Rock star deaths and conspiracy theory
Click here to read this article from the Houston Press on the Top Rock Star Death Conspiracies.This made me think of the conspiracy theorist Mae Brussell (1922-1988), the daughter of the "Rabbi to the Stars" Edgar Magnin and granddaughter of I. Magnin of department store fame, who, starting with a critique of the Warren Commission, wrote and broadcast tirelessly about an on-going Nazi conspiracy within the American government. I quoted a bit from an interview she did with Tom Davis in 1981 about John Lennon's murder in CULTS, CONSPIRACIES AND SECRET SOCIETIES (though I am embarrassed to see that I mis-identified the interviewer in the book as Alex Constantine, who edited her speeches, interviews, and articles for the definitive collection FASCISM IN AMERICA: THE ESSENTIAL MAE BRUSSELL. Constantine is also the author of THE COVERT WAR AGAINST ROCK: What You Don't Know About the Deaths of Jim Morrison, Tupac Shakur, etc.). Here is a slightly longer excerpt from the interview:
Tom: You apparently believe there was a government conspiracy to assassinate and silence John Lennon which was conducted by the same people who murdered other political figures and musicians in the past eighteen years?Mae: Absolutely! The federal government has maintained active programs to eliminate rock musicians and disrupt rock concerts. Senator Frank Church's Committee hearings in 1975 and the FBI Cointel-Programs clearly document the intent to break up any gatherings of the "new left". Nothing brought anti-war demonstrators together with political messages more effectively than music festivals.There is hard evidence the CIA assigned agents to "investigate the music industry." After the murders of Tim Buckley, Jim Croce, and Mama Cass Elliot, more information surfaced about earlier mysterious deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Janis Joplin. Listed below, but not updated this past year, are some of the rock musicians who have died since the Huston Plan and the FBI Cointel-Program were activated. If these people had been taking any kinds of drugs, there is the distinct possibility that specific poisons were added to their drugs, enough to be fatal, to make it appear that they had died from a simple "overdose".John Lennon Paul Kossoff John BonhamElvis Presley Jim Reeves Steve ParsonBuddy Holly Berry Oakley Bob MarleyOtis Redding Tim Buckley Sal MineoBrian Jones Jim Croce Harry ChapinJimi Hendrix Richard Earina Brian Epstein, Beatles managerJanis Joplin Lenny BruceJim Morrison Larry Williams Michael Jeffery, Jimi Hendrix managerDuane Allman Bon Scott, AC/DCMama Cass Elliot Richie Valens Rod McKernan, "Pig Pen" of the Grateful DeadGram Parsons J. P. RichardsonPhil Oakes Ronnie Van ZandtMarc Bolan Steve Gains Donald Rex Jackson, Grateful Dead mgr.Keith Moon Sid VisciousThe murder of John Lennon is the tragic finale to an entire era, the reminder that once an artist becomes as popular and as political as he was, his enemies will be waiting to make sure his messages never appear again to awaken the slumbering youth.
