The news that Charles Manson had a cell phone under the mattress of his Corcoran State prison cell probably doesn't surprise the mother of a young Anaheim woman who, as a teen, donned a “Free Manson” T-shirt, shaved her head, carved an “X” into the flesh between her eyebrows, and told friends and family she loved the convicted killer, petty thief and pimp. It turned out Manson and the girl had been communicating with one another, as revealed in R. Scott Moxley's 2002 story on the since-deceased Susan Atkins, a former Manson family lifer who tried to steer the then-high school student away from Charlie.
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Equally fascinating at this juncture is Manson's choice of cell phone: an LG flip phone. Has the South Korean appliance maker contemplated the advertising campaign it can build around its new celebrity endorser?
Ad copy man!
- “When you need to reach out and touch lost little earth muffins, choose what Charlie uses: the LG flip phone.”
- “Face it, if the LaBiancas had an always-reliable LG cell phone, I wouldn't be stuck in this goddamn hellhole.”
- “If you dial enough numbers on your LG flip, you'll eventually reach Axl Rose!”
- “Screw Verizon! My Family will hear me now. Thank you, LG flip phone.”
- “No, silly, that's not a swastika carved into my forehead. It's the LG logo.”
- “Make sure to order my new LG flip phone app that automatically sprays “PIG” and “Helter Skelter” in red onto any wall.”
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.