In 1994, the comedy film
Airheads
popularized the legend of lovable losers taking over a radio station to promote their cause. But thirteen years
earlier,
five dudes
from Deland, Florida had done just that.
On August 6, 1981,
members of the Ida Lupino Liberation Organization took WDIZ Rock 100-Orlando hostage. The answers to the questions of who these "Rock-n-Roll Commandos" were, how they did it, and most importantly,
why
they did it-have never seen the light of day. Until now.
Dreams I'm Never Gonna See
is the title piece in Brian Lee Knopp's take-no-prisoners, full-contact collection of personal essays. Whether dealing with a 1920's era Flapper ghost, shearing a sheep face-to-face with a live wolf, praising his personal hero Philippe Petit, defending a creative madman and his magical cat, exploring underground Disney World circa 1979, or re-living the heydays of the central Florida music scene between 1975-1985, Knopp offers a hilarious and thoughtful first-hand account of a weird world that begs for his justification while promising personal redemption, yet fails entertainingly on both accounts.
Knopp is the author of the acclaimed 2009 memoir Mayhem in Mayberry: Misadventures of a P.I. in Southern Appalachia, which is now available in a revised 2nd edition. Charles Frazier wrote that "Brian Lee Knopp's eye for character and behavior is so finely tuned he even catches that precise tingling instant baked into Southern Appalachian culture when polite wariness threatens to flash red violent." Elizabeth Gilbert claimed that "Brian Lee Knopp is one of the most natural writers I've ever encountered." Jeff Biggers stated that "Brian Lee Knopp is an American original, a fearless standup comedian, and a muckraking master of prose."