & Stoller) and Doc Pomus, Broadway composer Cy Coleman, original Thunderbirds bassist Keith Ferguson, Atlantic Records producer Joel Dorn, Tiny Tim. . . . And check out TALES OF TIMES SQUARE: THE TAPES. This 17-episodes series captures the voices of Lost New York. Old fighters, strippers, burly-Q men, peep show girls, cops and the priest who tried to save them. Come bend your ear: www.blackcracker.fm

    #17: DOC POMUS COMES BACK - PART 2

    #17: DOC POMUS COMES BACK - PART 2

    No longer catering to a teenage rock’n’roll, Doc wrote sophisticated songs. In his twilight, he mentored, discovered bands like Roomful of Blues and The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and wrote the best lyrics of his life

    • 32 min
    #16: DOC POMUS COMES BACK, PART 1

    #16: DOC POMUS COMES BACK, PART 1

    After a dormant decade, the great songwriter Doc Pomus was back in business by the late 1970s. I became his sidekick, entrenched in Doc’s late-night rock ‘n’ roll whirl, where he held court like a Buddha. He was amazed that so many of his songs became iconic anthems in a genre once vilified as teenage junk.

    • 22 min
    #15: THE FALL OF AL GOLDSTEIN - PART 2

    #15: THE FALL OF AL GOLDSTEIN - PART 2

    The Great Pornographer went from Upper East Side family man/pornographer-next-door to Bowery bum. The First Amendment hero became destitute. But he never lost his appetite for pussy and past

    • 33 min
    The Fall of Al Goldstein

    The Fall of Al Goldstein

    The Great Pornographer Gets Screwed - Creator of Screw and Midnight Blue, Al Goldstein liberated sex from the shadows of shame and illegal obscenity. He had no idea what it would lead to today. In his era, the sexual revolution was a cry for liberation.

    • 21 min
    #13: Mel Shestack: Pulp Mag Trickster

    #13: Mel Shestack: Pulp Mag Trickster

    A legend among his peers at the old men’s adventure magazines, Mel Shestack made people believe the impossible. And anyone who fell for his “gentle cons” felt privileged afterwards.

    • 25 min
    #12: Jack Bruce Follows His Own Path

    #12: Jack Bruce Follows His Own Path

    Jack Bruce reinvented the bass guitar and wrote spectacular songs. Cream lasted a mere three years. But he remained a working musician first and disregarded the pretense of rock stardom.

    • 23 min

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5
46 Ratings

46 Ratings

johnny scorpio ,

You Must Listen to This

Darn entertaining and informative podcasts. Friedman brings his individuality and sense of humor to these interviews. They are in depth; he engages w/ the interviewees. Mostly he has a rapport w/ them in the first place because he knows them on one level or another from the show business world, which he is a member of. More than once I laughed out loud while listening. The interviewees really express their personalities. As well as being entertained, I learned a hell of a lot. Much historical and cultural value contained in these gems.

Martinolson888 ,

Killer Episode 1 - Lou Reed Loves Glamor

Ep 1 is amazing, gritty and at times actually scary: Josh's interview decades ago with brilliant, arrogant and shallow Lou Reed. Reed's obvious intelligence and honesty is cheapened by his egotism, sudden mood swings and delusional hero worship of Andy Warhol, whom Josh interestingly posits as a Chauncy Gardiner figure from BEING THERE.

It's admirable hearing 22 year-old Friedman refrain from pulling the BJF Card when Reed berates him about being a know-nothing from a typical Jewish family, and threatens him when Friedman stands his ground.

I've only heard this one episode, but I'm hooked. Brilliantly edited and narrated 20 years later.

I'm dying to hear Jerry Leiber next, after asking Mike Stoller how they wrote IS THAT ALL THERE IS?

Highly recommended.

CTSAKIS ,

Josh Kept The Tapes!

I’ve been a Josh Alan Friedman fan for many years. The man is a great writer and incredible musician, blessed with a keen eye able to dissect the most harrowing situation and extract the humor. I am so glad HE KEPT THE TAPES and that he followed “Tales of Times Square” with tales of his dead heroes. PLEASE DO MORE.

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