Dave Abramsom

Dave Abramson, also known as Dave the Spazz, is a New York City–based writer, radio personality, and cultural historian whose work documents the margins of American entertainment, underground music, and outsider show business. Since 1987 he has hosted Music to Spazz By on legendary freeform radio station WFMU, where his deep knowledge of pop ephemera, novelty records, comedy, and cult culture has earned a devoted international following. Abramson is the editor of The Best of LCD: The Art and Writing of WFMU, published by Princeton Architectural Press, and a longtime contributor to WFMU’s influential program guide and media ecosystem.

Abramson’s writing blends obsessive research, firsthand reporting, and dark humor, focusing on forgotten figures, near-misses, and cultural detours that reveal how fame, imitation, and failure operate in American media. He has written for LCD, Harper’s, The Village Voice, and numerous underground publications, and has been interviewed widely on radio and podcasts about music history, cult films, and comedy. In Your Time Is Now: The Sammy Petrillo Story, Abramson brings decades of archival digging and personal encounters to bear on a singular outsider biography, establishing himself as a sharp-eyed chronicler of American show business at its strangest and most revealing edges.