Obituary: Elizabeth McKee, Mother of Musicians Bryan MacLean and Maria McKee, Dies at 95

Elizabeth Le Prevost Ménager McKee, a beauty and creative spirit turned Bible thumper who gave birth to two acclaimed musicians of the 21st century -- Bryan MacLean (of the seminal 1960s band Love) and Maria McKee (a gifted solo artist formerly of the 1980s cowpunk band Lone Justice) -- died Monday in Los Angeles after several years of declining health. She was 95. Keep reading HERE.

Song of the Day: 'Page of Cups' by Maria McKee

From the Lone Justice chanteuse's upcoming LP, "La Vita Nuova." (This one's better than the album's first release, "Effigy of Salt.")  

By the way: 

I have so much love and affection for Maria. But I must confess it has been hard watching her middle-age transition into queerdom slip into delusions of grandeur. I'm thrilled that she feels that she is finally being her authentic self, whatever that means for someone who remains married to a straight cisgender white man -- she's recently become obsessed with movies about cults, just like her brainwashed mother and famous brother -- and her desire to help the greater LGBTQ community is admirable. (Her goal for 2020 is starting a nonprofit to fund facial-feminization surgery.) But she's so earnest and out of touch with reality that she almost reminds me of Jerri Blank, if Jerri had been a coddled pop star the majority of her life who went back to school as the most progressive member of Gen Z. (She seems truly clueless how tone-deaf she sounds as a cis white woman who went to Beverly Hills High School railing against ... gay white men (!) while endlessly championing people who murder gay men of color.) Sadly, mental illness runs in her family -- and mine -- so I know the signs. 

Still, eager for the new album. It seems like it's even more Broadway than her last two -- very Alice Ripley!

UPDATE:

As I was saying ...

Page 1 Roundup (08/21)

The Daily News: Brooklyn's famed Di Fara Pizza shut down amid tax woes

Queens woman sentenced to 23 years in prison for hacking aunt to death with meat cleaver, raping underage relative

Instagram: I'd sure like to impregnate Matthew

NPR: Planned Parenthood withdraws from Title X program over Trump abortion rule

54 Below: Tony winner Alice Ripley and her band return for two nights, Aug 29 and 30

Dlisted: Prince Andrew is reportedly willing to answer questions related to Jeffrey Epstein

CT Post: Sorry, but I'm with the "criminal" here. Did Mom ever think of minding her own business or not sitting near this woman? (It sounds like she actually dragged her child over to her for the confrontation.) I hope Mom has to pay for years of therapy that result from teaching her child that women's breasts are something to be ashamed of. (Removing her pants was the perfect response!)

Towleroad: Our men in uniform died for this?

Lucky Pierre: I wonder if my [insert body part here] will look like this when my shirt arrives

Boy Culture: Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats show ignorance, disloyalty

You know you've made it as an A-gay when ...

New York Post: This man is the model behind Epstein’s bizarre Clinton painting

 She wore this ridiculous skintight romper through the streets of Manhattan and you'll never guess what happened

Instagram: Singer Maria McKee further explores her coming out process, laments finding it more difficult to connect with people in her native Los Angeles than her adopted London

NBC News: We're officially the laughing stock of the world

Michelangelo Signorile: Trump has a devastating record on LGBTQ rights. Don’t deny the truth.

Twitter: Yet somehow he still finds time to enact heinous policies

The Washington Post: Elizabeth Warren just met her look-alike at a rally. Can you tell them apart?

The Randy Report: Michael Henry asks, "Are you a gentleman?"

GQ: John Travolta is still bald and loving it

Vox: After losing appeal, Dumpster rapist Brock Turner must register as sex offender for life



The New York Times: NRA gets results in one phone call with Trump

She beat cancer. Now, she’s in another fight for her life.

Frozen-food heir(ess) Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show loses more advertisers



The Wall Street Journal: Japan’s digital pop stars blur line between virtual and reality

Remains of the Day (05/02)

New York Post: Cricket player sentenced to five years for sickening rape contest

Dlisted: I've never been so happy about the breakout of an infectious disease in my whole life!

The Film Experience: Making the case for the best fight scene in the past two decades

Towleroad: House panel advances LGBTQ "Equality Act" in 22-10 vote with all GOP members voting "no"

Baseline: Dominic Thiem takes Paris-culture quiz, practices his French

Instagram: Your afternoon workout with Chris Clark 

Instagram: Singer/songwriter Maria McKee -- of Lone Justice and "Show Me Heaven" fame -- comes out in emotional social-media post

The Daily News: Nancy Pelosi says Bill Barr lied to Congress and "that's a crime"

New York Post: Celebrity sex, drugs and death inside the infamous Chateau Marmont

DeMilked: How men wore shorts in the 1970s

Washington Post: Chasten Buttigieg has been a homeless community-college student and a Starbucks barista. Now, he could be "first gentleman."

Back2Stonewall: God, I wish Beto O'Rourke were "light in the loafers"

Time: I finally watched the “gay” episode of “Dating Around.” I guess it’s not that unusual to be more sensitive when it’s about “your own,” but boy was I cringing a lot! (ICYMI)

Metrosource: What kind of daddy does gay comedian Sam Morrison want?

Yahoo: Man arrested for indecent images after turning his gravy-covered computer into Best Buy's Geek Squad

Lad Bible: An Instagram challenge is daring people to masturbate every day in May

Greg in Hollywood: When bad tattoos happen to hot guys, Volume 10,000

Boy Culture: Nyle DiMarco says summer is coming

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“Take him away from me, hooman. I know he’s still there cause I can hear him.” 🐴🙄😹 Via: @neconecori

A post shared by Cats All Day (@cats.all.day) on May 1, 2019 at 10:07am PDT

Hot Cat of the Day: When a cat is focused on something, all the Pokey in the world won't get his attention ...

Song of the Day: 'Wichita Lineman' by Maria McKee

Gender-flipped cover of one of my favorite songs, by one of my favorite artists.

Song of the Day: 'Somewhere Down the Crazy River' by Robbie Robertson

My Maria McKee kick continues, leading me to this steamy video performance from 1987. Maria would collaborate with Robbie Robertson again, co-writing "Nobody's Child" for her eponymous solo debut (1989), one of the highlights from the album.

P.S.



Maria discusses her power-ballad classic, "Show Me Heaven"!

Song of the Day: 'Now I'm Shining' (live in church) by Maria McKee

This post isn't for everyone. But for fellow New Wavers who grew up worshiping Lone Justice like I did, did you know that in addition to being the half sister of Bryan MacLean (1946-1998) of the legendary psychedelic band Love, Maria McKee grew up a church fart, in a kooky Beverly Hills household -- her parents owned a bar -- with a mother who "received Jesus" after watching Billy Graham on television? 

A rabbit hole led me to an album of songs a young Maria did with her big brother ("No One Was Kinder") -- he started a band for her in 1980, a couple years before she was "discovered" by Linda Ronstadt on the Sunset Strip -- including two recorded at the family church. And THIS ARTICLE, which was unintentionally unsettling, with nonstop talk of religion; rampant drug abuse; codependency; mental illness; not-so-veiled family resentments; lengthy estrangements; and further details of MacLean's abbreviated life including that he appeared in "An Affair to Remember"; auditioned to be one of the Monkees; was advised to pursue acting by Jack Nicholson; was childhood friends with Dino Martin (Dean's son) and Liza Minnelli (Judy's daughter); and other juicy details about the dynamic bipolar duo.

Maria McKee, West Village, NYC, 1986.

Maria, of course, has more talent than she knows what to do with, her songs having been covered by a who's who of 20th century artists. She's also been romantically linked with everyone from Robbie Robertson to Dennis Hopper, and was touted to be the "next big thing" in the 1980s in a way that hasn't been replicated since. I recently watched and was blown away by the HBO documentary about Jane Fonda, frequently saying to myself that people don't live lives like that anymore. Add Maria McKee to that list. Truly unreal. 

Bryan MacLean: Love before, after, and beyond

Song of the Day: 'Wichita Lineman' by Maria McKee

With all this Glen Campbell talk, it got me wondering if anyone had heard from the ex-Lone Justice babe lately? This was just one of the great b-sides Greg and I included on our "Heavenly" compilation, which would be our biggest seller.

Song of the Day: 'After the Flood' by Lone Jusitce

For some reason, this classic from Maria McKee and the boys' debut album has been going through my head all day ...

  

Maria McKee @ Joe's Pub

Last night Michael and I saw the insanely talented Maria McKee (and when I say insane, I mean insane!) perform live at Joe's Pub. The set was short but wonderful and very dramatic (it runs in the family, after all). I've adored Maria since the early days of Lone Justice and it always makes me happy to see her alive and well and writing new music. Although her last few solo albums have been a rather huge departure from the Maria I fell in love with back in high school, with what seems to be so many unusual thoughts and ideas constantly racing through her head at once I can't help but thinking that a big Broadway score is in her future. And can the girl still sing ...

My two favorite moments were when she did the old Lone Justice song "Wheels" off of "Shelter":



Wheels (Written by Maria McKee)
I wish you never even loved me
It makes it so hard to live without love now
I know you're often thinking of me
Sometimes I feel you so close by
That it takes all my might to keeep from trying to track you down

I can surely keep you out of sight
Forget about the way you look, your smile, the way you speak
But I've heard in the dead of night outside my window silence breaking
With the solid destination of your lonesome speed

I know the sound of your wheels
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I know the sound of your wheels
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I know the sound of your wheels

I had a handle on my sorrow
My composure was in order if not sufficiently intact
But every reminiscent echo brings a blow to chill my senses
And my heart quakes and tenses 'til those moments pass

I know the sound of your wheels
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I know the sound of your wheels
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I know the sound of your wheels

Ev'ry trace, ev'ry vision
Brings my emotions to collision
Past love's lost tokens
Ev'ry cherished thought once spoken
False hope of reconciliation

And the incomparable "Breathe" off her eponymous solo debut, which Maria mentioned was a song her late brother, Bryan MacLean, really loved. Just a wonderful night with a wonderful performer.


Breathe (Written by Maria McKee)
At first I was scared when I opened up my head
And the motor that was runnin’ was the mind of you
I was scared when I looked at my reflection and the shine I saw were the eyes of you
I was scared when you touched my lips
And the breath I took was a breath that shook me with a shock
Like a flame as eternal as a song and the song is you and I
I will let you breathe through me
I will let you be with me

Whenever I’m alone and you’re lost out there
I can feel you breathe ‘cause our lungs we share
Whenever I’m alone anytime anywhere
I can feel your heart beat ‘cause our blood we share

I was scared when you came into my room
The walls became the sea, your voice was the moon
Oh when you rocked me in your arms
Like a song, a wave on the tide of you and I
I will let you breathe through me
I will let you be with me

My heart beats your blood
Your breath fills my lungs
Your heart beats my blood
My breath fills your lungs

I was scared when you came into my room
The walls became the sea, your voice was the moon
Oh when you rocked me in your arms
Be with me...

I will let you breathe through me
I will let you...
I will let you...
I will let you...

Off the top of my head here are the songs I can remember her doing:

Sullen Soul
Shelter
High Dive
Life Is Sweet /After Life
My First Night Without You
Breathe
Blessed Salvation
Wheels
Absolute Barking Stars
Be My Joy
Late December

Calendar

We're going to see the lovely and talented Maria McKee tonight at Joe's Pub. I can't wait. Word on the street is it's going to be quite a show ...

Related:

The Second Coming of Maria McKee

Listen Up: 'Lone Justice' (1985)

The Second Coming of Maria McKee

Former Lone Justice singer and all-around (212) fave Maria McKee has a new album out called "Late December" (I'm still waiting for mine from Amazon). There's a great interview with her here. and the new disc can be ordered here. You may recall that Lone Justice's 1985 debut ranks as one of my all-time favorite albums (read more here).

If you have never experienced the ultimate drama queen herself, you're really missing out. Even without the huge voice and songwriting talent, her life would still be fascinating. Her brother is the late Bryan MacLean of the groundbreaking psychedlic group Love, her involvement in the L.A. club scene dated back to her infancy; at the age of 3, she joined MacLean at a performance at the famed Whisky-a-Go-Go and was befriended by Frank Zappa and members of the Doors; she went to Beverly Hills High School (on which West Beverly was based) with Lenny Kravitz and Slash. She was playing in her first band at 15 on the Sunset Strip, and was signed to Geffen by the time she was 18 at Linda Ronstadt's recommendation. (How could she not be a riot?)

Here are a couple little flashbacks (was it really 22 years ago???) that might help you understand how I managed to fall so deeply in love ...

Music Box: Lone Justice

Lone Justice by Lone Justice

This album sounds as fresh and novel as it did 20 years ago when it was released. Maria McKee's powerful voice and the band's punkabilly sound were truly one-of-a-kind. (And boy was she cute.)

Especially: "East of Eden," "Pass It On," "Sweet, Sweet Baby (I'm Falling)"