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MAY, 1997 (Issue # 24)
- The Specialists -
DJ Johnson.................Editor
Wayne Burke................HTML
coLeSLaw...................Graphic Artist
Lauren Marshall............Administrative Assistant
Louise Johnson.............Administrative Assistant and
Keeper Of The Debris
- The Cosmik Writers -
Ann Arbor, coLeSLAw, Robert Cummings, Shaun Dale, Phil Dirt, Keith
Gillard, DJ Johnson, Louise Johnson, Steven Leith, Steve Marshall,
Rusty Pipes, Paul Remington, John Sekerka and David Walley.
____________________________________________________________________________
SOUND CLIPS AVAILABLE AT OUR WWW SITE
The following is a list of sound clips available at
http://www.cosmik.com/cosmikdebris, home of the
online version of Cosmik Debris. These are all
found in the current issue.
IN THE REVIEW SECTION
---------------------------------------------
Horace Andy: Roots & Branches (Reggae)
Backsliders: If You Talk To My Baby (Country/Rock)
Easy Big Fella: Rump Shaker (Ska)
Eric Marienthal: Tuesday's Delight (Jazz)
Los Meltones: Reef Patrol (Surf)
Pennywise: Get A Life (Punk)
V/A: Trash On Demand II - The Sinisters: Cap'n Weirdo (Punk/Power Pop)
Smokey Wilson: Too Drunk To Drive (Blues)
MERIDIAN ARTS ENSEMBLE INTERVIEW
---------------------------------------------
Big Swifty
Purple Haze
G.T. STRINGER INTERVIEW
---------------------------------------------
Scrapper
Surf Rescue
Time Out
Tsunami
(Plus a short clip called "Dipwad" found in
actual interview text)
___________________________________________________________________________
WE'RE GIVING AWAY LOTS OF STUFF, AS USUAL!
Make sure you take a moment to enter your name into our drawings. We're
giving away 5 copies of the new Meridian Arts Ensemble CD, 5 copies of G.T.
Stringer's latest CD, and one full set of 4 audiophile vinyl Jimi Hendrix
releases. Just send e-mail to moonbaby@serv.net with your name and the
contest you are entering. One entry per person, please, but you may enter
each of the contests. Good luck!
___________________________________________________________________________
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
SOUND FILES: A listing of the sound files available on our website that
correspond with this issue of Cosmik Debris.
EDITOR'S NOTES: Welcoming our new writer, Rusty Pipes.
AL HENDRIX - PAPA'S BRAND NEW BAG: Al Hendrix has always been an ambassador
for his late son, guitar legend Jimi Hendrix. As the family business,
Experience Hendrix, makes its first splash in the record biz, Al's
popping up in quite a few interviews. Hey, here's one now.
JANIE HENDRIX TAKES CARE OF BUSINESS: Jimi Hendrix is in the news and on the
new release list once again. After 27 years of alleged musical abuse by
what is now known as "the old regime," the Hendrix family is finally in
charge of the vaults. Jimi's half sister, Janie Hendrix-Wright, has taken
charge of the family business, Experience Hendrix. In this interview, she
talks about her family, lets us in on future plans for Jimi Hendrix
releases, and faces down her critics.
ACTIVE LISTENING - TUNING INTO JIMI FOR A BRAND NEW EXPERIENCE: Steve
Marshall takes a very close listen to each of the new releases from MCA
and Experience Hendrix, and compares them to previous versions. CDs and
180-gram audiophile vinyl, solo and head to head.
ON THE CUTTING EDGE - THE MERIDIANS CONTINUE TO SET THE PACE: The Meridian
Arts Ensemble has performed everything from intense classical works to
insightful interpretations of modern composers like Frank Zappa. Paul
Remington sat down with these extraordinary musicians after a concert
in Buffalo, New York.
G.T. STRINGER - SURF'S WONDER DOWN UNDER: A chat with Jim Redgate and Trevor
Ramsay of Australia's G.T. Stringer, who cover everything from record
collecting to stylish ways of wiping out on the big waves.
TAPE HISS (John Sekerka): Zine culture, tattoos, piercing, angry women,
comics... all of these things come into play as John presents separate
interviews with V. Vale and Andrea Juno.
RECORD REVIEWS: Bunches of stuff! Genre soup!
BETWEEN ZERO & ONE (Steven Leith): Is volunteerism the only logical
alternative to big government, or just the latest trend we can all get
carried away with?
PHIL'S GARAGE (Phil Dirt): Years of work behind the board in the studio has
taught Phil many things, and this month he shares some of his most
important pearls of wisdom. If you're part of a young band thinking about
making that first demo, you MUST read this.
WALLEY AT WITZEND (David Walley): This month, the tale of The Drugstore
Bohemian and the Great Poet.
STUFF I NOTICED (DJ Johnson): Remembering Pat Paulsen.
CLOSET PHILOSOPHY WITH RUSTY PIPES: Rusty tackles the V-Chip.
THE DEBRIS FIELD (Louise Johnson):
Movie reviews, poems, remembrances, concert reviews, and random stuff.
IF WE DON'T GET A LETTER THEN WE'LL KNOW YOU'RE IN JAIL: How do you write to
us? Here are some e-mail addresses to make it simpler.
____________________________________________________________________________
EDITOR'S NOTES
By DJ Johnson
Hi! We're running a little late because we just finished doing all our
interviews like... fifteen minutes ago, so I'll make this quick. Let's
see... Oh yeah! We have a new writer. His name is Rusty Pipes, and the
guy is good! Check out his new column, Closet Philosophy With Rusty Pipes.
And he also checked in with a review of a Firesign Theater release. Which
makes me crazy, not just because *I* wanted to review Firesign Theater, but
because, uh, he reviewed it so much better than I woulda. Damn him anyway.
So don't forget to wave to Rusty. He's waaaay in the back of the office in
the cubicle between the boiler room and Sparky Lou's desk. Sparky snores
real loud. Poor Rusty. That'll teach him, don't you think!?
We have all kinds of contest winners from last month, but because we changed
our entry forms, we don't know most of their names yet! A slight oversight
on somebody's part. Not mine, of course. But suffice to say that we had 15
winners spread all over the globe. Congratulations, whoever the hell you
all are.
Well, there's more, but we gotta go.
DJ
____________________________________________________________________________
PAPA'S BRAND NEW BAG: Checking In With The Patriarch Of The Hendrix Family
Al Hendrix interviewed by DJ Johnson
Many things have changed for the Hendrix family over the past few years,
but one thing has never wavered: they are extremely proud of Jimi. When
I was lucky enough to meet Al Hendrix 20 years ago, I was struck by the
bubbling pride and admiration he exhibited toward his late son. All these
years later, he still gets that "proud papa" tone when he talks about Jimi's
exploits and his music.
From the time of Jimi Hendrix's death (1970) until very recently, Al received
$50,000 per year from the group of businessmen now referred to as "the old
regime." He wasn't included in the decision process or any other phase of
the operation. In fact, he often didn't even know when new albums were
released. Many of the albums, once purchased by the family, left a bad
taste in their mouths, primarily because they didn't sound like anything
Jimi would have released. Studio musicians were brought in to finish basic
tracks at Electric Lady Studios, often playing competent but gutless
anonymous parts that seemed out of place behind Jimi's brilliant guitar work.
Those recordings have been the center of controversy ever since. Al, his
daughter Janie and other members of the Hendrix family resolved to gain
control of Jimi's recordings and, using a similar process with different
musicians, release them as they believe Jimi would have released them.
After a lengthy court battle, Al and his family got what they wanted. With
his daughter Janie (Jimi's half sister) in the driver's seat, Experience
Hendrix launched the first batch of recordings in April. Are You Experienced,
Axis: Bold As Love, and Electric Ladyland have all been released on compact
disc before, but this is the first time that any have utilized first
generation master tapes. The most intriguing release, however, is First
Rays Of The New Rising Sun, which is presented as the album Jimi never
finished. This time around, the tracks were recorded by musicians that Jimi
would (or at least might) have recorded with, and this time around, it sounded
like the Jimi Hendrix we all knew and loved. As far as the family is concerned,
this album rights a terrible wrong.
And so the first batch of material from Experience Hendrix is on the market,
in both CD and 180-gram audiophile vinyl formats. Now that the family has
control of "the vaults," fans can look forward to years and years of new
releases, some of which were never even a rumor between hardcore fans and
bootleg traders up until now.
The following interviews took place on an afternoon when scheduling snafus
had made Al and Janie's normally hectic routine absolutely chaotic. After
the roar died down, they were kind enough to give me even more time than we
had originally scheduled. First, I spoke with Al.
* * *
Cosmik: How is the pace for you? Are your days all jam packed with
interviews now?
Al: Yeah. [Laughs] It's a lot of runnin' and jumpin'.
Cosmik: Do you get a chance to get your bowling and your golf in anymore?
Al: Well, I'm through with the bowling season, though they got a spring
one. But I'm gonna be too busy this summer, it looks like, to try to
do any bowling.
Cosmik: Now that the legal stuff is over and the control has been given to
the family, how has your life changed? What is your role in Experience
Hendrix now?
Al: Well, I'm just doing the same ol' same ol'. I don't have no office down
here or anything. I just come in once in a while to sign papers or do
interviews, or things of that sort.
Cosmik: So you're doing the interviews and being the front man...
Al: Yeah.
Cosmik: ...and Janie's handling the business.
Al: Yeah. Janie and all the family takes care of all the business.
Cosmik: How did it effect you, personally, to hear First Rays of the New
Rising Sun for the first time?
Al: It was great. I mean, that was the original. The way it was supposed
to have been, instead of some of the stuff that other people have put out
that had a lot of people playin' with Jimi that never played with him
before. Hearin' this new stuff, I mean, that was really tops.
Cosmik: I have to admit it was really a shock to put the vinyl on and hear
those songs sounding that different and powerful. The songs had been
released before, but with different musicians dubbing parts after Jimi
had passed away. Were any of those musicians people Jimi would have
worked with?
Al: No, after I looked into it, I found out that they just came out of the
woodwork after Jimi's death. I didn't know ANY of them. The only one I
knew of that Jimi ever mentioned to me was Eddie Kramer. He said Kramer
and him used to work together a lot in the studio. See, Jimi would spend
a LOT of time in the studio. All night, sometimes. Kramer was the only
one I knew anything about. All these other people come out of the woodwork
saying "oh yeah, I knew Jimi, I was best friends with Jimi, through thick
and thin" and all that.
Cosmik: Sure are a lot of people who say that now, too.
Al: Oh yeah.
Cosmik: You'll always run into that, I think.
Al: OH yeah! [Laughs] I still run into it.
Cosmik: All the vinyl sounds incredible, at least to my ears. Have you
had a chance to really sit back and listen to it all?
Al: Yeah, I'm sittin' back just like the public, waitin' for it all to come
out. Of course, I get a preview. [Laughs]
Cosmik: [Laughs] Perks of the job! Have you listened to some of the stuff
in the vaults?
Al: Oh, well I know there's a lot of material there, but I haven't had a
chance to listen to all of it. So much stuff there.
Cosmik: Was there a lot of music you'd never heard before?
Al: Oh yeah. Yeah, I'm just as excited as the public is.
Cosmik: Aside from busy schedules and hectic days, how has all of this
changed your life?
Al: Well, I don't have as much free time as I had before. I'm more involved.
Before, people would just call me up and tell me about this and that, or
about new records coming out, or send me a T-Shirt. I wasn't involved at
all. And now, I mean, I'm right in there because the family's handling it.
I see and know what's happening now. I didn't know WHAT was happening
before.
Cosmik: I understand the old regime didn't even send releases to you, and
that you'd have to go out and buy them.
Al: Well, I didn't go out and buy any, but some of my friends had to buy them.
And they'd say "Al, you got that new record yet," and I'd say "No, I didn't
even know it was out!" [Laughs] So I'd have to call them people up and
wake 'em up! That happened several times.
Cosmik: They didn't have you in the loop at all. Do you have any contact with
those people now? Are they still trying to get their feet back in the door?
Al: Well... naw, I mean, I don't keep in touch with them in any way, shape or
form. [Laughs] No comment there.
Cosmik: Hands are washed, huh?
Al: Yeah. [Laughs] It's a bad past, you know.
Cosmik: What are your hopes for Experience Hendrix? What would you like to
see it accomplish?
Al: To get out all material that we can of Jimi's in its original form and
put it out the way Jimi would have put it out. That's what it was all
about. That's what he was writing it about. Don't dress it up in any
kind of different way than Jimi would of had it.
Cosmik: You feel you have the right people in place for that, correct? Eddie
Kramer and George Marino...
Al: Oh yeah, I feel confident with them. Like I was saying, Jimi used to work
with Kramer. Kramer's the only one I ever heard Jimi mention. They were
real good close friends.
Cosmik: What would you like people to know about Jimi?
Al: Well, he was just doin' his thing.
Cosmik: Are there any rumors that you would like to clear up, or things that
people don't know...
Al: Well, he was going into another phase of music, as he told me the last
time he was home. He didn't tell me exactly what it was going to be...
Cosmik: Do you think he might have been heading farther into the blues?
Al: Well, I remember he was talking about that trumpet player, Miles Davis.
They were real good friends. He might have had an idea of going into a
larger group of musicians.
Cosmik: A jazz setting?
Al: Something not too big. Not no big band, maybe somethin' larger than
what he'd been doing.
Cosmik: Did Jimi listen to a lot of jazz around the house?
Al: Oh yeah, well, Jimi liked all phases of music. Even a little country
western, you know? That's the way I am, too. I like all kinds of music.
Cosmik: When he was a kid and he was first starting to get into rock and roll,
were you into that idea? Because most parents in that era tried to
discourage that notion.
Al: Oh, no! Because I've had music around all my life. Any kind. Jazz...
I listened to music on the Gramophone a long time ago when I was a kid.
We had all kinds of music on there: longhair, western, blues...
Cosmik: Oh, yeah, you gotta figure he had a lot of good blues around him
when he was growing up.
Al: Yeah. I used to buy blues records, jazz records... different types.
Cosmik: And Jimi took to it all.
Al: Yeah, he did. We liked all phases and all races of music. We liked
oriental music, and East Indian, like Ravi Shankar. I liked that, and
Jimi did too. It's something else.
Cosmik: What's your very favorite Jimi Hendrix music?
Al: People always ask me that. [Laughs] Oh, whatever mood strikes me, that's
what I play, whether it's "Red House" or "Foxy Lady," or whatever. I liked
it all equally. I roll it all in one big bundle and play it.
Cosmik: Anything else you'd like to say to Jimi's fans before we close this
out?
Al: Just tell 'em to hang in there, because we got some goodies coming out.
____________________________________________________________________________
TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS:
Janie Leads Experience Hendrix Forward
Now that we've talked to the head of the Hendrix family and Jimi's father,
Al Hendrix, it's time to pay a visit to the head of family business. Janie
Hendrix-Wright (Al's daughter and Jimi's half-sister) has taken the wheel,
and with it much of the responsibility for the future of Experience Hendrix.
Along with that task comes responsibility for Jimi's legacy and his good name.
Janie knows this, accepts it, and truth be known, wouldn't have it any other
way. That was, after all, at least part of the motivation behind the lengthy
litigation between the family and "the old administration," the conclusion
of which left the Hendrix family in control of Jimi's music, image and
likeness.
With this responsibility Janie has also had to take abuse from some of Jimi's
fans, the severity of which ranges from mild distrust to threat of bodily harm.
Every business decision is scrutinized, every personal statement dissected.
She expects it. Goes with the territory. As she says, "saint today, sinner
tomorrow."
Janie was quite willing to give answers to all my questions except for those
regarding the most tricky legal issues or trade secrets. Like her father,
her voice dances when she talks about Jimi. While some critics say she never
even met him, interviews with the guitar legend prove otherwise. She was
special to Jimi, and Jimi remains very special to her, as you'll see.
This early in the game, it's difficult to assess every decision accurately,
but one thing seems plain: Janie believes what she is doing is what's best
for Jimi's legacy. Only time will tell.
* * *
Cosmik: Now that things are popping, how do you feel it's going? Do you
ever think "what have I gotten myself into?"
Janie: [Laughs] Well, no, because when I was six years old I made a promise
to Jimi to take care of him, because I used to think that his managers
weren't doing a very good job as far as making sure that he ate in a
timely manner. He was the artist and he was performing, and I felt that
they could have taken better care of him. So in a sense, I got my wish.
I'm taking care of him, it's just that he's not physically here.
Cosmik: Do you think they made any attempt at all to take care of him?
Janie: I think that it was a good thing he was an adult so he could take
care of himself. I think that Chas Chandler was good for Jimi, but
some of his other managers didn't really look after his best interests.
And that was evident when he was in Toronto and they hired someone to
plant drugs on him before he went through customs, and also when he was
on the Monterey Pop stage and they hired someone to put some acid in his
drink. I think that's all evidence to show that they weren't looking
out for his best interests.
Cosmik: Because drug busts were in vogue at the time?
Janie: Yeah.
Cosmik: What were you doing before this?
Janie: Well, for three years I assisted the attorneys in gathering the
information for the litigation. We fought very hard to get the rights
back. Prior to that, besides having four boys and raising them, I was
also a school teacher, and I went back to school.
Cosmik: Did it prepare you for all of this?
Janie: I think teaching, in a sense... that all goes hand in hand. When you
run any company, it's almost like you're a parent to your employees, making
sure that things get done. As far as being a teacher, I always say I left
the classroom, but I teach people about Jimi. I teach them about what he
was trying to teach the world about civil rights and human rights. And
things he was trying to teach in the 60s are still very evident and
apparent today. Even though we don't have the Vietnam war, we still have
gang wars and wars in our own back yard. And there's still racism. It's
just an underlying factor that...
Cosmik: It's gone underground...
Janie: Yeah. So it's just basically educating people, in that sense.
Cosmik: There have been shots fired from both sides, of course, but for those
who don't know, how about running down some of the family's main complaints
with the way the old administration handled things?
Janie: I have to tell you, it was quite embarrassing for the family to never
receive product. Alan's [Douglas] response was always "Oh, well, if you
WANTED that CD, you should have called and asked us."
Cosmik: What, like they didn't think you would?
Janie: Like "We would have sent it to you." But a lot of times, we wouldn't
even know it was coming out until it was already out for a week or two, or
a fan would call and say "Oh, have you heard the new album," such and such,
that we would have to go out and buy. Merchandise like T-Shirts, posters
and things, we had to purchase all those things. They were not given to
us, they weren't sent to us, we weren't part of a mailing list like a lot
of people are. We don't feel bitter about it, which is good because we
aren't looking totally at the past and not being appreciative of the
present and the future. Part of that is my father's teachings, along with
my grandparents teachings, of treating people the way you want to be
treated. And not looking back, but looking forward. My dad's 77 years
old, and 20 years ago, when he was in his 50s, and I think that it would
have been wonderful to have allowed him to see how much the world loved
Jimi. And he really didn't see that until a few years ago when we
reattained the rights, and we had a festival here in Seattle, and it was
the 25th anniversary [of Jimi's death], and the festival here included
Noel and Mitch and Buddy and Billy and some other people who played with
Jimi, like Eric Burdon... and I think it was at that point that he really
realized the magnitude. It's really unfortunate that he was, in a sense,
robbed of 20 years of not being able to see those things. I don't know
if he really looks at it that way. It's nice that he gets to see, now,
what's happening. He comes into our office at least once or twice a
week, and he's really happy that we're based in Seattle. You know, he
comes in, he eats lunch and hangs out with us, he comes to the board
meetings and he helps us make decisions on things, too. He's very
valuable to us.
Cosmik: He told me he's doing a lot of interviews. Do you think he's
enjoying that?
Janie: I think that he is. He enjoys talking about Jimi and reminiscing.
He just recently completed his book called "My Son Jimi," which Jas
Obrecht, who's editor in chief of Guitar Player Magazine, helped him
write.
Cosmik: Is that out yet?
Janie: Not yet. Right now, we're shopping for a publisher for that. But
it was really nice to be able to experience that with him. It was very
emotional, like when he talked about what he was doing or how he felt
when Jimi died, because he went through the process of his upbringing,
my grandparents' vaudeville days, and the way he was raised. And
then his whole effort of... you know, when he was in the service, by
the time he got out, Jimi was three years old and he went to get Jimi
because Lucille wasn't raising Jimi. She was kinda doing her own thing.
She was young, like late teen, early 20s. He went to go get his son.
And he raised Jimi as a single father, which was really a rarity back
then. And it still is. So he went through the whole process of, you
know... the struggle of trying to make sure ends met and bills were
paid, and Jimi would help the cause by going to work with him in the
summer as a landscape gardener, which was my father's business, after
[years of] taking any job possible. He always laughs nowadays when
people say "I have a job for you" and people say "well, what is it?"
He says "In MY day, when people said they had a job for you, you didn't
ask 'what is it' or 'how much do I get paid,' because you just knew you
got money at the end of the day and you could pay your bills." So it
was nice to reminisce through all that. And then when we got to the
part about how did he feel when Jimi died," I mean, it was very emotional.
Some of those feelings you really suppress. I know for the first five
years after Jimi passed away, it was very very difficult for me to talk
about it without bursting into tears. Time heals, but there's still
times that we get that emotion. You know, the world looked at Jimi as
the greatest guitarist ever, or like one of the best guitarists... but
the family... we lost a very close family member who we miss dearly.
Cosmik: You know, there's so much misinformation out there... I've seen many
printed statements from people that say you never even knew Jimi.
Janie: It's really sad. I wish some things had happened differently. When
Jimi was here last, he was going to do Rainbow Bridge, and he said to me...
Well, you know, he was always really excited to see me, and there are
interviews in Europe where he talks about me and how he can't wait to get
back to see me, and how he has pictures of me, you know "you wanna see
the pictures?" [Laughs] And when he died, he had 12 pictures on him, and
9 of them were of me. I mean, no, I didn't get a chance to be raised in
the same household because he was so much older than I was, but every time
he came back he stayed in our house. He played Monopoly with us, and he
sat and talked for hours, until like early in the morning. And so, to me,
it's like... you cling to those times, because you may see somebody every
day and not know them. We cherished the moments the we got to spend with
Jimi, because we knew that he'd be going out of town again. But what a
lot of people don't realize is that Jimi phoned all the time. Wherever
he was, if he was in England, if he was in New York, if he was in the
studio, wherever he was he'd say "this is where I am, if you guys need
anything, call me." He always kept in touch. And that's a big
misconception, like "Oh, Jimi just came back a few times and that's all
you knew him." I mean, we talked to him all the time.
Cosmik: So he was the big brother in your life...
Janie: Absolutely. And the last time that he was here, he said to me
[whispering] "Don't you want to go to Hawaii with me?" Which sounded
like fun, because he'd brought me back a lai and I'd kept it in the
refrigerator until it was just crumbs. And I said "yeah, I'd love to
go." Well, his manager, Michael Jeffrey, said "No no no, the family
will just get in the way." And Jimi was really upset because he wanted
us to be there. He wanted family around him. He even asked my dad if
he wanted to be his road manager at one time, because he just wanted
that family...
Cosmik: Connection...
Janie: Yeah. That feeling, that love, to know somebody is watching your
back that has you covered.
Cosmik: Somebody who doesn't have ulterior motives.
Janie: Yeah, right! And I remember the last time that he was here was July
26th, 1970, and he even said to my dad "You know, it's summer break, so
let me take Janie with me because I'm going to all these places that I'd
love to take her. I was really a daddy's girl anyway, and my dad went
"How long??" [Laughs] "I don't think so." I couldn't even go to a friend's
house for a weekend without him pacing the floor by Sunday going "Uh, you
want me to come get her now?" [Laughs]
Cosmik: Sounds like a great dad.
Janie: My upbringing was the same as Jimi's. All the morals and the
teachings that were put into Jimi, my dad put into me. And I think
that's why right prevailed and we got our rights back, because that's
the way my father has lived his life: actions speak louder than words.
You can tell kids all you want, but... One of the things he taught us
was that trust is something that you never want to break, because it
takes a long time and maybe never will you ever trust that person again
if they break trust. You treat people the way you want to be treated.
If you know that that hurts when you hit somebody, you don't want to hit
somebody. But if you're PROTECTING yourself... It's like there's two
folds to that, because back in the day, we got threatened for everything.
He said "if somebody hits you, don't just stand there. Unless they're
WAY bigger than you. Then RUN!" [Laughs]
Cosmik: [Laughs] Now see, that's good advice!
Janie: But he always said if you treat people with kindness, it'll come back
to you. Anyone who has come to our house will tell you. Growing up, I
remember people would come from all over, hitchhiking from Miami or
wherever, and they'd say "I'm a big fan of Jimi's, can I come in." I
mean, it's fortunate that no psychos came in! [Laughs] Because my father
would invite them in the house, and they'd have coffee or tea or eat
dinner with us, and he would just sit and talk and reminisce. I never
thought anything was weird about it until I was dating my husband.
Somebody came over, and he said "Don't you find it strange?" And I said
"No..." He said "They could be mass murderers or something," and I said
"But they're Jimi fans, I mean, they're okay." And he says "No...Janie,
wake up! It's the 80s!" [Laughs]
Cosmik: Well, you know, Charles Manson was a Beatles fan. [Laughs]
Janie: [Laughs] Right! And only on one occasion did anyone come back and
break into our home. They stole some gold albums that had been in Jimi's
apartment and were hanging on our wall. They stole some other stuff, too.
He'd just bought some jeans, he had a video camera, a VCR... just various
things he had around the house.
Cosmik: It's possible it wasn't a fan, but just a random robbery. Those gold
records on the wall would catch their eyes and look valuable.
Janie: Well, we kind of have an idea of who it was.
Cosmik: Something you can't say?
Janie: Nooooo, I can't say.
Cosmik: That's okay, I couldn't print it anyway. [Laughs]
Janie: They know that we know, and that's the important part.
Cosmik: So they have to keep it buried in a closet somewhere.
Janie: And then they've had to live with it, too, and to me, that would
be even worse. I don't think that they could sleep too well at night.
Cosmik: I want to talk a bit about the game plan for Experience Hendrix.
When the legal battle was nearly over, did the family sit down together
and work out an actual strategy so you would have something to go on,
going into this venture?
Janie: We had sat down with John McDermott, who had really helped us during
the litigation, and we figured out a wonderful ten-year plan, which we
are still operating by. And we had also won the name, image and license
back early, so we were able to start doing merchandising during the
litigation, which kind of gets you into the groove of what's going on out
there and meeting people. It was a step-by-step process taking us through.
We had really good advisors around us to help us through.
Cosmik: What were the key elements and goals, besides the obvious business
goal of bringing in money?
Janie: Well, you know it's really interesting that you say that, because for
us, it really wasn't about the money. I know that sounds strange to people,
but we were offered a ton of money to just sell. And it would have been
very easy for us to say "you're gonna give me that much money and I don't
have to worry about this? Okay, here!" [Laughs] But it wasn't about money.
I'm not saying money's bad, or it's not good, because money's good. It's
a tool that helps you get through day to day life, but it wasn't looked
upon as "hmmmm, how much money can we get?" It was looked upon as... we
want to get the music as close as we can to what Jimi wanted it to be.
And we can go one step further because when Jimi was alive, the technology
was available as it is today. We wanted to retrieve the flat masters,
which we did, for the foundation of doing Electric Ladyland, Axis, and all
that. And then we also wanted to fulfill Jimi's wish for First Rays,
because that was the name of the album that he wanted, and although the old
administration divided everything up and did Cry Of Love and all those
different albums, that's not what Jimi wanted. And it was the same thing
with the European Electric Ladyland. He did not want that cover with the
naked ladies on it. I remember him even calling the house saying [in an
embarrassed voice] "You... haven't seen that cover, have you?" In fact,
if you see the documentary "The Making Of Electric Ladyland," the
photographer is interviewed in there, saying "it was kind of a last minute
decision where we said okay, we have all these women in the room... we'll
give you five pounds each to take your clothes off," and they dropped their
drawers.
Cosmik: I love that video, by the way. Being a musician, I love any chance
to see and hear the nuts and bolts of a recording like that. [Ed.note:
"The Making Of Electric Ladyland" includes lots of footage of Jimi's
engineer, Eddie Kramer, raising and lowering the volume of various tracks
so you can hear individual parts and sounds.] What else is in the video
AND audio vaults right now?
Janie: Our next plan is to give the fans a never-before heard product. Never
heard on bootleg, never heard anywhere.
Cosmik: That's hard, because the bootlegs are everywhere.
Janie: They are, but we've managed to find at least two albums worth of stuff
that has not been out in any way, shape of form.
Cosmik: When you go through the vaults, are you watching out for the
sub-standard work? Because he did have his bad days...
Janie: Yeah, but these aren't. [Laughs]
Cosmik: Okay, so these are hot stuff. Can you say what they are?
Janie: Uuuuum, no. [Laughs]
Cosmik: [Laughs] Aw, YOU'RE no fun!
Janie: I can only tell you that part. And then, of course, we've uncovered
video that you've never seen before, too.
Cosmik: I've seen lists of what people SUSPECT exists. I also saw a list
of what's already in your possession, and I was quite surprised at how
much you do already have. Who decides what's good enough to go and what
isn't?
Janie: We do. Our team. There's me, and there's John and there's Eddie.
We all sit down and listen and figure it out. Mainly John and I. Actually,
we're getting ready to go to New York this month to actually go back in
and start listening to things to create another project. To just basically
show the integrity of our family, I mean, before we even had an MCA contract
in hand, we made sure that the albums were ready to be released in a timely
manner.
Cosmik: That's gotta be a major job. I'm curious, also, about a particular
type of recording. It's well known that he used to carry tape recorders
with him to record his jam sessions, which involved some of the greatest
players of the day.
Janie: Yeah, you're absolutely right, because he DID do a lot of things on
cassette tape in his hotel rooms. But even better, he had his own studio.
Which... what a foresight for a musician, to have your own studio back in
the day. And he was one of the only two... I think the other was Nat King
Cole. So we have two musicians who had their own studios where they could
just go hit play and record and record for like 15 hours at a time without
paying that huge studio price that they try to put on you.
Cosmik: There's no pressure.
Janie: And everybody's just jamming and playing. The interesting thing that
I found, and it's kind of a side of Jimi that people don't see because...
I know I've been accused in the media, or at least on the Internet, of
trying to change Jimi's image. It's not so much changing it, but it's
educating people about how he really was, and not what the old
administration tried to make him appear to be, because he wasn't this
angry madman. But he would go into the studio and he would play with the
guys, and he was so far ahead in the music, that a lot of times they
didn't grasp what he wanted. So instead of getting angry... and believe
me, we've listened to at least six weeks worth of studio tape, he never
got angry or started screaming or yelling at people. He wanted people
to catch what he was doing, but if they couldn't get it, he'd spin off
into this huge solo. And that's how he'd relieve his anger and frustration.
Then he would go back into the same beat they left off in, and they'd
pick it back up. To me, that's an amazing genius and creator of music
who was in total control. And you knew he was in control when he was in
the studio. He was confident and he knew that this is what he was meant
to do.
Cosmik: Listening to those tapes and the conversations between takes, and
hearing him talking as if he was in the room... what was that like for you?
Janie: Very emotional. A lot of things he said made you laugh, though. Jimi
had a wonderful sense of humor that people really don't know about, and
that's why, in the liner notes and the booklets that we put out, we really
wanted to capture those pictures of him smiling and laughing. Because
that's the Jimi that WE know. That's the Jimi that WE got to see. He
would say things in the studio that nobody would get. One of the things
he said that was so funny, and nobody got this in the studio, and nobody
got this when we were listening to it but me, only because my Dad used to
talk about this woman named Mama Hankins. She used to help take care of
Jimi. Again, all the false information about my dad bouncing Jimi around
when he was working, well it's like when YOU go to work, where are YOUR
kids? At day care, at grandma's house, at auntie so and so's house.
Somebody's helping you take care of those kids so you can work. Basically,
Mama Hankins used to help take care of Jimi. So he was laughing and
joking in the studio, and he says "Well that's a Mama Hankins. Imamamama
Hankins! Right Devon?" And Devon starts laughing, and I don't know, maybe
Jimi had told her about Mama Hankins... Jimi's whole sense of humor was
like "I know something that you may not know what I'm talking about," and
if you figure it out, you're in on the joke. And if you didn't, well, then
the jokes kinda on you. He'd always do stuff, like at the dinner table
he'd make all these faces, or like take somebody's bread off their plate.
Then they're looking around like "Hey! Who did that!" And if you happened
to see him, then you were laughing because he was so comical about it.
That side of Jimi really comes through on those studio tapes.
Cosmik: So here you are in possession of all of that, your first salvo of
releases have hit the market... How would you rate the overall performance
of Experience Hendrix so far, based on the goals you set?
Janie: I think we've surpassed every goal that we've put before us. We
created a magazine, and we kept telling everybody that we wanted this
to be a magazine with glossy pages and four-color photos, but people
we originally brought on board didn't really see the vision. They kept
thinking newsletter, they kept thinking small. And now we have this
magazine that started out with 10,000 copies, which we made the first
time around, and now we have a distribution of 50,000. And that was
only within a couple months. We spoke with Elvis Presley's estate, and
what we accomplished in a couple months took them five years. We, through
I guess a lot of God-given instinct, have stayed away from people who
wanted to entrap... like there are licensees out there that really wanted
to give us like a million dollars. "We'll do your licensing" and all
this, but when you read the fine print, it's like "We get 30% of all your
licensees from now until..." you know? I know some estates that weren't
so fortunate. They signed on the dotted line and they're stuck.
Cosmik: What's the power structure now? How much control does MCA have, how
much does Experience Hendrix have, etc?
Janie: We have total control. The other false thing, if you want to clear
up rumors, is that we didn't sign a 90 million dollar deal. We don't
have 90 million dollars sitting in our coffers. We negotiated a deal
where... Well, basically, just to let people know, when you get an advance
on a record deal, it's basically a loan and you've got to repay that
through your record sales. We chose NOT to take a large advance so that
we could have control. We still own one hundred percent of the music,
we have our in-house publishing for domestic, we have our in-house
attorney... We use people here in our office to do a lot of it, and that
saves money because you're not having to pay huge percentages off your
music.
Cosmik: So does that make MCA, basically, one of your vendors?
Janie: MCA, basically, is our distributor. They make sure that it's marketed
and distributed, but we are right in there with them in the meetings for
the marketing. For example, last week or two weeks ago, we met with them
to discuss what our next release was. Although we have a ten-year plan,
there's a couple things that can be flip-flopped here and there. You know,
"we can do this this year, and that next year," or whatever. And they
were wanting to come out with the Smash Hits album. And I didn't think the
fans would like that too well. We just re-did four albums. Now we're going
to re-do the Smash Hits and say "here you go?!" My plan was to, by August,
give them something they've never heard before, and then a couple months
down the line we'll give them the Smash Hits album. And yes, it'll be
better, but in addition you'll have never before heard material in your
hand. So MCA listened to us, and they said "okay, why don't we release
it in September." Well... I'm a mother of four, and in September, I don't
HAVE money for that CD for my child. I've got to buy books, I've got to
buy clothes... If they go to private school, I've got to pay for tuition.
I have to make sure all of their supplies are taken care of. I don't have
and extra 20 dollars for a CD. But in August, I do. In August my kid may
take on a job at the neighbors to go weed a lawn or something, and they
have the time to do it. So that would be a good time to release it. And
so MCA listened to everything we had to say. For the releases of the core
albums, we said we wanted the original covers. We paid for that. That
money came from us because we felt that's what Jimi wanted, that's what
he intended to have. We wanted to put out the original albums. We went
to a design company in New York and I said "This is my vision for First
Rays Of The New Rising Sun. I want Jimi in kind of a sunset, and then I
want this unusual planet off to the side that's like this other planet
that we don't know about." So there were several things that came out
of that until we got to this part that was like "no, lower this, make the
sea less," and whatever we wanted, we worked together until we could say
"Okay, MCA, this is what we want for the cover of First Rays." And they
said okay and they did it. It's like a marriage. You work together.
They have ideas, we discuss them, but it's all through our approval.
We approve everything.
Cosmik: I'm curious about the situation with bootlegs. There are hundreds
of Jimi Hendrix bootlegs out there. Is there a "family plan" for dealing
with the bootleg situation?
Janie: Yes.
Cosmik: Can you tell us what it is?
Janie: No. [Laughs]
Cosmik: [Laughs] You know, Janie, I'm sorry, but we're going to have to do
this all over again. You're just not playing along.
Janie: No, well... Probably in a couple months, I can say. We've been working
with MCA on dealing with that, making sure the fans will be able to hear
that music without being robbed. I mean, the bootlegs being sold are like
30 dollars and 40 dollars! When you can get something like First Rays,
which is professionally done, professionally EQ'd, and we've had the best
people work with us on the project, like Eddie Kramer and George Marino.
And it's selling for... I don't know what it retails for... 13, 14 dollars.
Depends on where you buy it.
Cosmik: Do you know what the vinyl's retailing for?
Janie: I had heard two different prices. The suggested retail was supposed
to be 29.95.
Cosmik: And how much for the double albums?
Janie: That IS the double albums.
Cosmik: Wow! In the 180-plus audiophile vinyl market? That's cheap.
Janie: Really, we're not out there to try to gouge the consumer. We did it
the right way. We could have used half that weight of vinyl. I mean
those things are heavy! I carried the package at the airport, and we
were looking at each other and saying "Who's idea was it to do 180 vinyl!?"
My arms were falling off. [Laughs] We were able to give Jeff Gold a
set... He's the president of Warner, and he's been a wonderful friend and
cheerleader through all of this, and he said "I don't think the records
were this heavy when Jimi was alive!" [Laughs]
Cosmik: I'll tell you what, after listening to the vinyl, nobody will ever
convince me that CDs sound better than vinyl, at least when the vinyl is
done right. They sound incredible.
Janie: Oh, yeah. I had one guy call me who has been an avid collector, and
he said "I bought the vinyl instead of the CDs because I just love vinyl."
Cosmik: Vinyl has quite a fan base. And the 180-plus market is really
interesting. Do you plan to continue that?
Janie: I know we are for the Smash Hits project. We're going to do a run of
5000 for that. I'm not sure about the new releases. We're still discussing
that.
Cosmik: How far away is Band Of Gypsys?
Janie: [Pauses] ... Europe? [Laughs]
Cosmik: [Laughs] What?
Janie: It got distributed in Europe.
Cosmik: But not here.
Janie: It will be, but... Mmmm... We're working on it.
Cosmik: Okay, we'll come back to that next time we talk, right? [Laughs]
We started to talk about the tape recorders Jimi carried around with
him to record his jam sessions on. How much of that material do you
have?
Janie: Quite a bit.
Cosmik: Is a lot of it good enough quality to release?
Janie: Yes.
Cosmik: And will it be?
Janie: Oh yes.
Cosmik: Ah! A lot of that stuff is legendary, like the jams with Michael
Bloomfield. How do the jam tapes sound?
Janie: Some of them are so clear it's like you're sitting in the room with
them.
Cosmik: Boy... On the subject of concert footage... what does Experience
Hendrix have in the vaults, and how much has been sifted through?
Janie: We've gone through all the video footage, and we'll be able to do at
least another documentary. And we're also working on another short film
project with footage you haven't seen. Not to mention that our goal,
which we're working on right now, is an autobiography that's done by the
family, and of course later a real movie with actors. A lot of the rumors
that you hear about Hollywood working on a project like that aren't true.
We've talked to them and they say "No, we may be THINKING about it, but we
know we can't do it without your permission."
Cosmik: Those rumors go way back. I remember a time when the rumor was that
Phil Lynott [late bassist of Thin Lizzy] was going to star as Jimi.
Janie: Oh yeah, and then of course the Lawrence Fishburn rumor. It's so
funny, because it could just take an instant when Lawrence Fishburn or
Denzel Washington casually says "Oh sure, I'd love to play in it," and
BOOM! It's out there. They're playing in it, and they're already working
on it. And it's just not true.
Cosmik: Just writers dying to get readers by spreading rumors. So what about
the legendary lost ABC footage? Any news on that?
Janie: ... We're working on it.
Cosmik: Is it still lost?
Janie: We think we've located some of it. We're in negotiations with some
people right now.
Cosmik: That's going to be interesting to follow. Is there any fear of
overfishing the pond by putting out TOO many Jimi Hendrix releases?
Right off the bat, you re-released the first three albums and First
Rays in both CD and vinyl formats, and that's a lot of product all at
once. Do you think about over-saturation and what it could mean?
Janie: It's interesting that you say that... For right now, it was about
building a good foundation and making sure that what's out there is what
we want out there, because we had to pull back in what the old
administration had put out. Then we had to replace what was out there,
in addition to making sure that our new products are made. But no, we
don't want to over-saturate the market. I think at one point the old
administration was doing that. I think it's wrong. I think it's not
right to take a few songs from this album and a few songs from that
album and make a new album, and that's not what we're about. Although
it may seem that way for First Rays, to some people. That wasn't the
intent. The intent was to give you this album as Jimi saw fit for it
to happen. In addition to the fact that "Dolly Dagger" and "Night Bird
Flying" have never been on a CD. Basically, the new album will come
out, and then Smash Hits will come out to basically replace The Ultimate
Experience, and it also gives you the album as Jimi first made it, but it
will probably include some other songs to make it larger. From that
point on, the releases will come out more as a normal artist would put
out releases. So I guess for this year people might think we're flooding
the market. For us, it isn't, it's righting a wrong.
Cosmik: I want to talk a little bit about the negative things that are being
said by some of the core fans everywhere, but especially on the Internet.
Do you follow the discussions in the newsgroups and e-mail lists?
Janie: I hear some of it. I'm aware of some of the talk that's out there.
Cosmik: Some of those people are highly critical of Experience Hendrix, and
especially of you. Why do you think they're attacking you?
Janie: I think that anybody that has control of what Jimi is doing, they're
going to attack. Originally we came out and said we want to work with
bootleggers, that we wanted them to come to us and let work with the tapes
and remaster them. Our concern was for the fans, that they're not ripped
off. But it was looked at as "Oh, you're just trying to stop these people,
and you're just jealous because they're doing this," but that's not the
spirit in which it was done. The spirit was... if you're paying fifty
dollars for that project, that's not worth that much money. You know,
people are trading blank tapes with people, and that's wrong. That's
totally wrong. We're trying to right a LOT of wrongs. You know the old
saying, and my dad used to use it a lot, "you can please some of the
people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of
the time." And I think that, overall, when people see what we're doing,
I think they really admire that we're sticking our necks out.
Cosmik: While the ones who are critical think you're being greedy.
Janie: They don't know our upbringing. They don't know what we went
through. For 20 years, my father received 50,000 dollars per year,
which he had to pay taxes on. He was a landscape gardener at the same
time until 1979. Growing up only being able to have two pairs of
shoes, if you wore a hole in one, you had to cut a piece of cardboard
out and put it inside the shoe. While everyone else was wearing Levi's,
and they got 'em down at Penny's for 14 dollars, we had to go down to
Goodwill and pay two dollars. Yes, life is better now, but it took a
long time to get here. When my husband and I were first married, we
lived in a 1,000 square foot house while Leo and Alan Douglas were
living lavishly. We relied on one income because it wasn't worth two
people going in to work because half of your income goes to daycare and
gas and work clothes. That's a side that people don't see. You don't
know that during that three-year litigation, my father had three heart
surgeries. You don't know that we almost lost him. You don't know
that two weeks before everything was said and done, we almost lost him.
You don't know the pains that we feel. And people say "do you know
what they're saying about you?" I say "Yeah, but do I care?" Do they
know that days went by when Jimi only had a candy bar to eat? He created
all this wonderful music, and that's all you know him by, but you don't
know the struggles it took for him to get there. And it's the same for
our family. I just wish that people would know that we're going to try
to do the right thing, and yes, we're only human, and we may not always
please you because that album is missing ten of your favorite songs.
You're complaining, yet we have George Marino, we have Eddie Kramer...
Eddie Kramer, who's very valuable, is in there working with us. He
doesn't just work with anybody. He knows that we're doing the right
thing, and he wants to make sure it STAYS the right thing.
Cosmik: People are unsettled by change.
Janie: Well sure, but when Alan Douglas was in control, they were complaining
then! But then we take over, and... It's so funny because when the
releases came out, somebody called and said "Oh, you're an angel on the
Internet now," and I said "Yeah, I'm a saint today and I'm a sinner tomorrow.
And that's the way you've got to take it or you could go crazy. You know
the old saying is "sticks and stones can break my bones but words will
never hurt me." Yeah, but they hurt you. They can sting. But you just
learn to get tough skin. It's all that they want to be where we are, and
a lot of them, in a sense, feel justified, and... you know, "I ran a fanzine
for this long, so I deserve this and that." I mean, we've had people say
that to us. It's like "Yeah, we have pictures, and we have this fanzine,
so just tell me what you need and what you want it for and maybe we'll let
you use it." [Laughs]
Cosmik: Are you surprised by the severity and hostility of some of this?
Janie: Yeah. I had one guy call and complain about something... I don't
remember what it was now... but what really angered me was that I have
four children, my oldest is ten, and they printed my home address,
threatened to burn flags and throw grenades...
Cosmik: These are people from the Internet e-mail lists?
Janie: Yeah. They said very hurtful things, like "Janie's just waiting around
for her dad to die so that she can collect." And that's something that was
very hurtful to me, because they don't know that my dad is my best friend.
If I don't talk to my dad every other day, he's calling me to find out if
everything's okay. When he read that, he got so angry. I said "How stupid.
I would be the most miserable person on Earth if all I was doing was waiting
for somebody to die. The reason we went to litigation in the first place
was because I received documents from Leo Branton asking me... these
documents were supposedly written by my dad, which I knew they weren't...
and I was being asked to sign over all my rights to my father. And the
letter was very adversarial, and I thought this isn't like my dad. My
dad and I went bike riding together and swimming together, we'd go jogging
together... we do everything together. It was like "Dad, do you know what
this says?" He says "Yeah, it says you get some money now and I get to
watch you enjoy it, and I get some money, and you don't have to suffer a
lot." I said "No, dad, that's not what it says," and I explained it to
him. He was furious. "That's not what I want!" So I went and got some
attorneys, and Leo called my dad a week later and said "Why hasn't Janie
signed the papers yet? I have her money sitting right here." My dad
said "For Janie, it's not about the money. While everybody else sees a
block down the road, she sees miles. If you want to know why she didn't
sign, call her and ask her." A few weeks later, he was served and we were
suing him.
Cosmik: And that was the end of his road with Jimi.
Janie: Yep.
Cosmik: I'd like to shift a little bit here to talk about the releases
themselves, about a few problems that have been noticed. The lyrics in
the booklets are incorrect in several instances. How did that happen?
Janie: That happened in Europe, and it was MCA's fault, not our fault. When
we looked at the original draft, which is how it should have gone out,
it was approved and correct, but something happened at the printers. MCA
has admitted to the fault. It was their international department that
created the fault.
Cosmik: Is there anything that can be done about it now?
Janie: Yeah. What they've offered to people is that they're printing up new
booklets, and they can come and exchange the incorrect booklets for corrected
booklets.
Cosmik: The other major rumble I've heard, or complaints against the family,
come from people who feel that Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding should be
cut in for a share of the money from Experience Hendrix, that they were
screwed over by the old administration and it should be righted. What's
your side of that?
Janie: Well, all of that issue is between Noel, Mitch, Buddy, Billy and us.
On July 26th, 1995, we sat down with them. We explained to them that this
case cost us multimillion dollars, not to mention that my father had to
second-mortgage his home and we had to take out loans because when the
accounts closed--for the quote/unquote "Hendrix Trust Account,"--there was
less one million dollars in that account. Our former attorney had given
us the impression that all of the royalties, outside of the money being
used to keep the business alive, were being put into our trust accounts
for our education, family welfare, and because we received money for
various things along the way. We didn't have any reason to believe that
they weren't there. When all was said and done and we were starting the
litigation, they closed down three accounts, there's less than one million
dollars left in it. Unfortunately, while we were in the litigation, the
defendants were receiving OUR royalty checks, which helped fund them
against us, which cost us even more money because I think that if they
hadn't received that money they would have folded a long time ago. But
they kept it going until the end. We explained all that to Mitch and
Noel, and Buddy and Billy, and they all understand where we are financially
and how long it's going to take us to get out of debt. The money that comes
in, a portion of it, yes, runs the business, but a great portion of it goes
to pay off our debt. And they understand that, and we have an agreement
with them, which I'm not at liberty to discuss, but they know what it is.
Cosmik: So they will be receiving future compensation?
Janie: Well, they do know what the deal is and I can't discuss it. And Noel
knows it. I don't know why things are being said, but this was discussed
virtually the day after we won the case, about how things are going to be
set up. And they know what it is, which is why you don't hear from Buddy
and Billy and Mitch.
Cosmik: And why they participate in the videos...
Janie: Exactly. They participated in the documentary, in the festival, in
our festival that will happen later on this year... Yes, they participate,
because they know we have an understanding. And I don't think I owe that
explanation to anybody else. It's our business between us. I know what
Noel is saying, and it's unfortunate because he was in that room. We were
all in there together, and we discussed every option possible until like
two or three in the morning, and made sure that when they came for our
festival they were very well taken care of. Which we paid for, because we
didn't have a record deal at the time and we had no money coming in. So
we've been good for our word. Whatever we say, that's what we're going to
do. That's what we do.
Cosmik: I understand that during an interview the other day you had a disk
jockey telling you your brother died of a drug overdose, and that when
you tried to correct him...
Janie: Oh, in Boston! Yeah.
Cosmik: And he got...
Janie: Belligerent? [Laughs]
Cosmik: Yeah! [Laughs] Do you run into that a lot?
Janie: Yeah, and actually, it was kind of interesting... I had a couple
friends call me about that, and they were like "I can't believe he
was sitting there arguing with you about that. Like just because
somebody drank one night, and they got in a car wreck, they died of
alcohol intake? No, they died because they crashed the car!" [Laughs]
And I said "Yeah, but you know what? I wasn't saying it for him, because
deejay's are gonna think whatever they want, and for them it's kind of
like sensationalism, and they try to trap you." I even had one say to
me "Oh, I hear you're going to market a belt buckle shaped like a
Stratocaster that flashes." I said "Nooo, that's not in MY catalog."
For me, the issue about Jimi dying... it's always been very painful for
our family when somebody talks about him dying at 27 of a drug overdose.
It's like not only can you not give this man the honor that's due to
him... Not only was he the greatest guitarist ever, he was the first
African American to lead an all-white band. He was the first African
American to cross all the lines: whether it's by sex or by culture, he
crossed them. Why are you robbing him of that? Yes, he took drugs. It
was the 60s. It was a very experimental time. However, he did not die
of a drug overdose. Yes, I would say that sleeping pills are a drug that
you can buy over the counter. Not very many adults can say they've never
taken a sleeping pill. But when they re-opened the case again, though
Scotland Yard, which was about two and a half years ago when we started
the litigation, they wrote us an extensive letter. They said "We've gone
back and interviewed the doctors and nurses. Actually, we couldn't get
ahold of a couple of the nurses, so we talked to the ambulance driver,
we talked to this person, that person, Eric Burdon..." They did an
18-month inquest, and he says "I have to say that when we examined the
body, his organs were very clean. His lungs, his liver, his kidneys, they
weren't that of a frequent drug user or one that would overdo it and
destroy his body. If he had just taken the sleeping pills, he would have
been fine. If he had just drank the wine that he had earlier that night,
he would have been fine. But it was the mixture of the two chemicals that
caused him to vomit and die of asphyxiation." Now, in the 90s, we have
a warning on our medicine that says "don't take this with alcohol," but
they didn't have that then. Not to mention that it was German sleeping
pills. So my thing was not so much to convince the deejay or argue with
him, but to impress upon that teenager, that person listening out there,
that this is what really happened so maybe we can change the thinking of
future generations, so they're not so locked into "he died of a drug
overdose." So that's what that was all about. It's just about re-teaching
people.
Cosmik: Twenty or thirty years from now, what effect do you hope Experience
Hendrix will have had on Jimi's memory and his legacy?
Janie: That's why we started a family foundation. We would like to continue
to sponsor children's groups and youth groups and school programs. I
would like to make sure that at least... This is a small number, because
I think we'll do better than this, but I'd like to touch at least two
people's lives a year, where they say "because of you guys, I was able
to..." whatever. I've heard a lot of stories over the years where... for
instance, Bob Dylan's guitar tech pulled me aside one day and said "You
know, it's because of Jimi that I'm in this business. I was in Manny's
Music, I was plunking around on the guitar and not paying any attention,
and they announced for everybody to get out, that the store was closing,
and I wasn't paying attention. Then I look up and there's Jimi standing
over me. The owners are like "Get out! You've got to leave!" And Jimi
says "No, no, no. He can stay. It's cool. He's not hurting anybody."
And then he says "Jimi said to me, 'You know, I'm going to be down at the
studio tonight if you want to come by. Come by about eleven, eleven
thirty, that'd probably be a good time.' So here I am a 15 year old kid,
I go to Electric Lady studios, I'm there till five in the morning KNOWING
I'm gonna get killed when I get home, but I don't care. I'm with my
friend, I'm listening to Jimi and he just jams out all these songs in one
take for an album." He said it was the most incredible experience in his
life, and that's why he wanted to be in this business. And that's what
I want people to say. I want to hear people say "You know, your guitar
competition you did with Fender really encouraged me, now I'm a professional
musician" and this and that... That's what I want to hear. I just want
his legacy to continue, and I want it to continue to touch people's lives,
and for them to really understand and know the Jimi that we knew: a very
giving soul.
____________________________________________________________________________
ACTIVE LISTENING: Tuning Into Jimi For A Brand New Experience
Hendrix fans have a lot to be excited about these days. Experience Hendrix (the
family-owned company run by Jimi's dad, Al, and half-sister Janie
Hendrix-Wright) recently signed a deal with MCA to reissue Jimi's music on the
new Experience Hendrix label. Collectors will be thrilled to hear that MCA has
revived its audiophile 'Heavy Vinyl' series for the Hendrix titles. All four
albums are available in limited edition, 180-gram virgin vinyl pressings. While
this is the fourth time Hendrix's music has been reissued on CD (twice on
Reprise, and now twice on MCA), this time it's being done right.
Surprising as it may seem, this is the first time that they used the actual
master tapes in the production process. All the previous CDs, and all but the
original vinyl pressings in the 60's, were mastered from EQ'd production copies.
Jimi's original engineer and co-producer, Eddie Kramer, worked with George
Marino (noted engineer at Sterling Sound) and EH/MCA to ensure that the quality
and integrity of the music remain intact. "We went back to the original masters
and started from scratch, and the difference is quite stunning," said Kramer.
"It sounds like a cloth has been lifted from the speakers." Kramer's not
exaggerating--these CDs/albums sound better than ever.
EH sent noted Hendrix historian, John McDermott, to find the flat un-EQ'd master
tapes. After an extensive 14-month search, McDermott recovered over 200
tapes--including live material, original album masters, acoustic home demos,
alternate multi-track versions of Hendrix classics, and a few songs never before
heard. Some of the tapes include sessions with members of both the Experience
and the Band of Gypsies. "People have been coming forward with tapes that Jimi
gave them," said Janie Hendrix-Wright. "They've said, 'Here, Jimi gave me this
to hold. Now that the family is in control, I want you to have it.'" Alan
Douglas was responsible for Jimi's music before EH, and some fans were less than
happy with the things he released.
Let's get into the individual albums now, and do some comparisons.
The year was 1967. The Jimi Hendrix Experience released their debut album, Are
You Experienced?, on May 12, two weeks ahead of schedule. Hendrix once described
the album this way: "It has a little rock 'n' roll, and then it has a blues and
it has a few freak-out tunes. It's a collection of free feeling and imagination.
Imagination is very important." Luckily for us, Hendrix had a very fertile
imagination. Starting with the first notes of "Purple Haze," rock and roll would
never be the same.
The flat masters for Are You Experienced ended up in the hands of a collector,
who later sold them to McDermott. It's great to hear all the nuances that were
previously buried. You can hear Jimi turn the lyric sheet during "May This Be
Love." The guitar on "Manic Depression" is back where it belongs in the mix on
the EH CD. The previous MCA issue has better bass response on this song, but the
guitar track was pushed back. The muddiness on the previous MCA version of "51st
Anniversary" (the only Hendrix song without a guitar solo) has been corrected.
On the new CD, the song is noticeably brighter, especially in the quiet parts.
One of the most improved tracks is "Highway Chile." Even though they used the
mono version, it sounds better than ever. Each instrument is easily
distinguishable from one another. It has noticeably better dynamic range also,
as do "Love or Confusion" and "I Don't Live Today." "Foxey Lady" fades out a
couple seconds early on the EH disc. The ending notes on "Hey Joe" that were cut
from the previous MCA release have been restored, though. Give and take, right?
"Third Stone from the Sun" lacks the bass response of the last MCA disc, but the
vocals are much clearer now, and overall, the sound quality is improved.
The original running order of the songs was restored for the new version of this
landmark album, a fact that will make many fans happy. As far as packaging, the EH
CD includes new liner notes and photos (some of which are omitted from the LP
booklet), hand-written copies of lyrics in progress, recording session invoices,
and complete lyrics to all the songs. Purely in terms of sound quality, the
vinyl is noticeably superior. Where it really shines is on the quieter tracks,
like "The Wind Cries Mary" (written for his ex-girlfriend). You'll be blown away
when you hear how much better the LPs sound.
Hendrix started working on Axis: Bold as Love right after he finished Are You
Experienced. Axis was a highly experimental album for its time. Mitch added
elements of jazz with his slick brushwork on "Up From the Skies." Jimi
overdubbed a glockenspiel on "Little Wing." Eddie Kramer contributed the
harpsichord accompaniment on the title track. Sound quality was always a major
concern. The EH CD has considerable tape hiss on several tracks, but the album
has an increased sense of spaciousness to it now, and overall, markedly improved
sound. You can hear the snare vibrating on the verse intros in "Wait Until
Tomorrow" and the bass response is better than on any of the previous releases.
When you compare "Spanish Castle Magic" (written to commemorate a 1950's jazz
club in Seattle) to the compressed version on the last MCA disc, the sound is
more rich, and wide open. The Reprise disc had less tape hiss on "Little Wing,"
but the song is much clearer on the EH version and has better tone on the solo.
Tape hiss is a distraction on "If 6 Was 9," but the top end is more spacious and
open. "You Got Me Floatin'" is a highlight (and one of Jimi's favorites from the
album). They still haven't quite uncovered Noel's bass solo, but it's
considerably more distinct than on any of the previous issues.
On "Castles Made of Sand," the subtle nuances stand out more now, but the hiss
on the track is much worse. Noel's track, "She's So Fine" is clearer and has
much more impact than any of the previous releases. This was the first song
recorded for the album, but due to Jimi's lack of enthusiasm for the song, it
wasn't finished until the very last session. The sound quality of "One Rainy
Wish" is outstanding. The dynamic range on the end section of "Bold as Love"
will astound you--it's that good. Bass response is much better on the LP, which
makes the CD sound shallow by comparison. The vinyl inherently hides the tape
hiss better than the CD.
In terms of packaging and sound quality, the CD doesn't compare to the LP. All
the photos from the CD booklet are included in the LP booklet, although some are
in a different format (color vs. black & white), or cropped to fit, etc. The CD
booklet is missing the lyrics to the last four songs. Complete lyrics are
included on the inside of the LP's gatefold cover. In addition, the CD booklet
is formatted in such a way that you can't see the complete outer cover art
unless you either take your booklet apart or buy two CDs. The only thing the CD
has that isn't found in the LP booklet are the portions of Jimi's handwritten
lyrics to "Bold as Love" and "Up from the Skies."
Electric Ladyland is considered by many to be Hendrix's best work. Many people
consider it the best double album ever released -- by anyone. When you listen to
the tracks spread over this 1968 double album, it's hard to disagree. The album
contains some of his best work; inspired jamming throughout, and aural
landscapes that seemingly come from another world. Unfortunately, the one thing
it never had was good sound quality. Jimi publicly stated that he was not happy
with the mix. "We went on tour right before we finished and actually cut it," he
said. "We mixed it and produced it, and then when it was time for them to press
it, they screwed it up because they didn't know what we wanted. There's 3D sound
on there that you can't even appreciate now, because they didn't cut it
properly. They thought it was out of phase."
During his tape search, John McDermott's journeys took him to Shaggy Dog Studios
in Massachusetts. Alan Douglas had all the masters shipped there from Electric
Lady Studios. Due to unpaid bills, several tapes ended up being abandoned --
including the flat masters for Electric Ladyland. Some of the reels were
misfiled, but Kramer was able to identify his handwriting on the boxes. The
sound on the new disc isn't on the same level as the first two albums, but it's
considerably better than any of the previous CDs. The EH vinyl is better still.
The soundstage is much wider, and all the instruments and vocal tracks are more
defined. Most of the songs have better bass response, and overall, the vinyl has
a much fuller sound to it.
Jimi's soulful vocals on "Have You Ever Been (to Electric Ladyland)" now have an
openness that is unmatched on any of the previous CDs. Always adventurous in the
studio, Jimi used a comb and a piece of paper to get the kazoo sound on
"Crosstown Traffic." He recorded "Voodoo Chile"--the crown jewel of his blues
repertoire--live in the studio. There are a few songs in particular that sound
better than the rest of the CD. Lucky for us, this is one of them. During the
mastering process, Kramer was able to restore some of the 3D effects on "Gypsy
Eyes." Eddie elaborates, "If you listen very closely on headphones, it will seem
as though the kick drum is moving around your head."
The epic "1983" was his classical masterwork, clocking in (correctly now) at
almost 14 minutes. Previous CD releases had the track misindexed (the next
'song' began in the wrong place), but EH fixed it for the new disc. The songs
making up the third side of the album are musically and sonically outstanding.
"Still Raining, Still Dreaming" picks up where "Rainy Day, Dream Away" left
off. "Rainy Day" gets things warmed up, and then "Still Raining" comes along
and just blows you away. The sound on this track is much more open & loose
than before.
The packaging on the Electric Ladyland LP is beautiful. There are eight pages of
Jimi's handwritten notes to the label, explaining how he wants the cover to
look, etc., plus all the photos from the original album. The CD booklet, on the
other hand, is awful. Several pictures from the LP booklet are missing, and the
ones that do appear look like they've been photocopied three or four times.
Neither of the booklets include lyrics.
In early 1969, Hendrix arrived in London to announce plans for his next album.
Unfortunately, the public and critical impression of Jimi had changed. People
were calling him washed up, and past his prime. They weren't interested in the
music anymore; they wanted a show. Jimi had grown tired of all the theatrics on
stage. To him, the music is what mattered most. The breakup of the Experience
left him even more vulnerable. It seemed like nothing he could do would be able
to top the first three albums. First Rays of the New Rising Sun doesn't top his
work with the Experience, but it clearly shows that Jimi was in the midst of a
creative rejuvenation.
All the songs on First Rays have been previously released on posthumous albums.
However, this is the first time they have all appeared together the way Jimi
intended them (his handwritten notes were used as a reference). Alan Douglas put
Voodoo Soup together with the same idea in mind--creating what was supposed to
be Jimi's "last" album. To the dismay of the fans, what he ended up with was
little more than a remixing nightmare. Nine of the tracks from Voodoo Soup
appear on First Rays, but there are some major differences between the two. Not
just in sound quality, but also in the running times. Five of the songs are
longer on First Rays, mainly due to longer intros. All the tracks appearing on
both CDs have better sound on the new CD.
Voodoo Soup had Jimi's lead guitar channel switched on "Freedom." The new
version has the lead back where it should be (although there is a bit of
distortion on the first high note), and the drums are much clearer now. "Night
Bird Flying" (written for the late WNEW disk jockey, Alison Steele, a.k.a. The
Night Bird) is one of only four songs that Jimi had completed for the album. On
Voodoo Soup, this track was compressed beyond belief. On First Rays, the
soundstage is wide open and you can hear all the instruments clearly. "Room Full
of Mirrors" was a muddy mess on Voodoo Soup. The mix on First Rays is much less
cluttered. You can hear all the intricate drum fills that used to be buried,
plus the song is now 12 seconds longer.
"Ezy Rider" is the most problematic track on the CD. The first few seconds are
missing--on the CD and the vinyl. Overall, the song has a warmer sound than it
did on Voodoo Soup, but Jimi's vocals are still too far back in the mix.
"Drifting" is missing the last few seconds of the song (faded early to hide tape
hiss). However, the sound is warm, and the bass response is excellent. The First
Rays version of "In From the Storm" has the pre-song studio chatter that was
previously omitted. Also, the panning effect on the guitar is much more
noticeable now. First Rays comes to a close with Jimi's last studio recording,
"Belly Button Window." The song has slightly more high end than before, but
aside from that, it isn't much different.
In general, the sound quality on First Rays is better than Voodoo Soup. At high
volumes, though, it seems a bit harsh. The vinyl pressing is a bit warmer than
the CD, but it's still not what it should be (compared to the other albums).
There's no real difference between the CD and LP booklets for First Rays, aside
from the size. Even though the sound quality is not as good, Voodoo Soup has a
few songs that are sorely missing from First Rays. "Pali Gap" comes to mind, as
does "The New Rising Sun," and "Peace in Mississippi." On the other hand, First
Rays has "Straight Ahead" and "Hey Baby" (which sounds better than ever). Like I
said, give and take.
When all is said and done, the new Hendrix albums and CDs are better than
anything that's previously been available. The CDs have a higher output level
than the previous versions, as well as a new sense of openness and clarity. The
albums are even better. You get to experience the feeling of holding a new album
in your hands, the smell of the vinyl. You can fully appreciate the artwork that
way, also, whether it's a gatefold cover or a booklet that comes with it -
sometimes the CD format just doesn't cut it.
The next few years should prove very fruitful for Hendrix fans. According to
McDermott, there will be an album of BBC material, and a sequel to the Band of
Gypsies album. There are plans for a concert disc of the legendary 1969
performances at London's Royal Albert Hall, as well as a possible 3-tape home
video release taken from these shows. For this project, EH is working with the
same team that made The Beatles Anthology. As each succeeding rock generation
discovers Jimi's music, his legacy will live on forever.
____________________________________________________________________________
ON THE CUTTING EDGE: The Meridians Set the Pace
Interviewed by Paul Remington
Q) What do you get when you gather a tuba, a trombone, a flugelhorn, two
trumpets and a percussionist together, and have them prodigiously perform
a surprisingly diverse selection of material?
A) The Meridian Arts Ensemble.
Celebrating their tenth year, the Meridian Arts Ensemble is more active and
prolific than ever, spending almost six months out of the year touring,
preparing and solidifying material for recorded release, commissioning new
material, and adding new arrangements to their repertoire. While other brass
quintets share the same format as the Meridians, none approach their craft
in quite the same way.
The Meridians' motivation is simple: they stay true to their artistic
creativity and farsightedness, not their commercial appeal. Their own
creative ear defines the repertoire; a repertoire not solely based on what
sells, or what's popular, but what appeals to the ears and interest of each
band member. As the liner notes to their latest CD, Anxiety of Influence,
attests, "All artists seek their own creative identity or voice. This
process often begins with emulation and imitation of the models already
established. But the process can also involve rejection of that which has
come before. This desire, this need to be different and new, this distancing
from one's artistic forebears, is the anxiety of influence."
As a result of this motivation, their music is as varied and diverse as each
of their musical backgrounds and interests. Trombonist Ben Herrington, for
instance, is as well versed and comfortable talking about the rock music of
today as he is talking about 19th and 20th century composers. One gets the
feeling that anything goes with this ensemble, from Bach to Hendrix, Albinoni
to Zappa, and everything in-between.
Many brass ensembles feature a stock repertoire of material that is clearly
suited to satisfy the known interests of the classical consumer market.
Often times, we see the same popular symphonic or "pops" pieces rearranged,
offering little-to-nothing new except a different arrangement.
So, where does a music enthusiast find an ensemble performing something other
than brass arrangements of "West Side Story", or material by Mozart, Barber,
Debussy, Ravel, or Cole Porter? There is very little on the market to satisfy
those interested in truly "new" music. Let's limit our scope to brass
quintets. This narrows our selection considerably, and out of the
collection of brass quintets currently performing and/or recording, the
Meridian Arts Ensemble immediately bubbles to the surface.
The Meridian Arts Ensemble came into prominence after winning the 1990
Concert Artists Guild New York Competition. Their 1990 award resulted in
a recording contract with Channel Classics records. Owner and producer
Jared Sacks provided invaluable support for the ensemble, giving them carte
blanche on the selection of recorded repertoire. Sacks created a new
division of Channel Classics called Channel Crossings, devoted exclusively
to the Meridian Arts Ensemble, and groups with a similar musical mindset.
Since their 1990 award, the Meridians have released six CDs (with another
pending release), and have gained worldwide acceptance. In 1994, they
received the ASCAP/Chamber Music America Adventurous Programming Award,
establishing them as one of the most individualistic and unique chamber
ensembles in the business today.
Their contribution to 20th century music is not confined to adventurous
programming of musical repertoire. The Meridians are also known for their
commissioning of new works. Through the help of grants and private support,
they have collaborated with and commissioned new material from modern
composers such as Milton Babbit, Stephen Barber, Elliot Carter, and most
recently, Rob Maggio. Their collaboration with Frank Zappa, just prior to his
death, is now legendary and has had a profound impact on their repertoire.
The Meridians' contributions expand into the realms of education. Tours
frequently consist of master classes at universities and institutions, and
educating audiences during live concerts about each piece shares their
knowledge with their audience.
Each member has very specific ideas on how to present a repertoire during a
live performance. Through a personal approach, addressing the audience
between pieces, they have developed a natural knack for finding common
ground between themselves and their audience. This proves to be very
effective at eliminating the inevitable stage/audience barrier built-in
to most concert facilities.
Whether arranging, composing, collaborating, commissioning, performing or
recording, the Meridians are redefining a repertoire and style that will
have an effect for decades to come. The Meridian Arts Ensemble is the
cutting edge of modern brass quintets.
In early March, 1997, I met with four of the six members of the ensemble the
evening after their performance at Slee Chamber Hall on the SUNY Buffalo
campus in Amherst, New York. Their performance received a rousing ovation.
Feeling rested and content the following morning, over coffee, John Ferrari
(drums), Dan Grabois (flugelhorn), Ben Herrington (trombone), and Ray Stewart
(tuba) talked about music and their contribution to an artistic platform they
continue to refine and define. Jon Nelson [trumpet] also makes a very brief
but welcome appearance.
* * *
Cosmik: Where did it all begin? Tell me how the whole ensemble started.
Stewart: Jon [Nelson, trumpet] contacted me and asked if I wanted to be part
of a quintet. I said, "Yeah, sure." I had just graduated from graduate
school. I said, "I just met a trombone player, Ben Herrington, who just
moved into the area. He's probably looking for something to do," like
playing in a quintet. And, sure enough, he was. So, Jon called me, I
called Ben, and we took it from there.
Cosmik: So, the original personnel was you, Jon, Ben, and . . .
Stewart: Well, this was ten years ago, so the personnel was slightly
different. The other two members were Rolf Holly on trumpet and Tracy
Leonard on French Horn.
Cosmik: You didn't record with them, did you?
Stewart: No.
Cosmik: The ensemble has been a big advocate for adventurous programming.
Did that result over time, or was that an objective from the start?
Stewart: Yes... the intention of the group was to play interesting music,
and play it the way we wanted to. There was some inner struggle with Jon
and Ben and myself with playing for conductors and just sitting in the
back row of an orchestra, if we were lucky. If we started our own group,
we could decide immediately what we wanted to play, how we wanted to play
it, when to rehearse... there was more freedom that way, just to start
your group. There's more artistic freedom.
Cosmik: It's interesting to see the diversity of material. I mean, to arrange
and release material by Hendrix and material by Bach--that's quite a bold
move.
Stewart: Well, the arranging and writing came a little bit later. We started
with heavy pieces. We started with Lutoslawski and others. We were playing
some of the traditional brass quintets. We played a lot of Bach
arrangements. One of the pieces we played last night, "Acht Stucke" [Paul
Hindemith], was actually on our very first recital, on December 1, 1987, in
a church in New York.
Cosmik: So, it's been ten years. I'm sure it doesn't seem that long.
[Pause--Stewart smiles and Grabois laughs]
Stewart: Yes and no. In some ways yes, in some ways no.
Cosmik: Marilyn Nonkin [pianist, co-founder and director of Ensemble 21 in
New York City] has said "It's not enough to play well and pick good
pieces, what's necessary is imagination and programming. The Meridian
Arts Ensemble's programs stand out as being particularly creative." Such
high praise from another New York based ensemble is something worth
noting. New York is known for its musically competitive atmosphere. How
does the Meridian Arts Ensemble match-up against other New York based
ensembles?
Ferrari: I think there's a little bit of a difference between our group and
Ensemble 21. Ensemble 21 was formed by her and composer Jason Eckardt.
What started out as a composers' collective collaboration, I guess they
would hire musicians for each concert. So, the term "ensemble" should be
loosely used in that regard. It's not always the same musicians doing the
same material on every concert.
Herrington: I don't know how we're doing compared to the other groups in the
city. We...
Cosmik: Well, you don't really center yourself in the city. You tour around.
Herrington: That's right, we live in the city, but we only play in the city
maybe three times a year, give or take a concert or two.
Ferrari: And that's about how many concerts Ensemble 21 does, only in New
York--they have a series in New York. So, that's not a group that would
go on tour. A tour would not be likely for them.
Herrington: I definitely think there are not too many groups that are doing
the kind of diversity that we do and are playing the number of concerts
we're doing all over. I think we're a unique band in that respect.
Cosmik: In terms of deciding material that is adopted into your repertoire,
is that done collectively? Do each of you have equal say?
Herrington: We have equal say. Repertoire is always, probably, one of the
biggest issues of discussion in the group. We're always discussing how to
interpret the repertoire we're playing, and also how to seek out new
repertoire, and everyone contributes to that conversation.
Cosmik: I've noticed it's not just within the group that material is selected,
you also accept material from outside submissions. For instance, last
night, after the concert, a composer presented Jon Nelson his work
backstage, asking him to consider it for inclusion in your repertoire.
Is that a routine that you receive material following concerts?
Herrington: Yeah, it is pretty routine.
Cosmik: Are you impressed with what's been submitted?
Herrington: Sometimes. Sometimes it's garbage. We have a big huge pile of
music that we have read through that we just hated that we have asked
them if we could read some of their music, or they have asked us to read
through it. We try to have an open mind, because we're always searching
for new literature. But, we have a huge growing pile of music that we're
not interested in playing.
Cosmik: But you hang on to it; you don't throw it away.
Herrington: Well, yeah, you know... rather than throw it away, maybe someday
someone else may be interested in reading them again.
Cosmik: You also deal in the commissioning of works, which is interesting.
You seem to have it all. You have the performance, you have the programming,
you have people presenting you with material, you write your own material,
you arrange your own material, you commission material. What more is there
to do?
Herrington: Well, that's the idea, to try and draw from as many different
sources for the material that we play. We're always looking for the
highest quality musical selections that we can find. There's an
experimental element in that also. You're looking for that music, but
always looking sort of implies that you're not always going to find a
great piece of music, and some of our repertoire is better than others.
Some of the experiments work better than others. But, the idea is that
we're always trying to seek out new material, and find the good material
to play and keep it in our permanent repertoire.
Cosmik: Tell me about Channel Classics records. They've been a great support
to the ensemble, and you seem to be putting out a CD every eight to ten
months.
Stewart: I guess we've averaged about one a year, as of the Fall of this year
[1997], or maybe more... let's see. [Pauses to think] 1991 to 1997 we've
released seven CDs, so that's seven CDs over the span of about six and a
half years, maybe. Our fourth and fifth CDs ["Prime Meridian" and "Five"]
came out in the same year. They came out within months of each other. So
it just seems that they're just coming out in a flurry.
Grabois: We're not on a schedule as far as the CDs. When we're ready to
record a CD we go record it, and then when it's ready to be released we
release it. But we don't have a master plan that we're going to release
a CD a year.
Cosmik: What is the deciding factor that determines when you're ready to
release your next CD? Is that based on your developed repertoire or when
Channel Classics Records is ready?
Grabois: We decide when the repertoire is ready, and we have the kind of
repertoire that makes a coherent CD.
Herrington: Also, when we have enough new repertoire that we want to make a
new record. A lot of the CDs are like snapshots in time as far as our
repertoire. It depends on what we're we playing at that time? What were
the pieces that we were programming during our concerts, and so what was
polished and ready for performance decides what may be ready for recording.
That also has a lot to do with what determines what ends up on the CDs.
Cosmik: As far as new music, you guys are very much on the cutting edge of
what's being composed for brass ensemble. Composer David Diamond has said
"Composers don't compose for the now, they compose for the future." Would
you agree with that, and do you think of it that way in terms of developing
material for the ensemble?
Grabois: Well, I think I disagree with it. I don't know what he composes for,
and I'm not really familiar with his music. When we approach a composer,
they write a piece for us and what we do. Maybe he's thinking of
posterity--that's possible--but as far as we're concerned, the piece
represents a project and a challenge. We have to learn it and perform
it, and it happens very much in the present. If we decide we like it and
want to record it, then it becomes a future project as well. But, we're
not so concerned with leaving a legacy as we are trying to make good
concerts and good records. So, I think whatever the composers attitude
is, as far as we're concerned, is almost immaterial, because we're
concerned with the actual piece and the actual concerts and the actual
recordings.
Cosmik: Take me thorough the rehearsal of a new piece. You get a new piece
you decide you're going to learn. Obviously you have to practice it and
get it performance-ready. Do you have a set schedule which all of you
follow, and a process you go through with each piece?
Grabois: Nope.
Cosmik: For instance, do you all work on your own parts individually then
collectively get together, or do you all get together first, discuss it
with the composer, decide how it should be approached and presented, then
go off and learn the parts before getting back together?
Grabois: We usually hand out parts, everyone does what he needs to do to
look through the part, we get together... we don't have a process, we
just start to work. We try to figure out what the composer wants and also
what we think sounds good, and the piece grows almost like a human being
grows. It starts as nothing and it takes shape. We had comments from Rob
Maggio, whose piece we premiered last night, and his piece is now in the
middle of its evolution and will continue to grow, his comments will help
us figure out what he wants, and we'll figure out more and more as we
perform it what we want. A piece hasn't really taken shape until it's
been performed 15 or 20 times.
Cosmik: Last night, after the gig, while talking with Rob Maggio, you were
discussing different ideas relating to his composition. I know, a lot of
composers, after they hear the premier of their work, will sit down and
revise the work. Objectively, I would think that would be an exciting
aspect of what you're doing; to be able to communicate with these
composers.
Herrington: It is, very much! That's one of the great things about working
with composers that are still alive.
Cosmik: Where do you see the future of 20th century music going?
Ferrari: To the 21st century. [Laughter]
Herrington: I think that classical music and jazz music, and a lot of other
kinds of styles have come to a point where the development of new forms
of expression within those styles has been accelerated to the point where
everything is moving very quickly. Everybody's searching for something
unique and new, and I think that we've come to a point in the development
in the world community to where I see the future of these musics coming
together, and I think the people who are going to be doing the most
innovation in future music are those that can combine elements of the
music of different cultures and different sets of aesthetics and combine
them to make something new. And, that's what has always been done. For
instance, classical composers have always taken influences from the folk
music of their region--Bartok, Stravinsky, everybody, even back as far as
Bach and Mozart, have done that. But now, I think the crossover, or the
cross-influences, are maybe more pronounced than they used to be.
Cosmik: It seems the diversity is much more prominent than in Bach's day,
for instance.
Herrington: Yeah, and I think it's because it's so easy for everyone to hear
music from the other side of the world. All you have to do is turn on the
radio. If you're lucky, maybe there'll be a good public radio station in
your town where you can hear interesting music that's not just the
industry "same-old-same-old", but you can go to your record store.
There's always a huge World Music section in your major record stores
these days. The influence of Latin music is becoming more important in
this country. So, I see the most innovations coming from the combining
of different styles to try and create something new.
Cosmik: You all have been big proponents of that philosophy, and based on
the audience reaction during last night's concert, they really embraced
the material you selected and performed.
Ferrari: It was nice of them to be that acceptant. [Laughs]
Herrington: They're not always that acceptant!
Stewart: No.
Cosmik: They're not?
Grabois: No.
Cosmik: In general, do you usually receive such acceptance from your audience?
Ferrari: We generally get a good response. But sometimes everything isn't
always everybody's cup of tea, which, I guess, is okay.
Cosmik: But, isn't that one of the nice things about diversity? I mean, if
one piece really turns somebody off, the next piece may really turn them
on. Whereas, if you have one fixed format and somebody doesn't care for
that format, they're lost for the whole concert.
Ferrari: Yeah.
Herrington: That is true.
Ferrari: The one thing that makes the programming of musical repertoire
different compared to what an art museum might display is that if you
pay a dollar to get into an art museum, you could stare at or not stare
at the painting for as long as you want or don't want to, and move on.
For a concert, people are paying eight, 10, 15 or more dollars for a
ticket, and a piece is as long as it is and they have to sit there for
as long as it is, unless they want to leave. So, it's a difficult kind
of balance.
Stewart: I got a warm feeling from the audience last night.
Ferrari: Yeah, they were great.
Stewart: I felt they were somewhat educated about the Meridian Arts Ensemble.
They seemed to have brought to the hall some sort of history between
themselves and us. They seemed to know what to expect, and they embraced
everything we gave them. At least that was my feeling. They were very
acceptant of everything, and we didn't hit them over the head with our
20 minute [Milton] Babbitt piece, but I think they could have handled it
very nicely.
Ferrari: Yeah, they probably would have.
Stewart: Another thing that I liked from last night was there were program
notes in the program, in print, that the people could read at their leisure,
but we also gave some notes from the stage, which were also, maybe,
redundant, but I think in this case the redundancy worked in our favor
because it just further enforced what we were about. They read it, and they
heard it from the stage, and I felt they enjoyed the whole evening, as a
whole, much more because they had it in print in their hand and then we
also spoke from stage, on certain pieces.
Cosmik: That's something I really enjoyed--when Dan [Grabois] came up and gave
some historical background to the following piece. I think audiences respond
very positively towards that approach. They have a better understanding
about the piece which helps them appreciate it, and makes it interesting.
That seems to be another thing that you're about--educating the public
while providing a personal touch.
Grabois: Well, you have to learn how to do that, because you can not explain
a piece of music. There's no such thing as explaining a piece of music. And,
I think we've all found that there's a real limit to the amount you tell
people, like, "Listen for X," or "Listen for Y." That's, basically, a
pretty unhealthy way of introducing a piece, and you have to find something
that gives the piece a context, or sparks a little interest in the piece
within the listener without being a bully and telling them how to listen.
We've been working on that for 10 years. We'll get better at it as time
goes by.
Cosmik: I think you could draw them in through the history of the piece.
Grabois: That's a lot of it. Also, people like to see the personality of the
performers. We're in a world now where people don't go to concerts much.
People watch television and they listen to CDs, and they don't necessarily
have a sense of performers as human beings, and they like to see that.
And if you stand up and say something funny, or something human, they love
it. And they should, because performers are just people. Somebody was
saying last night--maybe it was you--that it would be really great to just
be able to sit up on the stage right next to the performer while they're
playing, and that would be a really cool way to play a concert. But, you
can't do that when there's 400 people in the audience. What you can do is
come to them by speaking to them as a person rather than as some world
expert on the music of Gesualdo, or whatever, which we aren't anyway.
Cosmik: Right, and you're not alienating yourselves from the audience by
thinking of them as just the audience. I mean, you're going outside the
musicians role by standing up and addressing the crowd as equals. You're
meeting them on common ground.
Grabois: Well, the modern concert setup for a stage is highly unsatisfactory.
There's clearly a barrier with the stage and an audience. Personally, I
don't think that's a great setup, although I understand why things work that
way.
Cosmik: What would be your idea of an optimal setup?
Grabois: Chamber music was originally developed to be played in a small room
with people hanging out and listening.
Cosmik: In a chamber.
Grabois: In a chamber. And our chambers now are gigantic. It's too alienating.
The performers don't have enough of a sense of the audience, and the
audience doesn't have a sense of the performers. If you look at some like
improvisatory theater, imagine an improvisatory group that's performing in
a small space. They interact with the audience, they'll involve the
audience. Sometimes they'll ask the audience for the next step of the
story--what's going to happen next? Now there's an involvement between the
people watching and the people performing. But, with us, we say we're going
to play these pieces and you're going to listen to them, and there's a
split. We try to lessen that split as much as we can, in whatever way
possible.
Cosmik: Do you ever play a gig where you do get that kind of setting?
Ferrari: A lot of the Master classes end up being that way.
Cosmik: I figured they probably would. I know you do a lot of Master classes,
which must be a better format for interaction.
Herrington: In Europe they have a lot of venues that are . . . one great venue,
like Dan is talking about, is the nightclub. It's very small, it's intimate,
the people are really close to you, and there are tables. You can drink a
beer or a glass of wine, or whatever you want to do, and there's an informal
air about it that, I think, makes it easier to relax and give the music an
open ear. On the other hand, sort of a down side to that is, it can be
distracting to hear glasses tinkling, and people having conversation.
[Ferrari smiles and begins noisily spinning a spoon in his empty coffee mug]
Stewart: Allright, we get the idea.
[Laughs]
Herrington: Some people are listening to the music and some people aren't. In
Europe they have a lot of venues that are the perfect blend of both the
concert hall setting and the nightclub. There's something to their
performance spaces that are more relaxed. They look like a modern nightclub,
but, at the same time, I think people are used to hearing performances there
and not just a background band. So, there's a respect for the musicians as
they're performing. I think, over there, they really have that venue down.
They know how to make that just the right performance setting.
Cosmik: Do you find the acceptance of the audience is increased when you're in
a setting like that? Last night, the audience certainly was receptive to
your approach, and was very acceptant, yet the setting was certainly not as
relaxed and intimate as the European venues you described.
Grabois: The easier the format the easier it works out. When we play at Master
classes and have students sitting next to us--practically in our laps--It's
very easy to engage them. In a situation like last night where we're in a
stage in a large hall it's harder, but everything worked out great last
night, as it often does.
Herrington: I think, also, one of the things about last night was that the
acoustics really were fantastic in that hall.
Grabois: I think the ideal setup would be that music is not something you pay
for. It's free and it's going on somewhere and you go and listen and
participate in some way, not by playing along, necessarily, but, you want to
go hear some music and you go and you sit wherever you want. You're involved
in some way. In our society, we have to earn a living, so . . .
Herrington: Music is a product.
Grabois: . . . it's a product. You pay to go hear it, and that sullies it, in
a way. But, there's ways to make concert situations work. And it's nice when
they do.
Cosmik: You've played all over the world, do you have any specific countries
that you favor?
Grabois: Holland.
[Stewart laughs]
Ferrari: I love Holland.
Cosmik: And why is that?
Ferrari: Great response from those folks. The crowds really, honestly seem to
dig us and show that appreciation at our concerts.
Cosmik: In what way? I mean, is it as an explosion of applause afterwards?
Herrington: Sometimes, yeah . . . a lot of times. I think that they have a
much longer tradition of the arts in Holland--all over Europe. The people
are a whole lot more familiar with the concept of going out to seek out
stimulating, artistic, entertainment. But, entertainment that has more than
just a surface entertaining quality. There's such a tradition for art on so
many other levels over there that I think it's in the culture. But, not only
that, the humanities, basically, are taught in schools in Europe. People are
exposed to a whole lot more diversity in music and art, and I think that
they are taught in their schools an appreciation and respect for the process
of creating art. I think that, what Dan said earlier, in this country music
is thought of, in many ways, as a product. People separate the artist from
the product . . . you know, the art. Here's an interesting story that I
think illustrates what I'm talking about: Some friends of mine from my home
town came to visit me in New York. We went to the Museum of Modern Art. And,
I couldn't seem to explain to them, as we were looking at all those
beautiful paintings, how seeing those paintings made me want to know, and
feel like actually I did know, the artists that painted them. They looked
at the paintings as though they were pictures, and even said, "Now, I like
this picture." "This picture's pretty." That was great that they could
appreciate it on that level, but it was frustrating for me to try and
explain the connection between the work of art and the artist that created
it. The crown jewel on that day was, at the end of the day, my friend
Brenda looked at the beautiful painting and she said, "Now, what I can't
get over is how beautiful all these frames are."
[Laughs]
Herrington: She looked at the frames! She was looking at the frames!
Ferrari: [Laughing] Like, that was the thing that she couldn't get over.
Herrington: Yeah, so . . . I think that in the schools and in the culture in
the United States we don't teach an appreciation for the process of creating
a piece of art, or music, or whatever.
Cosmik: With that in mind, there has to be a difference in the makeup of your
audience between the United States and Europe. How have you assessed that
difference? What is your audience? It's not 18 to 24 year olds in the
United States, is it?
Grabois: That's a good question. That's the issue.
Herrington: That's a question we've been trying to figure out for some time.
Cosmik: And, you still haven't been able to answer it.
Stewart: Who is our audience? Whoever will come.
Ferrari: Last night seemed like a petty good cross section, demographic of the
kind of people who come to our concerts.
Stewart: Yeah.
Cosmik: I was looking at that. There were people of all ages attending.
Grabois: University audiences tend to be very good. The music that we play,
some of it is very challenging. And, as Ben [Herrington] said, there's not
really any music education anymore in schools in America. People don't have
. . . I hate to use the word "sophisticated," but there's not a better one
that I can think of. A lot of people don't tend to have sophisticated
musical tastes, and we played a piece like "Moo Shu Rap Wrap", which has
some really hard parts in it. It's not like listening to pop music at all.
I mean, some of it is like listening to pop music. Or we play music that
you don't need an education, but you need a certain kind of mind to listen
to it. And, people at universities tend to come closer to that. I've found,
or observed, that in Europe, the general public appreciates us more than
the general public in America.
Cosmik: Do you feel the music the youth of America are exposed to by the media
affects what groups they follow? I mean, you turn on the radio and most of
what's played on the airwaves is rock music, and there's not an abundance
of diversity for exposure in rock.
Grabois: Yeah, but you'll hear some unbelievable crap on the radio in Europe.
Cosmik: Really?
Grabois: Oh my God!
Cosmik: But, aren't they exposed to a broader spectrum of music than the youth
of America, and could that constitute the lack of public acceptance here in
the States compared to Europe?
Ferrari: That's hard to say. I mean, with all the discussion about how much
more the Europeans seem to appreciate what we do, or art I general, it is
pretty interesting to turn on the television in the hotel room, or walk into
a café bar, or whatever, and most of the music is techno-disco, and the
television is playing . . . you know.
Grabois: American sitcoms. [Laughs]
Herrington: Americans don't have a monopoly on bad taste. That's not what we're
saying here.
Cosmik: They don't? Now, that's my cynicism. I know how I grew up. Thanks to a
musically minded family, I was exposed to a lot of different forms of
music. But, I pretty much centered on what my peers centered on, and what
they centered on was what was proliferated on the AM and FM bands, much of
which was not sophisticated.
Herrington: I think that the Europeans certainly have plenty of bad taste also.
But, I think that what you said earlier, that there is more opportunity for
people to get exposed to higher quality music and art in Europe, I think,
than in the Unites States--definitely, by far! And everybody certainly
understands the need and has an appreciation for a great art museum, or a
local opera company, or a local symphony, or a place where you can go and
listen to live music. Those places are a whole lot more abundant in Europe
then they are in the United States.
Grabois: I think you'd have a hard time in Europe finding a lot of people who
were unwilling to pay $8 a year, or whatever it is that we end up paying
per person on our taxes for the NEA [National Endowment for the Arts].
People believe in subsidizing the arts in Europe. And people in America
believe what they see on the news, and if Orrin Hatch gets on the news and
says, "Your tax money is supporting pornography and, therefore, we should
shut down the NEA," people believe it. And, maybe people aren't aware that
the average portion of their tax bill that goes to fund the NEA is around
80-something cents.
Cosmik: That seems awful low. They ask for a presidential campaign donation
of $1 on our tax forms, and that's even higher.
Grabois: Yes, it is low, and the NEA is very poorly funded. You don't have
that situation in Europe. You have people willing to pay for social
services, you have people who are willing to support the poor, and who are
happy to support the arts, because they think the arts are important. So,
things are scary in America because there's no education in schools. The
schools are broke too, because no one wants to pay for public education
either. So, I don't know what's going to happen.
Cosmik: Where does the Meridian Arts Ensemble's support come from? I know you
get grants.
Grabois: We get grants for commissioning and for records and we get concert
fees. But, it's a bleak future because the concert presenters are surely
getting their money from the NEA. If there's no NEA, that's less money for
us, although ultimately we've never gotten a grant directly from the NEA.
So, classical music is not a money making operation. It's society enhancing.
When Lincoln Center was built, it paid for itself very quickly because
businesses bloomed were Lincoln Center was, and the arts always have that
effect. The immediate effect of the arts is always a loss of money, and if
you live in a culture where the immediate gain of money is the definition
of "good," then you're not going to have classical art forms.
Cosmik: So, I guess the logical question would be, why did each of you choose
this as your vocation? It wasn't for monetary reasons, obviously.
Grabois: We chose it because we love it.
Ferrari: The thing about being a professional musician, or choosing to be a
professional musician--which is, arguably, an insane decision to make--you
find it's something you have to do. There's really nothing else I would
imagine doing as a career.
Cosmik: It's as much a labor of love as it is a career choice.
Ferrari: Yeah, and if I teach students and they're thinking of going to
college for music, the basic question I would pose to them is, music is a
difficult career choice, but if it's something you feel you have to do,
then go for it. It sort of chooses you, you don't always choose it. At
least, that's the case for me and many musicians I know. I can't speak for
anyone else here.
Herrington: Me too.
Grabois: People become monks also. People become things that they believe in.
Herrington: I've never had anything in my life that is as much fun as playing
music. It's so much fun. Even though it's difficult to make a living.
There's all kinds of problems becoming a professional musician. I guess,
for me, the bottom line is, when I go on stage to perform with this band, I
have a great time. It's almost like it feels like a sin to take money for
that. I'm just having fun.
Ferrari: I don't feel that guilty about it. [Smiles]
[Laughter]
Herrington: [Smiles] Don't get me wrong.
Cosmik: In general, what are some of the obstacles you've dealt with in an
attempt to stay afloat financially?
Ferrari: Having enough gigs to make enough money to live, which mostly, for
a musician, means being as busy as possible.
Cosmik: How much time are you on the road a year?
Ferrari: With this group, we're now averaging about three or four months, if
you add up all the weeks.
Cosmik: How much time do you spend performing in the states compared to abroad?
Ferrari: It's more in the states.
Herrington: Actually, this year it's going to be more like . . . more than
four months.
Cosmik: Talking with one of the Eastman School of Music brass faculty members,
I was told there weren't more then three or so brass ensembles with a
sit-down drummer performing/recording. Is that true? How many ensembles are
you aware of that have the same structured unit as the Meridian Arts
Ensemble?
Stewart: I don't know, maybe one or two . . . I don't know.
Ferrari: There was a group named the Dallas Brass that might have gone out a
little bit for a few tours, or made a record or so with a
drummer/percussionist . . .
Herrington: Rhythm and Brass. It's the second version of the Dallas Brass, and
is almost the same band.
Ferrari: The Canadian Brass . . . I think they made a record with a drummer
playing Dixieland.
Cosmik: Not all your releases feature a drummer.
Stewart: Not every release. There's no drummer on "Five".
Herrington: Three of our releases are without drums.
Grabois: "Five", "Visions of the Renaissance", and the Winning Artist Series
[premier release, "Brass Quintet"].
Stewart: When our new release comes out, four of the seven pieces will have
drums.
Cosmik: The musical format, with a sit-down drummer, opens you up to a more
select type of material.
Stewart: I would say so. In terms of adding percussion to the group . . .
the Dallas Brass--I think they had percussion in their group, but it was
more of an aural enhancer. It was like, chimes here, Glockenspiel here, for
effect, you know. Maybe a snare drum in a Holst march or something. But,
we've pretty much utilized the talents of a very talented drummer.
Ferrari: Shucks! [Smiles]
Stewart: That means playing the drum set, al-la rock, and also playing
percussion, with a full battery of percussion.
Cosmik: It's not just a secondary additive, it's a legitimate part of the
composition.
Stewart: Absolutely!
Ferrari: And much of that has to do with the repertoire. The Dallas Brass may
have done "West Side Story" . . .
Herrington: They did some pop stuff.
Ferrari: . . . yeah, more of a pop repertoire.
Cosmik: Have you ever received any feedback from any of these ensembles?
Herrington: We met a group called the Rhythm and Brass. They're a good group.
Ferrari: We've crossed paths on tour.
Herrington: But, they're a whole different band than us. They don't play the
same kind of stuff that we play. But, they're good guys. We were passing
through Fayetteville, Arkansas at the same time one year. We played a
nightclub after our concert hall venue that day. We played a dive nightclub
that night, and they came to that show and were very complementary.
Grabois: If you think of the program that we played last night, Jon Nelson's
piece, "Dream of Miles", was written with the drum set as an integral part.
Rob Maggio's piece, which was premiered, was written with the drum set as an
integral part; "Moo Shu Rap Wrap" by Su Lian Tan, likewise; my piece,
"Migration", likewise. The Zappa pieces ["Marqueson's Chicken" and "The
Black Page"] are arrangements, but right there you have four pieces--without
the Zappa pieces--that were commissioned by the group and written with the
drum set as an integral part, and I think that's unique. What we're doing
is unique. We think that it's a good combination. In Haydn's time, he
started writing music for two violins, viola and cello because he thought
it was a good combination, and he was right, and now there's an unbelievable
repertoire for the string quartet.
Cosmik: It became an accepted form.
Grabois: It became accepted because it worked and a repertoire has been
building for two hundred years. Now, we consider that we've stumbled on a
combination that's also really good. We're trying to start building
repertoire. Only time will tell if it catches on, but for us it works. So,
if other groups want to do it, that's great. If they don't want to do it,
that's great too. But, that's what we do because we think it works.
Ferrari: Of course, as the percussionist, I'll just say that anything works
good if you add
percussion.
[Laughs]
Cosmik: When you consider all the various ensembles performing and recording
today, are there any that stand out to each of you as a real class act?
Herrington: I'm impressed and have been inspired by a string quartet called
the Kronos String Quartet. People have compared us to them. We're not
trying to copy the Kronos String Quartet by any stretch of the imagination.
But, I think that if the Kronos String Quartet hadn't done what they did
when they did it . . . I think that they've taken so many chances with new
music and different styles of music, that they're pioneers. If they hadn't
been able to do what they did, I don't think we'd be doing what we're doing.
Cosmik: So, it's progressive, with one ensemble influencing the other.
Ferrari: It's flattering to be compared to them.
Cosmik: At the same time, I'm certain others will be influenced by what you're
doing . . .
Herrington: Well, I hope so!
Cosmik: I think the most flattering thing would be to see other ensembles pop
up utilizing the same ensemble format as the Meridian's, and performing some
of the same original material.
Grabois: I had a very satisfying experience--I teach at a university. One of
my students asked if--for her lesson--I would coach a chamber group she was
playing with. I said, yes, of course. The piece they were playing was a
piece we had commissioned. It wasn't a piece with drums, but it was a piece
we commissioned, and that was a great feeling. Here's a piece we caused to
come into being is gonna be a part of their repertoire. It's cool.
Ferrari: What piece?
Grabois: It was [John] Halle's "Soft Shoe".
Cosmik: How did you first become associated with Frank Zappa?
Grabois: What happened was . . . we had a friend who passed us a . . . no one
had heard much of Zappa's music. I guess . . . Ray . . . did you hear
Zappa's music once, live?
Stewart: Yeah, I went to a Zappa concert.
Grabois: So, you were sort of familiar with his music. I had never heard a
single note that he wrote.
Cosmik: Really? And is that true for each of you?
Grabois: Probably, to a greater or lesser degree, people had heard a little
bit . . .
Ferrari: This was before I was in the group.
Stewart: I had Bongo Fury on 8-Track [Ferrari laughs], in, like, 8th grade.
Cosmik: And, John [Ferrari], when did you join the group?
Ferrari: I joined the group . . . three and a half years ago? [Looks towards
other members] Right?
Grabois: At least.
Ferrari: Fall of 1993.
Grabois: So, this was a tape that a friend of ours passed on to Jon [Nelson]
of Zappa's '88 band. Jon basically wore out the tape listening to it. He
passed it around and we all loved it and thought that kind of music would
work. For me, never having heard Zappa, the integration in his music of
rock and classical I thought was really amazing. I had never heard that
working so well. That's why I liked the music. Jon arranged "T'Mershi
Duween" and "Dupree's Paradise". We started playing it and that was why
we got a drummer. It was because those pieces, we thought . . . well . . .
they sound great, but they'd sound even better with a drummer. This was with
a different drummer, before we found John [Ferrari]. We started playing them
with drums, and they went over very well. It was an ideal situation where we
felt we were raising our artistic level, but at the same time we were
getting a great commercial response, which is fantastic! How often does that
happen? Not very often. Jon Nelson started arranging more and more pieces,
and that's how we got involved. We started sending tapes and our first CD
to Frank, and about nine months after sending the stuff--a couple of times
it got lost--after nine months, Frank called Jon. They had a 20 minute phone
conversation, and we got an invitation to go play for him. Shortly
thereafter we were going to LA, and we played for him then.
Cosmik: When was this?
Grabois: This was . . . well, ya got me. [Looks towards other members]
Who remembers dates?
Stewart: Frank called in January of '93, and we happened to be going out
there [Los Angeles, CA] in March of '93.
Grabois: We played for him down in the studio. We played for about an hour, and
he coached us.
Herrington: We played in the Utility Muffin Kitchen.
Cosmik: Utility Muffin Research Kitchen.
Grabois: Yes. And then, I don't know if you know of the margarita nights that
developed at his house.
Cosmik: Yes, I have. Go ahead.
Grabois: This was on a margarita night.
Cosmik: Frank would have friends over . . .
Grabois: Friends came over . . . on one of the margarita nights was when the
Chieftains and the Tuvan throat singers were there, and they collaborated.
We weren't there for that. This was a margarita night when there actually
weren't that many people around. There was a biographer who was working on
something about Frank there, and I forget who else. But, I remember that at
one point when we were working VERY hard--by the way, Frank was a very, very
serious musician--Gail came in and said the margaritas were ready, and Frank
said, "First they'll learn their parts, and then they'll have their
margaritas."
[Ferrari laughs]
Grabois: So, we worked for over an hour with him and then we went and had our
margaritas, and, for about two hours, we listened to pieces which he had
[composed] on the Synclavier.
Herrington: Some of which ended up on Civilization Phaze III.
Cosmik: And others that didn't?
Grabois: Others that underwent transformation. He was always changing and
tinkering. That was also an occasion--for myself--I heard even more the
integration of atonal music with rock that was just incredible! And he had
. . . I remember there was one piece called Goat Polo which changed by the
time we visited him a second time . . .
Cosmik: It evolved.
Grabois: It evolved. It involved the Tuvan throat singers, who he had sampled,
and . . .
Ferrari: The Chieftains.
Grabois: The Chieftains, a little bit. And, some atonal piano music he had
written, and some rock and roll kind of sounds all combined, but it worked.
It didn't sound like a collage, it sounded like a piece. It was very, very
cool. We just sat there and listened to music with him, just the way you do
when you're kids, you know, sitting around listening to music. So, that was
in the room with all the Zappa license plates. I'm sure everyone's seen it.
So that was the first time. Someone else can tell about the second time.
Cosmik: Before we get to that--you've worked with a lot of people, and have
had a lot of people work with you. How was Zappa unique to work with in
comparison to others?
Grabois: I think he was the most serious person we've ever worked with. I
didn't know what to expect. I had never met a rock person before, and he
didn't smile. He didn't crack jokes. He didn't use the word "groove" or
"vibe" or call us "man". You know? [Laughter] He was, like, "Do this!"
[Emphasizes each phrase banging fist on table] "This should be more this
way." "You're playing a wrong note." "The feel of this is wrong." It was
very serious.
Herrington: He coached us the way a university professor would coach a student
group. We went in and sat down. First, we performed the arrangements for
him . . .
Grabois: It was the Smart Went Crazy set. That was the set we were playing.
Herrington: He said, I guess, an obligatory compliment: "Well, that was very
good, now let's get to work."
Cosmik: So, he identified work to be done based on a single hearing.
Herrington: Oh yeah!
Grabois: He had amazing ears.
Stewart: He knew his music. He knew it cold, and if we missed one 16th note,
he knew about it, and he busted us on a couple of things. He said, "There's
a wrong note in there. Let's fix it. Let's hear it again." So we played it
slowly and figured out which note it was and changed it. But, we were in his
home which was also his work place, and he had this very serious way about
him. If you wanted to ask him something directly or make a comment, I found
myself thinking about what I wanted to say for about 10 minutes [Herrington
laughs] and then I would wait for the appropriate moment and then carefully
say or ask whatever it was I wanted to ask. You know, it was that kind of
aura.
Cosmik: You didn't necessarily feel relaxed enough to freely interject
comments?
Stewart: Well . . . we were there to work.
Ferrari: And it was our first meeting.
Stewart: You feel like, if you don't say something pertinent, you're just going
to waste his time.
Grabois: We knew he was sick.
Ferrari: You weren't getting into small talk, I bet.
Stewart: We did later. But, exactly . . . we knew he was sick. The second time,
he was in a lot of pain. But, one of the rewarding things about performing
his music on stage in a Meridian concert is that you can look out into the
audience and you can sort of pick out the people who are going to like the
Bach and the Scarlatti, and then, conversely, you can pick out the people
who maybe hear about our concert from the Zappa hotline [1-818-PUMPKIN], and
want to hear the more Zappa the better. When we perform our recitals for
these categories of people, we're sort of, I hope, bridging the gap to our
future audience. We do play Scarlatti and Bach and Hindemith, and the people
who are there just for the Zappa pieces get a dose of that, you know? And
they see us performing it, they hear it, they enjoy it, they clap, they do
everything "appropriate," and they have a good concert experience. In the
end, they hear what they came for, ultimately, which is Zappa, because we
generally end every concert playing some sort of Zappa or Latin music, or
something up-beat. But, on the other side of the coin, the older set--you
know, the fading chamber music patrons of today--they get what they came
for, but they also get some Zappa in the end. Nine times out of ten you can
look out in the audience, after we play Zappa, and the people that you think
won't like it are clapping, and they're clapping fervently. They're into it.
I can't tell you how many septuagenarians have been in our audience and they
say, "I've never heard a piece like that Zappa before. I liked it!" And,
of course, the hippie-freaks--the Zappa heads who come--they hear the
Scarlatti and the Bach and they get turned on to it. It's great music.
Grabois: [Smiling] They, of course, are more open-minded, usually, than the
other people.
Herrington: I think Zappa listeners are some of the most open-minded audience
member that we've ever encountered.
Cosmik: That's what Zappa was all about, really. [Addressing Grabois] You said
it yourself, he incorporated classical and rock, and many other forms. He
did what you as a unit are doing, unitizing many different musical forms in
the compositions you perform.
Stewart: Well, Frank liked the fact that we played his music among other
composers works. We weren't just a Zappa cover band.
Cosmik: Did you only play his music for him, or did you play other material
from your repertoire?
Grabois: No, just his music.
Stewart: We played other stuff for him.
Grabois: We did?
Stewart: On the second occasion.
Grabois: No . . . did we?
Ferrari: No . . . not that I remember.
Grabois: We just played the Prime Meridian set.
Stewart: Well, we were in there to perform his music with him.
Herrington: Didn't we play the Taxin "Fanfare" for Frank? We did play the Taxin
piece for Frank.
Ferrari: The first time?
Herrington: The second time.
Stewart: I seem to remember playing something a little different besides . . .
Herrington: Yeah, I remember he had said . . .
Ferrari: Oh yeah! I remember that!
Herrington: He had said, the first time we went to see him, that he really
enjoyed the piece by Ira Taxin on our first CD. And so, the next time we
were there, we had a very short fanfare by that composer, and we asked
Frank, "Would you like to hear this fanfare by that composer you said you
liked?" So, we played that for him.
Cosmik: And, he loved it.
Herrington: He loved it, yes.
Grabois: The second time he was very sick.
Ferrari: It was only a month or so before he died.
Grabois: It was three weeks before he died.
Cosmik: So, this was in November of '93.
Grabois: He was in bed, and we gathered around. We were worried that it was
going to be too loud. And he was like, "No, no." He really wanted to hear
it. And it was really loud. It was in this tiny room upstairs and we
played the Prime Meridian set, and he pointed out an error [Laughs] on
"Smart Went Crazy" that we hadn't caught.
Cosmik: Wow . . . he still had the ear. That ear was still sharp.
Grabois: Oh yeah.
Ferrari: It was nice that he listened to it.
Grabois: He listened to it carefully.
Cosmik: How long did you play?
Grabois: Maybe 20 minutes.
Stewart: I think it's an interesting fact that we recorded the Ira Taxin
brass quintet, which he thought was some of the best brass music ever
written. We recorded that on our first CD, Winning Artist Series. That CD
doesn't have immense commercial appeal. That's the CD that sells the least
of all our titles. We were over in Europe, and . . . the Zappa name has
opened some doors for us, but it's only part of what we do.
Cosmik: Most of your audience isn't coming primarily for the Zappa, don't you
think?
Stewart: If they do come just to hear Zappa, they quickly figure out that
that's not the case.
Grabois: Like, last night, we played two Zappa pieces in a two hour program.
So, people who came last night to hear lots of Zappa didn't hear lots of
Zappa. They heard a little bit.
Ferrari: Hopefully, they weren't too disappointed.
Cosmik: No! You all received an abrupt standing ovation.
Stewart: That's allright. So, if you want to hear lots of Zappa music,
unfortunately, you have to go hear a Zappa cover band, which we're not.
Or, you'll have to be satisfied with listening to Zappa CDs, of which there
are 65. [Laughs] So, I think Jon's made a conscious effort to slow down
on arranging Zappa's music, just because we have over 20 performable titles.
Cosmik: Do you plan to perform or record any Zappa compositions in the
future?
Stewart: We'll see. We'll see what happens. [General murmur of approval from
all members]
Grabois: The current set has been recorded as of last month. That's the CD
"Seven" that has "Marqueson's Chicken", "The Black Page", "Lumpy Gravy",
"King Kong", "Pygmy Twylyt" and "Hungry Freaks Daddy".
Cosmik: What other material was recorded for the CD?
Herrington: We have some original tunes.
Grabois: A piece by Ferrari.
Ferrari: A piece by Jon Nelson, as well, called "Sleepless".
Grabois: "Some Skunk Funk" by Randy Brecker.
Ferrari: Yeah, the Brecker Brothers tune.
Stewart: "Moo Shu Rap Wrap" by Su Lian Tan.
Grabois: The Bach "Prelude and Fugue in D minor".
Ferrari: That's going to be an interesting . . . "dish" on that CD.
Grabois: There's also a gospel kind of a tune on there. Isn't that how you'd
describe it?
Herrington: Sort of a gospel-jazz ballad called "Sanctity".
Grabois: . . . by Jason Forsythe, a New York composer.
Ferrari: There's also a jazz ballad called "Lullaby". My tunes are sort of
high energy fusion.
Cosmik: So you have the usual mix of style that's made all your releases
interesting.
Stewart: It's another grab-bag. It's representative of a recital. If you go to
hear one of our concerts, it's a big mix.
Cosmik: You're gonna get a grab-bag of material.
Grabois: What's also going to be fun about that CD is, we've been experimenting
with electronic effects, and there's some good ones on the CD. Some fun
stuff.
Cosmik: Really? That's a new approach. You haven't done that in the past.
Grabois: Yeah, it's the first time that we've brought the pedals into a
recording session. So, there's some very unbrass-like sounds in there.
Cosmik: So, you mike the brass instruments and control the effects with the
pedals.
Grabois: Yes, we mike them and mike them through the pedals.
Cosmik: What effects do you use?
Grabois: Some wah-wah . . .
Herrington: Some distortion . . .
Ferrari: Some guitar effects. The same thing that you'd buy at Sam Ash, if
you were a guitarist.
Cosmik: I'd think that would be a fantastic way to add color to the
compositions.
Ferrari: Yeah.
Herrington: That's right.
Grabois: Well, that's what a lot of rock and roll is--the groove patterns. A
lot of rock and roll is the energy. But, also, a lot of rock and roll is
the instruments; the sound of the instruments. We try to be true to
whatever style we're playing. When we play Salsa music, and I'm playing
the piano lines [on flugelhorn], I try and sound like a piano. So, when I'm
playing a guitar solo--like on a Zappa piece--I want to sound like a guitar,
and that means distortion, and whatever else.
Herrington: If we play, for instance, "Sonata in E flat" by Domenico Scarlatti,
which was originally written for the harpsichord, and when we perform that
piece on brass, we try to play it in a style that sort of imitates the
articulation of the notes on a harpsichord. Harpsichord strings are plucked
with quills, so it has a very light an bouncy kind of a sound. It's crisp.
And, so, when we play the Scarlatti on our brass instruments, we try and
imitate that crispness on the horns with the attack and the style that we
play with. The same with rock. You have the ability to plug in a device
that gives you an authentic rock sound. It's just like sticking a mute on
the end of a horn to change the sound. So, that's how we think of the
effects.
Cosmik: As far as your visits with Zappa, he seemed to be very acceptant of
you, as a group. Had he lived, do you think he would have been interested
in working with you?
Grabois: We were talking about a collaboration when he died.
Ferrari: Had he lived, we probably would have tried very hard to get a grant
to commission from him a piece. I'm sure of that, right? [Looks to other
members]
Herrington: Yeah, we would have definitely tried to commission a work, and we
had also talked with him . . . you know, he was making plans for future
projects the whole time.
Cosmik: Even in the end.
Herrington: He was working, always, under the assumption that, "Well, I'm going
to have at least one more week." So, he was working, pretty much, as much
as he could, literally until the day that he died. We had talked about
projects. There was one project that we were thinking about doing with his
music with the Portland Symphony. Was it the Portland? [Looks to other
members]
Stewart: Yeah, it was in Portland. It was The Grand Wazoo Dance Project or
something, wasn't it?
Herrington: Yeah, we were going to do a "Grand Wazoo" arrangement, and we
would have loved to have had him actually write us a piece, but . . .
Stewart: It's sad to think that we were knocking on his door for nine months
before he actually got our CD and actually listened to it. He finally called
Jon--the first point of contact was January of '93--and at that point he
only had about 11 months to live. We managed to see him twice in those 11
months, but, had he gotten our CD and packet the very first time we had
sent it to him, nine months prior, it would have nearly doubled the amount
of time we would have had with him. I don't think that would have affected
future projects with him, but it would have been nine months more time in
which ideas would ferment and germinate between him thinking about us and
how he could use us or work with us, or whatever. It's kind of sad to think
that our stuff got lost for nine months when there was only . . .
Cosmik: Makes you wonder how much material Zappa received from other groups.
Grabois: I'm sure he was sent a lot of material.
Ferrari: He probably got several packages a day in the mail.
Stewart: Maybe that's standard.
Ferrari: Musicians wanting to audition or whatever.
Grabois: So, since he's died we've been back twice.
Cosmik: Oh, really? I wasn't aware of that. When you were in the basement
working with him on margarita night, did he record the session? I understand
he recorded many of those margarita nights.
Grabois: No, those weren't recorded. Neither of our sessions with him were
recorded. However, we've been back twice since then, and the second time,
which wasn't too long ago, was recorded.
Cosmik: Who recorded it?
Grabois: Dweezil recorded it. Dweezil has taken a little nook of the Utility
Muffin Research Kitchen and built his own little studio in there. So, he
recorded that. We played two house concerts, and the second one Dweezil
recorded.
Cosmik: Will any of that material be released?
Grabois: I doubt it.
Stewart: No.
Ferrari: It's archives.
Grabois: It's good though.
Cosmik: You're in the vault. You made it! [Laughs]
Grabois: It's good though, it's a good concert.
Ferrari: I need to get a copy of that. Do you have a copy? [Looks to Grabois]
Grabois: Yeah, we have tapes . . .
Herrington: It's on DAT.
Cosmik: Great, you have it stored digitally.
Grabois: So, Gail has continued to be a supporter of ours and been really great
and accommodating.
Cosmik: I was going to ask about the Zappas' continued support of the ensemble.
Grabois: They've been really cool. And we've also . . . I don't know if you
know Dweezil's been working on a record . . . what is that record called?
[Looks to Stewart] Do you remember?
Stewart: It's a bunch of guest guitarists playing . . .
Cosmik: What the Hell was I Thinking.
Grabois: Yeah.
Herrington: Yeah! [Laughs]
Ferrari: It's not out yet.
Grabois: We did a two minute segment on that. While we were there, we recorded
a little something for that.
Ferrari: It was a Michael Hedges track.
Stewart: Yeah, the tune was [Zappa's] "Sofa".
Cosmik: That's a beautiful piece.
Ferrari: He wanted to add horns an marimba.
Cosmik: Yeah, Dweezil includes an astounding array of guitarists on that CD.
I'm quite interested in hearing it.
Ferrari: All the big heroes . . .
Grabois: He played us some of the stuff. It was kind of like hanging out with
Frank. I mean, he's very at home in the studio and he likes to hang out
there. He'd say things like, "Check this out!" "You won't believe this."
"Listen to this." [Smiles]
Ferrari: He played us a few minutes of music that he does not plan to put on
the CD that was very interesting. I'll leave out whose playing it is, but
it's very funny.
Cosmik: He seems to be carrying the torch, so to speak, in a very different
way.
Ferrari: Yeah.
Herrington: Yup.
Cosmik: So, what's next for the Meridian Arts Ensemble? You have a new release
coming out, you're touring . . .
Stewart: We've just started. We're one month into a five or six month cycle of
touring. I think it's the busiest point in the history of the group in terms
of number of concerts and the amount of travel. We just got back from three
weeks in Europe where we recorded the seventh CD, we're on a two week tour
of the States, we're going out for another two and a half weeks in April,
we're going to Mexico City, Brazil . . .
Ferrari: Taiwan.
Grabois: T'aipei.
Stewart: T'aipei, Taiwan . . .
Grabois: For one concert. [Smiles]
Cosmik: What? You're going all the way there for one concert? [Laughter]
Herrington: Yup.
Stewart: We're going to Ibiza . . .
Grabois: It's next to Majorca in the Mediterranean.
[Jon Nelson arrives]
Cosmik: Well, we have a new attendee. Say hello Jon.
Ferrari: State you name and record for the tape please. [Laughter]
Stewart: But, getting back to what we were talking about, it's non-stop for
about five months. It's sort of what we've all been working for, and here it
is. You know, finally. It's a five month spurt of exactly the kind of stuff
that we've been wanting to do. We have new music coming in from Latin
American composers and also Taiwanese composers which we will perform in
those countries.
Cosmik: Boy, that's fantastic. You can mix and share with all these countries.
Music truly is a universal language.
Stewart: Exactly. And, we've managed to put it together in a way that's not
a financial loss.
Cosmik: [Laughs] That, in itself, is a stroke of genius. As we spoke earlier,
efforts like this frequently result in a money losing project. Where does
Jared Sacks fit into all this? You all travel alone and don't seem to have
a crew or management traveling with you.
Stewart: Jared's our record producer.
Herrington: Jared has been a great ally since our first recording project. We
met Jared through the Concert Artists Guild organization In 1990 we applied
for this Concert Artists Guild competition--it's an international
competition--and we won that competition. Part of the prize--in addition to
a lot of career development and management help from Concert Artists Guild--
part of the prize was to do a recording with Channel Classics [Records,
Winning Artist Series]. Jared Sacks is the owner and producer of Channel
Classics. So, we did the Winning Artist Series project, which, artistically,
was a smash hit. The reviews across the board were great for that record.
Although it doesn't have a lot of commercial appeal, we were very, very
proud of that artistic effort. I think because of the quality that we were
able to achieve from that album, with Jared's help, it sparked a very
positive relationship with Jared. Jared has been so supportive of us in that
he has allowed us to take tremendous risks, as far as the repertoire of the
albums is concerned. Smart Went Crazy was our second album, and it was so
eclectic, and so difficult to define in category. Most record producers
would have look at what we wanted to do on that record and would have said,
"No way! There's no way I can sell this. They're not going to know where to
place it in the record store, there's so many different styles of music on
it. We won't do it." But Jared took a chance, and, in fact, actually formed
a branch of Channel Classics called Channel Crossings to accommodate us, and
maybe one or two other artists on his roster that wanted to do projects that
were not exactly easy to define, categorically. So, he created this division
of Channel Classics almost for us to do our stuff on. So he's been very
supportive, and has allowed us to record the material that we want. If we
called up tomorrow and said, "Jared, we have 60 minutes of material that's
ready to record," he'd probably say, "Well, let's look at the schedules.
When can you come over to record it?"
Cosmik: Interesting . . . so, you're not signed on for a specific number of
releases; contractually bound.
Herrington: We had a three year contract that actually is up for renewal.
Basically, the contract states that he will record as much stuff as he can
put out. As much as we can have prepared and ready to put down, he was
willing to . . .
Ferrari: . . . take the risk.
Herrington: . . . take the risk, record it, and try and find a way to release
it. So, he's a tremendous ally of the group. And, I think that because he's
based in Amsterdam, it's been a real plus for us, as far as our European
audience is concerned. Our strongest European audience is in Holland, by
far. And, I think it's because most of the publicity generates from Holland.
That's the hub of our operations in Europe, and that's largely due to
Channel Classics.
Cosmik: I want to thank each of you for the interview. This weekend's been a
pleasure.
[In unison] Thank you.
[Waitress approaches and hands each of us candy]
Jon Nelson: Smarties! I love Smarties! They're good for you. They make you
smart.
For more information on the Meridian Arts Ensemble, take a hop to their
Website (http://home.pi.net/~fg/mae.htm). There, you'll find detailed
information about the ensemble, its members, discography, interviews and
reviews, links to composers who have worked with and received commissions
from the Meridians, and the latest news and tour schedule.
CDs can be ordered directly from the Meridians on their Web page using the
following link: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/shebus/cdorder.htm
(C) - 1997 Paul Remington, All Rights Reserved
____________________________________________________________________________
G.T. STRINGER: Surf's Wonder Down Under
Interviewed by DJ Johnson
As many people know, the current instrumental surf scene has produced one
fantastic band after another, from strict traditionalists to post-modern
experimentalists to crazy-go-lucky punks. Just as soon as too many pile
onto one board, along comes somebody new riding a wave that no one saw
breaking.
Two years ago, I received a review copy of a CD called Sandcrack: The
Soundtrack, recorded by a band called G.T. Stringer, from Adelaide, South
Australia. Ten seconds into the first track, it was obvious this band had
something I'd never heard before. Their music fused the most tasteful
elements of surf, jazz, blues, and rock and roll without overcrowding
the soundscapes and making sound soup.
Though G.T. Stringer's music includes all of these elements, there are certain
constants. Over the solid rhythmic foundation supplied by Dennis Kipridis
(bass) and Steve Hearne (drums), guitarist Jim Redgate lays down gorgeous
chord textures that give the tracks depth, while saxophonist Trevor Ramsay
launches solos that are at once powerful and graceful. For their second
release, The Gasser, keyboardist Tristan Andrews was brought aboard to add
yet another texture to their rich sound.
Outside of their hometown, G.T. Stringer has had little exposure, yet word
of mouth has made their name familiar to surf fans in North America and
Europe. As their fan base grows, so does public curiosity. And that's why
we're here today: because I'M curious, too. When Jim and Trevor came in out
of the waves for a few minutes, I snagged 'em for this interview.
* * *
Cosmik: Could you tell us a bit about your home town and what it was like
growing up there?
Trevor: Adelaide lies sorta right in the middle on the bottom part of
Australia, sandwiched between endless desert stretching west and an 8 hour
drive east to the next largest city, Melbourne, so you could probably say
it's reasonably isolated compared with major towns in the states. The city
is ringed in by hills and faces out to the Spencer Gulf, one of two gulfs
before you reach the Great Australian bight. Population 1 million. We're
really spoilt as far as a laid back lifestyle and plenty of beaches. Jim
and myself grew up in the seaside suburb of Henley Beach - no great shakes
as a surfin beach, although in our early teens we battled storm surf and
jumped off jetties, and gave our skimboards a good workout.
Jim: Trevor and I went to the same primary school and grew up near the
beach. Plenty of fishing, surfing, skateboarding, etc. About a twenty
minute drive away is some great reef breaks which we still surf regularly
on vintage longboards. My favorite is a 1963 Barry Bennet 9'10" - almost
no rocker with a bit of tail kick and 50/50 rails. A great noserider.
I also have a Gordon Woods wafer thin trick board. Trevor took a huge
chunk out of the rail with his fin once prompting the nickname "ding"
to be given. The music scene was great when Trevor and I started our
first band, "The Luau," which of course was a surf instrumental outfit!
It was early 80's and there was all of these different influences from
rockabilly to ska, gothic, etc, but we were the only surf band in town.
We always have had a great humor in our music which means everyone has
fun at our gigs. Surf music and culture has a particular bent way of
looking at life and you can't take it too seriously.
Cosmik: I want to ask you guys more about surfing a bit later. When you were
first learning to play music, what were you being exposed to by the radio
stations there?
Jim: I don't think we really were influenced into playing surf music from
radio. The stations were really bad commercial rubbish except for a
station called 5mmm. They played mostly local bands. We were listening
to Sunnyboys, Pink Floyd, Cream, Led Zeppelin -- you have to remember we
were testosterone ridden young grommets! -- The Shadows, Elvis... "Edge
of reality" was a great song. We really watched a lot of Elvis and Gidget
movies. I was also really into old blues players like Sonny Terry and
Brownie McGhee and folk music like Joni Mitchell and John Martin. Also
jazz players like Oscar Peterson, George Benson's during his early
instrumental phase, and Barney Kessel. I think Trevor was heavily into
Acker Bilk. He's a romantic at heart.
Trevor: It must have been in the early eighties in our late teens that things
really progressed to actually getting serious about attempting our first
band. Jim and myself and our friends all went to High School together. We
surfed a bit together and drank cheap flagon wine at parties where endless
Neil Young played, and alpacca jumper-wearing types would dribble into
their harmonicas. We were probably more influenced in some ways by
British 80's music, mainly listening to local independent radio stations.
There was a real focus on 5mmm, who really supported local music and
played completely alternative music. Actually I can remember going to a
lot of NORML [Ed.Note: National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws] shows that they used to run, and being completely won over to
appreciating local independent music.
Cosmik: Trev, I hear some Coltrane in your playing. Am I close?
Trevor: I was accepted to study jazz about 8 years back but really didn't
have the discipline at the time to stick to formal study. I think you're
probably a bit on the generous side... I'm a big fan of players of that
caliber, but bebop and the like is best left to those who have the
passion for that particular genre.
Cosmik: Who else did you listen to that influenced your playing?
Trevor: I've always enjoyed players like King Curtis, and being a Tom Waits
fan I've always liked Ralph Carney. I picked up Orange Symphonette plays
Mancini a month or so back and really dug it.
Cosmik: What was it that turned you on to actually playing music?
Jim: I thought I could pick up girls easier.
Cosmik: Aha! Honesty! So did it work?
Jim: Well to a point... when you play surf guitar music you have a little
trouble with that moment when you get the girl in your pad and you pick
up your guitar and start playing Bombora or something. They just don't
understand - I think I need to learn some smooty songs... like Misty,
maybe... Maybe that's why Trev does so well.
Cosmik: How about you, Trev?
Trevor: Just had to get involved someway, really. I can remember bringing
home my first sax much to the delight of my mother, and ending up being
in a band about 10 months later. There was this guy who played alto sax
in a local band called The Screaming Believers. I think he was kinda
the person who made me want to play sax. I think it's really funny though
sometimes, because being a bit of a collector of a lot of different stuff
I constantly find myself looking at electric guitars and having the urge
to buy them even though I can't play guitar. Guitarists are spoilt for
crazy, cool, funky and wacky instrument types!
Cosmik: What made you decide to go the instro route?
Jim: We started instrumental music because we were all too self conscious
to sing, and any one who attempted would have been totally stirred up. I
think I knew "Wipeout" and "Rebel Rouser," so we started jamming on tunes
like that. We surfed, so there was a natural interest.
Cosmik: When I listen to your music, I hear a collision of four or five
genres. Jazz, obviously, and instrumental surf, plus some fusion and a
few other things. Did those influences come into the band one per member,
or were you all carrying some pretty diverse influences when you came in?
Jim: I think Trevor gives our band a jazz flavor. What he does is really
very distinctive and great. He has a soft spot for wacky bands and
really likes the theme to the Benny Hill Show. Da da da da da da...da da
da da da da... Steve, the drummer, is the fusion influence. He is really
great technically and can play anything. Dennis, the bass player, is
really into different sounds and plays very woolly bass. He turns off his
tone controls and has been known to blow the cones off his speakers. As
opposed to Steve blowin cones whenever he has the opportunity. You listen
to the bass on its own in a studio and it sounds really bad, but you put
it in the mix and it's wonderful. He is fully aware of his sound and he
and Steve play really well together. Dennis introduces the funk and blues
element. He really plays some hip lines! Tristan, the recent Hammond
addition, gives the band a groovier edge and has made the band appeal to
a wide range of people. A lot more people lose it on the dance floor these
days. He has a background of jazz and blues and is called Mr. Frosty by
the other band members. A frosty is a beer here. I play all sorts of
styles. I studied classical for a long time but I decided it was too
boring and shelved it for when I am about 50. I like to think I play
sounds and colors rather than cluttering things up with technical solos.
By the way, Hank Marvin is a great player. If he didn't look like such
a goober, I think I would like to be just like him. I really like the
corny/atmospheric surf sounds in some of those old surf movies. The ones
with the guy talking over the music about what a wonderful life they are
having and lots of major seventh chords.
Trevor: Jim and I played together in our first band, called The Luau, It was
a six-piece surf outfit and we were all really green players. We had quite
a good collection of vinyl that we used to pull songs from, and we covered
a lot of Ventures, Shadows and the like with this band in the early 80's.
Actually the band was very popular locally and often we'd gig about 3 or 4
times a week. Older band's got wise to our crowd pulling potential and
we'd find ourselves supporting some of the more obscure indie local act's
of the day. We ended up getting quite and education from these bands in
seedy bars at about 3 in the morning, listening to some great playing and
seeing some of the more unusual parts of the business.
Cosmik: Was it hard to find surf records in your town?
Jim: It was and is really hard. We initially had a few Ventures albums
and then I found an Atlantics album. We developed our style from this
isolation though because we became interested in all instrumental music,
like strange B-grade movie music. Surf music is not all content, a lot
is in the delivery.
Trevor: I'm sure there's some American vinyl I'll never see over here in
Australia, but on the other hand, I think plenty of UK 60's instrumental
music can be found.
Cosmik: What were some of your most prized records?
Trevor: I'm currently favoring my copy of Kai Windings "More". and an
album by an Australian 60s act called The Saints - Ski With The Saints.
This one sounds like James Taylor Quartet's Money Spyder CD with a
little Martin Denny and Atlantics thrown in.
Cosmik: How 'bout you, Jim?
Jim: The 4 Instants - Discotech, The Swingin Electric Sounds of the Ten Tuff
Guitars, Busby Lewis - International a Go Go, Bombora - The Atlantics,
The Boss Guitars play the Winners, Guitars a Go Go volume 2 - Jerry Cole
and the Stingers, Elvis - Spinout, The Ventures - Psychedelics, Sandy
Nelson - Drums Drums Drums, The Sound of the Shadows, Operation Xavier
Cugat... I could go on for a couple of pages. I have this obsession with
strange records and my house is filling up with them.
Trevor: Whoever drummed on That 4 Instants album must have consumed some
fruity substance and was not a stranger to the rubber suit.
Cosmik: Do you still have most of those records?
Trevor: Sure. Vinyl's becoming so pricey these days, even in Australia.
Jim: I never sell my records. I think Trevor pinched a couple, but I pinched
some of his!
Trevor: I'm currently working my way around to layin my hands on Jim's copy
of 10 Tuff Guitars. Next rehearsal I might snare the beauty.
Cosmik: Your music doesn't belong to any one genre, but you've been embraced
by the American surf community, and most of those people consider you a
surf band. Does that surprise you?
Jim: Not really, though it is fantastic to have our music played and talked
about overseas.
Trevor: I think it's really great that people dig what we do over in your
neck of the woods. It's a big question as to what really defines surf
music. There's got to be a few tell-tale signs that most people pick up
to nail a band to the surf moniker. Perhaps a sense of fun is the real
obvious one for me, mixed in with a dash of menace and drums that don't
quit.
Jim: We have a strong surf flavor, and what it comes down to is capturing
the essence of the surf sound and lifestyle. We have some tunes like
"Wall Of Blue" which are really straight surf tunes that could have
been written 30 years ago, though I don't think it's all about copying
what has been before. Trevor an I have played all the old instrumental
classics in previous surf bands and we know the style really well. This
comes through in our original music. We don't try to sound like anything
else, so what we do ends up being really original. What is important is
that we evoke the sounds which make you think of waxin your board or
loadin' up the woody and taking off for the coast. It also seems that we
fit into the vintage surf category, which is great. If you look at what
modern short board surfers are listening to, it is not really different
from what other people in their age group are into. The style of
longboard surfing seems to suit the surf genre best, and I like to think
our music also embodies these aspects. Words like "understatement,"
"smooth," "flowing," "stylish" and "quirky" spring to mind when I listen
to good surf music or watch good surfers.
Trevor: Having a large collection of surf and instrumental music, I'm not sure
myself that I'd be to keen to say what's surf and what's not. But as a
band we can usually decide pretty quick in rehearsal if there's enough in
a song to pass our aural surf barometer.
Cosmik: Do you think surfing tunes you in to the music in any way? Is there
a connection for you, or a vibe that you get on the waves that you can
translate into sounds?
Trevor: We'll Jim will probably say that I get my sufin vibe headed towards
the bottom doing a nasty pearlin expedition on my mal! Maybe I'm just
tryin to locate a suitable conch shell to augment my sax blowin exploits.
I tend to enjoy surfing for the fun release it bring's to day to day
things, I think it's part of riding longboards and longboarders in
general who seem to be a bit more easygoing and not into the general
hassle scene. I'm not sure about a necessary connection with the music as
such - look at them landlocked buddies Thee Phantom 5 - Todd told me once
their music is influenced by the tow truck business they run.
Jim: It's an attitude more than anything. Anyone who surfs will tell you
that the best way to wind down and mellow out is to catch some waves.
You can be in the worst mood, but an hour or two in the ocean will sort
you out. When you capture this in the music, as well as the adrenaline
that you can experience, you have a true surf feel.
Cosmik: Here's something I've always wondered. When I used to night-ski, I'd
get get off the lift, pop the walkman headphones on, and I'd fly down the
slope with something epic, like "Voodoo Chile," blasting away. I always
swore it had everything to do with the way I skied. I know you can't do
the walkman thing on the waves, but does your love for surf music have an
effect on your surfing?
Trevor: Well, Deej, look's like you've just solved the riddle to my sporadic
pearlin action. Must stop listening to Primus and the Spongedivers next
time I'm headin' down the coast. Jim and myself do come up with some
funny titles for songs and talkover pieces sometimes when we've been
[surfing] in between sets.
Jim: I guess that's why I get into longboarding. It goes hand in hand. The
feeling of taking the drop, transferring your weight to the back foot and
swinging a tight bottom turn into a tight trim. you feel the wave pick
up the back of the board as it accelerates and you cross step to the
nose of the board. You are only there for a second but it may as well be
timeless. At this point there is nothing else. You have ten toes hanging
in mid air for a moment before stepping back and leaning into a hard
cutback. Its a lot like music. You need timing, attitude, style and you
have to improvise and be able to wing it in a tight situation.
Cosmik: You know that debate goes on all the time. Bands that surf versus
bands that don't. Do you have an opinion on that?
Jim: Well, I think it makes it easier to understand if you surf but there
are always exceptions. What I don't like is bands who pretend they surf
when they don't ... Ah, not really - it just sounds good to say that! The
Beach boys never surfed. Are they a surf band?
Cosmik: Yeah, well there's a whole nuther debate.
Trevor: Well, I'd be keen to suggest to any surf deprived instrumentalist to
don the rubber gear anyway, and as often as possible - perhaps turn up
to rehearsal fully rubbered up when next springin' the new tune you've
been dying to try out with the band - it's a win-win situation all round!
Cosmik: The production on both of your CDs is credited to the band. Who
actually sits down at the mixdown console and tweaks the dials?
Trevor: Ugh. the whole band did for both our CD's. I'm not sure if it's a
great thing to do though. Everybody tends, naturally enough, to hear
things differently at the mixdown stage.
Jim: We all argue about it. I would actually like to get a producer for the
next CD so we have less conflict.
Trevor: But lacking money or contacts for a producer, it's usually the fate
of many independent releases.
Cosmik: Eddie Sikorski engineered both CDs. How much of the atmosphere
would you say he adds?
Jim: He has a style which comes through but we have control of the final
sound. Eddie actually played some organ on a tune on Sandcrack (Mrs.
Jones)
Trevor: Eddie certainly heard things that we couldn't notice, and wasn't
too precious about us getting our hands on the desk [console], as well.
Cosmik: Care to give away some of the secrets of your exquisite sound?
Jim: Eat lots of baked beans and practice fart retention. It gives you great
focus. Oh, and we use the minimum of gadgets and processing. A clean
signal is a lot fatter. Use only tube amps! You can blame the smell on
the hot valves.
Cosmik: Okay, I'll ask Trev then.
Trevor: Always make sure you pack the rubber suit.
Cosmik: Aw, c'mon! How much signal processing do you use live?
Jim: Almost nothing. I have an Ibanez Tube Screamer for the overdrive sound
and a wah wah. Other than that it is just a bit of reverb on the sax if
we can get it. We prefer to play through amps so most of the time all
that is going through the PA is the sax and an announcement mike
Cosmik: There hasn't been anything added to the signal at the board? Like a
little chorusing or phasing? I mean in the studio, too...
Jim: No, although on Sandcrack I was using a Boss ME5 pedal which had a
little chorus and echo on some tracks. On The Gasser I plugged straight
into my Fender '65 and cranked it up. The really crunchy guitar sounds
are mostly the amp breaking up.
Cosmik: Do you find it difficult to get a live sound similar to what you've
got on your albums?
Jim: No, because we play live in the studio. What you hear is what you get.
Having said that, it really isn't feasible to get the revving sounds of
the Gasser or some of the talkover in tunes like Surf Rescue.
Trevor: I think we tend tend to be a lot more into dynamics live, and it's
really what I tend to enjoy the most.
Cosmik: "Surf Rescue" is one of my favorites. What IS the talkover on that?
It sounds very real.
Jim: I have a really old personal tape recorder which I carry in my car and
write tunes on. I hum them in and work them out later. The "Dipwad"
sequence on Sandcrack, which is a stupid talkover about guitars being
like waves, was done in my car, right down to the car horn, when I was
driving back from a surf, and we put it on the CD I really love the
sound of the recorder, and when it came to surf rescue, Trevor and I just
improvised a sequence on it and dubbed it over the music. It's about a
surf rescue and the talking is supposed to be a radio conversation
between the rescue boat and the shore just as it gets swamped by a wave.
It was a totally improvised first take, as is a lot of our stuff in the
studio.
Cosmik: I'm drawn to the dramatic sounds and the turmoil in the songs like
"Surf Rescue" and "Walk The Plank." How do you feel about those tracks
and about creating wall of sound tunes like that?
Jim: It's great to put harder edge tunes amongst our other material. Our
CDs are a mix of widely varied styles and our specialty is making it
sound cohesive. Personally, I see us doing more tunes like that in the
future, but you won't get a CD that sounds the same all the way through.
We also still get that kooky sense of humor coming through even in our
hardest tunes, which is a great contrast, and in the spirit of true surf
music.
Cosmik: Sandcrack and The Gasser have some similar components, but there's
definitely a new thing happening on Gasser because you brought Tristan
Andrews in on keyboards. Was there a big adjustment period where you had
to readjust your playing habits?
Trevor: It took us a while, in a live sense, to get the levels right, and we
really gave Tristan a lot of rope. He'd been working in an R&B outfit that
really held tight reins on his solos. We basically let him go to town.
I think now we're starting to listen a bit closer to each other, and on
some of our moodier stuff we can really cook.
Jim: He joined us in the studio without even knowing the tunes. Our studio
sessions are terribly under-prepared, but somehow we pull it out of the
bag. We have to be a little careful of too much sound now and I find
myself playing less. I like space between the beats.
Cosmik: Do you think knowing when NOT to play is something that has come to
you with more experience?
Jim: Definitely. As soon as you give up that desire to be the "lead guitarist"
or whatever it is you play, you find you can drink more beer and no one
notices. I usually cut loose once or twice in a night and that is enough.
Leave the punters wanting more!
Cosmik: What do you like about playing with a keyboardist in the band?
Jim: He throws his arms about a lot which gives the audience a focus.
Being instrumental, the audience has no singer to watch. We have taken
to wearing silly clothes which gives the punters something to laugh at.
Now they are starting to copy us and turn up in Hawaiian shirts, Surfari
suits and bad ties. (I have a collection of Surfari suits as well as
wide ties.) Trevor bums fags from him and we get him to buy us beers.
He looks like Greg Brady. Is that enough reasons?
Cosmik: Both of your CDs have quite a few samples linking songs, but not in
the same style as Man Or Astro-Man, of course... Where do you find most
of your samples, and who usually comes up with the concepts?
Jim: We find the samples on sound effect CDs and old records. I came up with
the concepts for Sandcrack and Trevor was responsible for the Gasser. He
has a drag racing record from the '60's which we used.
Cosmik: What's the lowdown on your gear at this point? What are y'all
playing?
Jim: I play a guitar I put together myself with Seymour Duncan pickups. I
can have them as single coil or humbucking. I plug into a Fender '65
reissue twin reverb.
Trevor: Steve plays an old Ludwig kit, Tristan's doing the Hammond/Leslie
combo, Dennis plays some no name bass through a Gallien Krugar SWR box setup,
and my horns are a bunch of Mk6 Selmers.
Cosmik: Among the current surf bands, who has your attention right now?
Jim: The Exotics, 4 piece suit, Moment of Truth, Tsunami... You really
should ask Trevor, my specialty is weird old records with half dressed
women on the covers.
Cosmik: What are the plans for G.T. Stringer? How far do you want to take
it?
Jim: All the way baby. No use stoppin' at first base
Trevor: Well, our next goal will be a new CD which we look to record shortly.
There's been much debate about recording studios this time with the idea
that we may look at a studio which has hard drive mixing facilities to
speed the mixing process up. Actually, I reckon that this recording should
be quite an interesting one, with our lineup having been gigging so much,
we'll probably be a little more adventurous in the way we sonically
approach the tunes.
Jim: Maybe we will call it "Up Periscope." What do you think?
Cosmik: I like "Oh Christ! Sharks!," personally, but then I'm a noted sicko.
So anyway, tell us what it would take to get you stateside for a tour?
Jim: Just book us some gigs and send us the airfares!... Fat chance I'd say.
Trevor: There would have to be some sort of interest in our catalogue of
music from a record company I presume. I figure to sell in the states,
you really have to have played the circuit which supports your style
of music... Is there a surf music circuit over in the States? Personally
It would be great to hook up with another act over there for a tour.
It looks like we'll feature on some comps to be released over in your
neck of the woods this year, so hopefully some money drenched west
coast widow will fly us over and offer us her beachside surf pad for
the summer in exchange for free performances and Jim's complete home
brewing tip's. Has Jim mentioned he's been supplying the band with some
rather potent home brews at rehearsal lately? Last practice he brought
out a licorice flavored beer, which proved to be quite a gasser the next
morning!
Cosmik: Do you see a time coming when you won't get what you need from this
style of music anymore and you'll want to... I dunno... try Salsa or
something?
Trevor: As a horn player I could quite easily disappear down a lounge type
hole. Boy, there are some tasty little tunes for us blowers to tackle in
our twilight years, with Misty just for starters in my bag, its looking
ominous.
Cosmik: Jim? Any thoughts of abandoning...
Jim: Never! I'd rather eat a week old dead puffer fish on the high tide mark.
Cosmik: Well okay, then, I think we can call that a "no"... Okay! Any final
thoughts or pearls of wisdom that you'd like to pass along to our readers
before we pull the plug here?
Jim: When you take the drop, make sure you get to your feet in time to pull
a nice tight bottom turn into trim or you run the risk of pearlin'. I went
surfing with Trevor "the pearl king" the other day and he made just this
mistake. His board came out the back of the wave at just a tad under
escape velocity and nearly sconned me.
Trevor: I'd suggest that when pearlin on your board it's always best to
celebrate the event. Head to the bottom with dignity and pride. Think
of Primus and all the fun he had down there!
____________________________________________________________________________
TAPE HISS
By John Sekerka
[The following interviews are transcribed from John Sekerka's radio show,
Tape Hiss, which runs on CHUO FM in Ottawa, Canada. Each month, Cosmik
Debris will present a pair of Tape Hiss interviews. This month, we're
proud to present interviews with V. Vale and Andrea Juno.]
* * *
Publisher and editor of influential Re/Search and now V/Search books, V.
Vale started out with one of the very first punk zines, Search & Destroy.
I had the extreme privilege to interview this veteran interviewer, and new
father from his cluttered San Francisco home.
John: The Re/Search books deal with deviant subculture topics: piercings,
b-movies, sex and violence ...
V: We've never shied away from sex and violence.
John: When did you first start publishing?
V: I started Search and Destroy twenty years ago. The reason you publish a
zine is to change the world, because you certainly aren't going to make
any money at it. This was before punk rock was called punk rock. It not
only documented what I think was a new emerging subculture, but also
hopefully, catalyzed it. In the eighties I started another publication
called RE/Search in a book format, which made it possible, 16 years
later, to earn a living. It takes so long to get enough distribution
and readership. Of course if you believe in what you're doing, you pay
the price to do it.
John: Were you the first zine publisher?
V: It was hard to publish zines before the mid seventies simply because
there weren't any Xerox machines around. Before then you'd have to have
access to mimeograph machines, which Was pretty awkward and specialized.
Most zine publishers do a few, and lose their shirts. I knew in advance
that I would spend everything that I had to keep it going, so I wasn't
surprised when I lost money. That was my fate. The reason I didn't
continue with Search & Destroy after starting RE/Search, was because the
original movement is very personal and underground which in San Francisco,
comprised a few hundred weirdos, loners and artists. That first movement
was very social. Everyone knew each other by their first names. Of course
it was too good to last. What drove it off, in my opinion, was this young
macho white male element from the suburbs who started this slam dancing
and mosh pit gladiator stupidity. It didn't mean punk was invalidated, it
just hadda go underground for a while. In my mind the true spirit of punk
was resurrected in 1991 by the Riot Grrl movement. Riot Grrl is simply
punk rock principles - do it yourself - plus feminism. Of course that
movement got maligned and attacked. Most of the originators got ashamed
of being these incredible pioneers. That shows the power of the mass
media: to take away your own power.
John: Are you a closet Riot Grrl?
V: I'm not in any closet. I don't have to be. That's the nice thing about
publishing independently, is that you can put out anything you want
'cause you're paying for it. You don't have to be censored, you don't
have to answer to anybody. You can rip off illustrations, newspaper
articles or headlines ... use anybody's photo cuz you're just too small
to be sued. It is the only free press.
John: Why did you start your own zine?
V: I was totally Messianic about punk rock, or what I thought punk rock was,
which was the latest attempt at social revolution. Anyone who lived
through the early seventies knew how horrible life was. All the gains of
the sixties had been co-opted by corporations like Levis. Rolling Stone
magazine was completely irrelevant to your life - reading about superstars
that had nothing to do with you. I remember seeing Emerson Lake & Palmer
on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, the fore-runner of MTV. Emerson had his
grand piano hooked to a crane and his gimmick was that it rotated 360°. I
looked at this and thought, 'what does this have to do with me?' It was
just absurd. There had to be a grass roots rock'n'roll rebellion movement
in which people would protest the conditions of the times.
John: How successful was your initial run?
V: Oh it was completely unsuccessful. I was working at City Lights bookstore
and I knew Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Lawrence Ferlinghetti - my
beatnik forbearers - and told Ginsberg about my punk rock publication idea.
He knew what punk was and wrote me a cheque for $100. At the time I was
living for less than $200 a month from my job. My rent was $37.50. I
showed Allen's cheque to Lawrence and he wrote me a cheque for $100.
Another friend wrote me a cheque for $200. It cost $400 to do a thousand
copies of the first issue which was a tabloid on 11x17 inch newsprint. It
sold very slowly. I only got money from a small store in San Francisco.
Any time you send anything out of town, chances are you won't get paid. I
was only working two shifts a week, so I had plenty of time. I thought
life was great - got plenty of free records. At that time the zine
movement was more prominent in England, which is now a complete reversal.
There are allegedly 50,000 zines being produced in America alone. My next
three books are about people who put out zines, 'cause there are such a
variety of really interesting people doing them.
John: Are the nineties a zine generation?
V: Completely.
John: With distribution poor at best, circulation low, how do you find out
about zines?
V: Luck.
There's a wonderful publication called Factsheet 5. Each issue lists
approximately 1500 zines and their addresses. That's a good starting point.
Often a zine editor will list a dozen or more zines and so on. But you
have to act fast because zines die, or change addresses quickly.
John: I was playing scrabble the other week and I used the word zine. It was
contested. Does the word officially exist?
V: I don't think it's made the dictionaries yet. Alt.Culture has an entry for
zines, that's probably the first dictionary or glossary definition.
Generally a zine has no advertising. It's done not for profit - strictly
out of passion. You have something to get off your chest, you're alienated
and you wanna find sympathetic supporters. A lot of people build their own
communities by putting out zines. It's creative self expression. There's
a thrill in doing it and you can say anything you want.
John: You've done hundreds of interviews. How do you conduct them?
V: I don't. I work strictly on intuition. There are no rules.
John: You seem to be very knowledgeable on the subject matter at hand. Do you
conduct a lot of research, or are you talking with people who's work you
are already familiar with?
V: I only interview people that I have an intuitive idea that I will like,
so I don't have to fulfill the myth of the objective journalist, which is
a lie anyway.
John: Have you ever been disappointed?
V: No, knock on wood.
John: Do you own all the records that are featured on Incredibly Strange
Music?
V: Almost. I own 11,000 albums. I'm not elitist about it. If I find something
interesting in any medium and I can afford it, I'll buy it. I do tend to
do most of my shopping at thrift stores and garage sales.
John: Are you a collector?
V: No.
John: But isn't your house chock full of stuff?
V: Oh yeah, there's probably about 20,000 books here. I'm completely curious
about everything and I'm trying to be completely international in my scope.
I used to go to Europe once a year, particularly Paris - my favourite city,
and every time I'd send back 20 boxes of books and records. Most of my
records I collected before Incredibly Strange Music, because after it came
out the prices jumped from a quarter to $25 and I couldn't afford them.
John: The Re/Search books have been tremendously influential, exposing exotica
music, b-movies ...
V: Yes they have. I'm tooting my own horn, but I seldom see RE/Search given
credit in print. Body piercing became a huge international movement.
John: So you're the one to blame.
V: I think so. My expressed purpose was to try and give every possible reason,
historically and philosophically and aesthetically, to personally engage
in body piercing and tattooing with absolute no guilt.
John: So Vale, when your daughter grows up and says 'I wanna get pierced and
tattooed all over', what are you gonna tell her?
V: I'm a total libertarian. It's all up to her, but I would never pierce her
ears when she's young like all Catholic parents do. I would never inflict
anything on her. I wear all black and have done so for almost twenty years,
and am a vegetarian, but I would never impinge that on anyone else.
..tape hiss
* * *
A N D R E A J U N O
We now present the other side of the coin, V. Vale's former partner in print,
and now publisher of Juno Books (Angry Women, Angry Women In Rock, Concrete
Jungle, Dangerous Drawings), Andrea Juno.
John: Why did you get into publishing?
Andrea: I couldn't do films at that time, which is what I had been doing
previously - we tried to invent a whole new forum and we thought, oh,
let's interview people and put it all together in theme books'. I seem
to be writing my own journals. I take whatever I'm interested in at the
time and get it in print to let everyone else in on it.
John: Is Juno Books an all encompassing publishing house?
Andrea: Well for the first ten years of RE/Search, 1980-1990, I was a
typesetter, so we had this typesetting company that paid the rent. It
was only in 1990 that things took off after Modern Primitives. Who
would've known?
John: What happened with RE/Search?
Andrea: We moved it from California to New York in '84. My partner (V. Vale)
and I had been together for so long that we just drifted apart. I'm just
continuing what I've been doing with Juno Books.
John: When I spoke to V. Vale he talked as if the punk scene was the impetus
for starting RE/Search. What were your initial interests?
Andrea: I wasn't so focused on the singular identity of punk rock, even
though it was really exciting in the late seventies - a really wonderful
motley crew that was drawn to one or two clubs in the city, and there was
a whole international network before the mainstream took over. It crossed
over a lot more territory than just music. Having a love for film,
literature, art, and sussing out what seems to be going on in this culture
that's falling apart - for me punk was more of what was interesting
artistically in that scene. Identifying solely on what you wear, what
clubs you go to is very limiting. I've always wanted to expand the
concepts of the books.
John: Even though punk has been bought and accepted by mainstream America,
there is still quite a lot of shock value left. What are you trying to do
with books like Concrete Jungle - which focuses on subjects like roadkill
decay - are you trying to educate, enlighten or horrify?
Andrea: Educate, enlighten ... hopefully the books are fun without being
frivolous. They are trying to get people to look at a subject from a
different viewpoint: askew, a little backwards, re-orient, to look at
the environment in a way that's not quite so dogmatic, that covers a lot
more levels and ramifications. Education without the hammer is a goal.
John: Do you think you reaching new readers, or just preaching to the
converted with such fringe material?
Andrea: The sales figures show we are reaching a lot of people. Angry Women
has had an enormous impact. It is sold as a textbook for college classes.
Obviously our readers are a small minority, but you can also say that
there's a small minority who read say, Stephen King novels. We've
definitely penetrated different markets. Modern Primitives took all of
us by surprise. We thought we'd lose our punk audience. In 1989 piercing
parlours were not on every street. It was weird stuff for that time. There
were only a handful of people involved. In essence the underground
connection formed only after the book was released.
John: How many rocks are there left to upturn?
Andrea: Many more. I've never tried to go after what's shocking, what's
weird. I'm not interested in shock for shock's sake. There are subject
matters that provoke controversy that the mainstream ignores, tend to
have a nerve center that usually speaks about a lot of other issues that
we need to hear about: social, political. Areas that are deemed low brow
are not acceptable, which can actually be quite fertile. Not everything
is fertile though. I don't think serial killers are too enlightening or
educational.
John: How long do you spend with your interview subjects?
Andrea: As long as I can. We have a new book out, Dangerous Drawings, about
comic artists, and I just spent six and a half hours with Art Spiegelman.
John: Being a comic buff myself, I think it's a great book. I like your
comparison of comics and film, that you can ponder over a strip whereas
film is so immediate that you can only think about it properly afterwards.
Andrea: Yeah, comics have a rewind, fast-forward and pause button built in.
John: Also, the medium is quite new, and really in it's infancy.
Andrea: I've always felt that the medium has an inherent creative take that's
similar to film - panels, a story line - yet different because perspectives
can be distorted and time is laid out on a page in a poetic way. The best
of these artists know how to manipulate these ideas. It wasn't until I
started to do these massively long interviews that I realized what depth
there was to their work. It was actually Spiegelman who mentioned this
early cartoonist from the 1830s, Rodolphe Töpffer [the first cartoonist],
that nobody's heard of - there are no books in print, in English that is,
on him. His work is very filmic, pre-dating cross-cutting and editing
techniques that are similar to a film story board. It is fantastic. I
knew the medium had great potential and to actually formulate a theory
was really fun. Talking with the underground cartoonists who have a whole
heritage of the autobiography and the confessional, so they're very used
to discussing intimate aspects of their lives. What I found is that
cartoons and comics don't have their roots in caveman drawings or Egyptian
hieroglyphs, but were actually borne out of mass media and the printing
press. The first comic came about from the culmination of the other arts
in the early 1800s. It is concurrent and parallels photography. There is
a very sophisticated formalist history which no one has tackled except
for other cartoonists.
John: Autobiographical cartoonists have been stereotyped as nerdy closet
sketchers who can only speak through their pens. Did you have any trouble
getting these artists to open up?
Andrea: No, not at all. Most of them were very forthcoming and quite
intelligent. Art Spiegelman talked candidly about his LSD experiences,
meeting Phillip K. Dick and his stay at a mental hospital. He, as well
as Chester Brown, talked about the whole notion of 'what is insanity?'
It's not just dismissed as 'oh yeah, I was in a mental hospital', but
'what are these altered states of consciousness?' Dealing with issues
like schizophrenia (Brown), the question of normality kept coming up.
On one level it's really fun reading, but there are other aspects as
well.
John: Were you a big comics fan before doing this book?
Andrea: Not really. I've always been a fan of Dan Clowes (8-Ball ) and Chris
Ware (Jimmy Corrigan ) and Chester Brown (Yummy Fur), but I'm not the type
to read daily strips or just anything that comes my way. But here are
comics out there which I consider very challenging art. Of course the
autobiography aspect and subversion in underground comics are appealing.
When RAW magazine (Spiegelman editor) came out - that was so exciting,
combining comics and illustration in a completely new way, and that piqued
my interest.
John: I remember one issue of RAW for which Spiegelman ripped a piece off
the cover and taped it inside another copy. They did that for the entire
run. Every copy was unique, with it's own signature stamp. I think the
hands-on nature of that idea was very influential on the zine scene. It
also made it a highly collectible item.
Andrea: I'm not a collector or an aficionado, just an average fan who saw a
potential to be creative in dealing with topics political and social that
were suppressed. That made me a convert. I don't hang out in comic stores.
John: Besides you and me, who reads these comic books? Isn't it still
considered a kids' thing?
Andrea: Dan Clowes' 8-Ball is available in bookstores. His work is taking the
medium past the comics world. I think it has its roots more in indie rock:
music scenes and art forms that sprung up in the early eighties.
John: I love Chris Ware's work, but on first look it seems very flat, usually
without dialogue, an obscure story line and very actionless. Most people
will not spend the time it takes to enter his bizarre little world.
Andrea: I force my friends to read it: 'I'll take you out to dinner if you
don't like it!' No one has taken me up on dinner.
John: You also included non-comic book artists in Dangerous Drawings. How do
they fit in?
Andrea: Illustrators have the same heritage: the single panel.
John: What about Eli Langer? He's infamous for political reasons, but his
work is really not known.
Andrea: His work is very explosive and yes, he did get arrested. Most
controversial cartoonists deal with censorship on an ongoing basis. In
America where we're very insular, the case is not known as it is in
Canada. His work was seized from a gallery and a court case followed,
charging him with child porn, which was dropped. Langer has a great
quote, 'real child molesters are not combing the streets for line
drawings'. They wanted to burn the work. A lot of issues came up: what
is art? It seems that a lot of art is not seen as respectable in our
culture. And his art is fantastic. Eli was a great interview: articulate,
poetic, sensitive and knowledgeable. Hopefully the book won't be banned
in Canada so the people can see his work at last, and they can question
the government for spending money trying to prosecute this artist.
John: What's up next for Juno Books?
Andrea: Sex, Stupidity and Greed. It's about the American movie business
caving in on itself. It's really fun and shocking, the kind of money
that's spent on a movie is equal to the gross national Product of a small
country. Bodies of Subversion traces the rise of tattooing with women
and feminism. I'm quite excited about that one.
John: Are there any angry women left to uncover?
Andrea: No I think that's it. You know they may have been angry politically,
but they were really nice people.
..tape hiss
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THE ADDRISI BROTHERS: Cherrystone (Del-Fi)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
This is Dick and Don, not Don and Phil, but the comparison of the
Addrisi's to the better known brothers Everly is inevitable. Taking
advantage of the Addrisi's facility with sibling harmonies, Del-Fi's
Bob Keane put out a number of Everly-like singles by the Addrisi's in
the late 50s.
There's more here than an Everly cover act here, though. The Addrisi's
own recording career extended over two decades, appearing on major
labels like Warner, Columbia and Buddah. These early tracks reveal a
talent for crafting pop songs in more than a couple styles and that
talent would reveal itself over the years through hits like the
Association's "Never My Love" and pop-culture treasures like the "Theme
from Nanny & the Professor". They also carved out careers as A&R men
and producers and soundtrack composers.
That there was some considerable talent underlying these tracks is,
then, apparent. What of this material itself? Well, while they were
more than capable of sounding dead on like the Everly's, and sometimes
did, they weren't playing in the Everly's neighborhood. As Del-Fi
artists, they were playing the same LA circuit that lifted their label
mate Richie Valens to stardom. "Bird Dog" just wasn't going to make it
at an East LA sock hop, and the Addrisi's prove themselves capable of
rocking just a little harder and hitting the kind of R&B tones that
would attract the attention of disk jockeys like LA's Art Laboe. The
strongest cut on the disc may be "Un Jarro", clearly created for its
appeal to the Southern California Latin audiences they played for.
This is a mix of singles, demos and unreleased cuts, and it's not for
everyone, really. But for collectors and students of early Rock n'
Roll, this is an interesting look at a pair of pioneers that became
survivors. More than a footnote, less than a chapter, the Addrisi
Brothers are a page of rock history serious students should read.
Track List:
Cherrystone * Back To The Old Salt Mine * Sugar Baby (unreleased) * It's
Love * Un Jarro * Saving My Kisses * Honey Baby (unreleased) * Lilies
Grow High * Gonna See My Baby * Von Ami * My Pretty Baby (unreleased) *
I'll Be True * Everybody Happy * Un Jarro (stereo version) * Back To The
Old Salt Mine (demo) * It's Love (demo) * Hurry Up (demo) * Cherrystone
(demo)
HORACE ANDY: Roots & Branches (Ariwa/RAS)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
Mad Professor's exquisite dubs and Horace Andy's emotional vocals are a
perfect fit on this reggae album filled with beauty, power and consciousness.
Some of the Prof's best dubs now have a voice to convey important messages.
The title track makes clear the futility of hatred and the need for Caribbean
unity. "Because you come from Barbados and I come from Antigua, you no like
me. Because I was born in the west and you born in Africa, you no like me.
Because I was born in Jamaica and you born in England, you no like me." By
the end of the song, so many national prejudices have been presented in the
same fashion that they are all exposed for the pointless distractions they
truly are. "Repatriation Is A Must" reiterates one of the most central
themes of the Rastafarian belief system in a matter of fact tone. The track
with the deepest cut is "Why Late And Regret," an epitaph for the violent
element of Jamaican society. I interpret this to mean the people known as
"the gunmen," who brought fear and paranoia to the island through senseless
random murder, but it could be about all violent people. It doesn't matter
if you interpret it to mean the thugs in America, the impact is the same.
Truth is, if you pay attention to the messages, Roots And Branches packs a
wallop from start to finish. And even if you don't, the riddims will still
float you away.
THE AUTHORITIES: Puppy Love (Get Hip)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
Get Hip has resurrected a gem from punk history with the reissue of the
Authorities out of print performances from 1982 and 1983. It's a
worthwhile rescue.
The Authorities came out of California's Central Valley, the landscape
that produced "American Graffiti." The songs cover the full range of
the punk liturgy, from religious irreverence (Godhead) to a certain lack
of appreciation for the hard working boys in blue (I Hate Cops). Along
the way they sing about girl trouble, political ambivalence, social
apathy - yep, it's all here, boys and girls.
And it's all pretty good. The songwriting chores were split up among
various members of the band for various tunes, but the common thread was
a high energy instrumental assault behind a vocal mix that was clear
enough to make it fairly clear that these guys had thought about what they
were singing and wanted you to notice.
There's one cover among the 14 tracks - "Ballroom Blitz" is presented as
a battle between drums and guitar for best performance as a machine gun.
Vocalist Curt Hall delivers the lyric with the same level of energy and
commitment that the original tunes are favored with. If you like the
song, you've got to hear this version. If you hate the song, these guys
could change your mind.
This is a powerful set that deserves attention from more than just punk
completists. The original recordings may be dated, but the performances
aren't. This music should never have disappeared, and Get Hip deserves
praise for making it appear again.
Track List:
Godhead * Slam The Ham * Between The Thighs * Your Life * Faceless * Pig
Death On I-5 * Nobody Likes Him * Letter In The Mall * Park Song *
Ballroom Blitz * Achtung! * Shot In The Head * Radiomasturbation * I
Hate Cops
THE BACKSLIDERS: Throwin' Rocks At The Moon (Mammoth)
Reviewed by John Sekerka
There's no mistaking the sound. Right from the get-go you could swear this
is a Jason & The Scorchers record. The nasal delivery may be a different
pitch, but the classic punked up country sound is unmistakable. It's good
and earthy honky tonk heartbreak stuff, and if you ain't within swillin'
distance of a watering hole, then you are mighty parched. Anyone with a
fondness for this type of cow punk will welcome The Backsliders with open
arms. It doesn't hurt that these boys can also come up with some truly
engaging numbers. They can rip it up and slow it down so's you can sweat
all over yer partner in a hug-waltz. And just in case you were wondering,
yes, there is a train song (as if there were any doubts).
BARTOK: Concerto for Orchestra; Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. SONY SK
62598 [DDD] 69:01
Reviewed by Robert Cummings
Salonen serves up a surprisingly laid-back performance of the Concerto, just
the work you'd think that would fit his generally cool, fleet style. The
first movement is ponderous and dark, almost as if we're hearing Bartok
under the spell of Shostakovich. The approach works because Salonen imparts
weight and tension and clarifies orchestral textures, even though there's a
misfire here and there: the harp effect at 9:31, for instance, sounds
artificial, not like part of the indigenous musical fabric. The middle
movements are also on the tame side but come across effectively for much
the same reasons. The Shostakovich parodying in the fourth movement is
especially well-rendered, especially witty. The finale seems to stimulate
Salonen's more spirited, more driven side, with tempos approaching record
pace. He seems to view this movement as an explosive culmination to this
work, not exactly a difficult stance to defend, what with the main theme
gloriously crowning the closing measures. This denouement is a bit corny in
any recording, but in Salonen's hands it sounds quite convincing.
More convincing still is his reading of Music for Strings. The eerie opening
movement deliciously forecasts some of the icy string writing in Bernard
Herrmann's brilliant score for Psycho (which Salonen recently recorded with
great success), and also harkens back to the night music of Bartok's own
Second Piano Concerto. The second movement sounds crisp, perfectly capturing
the Bartokian idiom, with the middle episode of xylophone, harp, and
pizzicato strings especially impressive. The next two movements are just as
compelling, just as incisively read and played. My previous favorite, the
Bernstein/New York Philharmonic from the 1960s will have to make room for
this new Sony entry.
While some may prefer Solti in the Concerto, Salonen's relatively relaxed
reading, not as dissimilar to Previn's Telarc or Ormandy's early digital RCA
effort as you might think, is fully competitive with the better versions,
not least because of the excellent work of the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Orchestra. Sony offers good sound (though the bass drum booms annoyingly at
times) and very intelligent notes by the distinguished Alex Ross. But I must
quibble over his statement regarding the parodying of the Leningrad Symphony
in the Concerto: "Bartok entirely missed the point of Shostakovich's score."
Perhaps so, but how would that oversight make music that Bartok clearly
disliked any better, as Mr. Ross suggests? The "banality of evil" is, if
portrayed tritely, still banal. That march, even if it didn't depict heroic
Soviet resistance, but mocked Nazi pomp instead, is still a rather mediocre
creation. When a composer is portraying crass evil, he does not acquire an
artistic license to incarnate it in less than tasteful music. Bartok was
right to satirize the music. Anyway, lest I digress too long, this Salonen
disc is recommended.
THE BEAU BRUMMELS: San Fran Sessions (Sundazed)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
This strong recommendation is balanced by a strong warning. If you don't
have any Beau Brummels recordings and you're looking for the familiar cuts,
this isn't for you. If, on the other hand, you've already picked up the
other releases and you consider yourself a true blue fan, you're going to
flip over this 3 CD set of rarities, alternate takes and demos.
Because most of these were never considered final versions, the production
is wonderfully sparse, leaving the true elements of the band in plain view.
An unissued tune called "How Many Times" features untreated acoustic guitar,
raw bass and drums, and reverbless group harmonies, and it sounds fantastic.
Then again, some of the arrangements will make you appreciate the final
versions all the more. Two takes of "Just A Little" are included, the first
containing a unison lead vocal track that saps the beauty out of the piece,
the second landing closer to the mark but leaning a bit too far into the
reverb tank. It's interesting to follow the evolution of the tune. Though
you only get one alternate take of "Laugh Laugh," and one that's pretty
close to the final arrangement at that, it's a particularly interesting track
because there is no harmonica or acoustic guitar. If you ever wondered
about the importance of individual touches, here's your answer. The track
you really get to follow is "Sad Little Girl," which appears here in four
different versions.
While the unfamiliar-familiar tracks are fun to listen to, the most endearing
thing about San Fran Sessions is the abundance of demo tracks that work on
their own without fancy mixdown treatments, proving what you already knew: The
Beau Brummels were fine songwriters. The songs can stand on structure alone.
Several tracks are demo cuts by Sal Valentino and Ron Elliot, and while a
few from each are a bit dull, the majority are at least interesting (Sal's
"Forget It Babe") and at best inspired (Ron's "Kill").
All told, there are 60 tracks on these three CDs. Casual listeners won't be
amused by about half of these, but they'd have to read the liners to pick out
some of the demos. The Beau Brummels were known for their perfectionism in
the studio and in the songwriting process, and it's evident here. By the way,
those liner notes are more than a little entertaining, because they include
interviews with each band member, not to mention nice little footnotes for
each track. In other words, San Fran Sessions is a Brummels fan's dream.
BURNING SPEAR: Living Dub Volume 3 (Heartbeat)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
There may be a couple things as welcome as the news that Winston Rodney
has put together a new album of Burning Spear songs. One of those
things is certainly the news that he's put together a new set of dubs.
For Living Dub Volume 3, the Spear has raided his Rasta Business album,
which has yielded 13 new tracks. Spear's approach to the art of dub
reflects his commitment to the song form, as the composer and original
artist on each of the cuts here. Rather than using excessive effects to
elaborate on a track, he pares his own material down to it's essential
ingredient. In the process he has created a set of penetrating rhythmic
assaults that are more expressively musical than the dub produced by
many DJs whose material is drawn from more external sources.
Paul Beckford's bass is, of course, punched up considerably in the mix,
and extra horns are added to the Burning Band lineup, but Spear's tenure
in the studio now spans nearly three decades (his first sessions with
Coxsone Dodd were in 1969) and he needs little in the way of modern
refinement to find the heart of his music.
This isn't the most inventive dub album I've heard this year, but it is
certainly one of the best. If you like the dub form, this is one you
have to hear. If you're unsure about dub, this is one to convince you.
But get plenty of rest before you put it on. When this beat hits your
brain, your brain's just likely to tell your butt to get up and dance.
Track List:
Dub Creation * African Dub * Stand * Smart Dub * Remember * Burning Dub
* Chanting Home * Dub Old Timer * Subjective Dub * Friendly Dub *
Investigation * World Dub * Loving Dub
DOC CHEATHAM & NICHOLAS PAYTON: Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton (Verve)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
The legendary Doc Cheatham wasn't quite four times as old as Nicholas
Payton's 23 years when these tracks were cut, but he was 91, and he was
(and is) an absolute marvel.
Look around for trumpet players who can keep their chops in top form
past the age of 60. Keep looking. Don't even think about 70, or 80, or
90! But it seems Doc just keeps getting better. Active as a player in
every decade from the 1920's on, his greatest notoriety as a player and
a leader started to come in his seventh decade, and he plays like he has
seven decades left to go.
Of course, he's not satisfied to be the world's greatest 91 year old
trumpet player - he sings too. With tone, clarity and strength. And
when Doc Cheatham sings "I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues," who's
going to argue?
At 23, Payton himself can claim some impressive credentials. A veteran
of bands led by Wynton Marsalis, Clark Terry and Elvin Jones, he's
crowded a lot of music into his life since his father, New Orleans
bassist Walter Payton, bought him his first horn at age four.
The two trumpeters are joined by an all-star supporting cast from the
New Orleans music scene and turn in fourteen tracks of New Orleans
flavored jazz that you simply must hear. If Louis lives, he lives here.
Track List:
How Deep Is The Ocean * Jeepers Creepers * Stardust * I Gotta Right To
Sing The Blues * Dinah * Save It Pretty Mama * Do You Believe In Love At
First Sight? * Jada * I Cover The Waterfront * Maybe * Black And Blue *
Out Of Nowhere * She's Funny That Way * The World Is Waiting For The
Sunrise
JOHN COLTRANE: Lush Life (DCC)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
DCC has pulled another gem from the Prestige vaults, John Coltrane's
"Lush Life." The original album was compiled from three sessions in
1957 and 1958, after Trane's tenure with the original Miles Davis
Quintet and coincident with his time with Thelonious Monk. There is a
maturity evident in Coltrane as leader that wasn't characteristic of his
early work with Miles, but those familiar with the Quintet will
appreciate the apparent influence the association had on Coltrane's
development.
He appears here in three formats. A quintet (Donald Byrd, trumpet;
Louis Hayes drums; and Davis bandmates Red Garland, piano and Paul
Chambers, bass) performs the title track. "I Hear a Rhapsody" comes
from an earlier session and is played by a quartet - Trane, Garland,
Chambers and drummer Albert Heath.
While both tracks are fine performances, the highlights of the album for
me are three tracks from a session in August of 1957 which feature Trane
leading an "accidental" trio (the pianist didn't show for the session).
Earl May on bass and Arthur Taylor on drums join the sax on "Like Someone
in Love," a slow ballad played with considerable lyrical expression.
Cole Porter's "I Love You" is another ballad, but presented in a
livelier style, a tip of the hat to Coltrane's bop roots. "Trane's Slo
Blues" is what it says it is, with a wonderful walking bass contribution
from May. The trio setting is unusual for Coltrane, but listening to
his horn shine over the simple rhythm section makes me wish he'd made a
habit of it.
The disc is presented with the original art and notes on DCC's 24
Karat Gold Disc format. Steve Hoffman's work on the original monaural
masters is, as usual, masterful.
Track List:
Like Someone In Love * I Love You * Trane's Slo Blues * Lush Life *
I Hear A Rhapsody
DANIELSON FAMILY: Tell Another Joke At The Ol' Choppin' Block (Tooth & Nail)
Reviewed by John Sekerka
Talk about yer cults, here's the fundamental Christian man hisself, and this
time he's got the family singin' too. Bells and banjos are here too. Daniel
Smith's high pitched squawk may send ol' rover scampering under the bed, but
lordy if it don't grow on ya. And damn, if he don't sound like Perry
Farrel - only for a sec though. I thought one album wuz gonna be enough, but
here's another and I likes it even more. Not that I'm much for church
preachin', and Smith does go on a bit, but there's something pure and
innocent going on here, something that reeks of honesty. Like a forced
camp retreat with Ned Flanders that turns out to be a giddy sing-a-long,
this record may convert a few nay sayers out there. If this is just a
shtick, it's a pretty good one.
EASY BIG FELLA: Eat At Joey's (Moon Ska)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
Seattle may not be famous for a thriving ska scene, but they do have Easy
Big Fella, and that's no small spuds. Eat At Joey's is all about ska as pop,
with song structures that go somewhere (sometimes they even go near the Rock
Steady end of the pool, albeit with horn section in tow) and thoughtful
performances throughout. The tunes range from smokey and mysterious ("Found
Love," "Picture Show") to fast, horny and furious ("Dorm Room," "Rump Shaker").
They really show their versatility on the final track, "We Have To Go Now,"
an all out New Orleans-style jazz jam that oompa's along for a few minutes
and then just vanishes, gone, game over, right in the middle of a phrase.
A crazy ending to a crazy trip. Easy Big Fella has hooked up with Moon Ska,
a label that works hard at promoting their bands, so the future's looking
mighty bright for ska in Seattle. C'mon, scene... Spawn! Spawn! (Guess
what city I live in!)
FATBACK: The Fattest (Rhino)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
The Fatback Band tried and tried to break out in the early 70s, but they
weren't particularly successful until "Spanish Hustle" hit the charts in
1976. Shortly thereafter the band simplified their name and began to
concentrate on commercialism. This led to hits like "I Like Girls,"
"Can't You See," and the early rap track "King Tim III (Personality
Jock)," all of which have grooves worth hearing. These tunes were Fatback
at their best, but as this chronological collection shows, their habit
of blowing with the prevailing winds led them into the lifeless seas of
disco at the end of the decade. That wasn't all bad, since disco surely
needed booster shots of funk, but sometimes the treatment backfired and
disco overran the funk. A prime example is the closing track, "I Found
Lovin'," which retains little of Fatback's best elements in favor of
mindless dance beats. Oh well. The good news is the inclusion of much
of the good stuff, including their first record to gain an audience,
"Spanish Hustle," the irrepressibly danceable "Yum Yum (Gimme Some)," the
fun-fun-funky "Gotta Get My Hands On Some (Money)," and a smooth-as-butter
version of "At Last." Sure, Etta's version is still tops, but Fatback did
it justice. From funk to soul to disco, they always gave it their own
identifiable stamp. These 14 single edits and album cuts make an
interesting overview.
FIRESIGN THEATER: Pink Hotel Burns Down
Reviewed by Rusty Pipes
The Firesign Theater returns? Well, actually this release is all archival
material available only on cassette, but if you have any love of TFT's past
work, you'll find this a worthy addition to your collection.
For those who do not know the Firesign Theater I'll attempt to define them,
but it's hard to do without first describing the time in which they appeared.
Back before Rush Limbaugh, before Reagan, even before men first stepped on
the Moon, there was that great cultural flowering known as the Summer of Love.
It was 1967. In a span of just a few months the entire under-30 population of
the US, who'd been programmed as good little robots by prefab Top 40 AM radio,
began listening to a new medium. Under its influence, they suddenly executed
a 180 degree psychedelic shift, dressing differently, some dropping LSD, most
smoking pot, and listening to all manner of music by strange looking groups
like The Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, Country Joe & the
Fish and Jimi Hendrix. The medium that caused the shift was FM radio, a
high-fidelity alternative to AM which had just come into its own through a
new free-form style dubbed "Progressive" or "Underground." The Firesign
Theater was perhaps the first comedy act to exploit the new format, coming
together as a semi-improvisational troupe on the Radio Free Oz show broadcast
over KPFK in Los Angeles, originally hosted by founding member Peter Bergman,
and soon joined by David Ossman, Phil Austin and Phil Proctor.
TFT's style was pioneered perhaps by Lenny Bruce's irreverence but they
abandoned monologues in favor of plays and put-ons with several contributors.
Their humor was built with hippie attitudes on revolution, sex and dope, but
also displayed a great love for language. Later works evolved into multilayered
intellectual audio comedies that, while generating belly laughs in spots,
require serious listening to fully appreciate. Other acts like the Congress
of Wonders, Credibility Gap and Cheech & Chong all came in Firesign's wake.
New Pink Hotel has quite a few snapshots from that early era, including their
very first recording made in February 1967, entitled "International Youth on
Parade." Featuring a visit to a Paris Love-In, Proctor supplies the French,
Bergman interviews and the others supply atmosphere. It's not overwhelming
in conception or execution but certainly interesting as the ancestor of 16
wonderful Firesign albums and at least 5 other solo and duo works.
Parade's homemade quality permeates most pieces found on New Pink Hotel. For
example, you can tell that the schmaltzy soap opera music opening "Over the
Edge" is coming from vinyl. Sound effects are often made acapella by one or
more members or by utilizing simple devices like castanets to give the image
of a bizarre wheel of fortune turning. Multiple-identity (TFT's name for all
the member's different voices, including females) abounds.
The cassette reaches a pinnacle in "By the Light of the Silvery," a two part
piece broadcast live in November 1967. Silvery is at heart a tribute to the
Goon Show, the old BBC radio comedy with Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and
Harry Secombe. The Firesigners even acknowledge Milligan's inspiration at
one point while adding their own hippie twist to the Goon's fast-paced,
pun-saturated style. Silvery later evolved into TFT's 1974 album, "The Giant
Rat of Sumatra." It evolved quite a lot because this Holmesian mystery romp
is about disappearance of the Moon which doesn't figure at all in the album
version, but there are still quite a few lines fanatic Fireheads will
recognize. Proctor is Sureshot Homeless, Ossman is
Watson/Beeson/Gleason/etcetera, who stumble through most of part one before
they discover a plot. No matter to the Magic Mushroom's audience whose
enjoyment shows through in spite of the medium sound quality of the
surviving recording.
The other major find is the title piece. "The Pink Hotel Burns Down" is a
1981 pilot that later became the group's last album (and video), "Eat or Be
Eaten" in 1985. The skit is an audio simulation of a computer game. Phil
Austin is the computerized narrator, giving comments rather like an old
text-driven game long before MYST (and the parody PYST, which was authored
by Peter Bergman). Proctor and Bergman offer several computer adversaries
each and Ossman appears as the central character even though he didn't
participate in the album. The effects aren't fully fleshed out, but the
conceptions behind the computer universe where the action takes place are
much more involved than the 60's pieces.
Other curios include several TFT commercials plus a news parody show produced
for NPR in 1979. The other major piece, "Exorcism in Your Daily Life," gains
a bit of poignancy after 30 years because so many Bible-thumpers take such
superstition seriously these days.
All in all Pink Hotel's a fun listen and perhaps a good starting point for
those curious about Firesign's legacy. It's not a deep mind trip like "We're
All Bozos on This Bus" (which took real effort across at least six listenings
to understand) but it does show off The Firesign Theater generating laughs
more in the style of classics like "Nick Danger Third Eye" and "Don't Crush
that Dwarf." TFT made great fun of TV over the years and were way ahead of
their time on computers, but they never made a satisfying transition into
visual work despite many low budget efforts over the years. Audio was always
their best medium.
Pink Hotel Burns Down is probably not in your local store, so contact
Loadstone Audio Theater at 800-411-MIND. There's also Firezine, the
Firesign Theater Magazine, which you'll find at firezine@intrepid.net.
HALF JAPANESE: Greatest Hits (Safe House)
Reviewed by John Sekerka
I know this's been out a spell, but I've been asleep, so don't gimme a hard
time, okay? Now, if you ain't hip to Jad Fair's little conspiracy of a music
event, then baby, you ain't lived. As y'all might know, Fair likes to sardine
tiny little pop gems, as many as recording grooves will hold, onto his records.
So while 69 songs sandwiched onto two CD slabs may sound too formidable a
task for yer average listener, it's about par for the Half Japanese course.
Fair has a lot to say, and he manages to pretty well say it all. And in a
world where a lot of people manage to say very little, it is of utter
importance to have someone say a helluva lot. Jad is after all, the man who
led the rally cry: 'no more Beatlemania, once is enough!' In his croaky nasal
voice, Jad is right-hand-manned by his dependable ax wielding brother, David.
The surrounding cast of thousands change like a newborn, but as they say:
the song remains the same. Half Japanese have been making blissful noisy
atonal pop ditties forever, and now that it's become oh so fashionable, they
may even have somewhat of an audience out there. No matter. Jad continues
undaunted by riches and fame, or lack thereof, to spin his exponential yarn
onto the music world. This, by the way, is not a Greatest Hits, but a fair
sampling that dates allaway back to 1976. Boy do I feel old.
PAM HALL: Magic (VP Records)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
Pam Hall delivers up an 18 track mix of covers and her original
compositions on her latest entry in the "lover's rock" sweepstakes.
It sounds like a winning ticket.
With covers ranging from Candi Staton's disco hit "Young Hearts Run
Free" to a selection of Brill Building classics, Hall demonstrates an
enviable ability to take ownership of a song. It's hard to imagine
finding something new in Bill Withers' "Lean On Me," for instance, but
she delivers it with a spirit and conviction that pump freshness into
it.
Make no mistake, though. This *is* a reggae album. Hall fronts a fine
Jamaican band here, anchored by Sly and Robbie and featuring
contributions from noteworthy players like Obeah Denton and Winston "Bo
Peep" Bowen. The covers, drawn from pop, soul and disco, are all
thoroughly "reggaematized," as the notes put it.
Pam Hall serves up more than a tasty helping of covers, though. She
shares writing credit with co-producer Errol Wilson on a half dozen
cuts and co-production credit throughout. On top of that, she takes
over the turntables for a dub pass at the title track (composed by
Wilson).
Overall an enjoyable outing by a fine singer with considerable taste and
a number of hidden talents.
Track List:
Young Hearts Run Free * Lonely Days * Lean On Me * Will You Still Love
Me Tomorrow * I Know I Need To Be In Love * I Was Born A Woman * Magic *
Un-break My Heart * Save The Last Dance * Show Me * Come On Home * I
Love How You Love Me * I Won't Stop Loving You * On A Day Like Today *
You Are Not Alone * Magic * Because You Love Me * The Reason Why We Sing
ALISON KRAUSS & UNION STATION: So Long So Wrong (Rounder)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
At 24, Alison Krauss has been recording for 10 years, beginning as a
fiddle prodigy and developing into one of the premiere artists on the
progress bluegrass scene.
Krauss and her excellent band, Union Station, have had success on both
the country and pop charts, but their commitment to their bluegrass
roots shines through on this new release. Krauss became the Illinois
State Fiddle Champion at the age of 12 and her facility on the
instrument is one of the elements that lifts some of the more pop
inflected material into the bluegrass repertoire.
The band contributes several other elements to the claim to bluegrass
authenticity. Barry Bales (bass), Adam Steffey (mandolin), Ron Block
(banjo & guitar) and Dan Tyminski (guitar) are all excellent musicians
in their own right and are remarkable in ensemble. Block and Tyminski
each take turns on lead vocals and the group contributes classic
bluegrass harmonies on demand.
While the absolute highlight of the album to my ear is Alison Krauss'
beautiful voice, whether she's taking on the role of folkie angel,
country sweetheart or high lonesome bluegrass warbler, there are chops
to spare all over this disc. Any doubt about the band's continued
ability to step out and dominate most any bluegrass festival stage at
will are dispelled by their quick instrumental take on "Little Liza
Jane" - these are players!
But there's that voice. While Krauss may have gained her early rep on
the basis of her precocity on fiddle, and she's a fine fiddler, she has
become one of the finest female vocalists on the contemporary scene,
regardless of genre.
In fact, regardless of genre this is just fine music. (note to file...
Deej is bound to ask for one of those damn "top 5" lists in a few
months - put this one in the pile...) If talented musicians and a great
voice are among the things you look for in music, you gotta love this
one. I sure do.
Track List:
So Long So Wrong * No Place To Hide * Deeper Than Crying * I Can't Let
Go Now * The Road Is A Lover * Little Liza Jane * It Doesn't Matter *
Find My Way Back To My Heart * I'll Remember You, Love, In My Prayers *
Looking In The Eyes Of Love * Pain Of A Troubled Life * Happiness * Blue
Trail Of Sorrow * There Is A Reason
ABBEY LINCOLN: Who Used to Dance (Verve)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
Through a career spanning four decades, Abbey Lincoln has never stopped
growing as a writer and a vocalist. Over the years she's recorded with
lineups including Sonny Rollins, Wynton Kelly, Coleman Hawkins, Eric
Dolphy and, of course, ex-husband Max Roach, among many others. On this
album she's joined by the same young sidemen who performed on her 1995
release "A Turtle's Dream" as well as a quintet of alto saxophones and
tap dancer Savion Glover.
It's exactly contributions like Glover's, who provides an impressive
percussive background on the title track, that show both Lincoln's
commitment to tradition (tap dancers were a common feature of jazz in
the swing and bop eras) and her inventive use of young players (that's
not your father's soft shoe...)
Lincoln composed five of the nine tracks here, and they are the
strongest on the disc. Her cover of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" is
notable, though, both for her original interpretation and for the fine
tenor work of Julien Lourau.
In fact, the work of the band (Marc Carey and Rodney Kendrick, piano;
Michael Bowie, bass; Alvester Garnett, drums; Aaron Walker, percussion)
the five altos (Frank Morgan, Steve Coleman, Oliver Lake, Justin
Robinson and Riley Bandy) as well as Glover and Lourau, is impressive
enough to stand alone. Perhaps it's her history with so many notable
players that causes both Lincoln the singer and Lincoln the composer to
give so much space for expression to her accompanists. Whatever the
reason, it works beautifully in this instance.
Maybe she's so generous with instrumentalists because her voice is
such a fine instrument itself. At 67, Abbey Lincoln's voice is full,
rich and powerful. If her age shows, it shows in the beauty and wisdom
of her lyrics, not in the voice which delivers them.
This is a rich and revealing release that belongs in the collection of
every lover of vocal jazz.
Track List:
Love Has Gone Away * Who Used To Dance * Love Lament * Mr. Tambourine
Man * When Autumn Sings * Love What You Doin' * Street of Dream * I Sing
A Song * The River
LI'L BRIAN & THE ZYDECO TRAVELERS: Z-Funk (Rounder)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
There's no doubt that Houston's Li'l Brian Terry comes by his Zydeco
accordion chops legitimately. He is, after all, a cousin of the
noteworthy Delafose clan of Eunice, Louisiana. He's taken the music to
some places the folks in Eunice might never have imagined, though,
blending Zydeco with hip-hop, funk, ska and R&B accents.
Maintaining traditional Zydeco elements like the accordion and rubboard,
the Zydeco Travelers integrate their experimental rhythms seamlessly.
This is, in the final analysis, a Zydeco band and a Zydeco album. But
the music itself has always incorporated other genres, most frequently
the blues, within the basic framework. The most important feature of
Zydeco has always been danceability and that feature is not sacrificed a
bit here. If anything, it's enhanced, by creating Zydeco music that
dancers who've never mastered the two step can dance to.
While hard core traditionalists may be put off a bit, I think this is a
welcome direction for Zydeco, comparable to the progressive bluegrass
movement that has exposed new audiences to traditional rhythms and
instrumentation by applying them to more contemporary material. I don't
know if there will ever be an accordion on the top of the R&B charts,
but if there is, it's likely to be Li'l Brian and the Zydeco Travelers
who put it there. Until then, there's this tasty collection of tunes.
It's on the shelves now, but that's not where it belongs - it belongs on
your player.
Track List:
H-Town Zydeco * We Will Never Know * Baby Let Me Kiss You * Bad Time
Woman * Z-Funk * Packin' Up * I Don't Know Why * Back Up And Try It
Again * Tang The Hump * Keeping Me Out Of The Storm * You Got Me Crying
* Sunday Walk * Back Up And Try It Again (special dance mix)
LUCIAS TOKAS: Aka (Self released)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
Marty Walsh's resume includes stints as guitarist in Supertramp and in
the band on Roundhouse, a Nikelodian TV show that was canceled because...
well, I guess because the brass there wouldn't know a good show if it
bit 'em on the ass. What do you do with experience that diverse? Make
your own music.
Lucias Tokas' music is hard to peg. It's not commercial (because it's
too conceptual for people with a 2:30 attention span), and it's not jazz,
blues, reggae, salsa or [dig your favorite pigeonhole here]. AKA is a
song cycle that deals with confusion, crisis, and the experiences one has
on the road to self discovery. The music is sometimes beautiful, sometimes
stark, but almost always engaging once you've put aside everything else
you're doing and made the effort to really listen. This is not background
music, and I'm almost certain anyone treating it as such will have almost
no opinion of it. Bells and whistles are what please non-listeners, and
this music builds on dramatic presentation. That IS the hook.
Lucias Tokas (Marty Walsh - guitars/harmonicas/lead vocals, Sven -
bass/vocals, and Michael Jochum - drums, percussion) present these songs
without a lot of flash and muscle flexing, leaving the songs themselves to
be the attraction. Knowing Walsh's ability to shred, I'm impressed with
that kind of restraint.
True song cycles are a rare breed, and for people who like to dig into music
and analyze, finding a new one is quite exciting. The last one to make me
dig was Roger Waters' Radio Kaos. The difference between AKA and KAOS is
the difference between real life experience and science fiction. (For info,
e-mail marto8@seacoast.com or visit the band's website at
http://www.seacoast.com/~marto8/)
ERIC MARIENTHAL: Easy Street (i.e. Records)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
I don't generally count myself among the enthusiasts for the
"contemporary" or "smooth" jazz scene. Lee Ritenour's new label,
i.e. Records, might change my mind, though, if he keeps releasing
material as fine as this new release from Eric Marienthal.
Marienthal, whose primary instrument is tenor but who adds touches of
soprano sax and flute on this disc, is the first artist signed to the
new imprint, which is distributed by Verve. This is the label's second
release, following Ritenour's tribute to Antonio Carlos Jobim, "A Twist
of Jobim".
That was a wonderful start, and this is a wonderful followup.
Marienthal is a veteran player as a sideman and leader and is an A list
studio musician. He brings all that skill and experience to bear here
and is joined by a fine group of players, with a substantial
contribution from Ritenour himself as well as keyboardist Jeff Lorber.
There are touches of R&B here and there, with a particular nod to funk
rhythms, and the music is highly accessible to people who may not
consider themselves jazz fans, but this is in fact a jazz recording
(a concession I don't make for many "smooth" jazz releases). I say this
because I believe improvisational interplay is the heart of jazz,
whether New Orleans traditional, bop or modern free jazz. And
improvisational interplay is in abundant evidence here.
While much of the genre this disc is marketed toward is best described
as "jazzy" soul, Marienthal has created a set of songs which are better
describe as soulful jazz. That seems to be Ritenour's goal for i.e.
releases. It's a worthy goal which is well achieved on this disc.
Track List:
Easy Street * Tuesday's Delight * New Jack Saturday * Until You Come
Back To Me * Glow * Half & Half * The Sun Died * Last Day of Summer *
Bourrignot * Secret Passion * Backstage
LOS MEL-TONES: Surfin' At Black Point (Halakahiki Records)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
One of the great pleasures Cosmik Debris affords me is being able to watch
bands develop from their first baby-steps to the realization of their
potential. Los Mel-tones had only released a cassette when I interviewed
them in 1995. They were good, but it was still early in the game. Two
years later, this 17 song CD fulfills the promise of that demo tape, the
tape that came after that, and the 7" EP that was released late last year.
Surfin' At Black Point finds Mel Waldorf and his new bandmates, Mark MacIsaac
(drums), Stan Sawczyszyn (guitar) and Sandro Carrubba (bass), at the top of
their game. There is now a definite Mel-tones sound: traditional surf with
plenty of atmosphere and mystique. Mel's guitar sound has continued to
develop and mature, and he can now hold his own with the best of 'em. Stan's
Strat is treated with just a hint of snarl to offset the sweet clarity of
Mel's 66 Jazzmaster, and that gives their music a lot of bite.
What makes Black Point special, ultimately, is the songwriting. These tunes
are not just reverbed jams. Each song is well crafted, melodic and memorable.
"Incognito," a holdover from the original 1995 Mel-tones (Mel's band before
he moved to Montreal from Rhode Island), was the tune that caught my ear
way back when, and while it's still probably the most likely to be given
classic status one day, "Rocket Sled To Oahu," "Reef Patrol," "Moon Walk,"
"Surfin' Natasha," "Astronomic" and just about everything else on this disc
are top flight surf tunes.
Los Mel-tones have a sound that is authentically trad and yet instantly
identifiable. With their knack for writing memorable tunes, it won't be long
until they are mentioned in the same breath as The Halibuts and Jon and the
Nightriders. Maybe that sounds like a lofty prediction, but I'll stand by it
and say "told ya so" in a year or two. (Halakahiki Records: PO Box 1674,
Plattsburgh, NY 12901. See Los Mel-tones website at
www.scenemusic.com/artists/mel-tones.)
MENDELSSOHN: Symphonies: No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 56 "Scottish"; No. 4 in A
Major, Op. 90 "Italian". National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland conducted
by Reinhard Seifried. NAXOS 8.553200 [DDD] 67:43
Reviewed by Robert Cummings
Here is a budget offering of Mendelssohn's two most popular symphonies
performed by a second-tier ensemble under a little-known conductor that
scores quite handsomely on most counts. And I'm not surprised. The National
Symphony Orchestra of Ireland thoroughly impressed me (and many others) in
their recording of Nielsen's Fourth and Fifth Symphonies on an earlier Naxos
release.
This group's style isn't to dig into the first movement of the "Italian"
with quite the vehemence and exuberance of the Vienna or Berlin Philharmonics
in their recordings of the work, or with the gusto of the New York
Philharmonic under Bernstein (Sony). Their strings sound a bit reticent, in
fact, and play with a less clipped quality than their highly touted rivals,
spreading more delicious legato on the notes, more easygoing exhilaration,
and all to good effect. The brass and winds play with spirit and are fully
up to the demands of both scores. The "Italian" comes off quite well here
because of conductor Seifried's intelligent grip on mood and structure: he
may squander a few details here and there but never loses sight of where
he's headed, never falters at the finish line. I like the slightly more
relaxed first movement, where a number of Mendelssohnian felicities emerge
that you don't notice in other recordings: the strings are sweet throughout,
and there's more of a sort of docile playfulness here, less unsettling
urgency that plagues many overzealous readings. Seifried takes the first
movement repeat, a not necessarily automatic choice, but on the whole a
preferable one. The second movement "Pilgrim's March," doesn't sound rushed,
as in many performances, but is delivered with grace and charm. The
concluding movements are rendered with judicious tempos and impressive
playing.
The great "Scottish" Symphony is performed with no less attention, no less
commitment, each movement fitting into an organic whole that bespeaks the
optimism and splendor of this work. Naxos provides good, if slightly
recessed, sound in both symphonies, and supplies, as usual, very intelligent
notes. If you're in the market for solid readings of these symphonies--and
at a budget price--you might want to take a look at this excellent Naxos disc.
THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES: Let's Face It (Mercury)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
After some twelve years of virtually non-stop touring and eight years of
recording, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones are a hot new thing.
And that's mighty, mighty fine news.
I don't know if success will spoil the Bosstones, but I suspect not.
They've earned every minute of airplay and MTV attention they're getting
right now. Though they mix elements of punk and power pop into their
sound, they've continued to wave the ska banner high all these years,
many of which were less friendly to ska than the current market.
And though their music is a hybrid of sorts, the ska elements are in the
forefront. While Nate Albert's guitar pulls the rhythm section toward
a punk aggressiveness in the tradition of the Clash in a good many places,
the twin saxes and trombone keep things on a clear ska track.
The Bosstones also deserve credit for maintaining the clear social
consciousness of their music. With their third major label LP coming
out at a time when ska is experiencing a revival of popularity unmatched
since the height of the Two-Tone period, they have made no concessions
of message to secure a spot in the commercial spotlight. Whether it's a
strong anti-racist statement ("Let's Face It"), a hard look at the
connection between crime and the desperation of addiction ("Nevermind
Me") or a skeptical view of mass media ("Desensitized"), the Bosstones
are plain about their progressive and aggressive social and political
stance.
Ska, punk, or ska-punk, these are a dozen well played, hard hitting
tracks. They'll be heard by a lot of people this time out. They should
be. They're that good.
Track List:
Noise Brigade * The Rascal King * Royal Oil * The Impression That I Get
* Let's Face It * That Bug Bit Me * Another Drinkin' Song * Numbered
Days * Break So Easily * Nevermind Me * Desensitized * 1-2-8
NERVEBREAKERS: We Want Everything! (Get Hip)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
If you're one of the select few who have and cherish the Nervebreakers EP
titled Politics, then all you need to know is that their 1980 full length
debut, We Want Everything, is finally available and you'll be off to the
store in a flash. The rest of you, stay with me for a few minutes.
Nervebreakers were punk before it was called punk. They became legends in
their hometown of Dallas, Texas, opening for punk royalty like The Sex
Pistols and The Ramones, bands who, as the liner notes say, came along in
the punk explosion that finally gave the media a label to hang on
Nervebreakers. Their music was powerful gut level rock and roll played
with skill, and just on the cusp of control. "My Girlfriend Is A Rock"
was a local hit in Dallas, and if there was any justice in the world, it
would have been a hit everywhere. "Strange Movies" belongs on any good
punk comp tape. It has it all: fuzzy guitar, bizarre backing vocals,
attitude to the Nth power, and quirks galore. All of this might have been
a recipe for slop soup if Nervebreakers hadn't been so good at their
instruments. There's plenty of impressive playing all through We Want
Everything.
Right after this album was recorded, the band fragmented and the tapes were
relegated to the dusty shelves in the vault. Finally rescued 16 years after
the fact, its now available to all. This means you can now hear some vital
music that influenced a lot of Texas rock and rollers. Hard to believe
something this hot was just sitting in a box for 16 years. Wonder what else
is out there? (Get Hip Recordings: PO Box 666 Canonsburg, PA, 15317 USA)
OUTHOUSE: Welcome (Mercury)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
Like many midwest musicians, Bill Latas (guitar) and Shawn Poores
(drums) headed for LA to put together a band and pursue stardom on the
left coast. In their case, though, it was a return to their Kansas City
roots and Latas' reunion with boyhood friend Brad Gaddy (bass) that
put them on the path to major label success.
"Welcome," the bands Mercury debut, reveals a sound as big as the
midwestern plains. It's hard to believe this sonic attack is coming
from a three piece band, but these guys have captured the essence of the
power element of the power trio.
There's some fine songwriting underlying that big sound, though. They
haven't sacrificed structure
and melody just for the sake of the sound.
And while everybody and his brother is busy exploring new a new genre,
or claiming to be an alternative to something (without ever saying
exactly what...), Outhouse openly admits that what they play is rock -
or, as Poores says "Dirty, filthy rock music."
This is one that will grow on you. Repeated listenings reveal an
amazing amount of texture from a trio, with fine vocal harmonies and
impressive complexity from the bass and drums. There are a number of
songs that should wear well on radio. I recommend buying the disc so
you'll be ready to sing along when they get there.
Track List:
Genius Boy * Bleed * Savior * Familiar * Get On * Strange Eyes * Welcome
* Nowhere Man * Sincere * Lie * Undressed * Sleepwalking * Rain Down
GRAM PARSONS AND THE FALLEN ANGELS: Live 1973 (Rhino)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
This 1973 radio concert has been released in previous versions, edited
to greater or lesser degrees, but this is the first release of the
concert intact, with stage banter, introductions and encores in place
just as the performance occurred.
Just one more reason to be thankful for the faithful archivists at Rhino.
1973 was Gram Parsons' year. He was poised to move from the status of
"musician's musician" to that of a popular star with audiences. His
work with the Byrds (his tenure with the band was brief but influential
- without Gram Parson there would have been no "Sweetheart of the Rodeo")
and the Flying Burrito Brothers (who he left after their second album)
had helped create a fertile ground for his then new brand of country
flavored rock (or rock flavored country, if you prefer). In 1972 he had
met Emmylou Harris and added her to his lineup, creating one of the great
musical, if not actual, marriages in pop history. His first solo album,
"G.P." had received critical raves and he was preparing to enter the
studio to record the monumental "Grievous Angel" when the tour from which
this performance was taken was completed.
So March of 1993 found Parsons on record with the music he wanted to
make, on the road with his musical soulmate and on the radio in Long
Island, NY. Parsons and the Angels played eleven songs and an encore
medley and it's all here. Among the tracks are a version of "Drug Store
Truck Driving Man" from the Byrds days, country standards like "Six Days
On The Road," Chuck Berry covers and material from "G.P.." The Parsons/
Harris duet on Boudleaux Bryant's "Love Hurts" was nominated for a
Grammy in 1983, ten years after the performance.
The recording was, after all, a live radio broadcast, so the sound is
not of the purest character. For this release, though, the original
masters were found and put into service for the first time, and it is
remarkably well produced for an album of its kind.
And it's the only one you're ever going to get. Six months after these
tracks were laid down, and just after the "Grievous Angel" sessions,
Gram Parsons died in California's high desert.
Parsons influence far outstripped his fame, and the loss to popular
music caused by his death at 27 is incalculable. If you loved his
music, here are 13 tracks to soften the blow. If you never knew his
music, this is a great place to start. It's an indispensable document
of an original American genre.
Track List:
We'll Sweep Out The Ashes * Country Baptizing * Drug Store Truck Drivin'
Man * Big Mouth Blues * The New Soft Shoe * Cry One More Time * Streets
Of Baltimore * That's All It Took * Love Hurts * California Cottonfields
* Six Days On The Road * Encore Medley: Boney Maronie/Forty Days/Almost
Grown
PART: De Profundis (Psalm 129) (1980); Missa Sillabica (1977; rev. 1996);
Solfeggio (1964); "And one of the Pharisees" (1990); Cantate Domino (Psalm
95) (1977); Summa (Credo) (1977); Seven Magnificat Antiphons (1988; rev.
1991); The Beatitudes (1990; rev. 1991); Magnificat (1989). Theatre of
Voices directed by Paul Hillier; Christopher Bowers-Broadbent, organ; Dan
Kennedy, percussion. HARMONIA MUNDI 907182 [DDD] 76:06
Reviewed by Robert Cummings
Arvo Part's considerable popularity today rather contradicts RCA's old dictum
that the only profitable composer is a dead composer. CDs containing his
music are proliferating, and new converts to his religious, modal choral
compositions seem to closely pace, or even outpace, this inundation. Some
people, however, may scratch their heads in puzzlement at his popularity,
wondering, to quote both an old commercial and a failed presidential
candidate, "where's the beef?" Well, "the beef" is there, I can assure you,
low-fat and unspiced, to be sure. If I sound cynical here, I don't mean to
be: it's just that this is unpretentious, direct, yet quite sophisticated
music, that won't be nearly to every classical aficionado's liking. It's
mostly somber unison singing with little or no harmony, and with generally
slow tempos.
Part is one of that growing breed of mystical composers, whose music seems
to reach out beyond the notes and words to express some higher art. The
compositions on this disc are religious in nature, as you can glean from the
titles in the headnote, and most were written utilizing his "tintinnabuli"
method, which takes its name from the term that describes the lingering
sounds of a struck bell. In his excellent notes Theatre of Voices director
Paul Hillier explains that the core of this technique is an ever-present
"single triad, actual or implied," running throughout the music.
Part's method of deriving thematic material from the text is most interesting.
In Missa Sillabica the pitch is determined by the length of the word, while
rhythm is fashioned after the structure of the text and punctuation. Cantate
Domino was composed in much the same manner. Listening to these works, one
doesn't actually notice anything artificial about the music, though there is
a start-and-stop process at work in places that can become bothersome. Still,
it avoids sounding unnatural, avoids coming across as the product of an
elaborate system, unlike some serial compositions. Speaking of twelve-tone
music, Solfeggio was composed by that method, the only such work on this
disc. It sounds the least compelling, too, with many sustained notes that
leave you with the impression that not much happens throughout the 5:14
duration. De Profundis, the lead-off work, is the most immediately appealing
piece here and among the most substantive. There are also many riches in the
Seven Magnificat Antiphons (try O Schlussel and O Konig), and in The
Beatitudes.
Hillier's forces are uniformly excellent throughout, and Harmonia Mundi's
sound is quite vivid. If you like chant or Medieval music, or are looking
for something different in twentieth-century music from the shallow world
of the minimalists, you might want to give this Part disc a hearing. To
those who already know and love his music, this issue is most warmly
recommended.
PENNYWISE: Full Circle (Epitaph)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
Don't take off your seatbelt till the ride comes to a complete stop.
Pennywise sprints through 14 tracks of high energy thrash in fine form on
their new release. You'll find the lyric sheet handy, because the songs
generally have something to say that's generally worth hearing, but
written cues are helpful the first time or two through, because the pace
is lightning quick and things can pass by the uneducated ear.
The disc is dedicated to their late member, Jason Thirsk, and the last
track, "Bro Hymn Tribute," could be a punk rock wake classic if it wasn't
so devotedly personal. Joined by Thirsk's brother Justin and the Bro Hymn
Choir, the song contributes a mild and touching change of pace without
compromising a bit of the band's energy.
Leave the disc on for a bit longer than you think you should and you'll
find a surprise that will bring you back from the high plateau they haul
you up to from the opening notes of "Fight Till You Die." It's a
thoughtful touch, but you'll no doubt want to strap yourself back in and
go on the ride again as long as your E tickets hold out.
A solid performance sure to please old fans and win some new ones.
Track List:
Fight Till You Die * Date With Destiny * Get A Life * Society * Final
Day * Broken * Running Out Of Time * You'll Never Make It * Every Time *
Nowhere Fast * What If I * Go Away * Did You Really * Bro Hymn Tribute
QUEENSRYCHE: Hear In The Now Frontier (EMI)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
I didn't catch the last Queensryche album, so I suppose the transformation
may be old news. What I expected was an album full of powerful classic
metal, and boy, I was READY for that, too. I hadn't heard anything with
an edge in a few days, and I was flat out primed for the latest outburst
from the makers of Operation: Mindcrime, one of my favorite albums of the
post-1980 metal genre. "Sign Of The Times" screwed me up completely! The
song didn't sound metallic, it sounded "alternative." In one section, it
sounded like an Ian Anderson acoustic break. I wandered the streets in a
daze, sniffing for bits of Grim Reaper or Loudness... or anything that would
give me the adrenaline burst I needed. Eventually, I found it, oddly enough
right where I left it: Hear In The Now Frontier, once you get acclimated to
the production, rocks quite hard.
The discordant hook of "Get A Life" was the first one to get stuck under my
skin. Scott Rockenfield's snappin' snare jabs loosened the ground, and
Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton planted the hook with simple but compelling
guitar riffs and chords. By the third listen, I'd fallen totally in love
with "Sign Of The Times," that first track which had thrown me for such a
loop early on. Imagine my surprise.
By tonight, I've grown to like quite a few tracks in the now frontier. And
several bug the hell out of me. I can't help but notice that "The Voice
Inside" seems to belong to Steven Tyler. The tune is played, and especially
sung, like modern day Aerosmith (read: blech!!). So much so that I'm fairly
certain it would fool quite a few people in a blind listening test. "Some
People Fly" seems calculated to death, "Hero" feels downright awkward, and
a few others strike me as filler. But "Saved" makes up for all that with
one of the most potent walls of sound since Alice In Chains popped out a
few years back. "Hit The Black" powers up to approximately the same voltage,
as does "Anytime" and "Reach." I'm glad I gave this one a few chances. It
now gives me the adrenaline rush I was looking for.
REDD KROSS: Show World (Mercury)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
The first thing I noticed, a good minute and a half before I heard the first
note, was the photograph on the back of the CD. Having never seen any pics
of Redd Kross in their early 80s heyday, I figured this one had to be from
that era. Wrongo. They just still look like kids. Since they were teens
during that heyday, I guess it's not surprising. What IS surprising is the
music on Show World. Redd Kross can still get it up.
Show World begins with a nod toward the band's punk roots. "Pretty Please,"
originally by The Quick, is presented with the rough edges sanded down just
enough to bring the tune into the power pop realm. Opening with a cover was
an interesting move for a band that writes pop tunes with the best of 'em.
Listen to the melody and vocal harmonies of "Stoned," or the wall of sound
on "One Chord Progression," or the amazing bubblegum break in "Teen
Competition" and you'll be sold, but the real selling point is the total
package of each song. These are SONGS, well structured and memorable.
Most of this music sounds like everything that was right about power pop at
the end of the 1970s. This is precisely what will turn a few people off to
Show World, but I say turn it up and see if it jumps. If it does, shut up
and dance.
PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS: Revolution (Sundazed)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
Originally released in August, 1967, Revolution was short of chartbusters
and long on terrific pop tunes. The opening track, "Him Or Me - What's
It Gonna Be," remains a classic rock radio staple, but what about the
shoulda-beens like "Mo-reen"? How did that one manage to slip away in
time the way it did? Could anyone have forgotten the emotional and
beautiful background vocals in "Wanting You"? And most of all, I want to
know why "Ain't Nobody Who Can Do It Like Leslie Can" isn't hailed as
a classic on par with, say, "Louie Louie." Okay, maybe that one's a
stretch, but dammit, that one is a classic and the average person has
no idea what song I'm talking about. Since classic radio won't stray from
its tight little list of top 10s, it's a darned good thing that Sundazed
brought this gem back to life. There isn't a single song here that doesn't
have SOMETHING, whether it's infectious raw garage power, stunning harmony
vocals (America's closest thing to The Hollies), or fully realized guitar
hooks. This music sticks to your ribs. The sound quality is quite good,
and I don't know if that's news or not, since I don't have the original
LP to compare it to. Listen... If you love the Raiders tunes you've heard
on those $&#@^! classic rock stations, that's your cue to explore further.
Revolution is the gold at the end of the rainbow.
JUMPIN' JOHNNY SANSONE: Crescent City Moon (Bullseye Blues)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
So sue me. Before I got this disc, I'd never heard of Jumpin' Johnny
Sansone. After hearing it, I'll be hearing everything of and about him
I get a chance to.
This is a musical gumbo that would do a Cajun chef proud: a bit of
zydeco, some R&B, a little good ol' rock n' roll and a touch of gospel
are included as seasoning, but the main course is the blues.
Sansone, who composed 11 of the twelve tracks, fronts a band consisting
of bass, drums and guitar with his own contributions on vocals,
accordion and harmonica. He spices up the instrumental stew on this
self-produced effort with sidemen on slide, tenor, alto and baritone
saxes, button accordion, fiddle, trumpet and a particularly notable
contribution from pianoman Jon Cleary. The basic blues band format
predominates, though, featuring guitarist Rick Olivarez, with Steve Riggs
and Jim Starboard on bass and drums respectively.
Well, I take that back. Jumpin' Johnny predominates. Downright
dominates, in fact. He has a fine blues voice and plays accordion the
way only those boys from the bayou learn to play accordion. It's on the
harp that he shines, though. Take a listen to "Popeyes and a Hubigs,
Part II." He makes the harmonica walk, talk, stand up, sit down and
roll over. Roll all over you, that is.
This is just terrific music. Gin joint blues for those times when you
want to dance and great playing for those times when you just want to
listen.
You may have never heard of Jumpin' Johnny Sansone before you read this.
Buy the disc and you'll hear a lot of him because you won't want to take
it off...
Track List:
Give Me A Dollar * Anything Anytime * Your Kind of Love * Popeyes and a
Hubigs, Part II * Sweet Baby * Crawfish Walk * Destination Unknown *
Crescent City Moon * Uncle Joe * Just Say Yes * The Talkin' Is Over (The
Walkin' Has Begun) * Please Please Me
SCHUBERT: 4 Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899; 4 Impromptus, Op. 142, D. 935.
Mitsuko Uchida, Piano. PHILIPS 456 245-2 [DDD] 66:03
Reviewed by Robert Cummings
Mitsuko Uchida has been garnering accolades of late for her recordings of
Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. Now she tackles the challenging Schubert
Impromptus with an approach that plays up the Romantic and darker sides of
the composer, as she looks ahead to Schumann and beyond, rather than behind
to Mozart and the Classical period. Throughout the performances her dynamics
are wide ranging and well judged: fortes are potent but never overpowering;
pianissimos are featherlight and delicate, even in faster passages. Her
tempos are generally quite broad, significantly broader, for example, than
the more patrician Perahia (Sony), though not as slow as the late Claudio
Arrau in the Op. 90 set (Philips, apparently out of print). But Uchida never
sounds laggardly; indeed, she is animated, probing, busily pointing up
detail, gracefully nuancing and caressing phrases, all to yield
interpretations of the highest artistry.
Under her nimble fingers not one of these pieces emerges as less than
riveting and intellectually stirring (if not intellectually pioneering).
Try the Fourth Impromptu from Op. 90, for instance, and notice how this
often gentle, graceful piece turns intimate and dark, mystically ecstatic
and tortured. Listen to the subtlety of the coloration in the slightly hazy
running notes beginning at 0:31 (track 5) of the First Impromptu from Op.
142. Notice how she deftly builds tension here, then lets the music melt as
she gently caresses the theme. It is this kind of adroit artistry that
elevates Uchida's pianism above that of most of her rivals.
The one controversial reading here is of the Op. 142 Third Impromptu.
Uchida's tempo is slow, and she emphasizes the quirkier elements in the
piece, but to wonderful effect. Some, however, may find her deliberate,
slightly stiff approach not to their taste. I like it: it makes me rethink
the piece.
All in all, this release is a major triumph. Philips provides excellent
notes and splendid sound. If this were the only version I could ever have
of the Schubert Impromptus, I would be quite satisfied.
THE SEARCHERS: Meet The Searchers/Sounds Like Searchers (Mobile Fidelity)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
From their beginnings as a Liverpool skiffle band in 1957 till the
eventual breakup of the basic lineup in the mid-1980's, the Searchers
were one of the original and definitive "Mersey Beat" bands. They were
also one of the few who were able to push the Beatles off the top of the
British charts in the early days, as they did with "Sweets For My
Sweet," "Needles And Pins" and "Don't Throw Your Love Away," all British
#1 hits.
Unfortunately, the latter two songs don't appear on this collection
(Mobile Fidelity has released 1964's "It's The Searchers" on another
disc) but there's plenty here to satisfy British Invasion fans.
The Searchers never offered up the original vision of their Liverpudlian
competitors, lacking the songwriting talents of a Lennon and/or
McCartney. What they did was produce some of the finest covers of the
era. Applying their tight harmonies and steady rhythms to songs by
everyone from the Coasters and Drifters to Phil Spector's stable of girl
groups, they put track after track of danceable pop into the air. Their
apparent shortage of original material didn't diminish their influence,
though. Remember that in the 1963-65 period that produced these two
albums even the Beatles were covering similar material, and often in a
style that reflected their awareness of what their hometown mates were
doing. And there can be no doubt that Jim McGuinn was attracted to the
distinctive 12-string guitar sound that distinguished the Searchers
instrumental appeal.
Mobile Fidelity deserves a nod of appreciation for this re-issue. I
can't argue that this is essential material (though I would argue that a
Searchers greatest hits collection belongs in any comprehensive pop
collection) but it's important, and worthy of preservation on the 24
karat Ultradisc II format. It's 24 tracks of solid pop performances
that Searchers fans and new listeners alike will be glad to have.
Track List:
Meet The Searchers: Sweets For My Sweet * Alright * Love Potion #9 *
Farmer John * Stand By Me * Money * Da Doo Ron Ron * Ain't Gonna Kiss
Ya * Since You Broke My Heart * Tricky Dicky * Where Have All The
Flowers Gone * Twist And Shout
Sounds Like Searchers: Everybody Come And Clap Your Hands * If I Could
Find Someone * Magic Potion * I Don't Want To Go On Without You * Bumble
Bee * Something You Got Baby * Let The Good Times Roll * A Tear Fell *
Till You Say You'll Be Mine * You Wanna Make Her Happy * Everything You
Do * Goodnight Baby
ZOOT SIMS: In Copenhagen (With The Kenny Drew Trio) (Mobile Fidelity)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
The man with the cool nickname and an even cooler sound recorded this live
performance on August 24th, 1978, at Jazzhouse Slukefter in Copenhagen,
Denmark. Kenny Drew Sr. (piano), Ed Thigpen (drums) and Niels-Henning
Orsted Pedersen (bass), all Copenhagen residents, performed as if they'd
been backing Sims all their lives. They hadn't, but there was no sloppiness
to give it away. They performed intuitively together, at least on this
night. Nearly every solo was perfect and worthy of the spotlight. Sims
himself was... Zoot Sims: cooler than cool, effortlessly weaving gorgeous
exotic solos in elegant round tones over and around Pedersen's bass framework
like ivy on a trellis.
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's 24k gold release sounds amazing. For warmth and
clarity, I'd stack this one up against any live jazz recording I've heard.
They must have had some outstanding master tapes to work from, because if
not for the applause between tracks, you wouldn't even suspect it was a live
performance.
The clarity is most beneficial to Zoot's reading of "Caravan" (popularized
by Duke Ellington), because his sax tone seemed to be made for the piece,
and the clarity of this particular CD allows the listener to experience
every nuance of that tone. "Caravan" was exotic by virtue of it's unusual
melody, written on a valve trombone by Juan Tizol, and in the able hands of
Pedersen, Thigpen and Drew it becomes even more exotic. Mobile Fidelity
doesn't credit their mastering engineer, and it's too bad, because he or she
deserves to take a bow for making this CD sound like 76 minutes in jazz
paradise.
MIKEY SPICE: Jah Lifted Me (VP Records)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
Mikey Spice brings his deeply soulful vocals to another disc combining
romantic love songs with a sampling of more conscious tunes, and doing
both impressively.
Spice has one of the great voices in reggae, comparable to such
luminaries as Beres Hammond and Freddie McGregor. His singing is as
rich as a strong black cup of Jamaican coffee and he can put a sharp
edge on his smooth tones when the song calls for it. I can't imagine a
lyric I wouldn't like to hear him try.
And he put together a fine collection of songs for this disc. His
covers of "We're In This Love Together" and "If You Don't Know Me By
Now" deserve serious attention from R&B programmers who might
otherwise pass by a reggae artist. These familiar tunes in Spice's
distinctive jazz inflected reggae style could attract a well deserved
new audience with a little exposure.
Some of his finest efforts are reserved for his original songs
expressing Jah consciousness, though. The title track and "Jah Jah
Never Fail I Yet" are great examples of the genre and of Mikey Spice's
particular talents.
Spice is sure to score on the reggae charts with multiple cuts from this
new release. He deserves to. And he deserves much more. Meanwhile,
buy your own copy and it will surely carve out it's own place on your
own machine.
Track List:
Sweet Sensation * Gonna Fall In Love Again * If You Don't Know Me By Now
* Carry On * I Need More * The Last Days * Row Brother Row * Jah Lifted
Me * We're In This Love Together * Follow The Lead * I Wish I Had A
Dream * Jah Jah Never Fail I Yet
STRAUSS: Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30; Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks,
Op. 28; Salome: Dance of the Seven Veils, Op. 54. Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra conducted by Sir Georg Solti. LONDON 452 603-2 [DDD] 57:50
Reviewed by Robert Cummings
Solti recorded Zarathustra and Till for London back in the mid-seventies.
The two works shared a well-filled LP with Don Juan, the Chicago Symphony
performing splendidly in all three pieces. The earlier Zarathustra, at
30:30, was paced more briskly than this new one by about two minutes, but
the two Tills are a mere 17 seconds apart, the newer one the slightly longer
version. If the earlier Zarathustra pushed tempos nearly to the extreme,
this one is the essence of moderation. Ah, but moderation, you say, can be
deadly. Indeed, it can be, but not here.
This Zarathustra is brimming with drama, excitement, glitter, suspense, and
is so well played by the Berliners that it becomes--dare I say?--the nearest
thing to "definitive" I've yet heard in this work. I could cite the powerful
opening as but one example of this performance's greatness, but let's face
it, that passage is so famous, so firmly etched in the minds of musicians
and public alike (thanks to the popular film 2001, A Space Odyssey), that
few conductors fail to bring it off. But just try the more problematic Dance
Song (track 8) to hear the color of Strauss's brilliant orchestration, where
the demure and the boisterous coexist to yield a kaleidoscopic complex of
beauty and virtuosity, of dance and ecstasy. And hear Of the Great Longing
from Of the Backworldsmen (track 2, 0:56), where muted strings and organ
render the theme with tenderness and heartfelt sentiment. This whole work
comes across gloriously, powerfully, and makes you forget that its
inspiration was the nonsense of Friederich Nietzsche.
Solti directs the other two works with the same incisive baton. The humor
and lightness of Till come through in a sparkling and energetic performance,
and the sensuality and decadence of Salome's dance are deftly conveyed, with
the frenzied ending leaving you breathless yet perversely invigorated.
In sum, this is repertory that Solti knows wells, repertory that the Berlin
Philharmonic plays with an intuitive sense and consummate artistic skill.
London provides excellent notes and extremely vivid sonics. Don't hesitate
on this one.
SUPERSUCKERS: Must've Been High (Sub Pop)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
So here's this really really good punk band, right? They put out that
great album called Sacrilicious about a year and a half ago, remember?
While the mosh-induced bruises on yer bod were clearing up, though, guess
what these guys were doing. Go ahead and...oh never mind, you'll never
get it. They were playing at Farm Aid! They met Willie Nelson, played
one of his songs on a tribute album, and wound up on stage in front of
a zillion hardcore country fans. Turns out they have a country side to
'em that nobody suspected. So what do they do with this newfound country
thing? How 'bout a country album? Seems logical.
In case you're worried about whether or not they could sustain it for an
entire album, let me put yer weary mind at ease. Must've Been High is
fantastic! They completely avoid getting fancy in favor of simple (to
the point of sparse) arrangements and humorous lyrics. On top of that,
they brought in some "hired guns" to fill out the sound, and that turned
out to be a smart move. Brian Thomas' pedal steel work adds an air of
authenticity to the proceedings, and Brantley Kearns' (from Dwight Yokum's
band) fiddle doubles that effect. By the time you add the harmonica of
Mickey Raphael (Willie Nelson's band) and Jesse Dayton's baritone guitar,
you got yerself a hoedown.
Simply put, all 13 tunes are great. Eddie Spaghetti sings each song with
the resigned wisdom of a weary back-porch philosopher, yet he avoids
falling into the cutesy cynicism trap, and that's a neat trick. Even
when he sings "but what I really like is a big spoonful of heroin, cuz
heroin always gives me what I need" in "Non-Addictive Marijuana," he does
so with such irresistible gusto that you just end up feeling good along
with him. Weird. Ex-Breeder Kelley Deal joins Spaghetti for a twisted
little duet on "Hungover Together," a tune about a loving couple happily
pickling in the same barrel and making no plans for sobriety. "Where the
hell are my keys? What's this bruise on my knee? What did we do, anyway?"
Must've Been High is an album that should be listened to from start to
finish every time. It feels like a document. What it's a document of,
I'm not rightly sure. I think it might be a document of a rock band that
has an honest love for a long lost form of country music. And that's
something worth documenting, doncha s'pose?
TDF: Retail Therapy (Reprise)
Reviewed by Steve Marshall
Retail Therapy is the new release from TDF, a band fronted by Simon Climie
(ex-member of the obscure British synth-pop duo Climie Fisher) and Eric Clapton
(who appears under the pseudonym, x-sample). The CD mixes smooth jazzy
arrangements, with electronics and jungle rhythms, all offset by Clapton's
tasteful acoustic and electric guitar. Several tracks resemble William Orbit's
work on the No Speak label. They have the same atmospheric feel and diversity.
Some tracks will be right at home in the clubs, while others are perfect for
airplay on 'quiet storm' stations. Tunes like "Angelica" and "Sienna" make use
of a variety of acoustic arrangements, ranging from solo guitar to an almost
tropical feel.
"Sno-God" is one of the harder edged tracks on the disc, featuring superb
electric guitar work from Clapton, on top of a tight jungle beat. Another
highlight is "Pnom-Sen," a jazzy number with just the right amount of funk. On
"Seven," (like Primitive Radio Gods) they use a vocal sample of B.B. King's "How
Blue Can You Get." It's not the same line that PRG used, but you can't help
wondering if they used the sample thinking that the song would become a hit,
based on the success of the PRG tune. The clever thing here is the way the
sample fits perfectly in a completely different key than the original song. "Rip
Stop" is the CD's first single. The various rhythms and Clapton's fiery
fretwork make it one of the highlights.
Originally conceived as backing music for fashion shows, there were no musical
boundaries, and no time limits. Once Climie and Clapton got into the songwriting
process, they decided to turn it into an album. When asked about his work on the
project, Clapton said, "It opened up a whole world that I've never been really
directly involved with. This is the furthest I've ever been stretched, and I
really enjoy it." Whatever your musical tastes, chances are you'll find
something you like on Retail Therapy.
TEN FOOT POLE: Unleashed (Epitaph)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
It's been over two years since the last Ten Foot Pole release, and
there's been a lineup change. Former lead singer (and Chicago White Sox
pitcher) Scott Radinsky was traded to Pulley for future considerations
and a more realistic road and rehearsal schedule (in fairness, if I was
pitching for the bigs I might let my obligations to my punk band slip a
bit too).
With all respect to Radinsky's skill, whether on the mound or behind the
mike, the change doesn't hurt a bit. Guitarist/songwriter Dennis Jagard
has picked up the lead vocal duties and does just fine, thanks.
It doesn't hurt a bit that the disc contains a baker's dozen of some of
the best written punk songs I've heard this year. There's just enough
pop influence to keep the vocal mix high enough to make the strong
lyrical content clearly discernible, and enough punk energy to drive
the lyrics into a location somewhere in your brain stem.
Humor, anger, angst, bass thunder, guitar explosions and that patented
Epitaph rumbling drum sound - these guys have everything but Major
League pitching, and for that, frankly, I'll stick with Randy Johnson.
Grab a Ten Foot Pole and stick it - on your CD player...
Track List:
Fiction * John * It's Not Me * Denial * What You Want * Daddy * Damage *
Too Late * Excuses * Pride And Shame * Regret * Hey Pete * A.D.D.
THIN LIZARD DAWN: Thin Lizard Dawn (RCA)
Reviewed by Steve Marshall
If you walk into my office at any given time, you're bound to see a stack of
CDs waiting for me to review. Unless a CD really stands out, or comes
recommended, it's highly possible that it will be overlooked. The first CD
this year to jump out of the stack at me was the self-titled debut from Thin
Lizard Dawn. TLD combines several different influences--Beatle-ish psychedelia
and chord progressions, the humor and quirkiness of early 10CC, a touch of
punk, and a bit of toy piano here and there--to produce one of the most
original sounding new albums this year (and some of the best song titles too).
The songs run the gamut from urgent power pop on "Sexual Dynamo," to
Beatlesque tracks like "Pop Life," to trippy songs like "Weed" and "Space"
(which sounds a lot like The The on the verses), and just about anything in
between. "Anesthesia" sounds like a cut from Thurston Moore's (Sonic Youth)
solo album. The last two tracks on the CD--"Sucks" and "Heavily
Addicted"--are definitely the most entertaining. Oasis haters, take
note: "Sucks" is the tune for you. The song basically trashes the band
lyrically and musically with lines like "Even on my worst day, I never
SUCKED like Oasis."
"Heavily Addicted" is the final cut on the CD, and you can definitely say
they saved the most interesting track for last. The song 'ends' after about
two minutes. After ten minutes of silence, the hidden tracks start. I've
gotta admit, I'm a sucker for hidden/bonus tracks, and this is one of the
best. Over the next 17 minutes or so (the complete track is over 29 minutes),
you'll hear a wide variety of things--the sound of what appears to be a
fire burning, followed by complete sweeps of the audible frequency range, a
bluesy Sabbath-like tune, some studio chatter, a folky tune with Pink Floyd
overtones, plus other assorted odds and ends.
Once you get to the end, the disc practically cries out to be played again.
Thin Lizard Dawn's debut is definitely a disc that you'll want to hear more
than once--especially if you hate Oasis...
TRICIA & THE SUPERSONICS: King Bravo Selects Ska Authentics (Moon Ska)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
Subtitled "Miss Jamaica Meets The Skatalites", this disc pairs Miss
Jamaica 1996, Tricia Grant, with some of the pioneers of ska music.
The Skatalites were, of course, the house band of the original ska
movement in Jamaica. Disbanded in 1965, the members went on in various
groupings to provide backup for the Wailers, Maytals and other Jamaican
artists and to work with the Jamaican producers like Coxsone Dodd and
Duke Reid.
One of the groups which branched off the Skatalites was the Supersonics,
led by Tommy McCook. The Supersonics led the way from ska to rock
steady, a move which culminated in reggae. McCook doesn't appear here,
due to declining health, but former Skatalite Roland Alphonso steps in
as leader on his behalf. Bassman Lloyd Brevett is also on hand, along
with other players old and new.
The result is a disc of pleasing tracks which hearken back to an earlier
time. The current ska scene is more informed by punk, R&B and other
harder edged elements than you'll find here, but this is a highly
enjoyable glimpse into the roots of those contemporary sounds. Ms.
Grant's contribution is more credible than some might expect from a
model/beauty queen. Frankly, this band doesn't *need* a singer, but her
extra-musical notoriety will no doubt pump sales a bit on the band's
home turf and that's just fine.
If you've been introduced to ska by acts like No Doubt and the Mighty
Mighty Bosstones you owe yourself a listen to the music here. It will
show you where it came from and offer up a hint or two about where it
could go. This is an all star effort by an all star band.
Track List:
I Shall Not Remove * Be Honest With Me * Be My Guest Tonite * Skain'
Tommy McCook Style * Can't You See * Wings Of A Dove * Please Help Me
I'm Falling * Going Home On The Morning Train * Toasters Back In Town *
Mr. Ska Macka Sterling
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Instrumental Fire (Musick Recordings)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
A brand new label comes forward with a killer collection of moody and
powerful instrumentals that all seem to fit together perfectly despite
their diverse components. The Fathoms' "Blandingo" sits at track three,
it's complex beauty contrasting the dark power of the previous cut,
"High Wall" by The Cave 4. Such contrasts occur throughout the disc.
The exotic carnival ride provided by Laika & the Cosmonauts' "C'mon, Do
The Laika" stops right at the foot of Man Or Astro-Man's thunder-drum
performance of "Intoxica." Which leads, in turn, to the spaghetti-western
badness of Ben Vaughn's "Enfermo." Perhaps the most unusual contrast of
all takes place between tracks 11 (Travelers Of Tyme's "Sleestak Chaka
Trap") and 12 ("Surfin' Turd" by Scratch Bongowax), where we go from dark,
brooding, reverbed powerchords and ocean sounds to pure snotty punk of
the most amusing kind.
What amazed me the most about this disc is how it holds up as a unit,
especially considering the diversity of the artists and the songs. The
one common factor is the vibe. Whether the music is smooth as butter or
tough as nails, there's a sense of mystery present. Sometimes even danger.
That's an attractive sound, even if you can't quite pinpoint it. I think
I found it in Vaughn's high plains piece, in the swirling keyboard sound
of "My Favorite Dean Martian," by The Omega Men, and as usual there was
PLENTY of it to be found in the guitars of Eddie Angel and Danny Amis
(Los Straightjackets), whose "Spanish Fly" closes the set. Sixteen tracks
of danger? As a moth to the flame, there go I.
Kudos to Musick Recordings for putting together such a monster for their
debut release. I contacted Art Bourasseau, head honcho at the label, to
tell him how much I loved this one. His reply was very cool. "We wanted
to show everyone that instrumental rock doesn't all have to sound like
Dick Dale." Amen. (Musick Recordings: 202 West Essex Avenue, Landsdowne,
PA 19050)
TRACK LIST:
Forbidden Planet (The Bomboras) * High Wall (The Cave 4) * Blandingo (The
Fathoms) * Kolme Kitaraa (Four Piece Suit) * C'Mon Do The Laika (Laika And
The Cosmonauts) * Intoxia (Man Or Astro-Man?) * Enfermo (Ben Vaughn) * El
Camino (The Vice Royals) * Twice Pipes (Lord Hunt and His Missing Finks) *
Brawl (Eddie Angel) * Sleestak Chaka Trap (Travelers Of Tyme) * Surfin'
Turd (Scratch Bongowax) * Sneaky Tiki (The Tiki Tones) * My Favorite Dean
Martian (The Omega Men) * Theme From The Unknown (The Tiki Men) * Spanish
Fly (Los Straitjackets)
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Latin Lingo: Hip-Hop From La Raza Vol.2 (Rhino)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
If you've heard all you want to hear about Compton and Bed-Stuy for a
while, here's a chance to cross town to the land of firme hinas, dropped
six-treys and Sunday morning menudo.
There's certainly nothing new about black artists appropriating Latin
rhythms, and in an appropriate turnabout, these Latino artists have
created a hip-hop of they're own.
The tracks included here are a mixed bag. There are some standouts,
though. Proper Dos' "Firme Hina" makes effective use of samples from
Brenton Wood's "Oogum Boogum Song" in a fairly lighthearted ode to the
quest for the perfect senorita. Paper Boy contributes "Ditty,"
featuring rapid fire rapping about - well, to be honest, I'm not sure
what it's about, but it sure sounds good.
The Latin Alliance feature War in a reprise of "Lowrider (On the
Boulevard) which was borrowed both subject matter and rhythm from the
East LA Latino car culture back in '75. This is a worthy updating from
some guys who were doing it before they were rapping about it.
Kid Frost's "Thin Line" is an old school masterpiece, with help from the
Persuader's 1971 original and the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. Krazy Dee uses a
straight ahead salsa backing track for his "Manos Arriba!" which
demonstrates a new sound and some new skills from the former member of
N.W.A. "Te Quiero" by Mr. Lyrik is another salsa flavored dance track
that deserves the attention it gets here.
There's more, some better, frankly, than others, but most of it's
fine. The one disappointment for me was Proper Dos' "Geto Baseball,"
which covers the subject of using people's faces as a target for a
Louisville Slugger. It's primarily a vehicle for profanity without
context. Sorry guys, it's been done. Better. And too often.
Still, this is a fine collection of hip-hop from a different
perspective. Some fun stuff, some great dance stuff, and a chance to
expand your Spanish vocabulary. If you're into hip-hop at all, this
will add a nice accent to your collection.
Track List:
On & On/Proper Dos * Firme Hina/Proper Dos * Ditty/Paper Boy * Lowrider
(On the Boulevard)/Latin Alliance featuring War * Geto Baseball/Proper
Dos * Thin Line/Kid Frost * Sitting In The Park/Hi-C featuring Tony A *
Knockin' Boots/Candyman * Left Side/Sir Devoe * Manos Arriba!/Krazy Dee
* Two For The Time/Denay * Te Quiero/Mr. Lyric
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Merengue - Dominican Music & Dominican Identity (Rounder)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
Merengue may be (have been?) a fad in dance clubs around the world, but in
the Dominican Republic it's no fad. It's their indigenous music, and it has
a long and rich history. Fifteen tracks can't possibly cover enough ground
to give an accurate overview of merengue, but it sure can pique your desire
to study further. Don't expect this to be a "Merengue's Most Overplayed Hits"
package. Instead, we get an interesting collection of recordings from various
points of the 20th century, the oldest being rural field recordings (with the
expected sound quality) and the newest being from this decade. This gives us
a chance to hear the development of the form, albeit in less than subtle
jumps. The disc includes music by Joseito Mateo, Belkis Concepcion, Nico
Lora y su Conjunto, Antonio Morel y su Orquesta and other important bands
and bandleaders, and the liner notes give a good description of these
musicians and their influences. I do wish there had been a clearly stated
chronology. Only four of the tracks have the year listed, and three of
those were recorded in the 90s. But apart from that one glitch, this is
a very cool little collection and a nice non-commercial introduction to
Dominican music.
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Phat Trax - Best Of Old School Vol's 6 & 7 (Rhino)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
So much for the non-fat diet! Rhino's been pouring on the musical calories
of late. Fatboys, Fatback, and now two new volumes in their Phat Trax series.
Volume 6 slides in with "Snap Shot" by Slave, one of the funkiest bands of
the late 70s, and continues with a smorgasbord of deep grooves from Brick,
The Chapparrals, Faze-O, George Duke and several other hot acts of the era.
I was most impressed to see they included a track by Pleasure, a sweet funk
outfit from Portland, Oregon, that never got the attention they deserved.
These aren't the obvious tracks that one expects on an old skool funk comp.
Somebody knows their stuff.
There's an ambient feeling to each track that reminds me of the atmosphere in
the cooler dance clubs, and a whacked-out attitude that keeps it all nice and
loose. When The Chapparrals sing "if you ain't got no booty, shake somebody
ELSES booty," the 'tude becomes crystal clear. Yep, this is perfect music for
backseat wrestling to.
Volume 7's beats are a little closer to disco. Boom boom boom boom, 1 2 3 4.
The ambiance is still there, and extended dance mixes dominate, making this
another classic club disc. Again, the track selection doesn't seem to take
the charts into consideration (yay!), with the exception of Earth, Wind and
Fire's "Boogie Wonderland." Instead, Rhino opts for the less obvious tunes
like "You're The One For Me" (D Train), "Do Ya Wanna Get Funky With Me"
(Peter Brown) and the funkin' unnerving Sonny and Cher cover, "The Beat Goes
On" (Orbit). The Phat Trax series is alive and well, and as usual, full of
surprises.
TRACK LIST:
VOL. 6: Slave ("Snap Shot") * Brick ("Push Push") * One Way ("Push"), Xavier
("Work That Sucker To Death") * Jimmy G. & The Tackheads ("Break My Heart") *
Kleeer ("Tonight") * George Duke ("Dukey Stick") * The Chapparrals ("Shake
Your Head, Part One") * Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers ("Bustin' Loose") *
The Soul Searchers ("Ashley's Roachclip") * Faze-O ("Good Thang") * and
Pleasure ("Glide").
VOL. 7: Taana Gardner ("Heartbeat") * McFadden & Whitehead ("Ain't No Stopping
Us Now") * Brick ("Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody") * Peter Brown ("Do Ya Wanna Get
Funky With Me") * Earth Wind & Fire ("Boogie Wonderland") * D Train ("You're
The One For Me") * Orbit ("The Beat Goes On") * RJ's Latest Arrival
("Shackles") * Attitude ("We Got The Juice") * Raydio ("Hot Stuff") * Opus
Seven ("Bussle")
VARIOUS ARTISTS/HOWARD STERN: Private Parts Soundtrack (Warner Bros)
Reviewed by Paul Remington
If you were the King of All Media, what would you do to prove your title?
Make a movie? Put out a CD? Write a book? Broadcast the #1 radio show in
America? Create a top-rated television show? How about all five? This
self-dubbed King of All Media has done just that, and how ironic, since his
self-titled name was actually coined as a sarcastic joke. A few years back,
Stern attempted to force the media into using this title knowing how
preposterous it really was. Interestingly, the title he gave himself has
actually come true. In America, Stern has established the #1 radio show for
morning drive-time syndication across the country. His latest movie, Private
Parts, was the #1 film in America two weeks straight. The soundtrack album
also pegged the #1 slot. Everything this man touches turns to gold, which
really is amazing since Paramount Pictures found 44% of the American public
hate Howard Stern.
So, who is Howard Stern anyway? No doubt, readers of this review not living
in America probably don't know who this man is. Stern is the bad boy of
American radio. His radio show is, arguably, the most unique show on the
dial, mainly because of its content; a content that thrives on adolescent
humor and stinging social commentary. Four to five hours a day, Monday
through Friday, Stern opens his mind in a free-form, improvised fashion
with his crew, writers Fred Norris and Jackie Martling, and
sidekick/newswoman Robin Quivers. Stern speaks whatever he thinks, about
any subject whatsoever. His comments are often caustic, confrontational,
opinionated, offensive, and always cleverly humorous. As a result, he's at
the top of the FCC's most wanted list, and holds the record as the most
fined individual in American broadcasting history with over 1.7 million
dollars in fines, and climbing. He must be doing something right. He's
heard in 35 markets with a fan base second to none.
Private Parts, the movie, is based on his best selling novel of the same
name. Originally published by Simon and Schuster, Private Parts became the
fastest selling book in that firm's history. His second book, Miss America,
rivaled Private Parts as being the fastest selling book in publishing
history. Private Parts, the book, is a rambling, side-splitting discourse
documenting Stern's life from birth through the early Nineties. He steps
us through his childhood, teen years, and rise through radio with sharp
insight and inventive presentation. Humorous, entertaining, and potentially
brilliant, Private Parts is pure Stern. If you're offended by lesbians,
political incorrectness, sexual subjects, and brutally opinionated commentary
all under the guise of entertainment and humor, this book is not for you.
Although, the movie very well may be considered acceptable. It is designed
for all adult audiences, and has received top reviews from a majority of the
American media. As Stern states, "It's funny, I release a book, the critics
love it. I release a TV show, the critics love it. I release another book,
the critics love it. I'm thinking of quitting radio since that seems to be
the only thing the critics say I do wrong. Apparently, that's the only thing
I suck at." Of course, this is stated with a sarcastic tongue-in-cheek.
Stern's passion lies in radio, and he has no intentions of leaving the medium
he loves, at this time.
Stern's quest to release the soundtrack of his dreams came to the fore
through his association with many top names in the music business. The
Private Parts soundtrack includes material by Rob Zombie, Dave Navarro and
Chad Smith, Porno for Pyros, Marilyn Manson, Ozzy Osbourne with Type O
Negative, Green Day, the Ramones, Deep Purple, Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent, Van
Halen, AC/DC, and the Dust Brothers. Stern appears on two tracks: with Rob
Zombie performing "The Great American Nightmare", and with the Dust Brothers
performing "Tortured Man". A mixture of modern rock and classic rock, the
Private Parts soundtrack finds many of Stern's friends writing custom material
for the movie.
Most of the pieces on the CD hail a common theme: the fact that Stern has
been trounced upon throughout his life and career, that he lives a living
nightmare, he breaks down barriers and lives his life by his own rules.
This theme is characteristic of Stern's career, and fits the storyline
behind the movie.
What may be considered even more entertaining for some are the segues between
each piece. Stern includes 15 short clips, most audio extracts from the movie,
and a few custom segues for the CD. Each clip highlights a hysterical moment
from the movie. One example gives us a glimpse at his first radio show, "The
Howard Stern Experience", aired at Boston University where he attended college
in the late Seventies. This short clip proves how pathetic he was on the air.
We hear a young Stern as a jock at Boston University's campus radio station
ineptly announce Ted Nugent's "Cat Stratch Fever" before stupidly dropping a
few dozen tape carts on the turntable. He panics, saying, "Oh my God... Oh
my God..." while scratching the needle on the record, frantically trying to
re-cue the track for airplay. He was eventually fired due to his offensive
material. Other clips profile his rise in radio, working for stations WRNW,
WCCC, WWWW, and eventually one of the biggest markets in American radio:
WNBC. The movie ends at about 1985, and does not go beyond his time at WNBC.
He was eventually fired from WNBC once they realized how much of a liability
he was.
Howard Stern currently generates over 500 million dollars in revenue through
the markets that air his radio show. He's broadcast from WXRK in New York
City since his departure from WNBC in the mid-Eighties, and continues his
unique and unparalleled form of radio show. He's single-handedly created his
own style--a style that dozens of "shock jocks" imitate across the country.
Those who do not live in America will be seeing Stern's movie appear at their
local theater shortly. It will receive international distribution around the
globe. Stern feels, even though most people in other countries have no idea
who he is, they will enjoy his movie. "People in other countries hate America.
I think the fact that I'm this radio rebel hated so fiercely by the US
Government, that immediately makes it appealing to foreign audiences."
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Reverb Central Live Surf (KFJC Records)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
"This is a request from God. Naturally we're going to play it." With these
words, The Mermen kick off this fantastic 15-song compilation of live
performances from KFJC's Summer Surf Concert Series. "My Black Bag" proves
The Mermen ain't no studio creation. So much sound from just three guys!
I had intended to pick some highlights, but this is another one of those
comps that is so consistent throughout that you just can't narrow it down.
The Penetrators, Pollo Del Mar, Insect Surfers, Halibuts (with and without
Jon Blair sitting in), Agent Orange, Brazil 2001, Aqua Velvets, The Torpedoes,
The Reventios, the late lamented Woodies, The Berzerkers, and The Surfdusters
all come up with performances that show you just how strong the bands are in
the current surf scene. Only a live recording can bring that point home this
clearly. Besides the music, you get a little taste of the scene itself, from
the stage banter of the musicians to the intros from Phil Dirt, the man who
has been smack dab in the middle of that scene since the first wave hit the
beach in the 60s. Come to think of it, this is a scene-fed release from
start to finish. The CD was released by Phil and KFJC, and even the cover
art was done by Pollo Del Mar guitarist Ferenc Dobronyi. (Check it out!
Psychorama waverider!) The bad news is it's been out for many months now
and it says "limited edition" on the back, so you'd best get a move on.
(E-Mail Phil Dirt at reverb@cruzio.com for purchase information.)
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Trash On Demand Vol. II (Ultra Under)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
This CD is loaded with great gutsy rawk tunes. 24 of 'em, to be exact, by
bands like Leaving Trains, Hot Damn, Nervous Christians, Assassination
Bureau, Wanda Chrome & the Leather Pharaohs, Fancy Lads, Ubangi Stomp,
and Witcherry Wild. The music runs through a wide corridor of genres
without clouding the central focus of the disk. Sometimes it's crunchy.
"Fall," by The Adz, is loaded with punk power, and Hot Damn's "Remember
Fun" has all that plus the hormone factor. You don't even have to see
those ladies to feel the effects, and if you HAVE seen them, may God have
mercy on your pants. Sometimes the music rolls. The Rosehips' "Jacob's
Progress" is R&B a la mid-period Stones, with a sweet acoustic slide intro
and great hooks. And sometimes the music just plain explodes, as it does
the second The Sinisters kick into "Cap'n Weirdo." Sometimes it pops!
Logik keeps the edge sharp on "M.C. W/B," but the structure is pure pop
of the coolest sort. Best of all, at least in my opinion, is when the
music shivers from too much cool, like the shimmering and mysterious
"Another Boring Day" by Echodrive or the downright spooky "Pennicillin,"
by The Jacobites. Is there anything that ties all these sounds together?
Just that good ol' indie attitude, Jeff Dahl's involvement, and quality.
(Ultra Under Records: PO Box 1867, Cave Creek, AZ, 85327, USA)
TRACK LIST:
51 Crazy Zone (Assassination Bureau) * Big Baby (Leaving Trains) * Jacob's
Progress (The Rosehips) * Private Monkeys (Wanda Chrome & the Leather
Pharaohs) * Strychnine (Snap-Her) * Burned Out (The Neurotones) * Abducted
(The Jezebelles) * Standing Still (The Lucky Thirteens) * Wanna See Her Cry
(Big Bobby & the Nightcaps) * Remember Fun (Hot Damn) * Have You Ever (Fancy
Lads) * Fall (The Adz) * Start Over Again (The Trash Brats) * Go On (Ubangi
Stomp) * Cap'n Weirdo (The Sinisters) * Another Boring Day (Echodrive) *
Hey (Boyz Next Door) * Pennicillin (The Jacobites) * Talk About Chasing A
Dream (Nervous Christians) * Witcherry Wild (Come Down Slow) * Little Bit
Of Whore (Jimmy Keith & His Shocky Horrors) * M.C. W/B (Logik) * Baby What's
Wrong? (The Cynics) * (Mystery track, but you didn't hear it from us. Shhhh.)
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO: Self titled (Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
Remember 1967? Flower power, summer of love and all that neat hippy stuff?
Well, that's the year this debut album hit the stores. Imagine the contrast.
Scott MacKenzie's singing about putting flowers in your hair while Lou Reed
sings about putting a spike into his vein. As percussionist Maureen Tucker
once said, "We didn't go for that hippy shit." Not surprisingly, The Velvet
Underground didn't sell a whole lot of records until a decade or two back.
They say you have to die to reach the pinnacle of rock and roll success.
Apparently there's been some confusion here. Lou Reed is alive; if you look
long enough, you'll even see him move.
The Velvet Underground & Nico were more than just contrary. They were
absolutely devastating. Barriers were kicked down or blown into fragments,
conventions were sneered at, sounds previously reserved for military torture
became more or less harmonic backdrops, and lurid tales of desolation and
addiction were moaned over a sonic apocalypse. Andy Warhol installed Nico
and added a performance art trio known as The Exploding Plastic Inevitable,
all of which added to his vision of The Velvet Underground as his own
decadent painting, but it was the bizarre nature of the band and songs like
"Venus In Furs" and "Heroin" that set them apart from the other bands of the
day. The fact that Nico's gruesome vocal delivery could scar the listener
for life made no nevermind. The music behind her was absolute black magic,
and it's no less powerful 30 years later.
It seems only fitting that this influential album be given the 24k gold
audiophile treatment, and Mobile Fidelity has done just that. The sound
limitations of the source can never be completely resolved, but they've
done a good job with what they had. We have clarity, punch, and presence.
John Cale's viola feedback, which runs through the entire seven minutes and
eleven seconds of "Heroin," is so present that it becomes the monkey on
your back and the shattering of your nerves. And that's a GOOD thing! Now,
how about taking on White Light White Heat? Let's make this an every other
month VU release party.
SID VICIOUS: Never Mind The Reunion (Cleopatra)
Reviewed by John Sekerka
You knew it was coming. Ol' Sid has been rooming with worms coming up on two
decades now, but that won't stop him from showing up his ex-Sex mates. While
Johnny Rotten et al. are playing at punk as middle-aged wankers, Sid's doing
it proper: from the grave. And you know dead rock stars make the best
records - well, they sell anyway. Onto the music at hand. This is live Sid
(please, no giggling), spiraling even further out of control after the last
(yeah right) Sex Pistols tour, hanging out in New York and playing choice
covers at Max's Kansas City. Jerry Nolan (The Heartbreakers) and Mick Jones
(The Clash) are along for the ride, and you know Johnny Thunders ain't too
far from the stage, probably under a table though. If you think this release
reeks of exploitation, well, you are correct sir, but hold on there fella.
Sid manages to dangle his pin-holed body against the mike long enough to
crank out some spirited numbers. He sounds positively alive, he does. Sid
does Iggy ('I Wanna Be Your Dog'). Sid does Eddie ('Something Else'). Sid
does Mickey ('Steppin' Stone'). Sid does Johnny ('Beisen Was a Gas'). Sid
does another Johnny ('Chinese Rocks'). And of course Sid does Frankie ('My
Way'), complete with a hilarious patron adding salvos. And it doesn't sound
too shabby. Having a crack band helps, and I gotta admit that Sid's vocals
never approach the slurry drug haze we all know from Gary Oldman's big screen
representation. Maybe there was something to this piece of human waste after
all. Ah well. Stay tuned for the commemorative box set coming your way soon.
WAGNER: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg. Jose van Dam (Sachs); Ben Heppner
(Walther); Karita Matilla (Eva); Alan Opie (Beckmesser); Herbert Lippert
(David); Iris Vermillion (Magdalene); Rene Pape (Pogner). Chicago Symphony
Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Sir Georg Solti. LONDON 452 606-2 [DDD]
Four Discs 68:04; 72:54; 68:12; 49:54. (Recorded during live performances.)
Reviewed by Robert Cummings
A NEW Meistersinger? Reissues of Wagner's operas abound. Typically, they
feature familiar conductors from the past such as Furtwangler, Knappertsbusch,
Karajan, Bohm, and singers like Lehmann, Melchior, Nilsson, Hotter, and
Resnik, and tout reduced prices, too. These factors combine to fatten record
bins the world over with these recycled offerings. New issues, however, come
out at a comparative trickle because of the considerable financial risk
labels incur in producing new recordings from among this German master's
massive and spendthrift-friendly creations. It's simply a more attractive
prospect to reissue a tried-and-true recording from the vault than to
venture into a wilderness peopled by finicky consumers and hair-trigger
critics with anything less than a top-notch performance and big names to
sell that performance. After all, it's not easy to sell a four-disc set if
there is the least bit of apprehension in the mind of the potential buyer.
London's new Meistersinger is clearly a winner on all counts, though, and
one might surmise that a generation from now it may well be the reissue
that new recordings will have to challenge for supremacy.
This is the second recording of Meistersinger from Solti, and he explains
in the accompanying booklet that this effort was prompted by a chance
hearing of a radio performance of Pogner's first act monologue, which
brought tears to his eyes. I suspect, too, that the renowned Maestro,
whose Ring opera recordings of thirty and more years ago have rightly
been praised to the high heavens, also wanted simply to return to Wagner
(any opera of whose he hadn't recorded in over twenty years) casting some
of the big-name singers and employing the latest in sound technology. One
hopes he is pondering additional recordings of previously traversed Wagner
works. (Word is out that at least a new Tristan und Isolde, with Deborah
Voigt, is due for release shortly.) In any event, Solti conducts here with
sensitivity and the last ounce of commitment, drawing from the chorus and
orchestra majestic, if slightly lightweight, performances that infuse the
music with a forwarding-looking verve and heartfelt warmth so appropriate
to Wagner's drama that you, like the composer when writing the work, "might
laugh and cry."
Among the principals, Ben Heppner, touted by many as the first new truly
Wagnerian "Heldentenor" in many years, is splendid as Walther. His Am
stillen Herd (CD 1, track 15) is beautifully rendered, as is his So rief
der Lenz in den Wald (CD 2, track 1). And hear him as his Walther "composes"
Morgenlich leuchtend in rosigem Schein in Act III (CD 3, track 7), and try
it again to your utter delight in Scene II (CD 4, track 12). Heppner is
already an operatic superstar, but this kind of artistry portends a future
to parallel, if not surpass, the successes of Pavarotti and Domingo. Jose
van Dam in the role of Sachs is solid throughout. Try, for just one example,
his Act III Wahn! Wahn! Uberall Wahn! (CD 3, track 4), where his dramatic
and vocal skills combine to both dazzle the ear and impress the mind. Karita
Matilla's Eva is also quite good. Her O Sachs! Mein Freund from Act III (CD
3, track 14) is seething with tension and overwrought emotion, and her Selig,
wie die Sonne (CD 4, track 1) is beautifully sung and leads to a gorgeously
delivered quintet with van Dam, Heppner, Vermillion, and Lippert.
Among the other cast members Lippert is very impressive as David. Try his
splendid Der Meister Ton und Weisen (CD 1, track 7). And one can't overlook
the
contribution of Opie as Walther's determined rival, Beckmesser.
Vermillion and Pape are thoroughly convincing, too, as are those in the
smaller roles. As suggested above, the chorus and orchestra turn in splendid
performances. London's sound is utterly superb, the notes are informative,
and the four-language libretto in the 390-page accompanying booklet tops off
the lavishness of this production in fine style. Need I say this issue is
urgently recommended?
JOE LOUIS WALKER: Great Guitars (Verve)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
With a supporting cast like this, how can you miss? The playing is excellent
throughout, as you would expect considering the presence of Ike Turner, Bonnie
Raitt, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Scotty Moore, Steve Cropper, Little Charlie
Baty, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Robert Lockwood Jr., The Tower Of Power Horn
Section, Otis Rush, Taj Mahal and several other blues luminaries. None of
these artists pull off anything revolutionary, because that's not what they're
here for. While they all add their distinct musical flavors to the soup,
there's no doubt that Joe Louis Walker is the chef (though you'll certainly
notice he's cooking in a different kitchen this time around).
Great Guitars finds Walker in fine voice, belting out his blues with a power
and conviction drawn from his experiences in gospel music. His guitar is a
living entity, I swear it. Sweet and innocent one moment, lusty and menacing
the next. The tunes run the gamut from straight forward blues ("Low Down
Dirty Blues" and several others) to good ol' fashioned jump blues ("Mile Hi
Club") to acoustic gospel ("In God's Hands"), each handled expertly by Walker
and friends. Walker plays so skillfully that he is at least a match for his
guests, who trade tasty solos and fills but never actually steal the spotlight
from the star of the show. The production, co-credited to Walker and Steve
Cropper, is quite nice if not subtle, and the overall sound is very warm.
All of this does not necessarily add up to the perfect album. Who's-Who
projects like this rarely become classics, primarily because the sound cannot
possibly belong solely to the primary artist, and this release is no
exception to the rule. It is what it is: an entertaining hour-long blues
showcase that is well worth your time.
STEVE WARINER: No More Mr. Nice Guy (Arista)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
Nashville cats, they tell me, can play clean as country water. They can
also play wild as mountain dew. On "No More Mr. Nice Guy," Nashville
native Steve Wariner does all that and more.
Wariner is no newcomer, of course. With a string of hit singles,
notable albums and a Grammy to his credit, he's a well established star
as a singer/songwriter. His own notion of himself, however, has always
been that of a picker (he got his professional start as Dottie West's
bass player). His guitar playing has earned plenty of respect from his
peers in the business (when you can catch Chet Atkins' ear, you've
earned plenty of respect) but with over twenty years in the business,
this is his first instrumental release.
It's obviously a labor of love, and it attracted the labors of many who
love Steve Wariner's playing. Among those who join him in this
celebration of the six string are Chet Atkins, Sam Bush, Larry Carlton,
Bela Fleck, Vince Gill, Leo Kottke and Mark O'Connor. And that's a
representative sample, not a comprehensive list.
The music offered, 12 tracks in a variety of styles ranging from solo
ballads to banjo assisted funk, is just as good as that list of players
suggests.
It is, in fact, as clear as country water. That is, when it's not as
wild as mountain dew.
Track List:
No More Mr. Nice Guy * Big Hero, Little Hero * Prelude/Practice Your
Scales Somewhere Else * The Theme * Forever Loving You * Next March *
If You Can't Say Something Good * Hap Towne Breakdowne * For Chester B.
* The Brickyard Boogie * Don't Call Me Ray * Guitar Talk
DINAH WASHINGTON: What A Diff'rence A Day Makes (Mobile Fidelity)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
In 1959 Dinah Washington was well recognized for her contributions to
blues, jazz and gospel music, having recorded many memorable sides over
the previous decade and a half. This album, though, produced her popular
breakthrough when the title track made the hit parade.
That success for Dinah was not a source of happiness for all of her
fans, unfortunately, since the rest of her recording career was guided
by it, producing a series of heavily orchestrated albums of ballads.
For those of us who loved her blues and her work with small combos,
well, there was at least the satisfaction of hearing that marvelous
voice. That satisfaction evaporated in 1963 when she died at the
agonizingly young age of 39.
But this record, released by Mobile Fidelity on their gold Ultradisc II
format, is certainly a highlight, orchestra and all. Dinah Washington
was absolutely at the peak of her power here. Washington was one of the
few artists in the jazz/blues milieu who sang with the precision of tone
and enunciation of Ella Fitzgerald, but Dinah could carry within that
precision a level of expression that Ella was hard pressed to reach
(though in fairness, Dinah Washington was never, to my knowledge, heard
to scat with the fire and force of Ella Fitzgerald). "Diff'rence" was
the hit here, but it could as well have been "I Remember You," "Cry Me A
River" or any of the twelve cuts performed on the disc.
Led by Belford Hendricks, the orchestra on this album does Washington
more justice than some that would follow. A few more horns and a few
less strings might be more to my taste, but her impressive vocal
instrument carries the day in every case.
The Ultradisc treatment is well deserved. This is a landmark album in
the career of a landmark artist.
Track List:
I Remember You * I Thought About You * That's All There Is To That * I
Won't Cry Anymore * I'm Thru With Love * Cry Me A River * What A
Diff'rence A Day Made * Nothing In The World * Manhattan * Time After
Time * It's Magic * A Sunday Kind Of Love
MONSTER MIKE WELCH: Axe To Grind (Tone-Cool Records)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
So who's the kid with the doofus looking Opie grin on the back cover of
this new blues CD?
None other than Monster Mike Welch, the hottest young blues guitar
phenom I've heard since Shuggie Otis first graced my turntable
twenty-odd years ago.
Monster Mike (who was "Little Mikey Welch" until rechristened by Dan
(Elwood Blues) Aykroyd at a House of Blues gig a while back) isn't the
most original player in town, but then he's only seventeen. He's sharp,
though, serving up lead and slide guitar in front of a veteran trio
(you've got to see the back cover of this disc - shades, goatees, berets
and that shit-eatin' Opie grin...) on a dozen cuts, and singing like he
means it, even if you wonder if he understands it (after all, there's
that Huckleberry Finn meets Opie grin...).
Do I seem a bit hung up on that smile? It's only because it seems so
damn incongruous with what's on the disc. This *is*, in fact, the
blues. Better blues than a lot of guys with a lot more years on the
road and the stage can muster. He's obviously spent most of his
formative years locked up with Stevie Ray Vaughan records, but that's
hardly the worst thing you can say about an aspiring bluesman.
Sure, he tries to give his best bluesman glare on the front cover, but
he gives it all away on the back. Does that "Hi, Aunt Bea!" lookin'
Opie grin mean this kid can't play the blues? Nope. It means he's
havin' a lot of fun doing it, and you'll have a lot of fun listening.
Track List:
Did She Say * Palm Of Her Hand * Axe To Grind * The Elkmont Stomp *
Every Time You Lie * Afraid Of My Own Tears * Take Your Best Shot *
She Couldn't Know * Time Stands Still * That's My Sin * My Emptiness *
Cruise Control
SMOKEY WILSON: The Man From Mars (Bullseye Blues)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
"The Man From Mars" is, if you'll pardon my saying so, smokin'!
Smokey Wilson's guitar screams, scorches and steams through a dozen
high powered electric blues. He fronts a band that includes a two piece
horn section, bass, rhythm guitar, keys and drums. Together they
achieve a sound that ranges from barroom combo intimacy to big band
thunder.
Wilson's is a tasteful and adept picker, capable of lightning flashes of
speed but not dedicated to flash where flash isn't needed. He's also a
good creator of original blues tunes (he penned 8 of the twelve here)
which is no mean trick.
But his voice! He growls, howls, bends and amends the lyrics, using his
voice as the eighth instrument in the lineup. One of the eternal
mysteries of the blues is that no matter how sorrowful the subject, they
sound best when you can detect joy in the delivery. Smokey Wilson
delivers a lyric just that way, and the real joy is reserved for the
listener.
"You don't drink what I drink, and you don't smoke what I smoke..." he
tells us. Probably not. But you can hear what he plays and you can
hear what he sings and you should do both.
Track List:
Thanks For Making Me A Star * Something Inside Of Me * The Man From Mars
* 44 Blues * Louise * Too Drunk To Drive * You Don't Drink What I Drink
* Black Widow * Just Like A Mountain * Don't Want To Tangle With Me *
Doctor Blues * Easy Baby
CHARLES WRIGHT & THE WATTS 103rd STREET RHYTHM BAND:
In The Jungle, Babe/Express Yourself (Warner Bros.)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
Warner Brothers Records continues to dip into their vaults for their
Black Music Ol' Skool imprint and this time they're serving up a double
scoop of deep fried funk.
Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm band are one of the
great untold stories of funk. Their only trip to the pop top 10 came
with 1970's "Express Yourself" and they didn't exactly rip up the R&B
charts either. What they *did* do was produce six albums of music who's
influence far outstripped its commercial success.
The two albums on this disc, 1969's "In The Jungle, Babe" and 1970's
"Express Yourself" came at the midpoint of the band's recording history,
which just happened to coincide with the high point of their commercial
and artistic success.
The disc opens with "Till You Get Enough" as Mr. Wright informs us that
"We gonna start a new thang, that's never been done before..." and
indeed they did. With a stripped down sound to match Wright's spare,
soulful voice, the band delivered up a funk sound that owed more than a
bit to the Memphis sound but filtered it through their own West Coast
sensibilities and served it as something brand new.
Serving up a blend of original tunes and covers (the Doors' "Light My
Fire," Wilson Pickett's "Midnight Mover" and Sly Stone's "Everyday
People" are all standouts that rival the original interpretations), "In
the Jungle, Babe" produced the band's first R&B hit and set them up for
the crossover success that would come with their next release.
"Express Yourself" opened with "Road Without An End," the title
answering the lyric's musical question ."..have we come to the end of
our road?" The track, sweetened with subtle strings in a departure from
the minimalist funk stylings of "In The Jungle, Babe," set up the
listener for a set of deep funk, jazz grooves and the band's
breakthrough pop hit, "Express Yourself." You know, or should, the hit,
but if you don't know "High As Apple Pie," delivered here as "Slice 1"
and "Slice Two," then run, don't walk, to your favorite dealer of
musical entertainments and slap this on the player.
This is essential funk, packed with smile making, butt shaking pleasure.
Track List:
In The Jungle, Babe: Till You Get Enough * I'm A Midnight Mover * Light
My Fire * Comment (If All Men Are Truly Brothers) * Everyday People *
Must Be Your Thing * Love Land * Oh Happy Gabe (Sometimes Blue) * Twenty
Five Miles * The Joker (On A Trip Through The Jungle)
Express Yourself: Road Without An End * I Got Love * High As Apple Pie -
Slice 1 * Express Yourself * I'm Aware * Tell Me What You Want Me To Do
* High As Apple Pie - Slice 2
THE ZOMBIES: Greatest Hits (DCC Compact Classics)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
The Zombies' recordings may be over 30 years old, but to many of us they are
timeless. The 15 tracks presented here make a good overview--though
"overview" is a funny word when talking about a band that really only made
a couple albums--and there are only a few glaring omissions. "Is This The
Dream" springs to mind. The obvious tracks, "She's Not There," "Tell Her
No," "You Make Me Feel Good," and "Time Of The Season" are here, along with
gems like "I Love You," "Imagine The Swan," "Leave Me Be," and a few others
I remember playing to death in the good ol' days of Close 'n' Plays.
There are, of course, a ton of Zombies comps on the market. So why is this
one necessary? The sound, man, the sound. Price isn't an issue here, either.
While DCC is renowned for their gold CDs and 180+ audiophile vinyl, this baby
is an aluminum CD with a golden sound. Compared to my other Zombies comps,
this one wins, hands down. The presence, depth and clarity is a revelation.
I was literally shocked by the powerful sound of Chris White's bass kicking
in after the intro of "I Love You."
Colin Blunstone's incredible voice and the ethereal and impossibly melodic
music of Rod Argent and the boys made an unbeatable combination during the
British invasion. Three decades after the fact, their music holds up.
(DCC can be reached by phone at 1-800-301-MUSIC.)
TRACK LIST:
She's Not There * Don't Cry For Me * I Can't Make Up My Mind * You Make Me
Feel Good * Tell Her No * The Kind Of Girl * Leave Me Be * Sometimes * It's
All Right With Me * I Don't Want To Know * I Love You * Indication * Nothing's
Changed * Time Of The Season * Imagine The Swan
______________________________________________________________________________
C O S M I K Q U I C K I E S
It's Not The Size That Counts
BIS: This Is Teen-C Power! (Grand Royal)
Reviewed by John Sekerka
'Sugar sugar kandy pop, just don't let the music stop!' Indeed. Bis are the
sweetest sensation on the market. Cutesy hooky peppy tunes with simple
sing-along rhymes and stolen riffs never go out of style. A sure fire hit
with every track. Two boys and one girl bash away at their tinny instruments,
sing with lotsa gusto, and manage to whip up more musical fun than you've had
for quite a spell - trust me. Anthem of the year? Try 'Kill Yr Boyfriend'.
Only drawback here is that this Teen-C Power is limited to a scant six tracks
that sneak in under twenty minuscule minutes. More, more, more!
JANE EAGLEN: Bellini & Wagner. (Jane Eaglen, Soprano). Bellini: Col sorriso
d'innocenza (Il pirata); Sorgi, o padre, e la figlia rimira (Bianca e
Fernando); Casta Diva (Norma); Wagner: Prelude and Liebestod (Tristan und
Isolde); Brunnhilde's Battle Cry (Die Walkure); Brunnhilde's Immolation
Scene (Gotterdammerung); The New Company; Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment (Bellini), Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
(Wagner) conducted by Mark Elder. Sony SK 62032 [DDD] 78:38
Reviewed by Robert Cummings
Jane Eaglen rises above the sometimes pedestrian accompaniments of conductor
Mark Elder in these choice operatic selections. His Tristan tempos are very
slow, similar to those in Bernstein's Norton lecture performances, but
lacking that tension. Eaglen, however, makes it all worthwhile with her
powerful, beautiful voice and astonishing technique. I sat in rapt silence
listening to her enchanting Bellini, and then turned mesmerized by her
splendid Wagner. Without doubt she is one of the greatest operatic talents
on the stage today. Sony provides copious notes on Eaglen and good sound.
If you want to hear gorgeous, fantastic singing, get this disc.
IMPOTENT SEA SNAKES: God Save The Queens (Masquerade)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
Have you heard about this band? They dress in outrageous drag and sing
songs with retarded sexuality themes like "Fist Fucking My Mother" and
"Kangaroos (Up The Butt)," all of which is real amusing if you're into
shock for shock's sake (or if you're, say, twelve years old). On the other
hand, the music isn't without power. They have a combination of punk and
glam happening, which, in their case, works like gas and matches: two things
you know you should keep separate, but they're just too much fun to throw
together. Their irreverant covers of Back Stabbers (Ohio Players) and
Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones) offset such obvious originals as
"Chicks With Dicks" and "Felching," but they can't make the overall effect
any less giggly. By the way, the band enhances all this in concert by
having a troop of slightly loco people on stage performing all kinds of
sex acts, some simulated, some apparently not. All in all, it's like your
wettest dreams when you were, you know... like in 7th grade.
JUNK: Continuation Of Madness (Faffco)
Reviewed by John Sekerka
Funk and jazz equals Junk. An easy equation I admit, but don't leave just
yet folks, for there is more. Junk veer from Morphine to Lounge Lizard
territory, adding a twangy funk guitar sound to their instrumental numbers.
Could easily be filed under acid jazz, except the playing is way out there,
and more innovative than reflective.
HYENAS IN THE DESERT: Die Laughing (Slam Jamz/Columbia)
Reviewed by John Sekerka
East Coast Hyenas take a big bite outta the West Coast dogs. There's a big
ol' war in the rap world, the canine corps from L.A. vs. New York's baddest.
Nasty words from both fronts and bullets too. If'n yer buyin' this hype then
I've some other shiny objects under my trenchcoat you better consider. Get
past the marketing strategy of danger and you've two camps loading down with
green under a guise of war. Sad fact is that most of these dogs, are dogs.
Woof woof, bow wow. Though every now and then somebody slips in some extra
trippin' beats and spills something of genuine interest. Hyenas In The Desert
may not be Public Enemy, but they are Chuck D groomed and approved, and since
no one out there is picking up the slack, they'll do for the moment. Besides
being the coolest title of the month, 'Die Laughing' pulses with a sinister
edge that brings power to the words without lapsing into barrel in the mouth
self-parody. Sample sound bites this juicy will have many a crew salivating
at the product. Best of all, in a time when most rap outfits spread themselves
mighty thin on hour long discs, these Hyenas manage to edit themselves down
to a sharp half hour. Just right.
SKANKIN' PICKLE: The Green Album (Dr. Strange)
Reviewed by John Sekerka
That dill green slab you've been curious about turns out to be Skankin'
Pickle's latest. Mystery solved. Inside you'll find a bunch of covers: Devo,
Bad Manners, Oingo Boingo, Klark Kent.... This ain't just a bunch of ska
moulded versions either, y'see the Pickle have always been able to rock out,
something that's kept them alive when all other Ska bands run dry. This
thing cooks, but as always, it ain't nothing like the live experience. Do
yourself a favour.
SZYMANOWSKI: Symphonies: No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 15; No. 2 in B Flat Major,
Op. 19. Polish State Philharmonic Orchestra (Katowice) conducted by Karol
Stryja. NAXOS 8.553683 [DDD] 54:55
Reviewed by Robert Cummings
The biggest surprise here is the utterly superb playing by this supposedly
lesser ensemble from Katowice. They sound like world-class material to me,
with rich silken strings, powerful burnished brass, reeds with color and
grace, and overall sonorities that can pack a wallop while never surrendering
good instrumental balance. These little-known works, with lavish Straussian
orchestration clothing the spirit of Wagner (at least in the First), are
the perfect vehicles for this virtuosic Polish group. The Second symphony is
the more substantive work here and ought to get more play. (Try the powerful
buildup and climax that conclude the piece.) Szymanowski (1882-1937) is a
composer whose stock is rising, and with exquisite recordings like these on
the market, one hardly wonders why. Excellent sound, fine notes.
___________________________________________________________________________
BETWEEN ZERO AND ONE
By Steven Leith
VOLUNTEER FOR THE SAKE OF THE REPUBLIC
The trend toward volunteerism is just what the USA needs to help wean
itself away from government molly coddling. The thing we dislike most
about government is that it is, well, involved in the fabric of our
daily lives. What better way to rid ourselves of this unwanted
intrusion than by shifting our dependence from the government to
volunteers.
I for one would much rather be dependent on the largess of some faceless
corporate giant than the whim of an elected official. Allowing
advertising in the schools is merely the first step toward a society
free from government interference.
Captains of industry have no political agenda. Their pure social
conscience makes them the best people to decide how educational goods
and services should be apportioned.
Why stop there? I advocate a return to the values or our early
republic. Why pay for fire protection? Volunteer fire brigades were
good enough for pre-fire Chicago and Seattle. So what if a city burns
down? That just makes way for better buildings and more construction
jobs.
Volunteer law enforcement is a tradition in the USA. Generally known as
vigilantes, these groups were ahead of their time. They fought crime and
won. The occasional lynching was good for public morale, besides,
trials are a waste of tax payers money.
Pot holes in roads, trash on the street, and burned out street lamps are
problems that can be solved by volunteers. In that way we can reduce
corporate taxes and thus give money back to the companies that make our
comfortable life possible.
Of course the greatest expense is the Military. This could be solved
with real volunteerism. Just issue every man, woman, and child a gun
(we are almost there right now) and send the troops home. Just like the
historic minute-men, the Republic would be ready to defend the Nations
Malls on a minutes notice. Just think of the deterrence value of
millions of Mini-Vans loaded with suburban teenagers armed to the teeth.
In fact, the same folks who now exhort us to volunteer should themselves
return their pay envelopes unopened. The honor of serving as a senator
or congressman should be payment enough.
Next time some wealthy newscaster, political hack or corporate leader
sings the praises of volunteerism, raise a cheer. Sing out proudly,
"Millions for product, but not one cent for civic services."
Help return us to the halcyon days of yore when each man was secure in
the knowledge that business leaders knew what was best for each village,
town and city. A time when government knew better than to offer a
unifying force for the civilization of mankind.
_____________________________________________________________________________
PHIL'S GARAGE
By Phil Dirt
LOW BUDGET WOES
Among the most vexing of problems for bands on a low budget is putting out good
product. We're not talking T-shirts here. I mean CD's, or cassettes, or even
vinyl for that matter. There are several hidden problems the young band
encounters, usually only apparent in hindsight, and usually assumed to be part
and parcel of inexpensive recording. In a nutshell, it is that all too familiar
demo sound. It goes something like this.
We're the Sand Crabs. We used to be the Sand Dabs, but the other bands in town
thought it was too sissy. We do 50-50 instrumentals and vocals, some covers, but
mostly songs we wrote. I'm Chili Today. I play guitar. I have a Fender Mustang
and a Marshall and a couple of pedals. Hot Tamale plays bass for us. He's got
this monster rig that gets really loud. Bam is our drummer. I've never seen so
many drums. They all sound the same to me, why does he need so many drums.
Buster Hymen is our vocalist. He's got a big ego, but hey, singers are hard to
come by. Anyway, that's us, we are the Sand Crabs.
We've been together for a couple of months now, and we wanna make a record.
We're mostly broke, so we booked time at this little place in town called "The
Wax Works" out on the south side. It's only $15 an hour, $22 with an engineer.
They have this cool 1 inch 16 track analog machine, and really cool looking
speakers and stuff. All the bands we know go there. They use this guy named
Metro to do the recording and mixing. Everyone likes him. He's quiet, and he
works for $7 an hour. If it's good enough for all of them, it's good enough for
us.
We went in at 10 PM, and set up. We went really fast because the clock is
rolling from the minute we walked in. It's not quite our usual set-up, but who
has time. After all, we're a party band, right! Spontaneity is our game. By
10:30, we were on our first song. We laid down 13 tracks without vocals in about
45 minutes. Sure, there are some errors, but it's only our first album, right?
Besides, who will notice?
We get ready to do the vocals. While Buster sings, we listen to the playback.
There are some things we might wanna change, things we didn't think about when
we wrote the songs. Things like not all playing the same thing, and filling big
empty spaces. We only have 2 more hours, so we just go for it as it is now.
I asked Metro how he got into the recording business. Metro says he was the
sound guy at "Mabel's Pantry", a now-defunct club downtown, and before that, he
was the doorman there. He just likes music. Metro is 23 and has a tuff nose
ring. He seems pretty cool. He must know what he's doing, because once he
starts, he never seems to change anything. Just got that sound dialed in I
guess. I asked Metro what the worst band he ever recorded was, and he says he's
never heard a bad band. He says they all have something to offer. What a nice
guy.
Buster finishes his singing, and we sit around and eat while Metro does his
usual mix. From what we can hear in the studio, it sounds pretty cool, just like
at the "Fuzz Palace" where we played last night. "Wax Works" those big column
speakers and everything, ya know. And those effects! What with the lights all
blinking, just like at Christmas. While Metro finishes up and makes us a
cassette copy, we pack up and get ready to go.
The next day, after we get up, we all go over to Buster's to listen to the
cassette. Buster has this three hundred dollar stereo with CD and dual cassette
players built right in. We pop in the cassette, pop open a couple of beers, and
settle back to revel in out art. The first track comes on, and it doesn't sound
very big. Buster turns it up, and that makes it all better. The rest of the
album sounds just like that - just like being there to see us live. It's so
cool!
We scrape together all our door money for the next 4 months and buy one of those
package deals in the back of the "City Sounds" freebie entertainment weekly. We
send in our DAT and our money and our drawings and stuff to "CDeluxe, Inc." The
ad says three weeks turn around, so we figure give 'em a month for to allow for
the mail and we have our very own CD!
Well, in the middle of the fourth week, we get this phone call from some guy
named Lenny at "CDeluxe". Lenny asks what order we want the songs in. We hadn't
thought about that. While Buster is writing down a song order, Lenny tells us we
didn't send enough money because the DAT is recorded at 48K and he needs 44.1K.
I have no idea what that means, but he says he can fix it for another hundred
bucks. He also says we need to send $250 more to cover creating artwork since we
sent drawings and stuff, and we need to send him liner notes if we want any.
Lenny says they can't start until they have everything and all the extra cash.
A big gulp and a few gigs later, we come up with the extra dough and send it
off. OK, now we're ready, and just three more weeks - four to allow for
shipping. In the middle of the fourth week, Lenny calls again. He says they are
already to go into pressing, and he just wants to confirm that there are no
changes we want. I ask what happened to the three weeks turn around, and he says
the three weeks is from when they start, not when we send in the stuff. I ask
when they started, and he says this morning. Oh boy! Well, if I make a fuss,
it'll just take longer, so I just say thanks.
The other guys think a CD release party would be cool, so we book ourselves into
"the Library" down on the waterfront in five weeks, just to be safe, and start
telling everyone it's our CD release party. All we have to do now is wait.
It's the fourth week, and no CD's. I call down to Lenny, and get the old "The
number you have reached has been changed. The new number is blah blah blah"
message. Uh, oh. I call the new number, and a voice on the other end says "Bit
Masters, this is Suzy, how may I help you." I say "I was calling CDeluxe" and
she says "Oh, we bought them out a few weeks ago. How can I help you?" I say I
wanna know about our CD, it's late. She says just a minute, and covers the
phone. In a bit, a man comes on the line and says "I'm Ralph. CDeluxe screwed
up, but not to worry, I can start on the project in about two weeks." Man-oh-
man! that means we don't get the CD's for another 6 weeks. Ralph says, no, it'll
be 8 weeks because they are backed up right now. Damn. We reschedule our CD
release party and piss away the night gettin' drunk to forget our misery.
Finally, the day comes when the mail man leaves a box on my front steps, which
isn't too smart because I live in a bad neighborhood. My neighbor takes in the
box for me, and forgets to call me for a week or so, after I've called Ralph and
ranted and he tells me they were shipped and I'm all in a panic.
Anyway, we open the box, and there they are, CD's, cases, and paper. All we have
to do is put them all together, all 1,000 of them. We break about thirty cases
learning how, but finally we get it all done. In the mean time, none of us has a
CD player, so we have to find somewhere to listen. We figure we can go to
"Stereo City" and pretend we're buying a CD player, and listen to our CD there.
The guy at "Stereo City" thinks we're some kind weird, what with four of us and
no one seems to know exactly what we want or who is really buying. All he can
tell is that we want to listen in the "Monster Stereo" room. Finally, he lets us
in there, and we plop the CD in. The dude cranks it up, and wow - it so loud!
But then he turns it down a bit, and - well - we all look at each other - and -
well - it really sucks. There's all this kick drum and the guitars are almost
missing and I can't understand any of the words and it sounds all hissy and
muddy and now I'm gettin' pissed big time.
The guy says he has the loudness circuit on, and we think that would be good,
but he says no it changes the sound curve to compensate for volume changes. He
pops the button, and all of a sudden, there's almost no bass and I still can't
hear anything but the kick drum. The "Stereo City" guy says we should listen to
something good, something besides a demo to really hear what the speakers can
do. We're all crushed. What a waste of time. Now what do we do?
Sound familiar? I've heard so many stories like this, and I've heard way too
many CD's and records that are all kick drum and muddy and thin and... the cause
is always the same...unskilled hands at the controls... cheap doesn't equal low
cost.
How much of this did you see coming? The signs are really clear, but when you're
inexperienced and all excited, you probably won't see them. So, here are some
helpful tips. Now, they aren't 100%, but as a rule, this is the way it really
is.
Recording Too Soon:
We've been together for a couple of months now, and we wanna make a record.
Unless you are first call studio guys or maybe Stevie Ray Vaughn, it'll take a
lot more than that before you're ready.
Recording On The Cheap
We're mostly broke, so we booked time at this little place in town called "The
Wax Works" out on the south side. It's only $15 an hour, $22 with an engineer.
They have this cool 1 inch 16 track analog machine, and really cool looking
speakers and stuff. All the bands we know go there. They use this guy named
Metro to do the recording and mixing. Everyone likes him. He's quiet, and he
works for $7 an hour. If it's good enough for all of them, it's good enough for
us.
You get what you pay for. Low-end equipment and low end talent equals low end
product.
Allow enough time.
We went really fast because the clock is rolling from the minute we walked in.
It's not quite our usual set-up, but who has time. After all, we're a party
band, right! Spontaneity is our game. By 10:30, we were on our first song. We
laid down 13 tracks without vocals in about 45 minutes. Sure, there are some
errors, but it's only our first album, right? Besides, who will notice?
The clock is running from the minute the hour you booked starts, even if you are
not there. Be punctual, and allow enough time to relax, do it right, and be sure
of your results. Don't ever try to mix and record in the same session. You need
to get some distance from the session to gain perspective and an objective ear.
Spontaneity is fine for seasoned musicians. Otherwise, have it all worked out
before you arrive. Some errors are endearing to a performance, and others make
the skin crawl. Avoid as many as possible. Practice, practice, practice!
Pay Attention To The Recording Process.
While Buster sings, we listen to the playback. There are some things we might
wanna change, things we didn't think about when we wrote the songs. Things like
not all playing the same thing, and filling big empty spaces. We only have 2
more hours, so we just go for it as it is now.
Listen really closely to playback after every take, unless you know it's a bomb
and you are sure there is nothing to learn from the playback. A big part of
being prepared is recording a rough demo BEFORE you go in to do a CD, and using
that to work out arrangement changes and the like. It will also help you decide
what you want you tape to sound like, because demos are always really crude
mixes, no matter how much time you spent at "The Wax Works" with Metro!
Use A Qualified Independent Producer Who Knows Your Sound.
I asked Metro how he got into the recording business. Metro says he was the
sound guy at "Mabel's Pantry", a now-defunct club downtown, and before that, he
was the doorman there. He just likes music. Metro is 23 and has a tuff nose
ring. He seems pretty cool. He must know what he's doing, because once he
starts, he never seems to change anything. Just got that sound dialed in I
guess. I asked Metro what the worst band he ever recorded was, and he says he's
never heard a bad band. He says they all have something to offer. What a nice
guy.
Rule one in playing clubs is never NEVER trust your sound to the club sound man.
Even if he's good at his job, he won't know your music, and can only give your a
balanced mix at best. That goes double when recording for release. If you expect
sympathetic production, you will be sorely disappointed by the resident sound
guy. If he doesn't think there's bad music out there, maybe it's because he has
no taste or standards, or worse yet, a tin ear.
Demand The Right Mix For Your Style.
Buster finishes his singing, and we sit around and eat while Metro does his
usual mix. From what we can hear in the studio, it sounds pretty cool, just like
at the "Fuzz Palace" where we played last night. "Wax Works" those big column
speakers and everything, ya know. And those effects! What with the lights all
blinking, just like at Christmas. While Metro finishes up and makes us a
cassette copy, we pack up and get ready to go.
If you don't pay attention, you deserve whatever you get. Metro's usual mix is
probably little more than a formula that gives a balanced, or at least
consistent result. It may have no bearing at all on the kind of music you make.
Metro may not be able to hear production differences, and may have no idea how
to get those effects, or even tell what they are. If you haven't brought in
something that will illustrate what sound you want, then he won't know what to
give you anyway. And even then, if you don't know what you are hearing, it will
be dumb luck if you get a good product in the end. Learn to listen to the
production, and decide what is good and what is not, and be able to explain to
some one else why you think so. Then you will be able to communicate with Metro,
and be able to ell when he's doing well, and when he's not. Listen to some of
his other work before you go into the studio. You may know right away that you
do not want to trust your band with him.
Evaluate The Recording On Good Equipment
We all go over to Buster's to listen to the cassette. Buster has this three
hundred dollar stereo with CD and dual cassette players built right in. We pop
in the cassette, pop open a couple of beers, and settle back to revel in out
art. The first track comes on, and it doesn't sound very big. Buster turns it
up, and that makes it all better. The rest of the album sounds just like that -
just like being there to see us live. It's so cool!
Home stereo won't due, especially bottom of the line consumer boxes. You need to
hear the recording on studio monitors from the DAT, not from a cassette. Many
times, I've heard tracks sound great on a boombox, but suck on monitors and
better home stereo, and vice versa. When you listen, compare to the sample CD
you took to the studio, and see how close you got.
Shop Carefully For A Pressing House
We scrape together all our door money for the next 4 months and buy one of those
package deals in the back of the "City Sounds" freebie entertainment weekly.
Get references, and do it locally, so you can go to the plant and talk with the
folks that are going to make the CD.
Be Prepared For Pressing.
Lenny asks what order we want the songs in. We hadn't thought about that. While
Buster is writing down a song order, Lenny tells us we didn't send enough money
because the DAT is recorded at 48K and he needs 44.1K. I have no idea what that
means, but he says he can fix it for another hundred bucks. He also says we need
to send $250 more to cover creating artwork since we sent drawings and stuff...
You need to have the artwork ready for the pressing house in the format they
want, or already printed. All CD's are mastered at 44.1K. Recording at 48K is a
sign of amateur work. It takes a bunch of computer time to translate the data to
44.1K, and since one is not a multiple of the other, the computer uses an
algorithm to "average" the sound, meaning there is some loss besides the extra
cost.
Some of these things might seem like only a bozo would do them, and others you
may have done. None are obvious in foresight to the novice. Get advice and help
from an experienced person, and do it right the first time. It might cost a bit
more, but the result will be much better.
In many cases, doing it right means not redoing it, and not scrapping it, and in
those cases, it's less expensive to pay more up front.
You may think you recognize some of these characters, but that's only because it
is a wide spread problem. While the names are fictitious, I've seen or heard all
of this from bands in the last few years.
___________________________________________________________________________
WALLEY AT WITZEND
By David Walley
THE DRUGSTORE BOHEMIAN AND THE GREAT POET
Once upon a time there lived at a small woman's college a Drugstore
Bohemian who had a thing about ART, specifically poetry. In her reveries,
she fantasized about what it would be like to be a patron and surround
herself with great minds speaking great thoughts only to her. When she
came into her trust fund, she vowed to start a foundation to support all
those great struggling souls, and incidentally get in on the ground floor
when the next shining light burst forth.
On one of her frequent cultural scavenger hunts to the big City, fifty
minute away by bus, she walked into a coffee house Open Reading. Aside
from the usual crowd of wanna-be's and sometimes-were poets was the Great
Poet, a friend of the manager's looking to get in touch with his roots
and read something in progress to a neutral crowd.
Intuitively she knew him from his worn tweed jacket, brown cords and dusty
work boots. The Poet's mischievous blue eyes sparkled at her when he passed
her table on the way to the stage. Ah Swoon! she fluttered inside, this is
the Authentic Item!
When he finished, she was in a quandary: should she intrude and gush? But
fortunately after the set, The Great Poet joined her for a chat. Not only
was he charming, witty AND perceptive, but she found herself accepting his
studio invitation so they could continue discussing their shared poetic
visions. There she surrendered to his charms as easily as he had done to
his verse. Intuitively she grasped his inner needs, and the evening proved
to be all that she had imagined. Conquered by Art, the Drugstore Bohemian
moved out of her dorm and in with him.
All went well for sometime until she was awakened from a sound sleep by
someone who claimed to be his wife and who was demanding the what's and
wherefore's of the no good SOB. She figured it was another crank admirer
and shined it on. However, she grew increasingly tired of never having
any spending money and continually battling his numerous creditors. But
it was only when he abruptly moved out on her and in with the Chief Art
Administrator of the Museum of Fine Arts did she learn she'd been
had.
MORAL: Great Art isn't necessarily the product of Great Men, no matter
what they told you in school.
c. 1990 - David G. Walley
___________________________________________________________________________
STUFF I NOTICED
By DJ Johnson
This month, I don't feel like ranting, attacking, or awarding sharp pointed
sticks. This month, I just want to remember somebody special who passed
away a few days back.
Patrick L. Paulsen became a pop culture icon in the late 1960s when his
off-the-wall comedy bits helped propel The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
to the cutting edge. In an era when stand up comics didn't get much more
adventurous than "take my wife, please," Pat would attempt to walk on water
with so much deadpan concentration and faith that his eventual splash was
sidesplittingly funny. Not content to simply make fun of sex education
teachers, Pat would notice the male symbol chasing the female symbol across
the blackboard, smack it with a pointer-stick and throw cold water on it.
And in his most unusual and enduring comedic gesture, Pat announced his
candidacy for the presidential race. That was 1968. 28 years later, he
was still at it, finishing 2nd among democrats in the 1996 New Hampshire
primary.
Pat's campaigns were funny for several reasons. He always took outlandish
stands on the hot topics of the day. On gun control, he claimed that guns
should only be used for fishing. On the right to life issue, he noted that
his mother had been adamantly opposed to abortion, but had later changed her
mind. And in one of his most inspired promises, he revealed his plan for
dealing with the deficit. "I will turn the deficit into a government program.
Then I will start cutting back, then eliminate it entirely." His campaigns
were also funny because they actually drew attention from other candidates.
Hubert Humphrey once told Pat that he had put Nixon in the white house by
taking away the votes of would-be Humphrey supporters. In the most surreal
way, his campaigns were funny because you were never totally sure he was
kidding.
Maybe he wasn't kidding. He was serious enough to take the National Political
Awareness Test, a lengthy process the results of which are posted on the
Project Vote Smart website, and his answers there were, for the most part,
quite serious. Pat kept himself highly informed, reading several newspapers
every day and all the weekly and monthly news magazines he could get his hands
on. Was he kidding? Yeah, sure he was, but he had the knowledge and
preparation to kid on all levels, and that's why the joke hadn't worn thin
after 28 years.
Throughout his final run for the presidency, Pat was battling colon and brain
cancer. When I interviewed him in March of last year, he was having a rough
go of it, and there were days that he couldn't answer questions. His loving
and devoted wife, Noma, remained strong and confident, saying he just needed
some rest time beside the pool. As the election neared, Pat and Noma headed
for Branson, Missouri, where Pat did a long stint of standup comedy. At that
time, Noma told me he was improving and having a good time. But as is so
often the case, the hard times returned. At the time of his death, Pat and
Noma were in Mexico where Pat was receiving alternative treatment for his
cancer. Pat was 69 years old. The staff of Cosmik Debris would like to
express our sadness and our sympathy to Noma.
Pat Paulsen left an indelible mark on comedy by showing young comics they
didn't have to stick to conventional humor to get a laugh, and that risks
often led to the best moments. His Eminence, as he was known to his friends,
took it all in stride, showing only that deadpan expression (the antithesis
of Alfred E. Newman's "What, me worry?" that seemed to say "worry about what?")
and answering the too-serious questions with shoulders shrugged: "How the
hell do I know? I'm just a common, ordinary, simple savior of America's
destiny."
____________________________________________________________________________
CLOSET PHILOSOPHY
With Rusty Pipes
V-CHIP? NO THANKS, JUST TOSS ME THE REMOTE!
I won't attempt to fathom why the image of a starship and its crew of
loathsome aliens turning into a ball of glowing particles is acceptably less
violent than a single person getting hit by a burst of full auto gunfire.
But like a famous definition of obscenity, when TV programming becomes too
objectionable, I know it when I see it. And I change the channel. Who needs
to wait for the V-chip?
I was the first child in our family who always lived with TV. I loved it, I
still watch a lot and I like to think I turned out all right in spite my
exposure to thousands of hours of drivel, sorry, classic TV shows. Of course
I got exposed to other things too. I saw Lee Harvey Oswald murdered and
Vietnamese firefights on the news, but I lived through it all without
becoming violent myself. I immersed myself in TV's two dimensional world,
memorizing schedules, theme songs and jingles. I enjoyed lots of shows like
Red Skelton, I Dream of Jeanie, My Three Sons, Laugh In and The Smothers
Brothers. They were all entertaining and perfectly non-violent, but other
shows weren't.
All TV dramas deal with violence of some sort. In the old shows like Perry
Mason it was often off-screen but the story was always about murder. More
overt were the obligatory gun and fist fights of The Rifleman, Adam 12 and
The Man from UNCLE. Come to think of it, even Star Trek had Captain Kirk in
a fist fight almost every show and often threw in space battles with those
loathsome aliens. Then there was Rat Patrol, 12 O'clock High and Combat to
provide more heavy weapons action against loathsome Nazis.
Let's face it--violence is entertaining. I still like war movies and action
flicks that have interesting plots, even though their portrayal of reality
is so warped. Years back I avidly watched Miami Vice. Sonny Crockett could
be relied on to ventilate several bad guys every show (but somehow never got
investigated or reprimanded for all these shootings!). Probably more car
bombs exploded each season in that TV Miami than during an entire year across
the real US. And of course, our hero was guaranteed to dance through an Uzi
lead-storm without a scratch and never missed with his bullets-runneth-over
pistol. That world was a complete fantasy, written to entertain, to draw
high ratings and ultimately to sell advertising.
My appetite for this fare has declined. During the 80's life started
imitating art too much. There are far too many real thugs on the real streets
and real people getting hit by real bullets. But because we crave a steady
diet of excitement, violence saturates TV. Click upwards through all your
cable channels at any random time, pause ten seconds on each channel, and
count how many violent images you see versus how many channels there are.
In any one pass you'll find at least 5% violent images and sometimes 10% or
more, which is very high considering many channels only program talk or other
innocuous fare. The highest incidence on our cable is on the empty channels,
which default to running mostly action movie promos, an unbroken stream of
violence.
Some TV violence is part of beautiful award-winning stories with an uplifting
message, some of it is just exploitive drek. Good and bad, this saturation of
violence is spilling out into our lives. Think about it. Sitting in your
house, especially in a city, you hear a faraway scream or a gunshot that
your ears can't quite locate. You may be a bit concerned but isn't your next
reaction to dismiss it with a thought like "probably someone has their TV up
too loud?" Maybe this is the best measure of how much violence appears on
television. It's small consolation to say that it usually is the TV you hear.
Too often the sounds have been real where I live; I don't need more from the
tube.
In the last couple of years we started raising two kids and by necessity my
wife and I have become television censors. We censor trashy programs and
movies with extreme prejudice. If we think the show is morally bankrupt we
don't hesitate changing the channel or flat turning it off in favor of the
radio, records or (gasp!) no outside entertainment at all. Even with 50 cable
channels the TV is off most the day in our house. We watch a lot of tapes
that are known quantities, like Disney and other G-rated fare. Old Godzilla
movies, a favorite with our six year old, are about as violent as it gets.
The most important thing we're doing though is limiting the total TV time for
the kids to one hour a day on schooldays and two hours a day on weekends. I
have no illusions that I can lock violence out of our lives completely. In
fact I'm sure some exposure helps educate them. It's virtually certain that
my kids will encounter violence sooner or later and I'd rather see them
prepared for it. I focus on limiting how much they see and how intense it
is. We pay attention to what the kids are watching, filtering out the worst
stuff and explaining the parts that are unclear. Anything with mature themes
gets taped for viewing after the kids go to bed.
I like many popular shows that we don't let the kids watch. I love the great
writing on The Simpsons, but its lampooning is just crude enough that I don't
consider it kids' fare. Kids need it played straight at first; they can get
into the bent stuff later. The same goes for MTV and any number of popular
movies. Jurassic Park? Well, it wasn't crude and I enjoyed it but it's still
too intense for young kids. We'll let them grow up a bit more before we let
them indulge in the borderline stuff.
In the overwhelming majority of cases, small doses of violence from TV and
movies are easily handled by healthy young minds with no ill effects. It
helps if it's presented in a proper framework where bad deeds get punished
and the depiction of violence on screen is not just a pulpy gross-out some
director calls art. Kids know mild violence like the Power Rangers and Mutant
Ninja Turtles is just a morality play, a put-on. If you think your kids don't
realize this, then it's time to tell them it's a put-on. Kids need to know
the difference between Hollywood and real life. If the kids seem confused by
the story or a special effect, we make sure we tell them "it's just a movie."
If a scene is poorly written I will point out why the bad guy is bad or why
the hero has used violence, making it as obvious as possible. When my kids
and I went to see the first Power Rangers Movie, about a third of the way
through it got too scary for them so we left. Later they were able to enjoy
it on the small screen, but I had no regrets leaving the theater that day.
Perhaps the programs don't cause as many problems for kids as the commercials
do. This aspect of TV seems to be left out of the debate, but it's the most
ubiquitous source of offensive programming; it intrudes at any time, in
practically any type of program. You've seen the worst of them--the promos
for an action feature or a made-for-TV movie that come barreling onto the
screen with mind numbing quick-cuts of cocked pistols, punchings, stabbings,
sexy women in chokeholds, hails of bullets, threatening monsters, car crashes
and all manner of explosions from grenades to nuclear. I have developed a
very low tolerance for this. I change the channel as quick as I can and come
back later.
Usually we just cut the sound during commercials, a habit that dates all the
way back to the mechanical pinger remote my folks used, the "Blab-Off." Use
of that mute button probably saved me from complete brainwashing, but
marketing has gotten so much more sophisticated. Today kids get programmed
with the "gimmies" very early. What's insidious about this consumer
programming is that too many underprivileged kids in our country have no
way to satisfy the needs the TV has given them. They are stimulated to
want stuff by commercials, stuff that's always out of reach. Their parents
are forced to say no a hundred times a day to these programmed desires.
This field of frustration is where worse things start to grow. For example,
in the Rodney King Riots, unquestionably the events were sparked by racial
injustice, but once set in motion, the riots quickly became looting. Blacks
rioted with cause perhaps, and lots of them looted, but did all the Latinos
and whites in the streets care so much about the same injustice? If they did
they might have stormed city hall or made a true political protest. But no.
For most of the people out on the streets, it was simply a shopping spree.
At last they could fulfill the needs programmed by years of advertising.
In 1992, Dan Quayle blamed attitudes found in Murphy Brown, her "lifestyle
choice," as partly responsible for the riots. He was off target, but not by
much. She never picked up a gun, never looted a store, but other TV programs
did show kids how guns give instant respect, and a hundred thousand
commercials told kids they needed the right shoes, the right beer, the right
car with the slinky girl in it. After a lifetime of repressing these desires,
is it any wonder poor kids grow up resentful, feeling deprived, ready to
explode into looting, even though their basic needs are met? Even though
these Americans kids are far better off than untold millions of starving
children in the third world?
It's easy for politicians to propose a Blab-Off, a Trash-Off, a Porno-Off or
the V-chip to solve the TV problem. The new voluntary TV ratings now popping
up in the upper left hand corner are a baby step in the right direction
perhaps, but the whole matter is so subjective. Any one show will hit a set
of a dozen different families in a dozen different ways, due to age of the
kids, religious orientation, what happened at work that day, what happened
on their street that day. The country's just too big to have one ratings
system serve all TV consumers, but it's comforting for the media and
politicians to think that a ratings system would actually help protect
children and make society better. "Technology will save us," they promise,
but implementing a true hard wired programmed system like the V-chip brings
new problems.
You thought programming your VCR was hard? Just imagine a V-chip programming
session...
Let's see, first the Crude Filter--I'll set that at level 4, enough to filter
out Ren & Stimpy and Married with Children, but let through Roseanne. The
Exploitative TV Movie Filter--that's easy, a 10. The Political Filter--what's
this? A 3 filters out even Bill Moyers! That gets a 1. The Sex Filter--I'll
set that at 6 so I don't get NYPD Blue, but I will get beer commercials. The
Meat Filter--a 5 'cause I still eat at McDonald's but I don't want to see
slaughterhouse footage on a PBS special. The Violence Filter--I'll set that
at level 8 so it cuts out everything except historical movies, no, make it
a 9 'cause I think the kids would find footage of Hiroshima or the Holocaust
disturbing, but gee anything above a 7 and I can't see Star Trek!? Ahh, set
'em all at 10 and filter out everything including Bible stories! Just give
me the Weather Channel.
With the V-chip system there are so many questions going unanswered. Once
the codes are embedded in programming, how easy will it be to censor a
broadcast? Who will set all the various codes? Hollywood producers? The
Government? A political party? The Church? Which Church? Will broadcasting
an unrated program be a crime? Will watching an unrated program be a crime?
Proponents of the V-chip will say it's about not censorship, it's about
choice. Well, we already have the choice and the power to enforce it with
mute button, channel selector and power switch. Besides, no V-chip will ever
take a child aside and explain anything. The V-chip is a lazy solution that
abdicates all responsibility to Big Brother. What's worse, it will never
address problems created by drowning in an ocean of advertising.
We must accept responsibility for controlling what our families watch. This
is our job, not the government's. It cannot be done via some hi-tech
autopilot system. We are the arbiters of good taste without any need for
studies and committees, or interference from any group's agenda. We already
have the tools and, yes, it's work to use them, but in spite of the
politicians' good intentions, I can't believe that the V-chip will make our
job easier or the results any better.
The real answer is to treat TV as education for your kids. Show them things
that will move them forward. Watch with your kids whenever you can. Insulate
them. Educate them. Let them grow into the more complex stuff at their own
pace. Filter out the trash and explain, explain, explain. It's a simple
solution that takes work, but that's what families are all about. In our
house we are never passive observers, we are the gate keepers and we always
have the remote ready. If thy TV offend thee, turn it off.
____________________________________________________________________________
THE DEBRIS FIELD
Compiled and edited by Louise Johnson
***
Allen Ginsberg: 1926-1997
A remembrance by Shaun Dale
"...He isn't dead.
as the many pages of words arranged thrill
with his intonations the mouths of meek kids
becoming subtle even in Bengal. Thus
there's a life moving out of his pages..."
"Death News", A.G., 1968
Allen Ginsberg, who saw the best minds of his generation come and go,
and who inspired the best minds of generations to follow, is gone.
Well, no. He isn't dead, any more than William Carlos Williams was
"dead" when Allen penned the words above in his memory. Because the
words live, and the images, and the songs...
Allen Ginsberg moved fluidly between the worlds of pop culture,
capital "L" Literature, radical politics, spiritual exploration and
several other scenes throughout five decades of public life. A seminal
figure of the Beat Generation, he was on the road with Kerouac, helped
Burroughs assemble scraps and notes into "Naked Lunch" and alerted the
world to the scene with the publication of "Howl". Then he moved on.
<img width=240 height=162 align=left src="allen.jpg">
No hippy pad was complete without a poster of Allen wearing his Uncle
Sam hat and "Pot is Fun" sandwich board. No demonstration, whether it
was Chicago in '68 or the levitation of the Pentagon, was whole until
Allen blessed it with one of his sonic "Ooooommmmmm"s. No history of
the sixties could be written without including him. And then he moved
on.
While it was easy to focus on the outrageousness of his persona, it is
important to keep sight of his art, which included not only his poetry,
but contributions to music which were more important than generally
recognized.
The relationship between bop and beat poetry is well documented, and
Allen made his contributions to it. He set the poetry of William Blake
(a principal influence, along with Whitman and Williams) to music and
introduced a new generation to the world of mystic poetry in the
process. He continued to make new music in a variety of styles through
the years, whether it was jazz, folk, Eastern rhythms or punk. And then
he moved on.
He was an inspirational teacher, who guided many young poets even before
his relatively late entry into formal academia.
And one of the more original exponents of Buddhism in the West.
And a tireless celebrant of the human condition.
And more. So very much more.
And now he's moved on.
But he isn't dead....
***
WHEN WE WERE KINGS
director: Leon Gast
players: Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Don King
music: African, soul & rap
reviewed by: John Sekerka
What started out as an African Woodstock has twisted itself into one of the
great sports documentaries of all time. Back in 1974 Muhammad Ali met George
Foreman in a Zaire soccer stadium to fight for the heavyweight championship
of the world in Don King's coming out party. Along with the bout there was a
three day concert bringing together the prime black musical entertainers
from North America and Africa. That's what the film crew were there to shoot,
but due to unforeseen circumstances (an injury to Foreman), the whole event
was pushed back for six weeks.
Making the best of the situation, the crew kept on shooting, and wound up
with a copious amount of film on the charismatic Ali. And in the end, it is
the 'Rumble in the Jungle' which makes this film happen. This is a classic
tale of a creaky, wily warrior going up against a solid steel crushing
machine. Flowered with reminiscing interviews by participating journalists,
When We Were Kings seems almost unreal. Here was Ali, a champion to blacks
everywhere, a controversial Muslim and a draft dodger, speaking of uniting
the black population, dazzling the reporters with his prose and walking
around like a king.
Back in 1974 everyone was glued to their televisions as Ali weaved his magic
rope-a-dope tactic to stun the boxing world, and
heavily favoured Foreman.
Every Ali match was an event of grand proportions, and the 'Rumble in the
Jungle' was by far the greatest. What this film offers, besides a fine
retrospective look at the event, is a behind the scenes aspect few knew about.
This was after all 1974 Zaire, which was ruled with an iron hand by president
Mobutu Sese Seko. It was a country which didn't know much about American
blacks, and American blacks knew very little about their African counterparts.
Ali managed to change all that in an early morning gladiator bout. The
repercussions from this event are indeed truly earth shattering. A must see.
***
"I will turn the deficit into a government program. Then I will
start cutting back, then eliminate it entirely." --Pat Paulsen
***
The local bar was so sure that its bartender was the strongest man
around that they offered a standing $1000 bet.
The bartender would squeeze a lemon until all the juice ran into a
glass, and hand the lemon to a patron. Anyone who could squeeze one more
drop of juice out would win the money.
Many people had tried over time (weight-lifters, longshoremen, etc.) but
nobody could do it.
One day this scrawny little man came into the bar, wearing thick
glasses and a polyester suit, and said in a tiny squeaky voice "I'd like to
try the bet."
After the laughter had died down, the bartender said OK, grabbed a
lemon, and squeezed away. Then he handed the wrinkled remains of the rind to
the little man.
But the crowd's laughter turned to total silence as the man clenched his
fist around the lemon and six drops fell into the glass.
As the crowd cheered, the bartender paid the $1000, and asked the little
man, "What do you do for a living? Are you a lumberjack, a weight-lifter,
what?"
The man replied, "I work for the IRS."
***
FUN THINGS TO DO IN AN ELEVATOR
When arriving at your floor, grunt and strain to yank the doors open, then
act embarrassed when they open by themselves.
Lean over to another passenger and whisper, "Noogie patrol coming."
Greet everyone getting on the elevator with a warm handshake and ask them to
call you Admiral.
One word: Flatulence!
On the highest floor, hold the door open and demand that it stay open until
you hear the penny you dropped down the shaft go "plink" at the bottom.
Do Tai Chi excercises.
Stare, grinning, at another passenger for a while and then announce, "I've
got new socks on."
When at least 8 people have boarded, moan from the back: "Oh no, not now,
motion sickness!"
Meow occassionally.
Bet the other passengers you can fit a quarter in your nose.
***
STRANGERS PASSING IN A DRY WIND
a chance meeting of imperfect minds
unstable and infertile in thought
pedantic diatribes of unreasoned exposition
there is no connection
nothing
nothing
nothing
grows on the cold stone
who are we
purveyors of perversion
we shave our faces
to hide the monkey hair
hide our genitals
denying the blood at the roots of our loins
we are still-strangers
seeking restitution from our mothers withholding of milk
mothers milk thick bitter unchurnable
nothing
nothing
nothing
comes to pass in a still wind
our sails flat against the blue-green brine
seaweed whips against the barnacles on the hull
corroding from the motionless sojourn
still-men sleep in wet sheets
dreaming of mother's milk and moist-voids
dreaming of a warm wind.
one goes north
one goes east
the hot wind comes from the west
Copyright (c) David E. Cowen 1997
All Rights Reserved
mailto:Ripford@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/ripford/homepage/cowen.htm
***
"Stars are matter; we are matter, but it doesn't matter." --Don Van Vliet
***
ACTUAL NEWSPAPER HEADLINES
Plane Too Close to Ground, Crash Probe Told
Miners Refuse to Work after Death
Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
Stolen Painting Found by Tree
Two Soviet Ships Collide, One Dies
Two Sisters Reunited after 18 Years in Checkout Counter
Killer Sentenced to Die for Second Time in 10 Years
Never Withhold Herpes Infection from Loved One
Drunken Drivers Paid $1,000 in `84
War Dims Hope for Peace
***
VIDEO: THIN LIZZY
The Boys Are Back In Town (Rhino Home Video)
Reviewed by: DJ Johnson
Most of us who were of concert-going age in the mid to late 70s know all
about Thin Lizzy. For several years they popped up as the opening act for
everyone from Queen to Styx. Then they released their masterpiece,
Jailbreak, and their bottom-of-the-bill days were over. "The Boys Are Back
In Town" propelled them to the forefront, but they weren't one trick ponies.
They had one of the toughest sounds in the music business, with the twin
Les Paul attacks of Scotty Gorham and Brian Robertson (and later Gary Moore)
and the brutal drumming of Brian Downey. Singer/bass guitarist Phil Lynott's
lyrics were what separated Lizzy from the other muscle bands of the day. His
often darkly romantic stories were populated by down and outers, colorful
street misfits and victims of circumstance. While the radio played "The Boys
Are Back In Town" and "Jailbreak," fans began to discover the classic album
cuts like "The Cowboy Song," "Warrior," "Emerald" and "Romeo And The Lonely
Girl." By the time Johnny The Fox was released, Lizzy had gained legendary
status for their powerhouse concerts in support of Jailbreak.
Thin Lizzy: The Boys Are Back In Town is a great big blast from the past that
only has two flaws: the sound quality fluctuates, and it's only 48 minutes
long. Taped at The Sydney Opera House in 1978, this 8-song concert is a
pure joy to watch. The opera house is an outdoor structure and the show took
place in broad daylight on a beautiful afternoon, so the only traditional
element missing is the smoke and light show. The band's enthusiasm and
energy makes up for it. 26,000 pumped-up fans fed the band as they powered
their way through "Jailbreak," "Bad Reputation," "Cowboy Song," "The Boys
Are Back In Town," "Waiting For An Alibi," "Are You Ready?," "Me And The
Boys Were Wondering How The Girls Are Getting Home Tonight," and their
traditional closer, "Baby Drives Me Crazy." Not a sour note, not a dull
moment, simply a great rock show.
The lineup at this stage of Thin Lizzy's career was Lynott, Gorham, Gary
Moore and drummer Mark Nauseef. The entire band was ON (as they usually
were), but Moore was in the zone that day. His performance is a blast to
witness. Frankly, I'm just happy as hell to be able to see this band again.
Since Phil Lynott drank and drugged himself to death in 1986 at the age of
35, this is as close as we're gonna get.
***
"My mother was adamantly opposed to abortion. Later on, she changed her mind."
--Pat Paulsen
***
ASHEVILLE
for Allen Ginsberg
Right now I'm in Asheville Ashville Ashville
Ash yes the right place the right time Ashes
Burned Burned Failed Destroyed Ashes
So what do I do? Quit? Give up? Become cinder for that
longdistanceneverending railroadtracktonowhere?
Give up? Allen Ginsberg preaches "take a hand" "share the word"
The poetry gospel coming from the gonads the solar plexus
the heart and the head yes thank you Allen for the
energy for the love and my head rises a little
to watch my son, Dylan, and my daughter, Rani Bri,
dancing to the B52s' LOVE SHACK playing on the jukebox
in Asheville and I'm lookin at the moon over the mountain
thinkin bout the kid from Denver and the others from Cheyenne
and I think of Denver and of Dean Moriarty
of Neal Cassady's flame gone gone gone
his naked body lying beside those
longdistanceneverending railroadtrackstonowhere
and I hope those kids from the west
hell I hope all of us
keep the funk
keep that Fuck You flame that gnostical turpitude flame
alive
don't let the system break you don't let life break you
so that when the time comes when your time is up
you either go screamin or go with peace in your heart
into that dark night
and now somebody's playing the blues on the piano
and yeah two days ago Rani and I were sittin
at Ginsberg's table in New York City talkin bout Asheville
talkin bout the 20 grand Kent and I lost puttin on that
48 hour non-stop music and poetry INSOMNIACATHON to
kickoff NYU's 50 Year Celebration of the Beat Generation
and I'm talkin with Allen Ginsberg and Herbert Huncke and
Gregory Corso but like when Marc Smith proclaims his name
the audience responds "so what"
and I'm thinkin bout Marc Smith and Allan Wolf and Ray McNiece
and Richard Cambridge and Ginger and Lee and The Green Door
and Poetry Alive
and I know few know how much work the workers do the poets do for
poetry
but I know now that the reward the pay is in the experience
and suddenly I remember that the Ash
in Celtic and Scandinavian Mythology is the tree
most generally associated with magic
and yes here I am in Asheville with
all these poets who somehow know the alchemical magical
power of poetry of the word yes manger du livre
eat the book and the word will set you free
and I'm in Asheville thinkin bout Allen Ginsberg
and what he said bout takin somebody's hand
cause we're all in this together we're pullin
we ain't pushin we're lettin it be
we ain't forcin it and I realize that a poem like a
painting or a song is only the representation of
an actual experience the real poem is the event itself
and right now I'm thinkin bout the caesarian births
of our three children and Nancye's stomach cut open layer
by layer til each time an angelic face with Buddah smile
appears and I'm thinkin bout Allen Ginsberg
in Asheville and out of the ash that I am I feel an energy
risin through me growin strong comin from poets of
all ages and I'm in Asheville
but it don't feel like failure no more it feels
friendly it feels good it feels strong like some kind of
rebirth
into poetry
into life
it feels like
Resurrection
Right Now
Right Here
in Asheville
copyright 1997 Ron Whitehead
mailto:RWhiteBone@worldnet.att.net
***
STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES
Police in Wichita, Kansas, arrested a 22-year-old man at an airport hotel
after he tried to pass two (counterfeit) $16 bills.
A man in Johannesberg, South Africa, shot his 49-year-old friend in the face,
seriously wounding him, while the two practiced shooting beer cans off each
other's head.
A company trying to continue its five-year perfect safety record showed its
workers a film aimed at encouraging the use of safety goggles on the job.
According to Industrial Machinery News, the film's depiction of gory
industrial accidents was so graphic that twenty-five workers suffered minor
injuries in their rush to leave the screening room. Thirteen others fainted,
and one man required seven stitches after he cut his head falling off a chair
while watching the film.
The Chico, California, City Council enacted a ban on nuclear weapons, setting
a $500 fine for anyone detonating one within city limits.
A bus carrying five passengers was hit by a car in St. Louis, but by the time
police arrived on the scene, fourteen pedestrians had boarded the bus and had
begun to complain of whiplash injuries and back pain.
Swedish business consultant Ulf af Trolle labored 13 years on a book about
Swedish economic solutions. He took the 250-page manuscript to be copied,
only to have it reduced to 50,000 strips of paper in seconds when a worker
confused the copier with the shredder.
A convict broke out of jail in Washington D.C., then a few days later
accompanied his girlfriend to her trial for robbery. At lunch, he went out
for a sandwich. She needed to see him, and thus had him paged. Police officers
recognized his name and arrested him as he returned to the courthouse in a car
he had stolen over the lunch hour.
Police in Radnor, Pennsylvania, interrogated a suspect by placing a metal
colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine.
The message "He's lying" was placed in the copier, and police pressed the
copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth.
Believing the "lie detector" was working, the suspect confessed.
When two service station attendants in Ionia, Michigan, refused to hand over
the cash to an intoxicated robber, the man threatened to call the police.
They still refused, so the robber called the police and was arrested.
A Los Angeles man who later said he was "tired of walking," stole a
steamroller and led police on a 5 mph chase until an officer stepped aboard
and brought the vehicle to a stop.
***
CITIZEN RUTH
director: Alexander Payne
players: Laura Dern, Mary Kay Place, Kurtwood Smith
music: rife with Christian hymns
reviewed by: John Sekerka
You'd think a movie about a gas huffer pondering abortion would steer quite
clear of humour, but yer wrong bucko. Citizen Ruth manages to stay right
smack dab in the middle of the abortion debate, swaying a bit in each
direction, but never falling over from the one true path, which in this case
is the survival of a white trash down and out Laura Dern who looks right past
all the life issues to the big picture: herself. At first her only goal
consists of a paper bag and aerosol cans, but soon she has two powerful
coalitions rooming and boarding her for the sake of their causes. And what
this flic is really about, is the manipulation that ensues when a cause is at
stake. As Ruth, Dern becomes a propaganda rag doll, tugged by both sides to
champion their cause. Right wing, left wing, hell Ruth would settle for a
drumstick. In the end it is Ruth who plays the field like a sly army general,
dictating the game for her own benefit. It is a funny and moving portrayal
which should be well applauded.
***
"Sanity is only a compromise but it won't last." --Vivian Stanshall
***
FOR FATHER GINSBERG
"Father Death
Don't cry anymore,
Mother's there
Underneath the floor,
Brother Death
Please mind the store..."
Does death really exist, Allen?
Comet
Lunar/Solar Eclipse
Within one month foretell
The birth/passing of
Prophets/Visionaries
And you slipped away
Amidst the chant
"Certain is death for the born
Certain is birth for the dead"
Gray windy April
Ginsberg's Mahasamahdi
Now we can pray to you
And know you'll hear us
Working class Bodhisattva
Invoke yr aural shakti
And every sentient being
Pulls back the veil
Crouching in front of Muktananda's Portrait
Oakland Ashram
Chanting for a full week
In Dallas Hotel
Guru Om
On each breath
Breathe syllables
Prague '65
Kral Marales
Twenty year reign
Breathe syllables
Chicago '68
Violence does not touch you
Breathe syllables
NYC '74 mugging
Robbed of $70
Sell poem to Times
For $500
Does death really exist, Allen?
Now in the bardo
Trungpa Rinpoche guiding you
Past wrathful dieties
Hungry ghosts
To be with
Jack
Neal
Louis
Naomi
Whitman
Blake
Rumi
Kabir
Milarepa
Where not even dead communists/FBI
Can fuck with you now
The comet seems brighter tonight
The tail longer with colors
As you and Jack
Contemplate cosmic debris laden
Sunflowers
On moons of Jupiter/Saturn
"Guru Death
Your words are true
Teacher Death
I do thank you
For inspiring me
To sing this blues..."
Copyright (c) Paul McDonald 1996
All Rights Reserved
mailto:Paul@louisville.lib.ky.us
***
Erykah Badu & Eric Benet at The Showbox
Seattle, April 27, 1997
reviewed by: Shaun Dale
OK, so I was probably the only one in the room more familiar with the
opening act than the chart topping headliner. After reviewing Benet's
solo premiere ("True To Myself", Warner Bros.) and interviewing him
(Cosmik, April 1997), I went to the Showbox to see how the songs
translated to the stage. I was hopeful. And my hopes were realized.
Eric Benet is on tour with Erykah Badu and is bound to benefit from the
sell out crowds that he'll be introduced to along the way. A gifted
songwriter, Benet is an equally gifted and charismatic performer.
Fronting a four piece road band that infuses the material from the album
with power, Benet won over the packed house with soulful performances of
songs like "Chains" and "Spiritual Thang". When the opening act can
pull down two encores at a show with a 9:00 pm Sunday night start time
and a crowd eager to hear the reigning hip hop/soul/jazz (Badu makes
categorization a challenge) diva of the day, you know *something* is
happening.
Eric Benet shouldn't be, and I predict won't be, an opening act for
long. With a little well deserved attention from radio programmers he's
bound to climb the charts with his well crafted songs and effective
delivery. A performance video or two couldn't hurt, either, because the
man just flat works the hell out of a song on stage. He should be
headlining the rooms he's opening in soon.
Erykah Badu took the stage to a tumultuous reception. Riding high on
both the R&B and pop charts with "Baduism", she was clearly the draw
that kept people in the room til she appeared at nearly 11:00 pm. No
one went away disappointed.
Badu, in her trademark turban and a green leather coat, was coaxed
onstage by three backup singers warbling her name over the beat of her
three piece touring band. She appeared from the wings and assumed
control like visiting royalty, lighting a candle and taking off on a
musical trip that encompassed an amazing range of styles. Her style is
a unique blend of jazzy scat, hip hop, funk, roots R&B and, well,
Baduism. Her songs are puncuated by stories reflecting both
consciousness and humor.
I have to admit that other than airplay exposure I wasn't particularly
familiar with her music going in. Her performance persuaded me that
it's time to get more familiar, soon.
Badu and Benet will be on the road this spring and if they get anywhere
near you, get near them. Either act is worth the price of admission.
Together, they're likely the best R&B tour of the season.
***
WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?
Plato: For the greater good.
Karl Marx: It was a historical inevitability.
Machiavelli: So that its subjects will view it with admiration, as a chicken
which has the daring and courage to boldly cross the road, but also with
fear, for whom among them has the strength to contend with such a paragon
of avian virtue? In such a manner is the princely chicken's dominion
maintained.
Hippocrates: Because of an excess of light pink gooey stuff in its pancreas.
Timothy Leary: Because that's the only kind of trip the Establishment would
let it take.
Carl Jung: The confluence of events in the cultural gestalt necessitated that
individual chickens cross roads at this historical juncture, and therefore
synchronicitously brought such occurrences into being.
Jean-Paul Sartre: In order to act in good faith and be true to itself, the
chicken found it necessary to cross the road.
Ludwig Wittgenstein: The possibility of "crossing" was encoded into the
objects "chicken" and "road", and circumstances came into being which
caused the actualization of this potential occurrence.
Albert Einstein: Whether the chicken crossed the road or the road crossed the
chicken depends upon your frame of reference.
Aristotle: To actualize its potential.
Buddha: If you meet the chicken on the road, kill it.
Howard Cosell: It may very well have been one of the most astonishing events
to grace the annals of history. An historic, unprecedented avian biped
with the temerity to attempt such an herculean achievement formerly
relegated to homo sapien pedestrians is truly a remarkable occurrence.
Salvador Dali: The Fish.
Darwin: It was the logical next step after coming down from the trees.
Emily Dickinson: Because it could not stop for death.
Epicurus: For fun.
Ralph Waldo Emerson: It didn't cross the road; it transcended it.
Johann Friedrich von Goethe: The eternal hen-principle made it do it.
Ernest Hemingway: To die. In the rain.
Werner Heisenberg: We are not sure which side of the road the chicken was on,
but it was moving very fast.
David Hume: Out of custom and habit.
Henry David Thoreau: To live deliberately ... and suck all the marrow out of
life.
Mark Twain: The news of its crossing has been greatly exaggerated.
Molly Yard: It was a hen!
***
"Picky, picky, picky." --Pat Paulsen
***
SUBMISSIONS! JOKES, QUOTES, POEMS, RECIPES, REVIEWS, FEEDBACK!
GENERAL GOOD JUNK! We need 'em, you got 'em!
Write this down: aquaria@serv.net needs you!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Subscription requests....moonbaby@serv.net
coLeSLAw's gAllARy is at http://www.serv.net/~coleslaw/
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Keith Gillard's "Liquid Records WWW site is located
at http://haven.uniserve.com/~liquid
