Consider Vanilla Ice. Four years ago, he was a car-lot attendant in Carrollton, Texas, with a passion for rap and a knack for breakdancing. He won a talent show at a local club, got a manager and concocted a look. Pompadoured, dirty-blond brush cut, chiseled cheekbones, red, white and blue…
I went to see John Doe play solo last week; he was in X, one of the best bands ever to come out of Los Angeles. After the show, I walked up and asked him something. I’d once read that he had rented a house Bukowski used to live in…
About 60 years ago, a place called the Wild West came into existence. This was a raw, exciting, savage land that sometimes came in black and white, sometimes in glorious Technicolor. It was a place as vast and open as a movie screen, as far away as a living-room television…
Ben Vaughn Mono U.S.A. (Bar/None) The man who gave the world “I’m Sorry (But So Is Brenda Lee)” has done, if not the impossible, then the extremely challenging: Vaughn has taken 18 obscure, thoroughly bitchin’ AM-radio tunes from the glory years of the early to mid-Sixties (back when “obscure” and…
Ben Vaughn Mono U.S.A. (Bar/None) The man who gave the world “I’m Sorry (But So Is Brenda Lee)” has done, if not the impossible, then the extremely challenging: Vaughn has taken 18 obscure, thoroughly bitchin’ AM-radio tunes from the glory years of the early to mid-Sixties (back when “obscure” and…
All right. I begged you to send in tapes, and here, at last, are a few opinions. If you submitted something and it isn’t mentioned, don’t despair. There’ll be more to come. Mention the Piersons to anyone who’s heard of them and you’ll usually get this response: “Oh yeah, they’re…
All right. I begged you to send in tapes, and here, at last, are a few opinions. If you submitted something and it isn’t mentioned, don’t despair. There’ll be more to come. Mention the Piersons to anyone who’s heard of them and you’ll usually get this response: “Oh yeah, they’re…
About 60 years ago, a place called the Wild West came into existence. This was a raw, exciting, savage land that sometimes came in black and white, sometimes in glorious Technicolor. It was a place as vast and open as a movie screen, as far away as a living-room television…
A van chugs into the parking lot. It is one of those mid-Eighties models with dark, vertical windows and frosted piping painted on the sides–the kind of van they made for happy American families on the go, but which you usually see driven by unkempt, deadbeat types, or by serial…
Those big, blue eyes sear out at you from the cover of the CD, smoldering, wicked and forgiving. The dirty-blond hair cascades below her rib cage, all tousled and just-woke-up. The lips, from the Mona Lisa school of innuendo, are a full stroke of red that say it all without…
Things are not looking good for Tony’s New Yorker Club. The Tempe nightspot has been on the critical list since last December, when owner Stuart Woltz filed for Chapter 11. “The ironic thing is, some of the things we’ve been doing in the last few months–like going to two stages–really…
It’s all set; the fix is in–I’m going to heaven for sure, and here’s why: Last week I went to see Rush, but know this–I hate Rush. Some label person had sent me two free tickets, so I figured, why not? Why not give prog-rock one more chance? I grabbed…
It’s not easy being a horse’s ass. It certainly hasn’t been easy for Miles Hunt. The lead singer and chief wise guy for England’s alterna-pop band the Wonder Stuff has developed quite a rsum as a snotty, grade-A jerk. “I pay no attention to it, really,” Hunt sniffs. “It’s just…
Across the street from a Valley golf course with winter-brown grass, behind a white wall that probably keeps in more than it keeps out, is the low-slung, spacious home of Curt Kirkwood. That’s Curt Kirkwood–father of twins, fearless interviewee, marijuana enthusiast, Meat Puppet. A pit bull is standing out by…
Writing this is not going to be easy. On the way down to the New Times command center this past, glorious Super Bowl Sunday, I drove through the drive-through at Omega Burger. Bacon cheeseburger, onion rings, soda; an American meal. Now here’s the ugly part: As I made my way…
You may think Bo Diddley’s rich. You may think Bo Diddley inhabits a Jaggeresque world of limos, laughs and luxury. You may think his membership in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame secures him universal credit for his contributions to the music. If you do, you’re wrong. “My life…
The rock n’ roll lifestyle didn’t drop from the sky with the appearance of the Rolling Stones, you know. Half a century of jazzmen and blues figures had already set the stage with their endless womanizing and love for needles, pills and bottles. And Stan Kenton, pianist, bandleader, eccentric genius,…
I ain’t fraid uh no ghosts, and I proved it a few days ago in Bisbee, where the lovely Bettie and I spent the night in a bed and breakfast called the Oliver House. That’s right, I’m gonna tell you about my weekend vacation. We’ll get to music later, don’t…
I ain’t fraid uh no ghosts, and I proved it a few days ago in Bisbee, where the lovely Bettie and I spent the night in a bed and breakfast called the Oliver House. That’s right, I’m gonna tell you about my weekend vacation. We’ll get to music later, don’t…
Hotel X A Random History of the Avant-Groove (SST) From the capital of the Confederacy comes a quartet of white boys named Hotel X, venturing forth into the realm of cool jazz that goes with late nights and cigarettes like braces go with crooked teeth. A Random History is a…
I ain’t fraid uh no ghosts, and I proved it a few days ago in Bisbee, where the lovely Bettie and I spent the night in a bed and breakfast called the Oliver House. That’s right, I’m gonna tell you about my weekend vacation. We’ll get to music later, don’t…
Hotel X A Random History of the Avant-Groove (SST) From the capital of the Confederacy comes a quartet of white boys named Hotel X, venturing forth into the realm of cool jazz that goes with late nights and cigarettes like braces go with crooked teeth. A Random History is a…
