Heroes,Villains,Obsessions

Currently, It's Happening airs Friday nights on San Francisco cable-access TV. Priore has booked his series on stations in eight other markets around the country; it just began playing in Chicago and is set for a run in New Orleans. Sinking his own money into the show, Priore considers It's Happening to be his video rŽsumŽ, an advertisement for his services as a skilled TV producer with a boss wardrobe.

"I barely get by," he admits.
In his only paying gig for television, Priore spent a year as a production assistant for Hard Copy. Helming an episode called "Rock and Roll Babylon," he recounted the final months of rock's first decade, when "Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochrane died, Elvis went into the Army, Chuck Berry got busted, Jerry Lee Lewis had his big scandal and Little Richard found God -- all at once."

When the current Smile activity dies down once more, Priore vows he'll be ready for new projects. He says he'd like to work on other "lost" LPs such as the Who's Lifehouse and the Buffalo Springfield's Stampede. He'd also like to compile books about the nightclubs and theme parks of Los Angeles.

Having pegged his passions 30 years ago as his big sister's tag-along, Priore has a lingering career goal that he states simply: "I want to be hired by people to dredge things up.