Chances are, unless you were part of the early 90’s music scene in North Carolina, you have no idea who Michael Plumides, Jr. is. That doesn’t make his memoir Kill the Music any less interesting. The book is Plumides’ reflections on the late 80’s and early 90’s when he worked in South Carolina as a deejay at an influential college radio station and eventually moved on to become the owner of a punk rock/metal club in Charlotte.
It’s becomes pretty clear early on in the book that Plumides has no problem painting himself as both the poster boy for the First Amendment in the Bible Belt (fair argument given his arrest record for bringing GWAR to North Carolina) and charming as hell (based on Kill the Music, just about every woman that crossed his path wanted to sleep with him… except those who wanted to destroy him). Despite his cockiness, the book is wildly entertaining. Plumides, a native Southerner and son of a former beauty queen and lawyer/strip club owner, has no shortage of great stories, like going to the shooting range with glam metal rocker Traci Guns. His best anecdote however, the one the bookends the memoir, is about the night police raid his club for violating local obscenity laws thanks to a show by GWAR. Kill the Music may just be the most interesting memoir to come this year by a guy you’ve never heard of.
Kill the Music by Michael G. Plumides, Jr./self-published/225 pages/paperback
No surprise. South Cacalackey is the shes-not, mayne! During the ’90s, I played with two young men from them parts and (if it hadn’t been for the drummer) we were on fire tracked for rock-star status. Anyway, those guys made for interesting times and I even went on tour in a Ford Festiva with them and played somes shows there in SC. No surprise.
It was an alright read. Got a free signed copy after a GWAR concert in ATL.
The guy is really cocky, which can be annoying at times… But definitely worth checking out (especially when its free).