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For pure rock and roll entertainment, no !
act in the history of the medium holds a candle to vintage KISS. Bootsy may be as cartoony, Iggy may have been as outrageous, Gwar may be as theatrical, AC/DC may be as loud, but when you're talking the whole Taco Grande no one holds a candle to the original Kabuki kooks. One monument to this historical fact is the existence of STRUTTER-Kiss Tribute act Supreme. Kiss tribute bands are in some ways more akin to Elvis impersonators than to, say, a Grateful Dead cover band, in that the audience doesn't just want to hear the music; they expect the performers to become the Originals. And though Paul Stanley's lips might not be as full, and though Ace Frehley might have some duct tape on his boots (more on that later), if you squinted your eyes during the STRUTTER ALIVE III Chicago debut... You believed. No corners are cut. In front of fifty four floodlights spelling out STRUTTER, deafening , blinding explosions and clouds of spooky stage smoke frame a circus of firebreathing, blood spurting, authentic costume wearing, smoking (literally) guitar playing recreations of original concert action, right down to Peter Criss tossing out roses at the end of Beth. Add to this an Action Roadie giving the audience the finger all night and you've got a Rock and Roll Supershow Musician magazine said "Strutter does KISS in their prime better than KISS in their prime." Now I wouldn't say all that (except for outdoing Paul Stanley on the on the T.V. evangelist Rock affirmations "Rock and Roh-woh-lah!") The magic was there, though, no doubt about it. After a pinky and forefinger extended fist pumping show, I (Jake) spoke with them, still in makeup of course, in the V.I.P room over the Excaliber Dome.
Jake: First off, how old are you guys? Bill(Who portrays Gene Simmons): Late twenties.
Jake: So you were a good teen age during the KISS Heyday.
Bill: Right.
Jake: Where are you from?
Bill: From Ohio,Cleveland.
Jake: What kind of touring have you
done.
Bill: As far West as Texas. as far North
a, nears as far East as New York Orida. So we've done, lik
the United States. o_o
Jake: What other KISS tribute bands
ae you seen that you can speak well
Scott(Ace Frehley): I haven't seen any.
Gary:(Peter Criss) We've seen several.
Scott: I've seen KISS Army.
Jake: Were they good?
Scott: They're satisfactory.
Jake: Where are they from?
Scott: New York, Queens.
een KISS Alive, KISS Army, Cold
in...
Steve(Paul Stanley):There's several Cold Gins. One in LA, one in Albany New York.
Jake: What's the worst name fo
tribute band you can think of? hai Bill: There's one in Buffalo called SSIK Steve: Poison. | Gary: Beth would be the worst yet. Jake: How about Flaming Youth? Steve: That would be the worst name. Jake:O.K., can you tell me about your best Halloween when you were kids? Scott: 1977. Jake: What were you?
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Jake: What were you dressed as? Scott: Ace Frehley. 1 1970 1981 etc ote y. 1978, 1979, 1980, Gary: The best Halloween
, probabl about three years ago. But every eu | I've been Peter Criss. I've been Eric Carr
——-_
once. Jake: Did you send in an application? Did you send a tape to KISS after (drummer) Eric Carr died (of complications during open heart surgery)?
Steve: They wouldn't read it anyway. Gary: I was very interested in Eric Carr after Peter Criss quit. Very much. Asa matter of fact I do play in the same vein as that also. I was very influenced by KISS since I was a kid and played in that
style for quite a long time. So, yeah, Eric Cart...great.
Jake: What do you think about KISS having this blonde guy?
Bill: Enic Singer. (The new drummer) Scott: No comment.
Steve: What does it matter?
Jake: I don't know, it's kind of a weird look...
Gary: It's out of context.
Bill: It's good cause he's from Cleveland. Jake: I don't know, well...it kind of takes
Lit presents | | ALIVE Il
RS Exploding INOW Ravaging and
n' Through lreatest hits of
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nstage Oct. 14th -9 PM
ARBORN - CHICAGO Admission ‘railable oat
away from the New York Jew Boy look. Scott: KISS has lost a lot of their jook from the early ‘70's.
gh Still a good band, but not the , uh...
Scott: No energy, no hype.
Jake: What was the last tour you saw? Scott: Last week.
Gary: Hot in the Shade.
Scott: I saw them the week before in Binghamton, NY.
Steve: I have a question. What's your favorite part about the show? Jake:um...I liked the sword (that was brought out flaming for the firebreathing). Everyone else I've seen just uses a torch.
Bill: A broomstck? (laughter)
Jake: Also I loved the smell of kerosene in the air afterwards.
Steve: You should sit next to him then. Jake: Is it just straight kerosene?
Bill: It's lighter fluid.
Jake: Is it nasty as hell?
Bill: You get used to it.
Jake:I also liked the duct tape on the boots.
scott: Ace's old costume. Doesn't fit. Jake: Is that Ace's real autograph on the guitar.
Scott: Yeah. The costumes also pretty much beat up from the road.
Jake: Wait a minute, is that actually Ace's old outfit?
Scott: Yeah.
Jake: How'd you get it?
Scott: No comment.
Jake: Well o.k., Do you guys get groupies the way KISS did?
Steve: Oh yeah, not as much as we'd like to.
Jake: Have you ever had a groupie that told you she'd been with the original KISS?
Gary: No, that hasn't happened to us yet. Steve: That's a challenge.
Scott: We don't want a groupie that old. Bill: Still definitely safe sex though. Jake: What's coming up for you guys. Bill: We've got a couple of shows in Ohio, Cincinnati...We did like 200 shows over the last year, so this isn't something we do over the weekend. Jake: Anything you'd like the people to read?
Gary: Strutter Wants You! Steve: Rock and Roll All Night!
Contact Strutter c/o Long Distance Entertainment 6801 Hamilton Ave.
Cincinnati Ohin
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- Roy Acuff, 89, the singer and fiddler who was known to millions ef Grand Ole Opry listeners as the “King of Country Music”; he per- formed his best-known songs, “Wabash Cannonball,” “The .Great Bird” and “The Precious el,” Phi an eae strin band and sang in the t-gonpa Knor sic he made his Grand pry debut with his proup the Crazy Tennesseans in 1938 (they later changed their name to the oky Mountain Boys); besides ing a regular host on weekly
Grand Ole Opry broadcasts, he. founded the Acut-Rose Publishing Co., the world’s leading country-.
music publisher, with the so ter Fred Rose in 1942; Mr. Acuff scored his bi hits as the °30s
as
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a more satisfying entertainment venue than the Grand Ole Opry? Superstars, Legends, has-beens and never weres share short chunks of stage time as equals, pleasing their audience with Country, Western, Gospel, Bluegrass, Pop and all other sorts of Amencan music, and then sweetening the pot by throwing in vaudeville comedy, square dancing and rhinestone suits. On a Saturday or Sunday night in America, the place to be is, no doubt, The Roy Acuff Theatre at Opryland,USA in Nashville, Tennessee. However, I've heard it said that recently a strange cloud has obscured the Opry performances for some. To them, because some of the performers who make the heart of the Opry are in their golden years,they watch the show with part of their brain waiting for these people to die, to see how the Opry will carry on. Not me though. I thought they'd never die. I mean, Bill Monroe, The Father of Bluegrass, is like 90 years old. If you're still jamming at 90 you might as well live to 120 or beyond, you a superhuman. Well, even Superman dies sometimes. The immortality ended last month when Roy Acuff died. If you aren't down with Roy I added some liner notes and stuff, but suffice to say that in addition to being The King of Country music he was Mr. Opry. He made it the old timicst, comy jokicst, traditionaliest and smoothest forum of entertainment as it's host for about half a century. One of the coolest stories is when Porter Waggoner arranged for the super unusual to go down on the Opry stage- James Brown pumping out his Hank Williams Tribute! The older, squarer and more conservative (and the more racist) Opry fans must have been dazed and confused alter that set....until the familiar, friendly voice of the Opry's host, Mr. Roy Acuff, came on the air and carned on, introducing the next act and the rest of the show. If itsalright by Roy, it must be alright. Keep fiddling in the Great Opry in the Sky, Roy!
They have called Roy Acuff ‘The King of Country Music.” and there is nobody around who knows about Country music who will question the title. It is an unusual position—here is a king who is so humble you would figure him to be a commoner.
This humility and talent have happened to make him, a poor country boy, a multimillionaire —yet the humility and earthiness—and the talent remain. He is a performer, songwriter, band- leader—he has even had a go at politics, running for governor unsuccessfully a couple of times in Tennessee. He is a world traveler, having toured hundreds of thousands of miles on four conti- nents.
Sometimes he feels he'd like to step down from the throne—after all, he’s been a big name since 1938. But he still likes to receive that great surge of applause when the audience responds. He figures that when the listeners tire of his efforts, they'll tell him. They haven't told him yet!
For left, tribune opit Left’ Liner notes to |WOvAlbum o. 4
THE) Wid MAN COMETH |
SLOPPIN' WITH THE HAZE by Paul Crayton :
Rockabilly king Hasil Adkins played _
two shows recently at Chicago's Lounge Ax in Lincoln Park. My friend LT. told me about the first show. She said Hasil was incomprehensibly drunk and babbling incoherently, but this did not stop me and my partner from going to the second show.
It was a gloomy night. The roads were slick with a misty rain. As "The Slop", an early Adkins masterpiece, blasted on the car stereo I noticed a single headlight coming towards us like an evil eye. It was a car going southbound in the northbound lane of Lake Shore Drive. As it swerved out of our way I noticed the pale face of the lunatic driving and I knew it was an appropriate omen for the show.
Parking was hassleless and the cover, was cheap. 5 bucks. Once inside the club, my buddy and I positioned ourselves near the stage. It wasn't long before the man himself was teetering onstage heading for the drumset. Hasil Adkins, looking like a cross between Richard Petty, Vincent Price and a homeless person introduced himself.
“How's everybody doing?" he shouted in a Southern accent, "Is everybody in good shape?"
A woman shouted back "Are you in good shape? " to which Hasil laughed and mumbled something I couldn't understand. ~
After a few attempts at trying to get tuned Hasil ripped into the first number but it wasn't long before he was calling his road flunky back to the stage to retune. The rest of the show was characterized by these constant interruptions. Hasil would stop in the middle of a tune to drink, tune, change keys, change moods, drink and retune.
Stull it was a marvel to watch him. He played the bass and the hi-hat with his feet and guitar with his hands, howling wildman lyrics all the while, sometimes repeating songs he played earlier in the set. Sometimes he would beat on the other drums with the large rings he wore on his fingers or the guitar neck. At these points he'd usually knock drinks off his floor tom.
On this lucky night it chanced that Hasil was recording an album for Pravda Records on eight tracks. I asked my ) friends at Pravda how it was possible to — make an album out of Hasil's maniacal medley of half-songs. He said they would let the tape run and just cut out the tuning breaks. That sounded good to me and my partner even said he'd buy
the CD even though he doesn't have a player. The Pravda people added that after last nights drunken debacle, where "The Haze" barely played at all, Pravda saw to it that all the whiskeys the Wildman was getting tonight were mostly H2O. It seemed to have worked. As I drank a beer I thought about how L.T. would have enjoyed Hasil's set.
'L ADKINS---HE'S THE MAN nes Porter By now, if you've talked to
one who saw rockabilly madman ysil Adkins' crazed one-man circus on ednesday night during his recent two- ght stand at Lounge Ax, they most ely told you that it wasn't one of his tter nights. Truth be told, it wasn't one my better nights, either---between the n and a blistering headache, I was finitely 1n no position to go anywhere. ywever, it was definitely worth it to 2 another distanced legend spring to
A quick recap: damn near every
nre Of music has artists who made a yusand records, but never really got st a handful of record collectors when ‘ame to an audience. Until 1984 or so, it was the story of Hasil Adkins--- ndreds of oddball 45's plus a cover ‘sion by psychobilly legends the amps. Around '84 or '85, the Jerrated Norton label in New York zan releasing old and new material by s guy who had been kicking around years. There are countless original ‘kabilly guys who still make records
i perform regularly, like Sleepy
Beef and Ronnie Dawson. What varates Adkins from the pack is the istant airplay he's gotten on college
‘k radio, alongside whoever's
lashing the 70's that week. He's been forming in New York City pretty ‘ularly, playing everywhere from folk — bs to rock clubs to opening for the
Ids (boy, I wish I was a fly on the wall 1 night). However, despite two
‘vious false starts (both Cabaret Metro 1 Lounge Ax have announced Hasil kins shows that didn't come through), 3’ was definitely the night.
_ I came early and found Hasil
ing in the Lounge Ax bleachers
king out opening act Vic Chesnutt, a ler dull singer-songwriter type who
$ going through his soundcheck. The ‘stion by now was probably "which
“S Hasil?" Everybody's been buying albums, but like the handbills for a ith Side blues show, the photos on the
covers all dated back to Eisenhower and Kennedy's times. No one really knew who to look for (I've only seen two recent photos of him, and both are different), but I asked around and that older gent up front was, indeed, The Haze himself. I did, however, get to speak with him and cop his signature, with the subjects ranging from women (yes, ladies, he does have a steady girlfriend back home in Virginia) to his ace songwriting techniques ("I just git up there and make it up the night of the show. Don't nobody know what I'm gonna do---not even me!") to the infamous photo of a young Hasil in a cornfield, rocking away like there was no tomorrow, singing into a makeshift mike and striking an Elvis-Presley-on- Ed-Sullivan-Show pose ("that microphone was hangin' out the air on a piece o'bailin' wire!"). Looks like it's gonna be a fine show!
The show got quite a bit of coverage, from Jim DeRogatis' piece on him in the Sun-Times the day of the show, to a negative moming-after review by Greg Kot in the Chicago Tribune. The usual pseudo-billy "cats" with Crisco in their hair (gotta keep that 50's pomp up, man!) were, for the most part, thankfully absent (they're usually a fixture at many local rockabilly shows, like Ronnie Dawson's slammin'-hot Beat Kitchen show in October). Present in the audience for Hasil's Wednesday night debut were Sun-Times writer Dave Hoekstra, performance artist Brigid
Murphy, and scattered members of the blues-rock band Big Shoulders. What followed, to put it kindly, was indeed a royal mess----Hasil, a man who plays guitar and drums all at once and seldom sings anything he didn't just make up five minutes beforehand, stopped and
* started songs in the middle, unpredictably. Oh, occasionally he'd
interrupt the repartee to ask everybody 1 the audience to "get nekkid" or do © falsetto impersonations of his ex- girlfriends, without rhyme or reason. Th whole thing climaxed with the infamous bloody-nose incident, where the Haze got so carried away he accidentally
bopped a front-row fan in the schnozz with his guitar. (He would apologize repeatedly during the rest of the show.) It ended in pretty much the same fashion---another half-finished song topped off with a promise to retum afte: a quick break. However, everybody got the hint---this definitely was the end. Not exactly the picture of professionalism, nght? I knew several people who complained, and this wasn't coming from conservative WXRT listeners who came to see Vic Chesnutt either--more like dyed-in-the-wool fans who've acquired the taste for his eccentric work but live were expecting something a little bit more coherent. When the guy with the broken nose headed for the door, it seemed like half the audience did, as well. (A curious note: standing front and center at the gig was some attractive young lady with an hourglass figure. It seemed half of Hasil's references to peeling off your clothes were aimed at her, and the lady looked a bit too bored to care either way She finally left, about halfway towards the end.) However, the other 50% of the audience seemed to be of the mind that i was Hasil Adkins, so what did you expect? I tend to agree---it's like what Down Beat magazine, famed for its' one. to five-star record reviews, once said years ago about jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis. It was something to the extent that if you like the kind of undemanding soul-jazz that Lewis used to play in the sixties, then Lewis is The Man, and * or **® or ***** shouldn't matter. No, Hasil did not have it together that night, and his records always seemed in danger of falling apart themselves, but for some reason---and this is not a criticism of Hasil by any means---all the mistakes seemed to go with the territory, it was almost an expected part of the show. Despite the weirdness, for a lot of people that night (and the next night, as well), Hasil was definitely The Man.
QH WHAT A GROUP
by Barbara Holt
You cango home again. The Delis will take you there with their mellow harmonies that span four decades. Whether you were introduced to the Dells with their 1991 Five Heartbeats hit A Heart Is a House for Love or whether your introduction took place 35 years before with one of their early releases on Vee Jay, the gospelesque | Wanna Go Home, their sound was certain to evoke feelings of a very special place and time. If we think of home as a consciousness of love, then the Dells will always take you there.
This year the Dells are celebrating their 40th anniversary as a group whose repertoire includes everything from rhythm | and blues to smooth standards to; modern jazz to soul. Significantly, | this historic occasion was marked | by the issuance of their 40th | Anniversary album, / Salute You, their premiere Philadelphia International Records production, and the reissuance of Dells Classics from the fifties and sixties by Vee Jay on Dreams of Contentment. Oh what a year!
Metaphysically the number 40 signifies any indefinite period -- as in 40 days and nights on the Ark or in the wilderness. Producer Kenneth Gamble picks up on this significance in his dedication to the Dells in the | Salute You liner notes:
Forty years of Unity
3 THE DELLS!
Forty years of struggle -- Forty years of fantastic music Forty -- a very special number
Symbolizing spiritual rebirth And social maturity . . .
The Dells were hardly socially mature when they began their singing career in 1953 as students at Thornton Township High School. Home for them was Harvey, Illinois, a suburb south of Chicago, and they have continued to make their home in the area. Originally a sextet, members of the group were lead tenor Johnny Funches, tenor Vern Allison, "raspy voiced" baritone Marvin Junior, baritone Mickey McGill and his brother Lucius, and bass Chuck Barksdale. !n the finest doo-wop
group tradition, they began singing
at school and on street corners.
Lucius left the group early on for
The Dells circa early fifties
other pursuits, and they became the quintet that they have remained to this day.
Their first recording as the El Rays on Checker met with no success, inspiring them to work on their sound under the tutelage of the Moonglows before trying out with Vee Jay. Their initial cut as the Dells, Tell the World, was not a mature product either, but it was succeeded by the awesome Dreams of Contentment in 1955 and their original version of Oh What a Nite in 1956 -- the love anthem of my pre-teen and teenage years which was successfully revived in the late 1960s with Barksdale's sensual _ ~introductory oration.
The Dells' career was actually interrupted in 1958 when they disbanded and took day jobs. When they reunited in 1960, Johnny Funches was replaced by falsetto tenor Johnny Carter from the Flamingos and the _restis history. Recording on Vee
t a é
Tha TNalle Tadau
Jay and Chess labels Argo and Cadet, the group had minor hits in the 1961 The (Bossa Nova) Bird, the 1965 original version of Stay in My Corner, and a personal favorite, the 1966 Aun for Cover. Their remarkable 1968 remake of Stay in My Corner was again revived in 1991 in The Five Heartbeats.
Continuing to record and perform throughout the seventies, eighties and nineties, the Dells are (like the O'Jays and the Isley Brothers) a rare phenomenon among musical groups. In a radio interview this summer with Chicago Dusties DJ Herb Kent, | heard Chuck Barksdale attribute their longevity to the fact that they grew up in a small community together and shared strong home ties. Yes, you can go home again.
The sound of the Dells is truly golden, and, with the tradition they've established, we can all look forward to celebrating their golden a a decade from now in
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—NEGALIVLAND
In the Summer of 1991, Negativland released a single called “U2” on SST records. The cover was a picture of a U2 bomber with a big U and 2 printed behind it, and “negativland" printed at the bottom. The song includes samples from U2's I still Haven't Found what I'm Looking For" and. also an outtake of Casey Kasem apparently believing he is off mic, my swearing about a dead dog he just sent out a long distance dedication
mto. You probably have heard something about the aftermath; Island records (U2‘s label) sues SST for gigantic amounts of money, SST subsequently sues Negativland, and somehow in the mess, Island seizes all rights to the record. It's all very confusing.
They (Negativland) recently played at Johnny D's in Somerville, Massachusetts. For 10 dollars or so, we received nametags (surprisingly well received by the fans), and a truly, uh, fascinating show. Only [Earee of the five members agreed to go on tour, so David Wills and (Richard Lyons came along via audio and video cassettes. Mark Hosler, iDon Joyce and Chris Gregg put on a show to affect eyes, ears and nose using an extremely inventive array of cheap props and high tech media doo-dads. I was skeptical of a live show by a band which is so rooted in studio trickery, but this show enhanced, rather than debased, inegativland's material.
I spoke with Mark as he and the crew were cleaning up the mess they CS: When 1 talkto °°" Soy tou grew ple People about you guys, California, right people don't know who you are, where you come fram, or anything about you.
MH: Were just this kind of strange, mysterious, amorphous thing...that's kind of okay. In a way that’s kind of interesting in that if they happen to dig in a little then there's al] sorts of stuff they'1l) figure out.
CS: How did this all get started. Who started Negativland?
MA: Iwas in high school and I was, I don‘t know, this is just my own personal story, not everyone else's. I was interested in wanting to grow up and make movies. I used to read tons of science fiction/ fantasy books, and I wanted to make these great big epic movies. Somehow, at some point at about age 14 or 15 I realized that in order to make movies you had to struggle so long and so hard and kiss so mich ass that you'd
ig?
a \:
MH: Right, the suburbs, Concord. I was going out to Berkeley and would see kind of weird foreign films and independently made things and would sort of discover these alternative worlds. At the same time I was buying some records and getting into mvie soundtracks, and I heard this record by Mike Goldfield called “Tubular Bells“. He made it all by himself on a 24 track when he was 19. That just made a big impression on me. I didn‘t want to sound like his music, but just the fact that he did it made this big huge impression. I think also the way the music kept changing all the time, the music changes all the time on that record, I think I liked that a lot too.
CS: Is that a hard record to find? |
MH: No, no it's really easy. It was a big hit actually. I guess at
compromise yourself too ~
much, and that if you got there you'd have to delegate your vision to SO many hundreds of people to make it that it would never turn out Tight.
Shirley
some point it just dawned on me that, god, if this was your mediun, you could do what you wanted and control it. It was almost a
precociously wise choice
ah ee
to make, because it wasn't like “Gosh I want to express myself through music, I'ma musician", it was just, IT wanted a way to make things, and here was a way to make it and control it. Plus, the way music is distributed is a lot more fair. If you make your own movie, you can‘t get your movie in the same multiplex as all those other movies out there, but if you do make a record, and you get it in the stores, you don't get it in as many stores, but once your there, you are just as much in the store as anybody else. Something about that is really neat.
oS: So how did you hook up with these guys?
MH: I had this real shitty job, working after school--you know how school was--calling other people asking them what they thought about Iv shows, one of these audience studies, research things. .That's 10w I met the guy you 3aw on the TV set,
David. It was the cerfectly appropriate place for us to meet, I juess. You'd ask people about characters in TV. shows and what they thought of them. I only lasted there a couple of weeks, but that‘s where we met, and I just was interested in weird 10ises, you know? David showed me how to make Lape loops, I didn't tow anything about
chat, nothing about 2zlectronic music, or the tradition of it.
Richard had some tape recorders and we just started collaborating and messing around.
-S: This was, what,
L980?
4H: Well this was 2arlier, like 1978. Yowadays, what we do, Lt’s pretty obvious that it's all pretty conceptual, and you chink about it and there's all kinds of mnalytical, you know, stuff, behind what were joing. When we first lid it it was just the most natural thing in
the world, you know. I wasn't writing love songs about how lonely and depressed I was as a lonely teenager. For some reason I just was mixing in the t.v. set and my mom baking in the kitchen, and the dogs barking and these funny
lawyers and said, “No, no, no, no, no".
CS: Is the U2 thing behind you now? Have you recovered?
MH: No, actually it isn't. Were still trying to get it back and actually I think ve can get it back. It now does appear as if Casey Kasem has entered the
noises. The first record we made, It's almost like some weird urban noise concept record, but it wasn't, it was totally naive and unintentional. It was only as we kept on working on more records over the years, thinking more about what we were doing, why we were doing it, and what we wanted to say with it and where we wanted to go with it. That's one reason why we kept doing it for so long, because it remained interesting.
We keep expanding on our ideas and you know, you just saw the show, I get to not only make records, but I get to make films, I get to build props, I get to do all kinds of stuff, not just music. And now that were deciding to go with our own label again, were going to run a small business too.
CS: What's the latest on you and your various record labels?
MH: We actually were taken out to dinner by the president of IRS records, you know, uh, REM‘s label and the Go- Go's? They were interested in signing us because they wanted to sign samething they thought was hip and cool and cutting edge and weird. They talked to us for one night and then talked to their
picture. has conceded they will
Island records
give us the record back now.
CS: That's weird.
MH: Yeah it’s all very, very confusing and strange because it may be that the only reason they've conceded to give us the record back is because they know that Casey has said that he'll sue them and sue us if they do. So they're saying that they can't give us the record back. So they have a way out. does that make any sense?
CS: Yeah, I hear you. MH: Now se, I wouldn't really care if that were Casey's opinion except for the fact that he's a hypocrite and a liar.
If he were at least consistent with his position, than that would be all right.
CS: What do you mean? MH: He has publicly stated that he is embarrassed by what we did. That he doesn't like it, but it's a free speech issue; censorship; “it's a free country”. Than privately, his lawyers have said to Island, and to us, in a letter they gent to us that they'll sue us if we rerelease the record. So, were hoping that if we get enough people to write him letters, from reading our magazine and talking to us and
NEGATIVLAND
reading interviews, and express their displeasure with his actions, that he could be swayed to reconsider. You know that Casey Kasem is actually a left-wing activist guy...he's marched against the reinstatement of the draft, he's been arrested for civil disobedience at nuclear protest rallies, he's aqainst nuclear testind.
he's an animal rights
guy. Look, there's a cockroach.
CASEY KASEM'S fax # 310*840*4051
9540 Washington Blvd.
Culver City,CA 90232
Negativland has written a short book about the whole U2 deal and the hypocrisy of the record industry. Ask for it in your favorite record/book store. Or write: 1120 monument sly, mF Concord, cA 945
MISCRERE costed Fullerion
GOTTA LOTTA LIVIN TO Do:
the StoRY of HERB ALPERT ana Mere, ~ «te Uijuana fron *y
et MOSt YOUNGSTERS Nowadays
SeOM UNAWARE OF tHe Wo Rk
OF MR. HERBALPEeRE aug Kis GREA+ Go's BAnd, +ne FUOUANA BRASS; At MOSt, they REecoGNIZE +nEIR MUSIC FROM ChiLdhHoog VIEWINGS OF The DATING Game (which FCATUREd SeveRaL OF thea TUNES.) BUF did You KNow thAt HERB Ac PeR+ Onda the +HJUANA BRASS ARE ACTUALLY ONE OF THE Most Po
PULAR INdIe BANdAS in HIS+oRY? BoRN IN Lia. in (935, HERG studied +Rumper ond MUSICAL
theoRy AS A Yeuth, and AFTER HIGH Schsol BEGAN See WoRK ON the music
UCeR, Witn Som Success in aUa5 AREA CHE WRote cam bance ome
+ #4
OWN MUSIC.
IN 196A, HERB came uP With A SPANISH FLAVOREA tAKE ON A FUN] A EFRIQNA OF HIS HAD WRi+ten. JVOINING FoRCeS wis, INDUStRy Buddy JERRY Moss, ALPER+ S+ARtrea ALM Re€ceRAS to Release the FIRS+ +ISUANA BRASS SINGLE “ine Loney BuLl" blw ACAPULCO 1933" AMAZINGLY, this LitdLe IindePend- ently ePRoduced SINGLE WAS A CHAR* Hit, AS WAS the FULL LeNGth L.P. AGM RELEASeEd LATER IN +ne Year.
= FOLLOWING +124 ANA BRASS RE<oRdAS ScOREA MogaeS+ REG tons~ AC ACHON, But I+ WAtN4 SIL 1965 When the +5B8'f Sa, Lif. the MAGNUM oPUs WhiPPed CREAM ANd OTHER CELI GHIS, was ReLeased ThAtT ALPERT Achieved St AR AOM. ..cRCAM WASA HuGe Hit, REMAINING IN the TOP ten UN+tilL SPRING (967. FollLowIinG this SUCCESS, tne +5B BEGAN BREAKING Audience AtteNd ANCE Reconde A-~ CRoss the WeRid avd WERE FeA- tuhed ON SeveAAL tr.v. SPECIALS.
IN 1966 the BRASS eutSetd tne BEATL2S Q tol awd hAd Foye RE<coRAS IN the toPten SimuL- tAN@ OUSLY, BecomING the onty BANd IN the HistoRy of te CHARI to Achieve Such A Fear.
REM Suddency Became A MALCR LABEL FI€tdinsG Such Acts As BRASIL.'66, BURT BACHARACH, tHe CARPENTERS and CAPTAIN and TtENIRLLE. MEANWhiILe, the +98 Continued to Releace Hit ALBUMS
CARNING II Gotd R@cord é ¢ AWARAS Coma Five Hy ic ; But 14 WASN'*S tik 196@¢E RECORDS | thAT ALPERT ScoRed A Hi SINGLE -— "this Guy's IN LOVE With You,”
’
Ty
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fas eed
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A +e@ndeR, HEARSFeLt SorG OF emagtionaL SURRENACR, FeEAtURING HERB ON HIGH IMPACT, IF UNTtRAINEd VOCALS.
GRALUALLY tpouGh, AS tne Go's wound
pag pha *Ne HItS FoR ALPERT amd BEcAMEe FARIHER ond
APAR+, ANd HeRsB ee eee Pope gine RUNNING A MULTISMILLIoW DottAR RECORA com PANY. the GRrouP Sprit UP IN tne CARLY I9D70's., SInce then, ALPERT HAS StaAYed Active, IN Beth MaNnacement and With his oWN music, SCORING A Hit IN 1980 wiin"Rise” and LATER
W l4n "OtAmoNds” FeatuhRine panet JACKSON.
HERB ALPERT and the TIVUANA BRASS: AN APPRECIATION BY JoHN PORCELLING
I KRECENtLY Got 4URNEeA ON tO Me THUANA BRASS pRoUGH WIID-ChicAGo's INCeESSANT BROAACASTIN G OF Hela whipre<eaA CREAM Smash “Araste cf Honey.” £ Became FAScinAted with the Sones HYPNOTIC “BomP Bomp Bom” PRUMS owd SLY, INTRIGUING ARRANGeMENT. ERoM thAt ONE SONG Live QAecome Addicted +o tne TIAIUANA BRass Sound. LUCKILY, SINCE the +8 WeRE So DAMN Po PULAR, tThtIR ALGumsS ARS widely AVAILABLE IN Second HANd SHOPS, USU- ALLY FoR MERE PENNIES. PRACTICALLY €veRY thRi&+ Store Tive Been IN HERE IN DENVER HAS At LEASt ONE COofPy of whihPed CREAM CthoUGh, AS thelR MOS+ POPULAR Algum, 1+'S HARd +o FING this ONC IN PLAYABLE CONAI+FIEN — They've scmety geen PLAYed te peat)
Ahe MUSIC VARIES IN tone and FLlavOoOR FROM the moRe OBVIOUSLY SPANISH INFlLUeNCed CARLY RECORAS, to tHe SNAPPY POP of tneIR Mid- PERIod, To LATER, SOFTER JAZZ tAkKeS (CHECK out NARM ). ONE THING THAT Doesnt VARY, thouéh, 1S the QUALITY: CoNSIS+eNtLY +op~Notch +tuneS and SWINGING ARRANGE MENTS ComBINS With Heee's Smooth, ever present HoRN +o +AKe the
cAKe AGAIN omd AGAIN.
USUALLY INSTRUMENTAL avd NEAPLY ALWAYS SNAPPY ond upBeAt, I FINA therR music A TOTAL mood UsFteR, It'S the Pepfect SoUNATRACK to my AY to BAY exis+ence, Lend-
1G AN AIR OF ABSURAITY and Excitement to tne most MUNAANS +ASKS. HEY- T Listen to HERE ONAN ALMOST DAILY BASIS, ond HAvE yer to Ger +tiRed oF Ir, CVerY Ligten 1S AS FRE ond excItiNG AS te FIRST... T Guess you coutd CALL Me o@BSessed , BUt IT'S HAAA 4o aeNY muSic thls pepnFect. CHECK It oUt.
D&M RECORAS: P.0. Box. 118, HoLtYwood, cA 90078
MoStok the HiSteRyY PART L PRetty much pia anne IA of PoP, Rock, and Sout bY IRWI
7 fer 1F you ARe INTO The HIS -
t+AmeBLeR CSt. MARTN'S press). erage of cele. 2 og WhoLteHeARtedaLy REcoMmMENd -+nHIs Gook.
PERSONS-IN-BLACK Collectors’ Series #923
They are the young, the damned, the desperate. They are rebels, the cutting edge of neo-ultra-post-modem alienation, professional outcasts with chips on their shoulders as big as boulders. And their clothes are as dark as their souls. They are P.I.B.s (Persons In Black.) Feel their icy disdain, their withering contempt, their world-weary disgust for all things not ex- actly like them. Wonder how they manage N/A toaffordallthat expensive leatherdesigner <=] ‘doom wear while working part-time at used record stores. Where do they come from? How do they get their hair like that? What exactly do they DO? These are just ae “\ afewofthe mysteries you willneverknow, nl | @ \ for they will never deign to even acknow!- : | 77 edge yourworthless non-P.!.B. existence.
P1B.s CPersons IN Black) : pag
1423 E. 53rd St. #2 Chicago, I. 60615