Murder Can Be Fun #19: Musical Mayhem

There hasn't been a new issue of MCBF for some time, but that's OK because this issue picks up where issue #18, Sports Thrills, left off. The latest issue of this acclaimed zine focuses on the macabe side of music and chronicles murderous musician Spade Cooley and other morose musicians who embraced the darkside.

Over half the zine is devoted to the western swing and country fiddler, Spade Cooley, who beat the living hell out of his wife. In fact, he stomped her to death - in front of their daughter, no less.

The history of Cooley's musical career is chronicled in painstaking detail including how the one-time Roy Rogers protege became one of country's biggest stars in the '40s, only to fall from the public eye and become the type of desperate and angry son of a bitch who eventually would off his wife. Fortunately, justice prevailed and Cooley was found guilty of killing his wife in a trial full of his outrageous claims.

This issue is worth it alone for this insane story of a honky tonk hellboy gone completely bonkers, but let me tell you, there's even more!

You get the story behind The Band's keyboardist Richard Manuel, and how he killed himself one night after a reunion concert and some lesser-known rock and roll deaths including a fan passing at a David Cassidy concert.

This latest issue of Murder Can Be Fun is another job well done, and John Marr is one of the underground zine's best editors from the '90s who hasn't lost his touch.

You can obtain this issue of Murder Can Be Fun for $2.00 ppd in the USA (other countries add $2.00 for postage.) Just drop a line to John Marr, P.O. Box 640111, San Francisco, CA 94164, USA.

Link: Buy MCBF #19 from Quimby's
Link: murdercanbefun.com
Link: zinebook.com: Interview with MCBF's John Marr