Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Posthumous Bangs

“Lester Bangs attended Grossmont College from 1966 to 1968,” says English professor Raul Sandelin of the late rock critic for Rolling Stone, Creem, and the Village Voice. “The school is honoring its former alum with a posthumous Walk of Fame–style bronze star plaque, which we’re dedicating in a ceremony on Friday, May 21, at 10:30 a.m. in the Grossmont ­Quad.”

Sandelin heads up the Lester Bangs Grossmont Archive. “It’s an ongoing online collection that features articles by and about [Bangs]; related MP3s, photos, interviews, audio, video, and other materials are always coming ­in.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Born at Escondido Community Hospital in December 1948, Leslie Bangs attended Lincoln School before moving with his mom through several apartments around El Cajon. By the time he was living on Lexington Avenue and attending El Cajon Valley High School, where he graduated in 1966, he had already changed his name from Leslie to ­Lester.

“I came from a spic suburb full of Mexicans that eat tacos all the time,” Bangs is quoted saying in the book Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs. The albums that fired his interest in music, most notably by Miles Davis, were purchased in El Cajon from the record bin of a Thrifty ­drugstore.

In 1968, Bangs was still attending teen dances at the old Moose Hall and reading his poetry at a La Mesa coffeehouse, Land of Odin. After crashing for a while near Mount Helix with several musician friends, he moved back into his mom’s two-bedroom apartment on First Street. Friends say he spent his time getting high and grooving on the Velvet Underground, until taking a job at Streicher’s shoe store in Mission ­Valley.

He got fired from the shoe biz in 1969, but by then he’d already spotted an ad in Rolling Stone, inviting prospective writers to submit album reviews for possible ­publication.

Bangs (portrayed in Almost Famous by Philip Seymour Hoffman) died of a multidrug overdose in April 1982. According to The Official Punk Rock Book of Lists, he was listening to the Human League album Dare when he ­died.

Professor Sandelin says, “We’re still looking for writings about Lester and testimonials by people who knew ­him.”

Not everyone who knew Bangs would praise the caustic critic. Who singer Roger Daltrey was once quoted saying, “When I see Lester Bangs, I’m gonna set him on fire and piss on ­him.”

Lou Reed was even more succinct: “I wouldn’t shit in Lester’s ­nose.”

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Big swordfish, big marlin, and big money

Trout opener at Santee Lakes

“Lester Bangs attended Grossmont College from 1966 to 1968,” says English professor Raul Sandelin of the late rock critic for Rolling Stone, Creem, and the Village Voice. “The school is honoring its former alum with a posthumous Walk of Fame–style bronze star plaque, which we’re dedicating in a ceremony on Friday, May 21, at 10:30 a.m. in the Grossmont ­Quad.”

Sandelin heads up the Lester Bangs Grossmont Archive. “It’s an ongoing online collection that features articles by and about [Bangs]; related MP3s, photos, interviews, audio, video, and other materials are always coming ­in.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Born at Escondido Community Hospital in December 1948, Leslie Bangs attended Lincoln School before moving with his mom through several apartments around El Cajon. By the time he was living on Lexington Avenue and attending El Cajon Valley High School, where he graduated in 1966, he had already changed his name from Leslie to ­Lester.

“I came from a spic suburb full of Mexicans that eat tacos all the time,” Bangs is quoted saying in the book Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs. The albums that fired his interest in music, most notably by Miles Davis, were purchased in El Cajon from the record bin of a Thrifty ­drugstore.

In 1968, Bangs was still attending teen dances at the old Moose Hall and reading his poetry at a La Mesa coffeehouse, Land of Odin. After crashing for a while near Mount Helix with several musician friends, he moved back into his mom’s two-bedroom apartment on First Street. Friends say he spent his time getting high and grooving on the Velvet Underground, until taking a job at Streicher’s shoe store in Mission ­Valley.

He got fired from the shoe biz in 1969, but by then he’d already spotted an ad in Rolling Stone, inviting prospective writers to submit album reviews for possible ­publication.

Bangs (portrayed in Almost Famous by Philip Seymour Hoffman) died of a multidrug overdose in April 1982. According to The Official Punk Rock Book of Lists, he was listening to the Human League album Dare when he ­died.

Professor Sandelin says, “We’re still looking for writings about Lester and testimonials by people who knew ­him.”

Not everyone who knew Bangs would praise the caustic critic. Who singer Roger Daltrey was once quoted saying, “When I see Lester Bangs, I’m gonna set him on fire and piss on ­him.”

Lou Reed was even more succinct: “I wouldn’t shit in Lester’s ­nose.”

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Tijuana sewage infects air in South Bay

By September, Imperial Beach’s beach closure broke 1000 consecutive days
Next Article

Extended family dynamics

Many of our neighbors live in the house they grew up in
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader