Page 10 The Skanner Portland & Seattle June 5, 2019
News
Prolific Film and Literary Critic Dies
Kam Williams, who wrote for dozens of publications including The Skanner, passed away May 30
The Skanner News
ver the past two
decades, film and
literary
critic
Kam
Williams
published nearly ten
thousand articles and re-
views.
Throughout his nearly
22-year career as a writ-
er, he was most known
for his film reviews and
celebrity interviews for
websites such as Rotten-
Tomatoes.com and over
100 publications around
the world, ranging from
local papers like Prince-
ton, NJ’s Town Topics to
international news chain
Metro.
A prolific journalist,
he also wrote countless
book reviews, editorials
and a novel that will be
published posthumously
later this year.
O
Kam Williams
Mr. Williams, who was
a resident of Princeton,
NJ, died Thursday, May
30 from prostate cancer.
He was 66 years old.
Born Lloyd Joseph Wil-
liams in New York City
and raised in St. Albans,
Queens, Mr. Williams
was commonly referred
to as “Kam,” a nick-
name short for “Kam-
au,” a name given to him
while he was a student
at Brown University, by
famed jazz musician Sun
Ra.
Mr. Williams’ path to a
career in writing was cir-
cuitous. He was a grad-
uate of Brooklyn Tech
High School in New York
City and earned his bach-
elor’s degree from Cor-
nell University in Black
Literature in 1974. While
receiving his master’s in
English from Brown Uni-
versity in 1975, he first
attempted a career in
screenwriting at Chica-
go’s WTTW, a PBS affili-
ate TV station.
However, Mr. Williams
had a diverse set of inter-
ests and diverted his at-
tention from writing for
business and entertain-
ment law, receiving his
J.D. from Boston Univer-
sity in 1978 (along with
bar membership in MA,
PA, CT, NY and NJ) fol-
lowed by an M.B.A. from
The Wharton School at
the University of Penn-
sylvania in 1980.
“
He’d writ-
ten for us
about 15
years and
I know a
lot of our
readers
will miss
him
Mr. Williams’ first wife,
the late Kristina Barbara
Johnson (who had pre-
viously been married
to sculptor J. Seward
Johnson II, the grand-
son of Johnson & John-
son Co-Founder Robert
Wood Johnson I) intro-
duced him to art dealing
and the antique business
in which he subsequent-
ly deployed his corporate
and legal knowledge for
over a decade.
Mr. Williams had a col-
orful personality and a
commanding presence,
according to friends and
family. He was a tall Afri-
can American man with
freckles and wore his
bright-red hair in a large
Afro hairstyle that was
immediately noticeable
in a crowd.
His diverse life experi-
ences and base of knowl-
edge (he was a polymath
who read a book a week)
made him a compelling
conversationalist
and
lead to a brief but recur-
ring guest appearance
on the radio show, “The
Howard Stern Show.”
It was that experience
that later sparked his ca-
reer in journalism when
a family friend and writ-
er at the Princeton Pack-
et, a local newspaper in
his hometown Princeton,
NJ, recommended Mr.
Williams write a film re-
view of Howard Stern’s
1997 biographical film
“Private Parts.”
Mr. Williams’ intense
work ethic and glowing
journalistic reputation
lead to extensive work
interviewing celebrities
associated with upcom-
ing film and book releas-
es, including Quentin
Tarantino, Jamie Foxx,
Mel Brooks, Russell Sim-
mons, LeBron James and
former U.S. President
Jimmy Carter, among
many others.
Mr. Williams was also
a staunch supporter of
civil rights-related caus-
es, publishing countless
op-eds on the topic and
later joined the NAACP
Image Awards Nominat-
ing Committee.
Outside of his writing
career, he had a deep pas-
sion for music and boast-
ed a large collection of
albums. He enjoyed long
daily walks in nature,
was an avid sports fan
and a passionate Little
League baseball coach.
He was also an enthu-
siastic participant in
weekly trivia nights with
a large group of friends
at a local bar in Prince-
ton, NJ.
He is survived by many
friends, 4 siblings (Law-
rence, Daryl, Teresa and
Rod) and his 2nd wife of
25 years, Susan, and step-
son, Nicholas.
A memorial service
will be held at the Princ-
eton Garden Theater on
June 29.
“He’d written for us
about 15 years and I
know a lot of our read-
ers will miss him,” said
Bernie Foster, publish-
er of The Skanner. “We
were very fortunate to
get him because of Lisa
Loving, our staff writer
at the time. He wrote for
about 150 papers across
the country, one thing he
did that was really help-
ful for us was review the
Wake of Vanport series.
He’ll be greatly missed
and I know all the pub-
lishers and movie people
across the country will
miss him.”
Go-Go cont’d from pg 9
live go-go in their youth.
“The reason a lot of kids
don’t know about go-go is
that it’s been erased,” said
Angela Byrd, founder of
“Made in the DMV” in-
cubator for local artists
and activists. She was
speaking at a recent con-
ference organized under
the banner of #DontMut-
eDC . “I feel like go-go
was pushed out, but it’s
coming back.”
This official mistrust
has continued. As recent-
ly as 2010 the alternative
weekly City Paper pub-
lished the Metropolitan
Police
Department’s
bi-weekly internal “go-go
report” tracking all the
shows in the area.
Glover says the atti-
tudes of the police have
eased a bit in recent
years and Backyard Band
and others now play reg-
ular shows around the
district. But there’s still
a shortage of the all-ages
shows that used to be the
main gateway for young
new fans. That age gap
was evident during one
of Backyard Band’s re-
cent shows at a bowling
alley in Chinatown. The
concert drew a healthy
crowd of about 150 peo-
ple — many of whom
were obvious hardcores
who knew every song
by heart. But almost ev-
erybody seemed to be at
least 35 years old.
Now the renewed at-
tention comes at a time
when go-go may organi-
cally be approaching one
of its periodic flirtations
with mainstream popu-
larity.
Glover has gained per-
sonal fame for a memora-
ble recurring role as Slim
Charles on the popular
TV show “The Wire.” Art-
ists as diverse as Snoop
Dog and Dave Grohl
from Foo Fighters have
paid public tribute to the
genre. Rare Essence and
Backyard Band have both
performed at the South
by Southwest music fes-
tival and Backyard Band
recently scored an im-
probable hit with a go-go
cover of Adele’s “Hello.”
Wale, the most famous
Washington rapper, pays
regular homage to go-
go and recorded a song
with TCB, purveyors of
a neo-go-go sound called
bounce-beat.
But local musicians
still feel authorities have
kept the culture at arm’s
length. They want to see
the District government
embrace go-go the way
Chicago has done with
blues and New Orleans
with jazz.
They want a go-go mu-
seum , a hall of fame and
go-go landmark-themed
tours.