Creem Magazine 1972 August - Wolfman Jack Shows His Face
It's October... You know Halloween ... A scary time .. and what could be more scary than the Wolfman in a Dracula cape?? mmmm So this week we are turning back the dial to 1972 without a mention of American Graffiti ....... Now that's Scary!!!!
Jeff
Incredible. I've read a lot of interviews with the Wolfman and this is truly one of the better or maybe even best, ones. Lots of info here and some of it I have not read elsewhere. I love the beginning of the article where the writer brilliantly describes an entire 3-hour show. I could actually hear it in my head as my eyes were scanning the words on the page. "HAVE MOICY!" Nobody contributed more to the Wolfman legend than Wolfman himself as the article indicates. He brags about his long history on XERF beginning way back in 1957 (actually all other sources indicate it was 1964). The article also describes him as a millionaire disc jokey but subsequent sources, including his biography, indicate he was broke in 1972 after incurring huge debts while at XERB. I really enjoy the descriptions that are made of his former mysterious personality that was quickly becoming a thing of the past at the time the article was written. "He was 8 ft tall and they kept him in special room, or no one has ever seen him." Let me just say, that's the part I like best about the Wolfman mystique. Its that cerebral image of the mysterious companion to the lonely person listening to the radio late at night. That was so long ago and is so elusive yet somehow it intrigues me and pulls me in and makes me want to experience and learn more about that phenomena. The whole radio fantasy is so real. "Every kid has his own Wolfman Jack in his head. No two are alike." Anyway, the article was written at a really pivotal point in his career: He had just left XERPS and was a local LA jock @ KDAY. He hadn't filmed his appearance in American Graffiti yet. Its an excellent freeze frame of a moment in time that sits between his status as a cult hero and eventual super-star rock and roll icon. RIGHT ON! Thanx Jeff!
Incredible. I've read a lot of interviews with the Wolfman and this is truly one of the better or maybe even best, ones. Lots of info here and some of it I have not read elsewhere. I love the beginning of the article where the writer brilliantly describes an entire 3-hour show. I could actually hear it in my head as my eyes were scanning the words on the page. "HAVE MOICY!" Nobody contributed more to the Wolfman legend than Wolfman himself as the article indicates. He brags about his long history on XERF beginning way back in 1957 (actually all other sources indicate it was 1964). The article also describes him as a millionaire disc jokey but subsequent sources, including his biography, indicate he was broke in 1972 after incurring huge debts while at XERB. I really enjoy the descriptions that are made of his former mysterious personality that was quickly becoming a thing of the past at the time the article was written. "He was 8 ft tall and they kept him in special room, or no one has ever seen him." Let me just say, that's the part I like best about the Wolfman mystique. Its that cerebral image of the mysterious companion to the lonely person listening to the radio late at night. That was so long ago and is so elusive yet somehow it intrigues me and pulls me in and makes me want to experience and learn more about that phenomena. The whole radio fantasy is so real. "Every kid has his own Wolfman Jack in his head. No two are alike." Anyway, the article was written at a really pivotal point in his career: He had just left XERPS and was a local LA jock @ KDAY. He hadn't filmed his appearance in American Graffiti yet. Its an excellent freeze frame of a moment in time that sits between his status as a cult hero and eventual super-star rock and roll icon. RIGHT ON! Thanx Jeff!
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