MP3 is a joke There’s a Poison Goin’ On… Public Enemy Atomic Pop Public Enemy’s Chuck D used to proclaim hip-hop as black folks’ CNN; too bad he changed the channel and stuck the remote on the Home Shopping Network. A year after the soundtrack to He Got Game, Chuck…
For a man who has appeared on The Tonight Show a handful of times–most recently, only days ago backing singer-songwriter (and, yes, Madonna’s brother-in-law) Joe Henry–Earl Harvin can be made to feel self-conscious rather easily. Take this moment: It is 6:33 p.m. on a Friday, and the patio of the…
The short goodbye Going Away Transona Five Drawing Room Records The title of Transona Five’s follow-up EP to last year’s Duffel Bag couldn’t be more apt: The band will indeed be going away in the coming months, beginning with bassist Scott Marks’ departure for upstate New York. The remaining members–guitarist…
For a man who died 25 years ago, Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington is one hell of a prolific man. This year alone, he has released some 10 albums–not to mention an eight-disc boxed set, and another mother containing 24 CDs with a list price of $407.97. The labels in charge…
It was an anxious Tom Ze, guitarist, singer, and experimentalist, who took the stage in New York City’s Central Park six years ago. Back then, Ze was a complete unknown in the United States, and not even terribly famous in his native Brazil. Indeed, less than five years before, Ze…
The Kahn method of doing business appears to go something like this: Come up with a molten nightclub concept. Find a hot spot, one to lure excited investors looking for a glamour buy. Generate enthusiasm among contractors and vendors charged with crafting the sizzling slot by boasting about all the…
Jesse Camp first came to public attention as the winner of MTV’s “I Wanna Be a VJ” contest in 1998. His lanky frame, incorrigible hair (a vintage heavy-metal electric-socket situation), and distinct mannerisms so appealed to MTV viewers that his original stint of several weeks was extended to the rest…
August: Toadies release Interscope Records debut Rubberneck. Aug. 31: The Wonderbra is introduced. Sept. 14: Baseball owners and players can’t resolve labor issues, forcing an early end to the season–and the cancellation of the World Series for the first time. September: E.R. debuts on NBC; Chicago Hope premieres on CBS…
Old men, young chests Bad Love Randy Newman DreamWorks Records Randy Newman has always wanted to be popular; he always moans about not racking up the hits like Billy Joel or Paul Simon. He even closes Bad Love by insisting “I Want Everyone to Like Me”: “I want to earn…
Until a few weeks ago, this performance space beneath the Majestic Theatre was nothing more than a place where dancers killed time before going on stage–stretching out, shooting the breeze. You can still see the ballet bars and mirrors behind the black drapes that valiantly try to masquerade the room’s…
Every few minutes, Baboon frontman Andrew Huffstetler abruptly leaves the table, breaking off the conversation to disappear briefly into the thinning crowd of diners at Sushi Nights. None of the other members of the group–bassist Mark Hughes, guitarist Mike Rudnicki, and drummer Steven Barnett–pays much attention to Huffstetler’s comings and…
Pal Joey…and Marky This is…the Savage Young Wallys The Wallys Amp Records Day One On the Double On the Double Records There hasn’t been anything new to say about The Wallys since the Ramones released their eponymous debut in 1976, and The Ramones Leave Home and Rocket to Russia a…
Trick of the trade Music for Hangovers Cheap Trick Cheap Trick Unlimited Nothing at all unseemly about this live one-off, culled from four sold-out shows at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago last year; the only thing missing is the Smashing Pumpkins’ opening performances, though Billy Corgan’s weepy liner notes and…
Cedar Walton was 25 years old when he made history, then faded into it. He was a kid from South Dallas beginning to find his way around New York City, a piano player at the start of what would become one of the most estimable, if most unheralded, careers in…
The directions lead to a nondescript office building off Central Expressway, just south of Meadow Road–a five-story tan-brick box that saps the life out of you just looking at it. There is no sign on the outside, just an address in large white numbers on the facade, the sole identifying…
Smokin’ in the noise room Walkin off Naked Jalopy Womb Tune Records No one could ever accuse the modern-day psychedelia crowd of not being awfully damned funny, even if it is usually unintentionally so; hell, that makes it more enjoyable anyway–a belly laugh instead of a hidden snicker. For proof,…
During one unremarkable weeknight in the fall of 1997, a remarkable scenario was unfolding inside Poor David’s Pub. The dank and shabby venue was packed with a bizarre yet communal cross-section of Lower Greenville types: scruffy indie rockers, gimme-capped frat boys, perfumed yuppies, aging cowboys. People were literally crying in…
With a mainstream to rebel against, a deep love of rock’s true golden age of freedom (the mid-’60s), and a grasp on that era’s melodic raucousness, the first punk-rockers probably saved rock and roll from the death it deserved. Early punk discs are timeless in the way The Sun Sessions…
Nothing much has changed for Steven Visneau and Christy Darlington since they began playing together four years ago–first as Mess, then as Darlington, and now, perhaps finally, as The Darlingtons. Well, that’s not exactly correct, it just seems that nothing has changed. Actually, everything has changed, so much so that…
The salvage yard The Cars Deluxe Edition The Cars Rhino/Elektra The Grave Robbers are at it again, digging up the corpses of dead-and-buried demos long ago thought to be reduced to dirt in a hole. The zombies are everywhere, walking the earth in this digital age; there’s no such thing…
When a person thinks of Reno, Nevada, one imagines cheap buffets and sleazy betting joints and petty crime and hotel fires. Or perhaps thoughts turn instead to a man named Johnny Cash, who, according to “Folsom Prison Blues,” once shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. Reno…
What the hell…? Necropolitan Heights The Merlowe Ran’t PepVentura I can no more categorize this music than unscramble Brian Wilson’s mind. Not that the Merlowe Ran’t directly evokes the tangled genius of the Beach Boys’ former frontman, but in its own well-meaning way, it tries to subscribe to it. That,…
