Bill Bentley

Grew up in Houston, Texas, saw Elvis Presley on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1956 when I was six years old and entered a 50-year journey chasing music of all persuasions. Saw James Brown in a nightclub when I was 13 in 1963 and it changed my life forever. Fell under the spell of 13th Floor Elevators, the world's first truly psychedelic band, moved to Austin just in time for the incredible burst of musical life there called the '70s. Wrote for newspapers, played drums in Lea Ann & the Bizarros, worked at Austin City Limits and discovered there are no limits to music. Moved to Los Angeles in 1980 to be music editor at the new L.A. Weekly, just in time for X, Go Gos, Germs, Weirdos, Screamers, Blasters, Plimsouls, Sheiks of Shake, Los Lobos and all kinds of other craziness. Promoted concerts at Cathay de Grande, ON Klub and Club Lingerie, became publicist at Slash Records, and then joined Warner Bros. Records in 1986, where I worked the next 20 years. Left to join up with Neil Young, and got recruited by Fuzz to try and rescue the music business. That's the beginning....