Johnny Angel's rebel yell

No sooner had we sent out an inquiring email asking for the whereabouts and wherefores of our old pal Johnny Angel (the Boston punk rock guitarist turned LA rock 'n'roll writer turned lefty talk radio host Johnny Wendell, body builder and dad), than we get a link to his latest essay, this one in a magazine we haven't heard of called New Angeles Monthly (apparently launched this summer, by the folks behind LA CityBeat), which starts out as a story about bringing his kid to the first day of school and quickly skids off into a manifesto:

...So, here I stand before the world: A walking, talking variation or version of Lenny Bruce’s worst nightmare, who once opined that “there’s nothing sadder than an aging hipster.”

And the great comic was right. What on earth is more pathetic than some graybeard holding forth on the merits of Arcade Fire versus the Silversun Pickups, or reciting the profundities of Lil Wayne? To dress like a member of the Strokes when you’re more likely to have one than be one? That’s posey bullshit, an effort to coattail onto someone else’s youth because yours is long gone.

But to never opt in to the idea that there is a certain cutoff point to pursuing your dream, that isn’t a pose or an act, that’s a principle. You can be a middle-aged boho if you like. Who’s stopping you?

I’m hoping to become an old-aged one, too.

Who says you can’t make art and get paid for it? ...A home studio and Pro Tools rig are affordable for anyone... We used to claim back in the indie Eighties, in the wake of punk rock, that anyone can do it. Now, it’s a reality!

Where better than L.A. to put these practices into principle and not just in what’s left of the wretched music business?

We won't print the entire article. Click here to read "Johnny Angel's Perpetual Bohemia," see where he's at and where he's headed and give the New Angeles Monthly some hits while we wait for those idiots at 97.1 to give Johnny W. Adam Carolla's radio slot (or for someone to team him with weightlifting buddy Bonaduce).

(UPDATE: Johnny Wendell can heard nationally this week, filling in for manic-lefty Mike Malloy on Mike's syndicated NOVA M Radio Show. The show can also be heard for money on XM and Sirius.)