%%%%%%%% %%%%%%% %%%%%%% %% %% %%%%%%%% %% %% %% % %% %% %% % %%% %%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% % % %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%%% %% % %% %% %%%%% %% %% %% %%% %% %% %% %% %% %% % %% %% % %% %% %% %% %% %% %%%%%%%% %%%%%%% %%%%%% %% %% %%%%%%%% %% %% %%%%%%%% %%%%%%%% %%%%%%% %%%%%% %%%%%%%% %%%%%%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% % %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%%%%% %%% %% %%%%%% %% %%%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% % %% %%%%%%%% %%%%%%%% %%%%%%% %% %% %%%%%%%% %%%%%% February, 1997 (Issue # 21) - 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, Alex Gedeon, Keith Gillard, DJ Johnson, Steven Leith, Steve Marshall, The Platterpuss, Paul Remington, and John Sekerka. ============================================================================ Cosmik wishes to thank those of you who have written to us expressing ideas for making Cosmik Debris a better publication. One desire expressed by many people will now be answered. We will list the sound clips that are currently available on our WWW version. The list will appear here, just below the credits, in every ascii issue. This will make it easier for you to zero in on the sound clips when you get online. In the current issue, you will find: 4 sound clips at the bottom of the Brazil 2001 interview And clips in the following reviews: Beenie Man The Bluebeats Brain Surgeons Chaka Khan The Lost Ruder Than You SNFU V/A: The Missing Chord (contains clips by The Mel-Tones and The Sandblasters.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S EDITOR'S NOTES: D over middle C, and a few others we think you'll really dig. The winners of last month's contests are also listed here. A 20TH CENTURY CLASSIC - REMINISCIING WITH DAVID DIAMOND: At 81, composer David Diamond hasn't slowed down much. Last month, Paul Remington spent an afternoon at Diamond's home, listening to wonderful stories about his friendships with Ravel, E.E. Cummings, and other important figures of classical music history. This is the transcript of that afternoon. BREAKING THE RULES WITH BRAZIL 2001: We wanted to find out what makes guitarist/vocalist Bernard Yin tick, so we asked him a bunch of questions. Thank God he answered them, or we would have looked reeeeeally stupid. What we discovered was that Bernard is a thinking fan's guitarist. DOWN IN FLAMES: ESTRUS RECORDS' WAREHOUSE BURNS TO GROUND: On Thursday, January 16th, the Estrus Records warehouse burned to the ground, obliterating a ten year archive of garage and surf heritage. Now, just a few weeks later, the indie community mobilizes to lend a hand. TAPE HISS (John Sekerka) - THE KEN ARDLEY PLAYBOYS & JAN HAUST: Bob Smith of The Ken Ardley Playboys explains how a band that can hardly play manages to make such a cool racket. Next, a conversation with Jan Haust, Canadian punk archivist and all around interestin' guy. RECORD REVIEWS: We know you've come to expect a widely diverse stack of platters in this section of Cosmik, but this month, we all, by sheer coincidence, reviewed nothing but country releases. ... YEAH, RIGHT! I was just kidding. That's NEXT month. Come on in. The water's fine. BETWEEN ZERO & ONE (Steven Leith): The War On Drugs continues to be the model of futility, wastefulness, and inequality. Is it time to put down the guns and give enlightenment a try? PHIL'S GARAGE (Phil Dirt): This month, Phil relates a heart warming success story that will give hope to those who dare to dream of finding fame and fortune playing surf music. STUFF I NOTICED (DJ Johnson): You go into the can, you sit down, you reach for your... HEY, RELAX!... for your Popular Mechanics magazine. But do you find it? Nope! SHE'S been here! THE DEBRIS FIELD (Louise Johnson): February's offering of free floating stuphhh.. from poetry to concert, movie and book reviews, to quotes to... well, you know... Stuff! WHO ARE US GUYS ANYWAYS?: Find out who we are, why we are, where we hide, and what to buy us for Valentines Day. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EDITOR'S NOTES By DJ Johnson Welcome to the 21st issue of Cosmik Debris. As usual, we have a roster of features that are very different from one another. We are thrilled, honored, knocked out, and amazed to present our interview with the great American classical composer, David Diamond. Paul Remington spent an afternoon with Diamond at his home, finding himself surrounded by artifacts of classical history, from the framed letters written by E.E. Cummings, Alec Wilder, Ravel, and others, to the scattered pieces of staff paper filled with the seeds of future Diamond compositions. The 81 year old composer proved to be an excellent interview, remembering names, dates, and events with crystal clarity. We couldn't have asked for a better subject for our first interview from the world of classical music. Brazil 2001 guitarist and vocalist Bernard Yin, Bob Smith of The Ken Ardley Playboys, and Canadian punk compiler Jan Haust are also on the menu this month. Reading all four interviews gives you nearly 85% of the recommended daily dosage of musical diversity. Gives you a damned good education, too. Well, it's time to announce the winners of our two CD giveaways from the January issue. We only had one copy of Utah Phillips and Ani DiFranco's THE PAST DIDN'T GO ANYWHERE to give away, and the lucky winner is Cris Abbott of Mountain View, California. Congrats, Cris. As for the Bobby Fuller Four TEXAS TAPES REVISITED 2-CD sets, well, we had FIVE of those babies to hand out. The winners are: Gary McLaren of Irvine, California Allan Barnes of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Quinn Martin of Cleveland, Ohio Jeff Kersting of Afton, Missouri Wei Zhao of Grinell, Iowa. Looks like another North American sweep. That's the second time that's happened. Congratulations to all our winners. That's about it. Please be sure to read the article about the Estrus Records warehouse fire. We need to get people involved in the relief effort. Enjoy the issue, and don't forget to enter our Brazil 2001 CD giveaway drawing. Those of you who are reading the e-mailed ascii version of Cosmik can just send your name, address, and phone number to moonbaby@serv.net, and I'll get your name into the hopper. DJ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A 20th Century Classic: David Diamond Reminisces Interviewed by Paul Remington With the push of a button, the doorbell sounds. The shuffling of feet approaches, and David Diamond cautiously opens the front door. He emerges as a five foot-seven inch bundle of shirts and sweaters, wrapped in a thick robe, wearing a black Frenchman's hat. This is not what I was expecting. He presses his palm against the storm door and pushes it open, ushering me in, out of the cold. "I have been battling pneumonia, and have been in and out of the hospital. My doctors tell me I should not be doing so many interviews, but I schedule them anyway." It is clear what he needs is rest, and an interview on this day would be fruitless. "I'm still teaching at Julliard and will be flying back to New York in a few weeks. Perhaps we can meet before I leave." With that, the interview is rescheduled. At 81, this seemingly fragile man refuses to slow down. Fragile he is not. David Diamond is as active as ever, teaching, composing, and enjoying both music and life. Knowing he must slow down, he has chosen to retire from teaching in the spring of 1997. His retirement enables him to spend more time on other projects, such as the completion of his autobiography, and channeling his energy towards the art that's enriched his life for almost 70 years: composing classical music. Composition is Diamond's life, and his home gives evidence towards this. Tables covered with staff paper and music are a prominent part of the downstairs decor. Sharpened pencils are liberally stacked in neat piles on each table. Note paper is haphazardly left beside staff paper, with notes and key signatures written as if he were doodling. Music CDs and tapes are neatly stacked on adjacent tables. The walls are lined with art and pictures, letters from former associates; Ravel, Stravinsky, E.E. Cummings, Boulanger, and a rare letter by Debussy given to him as a gift. Awards dot the shelves, surrounded by porcelain, ivory, stone, and marble hippopotamuses, for which he has a peculiar affinity. Peculiar is the adjective most often used by Diamond when referring to how others have described him in the past. Whether it was how he dressed, his own personal interests, or who he chose to associate with, Diamond knows he wasn't the usual young boy growing up in the '20s and early '30s. As a young man during the depression, he wore a turtleneck as formal-wear while others wore suits. As he grew older, at times, his manner of dress deviated little, causing him, on one occasion, to be denied a teaching job based solely on his manner of dress. Perhaps this "peculiar" or "strange" element of Diamond's character is part of his unique and uncompromising style. Perhaps, if he conformed, yielding to the advice of those he disagreed with, his form of expression would be hampered. The turtlenecks, the "wrong note" chords, the occasional use of tone rows, modes, chromaticism and diotonicism: these are all part of one package that reflect the unique character of David Diamond. Diamond's music is his life, and his compositions are his art. In visual form, his art appears as dots and lines with elaborate markings on staff paper. In aural form, his art takes on a whole new meaning. His compositional voice is both Classical and Romantic, at times modal, favoring a diatonic and chromatic flair. His sound is distinctly Americana, with an outstanding use of harmony. Contemporaries have described his sound in different ways. Hanson described his early compositions as containing too many "wrong note chords." Schoenberg has described him as a "young Bruckner." Bernstein was a grand supporter of his music, and Copland was quite taken by his compositional style and works. Critics have praised and belittled his compositions over the years, with some reviews reading as though they now belong in Slonimsky's "Lexicon of Musical Invective." As time passes, interest in Diamond's music continues to grow. Performances of his works are appearing on a variety of labels, small and large. Cedille Records, New World Records, Koch Schwann, and Delos have recently released CDs of Diamond's music. Delos has featured Diamond as part of its Great American Composer series. With five volumes currently available, classical enthusiasts can become better acquainted with Diamond through his symphonies, concert pieces, concertos, and other key orchestral and chamber works. Performed by the Seattle Symphony under Gerard Schwarz, Delos' series is perhaps the most inclusive collection of Diamond's orchestral music released to date. Diamond's presence during the rehearsal and recording of the works establishes them as an important and authentic addition to his growing catalog. Diamond began studying music at the age of seven with the violin. Born in Rochester, NY in 1915, he later moved to Cleveland, Ohio where he attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, and studied under Andre' de Ribaupierre. By the age of 14, he was proficient in three languages, had read three of Emerson's essays, and veraciously consumed reading material of all forms, from Tolstoy's "War and Peace" to anything related to classical music and the psyche. In 1929, his family moved back to Rochester and he attended Ben Franklin High School. In 1933, he enrolled as a freshman at the Eastman School of Music, in Rochester, and was immediately confronted with the resistance of Howard Hanson. During this time he studied composition with Bernard Rogers. Frustrated with the conservative attitude of the school, he quit Eastman and enrolled in the Dalcroze Music Institute in New York where he studied with Paul Boepple and Roger Sessions from 1934 to 1936. Through de Ribaupierre, Diamond met Maurice Ravel who insisted he return to Paris to study with the famed violinist and composer, Nadia Boulanger. In the summer of 1937, at the age of 22, Diamond flew to Paris where he attended the Conservatoire Americain at Fontainebleau. It was during this period his compositional style began to emerge and mature. His early sound was highly rhythmic and melodic, with complex polyphonic elements mixed with a markedly angular approach made up of bitonal and modal harmonies. The addition of contrapuntal elements enriched his compositions, producing a more structured and balanced sound. In 1951, Diamond left the United States and settled in Italy where he remained until 1965. During this period he composed many works, including Symphony Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, String Quartet Nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8, Nonet, Quintet for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, and Horn, and numerous chamber and orchestral pieces. When Diamond return to the United States in 1965, he found his music had been "rediscovered" after over a decade of near neglect. He continued to compose, but also set his eye on teaching. In the fall of 1965 to 1967, he chaired the Composition Department at the Manhattan School of Music. In 1970, and again in 1983, he was Visiting Professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder. In 1971, he was appointed Composer in Residence at the American Academy in Rome. In 1973 he joined the staff of the Julliard School of Music in New York City as a professor of composition. Diamond held this position until 1986, when he retired. Due to the death of key composition faculty, he returned to the school and continues to teach composition at Julliard. Whether teaching or composing, David Diamond lives a life in music few ever achieve. His talent and intellect have carried him to where he is today, and he has rightfully earned the respect of being one of the great figures in American 20th century classical music. Two weeks after our first visit, Diamond entertained an interview in good health, and in a bright frame of mind. His memories are vivid, and has attention to detail and names is surprisingly sharp. * * * * Cosmik: The last time we spoke, you referred to doing Bette Davis' laundry when you were young. Can you expand on that? Diamond: Oh yes . . . that would be just before we moved to Cleveland. That would be about 1927. She was on stock at the Lyceum Theater in Rochester, NY. She and her mother, Ruth, had a very small apartment that was very close to the backstage of the Lyceum. I used to hang around there after I'd have my lesson at the Eastman School. I'd always try to "rush the gallery," as they'd call it, to get to one of the plays at the Lyceum. I tried to hang around backstage so I could do some things to make a little extra money. I used to run errands for actors like Louis Calherne and Ralph Belamy. They'd always give me little things to do. Once they saw me with my violin, I guess I passed the test. [Smiles] Cosmik: What were the earliest influences that inspired your interest in classical music and composition? Diamond: Well, I'll try to make that fast. It began with the violin first. We lived over on Kelly Street in Rochester. I was born on Joiner Street, which was right around the corner from Kelly Street. It was a big, half of a square kind of setup of apartments that was right next to what they call Germania Hall. Most of the traveling foreign language companies would perform at Germania Hall, or some of the Socialist lecturers would appear there. In front of it was the Amalgamated Clothing Workers. It was a very colorful neighborhood. Now, in this setup of apartments, which was owned by the Weiner family, although my parents called them "Weener . . ." The Weiner family always insisted on "Winer" because it was "W-e-i. . .," and rightly so. But, I've seen the name spelled "W-i-e. . ." as well, so I used to kid them later on, I used to say, "Well, do you come from Vienna or do you come from where they make hotdogs?" [Laughs] But, their son Ruby, who died just two years ago, had a violin, which I still have. As a matter of fact, I have it right around the corner. I still have my little three-quarter size violin. But it was Ruby's originally. And, he wouldn't practice, I remember. Every time I would come into the house I would see this violin open with this green cloth lining, a very cheap kind of lining inside. The bow was down, so I just picked up the bow and violin and began to play. Cosmik: And you had never played it before? Diamond: No. Cosmik: You took to it immediately. Diamond: I took to it immediately. I guess I tried to imitate what I had heard Ruby do. We also had a lot of recordings. I remember we had recordings of violinists Toscha Seidel, Jascha Heifetz and Fritz Kreisler. So, I knew pieces from the recordings. Zegeuner Weisen I think was one of them, and then Liebeslied. I think it was Kreisler's Liebeslied. And I remembered these tunes. My sister loved buying these recordings when there was a musical comedy at the Lyceum Theater. I remember the Student Prince. She immediately bought these arrangements of Schubert melodies. And so I heard all these tunes and they sort of sank in, and that gave me the desire to play the violin. So, my mother, who was not a musician--she was a very fine dress maker, and my father was a superb cabinet maker--and they encouraged me musically. My sister was an amateur musician. She played the mandolin, the ukulele, and she had a group of friends who would come play ensemble mandolin. But, my parents would take me to recitals at the old JYMA (Jewish Young Men's Association). On Saturday nights there would always be a special recital. There were some very good violinists that would perform. There was a local one named Harry Friedman. He was an extraordinary fiddler. Then I remember Eudis Shapiro came. She became rather famous, and I saw her name not too long ago. Maybe five or ten years ago she was living on the west coast--maybe Los Angeles--and she was still performing. She played my first Sonata for my 50th birthday, up at Aspen, at the Aspen Festival. I hadn't seen her in all those years, and I reminded her that I heard her as a little boy, and that she was extraordinary. And then there was a remarkable girl named Esther Shur. Then when I was first year in Washington Junior there was this marvelous girl, Janina Gorecka who was later transferred to Ben Franklin, which is where I went to school. So, we both played in the orchestra. She was concert master for a period of time before she graduated and then I became the concert master. This was about 1929 or 1930. My mother immediately enrolled me with a private violin teacher. Cosmik: Why didn't your mother enroll you in the Eastman School of Music Preparatory Department? Diamond: There was a wonderful family, called the Wolberg family, and they had a daughter Celia who was a fine pianist who studied with a local pianist named Charlotte Gregg. It was Celia who told my mother not to enroll me into a school, it was too soon. It would be much better if I studied with a teacher privately. She recommended a man named Mr. Sefkin. So, he would have been my first violin teacher. Now, Mr. Sefkin, I learned many years later, played in the first or second violin section of the Rochester Philharmonic in the '20s. Then there was Vladimir Reznikof who also was in the first violin section of the philharmonic here, then wound up in the Boston Symphony when Koussevitzky came. I remember finding him with great joy when Koussevitzky played my 2nd Symphony, which would have been 1944. So, I immediately began to work with Mr. Sefkin, and I remember the exercises were just the ordinary Sevcik bowing scales, Hrimaly scale studies . . . I still play much of the music when I sometimes practice. Cosmik: So, you still play the violin? Diamond: Oh sure! I pick it up just to keep the fingers in practice so I don't let the arthritis get worse. But, I still have my old pieces, and I play through them. But, I did all the preparatory studies. Then there was a Frenchman named Gerald Maas who opened a music school on the second floor of what would be the building where later they built the Loew's Rochester Theater, which would be where the Xerox building now stands. In that building Mr. Maas had maybe four or five big rooms, and a few small rooms, and I studied there with a man named Mr. Koch. There were one or two other teachers. By now I was playing short pieces for the violin. I was playing my Accolay Concerto. I played the whole Accolay Concerto at one of the Saturday afternoon recitals at the Maas school of music. I was sort of considered a performer who made a big splash at that time. Cosmik: How old were you at this time? Diamond: I was now . . . 7 or 8, going on 10. But, I knew instinctively that I enjoyed playing, but in my mind's inner ear I was hearing other music. I was hearing pieces that later on I realized I was making up in my mind. Now, since I knew how to read the violin clef, almost everything I wrote was for solo violin. And it wasn't until we moved to Cleveland in 1926 or '27 that I was enrolled in the Cleveland Institute of Music. Cosmik: And you studied with Andre' de Ribaupierre. Diamond: Yes. I remember I had a book that's still used by violin teachers, the Josephine Trott studies. Mr. de Ribaupierre would say, "My boy, I want you to compose a second violin part that I will play, and you will play the first." I began inventing harmony, in fact I'll show you. It's still instinctive. [Diamond rises from his chair to fetch his violin.] You see, the exercises would be the regular ones: [plays a major scale in thirds]. What I would do for the second violin part for Mr. de Ribaupierre to play, I would harmonize this way: [plays two note intervals]. So you can go right across the strings, one and four, or seconds. Well he was fascinated that I heard seconds and fourths and sevenths, you see, and not conventional triads. Cosmik: You picked it up on your own. Diamond: I just liked those sounds. So, he asked me if I would write more pieces, and so I continued. One day I was looking through the piano part of a Viotti Concerto, and I saw this other clef that the piano played, the bass clef. Of course, I wanted to know about that. So he began giving me theory lessons, you see. Cosmik: You met Maurice Ravel for the first time about this period, didn't you? Diamond: Well, when Mr. de Ribaupierre saw the way I was harmonizing, he said, "My friend, the great composer, Maurice Ravel is coming to the United States for his first tour." I remember I didn't quite understand what "tour" meant, but, of course, I knew the name Maurice Ravel because I had heard the Pavane for a Dead Princess. I was knocked-out. I thought that was the most beautiful piece. Cosmik: What was his popularity like back then compared to now? Diamond: He hadn't written Bolero yet, you see. So, he was probably the most well-known of the contemporary composers who really had a big success with the public. He had written La Valse, and there were two concerts. Strangely enough, Rochester didn't book him. I think he did perform in Buffalo, and all the big cities--Chicago, and of course Cleveland. So, Mr. de Ribaupierre said "I want to show him your harmonizations and your little pieces." So, I remember his first concert he played the piano. I remember he played the Sonatine, and the Valses Nobles et. Sentimentales, and the Pavane. The next night there was an orchestral concert of his orchestral music that he conducted. He did La Valse, I remember that absolutely! I wasn't the same for a day. I was left in a daze with that piece. I asked Mr. de Ribaupierre if I could see that music. So, he took me backstage after the piano recital. I was wearing a turtleneck, I remember. These were already depression period years. My mother was working at my Uncle's fruit shop, and my father was out of work. Cosmik: It was hard times. Diamond: Very hard times. My mother evidently couldn't bother with laundry, so she would wash out my little turtleneck sweater. I still wore knickers, I remember that. I didn't feel ashamed, but I didn't feel right because when I looked at other people at the concert, I don't remember seeing any young people my age. I was about 12 at that time. Cosmik: Most kids your age weren't interested in that kind of music? Diamond: Well . . . I remember people in formal dress. I remember how impressive Ravel seemed when he walked out. He looked tiny to me, and he had a lot of white hair. And then when Mr. de Ribaupierre brought me back, he sat with me. The woman who was the head of the Cleveland Institute, a woman named Mrs. Franklin B. Sanders who also, evidently was the one who helped me with the scholarship, she was sitting on one side of me with Mr. de Ribaupierre on the other side, and they both took me back. I remember coming into the room and Ravel was seated in a chair, still in his tails. When he got up I was amazed that I was almost the same height as he was. We were almost on the same level. And I remember it was as though an arrow had hit me. Later on Mr. de Ribaupierre said to me, "Well, you know, he never saw anyone as unusual looking as you because you had this purple sweater, and all this red hair. He said you looked like the face in a Watteau painting." I remember he kept staring at me, and patting me on the shoulder. He had looked through these little pieces, and I guess Mr. de Ribaupierre must have given them to him that morning at the rehearsal or someplace, because he had known them. He seemed to know what I was doing. Ravel said to Mr. de Ribaupierre, "You must come to the hotel. You must bring him." They spoke in French, but for some reason I understood it, because I used to take out Hugo's self taught language books. Cosmik: You taught yourself French on the side? Diamond: Yes. You see, while growing up, I had three languages in the house. I wanted to learn French, so I got Hugo's French and taught myself. Cosmik: You said, three languages in the house? Diamond: Yes. German, because my parents came from Central Europe. They spoke Polish, German, and what they call Yiddish which is a kind of German dialect, which most German-Jewish families spoke if you came from a certain part of Poland. My parents came from a city that was very, very famous for its theater. My mother worked in the theater. She was a costume designer, and designed clothes for some of the actresses. And so, this city was Lemberg. Today it's Lwow, and it's right under Kiev. It became part of the Ukraine. It was annexed by Russia. But, at any rate, my parents spoke these three languages, and of course my sister came over with them around 1901. She was immediately enrolled in Miss Adams' foreign language class. I remember I used to sneak in and sit in the back. I was very interested in all these different languages that these foreign students were speaking. That's how I came to go to a library and wanted to see all the books that had to do with different languages and grammar. Cosmik: Developmentally, that's remarkable. When you think of everything you were doing at that time, that's very unusual for a boy of 12. Diamond: And reading like a maniac. I read three Emerson essays when I was 10. I remember "Self-Reliance," and I understood every word. What I didn't understand, I asked my sister to explain to me because she admired Emerson very much. Then when I got to No. 9 school I would ask this wonderful teacher . . . I really was in love with this woman. Her name was Miss Ramsbek. I can still see these beautiful, lush, apple colored, pink cheeks of hers. She gave a course in cooking, or something like that. I always had to go in to just look at her. She got to be very interested in me. She said, "Why do you come to see me, David, if you're not going to talk to me?" And I said, "Because I love you Miss Ramsbek." [Laughs] See, this is why I was so unusual. Cosmik: [Laughs] You were honest with your feelings. Diamond: I was always telling everybody that I loved them. I was just in love with everybody. [Laughs] Anyway . . . getting back to Ravel: When Mr. de Ribaupierre brought me to the hotel--I believe it was the Wade Park Manor--he sat me down. Of course, after the orchestral concert Mr. de Ribaupierre took me back again. Now, this time I was glad because I do remember my mother gave me a shirt. I didn't have a tie, but she gave me a shirt. My cousin Leo, who was just two years younger--we lived with my uncle Harry, and Harry had these two boys--had a jacket that fit me. So, I had this open collar shirt, and then this jacket, and my knickers. I came into the room where Ravel was, and he was a walking rainbow. All I remember is I never saw so many colors. The jacket was sort of turquoise color, he had orange colored shoes and an orange tie. I had never seen anybody dress with so many different colors. He spoke to me half in French, and he tried to speak English a little bit. Cosmik: He didn't speak it too well? Diamond: No, he didn't. As a matter of fact, when I got to Paris, and I saw him in the summer of '36, he had not yet been in that car accident, but he spoke mainly in French. By then I already had studied French. Cosmik: So, you knew enough to be able to communicate with him. Diamond: Sure, sure. But, in Cleveland he said, "You are a very talented garcon, but you have to study. Someday you must come to Paris and you . . ." and that was the first time I had heard the name Nadia Boulanger. He continued, "You will study with a very wonderful teacher." Now, de Ribaupierre told me, on another occasion, everything about her. What was interesting, I found out later that Copland would have already been there with her from about 1922 on. I did finally get to Paris in '36, and by then I had already studied with Sessions, and he evidently wrote a letter to her about me, which showed up in the correspondence that's now published of Sessions. I had no idea that he had written her. But, at any rate, Ravel had spoken to her, and Ravel was one of the directors of the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau. On my diploma for that first summer, it's signed by Ravel. But, what he did was . . . at the moment he left America--I think he left in April of 1928--the concert was in January, I believe, in Cleveland. I immediately had this urge to write him. He had written down his address for me. And, I was just so thrilled, and I loved his music. I went to the Sibley Music Library and I got out every piece they had of his there, and just began to study. And whatever 78s I could find at the old Levis Music Store. And, I just began to write him, and my God, he would write right back! That one over there is one he wrote in '33. [Diamond walks to the far corner of the room and shows a framed and matted picture of Maurice Ravel with a letter directly above it] Cosmik: I see it's written in French. I can read Don Quixote. Diamond: Yeah, that's the last work that he wrote before he became ill. It tells that he won a prize. And he speaks of his villa, Le Belvedere in Montfort l' Amaury, and I would go out there quite often. I was just out there last summer with a few of my students. I visit there every year. At any rate, until he became ill, every time I would go out I would naturally go out to see him. There was a great kind of warmth that I felt he felt for me. I remember he was very, very upset that I lost my hair. It was mainly in the crown. In 1936 I was 21, so it was still sort of thinnish. But, he was a little concerned about that. Cosmik: Concerned in what way? Diamond: Oh, he just thought it was too bad. He would say, "C'est dommage, c'est dommage." "That's too bad, that's too bad." Cosmik: When was the last time you saw Ravel? Diamond: Early fall of 1937 in Paris. I went out to see him with Alexander Tansman. He was in and out. He had been in this terrible car accident and had aphasia. He didn't have a brain tumor, but he did have amnesia which set in as a result of an embolism where he had banged his head on the back of the cab. The last time I saw him I went to visit him in Montfort, at his home. And if I didn't go out with Alexander Tansman, I usually went out with Boulanger. I also remember going out with a critic named Henri Hell. But, I spent almost the entire day, and he had this male nurse who took care of him because he already had these strange seizures. I was there for the rehearsal of the Left Hand Piano Concerto with Jacques Fevrier. I could see something was wrong. There were moments I could see he was in some other dimension. Cosmik: You remained in Paris to continue your musical studies, didn't you? Diamond: Yes, I immediately went to Boulanger and she arranged a scholarship for me for that summer and the following summer, then she wrote the Guggenheim Foundation. So, I was one of the youngest, if not the youngest, to go back and study with her in 1938. Cosmik: Nadia had a sister named Lili, isn't that right? Diamond: Yes, Lili. But I, of course, I never knew her. She died early, after World War I. Cosmik: She composed, didn't she? Diamond: Oh, she was a wonderful composer. Cosmik: Did Nadia compose? Diamond: And how! She composed very beautiful songs. Everything is published now, and a lot of her music is performed. I would say there are more pieces of Nadia performed than of Lili, these days. She didn't write for the orchestra as much as Lili did, but she has beautiful songs and wonderful pieces. The cello pieces, for cello and piano, are performed quite often. In almost any book on Nadia, you'll find mention of her composing. A man named Raoul Pugno used to encourage her to compose, and she won a second Prix de Rome, as a matter of fact. Her sister won a first Prix de Rome, but Nadia won the second. Cosmik: Much of what I've read seems to refer to Lili as the composer, Nadia the teacher. Diamond: Well, once Lili had died, Nadia spent the rest of her life just trying to push the music of Lili and see to it that it she wasn't forgotten. She wore a good deal of black, I remember. She was still grieving and mourning. Cosmik: You had described Roger Sessions as "one of the great minds of today, either within or without the field of music." Can you explain what you meant by that? Diamond: There was nothing he couldn't talk about, politics or otherwise. I remember he was the first one I had ever had a discussion with about Fascism in Italy. We talked about Mussolini. Sessions had the Prix de Rome in the late '20s, so he knew very much of what was going on in Italy, and what Mussolini was doing. And, of course, he had gone to Germany. And, I had gone to Germany in the summer of '36. I wanted to see Jessie Owens run in the Olympics. And so I saw that maniac Hitler carrying on like a lunatic in the stadium. So I knew there were things going on over there, and Mr. Sessions would discuss all these things--politics and aesthetics. Cosmik: When did you first become acquainted with Ernest Bloch? Diamond: Well, Sessions was a student of Ernest Bloch, and every time I would be enrolled every summer at the Cleveland Institute, Bloch was still at the Institute. I had a big hand, so I was given a viola. Mr. de Ribaupierre would say, "Go upstairs, Mr. Bloch is having a rehearsal." I remember this must have been about 1924. I was in the second stand, I think on the right . . . yes . . . and this marvelous music for string orchestra had the last movement as a fugue. That was the first time I had heard the word fugue. Then, suddenly the main fugal subject of Bloch's Concerto Grosso No. 1 came in. The last time the subject came in, suddenly I heard this instrument, and I didn't know what happened. I thought a miracle had taken place. It was the piano that came in by itself with the fugue subject, and that's one of the most startling moments in the last movement of the Concerto Grosso No. 1 of Ernest Bloch. So, I actually played in the first reading with all the students in the Cleveland Institute. And, when I heard this piano suddenly stop, I turned and heard Bloch scream in French, "JOUER! JOUER!" "PLAY! PLAY!" [Laughs] Cosmik: You've had friendships with many known classical figures, one of which was Igor Stravinsky. Diamond: Yes. We visited always. When I went out to the coast, he would always have me over. It was very, very interesting, because when I would go to the Stravinsky's for lunch or dinner they would ask, "What did you have to eat at the Schoenberg's?" When I'd go to the Schoenberg's they'd ask, "What did you have at the Stravinsky's?" [Laughs] Cosmik: With Boulanger's help, he actually critiqued one of your works, isn't that right? Diamond: Yes, the Psalm for Orchestra. He made a wonderful suggestion for the ending. Cosmik: That's right, and didn't he mention you can use a stopwatch to time the composition? Diamond: Yes, he actually timed where the final chord comes in with a stopwatch. He said, "You need one more quarter rest." And he was absolutely right. Remember the final crash in the Psalm? Cosmik: Sure. Diamond: It just needs that extra quarter that was there. If I hadn't put it in, the chord would have come too soon. I didn't make that many revisions. It was just at the end there, that quarter rest. Cosmik: You were with Roger Sessions from '34 to '36, isn't that right? Diamond: Let's see, I had quit Eastman in October of '34 and received a scholarship at the Dalcroze School in New York. Mr. Sessions had just returned from Germany. Actually, I wanted to study with Schoenberg who had arrived in America just a few months before. But, he had received a contract from, I think it was the Malkin Conservatory in Boston. But, there was no money to go to Boston, so I just took the scholarship and studied with Sessions. Cosmik: You didn't center on Eastman, which is something I found interesting. You went there for one year, and then you dropped out. Diamond: Yeah, Howard Hanson drove me up the wall. Everything I would try to compose he would say, "David, you're such a gifted young man, why must you be such a modernist?" And he said, "Why don't you write music like Fred Woltmann?" Fred Woltmann wrote terrible music! I just couldn't stand it. He even got the Prix de Rome for Fred Woltmann. Nobody knows what happened to Fred. Some say he committed suicide. But, he did have the Prix de Rome. Cosmik: Well, it's ironic because Hanson ended up performing your works anyway. Diamond: Years later, yeah. Cosmik: What was the catalyst for that? Diamond: Because I was beginning to be known in New York. I was beginning to be performed. Cosmik: Perhaps more well known than he was? Diamond: No, no. He had already been performed by Toscanini. I wasn't performed by a major orchestra until Koussevitzky in '44. Although the New York Chamber Orchestra under Hans Lang performed a work of mine. So, Hanson changed his tune, although he performed the Psalm for Orchestra two or three times. Then when Ravel died, I wrote the Elegy [in Memory of Maurice Ravel], and I couldn't get Koussevitzky to perform it because he said it was too "cerebral" for him. He found it a little bit upsetting. So, Hanson did it, and I asked that there be no applause. And he hated it! He just hated it! Cosmik: Did he state why? Diamond: Well, yes . . . it was so dissonant. But, Freddie Klein, who was one of the horn players in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, years later said that before the rehearsals started Hanson told all of them they're going to have a very funny time listening to these terrible wrong-note chords I had written. Cosmik: Which you didn't see as wrong note chords at all. Diamond: Oh no! The pieces have now been re-released on the most recent addition to the Delos series. Have you heard the Elegy? Cosmik: Absolutely! It's a wonderful piece. Yes. Diamond: Because there are two versions, I wrote a version for strings, percussion and harp, and of course the original was for brass, harp and percussion. But, Hanson just thought it as strange. He thought the Psalm was plenty strange too. Cosmik: If it wasn't for Hanson, could you see Eastman School of Music having been a productive school for you? Diamond: Oh no, that's why I quit! My teacher was Bernard Rogers who was an Ernest Bloch student, and he suffered under Hanson. Every time Bernard heard a new work, Hanson would read it through, give it five or ten minutes of rehearsal time, then spend the rest of the rehearsal on his own music. This became the famous Hanson story. Every other composer got short-shrift, you know. He gave all the attention to his own works. [Laughs] I mean, there was a Hanson festival every year. It was always his own music. Well, I thought that was terrible, and I told Mr. Rogers I was very unhappy. Recently, Gerard Schwarz re-recorded a little piece of mine on a new CD of all my orchestration of Ravel and Debussy and Satie pieces. I had written a piece called Hommage a' Satie because I was crazy about Satie's pieces. I wrote it in, I think, 1934. Gerard Schwarz made me pull it out. I wouldn't let it be performed after the first two performances in New York City [first performed 10 April, 1934]. Of course it's now available on this disk with all my orchestration of Satie, Debussy, and Ravel. That piece sort of got my name known among musicians, and of course with the 1st Symphony, and of course the 2nd Symphony, little by little my name got around. Koussevitzky played the 2nd Symphony and Mitropoulos the 1st Symphony. Things began to move. But, I think without Boulanger's extraordinary lessons, I may not have excelled as I did. I was with her right until the war broke out. So, I really had three years working with her. And I had already done most of my counterpoint and harmony with Sessions. She just made me go through it just to show her that I could do it all, then we spent most of my time on my own pieces. I wrote the Quintet for Flute, String Trio and Piano with her, under her direction. And, the Cello Concerto. If I had played it right, I could have really had her as a real patroness. But I just didn't. I immediately wanted to be off on my own. I wanted to get to Hollywood. I wanted to meet musicians, and while I was in Paris I met writers like Andre' Gide and the composer Roussel. Cosmik: You also knew E.E. Cummings. Diamond: Oh sure! Cosmik: When you were in New York City, around 1937-'38 in Greenwich Village, you spent time with him and his wife Marion in a place called the Jumble Shop. What is the Jumble Shop? Diamond: The Jumble Shop was a wonderful restaurant. It had a bar and there was a back room. Every Saturday night Bill De Kooning the painter, Arshile Gorky the painter, and Harold Rosenberg--who was a sort of promoter for these painters--and I would get together. I would always go with a wonderful pianist named Geneviev Pitot, she had studied in Paris with Blanche Selva in the '20s. And she was sort of my older girlfriend [smiles], and I would go to the Jumble with her on Saturday night. We'd sit at this round table with De Kooning and the others who were mostly painters. I guess we were the only musicians. It was just a hang-out for weekends. I was only 20, exactly. But, it was fascinating because people like Martha Graham would stop in with Louie Horst, and that's how I reminded her that we had met at the Eastman School of Music. I wrote a formal dance for her, and that's when she gave me that wonderful big picture up there. [Points to picture on the wall.] Cosmik: Cumming's TOM was an influence on you, personally. Diamond: Yes. When I found a copy of Cummings' ballet TOM in the window of Joe Kling's bookshop, which was just opposite the Jumble Shop, I went down the steps and said, "Mr. Kling, how much is that copy of Cummings' TOM?" I purchased it, and still have it over here. [Diamond sets his brandy snifter on the table, crosses the room to a large bookshelf and pulls out one small, brown, hardback book.] It had a cover, the same cover as this, and it was in the window. And, it's completely written out with everything. Cummings gave me his typewriter version, you see, to work with when I was composing. I even have the Russian version made for Stravinsky, but Stravinsky said he didn't understand a word of Cummings' language. The picture inside the front cover [color drawing of a large black man standing before a plantation] was drawn by Ben Shahn, and was going to be the big main curtain you'd see before the ballet begins. Cosmik: TOM never did see the light of day, at that time. It was written so early. When I listen to it I can hear echoes of Aaron Copland, yet he came later. Diamond: Not much later, around '38 was when he wrote his first American work. Cosmik: Did he hear your work? Diamond: Oh, he would play through TOM with me. Cosmik: Do you think he was influenced by it? Diamond: Oh, I won't say influenced, but he was very much taken with it. He thought the harmonies were extraordinary. He thought all this Americana I was able to evoke was very unusual. But when Lincoln Kirstein didn't come through with the money for a production, I just put it away, like other things. Cosmik: It did surface later on, though. Diamond: Thanks to Gerard Schwarz. Cosmik: You're still actively composing, aren't you? Diamond: Oh sure. I compose right there at that piano. [Diamond points directly across from him, towards the other side of the room. Dominating the far-end of the room is a Steinway small grand. Staff paper lines the piano stand.] I just finished a new piano quintet for the Hanson Festival. Talk about ironic. The 100th anniversary of Howard Hanson they commission me to write a chamber music work for the Ying Quartet. So, that's the most recent work I've completed. Cosmik: When is that due to be performed? Diamond: Next year. It'll be performed here in Rochester. The whole thing will be announced eventually, including all the pieces they commissioned. But, that's one of the pieces they commissioned. Cosmik: How did your friendship with Leonard Bernstein begin? Diamond: Well, I had heard about him from Aaron Copland and Marc Blitzstein. They told me about this extraordinary pianist that was at Harvard studying with Walter Piston, Edward Burlingame Hill and Randall Thompson. And, one weekend I was going up the stairs to thank Koussevitzky for such a wonderful performance after a Boston Symphony concert. They performed Ravel's Left Hand Piano Concerto. Of course, he knew I had known Ravel, so he was so pleased that I came back and that I was so moved by the performance of the work. And there at the top of the stairs was this very good looking young man. I remember he was looking down at me. He said, "I know you!" I said, " Who are you?" He said, "I'm Leonard Bernstein . . ." I evidently reacted to that, and he said, ". . . and you're David Diamond!" He said, "You must come out to the Curtis [Music Institute in Philadelphia, PA] sometime and spend a weekend with me there. He had enrolled in the Curtis Institute and had a full scholarship there. So, I got him to record some of my Preludes and Fugues. It was the first professional recording he had made. Cosmik: What date was that? Diamond: That would be '39. He was two years younger than I, so he was 21 at that time. Cosmik: You maintained contact with him throughout his entire life. Diamond: I would go out to visit him almost every other weekend. I helped him with his counterpoint, I remember. Cosmik: He loved your 5th Symphony. Diamond: Yes, he gave the premier of that. Cosmik: And you loved it also, especially the fugue later in the work. What was the motivation for placing a fugue in the 5th? Diamond: Well, it was the culmination of the big climactic point of the work, and it comes with the organ. Cosmik: You had described that as the best fugue you had written up to that point. Diamond: The most unusual one because of the way it arrives at that point. But I think the double fugue in the 8th Symphony is probably the most interesting fugue. Cosmik: How did your friendship with Bernstein enhance what you were doing? Diamond: Well, remember, he was still a conducting student of Fritz Reiner's while at the Curtis Institute. He was composing at that time and had written theater music while he was at Harvard. But, he was working on a clarinet sonata, or maybe it was a violin and piano sonata that became a clarinet sonata. I didn't know him at all as a composer. But, he was a phenomenal pianist. From an orchestral score, he read through my 1st Symphony that way. He just knocked me out as a musician. He was just phenomenal . . . phenomenal. And so, as the years went on, he saw that I was being performed a great deal. Then he made that amazing debut with the New York Philharmonic, substituting very quickly for Bruno Walter. Then, suddenly, he was on the map as a conductor. Then he was given the City Center Orchestra, which was an orchestra that was put together for him. He wasn't paid a salary, but that orchestra that he built-up had marvelous programs. The second year he had that orchestra he did my 2nd Symphony, after he had heard Koussevitzky do it. Then, almost every other year he would perform a work of mine. And then he began to compose a lot. But, I guess I was the only one of the friends that felt he was a gifted composer. Copland didn't think he really had it as a composer. He thought he was very good for Broadway, but he didn't care for his composing. He didn't like Jeremiah whatsoever. Now, I thought Jeremiah was extraordinary. Cosmik: Did you have any associations with any of the other American composers? For instance, Samuel Barber? Diamond: Oh yes! Sure, we didn't become close friends. Sam was a rather snobbish kind of person. He had his own group of friends. He lived out in Mount Kisco, NY. He shared a house with Gian Carlo Menotti and Thomas Schippers. Schippers wasn't really well known as a conductor. But, he would ask me to come out to Mount Kisco, but it was hard to leave things. I had to find a job, and I was making a living playing in the Hit Parade orchestra. Cosmik: That's right, and that was not a happy period for you, at that time, was it? Diamond: Well, it was a tough time, but in two days I made $92, and that was good. And, Frank Sinatra was just beginning his career, and I enjoyed hanging around backstage at Carnegie Hall with all those people. Things got rough privately, and that's when I went into analysis. Cosmik: I though what you were doing at that time is what made that period a bad one. That is, playing in the Hit Parade. Diamond: No, the girl that I lived with, Allela Cornell--who was a wonderful artist--she committed suicide. I was conducting performances of The Tempest. I had written a full evening of music for Margaret Webster's production of The Tempest. One night I came home, sometime in 1945, and they were taking her down to an ambulance. She was a very unhappy girl. She suffered from terrible depression. It took her a whole year before she finally died. It was just agonizing for her. It was tough-going for me. Cosmik: How did things progress following that? Diamond: Well, there was no real work. I thought for sure I'd be offered some other work to do, or a film score. But it didn't happen until two, three, or four years later. So, things got rough. Cosmik: You composed the music for the film Anna Lucasta in 1949. You enjoyed doing that. Diamond: Oh yes! Cosmik: And they enjoyed having you. Diamond: Very much. Cosmik: I understand the 1949 movie is not released at this time, although another Anna Lucasta is available that was produced in the '50s. Diamond: Now, that's the Black version, I think. I did the one with Paulette Goddard, Oscar Homolka, and John Ireland. Cosmik: You enjoyed composing music for Hollywood, and they enjoyed you, yet you never composed any film scores after Anna Lucasta. Why? Diamond: That's my fault. That was in 1949, and I had signed a contract to teach at Salzburg in the Harvard Seminar for American Studies. And so, I had to leave Hollywood, finish up the score, and get to Salzburg in order to fulfill that. Had I stayed in Hollywood, I could have done All The King's Men, which was filmed in the same studio. Then they had another picture lined up for me, but I had to finish out the whole summer teaching. By the time I got back, I had received my Fulbright, so I went to Italy. Cosmik: Can you describe the process you took when composing for a movie like Anna Lucasta, and how it differs from your usual method of composing? Diamond: Well, it's a completely different technique because you have a finished visual project that's done. It's all cut, and sometimes it has a put-together score by somebody else, and your name is there. At that time nothing was computerized yet, so you worked with what was called a Movieola. You put the film on this thing, and you can move it backwards and forwards. Then you're given a log for the timings of sequences. So, you'd "spot" it, as they called it. You'd spot cues with the director, who, for Anna Lucasta, was a man named Irvine Rapper. The music director was Morris Stoloff. Once you agreed with the director where the music should come in, you began composing material for those sections. I was brought out to Hollywood, incidentally, by George Antheil. He had seen an article Koussevitzky had written in Life magazine saying, "Isn't it a shame that a composer so gifted as David Diamond has to make his living playing in the Hit Parade orchestra," and there is a picture of me playing the viola. [Laughs] So, George Antheil, whom I met here in the '30s when he came to play his Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra with Howard Hanson, he remembered me. We had corresponded a great deal. He asked me if I'd come out, and there was this film that I could begin with--that was Anna Lucasta--and there was bound to be another one right after it. So, it's George Antheil who gave me the opportunity to go to Hollywood. Although, I was out there in '42 with Artie Shaw. Artie Shaw asked me to come out to teach him harmony and counterpoint. But, at that time I thought he would introduce me to different people at different studios. So, I went out to Warner Brothers to say hello to Bette [sic] Davis to see if she remembered me. Cosmik: And, of course she did, I assume? Diamond: Oh yes, she did. [Smiles] Her mother did too. But, my friend Irene Diamond, who setup the Aaron Diamond Foundation for the research of AIDS, she was the big reader at Warner Brothers. That's how we got to know each other very well. Irene said she'd talk to Adolf Deutsch who was writing movie scores in Hollywood for Warner Brothers at that time. Now, he was one of the judges for the Elfrida Whiteman competition that I won. George Gershwin, Deutsch, Henry Simon, Deans Taylor were all judges. It was done by pseudonym. At a party given by Paul Whiteman, when it was announced that I had won with my little Sinfonietta, Gershwin came up to me and, while chomping on his cigar, he said, "Hey kid . . . where'd ya' learn to orchestrate that way?" I said, "I've been orchestrating for a long time." He said, "Well, where did you learn how to do all that?'' He was fascinated by the way the piece sounded. So, that was the thing that had put me on the map. And, it was the first time I had ever received a scholarship. It was good to have $25 a week, and I was able to have my own apartment. Cosmik: You spent a large quantity of time in France where you experienced much support, yet you returned to the United States. Why? Diamond: Well, that's because there was no more money to continue. Boulanger wanted me to stay, that's why she got me the Guggenheim. Cosmik: In 1944, in a conversation with Bela Bartok, he mentioned to you what a shame it was that an American composer has to live under such financial strain. Diamond: He was having a hard time himself, you see. He was very ill. He was going up to Saranac Lake at the time, although he lived on 57th Street right off of 8th Avenue in New York City. I'd sometimes stop by, but he was a very, very sick man, and he died just a year after that. But, he was very upset that I was having a hard time. He said, "I understand why I am having a hard time, but that you, a young American composer, so well known . . . you should be taken care of by your government." I told him I had a Guggenheim and that it was over with a long time ago. He still felt it was difficult that I wasn't offered a job anywhere teaching. Cosmik: Did you share that feeling? Diamond: Oh yes, I said I tried to get jobs. I guess I was too unusual--too strange. People tell me, why don't you wear a suit and a tie like everyone else. So, I was considered a kind of non-conformist. Bartok had kind of the same reputation. He could have had many teaching jobs, but people found him a little too strange. Cosmik: Interestingly, you would go back to France, and suddenly you were accepted again. Diamond: It wasn't a question of being accepted, it was that I was very anxious to see Ravel again, and I was very anxious to see Gide and Roussel. Cosmik: So, you actually did like your life in America and American culture as well as your life in France. Diamond: It was only because I could not get work in America that I was unhappy. But, I thought, culturally, it was a very exciting time. But, I couldn't figure out why Daniel Gregory Mason wouldn't give me a job at Columbia University. Here I'd worked with Boulanger and all these people, then I found out from Douglas Moore, who was teaching at Columbia at that time, that it was because I wore a turtleneck sweater. Cosmik: [Laughs] What does that have to do with your skills as a teacher? Diamond: I was considered a Bohemian. Daniel Gregory Mason felt I was a Bohemian, and that I wrote very modernistic music. So, there was no chance of my teaching while he was at Columbia University. Koussevitzky even wrote him a letter on my behalf. And it was the same everywhere. So, I taught at small schools like the Metropolitan School of Music, or at the YMHA. At the YMHA I gave a harmony and counterpoint class there for peanuts, really--about a dollar and a half an hour. But, it wasn't until I began writing theater music and got the Fulbright that things began to move ahead. By the time I got back from Europe I began to get offers to teach. Cosmik: You had a real desire to teach. Not everybody does. Diamond: No, they don't. But, I really enjoyed teaching. Cosmik: Every teacher has their own style. What was your approach towards teaching? Diamond: I think I was very well grounded by Sessions, Boulanger, and Bernard Rogers. Sessions and Rogers were Ernest Bloch students, so through them I already had a solid basis to work. And then with Boulanger, it was refinement. She was tough-going, but she was always right and she was always enthusiastic. But, again, she played favorites, and I didn't like that. She had her favorites among the least talented. For example, she thought Jean Francaix was a genius, and I thought he was the worst French composer ever [Laughs] . . . which Ravel agreed with me about. Cosmik: Music in the '20s and '30s found jazz to be gaining in popularity. Composers like Gershwin were incorporating jazz elements into their compositions . . . Diamond: I can't say that I thought Gershwin used jazz in his music. Cosmik: Really? When I listen to American in Paris I can hear a jazz influence. Diamond: Yes, but that's not jazz. Jazz was Duke Ellington. You see, when Ravel was in the country I found out that Gershwin took him to hear Duke Ellington up in Harlem. That's jazz, and that had a big influence on Ravel. After 1928, Ravel had lots of jazz influences in his music. Look at the G major Piano Concerto, the Sonata for Violin and Piano, they have very strong influences. The blues movement in the Violin and Piano Sonata. Cosmik: You seemed to stay away from the Serial School . . . Diamond: Well, I admired Schoenberg very much as a theoretician. Little by little I would realize my modal music needed some . . . Copland would say, "David, will you get off those white notes and get a few black notes into your music?" And I'd say, "You're absolutely right!" So I began studying some of Schoenberg's 12 note music, some of Webern's. I actually wanted to work with Schoenberg. But after he had heard my 2nd Symphony he said, "No, you're a young Bruckner. What do you need 12 notes for? That's not for everybody." I've used the rows . . . Cosmik: Like, in your composition, The World of Paul Klee. Diamond: That's right. But, I don't use them strictly. Cosmik: I find it interesting, because you still keep the Romantic and Classical elements in your compositions, yet you keep the pieces accessible to the listener. The aleatoric and serialized composers created music less accessible to the ears of the public. Diamond: Yes, but you can't switch, you see. I was already in my 30s. You can't switch at the age of 30 because something like aleatoric music comes in. It never would have occurred to me because something new came in that I should drop what I'm doing to compose what sounds like holy-hell to me. Cosmik: Right, exactly. That's interesting to hear you say that, because that's the way it sounds to me. Diamond: I mean, aleatoric music didn't last that long. Cosmik: Do you think it'll be remembered over time? Diamond: No! Aleatoric went out about 15 years ago. Nobody's playing those pieces that were written. They all sit in libraries and nobody plays them. They're too hard to rehearse, for one thing. Cosmik: One composition of yours I really found fascinating was This Sacred Ground, which was set to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. How did that commission come about? Diamond: I had given some lectures at the State University of Buffalo. Josef Krips was the conductor of the orchestra and he had come to one of my lectures. Jose' Echaniz, who was a pianist on the faculty of the Eastman School, came and played my 1st Piano Sonata, and he was very much taken with it. He had also known other pieces of mine. So he asked a woman named Mrs. Butler, who was the owner of one of the newspapers in Buffalo, whether they would commission me to set the Gettysburg Address to music for the following year. The commission came from the Buffalo Evening News and the radio station. I think Mrs. Butler had money invested in them. Cosmik: You've spent quite some time writing your own autobiography, yet I understand Claire Shore is releasing a biography profiling you. Has she consulted with you on your autobiography? Diamond: Well, she'll be releasing a fragment from it, yes. But it is a Festschrift volume. Cosmik: Do you plan on releasing yours anytime soon? Diamond: Oh yes, I'm working on it. It's just huge. I'm glad I didn't hurry it through because now so many friends have died. But, whenever I can, I work and I revise. It's very easy, you see, because I keep diaries and journals that I can refer to. There isn't enough time to do everything. The publishers hoped to bring it out for my 80th birthday, but, with so many of my friends that have now died, I can now say things I couldn't before. I'm glad that I can make the revisions now, and it'll be published on my 85th birthday, or sometime around then. But, I can't work on it constantly because I have so many other things to do. But, with no more teaching after this spring [spring of '97], I'll be able to pull it together very fast. -*- For those interested in learning more about David Diamond, much has been published over the years. Finding the material can be a frustrating task without the proper resources. Thankfully, resources are available, and material is being written on David Diamond. Author Victoria Kimberling, through Scarecrow Press and with the cooperation of Diamond, has written a book titled, "David Diamond: A Bio-Bibliography." [ISBN 0-8108-2058-7] Kimberling's reference is a superb collection of material that pulls together more than 50 years of documented history surrounding Diamond. Kimberling has compiled a rich bibliography that lists dissertations and periodicals, and includes a complete catalog of works, a full discography, and a list of awards. The bibliography is preceded by a 79 page biography that capsules Diamond's life from early childhood to the present. Kimberling's book ends at 1987, when it was published. Regardless of the absence of the last ten years, Kimberling's book is a fascinating reference, and, at the moment, the only biography of David Diamond available. Author Clare Shore, through Pen Dragon Press, will be releasing a tribute to David Diamond as part of Pen Dragon's Festschrift series. Shore's book, "A Musical Celebration," [ISBN 0-945193-71-8] analyzes Diamond's contribution to American classical music. Gerard Schwarz writes the introduction, Alan Belkin provides an analytical essay of Diamond's symphonies, James Heintz surveys Diamond's string quartets, Catherine Parker examines Diamond's vocal works, Andrea Olmstead reveals Diamond's troubled relationship with his teacher and mentor, Roger Session, and David Diamond offers an excerpt from his forthcoming autobiography. Although this book is not a formal biography, biographical information is included by Victoria Kimberling, Clare Shore, and Francic Thorne. Pen Dragon Press has scheduled the release of Shore's book for the summer of '97. Finally, David Diamond's autobiography, "The Midnight Sleep," is currently scheduled for publication by his 85th birthday, in the year 2000. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BREAKING THE RULES WITH BRAZIL 2001 Interview by DJ Johnson "If I had 1/100th of his ambition I'd probably be selling records of Alanis Morissette-like proportion by now." - David Arnson (Insect Surfers) "B's an undiscovered talent among local LA rock bands (and the sooner someone in a position to take him higher discovers this, the better)." - John Blair (Jon and the Nightriders) "Ah, Brazil 2001! Salt water damaged mutant pop for the unashamed. Brilliant lyrics, great melodies, fiery performances, and totally spiffy arrangements. They have attitude without elitism. Unique, and very talented. Besides that, I like 'em!" - Phil Dirt (Disc jockey, producer, writer, and all around surf scene guy) * * * Brazil 2001 does not yet have the big buck contract with a faceless record corporation, but they have some things going for them that many signed bands don't have. They are appreciated by fans of more than one genre of music, for starters. Their artistic integrity and skillful playing have earned them the undying respect of their peers in the Los Angeles live music scene. And above all, they don't sound like anybody else. Watch an hour of "alternative" videos on MTV sometime if you don't know why that's impressive. Guitarist Bernard Yin is a survivor of the LA Scene, having performed with Samba Hell, Spindle, and Medicine. In 1992, Samba Hell had the distinction of being the only unsigned band on the Lollapalooza 2nd Stage at Irvine, California. With Medicine, Bernard toured the US and Europe in support of established acts like Smashing Pumpkins, Swervedriver, Sugar, and Grant Lee Buffalo. In the fall of 1995, Bernard joined forces with drummer Larry Taube (Coat) and bassist Bill Roper (The Shatners), and Brazil 2001 was born. Creating music that cannot be pigeonholed, Brazil 2001--or as their friends and fans call them, B2K1--had name recognition going for them long before they released their first CD. Word spreads quickly when a band starts to bend the rules. And bend them they did, spicing up the playlist with elements of pop, instrumental surf, Hawaiian, funk, punk, and some strange and wonderful amalgamation of all of the above. As a result, B2K1 has a knowledgeable following drawn from the fan bases of several scenes. Their hyper-intense reading of the surf classic "Penetration" and original instrumentals like "Cactus,"--as well as Bernard's activities as a booster within the scene--has made them quite popular with the surf crowd despite the fact that only a small percentage of their repertoire can be called "surf." Perhaps it's an underlying current in the sound. As the man said, this music is salt water damaged. * * * Cosmik: You could be making a fortune right now playing top 40-bound pop, or metal, or just about anything. I've heard A&R guys have circled like sharks. But you stick to doing exactly what you want to do. Is it ever tempting to play their game and get rich? Bernard: At this point, I'd say it's pure bad luck that I and/or Brazil 2001 have not been co-opted in some form or another! Shit yeah, I'd like to make some bread at this friggin' game! Perhaps the biggest interest we've received has been for potential soundtrack use. I think this is because of our versatility. I have been in other projects who had difficulty at the 11th hour, regarding record deals from both within and from the bureaucracy of it all. The business side of music and the politics of dealing with the world at large, even if you are an independent, can really threaten to what degree one simply concentrates on being inspired. I'd bet we'd have been able to see a few more good Dead Kennedys shows if the PMRC didn't go to town on them. Musically, dexterity and an ability to jump genre classification is, regrettably, viewed by most who want to do grandiose marketing as a liability. Tunnel-vision has its blessings and versatility can be a curse. It's a Wonder Bread world. I am preparing to assist with a friend's 13 year old son's Bar Mitzvah by helping the boy do a 2 song performance [Misirlou and a Nirvana Song - done lounge]. He's a budding bassist and has barely started playing. His "limited ability" is such a breath of fresh air that I have totally disregarded the fact that he is "limited." Currently, with Brazil 2001, we seem to be challenging ourselves in seeing what happens if you "give the power to the people." Certainly this is not any news to a band with a solid DIY ethos. It entails a LOT more work but the relationship with your supporters is very solid and far more lucid than if you were being pumped through the machine with, for example, some intern doing your graphics and another doing your publicity [certainly this isn't always the case]. We are starting to receive an increasing amount of mail-order primarily resultant of the Internet. We also are one of the few bands I have ever heard of who are selling a self-made CD at such locations as The Virgin Megastore in Hollywood and Tower Sunset. Those are examples of some remnant ethic that the music can still do the talking - don't hold your breath! Maybe there'll be some sort of exponential jump in sales and we can always be independent yet also get decadent! What am I trying to say? Maybe, just be happy you can play at all!? I think one important bottom line is that it's about simply being satisfied that you can keep a team of players together long enough to accomplish ANYTHING at all! We are not adverse to quitting our day jobs. Coming to think of it, there are a lot of hard working people I know who are creative or flat-out sellouts and who are still eating ramen. Show me the sharks and I'll make goddamn necklaces out of their teeth! Cosmik: How long has this "team of players" been together now? Bernard: We began about 2 years ago. I had taken some time off after touring with Medicine and began diligently jamming and creating with various folks. The selective process was somewhere between musical ability and availability. Cosmik: What's the vibe like within the band? Is it purely a professional relationship, or do you guys like to hang out together as well? Bernard: Fortunately a little of all. I am inclined to push it towards the professional because the personal headtrips that evolve over time in music can really be a stumbling block. Bill and Larry are really professional, though. We all coordinate our calendars and personal agendas carefully. We never cancel a gig last minute or flake on a show. I think a light sprinkling of common interests helps too. In the end though, I think it's better not to hang out too much with musicians if it can be helped! Cosmik: Was this band a carefully planned thing? Did you have a specific idea of what you wanted to do, and did you go out and choose the musicians based on the needs, or did you all just get together and jam and it all fell into place? Bernard: Again, a little of both. I knew which musicians had the capabilities I desired. Larry, the drummer, was in another band that kept canceling rehearsals so we'd end up playing. It's hard to sense what direction the band should take even now, and it was no easier back then. A lot of it is seeing where the players groove best and work within that parameter. I think it takes a long time for one, as a musician, to say "Oh HE'D be the perfect bassist for me" and so on. You never know what a player is like after a few months or years of working together. I'm pretty schitzo and would probably be as happy in a band that sounds like No Means No as I would as a side man to Madonna. Perhaps one of the only real plans was that I'd take a little bit more assertive and recognized role as figurehead of the group. This carries with it lots of bad along with the good. It was really a challenge unto myself more than my not trusting the musical tastes or directions of others. There have been just enough experiences in the past that have encouraged me to consider that as I grow as a musician, it'd be interesting to see what happens if I made more of the decisions. So far we have kept together, have fun at rehearsals and are not killing ourselves to feel like it's worthwhile; however you interpret that. Cosmik: What's the writing process usually like, from idea to tape? Bernard: Let's look at the last few songs and I'll give you a few answers. One song was written pretty much from beginning to end at home, by me, with an acoustic guitar. Another was spawned off of a loud jam which we improvised at a rehearsal. Another was off of a few jams and then assembled and modified at home by me. "Cactus" was a 50/50 collaboration as Bill and I lazed about at his pad after doing some more rigorous vocal rehearsing. It was a sort of spontaneous improvisation that had us rolling with laughter. It has gotten us so many accolades it's amazing. No question that Bill's ability to whistle well and his melodic sense created the bulk of that beast. So as you can see, anything's sort of fair game as far as method. Cosmik: I was surprised to see you had a producer credited on Fist Full Of Sand. You seem so definite and specific in your ideas that I'd think an outsider would drive you crazy. Bernard: I agree and I hope to not do it again! Really, most of it is and was the band's influence so the word Producer is open to interpretation. BUT Michael Blum gets great sounds and offered the recording to us as part of a special agreement. We had and still have no money. I already was in touch with him and worked with him while in other groups, so I felt reasonably comfortable. What probably bums me the most was that he later came back to me after getting some feedback from some labels with a clearer understanding of what the band was up to. Seems like they got it before he did - after he recorded us! That is probably the biggest risk we took. Perhaps a critical way to answer it is that I really don't know what significant differences would arise had we been behind it entirely. That means we're at peace with it! Cosmik: Do you mind pinpointing some of the things that didn't come out right because he didn't "get it" at the time? Bernard: It's not really that but a methodology and sequence of events. For example, there are perhaps three different ways in which I sing "Haole Girl," and ultimately, we focused on one. In retrospect, I can't really say that it should not have been another way but since that other way exists, the question lingers. Cosmik: How do you feel about the album in retrospect? Bernard: It could be wetter. More reverb and buried vocals. Michael Blum likes a dry in-your-face sound, which has its merits, but I would have liked to more freely dabble in weirder mixing and effects. Regardless, upon listening to it now and then it really hits you hard with its diversity-yet-continuity. It's almost a concept project. We certainly didn't butt heads painfully. Our next recording coming down the pike will really show a certain direction being zeroed in on while still rocking in wilder directions; sort of a perfect irony and dichotomy. That'll hopefully be done in the next month or two. Cosmik: Why would you want to bury the vocals? I think it would be tragic if "Be An Idiot" had buried vocals. Bernard: Well, certainly I don't want to lose any chance that lyrics would be altogether lost, but something is cool about such recordings as "Jumpin' Jack Flash," whose buried vocals add to the magic. I also think that even weird EQ or rather basic experimenting could have been integrated. No big deal. I think at this point, there's a lot of room for upcoming recordings to allow for further experimenting and further headaches! Cosmik: Do a lot of the songs from Fist Full Of Sand sound completely different live? You mentioned reverb... Bernard: Surprisingly, we cover a lot of space live. On that specific song, you won't hear a lap steel live but live it's good and loud and full! Effecting and such is a crap shoot. The room, the sound system, my amp and effects, the band's instruments are all factors which are never the same. Cosmik: What kind of music do you like playing the best? Your vocal tunes and your surf tunes are both so well defined. Bernard: Perhaps because of a culturally mixed upbringing and a simple curiosity for all sorts of musical genres within them, I am prepared to listen and draw upon ANYTHING I hear. For example, my mother has Greek heritage and as a result I have heard lots of bouzouki music, which is insane and fun. Bear in mind that "Misirlou" is of Greek origin. You can deduce from there. Great rock and roll is usually melodically rich be it Queen, The Replacements or The Insect Surfers. Vocal or not, the richness of music, for me, relies on this sense of melody and "vibe." I enjoyed the Dead Kennedys as much when the PA sucked and I didn't get the lyrics as when I had the meaning full-on. As a big Jobim fan, I have come across many versions of his pieces which could be instrumental, vocal-Brazillian Portuguese or vocal-English. They are all rich and viable and stand strong. Brazil 2001 is currently wrapping up such a piece which initially has vocals but might also have a parallel instro version which sounds like Harry Belafonte with a Bolero rhythm and yet Andy Summers-effected Reverbed Surf guitars. Surf music has inspired me and the band to celebrate a melody and interpret it. It's just one avenue, really. "Serving time" in the band: Medicine allowed me a tortuous exploration of volume and dissonant noise. This newly flexed muscle has been incorporated into what I do today as a guitarist. I think I could go on forever answering this question! It's the curse of being someone who'll listen to Andres Segovia one minute, The Residents the next and Gamelan music the next. There was a time here in America [and still is elsewhere] where Cream was back to back on the radio with Lulu. That was the time when I began listening to music. Isn't the "variety = the spice of life" maxim still valid? That's probably my biggest soapbox. I still cannot believe that people want to go see a show and hear songs that all sound the same from a band. I only hope that the music doesn't lose its balls by being varied. Currently, I do think I need to be exploring being a vocalist more than a guitarist since that department is less dynamic. Ultimately, as long as the players are cool people and/or the material is inspired, I'll mess with just about any style that I am "permitted" to! What I mean is: show me someone who has only one genre in their music collection and I'll give them a very hard spanking. Cosmik: Did vocals always take a back seat until now, as far as intensity of practice? Bernard: It has really depended on the band. In Samba Hell, which was years ago, there was tons of singing. I think that my first love is the guitar but I enjoy music with vocals, so what I really need to do is discipline myself a bit more and keep striving to explore that department. Cosmik: What do you plan to do to explore that more? Would it involve writing songs that are more demanding, vocally? Bernard: Yes. Yes. Yes. New material brewing has a lot of singing but there are also tunes such as "Tahiti '96" which are full-tilt surfy instros. It can be fun to sing, and Bill Roper of Brazil 2001 is a great vocalist, so I am kicked in the ass by working with a pro. I still need to remind myself more often to sing while in the car or waiting for a wave. It sounds really naive, but even simple things like singing Mary Had a Little Lamb before a show can help get one in some sort of order before they go onstage. Same thing applies to doing 30 seconds of Misirlou on the guitar. Yet I sure hope character survives! I mean, look at any distinct rock voice and a lot of it had to do with character. Perhaps, one day, I will indulge in having a gorgeous female vocal coach in B&D wear who will whip me into warming up before gigs and such. Wait, make that two! Wouldn't that be an excellent thing? I'd have a sore ass and sing like part of me was in pain! I'd like to think Serge Gainsbourg did that, but he'd smoke and drink on the way to the stage and waste the whole vocal lesson! Didn't he date Brigitte Bardot? Back to the whole inspiration thing, I've written vocal parts and lyrics in seconds and others that took months and a lot of help from others. Sometimes vocals or singing need not imply lyrics, mind you! Since every tune is so distinct, it's very hard to know what will happen as I and the band continue to evolve. Cosmik: When you're drawing on influences and surrounding sounds, do you think in terms of mixing genres, or is all just "sounds"? On "Shaved Ice," for instance, you seem to be mixing pop and surf in a way that isn't done too often. Bernard: The opening part of "Shaved Ice," while we were composing it, was referred to as the "helicopter section" for obvious reasons! Be it genre or sound, I think it's a bit of both. In one song I do a staccato harmonic thing with distortion and chorus where rhythmically it's a steel drum or an agogo bell and it really takes that role in the section of the music until I kick in with other more "predictable" guitar sounds. That's a pretty solid example of being influenced by a sound inherent to certain genres and interpreting them with the tools at hand. I also do stuff like expound upon the arrow-whizzing-by sound on the old versions of "Apache" where the sound is really a true "noise" placed in a way where it suddenly becomes a needed part of the composition or song or melodic structure. One more real fun example is live, on "Cactus," I crank the volume and add tons of reverb and rapidly roll my fingers down the strings, not allowing any notes to ring, and it sounds like horses running by! It really makes playing fun to do such experimenting and pisses all of the schooled musicians off! These things usually evolve or are stumbled upon. In smaller bands where the guitar is critical, I think one must stretch out to keep things interesting. Cosmik: I've gotta ask you something else about "Shaved Ice." Is that a little segment from "Ben" [Michael Jackson] in the melody? Bernard: No question. I do that sort of thing all the time. Melodies and songs haunt me and that one really came out of the blue and stuck. "Ben" is such a weird reference, and the fact that it's fast-picked a la Dick Dale as well as accompanied by a subtle vocal melody is a riot. Ever hear John Coltrane's classic version of "Favorite Things?" It's amazing... not that our lifting of "Ben" is any sort of great feat. Interpreting preexisting songs and melodies is a hard thing to resist, and when it jives, what the hell, work 'em in. Curiously, that is where our band name is more than just the melding of two film titles but also a soft poke at good ol' Sergio Mendez 'cause he did lots of interpreting. I think his biggest hits were Bacharach's "Look of Love" and Lennon/McCartney's "Fool on the Hill." I'm just missing out on the gorgeous and talented battery of female vocalists and don't know beans about Brazil other than that they make great music there. Yes, it's "Ben." Cosmik: Playing such a diverse range of music means you'll have a smaller audience, since the majority of people can't deal with more than a few genres. I guess the upside would be having a musically intelligent audience. Do you find that's the case with your audience? Bernard: It's of questionable Karma to judge differences between people but there is no question that all sorts of folks love music regardless of their brain power. We seem to repel people who want to hear overtly primal alterna-fodder. Bummer, eh? That whole common denominator thing is a drag. It sometimes amazes me what blandness can pass as successful or potentially popular. It's not intentional that we alienate anyone. Both Bill and Larry of Brazil 2001 come from bands that were very straightforward and leaned towards simply rocking out and releasing certain demons. I do feel torn at times, though. I mean, for the pure rush, I think audiences who just wanna rock real hard are a beautiful thing. I once saw The Bad Brains in Tijuana and despite the political message in the music, it was very out of control and as much a pure party. That's a glorious thing! A studied band and studied music can be a dangerous thing! Yet another line to walk, eh? Shit! I try to make up for some of that dilemma by playing real loud, and Bill and Larry do hit hard. I do think that a great deal of people are stupid enough to accept anything once it's been mediated properly by validation media such as MTV and pop films. Strange music has had moments in the pop charts. What I am currently creating is really pretty tame. It's just an odd mixture. Cosmik: Do you get to know your audience and hang out with them? Bernard: Yes, and many become great friends. I think that, whether they admit it or not, most musicians are pretty socially gregarious. As a result of exposing yourself creatively in a public setting, you usually wind up starting to know and hang with people that are appreciative of what you are doing. When I toured with Medicine, the most enjoyable shows were not just ones where the gig went well but where it was topped off by making some cool new friends. Cosmik: It's hard for a guitarist with your ability to stay within the song and not just show off all over the place, but you seem to play every single note where the song needs it. How did you come by a work ethic like that? What influenced that? Bernard: Thanks for the compliment! Back to Medicine. The music was often sparse and minimalist despite its volume and it was a good reminder to really get back into the song and the groove and truly question "why" anything should be played at all! Ever listen to early Seventies Al Green? Simplicity yet depth. I have also worked with some stellar songwriters such as Michael Quercio from the Three O:Clock who have also kept me in check with the ethic that the song as a focused element unto itself is the priority. Classic example is the Neil Young "Down By The River" solo which has a perfect one note riff. I think the same philosophy is part of the humor of Jobim's "One Note Samba." Again, traditional Surf Music is a great home for the philosophy of simple and strong melody and a visceral straightforwardness while celebrating the concept that good musicianship is okay. I think that greatly explains my love for that musical genre and community. I like to think that one should take responsibility for his or her actions, and gratuitous musical notes are a luxury which fall into only one of a million other elements which define whether or not something is music or not! Certainly, though, one shouldn't feel restricted, and an occasional flurry of notes and silly testosterone laden licks can be rather therapeutic! I think, for example, that that's the very line I/we enjoy walking in our version of "Penetration." Even purely instrumental music communicates a lot about its creators and an audience can often tell when a musician is just jacking-off or when they are seeing visions in their head of Godzilla being diced by lasers while they play. I prefer to be known as the latter... uh... most of the time. Cosmik: You know what I love about the way you guys do "Penetration"? It DOESN'T sound like you're jacking off. It makes me think of a surfer on the ultimate wave, having an adrenaline tantrum. That's hard to convey, but you did it. Does being a surfer help? Bernard: No question. I also used to skate ramps and pools until a wrist injury impeded my guitar playing for a bit too long. The exact same circuit gets turned on when playing guitar as the one that determined whether I'd do a frontside-air or sweeper. Surfing is also a rush and is both a quick thinking situation AND a groove situation--like music. Like a song when played, a wave is never the same when ridden. It sounds tacky, but when performing, I often close my eyes and easily fall into a self-induced semi-hallucinatory state and concentrate on visions of big waves and other not-to-be disclosed graphic materials. I only wish that there were more waves that lasted as long as "Penetration" does! I think the idea of surf music played by surfers versus non-surfers is a very humorous angle for debate. I personally don't care but just happen to be a surfer myself. Certainly a lot of surf music was drawn from surf locations and maneuvers which a lot of people, like Laika and The Cosmonauts, will never understand! Cosmik: Do you find it interesting that a band like The Cosmonauts can even get in the ballpark, let alone create unique surf music? Bernard: Not really. It's like saying that because you aren't high on acid that you can't play Hendrix-esque! Again, the love of music or a style can probably do a lot for anyone who wants to explore a genre or sound regardless of their unique personal situations. As someone recently pointed out on a newsgroup, Laika and the Cosmonauts are heavily soundtrack influenced as well. Ultimately, though, I do have trouble stomaching rich white kids playing reggae. Cosmik: Hey, during the big west coast storm several months back, I heard that you and Dave Arnson were out there surfing huge scary waves. Any truth to that? Bernard: That's funny! Dave and I HAVE ventured into gnarly waves together. Not often enough! He's a bodyboarder whereas I am more a stand-up surfer BUT we still have paddled out on our respective weapons as well as both used bodyboards during the same session. Dave is really a great friend and we share tons of unusual common interests like carnivorous plants, The Jefferson Airplane and ichthyology. Dave and his band, The Insect Surfers, deserve way more recognition than they get. I wished that more musicians surfed. Some of the South Bay and Orange County cats like Tom Stanton, The Eliminators and The Halibuts have surf blood. I also surfed one day with Jim Thomas of The Mermen. The waves sucked and we both surfed like beginners, but we had a blast. Like music, you can be in the right mood or you have to work! If you are referring to the Tahiti Swell of late July 1996, Brazil 2001 has a new instro dedicated to that swell and I am very excited to share it with the world soon. [Ed.Note: The Tahiti Swell was actually thanked in the liner notes of Brazil 2001's album, Fist Full Of Sand.] Surfing has been beneficial as well in just keeping me sane and not worrying too much about the bullshit that comes with being in a band and living in LA! Surfing is an amazing experience. Though it's gotten really popular in a scary way, it also means more people will start caring for the ocean. I'd like to take Miki from Lush surfing one day! Cosmik: The surf scene has gone through changes lately. How do you think the scene is doing now, as Pulp Fiction fades from public memory a bit? Bernard: I predict that it will plateau with lots of new fans and bands but will not invade the mainstream nor be too heavily coopted or bastardized, save for a few beer commercials or something. I think its influence, however, will be real solid, and you'll have alterna-shit bands adding an instro classic on an album now and then. Bands like Laika and The Cosmonauts, who I hear just got a major signing, or Los Straitjackets will appear more on odd TV shows and films. People will be too stupid to appreciate The Mermen and too late to have appreciated The Halibuts or The Insect Surfers, not to mention even more vintage gone hardcore/garage ensembles like The Trashwomen. The sixties bands will struggle to keep in the memory of the scene, unfortunately OR fortunately! Perhaps Man or Astroman? will do a Lollapalooza second stage tour. Band like The Bomboras or The Tiki Tones will survive by merit of their well-crafted novelty angle and adherence to rich traditional elements, not to mention that both bands are just plain good. Cosmik: When we did The Great Surf Summit interview with you, John Blair, Dave Arnson, and the others [Ed.Note: See October and November 1995 issues for that interview with a dozen great surf musicians at once], your opinion was, and I'm quoting here, "generally, I think [the state of surf music] is healthy and cool. There isn't a surf/instro band that I can think of that one can point a finger at for selling out and ruining the magic." Still true? Bernard: Yeah, I think so. Maybe because no one band jumps into mind for any such evils. Even the newest bands with surf influences hold high regard for the genre's history and it's based on a love of music. It's not an issue of "Yeah, I've had it as sloppy and reckless as The Germs so I must also be punk." It's purely reliant on the love for the music; a much simpler way of dealing with tradition. Since no one is really filthy rich as a result of playing surf, no one is drawn to it for that reason. Something weird could happen. By the way, please don't ever get the impression that I find myself amongst the ranks of bands that desire to be known as purely surf or instro. I love surf music, I love twangy guitars, I love reverb, I surf more than most so-called surf musicians and Brazil 2001 plays a good collection of instros. Those are the kinship factors. Perhaps those are more than enough: who's to say? I am honestly humbled and honored that any of the surf music community at all have proven to be such good allies and friends. Simple as that. I'd rather be known as an outcast and a bastard while the more true to form surf bands have their breathing room. Cosmik: When I interviewed John Blair [Jon And The Nightriders] several months back, I asked him who he thought was doing a lot for the surf music scene, and he came up with two names: Dave Arnson and Bernard Yin. You've done a lot to help out of town bands get booked in LA, and you've been a booster for the music and the scene overall. What has the payoff been for you? What do you get out of it? Bernard: The payoff has been primarily a group of fun people to hang with. I have tried to come to terms with my addiction to music and decided that if I am going to keep playing, it'd be good to be part of a healthy-minded and positive group of people. The Surf music community is more of that than most others. I have played for years in Hollywood, and it is so competitive and ego driven that a real childish appreciation for loud guitars and banging drums seems tainted at times by all the social politics. I also have discovered a knack for surfy styled playing so I do get positive feedback from surf-guitarists who understand a bit better what I am up to. Finally, the Surf Music and surf scene in general has a lot of people who are interested in having fun but being responsible. Again, that's sort of what surfing is, right? Go for the barrel but don't fuck up! Actually, isn't that what Rock and Roll is all about? Or maybe it's go for the barrel and eat the reef! Cosmik: Sometimes the best rock and roll seems to happen when you throw yourself at the reef face first. You mention the Dead Kennedys a lot, so I figure you can dig a band that can go kamikaze. Bernard: I hope I don't refer to them too much! Yes, going kamikaze is a nice thing and too often maligned as being juvenile or belligerent--not that I don't enjoy being juvenile or belligerent too! I was thinking about the DKs a bit and really was amazed by all the interesting things accomplished in their camp. Dig this... They were very independent via Alternative Tentacles. They butted heads with the establishment in ways that Rage Against the Machine could only dream of. I have never seen as many cops ready for a fight as when I left a DKs show, and the PMRC issue is rock history. They have not yet embarrassed themselves with a reunion tour. They plain rocked! They even had lots of humor. Look at their "Viva Las Vegas." Live I found them, at least the times I saw them, very tight and strong musically. They had a name which will never be forgotten. And on and on... Criticisms? None too significant from me at least, especially in light of the aforementioned kudos. Cosmik: Do you stay current on the bands in the scene? I mean, do you buy the records and CDs and keep up with who's who? Bernard: Yes, I listen to anything I can get my hands on. Regrettably, it takes time and dollars, but I do my best. Cosmik: Who are some of your favorite bands right now? Bernard: Of contemporary bands, I love: Lush, Scenic, The Mermen, Sublime, Stereolab, Bjork... hell, I could go on, but that's a good start. I even like the Cardigans! I also have a fascination and admiration for weirdo bands like Maralyn Manson. Bands with cult-like appeal are very curious. Of older bands, you really ask for trouble! Vintage Brazilian Jazz, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Neil Young, hell, even Kid Creole and early Metallica. I just bought a bunch of old Tahitian compilations. Some of it sounds Creole while some of it is how Hawaiian music sounds when the Haoles aren't listening! My music collection, when it comes to anything over 10 years old, is a really daring potpourri. Cosmik: Were there bands or songwriters that had a particularly strong influence on your understanding of song structures? Bernard: Too many to mention, yet in the end I pay little heed to what musician X has done. Perhaps Frank Zappa for simply encouraging me to not give a shit if I feel like it. I'd rather not be so belligerent through and through as he was, but to have that door ajar helps. I rarely listen to Zappa. I'd rather listen to Social Distortion. Larry, our drummer, is a big Zappa fan. It's ironic 'cause he's a rather conservative guy sometimes! I have a soft spot for soundtracks and older easy listening and cheezy music. Cosmik: "Cheezy" as in lounge or exotica, maybe? Bernard: Sure. I just listened to The Carpenters! Really! Lounge as it was, not how it is. The interpretive style of such folk as Combustible Edison is great, and live they are really worth seeing. They expand in some neat ways. The first time I saw Black Orpheus I flipped on the music. That soundtrack is a milestone in Brazilian Pop Music History. The soundtrack for Diva is a mindbender, too. I was digging Bacharach and Francis Lai before the punk refugees decided Lounge and Exotica should be hip, though. I say that rather neutrally since I am still far from an expert and I am glad that it's a little trendy. It's a real fun trend. The best parties I have been to have had tiki torches and a lot of drunk artists! It has this weird post-nuclear thing. People digging up thrift-store stuff and hailing its validity long after its time and integrating it into some sort of ritual, as in tropical cocktail parties. Almost makes me think of that atomic bomb in The Planet Of The Apes! The world and all cultures are a mess, so why not stir up the pot without letting TV, Nike and Coca-Cola get all the credit? Cosmik: And no matter how much you stir, good pop endures. Phil Dirt says Brazil 2001 is the best pop band out there today. Are you comfortable with the notion of B2K1 as a "pop band?" Bernard: Yes. Pop has a few definitions, but I think what he means is a band that can be liked and is friendly to its listeners. I am into celebrating life through music. If I have a harder agenda to deal with, it'd be done at night and some C4, not an electric guitar. Just because I play with a smile on my face and coat some of my music with sugar does not mean that it isn't crafty and diabolical! Rock and Roll is a great place to hide a bear trap under a gingerbread house, ya know. Anyone who has ever hung out with me will agree that I am somewhat subversive. Some of my favorite bands can get you to swallow a worm before you realize that there's a hook in it. Cosmik: I like that metaphor. What do you think were some of your best concealed hooks on Fist Full Of Sand? Bernard: Lyrically or musically? I think the Hawaiian Lap Steel sounds in the title song are cool and sneaky. The Beach Boys-like segue called "Fog" sort of says, "Hey, so you're into surfing and such, but you're letting age destroy your spirit." Maybe what it's doing is attacking poseurisms. "Haole Girl" is rife with issues of greed, culture going to hell and preying on other humans. "Be an Idiot" is right up front. Where is meaning? Is it worth the bother? Also, "Be an Idiot" is essentially a fist waving anthemic thing, but the solo is pure surf. It's a funny juxtaposition. You can dwell on the meaning of a song or just lay back. Wasn't "Lola" a bit wild? I think what I am doing as far as statement is pretty mellow. I just don't rule out the possibility of going there. Cosmik: Who influenced you as a guitarist? Bernard: That's a fun one 'cause the names I drop surprise even me! Let me list a few for fun: Richie Blackmore of Deep Purple, Luiz Bonfa, Greek Bouzouki music, Andy Summers, Van Halen, East Bay Ray of The Dead Kennedys, Dick Dale, John Cippolina of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Joe Perry, Eugene Chadbourne, Wes Montgomery--hell, that's enough! I also listen for snippets. For example the opening guitar lick in "Long Cool Woman" by the Hollies is incredible. Hell if I know who played it and hell if I'd be called a Hollies fan! Cosmik: Really? I'm surprised. With your attention to song structure, I'd imagine you'd be a huge Hollies fan. Or any band that had well structured singles. Bernard: Show me a 3 minute and 20 second song that has too much structure! I joke about being a Hollies fan only because there are so many bands of the past, and currently: How can one digest it all!? The Hollies certainly have a very minor effect on my musical world! How about you!? But don't get me wrong. Moments in pop are great, be it The Hollies, ABBA or something really sick like Starbuck's "Moonlight Feels Right." Cosmik: What are your immediate plans for Brazil 2001? Bernard: Keep plugging away. Dominate California! Hopefully get some foreign deals. Touring the US is not a great interest. I do enjoy traveling abroad. Cosmik: Do you have any notions of doing other projects apart from the band? Bernard: What I really want to do is paint! No wait, I always thought of myself more of as a poet! Forensics? Professional bowling? I could use some new guitar gear. Well, really, I currently am preparing to record with an LA band called Smart Brown Handbag as the guitar spicings guy. The leader of that band plays guitar and creates some very weird chords. I am learning a lot from him. I also play in Permanent Green Light, which just got shafted by a major but still rocks very hard. We are experimenting with a second guitarist: Jason, formerly of Celebrity Skin, which was one of LA's greatest unsung bands. Jason has a very go-for-it rock guitar spirit. I foresee a really tasteless Thin Lizzy sound developing there. There's another group which I won't mention that I desire to join because of their unabashed youthfulness. All of this sounds crazy, but the dust never settles the way you think it will and none of these are rehearsing too heavily. Brazil 2001 will exist as long as there are players to play the stuff and Sergio Mendez doesn't hit me with an order to Cease and Desist! We have a new manager who is making a sincere effort to help us. Finally, I also want to continue surfing. I have been surfing for about 15 years now, and last year I surfed almost daily from Spring to Fall. I have a new wetsuit and am ready to do it even more. Cosmik: Is there a particular "ultimate wave" you're waiting for? Bernard: Yeah, one that I don't have to compete for! Cosmik: In The Great Surf Summit, you mentioned that you'd keep going as long as it was fun. Now that you've done a self-release CD, dealt with the business end of music first hand, and worked so hard for the scene in general, are you still having fun? Bernard: I've been dealing with the hustling of music that I have been involved with for years. I see recognition accelerating more than in the past, so that is certainly motivating. Every rehearsal or gig, I suddenly play something that has me really puzzled as to where I got it. As long as those moments keep coming, I'll be happy. A recent check up proved my hearing in surprisingly good order. I am interested in seeing what the future has in store. I still believe it'd be pretty cool to see the entire major industry nuked and leave a gap entirely for independent folk. A current strategy for Brazil 2001 is to play as much as possible outside of any cliques. Exposure and new supporters is the goal. I like that challenge, and it keeps it real fun. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- DOWN IN FLAMES: The Estrus Warehouse Burns To The Ground By DJ Johnson Estrus Records, an independent label synonymous with high energy garage and surf music, suffered a major setback when the company warehouse burned to the ground on Thursday, January 16th. Estrus, which is based in Bellingham, Washington, is owned by Mono Men guitarist Dave Crider. Among the long list of items lost in the fire are almost all of Mono Men's live gear, equipment Crider had been collecting in order to build a recording studio, and ten years worth of archived Estrus music and memorabilia. Crider and his wife, Bekki, also lost most of their personal record collection. Because much of Estrus' stock is stored elsewhere, the fire will have little effect on availability of records and CDs through normal outlets. What has been drastically impacted is the mail order arm of the company. According to Estrus' website author and promo man M. Carl Ratliff (known to many in the indie scene as "Bookman"), there is no quick fix for that situation. "People will not be able to get product directly from the label for at least six months," Bookman said in an e-mail interview earlier this week. "Other than that, the label is running right on track." The Mono Men aren't as lucky. The loss of their equipment is a painful blow, and the lack of adequate insurance makes it all the more painful. "As of right now," said Bookman, "they are a band without equipment. I think a couple of benefit shows are in the works, so hopefully they will be back soon. I think they were planning on going into the studio in February to work on the new record." The status of that project is now unknown. The loss of the extensive musical archive is perhaps the biggest tragedy of all. CDs, records, tapes, masters, posters, stickers... nothing was spared in the fire. Happily, many people have rallied to the cause, including Beth Kerr of Austin, Texas, who is collecting as many of these items as possible from the public. Once a new warehouse has been established, Kerr will present the new archive to Crider. If you have any duplicate items of Estrus memorabilia, extra copies of older releases, or even news clippings about the label, you can send them to Beth Kerr, 5400 Ave H, Austin, TX 78751. E-mail inquiries should be addressed to bethkerr@mail.utexas.edu. Across the country, plans are being made for benefit concerts and CD releases with proceeds going to Estrus to aid in the rebuilding process. Bookman himself is working on a CD benefit project with members of Gearhead and Man Or Astro-man. The CD will be released by Man's Ruin, though no release date has been set thus far. As for the benefit concerts, only a few dates have been confirmed thus far: Seattle Fireshock: March 22nd and 23rd at Moe - Bands are still TBA St. Louis Estrus Fireshock Saturday March 8, 1997 The Hi-Pointe (1001 McCausland) Matinee Show (doors open at 4pm) Bands: Prisonshake, the Geargrinders, others (TBA) Chicago: March 13th and 14th (tentative) Bands (TBA) In the coming weeks, many show dates will be confirmed, and Cosmik Debris will have a section dedicated to keeping you abreast of the situation. It's a bit of twisted irony that such a tragedy will be directly responsible for some of the best rock and roll shows of 1997, but there's your silver lining. If you have information about further benefit shows or plans for other ways to benefit Estrus Records, please contact Diana Young & Chris Montecello in Seattle. Diana and Chris are coordinating these shows. They can be reached by telephone ((206) 721-0975), fax ((206) 722-4395), or e-mail (montcelo@ix.netcom.com). The more we, the indie music community, can do to help, the sooner the label will once again be mailing great music to our doorsteps. Meanwhile, Estrus continues on. New releases may be slightly delayed, but they won't be scrapped. Crider's legendary yearly bash, Garage Shock, is still on the schedule, slated for October 30th through November 2nd in Bellingham. And that's a huge relief to the garage rock faithful who travel from all corners of the world every year to see acts like The Mono Men, Man Or Astro-Man?, The Makers, Galaxy Trio, and Impala, and to hang out at all-night hotel parties across the street from the venue. To these people, Estrus is much more than just a record label, and it's certainly something that no mere fire could destroy. * * * * Cosmik Debris wishes to thank M. Carl "Bookman" Ratliff for keeping us up to date on this situation. Bookman can be reached via e-mail at bookman@auburn.campus.mci.net, and Estrus' WWW site is located at http://www.auburn.edu/~ratlimc/Estrus.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Bob Smith of The Ken Ardley Playboys and Canadian punk guru Jan Haust.] THE KEN ARDLEY PLAYBOYS Watch out, the Ken Ardley Playboys are coming! An oddball grouping of artists from England, who also fancy themselves as some sort of musicians, have managed to sneak into recording studios to produce a vibrant single. And now, despite repeated warnings from the authorities, a full length cd is available in North America through the auspicious Lucky Garage Records label. The band formed from the Ding Dong Twist Club, a get-together pub event which turned into a silly zine which in turn turned into the Playboys on wax. We managed to track down band spokesperson Bob Smith on a Malibu beach where he was enjoying a real rock and roll moment: visiting his in-law grandparents. JOHN: Where exactly do you hail from? BOB: We're from London. We play mostly in London and Manchester, oddly enough. JOHN: No disrespect, but why are we talking to Bob Smith and not Ken Ardley? What exactly is Ken's role in the band, or is that too embarrassing to bring up? BOB: Well Ken is a very mild mannered typical bass player and he's not very good at interviews. In fact, he doesn't write any of the material, but he is definitely the leader of the band. When it comes to running the group it's up to myself and Vic Mount. Ken does come to the forefront when he sings 'Windmills of My Mind' though. JOHN: So why is the band named as such? Is it because Ken is so darn good looking? BOB: (laughs) Well, I hate to give the game away, but obviously the name is a pun: The Ken Ardley Playboys, cuz we can hardly play. JOHN: Boys. BOB: Boys. Strangely enough we have a Ken Ardley in the band. JOHN: So that's his real name? BOB: Absolutely. JOHN: That's amazing. BOB: That is a coincidence, isn't it? Well he's from the North East. It's a magical land where things like that happen. He's from Newcastle. JOHN: On the back of your single, The Playboys bear striking resemblances to an all-star super group: there's Elvis, Buddy Holly, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger. BOB: Well that was designed by Victor and he's a whiz at photo montage. JOHN: He's in charge of The Ken Ardley fan club magazine, which used to be The Ding Dong Twist Club, is he not? BOB: Yes, yes, he's the one who produces that, and what a fantastic thing it is. JOHN: I agree. You know, the first I ever heard of The Ken Ardley Playboys was through that zine. A photographer friend of mine was in London for a couple of months and he brought back this magazine. BOB: Your friend must move in very select artist circles. JOHN: What is the artistic connection of the band? BOB: Most of us are making and showing art in London. JOHN: What type of art are you practicing? BOB: It varies. It's loosely contemporary art--some of it is quite conceptual. Vic's work is very kitsch and very funky. We were all teenagers when punk broke, and that is reflected in both our music and our art. JOHN: What about you, Bob? What is it that you do? BOB: I'm actually on my way back from Japan where I was doing a performance-based show in Tokyo. I asked the Japanese to invent things from rubbish that I had found on the street. And very clever they were, too. Lots of new inventions. It's called 'Made in Japan' and I'll be showing them in London. JOHN: I've heard that due to varying circumstances--affluency, limited space--that people in Tokyo throw out working appliances. BOB: They do. They throw out new stuff, but it's very difficult to get a hold of. I, on the other hand, was looking for rubbish. I was being driven around by an assistant--he was very embarrassed when I jumped out of the car to collect the rubbish. [The conversation turned to the Japanese spaghetti road system, which was built to confuse invading forces, but now is a general pain to anyone with a car, then I realized this was supposed to be a music interview.] JOHN: Do you have a dream of doing music as a full time thing? BOB: I dunno, we always pooh-pooh it, saying that we don't want to get too serious about it, but I don't think we'd be doing it if we didn't think that there was some merit to it--even though we are crippled by our inability to play. In London there is a gang of artists trying to do something--and we're very much part of that. It definitely has an aim. JOHN: Not being able to play has never stopped anyone. Your sound is quite reminiscent of The Fall, but I also hear John Ottway in your work. BOB: Oh really? Nobody's ever mentioned John Ottway before. I like Ottway, as I like Mark E. Smith I suppose. My accent is clearly very midland and Mark E. Smith is from Manchester so there are some similarities there. Maybe we are influenced by The Fall. I love them. We also like Hasil Adkins and Wild Man Fisher--the guy that Frank Zappa picked up on and did that merry-go-round record--and The Shaggs. We like pointless and noisy and repetitive things. And The Fall fall into that. JOHN: Besides music influences, looking at the fanzine and listening to your record, I see you growing up on Monty Python. Am I wrong on this? BOB: (laughing) I dunno. That show hasn't been aired in Britain since about 1975. I suppose we did grow up with it, but it's come and gone with other things that lurk in there as well. Monty Python are all from Cambridge and they had a much more refined, high class sense of irony about what they were doing, whereas we are more ourselves. No act. JOHN: So what we hear on record is The Playboys: you guys in real life? BOB: Very much so--earnestly trying to entertain. JOHN: Any egos clashes in the band? BOB: Oh gawd--band policy. Yeah, there's quite a bit of it. About a year ago we tried to recreate The Beatles playing on the roof. But there are too many of us, so someone had to be Billy Preston and someone had to be George Martin, which they didn't like: the two more peripheral members of the band. There was quite a row about that. It nearly split the band. As it turns out, it rained, so we had to play inside. So it was a bit of a failure. It was very enjoyable, we played well, and we had tons of people watching us. JOHN: So Bob, what does your mom think of all this? BOB: My mom? She's quite non-plussed by it. I gave her a copy of our first single and I noticed it's still in the same place: beside the record player, where I left it. She prefers the likes of Fred Astaire; somebody with a bit of a tune and melody. Vic's mom is into it, though. She's been to a couple of our gigs. JOHN: Mrs. Mount! BOB: Mrs. Mount, yes. She even wears an old Westminster Council jacket, which we all wear when we play. She's almost like a mascot. JOHN: I quote from the fanzine: 'we may be the worst band you'll ever see, but soon it will be over.' What happens when The Playboys take the stage? Is it total mayhem, are you one with the audience? BOB: There's a lot of heckling. That quote comes from a gig we did at Cardiff. We vowed that we'd never go to Wales again. It was a rough gig with people throwing stuff, and at one point we had people getting up on stage and offering to play because they could play better than us. That's always embarrassing. JOHN: But could they play 'The Model' (Kraftwerk) in German? [a reference to a cover song on the new CD] BOB: Indeed. JOHN: There's a big lounge craze here in North America. What's it like in Britain? Do you have any part of it? BOB: There is something of that, mainly Christmas records. We play a lot with a band called Planet of The Apes, who do Burt Bacharach numbers. I suppose we touch on that with versions of 'Windmills of My Mind,' 'Fool On The Hill' and 'The Model.' But I think you have to be a reasonably good musician to play all those lounge numbers because they're based on jazz chords, which we can't do, but we certainly enjoy the spirit. [The conversation drifts to warm vs. cold beer, English pubs and blood pudding.] BOB: If you want to eat blood pudding it's better to do it in England, so it's closer to the pig it came from. JOHN: Let's get down to the meaty stuff: just how important is pork to The Ken Ardley Playboys? BOB: Pork products! Crucial to The Ken Ardley Playboys output. Spam is central to it really. We had too much mechanically ground meat in the eighties. You get the same percentage of the part of the animal in your pie. So that if an animal is made up of 0.6% eyelash, then you get 0.6% eyelash in your sausage or pie. JOHN: What will happen if there's a mad pig disease? BOB: Our music industry will be decimated for years. It will be dreadful. The other thing we like to eat is Garla pie. JOHN: [Shuddering] What is that? BOB: It's a pork product with an egg in the middle--very tasty. It's a complete meal, really. JOHN: Are you a cook in any sense of the word? Do you have a fancy dish that you whip up? BOB: Well, let's see. I like to go to the butchers and purchase some sausages, then stick them in mashed potatoes on their ends so they stick up like a cow's udder. Very tasty. And I can fry onions, as well. So yeah, I consider myself a bit of a chef now that we've explored that a little further. JOHN: On a parting note, maybe you could clear up something for me. What's with this big Blur vs. Oasis thing. I find their music pretty drab and don't see the Beatles vs. Stones resemblance at all. Is there something to them or is it all media hype? BOB: They are pretty hopeless. Certainly Blur are dreadful, but they can play their instruments, so we admire them from that standpoint. It does smell a bit. The records are pretty boring. JOHN: I thought so. Thanks Bob. ...tape hiss JAN HAUST: THE PUNK HOLE OF FAME The Punk Hole of Fame is an 18-part series of vintage Canpunk (6 available now) in reissue and unearthed formats, unleashing the music by the likes of Teenage Head, The Viletones and The Ugly on the rest of the world. Organizer and project brainchild Jan Haust reminisces about the good old days. JOHN: Why? JAN: I'm just one of those guys who looks at Canadiana and thinks that the rest of the world doesn't know the story beyond Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray and Neil Young. There's bigger, broader, wider, fascinating stories here and one of them is the Toronto punk scene. Way back when, 1981 I think, I took the first Teenage Head album and went back into the studio with the guys and remixed it top to bottom. Ever since I've actively sought out, collected and restored vintage punk tapes--first generation, the real McCoy. The punk movement left New York, went to London and then on to Toronto. It was the third most important punk scene in the world circa '77, '78. Yet no one knows about it today. I undertook this as a personal project, to bring these great artists and titles to the foreground. JOHN: Bless your heart. It's about time, too. Back then, were people outside of Toronto aware of this scene? JAN: Oh yeah. In '77 there was a very tight scene here. Bands like The Curse, North America's first all-girl punk band; The Viletones; Teenage Head; The Diodes; The Dents; they all went down to CBGB's and played the Toronto Crash'N'Burn punk weekend. That's how famous the local scene was, and the place was stuffed to the rafters. JOHN: What about the rest of Canada, did Vancouver, Edmonton, Halifax know? JAN: Certainly people would have heard about Teenage Head, The Viletones--who hasn't heard of The Viletones? They are written up in punk history books. They were known in New York, LA, London. When I tested the CD--their first full length--Flipside magazine called it one of the best punk releases of the year (1994). I got great responses from all over the world. It's amazing how many of these kids know about The Demics, The Forgotten Rebels. They may have seen the film The Last Pogo and seen The Ugly and The Mods play in that movie. JOHN: What is it about The Viletones? They only had a couple of singles, but they sure could get press. Nazi Dog (Steve Leckie) was Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious all in one. JAN: Johnny Rotten never went as far as Nazi Dog. In fact when The Viletones sent their single over to London in the spring of '77, Melody Maker wrote 'Viletones make model six-formers of the Pistols.' That refers to their stage antics. In true Iggy Pop style, Nazi Dog slashed himself on stage and bled for his music. He was only eighteen, and catapulted himself to legend status by slashing his chest with a broken beer bottle. He spilled more blood in one night than Iggy did all year. They were different than the others, somewhere between sex and violence. JOHN: These guys were true punks, in that they were despised by the other bands. JAN: Certainly. The Viletones and The Ugly--and these guys were ugly, they had a Clockwork Orange aspect to these guys. They played hoodlum rock. They were constantly in and out of prison. These guys were truly feared. The were dangerous. Both these bands were like gangs that also played music. JOHN: In the liner notes there's a story where The Ugly stormed a stage at a punk fest, to which they were not invited, and threw the band off and played with their instruments. JAN: Yeah, they prefaced their entrance by lighting a guitar on fire and throwing it on stage while The Viletones were playing. All of this is on film. JOHN: I didn't realize that there was a split between the hard core punkers and the arts crowd. JAN: That's The Diodes. They started as an arts school project. Once the word punk became popular these guys formed a band. It was a very methodical project. They ended up signing with CBS records and were the lone Canadian representative in the Rhino DIY series. This irritates me to no end. I hope to change this, make some rock'n'roll history books obsolete. For instance, I have a piece of crap in front of me: Rolling Stone's alt.rockarama. There are 492 pages and only three things mentioned about Canada: Men Without Hats, Cowboy Junkies and a quote that describes Canada's alternative scene by 'a veteran of the Chappel Hill, Athens alt.rock access,' Josh Grier: 'Canadian towns don't count. Canada has distinguished itself thanks to the ascendency of such ground-breaking acts as Loverboy and Bryan Adams, by becoming the only entire country constituting a single bad music scene.' I'm going to send this man a tactful letter--we're supposed to be tactful Americans right? Also I'll send a poster from The Horseshoe Tavern on which the B-52s open for Toronto's B-Girls. That should get him going. JOHN: Say, Chris Spedding pops up on most of these releases. What's his connection with the project? JAN: He's the first man to wrassle the Sex Pistols to the ground. He recorded and mixed 'Problems,' 'No Feelings' and 'Pretty Vacant' in five hours--the original versions. Then he did a couple of singles with The Vibrators. He worked with Chrissie Hynde, who was his girlfriend back then. Spedding is a musician's musician. He's played with everybody from Tom Waits to Elton John to Bryan Ferry to Liberace to Pete Townshend. He had a stopover here (Toronto) in '77 and was puzzled why none of these bands were signed by major labels since in England, all the punks were being scooped up. Now he's part of our post-production team. His feel for this material is what's so important, and he's a master musician and producer. I paired him with Peter Moore, who did the Cowboy Junkies' Trinity Session. One of his walls is covered with 50s and 60s vintage guitars and amplifiers, and the others with computers. That's his studio. Without Peter we wouldn't be able to present some of these titles cuz they need a lot of restoration. Tapes disintegrate, they have to be baked... JOHN: Wait a minute, you bake tapes? JAN: Magnetic recording tapes have little bits of metal that are held onto the mylar by a bonding agent, and that adhesive deteriorates with time. These tapes will shed in a tape machine. What baking does is restore the bonding agent for a period of time such that a transfer to a digital format can be made before it quickly deteriorates again. JOHN: Baking tapes--that sounds like a recipe for disaster. JAN: Never lost one yet. JOHN: Most of these releases date from the late seventies except for the Forgotten Rebels, which is an '86 record. Don't you have access to the early stuff? JAN: I do. The first recording was Burn The Flag--a six song tape in lo-fi DIY fashion recorded on the cheapest recorder and cheapest tape they could find. They recorded 100 copies and sold 'em off the stage. The second was an EP: Tomorrow Belongs To Us. We'll release these along with bonus tracks in the new year. We did this record as a favour. Originally we only pressed 1000 copies. Spedding has remixed it top to bottom and brought out the music that wasn't properly mixed in the beginning. It's a ground up restoration. JOHN: What about their debut: In love With The System? JAN: That's already out there, but it never got the five star treatment. We may be able to get it. JOHN: I remember that record vividly because when it came out a friend bought it, and he really hated it. He pinned it up against his basement wall and threw darts at it. JAN: Why, because of 'Elvis Is Dead'? JOHN: Naw, I just think that he wasn't ready for punk rock. JAN: That record is a classic. JOHN: Y'know in those times kids didn't know what to think of punk. There was a big conservative backlash. Not too many kids at school would admit to listening to it. JAN: Yeah, some kids still wanted to listen to Genesis and Emerson Lake & Palmer. God bless the punks. ...tape hiss ============================================================================ [[[[[[[[ [[[[[[ [[ [[ [[[[[ [[[[[[ [[ [[ [[[[[[ [[ [[ [ [[ [[ [ [ [[ [ [[ [[ [[[[[[[[ [[[[[[ [[ [[ [ [[[[[[ [[ [ [[ [[[[[ [[ [[ [ [[[ [ [ [[[ [[[ [[ [[ [[ [[[[[[ [ [[[[[ [[[[[[ [[ [[ [[[[[[ ============================================================================ JORGE ALFANO: Inti: Mystical Music Of The Andes (Lyrichord) Reviewed by John Sekerka First let's scan the resume. Seems our man from Buenos Aires, Jorge here, is quite the fella, having studied Indian and Japanese Zen music and Sound Healing, not to mention Polarity Therapy. Besides being a Clinical Hypnotherapist and an ordained Metaphysical Minister, Jorge also happened to have recorded with the likes of Astor Piazzolla and Mercedes Sosa. Quite impressive you say, but can he play? You betcha. Whether it's the Kenacho (which, as you all know, is a larger version of the Kena bamboo flute), the Charango (a tiny cousin of the guitar) or the Chajchas (percussive play things made from dry beans and animal toenails), Jorge masters all instruments at hand, deftly portraying natural sounds (birds, running water) without the use of samplers. With a little more respect, I must admit that this is quite a lovely sounding album filled with soft, subtle and stark movements which are basically prayer dedications to deities. Quite mesmerizing, really. It should come as quite a surprise to those who equate Andes music with 'El Condor Pasa.' BADFINGER: Straight Up (DCC Compact Classics) Reviewed by Steve Marshall With classic tracks like "Day After Day" and "Baby Blue," Badfinger's Straight Up is considered by many to be one of the greatest pop albums ever recorded. Up until 1993, it was also one of the rarest. Originally released on The Beatles' Apple label, the album had been out of print for close to twenty years after the label folded. Once The Beatles and Yoko Ono had settled their differences, Apple Records was back in business again. They reissued a digitally remastered Straight Up on CD in 1993. DCC released their gold version of the classic album in late 1995. Comparing the DCC disc with Apple's version, I found vast differences in both the sound quality and the packaging. Surprisingly, DCC's gold pressing didn't even come close. The low end is practically nonexistent, and there is excessive tape hiss. Apple used noise reduction and equalization on their version, while DCC used the original masters 'as is'. Audiophile purists have a reputation for being against alteration of the original source in any way, but on this particular release, the Apple CD is audibly better. The highs are clear and crisp--the lows are deep and tight. The bass and drums, in particular, sound thin and shallow throughout DCC's disc, never coming close to the depth and clarity of the Apple CD. A few of the songs sound remixed as well. The lead vocals on "Sometimes" and the original version of "Name of the Game" (one of the six bonus tracks appearing on both discs) are pushed up in the mix. "Perfection" (a long time personal favorite) is much warmer on the Apple CD. Overall, the sound quality on the DCC pressing seems dull and lifeless, while the Apple version is vibrant and more open. DCC comes up short on the packaging, too. They use a higher quality paper for the booklet than Apple did, but an entire section is missing from the liner notes. All but one of the assorted 7" picture sleeves were replaced by photos of the original album labels. This is great from a nostalgic standpoint, but for the difference in price between the two, they should have just added more pages--as they have done on other titles--and included everything. On a positive note, DCC has the album's original back cover art, whereas the Apple CD does not. Going on prior experience with DCC titles, I had high expectations for this release. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with this one. If you want the definitive version of Straight Up, stick with the Apple CD. THE BEATLES: Anthology III (Capitol) Reviewed by DJ Johnson The third and final chapter in the Anthology series is quite possibly the most satisfying for those of us who have argued The Beatles' case with nonbelievers time and time again. Those detractors who called the Fabs "all hype - no substance" and "studio creations" can just shut up and listen to these 60 tracks that show just how strong their tunes were as stripped down song structures. Recorded during the White Album, Let It Be, and Abbey Road eras, most of these tracks are either outtakes or raw demos. The first track is a bit of a puzzle: "A Beginning" is just a little piece of orchestral fluff that, according to the liners, was designed as an intro to Ringo's "Don't Pass Me By." It seems totally unnecessary here, but my guess is it's a concession to producer George Martin, who holds the writer's credit on the piece. This gives him a bigger piece of the financial pie, you see. The real beginning is at track two: John Lennon's solo acoustic presentation of the opening sections of "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" is a revelation. It's often hard, while listening to this collection, to remember just how good the final album versions were. The tendency is to wonder why they didn't stick with these fantastic arrangements. "Happiness..." is quite compelling as a cerebral acoustic blues. Tracks 4 through 9 are the ones I keep coming back to again and again. Recorded at George Harrison's Esher estate, they are simple acoustic run-through's of "Mean Mr. Mustard," "Polythene Pam," "Glass Onion," "Junk," "Piggies," and "Honey Pie" recorded in their earliest forms as they were considering material for the White Album. We've all heard about the tensions within the band that were already pushing them apart by this period, but the Esher recordings have a loose and humorous feel that shed a warmer light, especially, on the memory of John Lennon. His double-tracked vocals are a riot, as he often slips into his trademark gobbledygook-speak, sometimes at 100 mph. It sounds like they were having fun. Picking just a few highlights is a frustrating task, but a track-by-track review of 60 tunes could get out of hand in a hurry, don't you think? So suffice to say that among the MANY highlights, these stand out: * The four minute stripped-down version of "Hey Jude," playful vocal quirks and all. * The four and a half minute distillation of "Helter Skelter" in its legendary slow blues form. This track was over twelve minutes long, much of that being aimless jamming, so it has been "respectfully pruned," according to the liner notes. McCartney's vocal performance is just plain awesome. * Just about all of Lennon's acoustic presentations of his work. The more you hear, the more respect you gain for his extraordinary songwriting talent. "Cry Baby Cry" seems far more substantial here than in its familiar White Album form, and the same can be said of "Happiness Is A Warm Gun," "Julia" and several others. * "Rocky Raccoon." The intro we never heard is entertaining enough, but hearing McCartney's blooped lyric "The doctor came in schminking of gin... Shminking!?" is even better. * The total psychedelic meltdown at the end of the unreleased "What's The New Mary Jane," courtesy of Yoko Ono. While I'm usually torn on the question of which was the worst by-product of the White Album (Yoko Ono or the Manson family), I find this mad moment quite impressive. Far more so than "Revolution 9," at any rate. * McCartney's acoustic version of "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" has much more depth and charm than the White Album version (which was a stompin' little tune, but it was one dimensional). At the end of the song, Paul asks "What do you think of all that? Do you think I can do it better?" No. * Lennon's humorous backing vocals on "Teddy Boy," a song that never saw the light of day until McCartney's debut solo album. * Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" in its simple demo form. It's emotional and beautiful, out-of-tune guitar and all. * The actual final rooftop recording of "Get Back," complete with distractions from the police, blown lines, and the momentary loss of John and George (their amps were turned off for a few seconds). Why is anything this sloppy considered a highlight? Because it was the very last song The Beatles ever performed live, and because McCartney's bass line is still an absolute stunner 28 years later. * "Come Together" is presented with no echo on Lennon's voice, making the lyric easy to understand. The final version is as cool as it is at least in part because of that echo, but it's nice to have a chance to hear it this way, too. * The demo of "Come And Get It," written by McCartney and recorded by Badfinger, was a one-man show with Paul playing all the instruments. Nine days later, he produced Badfinger's hit version of the tune. * The incredible 3-part harmony track from "Because," presented here without the backing instruments. John, Paul and George each triple-tracked their parts, making for one of the fullest vocal sounds this side of The Beach Boys. I don't know how many times I've used the words "stripped down" in this review, but I use them with good reason: the single most important aspect of this release--and indeed all three Anthology sets--is that the music can be heard stripped down to its most basic components, exposing the fact that The Beatles were not simply creations of George Martin or Abbey Road Studios. It's proven by the fact that their songs can stand alone with just a voice and a guitar. It's interesting to note that their selling power hasn't diminished over the years. In the 12 months of Anthology buying frenzy, more Beatles records have been sold than in any 12 months of the 1960s. So put that in your hookah and smoke it, Beatles detractors. BEENIE MAN: Maestro (VP) Reviewed by DJ Johnson Beenie Man continues to earn his place in the dancehall hierarchy with this impressive album of thunderbolt vocal performances. Listening to this music, it seems clear Beenie Man has matured in that he seems very comfortable and confident. Confident enough to release a 71 minute album. His confidence isn't misplaced: Maestro is consistent and entertaining through and through. Lady Saw shows up for a duet on "Long Longi Lala," which makes...what...the 50th song she's performed with the word "long" in the title? As usual, she says something about "itsy bitsy teeny weenie" men. Fixation is a scary thing. But no, I love Lady Saw. I do. I kid Lady Saw. I'm a kidder. Now where were we. Oh yeah, Beenie man. There are some tracks here that could almost be called "conscious," but they aren't anywhere near as socially relevant as you would expect, considering the fact that Beenie Man grew up in Jamaica's infamous Waterhouse ghetto. Alternating between slack and spiritual, Beenie seems to be comfortable making his own rules. Can't argue with success, and this album definitely feels like a success. THE BLUEBEATS: Dance With Me (MoonSka) Reviewed by DJ Johnson Here's a CD that epitomizes everything that was wonderful about the genre of Jamaican music known as Rock Steady. Not quite ska and not nearly reggae, it was a very simple and melodic music built on strong rhythms worthy of the name Rock Steady. Currently, there are a few bands kicking around that do the form justice, but I doubt any of them play it as authentically as The Bluebeats. Their simple yet skillful instrumentation--and former Scofflaws front man Mike Drance's ingratiating voice--infuses Dance With Me with a joyful spirit that can't be broken. "This Cruel World," penned by guitarist Steven Prisco, is a melodic gem that'll have you singin' in the shower. The same can be said of Drance's "Hardest Working Man," an amusing tune about a guy who is working too hard to avoid working too hard. The ultimate measure of this band's talent can be found in the realization that their original tunes are more memorable than the classic Jamaican cover tunes on the album. Stranger & Patsy's "Down At The Trainline" is an undeniably catchy and timeless song, and Regina Bellantese's guest vocal performance is a knockout, but I swear on a stack of mangos that the original tunes are as strong or stronger. Dance With Me will play well with the ska crowd, as the basic Rock Steady beat is the classic 2-4 accented ska beat, but the real trick is that The Bluebeats are doing it sans brass. Of all the ska-related albums released in the past 12 months, this gets my highest recommendation. THE BOURBONS: House Party (Arf! Arf!) Reviewed by Shaun Dale When we last checked in on the folks at Arf! Arf! it was to examine the original (if somewhat erratic) vision of Boston's king of punk karaoke, David Arvedon. This time, the label continues to chronicle the history of the Boston area music scene with the polar opposite to Arvedon's unique voice and vision. "House Party" follows guitarist Al Lorusso through three cover bands from the period 1964-1966. The Chevells, who offer two selections here, are the first, from 1964. They're a classic early instro band, but they came along just in time to be swept aside by the British Wave and the resulting demand for vocals. Lorusso moved on the the Van-dels, who would morph into the Bourbons. The disc at hand contains 26 tracks by the band, recorded at rehearsal's and performances, in absolute lo-fi. Actually, I really like this one. This is the time I was playing in my first bands, and I wish I could say we were as adventurous in our cover selections as these guys were. "Louie, Louie" is here, of course, along with some Chuck Berry, but these guys were covering the Beatles, Dylan, Bobby Fuller, Wilson Pickett, some more prominent local acts and a number of others, and doing a fairly credible job of it. This is fun stuff, a reasonable chronicle of what thousands of young local cover bands were doing at the time. The Bourbons were doing it better than most, primarily because their vocals aren't actually painful most of the time. This is what the bands at my junior and senior high school hops sounded like, and what I hope my first bands sounded like when we were on (and when I was on-key). It's something worth preserving and something worth listening to. And hey, it's 28 tracks - 77 minutes of just about everybody's greatest hits. If you like garage bands or you were working up a sweat in your stocking feet in the high school gyms of the early 60's, you should take a listen. (Arf! Arf!, Box 465, Middleborough, MA 02346) Track List: (The Chevells/1964): Handclap * Riptide (The Van-dels/1965): Warm Up * Carol * The Last Time * Route 66 * Barbara Ann * Come On, Let's Go * Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl * Bad Boy * Louie, Louie (The Bourbons/1966): On The Rock * Run For Your Life * Little Black Egg * Like A Rolling Stone * Little Girl * Little Red Riding Hood * Still In Love With You Baby * Respect/Midnight Hour * A Basket Of Flowers * You Can't Do That * Just A Little * I Fought The Law * Day Tripper * Nowhere Man * Just Like Me * Time Won't Let Me * Bourbons House Party THE BRAIN SURGEONS: Box Of Hammers (Cellsum Records) Reviewed by DJ Johnson The third release by The Brain Surgeons is just what anyone who has heard their previous releases would expect: power drenched rock and roll that kicks in a way that "hard rock" doesn't seem to kick these days. It feels like the best classic rock, but it's brand new. Former Blue Oyster Cult drummer, Al Bouchard, and his wife, rock critic Deborah Frost, have carved a jagged niche with unusual rockers broiled in menacing ambiance. Frost possesses a Venus Flytrap of a voice: fragile and beautiful one moment, venomous and bad intentioned the next. Her delicate fatalistic surrender in "End In Tears" is countered perfectly by the dangerous ready-to-explode tirade in "Date With A Guitar." Cynicism pours forth as she sings "Eight million people in New York. Is EV-ry-body HAPPY?! Anybody quite as messed up as I am right now?" It sounds strange, but for me, one of her most endearing qualities is the slightly off-balance humor in her delivery. It's kinda like the hit man that chuckles a bit before blowing the victim away. The band provides a vibe that makes such an approach all the more compelling. Bouchard, as any Blue Oyster Cult fan will tell you, is one of the finest rock and roll drummers in the biz. Peter Bohovesky and Billy Hilfiger (guitars) play mean riffs all through the album, taking a chop-break to funk out on "Tender Was The Night" along the way. David Hirschberg (bass) is rock solid. Al's brother, Joey (who played bass with BOC), turns up on keyboards on four tracks, and a handful of others make guest appearances, as well. Nobody else is making this kind of music these days--at least nobody that I've heard--and it's a void worth filling. Box Of Hammers, like their previous albums, is a self-release. Cellsum Records is their own label and they are their own bosses. Which makes marching to their own drummer all the easier, and that they do. BRITTEN: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op 64. Sylvia McNair (soprano), Tytania; Brian Asawa (countertenor), Oberon; Carl Ferguson, Speaker (Puck); Ruby Philogene (mezzo-soprano), Hermia; Janice Watson (soprano), Helena; John Mark Ainsley (tenor), Lysander; Paul Whelan (baritone), Demetrius; Robert Lloyd (bass), Bottom; Ian Bostridge (Tenor), Flute; New London Children's Choir (Ronald Corp, Musical Director); London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis. (PHILIPS 454-122-2 [DDD] Two Discs: 76:21; 71:59.) Reviewed by Robert Cummings Philips apparently released this recording to coincide with the recent Met production of this opera, which also starred Sylvia McNair. From all reports, the Met effort was a tremendous success. So, as we shall see, is this recording. Benjamin Britten (1913-76), touted more and more today as the greatest British composer of this or any era, was a brilliant innovator in twentieth-century opera. Need anyone be reminded of the shattering impact of his masterpiece Peter Grimes? But his musical reputation hardly rests on that work alone: War Requiem, Sinfonia da Requiem, A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, and the operas The Rape of Lucretia, The Turn of the Screw, Billy Budd, and this Shakespeare-based composition further bolster his claim to preeminence among British composers. This latter work creates its own unique sound-world, where Shakespeare incarnates effervescently on the operatic stage via brilliant, exotically scored music and a libretto concocted by the composer and the tenor Peter Pears, using about half of the play's text and adding but a single line. To those few cynics who ask, "But why sing Shakespeare?" I respond that this is not so much an attempt to bring Shakespeare to the operatic theater, as it is an effort--and a successful one--to create a new work, wherein the forging of words and music allows the ear the dual treat of Shakespeare and Britten, but with the latter voice clearly dominant. Sylvia McNair is a superstar of the operatic stage, of course, and here she reinforces that status with a sparkling, delicious performance of Tytania, capturing all the magic, exoticism and sweetness of her character. Brian Asawa's Oberon is absolutely brilliant. To perform this role, and others in the countertenor range, the few male singers capable of doing them usually sing falsetto because they are not true altos, and generally end up producing an unnatural sound. Up to about a century ago there existed the "castrato", a male singer who voluntarily endured testicular excision to raise the voice pitch to sing such roles. (This was surely an instance of putting one's art above personal concerns!) Asawa, if he is singing falsetto, comes as close as I've heard to effecting a natural alto voice, and a quite attractive one at that. Jochen Kowalski, who sang Oberon in the Met production, has been touted as a natural alto. Perhaps so, but Asawa, whether by nature or by falsetto (but not by the surgeon's knife, rest assured) sings exquisitely here. Too bad Britten never lived to hear this performer's rendering of Oberon. Robert Lloyd delivers an effective Bottom, and the four lovers are beautifully realized, as well. In fact, there's not a role in the entire cast that isn't well sung. The New London Children's Choir sing the fairies' choruses with captivating charm. Try, for one, their Act I "Lullaby" (track 12), and hear the mesmerizing fantasy, the disarming innocence in their singing. The London Symphony Orchestra performs admirably under one of the world's leading Britten opera conductors, Sir Colin Davis. Throughout the performance, he demonstrates alertness to every facet of this beguiling score, fully conveying the mischief, the fantasy and the fun of it all. Philips offers intelligent notes by Michael Kennedy, a complete libretto in English and German, and provides excellent sonics. In addition, there are 41 tracks over the two discs, offering easy access to the opera's significant moments. Some may still prefer the composer's 1966 recording of this work, but let me say, you can't go wrong purchasing this beautifully-recorded, beautifully-performed new Philips entry. This will be a strong contender for opera recording of the year! CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL: Cosmo's Factory (DCC Compact Classics) Reviewed by Steve Marshall Originally released in the spring of 1970, Cosmo's Factory was CCR's fifth (and arguably their best) album. DCC used the original, unequalized two-track masters for the CD and achieved one of the hardest things to produce in the studio: perfect, flat frequency response. Just the right amount of bass, and perfect treble. It's like having the band play in your living room. The disc has excellent channel separation and dynamics throughout. Each instrument is easily identifiable from the other. From "Ramble Tamble" to "Looking Out My Back Door" and on through "Long as I Can See the Light," DCC’s gold pressing makes Cosmo's sound like it was recorded yesterday. "Run Through the Jungle" literally sounds like a brand new song. Fogerty's guitar effects grab your attention immediately, and the subtle drum fills that once lurked in the background are now much more prominent. The most dramatic improvement is on "Ooby Dooby." It's amazing to hear how wide open the soundstage is on this track. Any respectable rock collection should have at least one Creedence album, and Cosmo's Factory is the best of the bunch. CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL: Pendulum (DCC/Fantasy) Reviewed by DJ Johnson The hits were "Have You Ever Seen The Rain" and "Hey Tonight," and the most familiar "other" tracks were "Molina" and "Pagan Baby." These four songs should have guaranteed Pendulum a higher place in rock lore than it currently occupies, but somehow or other it got a bad rap. It could just be that it is forever doomed to be compared with Cosmos Factory, Green River, Born On The Bayou, Willy And The Poor Boys, and the debut album, and in that competition it can't win. But it shouldn't be dismissed so easily. Had Pendulum been CCR's only album, it would be remembered as the classic it is. Released at the end of 1970, Pendulum was arguably the last solid CCR album, sporting hook-filled pop and R&B tunes and more than a little of that Fogerty magic. Opening with Pagan Baby, John Fogerty re-established his power as a gutsy rhythm guitarist and blues belter extraordinaire. The riff is among the strongest in Fogerty's repertoire. Among the less remembered tunes, the most interesting is "Sailor's Lament," a simplification of Fogerty's gospel influences that benefits from outstanding "revival meeting" backing vocals. "(Wish I Could) Hideaway" blends soul and blues into a stunningly moving and goosebump-raising song on a par with "I Put A Spell On You," yet this tune is also mostly forgotten. Hard to figure. "Born To Move" is an unusual song in two movements, beginning with fully structured uptempo pop and ending in a long keyboard-led jam obviously inspired by Booker T. & The MG's (with a little bit of Jimmy Smith thrown in toward the end). "Rude Awakening" seems radically out of place: a psychedelic tune that goes on much too long (6:19, almost all of which sounds like an unfocused intro) and contains too much abrasive noise--such as guitar tracks played on high speed tape loops--to be truly enjoyable. In retrospect, it was probably a terrible idea to close the album with "Rude Awakening," as it basically undid the vibe the previous nine songs had worked to create. Taking that into consideration, you must judge the album by the first nine tracks, and if you do that, Pendulum comes out a winner. The two hits are first string CCR classics, and the rest is great Album Oriented Rock. The simple instrumentation--a CCR trademark--makes the tracks uncluttered and fresh, and DCC's Steve Hoffman has done his usual magic to enhance that effect on this remastered 24k gold CD. Throughout the disc, I was impressed, dazzled, and surprised by the improved sound. The output, the punch, the spatial separation of the instruments, the presence and clarity of Doug Clifford's drums, and the grit of Fogerty's guitar and voice are all impressive. Hiss has been greatly reduced, as well. My original vinyl copy of this album sounds terrible in comparison. This is the 5th CCR album to find its way into Hoffman's capable hands. Once the debut album gets the 24k treatment, all the truly essential CCR will be available for audiophiles (although it would be nice if "Sweet Hitchhiker" could be thrown on as a bonus track). I'm not a true audiophile, but I know incredible sound when I hear it, and I can't wait to hear "I Put A Spell On You." Wonder if DCC takes requests... CRITTERS BUGGIN: Host (LooseGroove Records) Reviewed by coLeSLAw Critters is a band that no one I know ever expected to put out an album. Their live show is such a mind-melting spectacle of free-form weirdness that the very idea of putting down songs on a disc seemed absurd. The first Critters release, Guest, had that unique sound but lacked the punch of their live shows. Now with Host, all aspects come together to form exactly what was needed. At least half of this album was recorded live at the OK Hotel in Seattle, and so carries that type of energy that only a live show can give. Yet they must have recorded off the mixing board, because the tone of everything is so clean that it's hard to tell which tracks are which. This trio could do just as well going on stage unprepared as they would having a year in a studio. No wonder, since that trio is made up of some rather well-weathered musicians. Brad Houser (bass) and Matt Chamberlain (drums) were formerly the low-end backbone of the New Bohemians (yeah, with Edie Brickell...), yet together with Skerik (sax) ...oh, wait, Bubba Rabozo (or is it Nalgas Sin Carne?) who played with Sadhappy, the sound they have created amongst themselves has no equal. It's sort of a rocky-jazzy-funky-ambient-ohforgetitjustbuyityou'lllikeit kinda sound. Picture a drug-crazed alien beatnik falling through a wormhole in space and time and trying to explain colors through music and you have a fairly interesting (if highly inaccurate) idea of what there is to be heard. Motivational tapes and psychotic diatribes weave their way through a senseless mix of bass, drums and the strangest sounds to come out of a saxophone...ever. Yet the oddness of the music never detracts from the awe-inspiring talent these guys have. They are as tight as a school budget and as tasty as lemon tahini on Fruit Loops (or perhaps maybe I'm the only one that likes that). Highlights of the album include the butt-stomping "Mount Blasta," the hypnotic "Sex Doily," and the unfathomably twisted "Bill Gates." If you live in or near Seattle, by God, go see a Critters Buggin show. If you don't, go buy the album. Then on those red-eyed rainy nights with no money and nowhere to go you can crank this up and have your own little show in your own little home. Please feel free to jump around like a silly chicken and break things. I think the Critters would want it that way. (LooseGroove Records can be found online at http://www.loosegroove.com. Critters Buggin merchandise and mail list can be reached at Critters Buggin, 2318 2nd Ave #701, Seattle, WA 98121, USA.) DAVID DIAMOND: Rounds for String Orchestra; Adagio (Third Movement from Symphony No. 11); Concert Piece for Orchestra; Elegy in Memory of Maurice Ravel; Concert Piece for Flute and Harp. Seattle Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gerard Schwartz; Glorian Duo. (Volume Five in the David Diamond Series) DELOS DE 3189 [DDD] 61:57 Reviewed By Robert Cummings Ives, Copland and Bernstein. And some, of course, would add Barber. These are, opinion has it, the great American composers. But what about David Diamond? He's written symphonies of individual character and rich profundity, concerti of brilliance and virtuosic appeal, theater music of vivid character and immense charm, and incidental scores of wit and color. So what must one do to enter the elite club? Perhaps Diamond's failing was in not carving out a niche he could claim as his own, not forging a dominant trait with which he could be identified. Ives pioneered a uniquely American style when others looked to European models; Copland cornered the artistic market on the cowboy idiom and music associated with our American heritage (even though Diamond entered this realm first, since the Suite from Tom has roots reaching back to 1936, predating Billy The Kid by two years); and Bernstein was the ultimate chameleon--Broadway Lenny could abandon the neon lights and write symphonies on Hebrew subjects and masses that stirred controversy. Diamond, on the other hand, was content to simply compose inspired music and not worry that he wasn't blazing trails or wearing someone's idea of the politically correct outfit. His music is with us, though, and like that of Hovhanness and Sessions, and perhaps Mennin, will grow more and more into the artistic consciousness here and abroad. Diamond's style has embraced many musical elements and means of expression, yet always manages to sound like the product of one consistent and inspired mind. His works generally fall into a post-Romantic idiom, with highly innovative use of traditional musical forms. Chromaticism emerged in some of his later works, but most of his compositions are diatonic and the language quite direct. There is a forward-looking character, a sort of busy nonchalance to much of his fast music, and an epic, often profound and heartfelt (but never saccharine) aspect to his slow music. Forget the supposed influence of Bruckner--there's a spiritual but not stylistic relationship here. Rounds (1944) is a short, mostly energetic work for strings, which effervesces with such infectious optimism, you're totally enamored of its charm before the manic four-minute-plus first movement is even half over. The following Adagio is absolutely lovely, and the finale is a vivacious romp that leaves you breathless but exhilarated. If the Eleventh Symphony's Adagio is characteristic of the whole work, then I'd declare the composition a major masterpiece. Written in 1991 for the 150th anniversary of the New York Philharmonic, this music, nestled in that rich post-Romantic vein so uniquely Diamond's own, seethes with tension and overwrought emotion, yet is touching and beautiful in its melodic eloquence and harmonic depth. But, you ask, where's the rest of the symphony? Perhaps Delos will get around to issuing it in a later volume in this series. The Concert Piece for Orchestra (1939) sees Diamond venturing onto Copland's turf, the world of snappy rhythms and folksy tunes. But there's no borrowing here, only a creative mix of dance music, tender melody, and colorful orchestration. I can't understand why this delightful piece isn't more popular. Elegy in Memory of Ravel was begun in late December of 1937 by the then twenty-two-year-old Diamond upon news of the death of his celebrated friend. It is a piece whose grieving and hushed anger verge on constant eruption, like the dazed mourner at the funeral of a loved one who struggles to maintain his tenuous composure. You can almost tactilely feel Diamond's sorrow here, sense his immense loss. Written for brass, harps and percussion, there's not a gallic note in this brief piece, despite the composer's study with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and his admiration for his deceased friend's music. The Concert Piece for Flute and Harp (1989) does have a bit of French air hovering above its notes, however. It's not surprising, though, since the composer reveals Roussel as the work's inspiration. It is a lovely composition of great subtlety and well-crafted instrumentation that, unfortunately, will probably never become popular owing to the uncommon marriage of flute and harp here. The performances by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, under the knowing hand of Gerard Schwartz, are splendid, deftly capturing every facet of Diamond's seemingly boundless muse. The Glorian duo is in fine form in the chamber work, too. I doubt the composer himself would find anything wanting in these committed, perhaps definitive, accounts. The sound is excellent and the notes are informative. A word about the Delos/Diamond series. Volume I (DE 3093) contains Symphonies 2 and 4, and the Concerto for Small Orchestra; Volume II (DE 3103) features Symphony No. 3, Kaddish for Cello and Orchestra (Janos Starker, cello), Romeo and Juliet, and Psalm; Volume III (DE 3119) offers Symphony No. 1, Violin Concerto No. 2 (Ilkka Talvi, violin), and The Enormous Room; and Volume IV (DE 3141) contains Symphony No. 8, Suite from TOM, and This Sacred Ground. Gerard Schwartz conducts the splendid Seattle Symphony Orchestra in all works but the Concerto for Small Orchestra and Romeo and Juliet, for which pieces he leads the fine New York Chamber Symphony. Especially notable among these recordings is the initial one (which hit the charts), containing the monumental Second Symphony, rendered here in a powerful performance. The subsequent issue, featuring the short but stunning masterpiece Psalm and the Third Symphony, would be another high on my list of urgent recommendations. Come to think of it, Volume IV contains that complex, aloof, yet utterly beguiling Symphony No. 8, another work you've got to hear. I wish I had the space to give detailed run-downs on all these releases. But suffice it to say that the series as a whole is one of the most important undertakings in this era of superfluous recordings. Do we, for instance, really need another Mahler symphony cycle? More Chopin polonaises? Hardly. We're all fortunate that Delos has blessed us with this recording project, which, while certainly not the only recorded source of Diamond's music, is surely one source to offer it played sublimely and with the highest production values. My sole complaint--namesake e.e. cummings appears erroneously in the notes throughout the series as E.E. Cummings. In sum, this recording, like every other issue in the project, is highly recommended. DREAM DISCIPLES: In Amber (Renaissance) Reviewed by Steve Marshall What would you get if you combined the guitar sound of early U2 with the progressive edge of Marillion, and then had a touch of UFO thrown in for good measure? The answer is: a group from Scotland called Dream Disciples. Originally released in Europe in 1994, this is the US debut of In Amber. The title track gets things off to a great start. This is one of those songs that sound familiar the first time you hear it. "Mark 13" keeps things rocking with its U2-like rhythm and basic riff. "Remember Bethany" evokes the sound of Marillion at its best (when Fish was still in the band). Colin Lowing's vocals on the CD run the gamut from a falsetto to an ominous growl, depending on the song. On "Burn the Sky," his voice sounds almost like Frank DiMino from Angel. On the next track, "The Dream is Dead," he sounds like Jon Bon Jovi. Musically, it's not bad, but someone else needs to sing the song. Up next is a cover of Eurythmics’ "Sweet Dreams (are Made of This)." The combination of menacing vocals over a hip-hop backing track just doesn't work. The next track, "Love is Fatal" more than makes up for it though. If you're a fan of any of the bands I mentioned earlier, you'll like this CD. In case you have trouble finding In Amber in your local record store, you can order it direct from Renaissance through their web site. Point your browser to http://skymarshall.com/renaissance for more information on Dream Disciples or any of the other Renaissance artists. FISH: Krakow (Renaissance) Reviewed by Steve Marshall When Fish left Marillion in 1988, fans weren't sure what direction the group would take. Fish wrote most, if not all, of the band's lyrics since the beginning. Marillion continued on with Steve Hogarth on vocals, but for the purists out there, they just weren't the same. Since his departure, Fish started his own record label (Dick Bros. Record Co. - Fish's given name is Derek Dick) and released a number of solo efforts, as well as an unprecedented number of live recordings. Krakow is the latest of these releases, capturing the October 1995 performance on CD. For this particular show, Fish and his band are in fine form. Several of the songs feature new intros, and the band really gets the opportunity to improvise. "Big Wedge" and "Emperor's Song" both appear in energetic and spirited form. The vocal arrangements on Krakow are much better than on some of his earlier live releases. "Lady Let it Lie" is a perfect example. Robin Boult and Frank Usher contribute stellar guitar licks to the song, too. On "Credo," Fish changed the lyrics slightly in the chorus and added new backing vocals to the end of the song. "Kayleigh" is "Kayleigh"--the song doesn't really change much from one show to another. "Lucky" stretches out past the 15 minute mark, giving each band member the chance to solo a bit. It gets a bit tedious after 10 minutes or so, but it still contains some great jams. An excellent version of "Lavender" appears as the first encore, interpolating the Blue Angel lyrics from "Bitter Suite." Even when taken out of its original context, this is a beautiful song. As far as live Fish releases go, Krakow is one of the best. In case you have trouble finding Krakow in your local record store, you can order it direct from Renaissance through their web site. Point your browser to http://skymarshall.com/renaissance for more information on Fish or any of the other Renaissance artists. IVANOVS: Symphony No. 2 in D Minor (1937); Symphony No. 3 in F Minor (1938). Latvian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dmitry Yablonsky. (MARCO POLO 8.223331 [DDD] 61:38) Reviewed by Robert Cummings A rather conspicuous note on the back of the CD case of this issue prompts you to wonder that someone at Naxos appeared overly eager to identify the influence of Cesar Franck in the Second Symphony and that of Alexander Scriabin in the Third. While a fair portion of the music here is derivative, and indebted to the sources noted, Janis Ivanovs (1906-83) was still very much his own man. His problem is that he was an arch-conservative. So charges of banality and musical irrelevance will follow him as surely as they follow George Lloyd and Howard Hanson. But all three composers will survive them. Ivanovs’ music is imbued with a flowing loveliness in the melodies, an adeptness in orchestration, and a nationalistic pride of his Latvian homeland. In his excellent notes Ludvigs Karklins tells us that the composer often sought inspiration in the folk songs of the Latgale district (eastern Latvia). The Second Symphony (1937) is well crafted, with a second movement Andante of ravishing beauty that lingers in the mind long after the performance ends. If the outer movements are not quite on that exalted level, they are tuneful, colorful, and worthy panels in the artistic whole. The Third Symphony (1938) possesses a slightly more sophisticated musical language and unfolds in more subtle orchestration. There’s not a dull moment in this work, and it’s consistently tuneful, with melodies that are quite direct and undeniably infectious. The strings so often do Ivanovs’ thematic bidding here, though the horn and clarinet make significant contributions, too, and add to the utterly enchanting atmosphere of wonder and mystery. There is a disarming innocence (but not naivety) about the whole work: the music spews neither acid nor bombast at your ears, but offers instead a harmoniousness, where conflicts aren’t so much violently resolved as acquiescent to the generally tranquil mood. The Scherzo may test this assessment a bit, but in the end its bite is rather painless, its ultimate effect, one of colorful mischief. In sum, this is a thoroughly enjoyable work that should be better known. This is the first volume in a projected series that will encompass all twenty-one symphonies of Ivanovs. On the evidence here, one can conclude that it portends a substantial aural treat for the consumer. I hope to obtain the whole set myself. Dmitry Yablonsky reads these scores with insight and his Latvian players perform with commitment and idiomatic spirit. These are recording premieres, and Marco Polo lavishes them with superb sound. A winner in my book. JANACEK: Piano Music, Vol. 2: Variations for Zdenka (1880), Op. 1; Three Moravian Dances (1892, 1904); A Recollection (1928); Music for Exercise Gymnastique 1-5 (1893); In the Mist (original version of the Fourth movement) (1912); In the Mist (1912); Concertino for Piano, Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon, Two Violins, and Viola. Thomas Hlawatsch, Piano. Geza Banhegyi, Clarinet; Karoly Ambrus, Horn; Istvan Hartenstein, Bassoon; Bela Nagy, Vilmos Olah, Violins; Csaba Babacsi, Viola. (NAXOS 8.553587 [DDD] 55:14) Reviewed by Robert Cummings Leos Janacek (1854-1928) is not known for his piano music. The extraordinary operas he wrote in the last half of his career and the Sinfonietta and Taras Bulba have established his reputation as one of the greatest Czech composers. Part of the reason for the neglect of his keyboard output is its paucity, of course; and, too, Czech composers, unlike their counterparts in Germany and Russia, have never established a tradition in this corner of the repertory, thereby failing to attract most pianists, who, it must be observed, are reluctant to explore the environs beyond the beaten path. But most of Janacek's piano compositions are worthwhile and fully deserve greater attention. Variations for Zdenka, an early Brahms-flavored work, is charming, the perfect piece to stump friends with in a "guess the composer" quiz. It offers an attractive stately theme and seven innovative variations. A Recollection is an interesting short work, somewhat impressionistic, with Debussy coming to mind in some of the chords. The five pieces comprising Music for Exercise Gymnastique are folk-tinged concoctions of humor and spice, often conjuring up images of obese, weight-minded people working out to the bombast and often elephantine thumping rhythms of the dance-like music. In the Mist is a work expressing anguish and suffering, but always via an eloquence that bespeaks a man insistent that musical decorum must prevail, that tears must be held back. It's a work of depth and considerable substance. Pianist Hlawatsch includes the original finale here, which, oddly enough, comes before the complete work on this disc. It's an interesting piece, but not on the level of its eventual successor. The Concertino, mislabeled on the CD's back cover as being for "Piano, Two Violins, Viola, Clarinet and Horn," leaving out the bassoon (though mentioning the bassoonist's name in the credits), is a curious work of arresting character. The first movement features piano and horn only; the second, piano and clarinet; the third piano, strings, clarinet and horn; and the fourth utilizing all instruments. Thomas Hlawatsch takes an often impressionistic view of these works, where Mikhail Rudy (EMI), in In the Mist, Three Moravian Dances, and A Recollection (and other works, not on this Naxos disc), infuses the music with drama and pointed thrust. Not that Hlawatsch is overly gentle in his subtle approach--indeed, he can impart power and muscle, too, where called for: try the ending of the Concertino (track 13, 4:00). In this chamber work the wind and string players also perform admirably throughout. I have not heard the late Rudolph Firkusny (RCA) in his highly-praised traversal of these works, but I can confidently assert that Hlawatsch is certainly a compelling Janacek proponent. And at Naxos's budget price, he's an irresistible bargain. Excellent sound and informative notes. MIKE KENEALLY & BEER FOR DOLPHINS: Half Alive in Hollywood (CD) Soap Scum Remover (Video) Immune Records IMM 1013/14 (CD) Immune Records IMM 1015-3 (Video) Reviewed by Paul Remington Mike Keneally is performing double-duty these days, touring as a member of Steve Vai's band while headlining his own band, Beer for Dolphins. While Keneally remains active on the performing end of the business, Immune Records has satisfied his fans with two newly compiled Keneally releases. Both releases resonate a common theme: Spontaneity. The "live" element of each release is the featured concept. The double-CD "Half Alive in Hollywood" is just that - half live. Keneally chose a rather unique approach for this release. The first CD was recorded live in the studio, with Keneally and his band letting the tape roll while they perform what amounts to a live performance, minus the crowd. The performance was captured to tape in early 1995 by studio engineering students at the Musicians' Institute in Hollywood, California. Keneally's original intent was to re-record his vocals captured during this recording session. During later sessions he re-recorded some vocal parts and finally opted to keep the original mix as recorded at the Musicians' Institute. Keneally feels the "vibe" of the original mix was something worth preserving. With the exception of the last tune, "The Desired Effect," all music is performed live in the studio. Keneally performs material from Hat, Boil That Dust Spec, and a few extras thrown in as loose change. Warts and all, this approach actually works, and is perhaps the most unique power trio release I've heard in years. A rare aural snapshot of Keneally working in the studio. The second CD, aptly titled "Live on Stage," features Keneally and Beer for Dolphins live at the Musicians' Institute concert venue, 22 February, 1996. This concert featured Keneally's return to the Musicians' Institute to perform a second concert live before a crowd. Keneally's first visit the year previous produced substandard results, according to Keneally. As with disk one, disk two features music from Hat, Boil That Dust Spec, and previously unreleased material, including a cover of Hendrix' "Power of Soul," curiously mistitled as "Power to Love." (The original Hendrix album this piece appears contains "Message to Love" following "Power of Soul" - perhaps this is the source of confusion, or perhaps it was intended for some reason.) The audio quality of both CDs contains elements that should be overlooked considering the live nature of the recordings. Disk one suffers from a rough mix while disk two originates from a monaural DAT recording. In this day and age of superbly recorded releases, rich with separation and spatial ambiance, the energy of the performances on this release far exceeds any audio limitations. The companion video sold separately through Immune Records again features more live material from Beer for Dolphins, covering some of the same material as Half Alive in Hollywood, with a few extras added to round-out Keneally's previously released repertoire. Soap Scum Remover is a humorous collection of video material primarily derived from two live performances at the Bourbon Street Club, 29 August, 1995, and 29 September, 1995. The personnel is the same between each gig, with the exception of drummers. Joe Travers appears on the August 24th performance while Toss Panos is featured on the September 29th performance. Dispersed throughout the film are fantastic acoustic clips featuring Keneally and Bellar performing versions of "Love Theme from Vulture Fun," "Deep Fried Skins Are Go!," "I Will," and "In The Bone World." Keneally also performs a solo acoustic version of "1988 Was a Million Years Ago" from a stairwell. These acoustic performances are perhaps the most interesting, and capture Keneally out of the element he's known best - fronting an amplified ensemble. The quality of the video production is marginal, and appears to have been produced through amateur sources, although the packaging states "This video proves that video is best left in the hands of the professionals." The August 29th performance suffers from substandard audio quality, camera shake, and wandering camera angles. For example, on one occasion, while Keneally solos, we are left staring at Bellar who in turn is staring at Keneally, leaving the viewing audience left to imagine Keneally's execution of the solo. The September 29th performance is similar, although the audio is far superior. The acoustic segments are excellent, and for some these clips may be worth the price of admission alone. In summary, Soap Scum Remover is a compilation of excellent Beer for Dolphins footage. The video package is labeled, "Volume 1 of the MK/BFD Video Club," so it appears Keneally will be releasing periodic compilations for his fans. Regardless of the quality of the video footage from both gigs, this video captures some impressive performances by Keneally and the boys, and sports a personality all its own, with Keneally's brand of humor well communicated. Interviews with Bellar and Keneally appear between performances, and we are even treated to a 30 second guitar lesson with Keneally teaching us the importance of one particular finger while playing. A bizarre glimpse at what enhances Keneally's talent as a guitarist. For those interested, ask your local record store to stock these items, or special order them for yourself through Immune Records. If you have trouble acquiring these releases, contact Immune directly at 92669 Mission Gorge Road #211, San Diego, CA 92071. Immune Records is also visible on the World Wide Web at http://www2.connectnet.com/~immune/ CHAKA KHAN: Epiphany: The Best of Chaka Khan (Vol. 1)(Reprise) Reviewed by Shaun Dale Funky divas may come and go, but the genuine article, the original Diva of Funk, is, was and will be Chaka Khan. What Aretha is to Southern, gospel inflected soul, what Diana is to Motor City smooth soul, what Tina is to hard rocking R&B - that's what Chaka is to the world of dance floor funk. This disc is a long overdue appreciation of a too often under appreciated talent, and a demonstration that her range goes farther than most folks suspect. There's about 20 years of music chronicled on this disc, culled primarily from her post-Rufus solo work (the exceptions being a pair of live cuts, "Ain't Nobody" and a memorable "Tell Me Something Good"). A quick glance at the composing credits reveal and amazing assembly of talent, including Ashford & Simpson, Stevie Wonder, (the artist formerly, and perhaps once again, though who can be sure, known as) Prince, Dizzy Gillespie and Bruce Hornsby. (Bruce Hornsby!?!) Yeah, Bruce Hornsby. A Hornsby/Khan ballad, "Love Me Still," provides one more demonstration of her range. And she manages to funk up Bruce a bit, too. Another cut, "The End Of A Love Affair" is dedicated to the memory of Ella Fitzgerald and Chaka proves she has a way with the kind of jazzy cocktail blues and rich arrangement that made Ella a musical icon - and she throw's in a credible scat solo to boot. The highlight for me is "And The Melody Still Lingers On (Night In Tunisia)," a reworking of the Gillespie standard that stands as another tribute to the pioneers of African-American music and reveals the bop roots of funk unlike anything else I've heard. The cut features solos by Diz and Charlie Parker along with George Benson on guitar and vocals. It's hard to talk about highlights here, though. Every performance is solid, every selection superb. This is just a fine piece of work. "I'm Every Woman," she sings, and makes you wish she was... Track List: Ain't Nobody * Papillon (aka Hot Butterfly) * Tell Me Something Good * I Feel For You * I Know You, I Love You * I'm Every Woman * Love Me Still * The End Of A Love Affair * And The Melody Still Lingers On (Night in Tunisia) * Through The Fire * What Cha' Gonna Do For Me * Everywhere * Never Miss The Water * Something Deep * Your Love Is All I Know * Every Little Thing THE LOST: Early Recordings - Demos, Acoustic & Live 1965-66 (Arf! Arf!) Reviewed by DJ Johnson This Boston band came close but didn't get the cigar. Now that their original records have been hunted to extinction and their better known tracks have been released on garage comps, Arf! Arf! has put together this killer collection of 26 rarities. The 19 demo tracks are fresh, simple recordings that prove The Lost wasn't a producer's creation. They were excellent songwriters and fine performers, capable of kicking out tough R&B or tightly knit pop tunes with equal skill. Cover fans will be knocked out by their version of "Who Do You Love," amused by their romping take on "A Certain Chick" and mystified by their completely unnecessary instrumental version of Burt Bachrach and Hal David's "Walk On By." The four acoustic tracks are "Kaleidoscope," "Is It I," "Dry Your Eyes," and "Dead Flowers," and while they're not particularly "complete," they do offer an even better sense of their songwriting skills than the demos do. While we're all sick and tired of the whole "unplugged" thing here in the 90s, the concept of stripping a song down to its most basic components still makes sense, and these early examples bear that out. The live tracks that close the album, "No Money In My Pocket," "Mystic," and the psychedelic jam called "Ole (As The Mere Bagatelle)" range progressively from ordinary to amazing. "Ole" shows the band finding new depth and creativity in a modal format similar to--though certainly not as stellar as--the Paul Butterfield Blues Band's classic "East-West." A very interesting end to a very satisfying collection. Arf! Arf! has really been doing a service to the garage rock community. The liners are educational and interesting, and the sound quality is surprisingly good. All in all, this is a great way to spend 72 minutes. (ARF! ARF! P.O. Box 465, Middleborough, MA. 02346 USA) BOB MARLEY: Soul Almighty (JAD) Reviewed by DJ Johnson Unlike most "essential" Bob Marley releases of the past few years, this one really is essential. Usually, you get a disc full of tracks you've already got--how many different discs do YOU have with "Slave Driver" on them--and no real archeological finds. This ain't that. What we have here are very early (1967-68) recordings of Bob and Rita Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Livingston. The tracks were recorded with Bob's acoustic guitar as the only instrumentation behind their soulful vocals. The tapes were then taken to New York City, where some of the best session men in the business--including those who regularly worked with Aretha Franklin--added full instrumentation. The resulting music was soulful yet indelibly stamped with the sound of Jamaica. When you consider the conditions the original tracks were recorded in, it's something of a miracle that the sound quality is as high as it is. Still, there is a significant difference in sound quality between the vocal tracks and the instrument tracks. The vocals are a bit distorted and frequently sound somewhat distant. You would expect the instruments to sound clean, and they do. They were recorded in the best NYC studios, after all. But Bob and company were recorded in a tiny backroom studio, sitting in a circle as an engineer held a microphone over their heads. And yet the combination of sound qualities works, adding a layer of surrealism. Amazing. The REAL miracle, however, is that the tapes survived all these years and finally made it to disc. They were in terrible condition and had to be baked. Yeah... baked. At 375 for about 20 minutes. Don't you try this at home. As I understand it, after a tape is baked, you only have a day or two to dub it down before it disintegrates, and the procedure often fails. That's how close this music came to being lost forever. 11 of the 16 songs have been released in one form or another in the past, but the five that have not are going to make Marley fans extremely happy. From the simple sweet soul of "Splish For My Splash" to the cerebral drone of "What Goes Around Comes Around" and the Jamaicafied funk of "Falling In And Out Of Love," the Marley vibe is ever-powerful. The only possible misfire is "You Think I Have No Feelings," an all-too-American soul tune that never really takes flight. It's also the only cut where the contrast between low quality vocal tracks and high quality instrumental tracks seems awkward. Not terrible, but not up to the quality of the rest of the disc. This is excellent and important stuff, and it's well put together, right down to the informative liners. My only regret is that we can't hear the original unadorned tracks with just Bob, Rita, Bunny and Peter singing to Bob's acoustic guitar. It would make a wonderful companion disc. But those tapes are long gone. Alas. MERIDIAN ARTS ENSEMBLE: Anxiety of Influence (Channel Crossings CCS 9796) Reviewed by Paul Remington The Meridians are at it again. A few months after the release of Five, we are treated with yet another collection of fantastic ensemble material performed in the usual prodigious fashion the Meridians bring to every performance. Celebrating their 10th anniversary, the Meridians have released their sixth CD featuring the music of six composers: Frank Zappa, Claude Debussy, Stephen Barber, Daniel Grabois, Stanley Silverman, and Raymond Stewart. Jon Nelson also provides an arrangement of a traditional Afro/Cuban work titled "El Solitario," and applies his arranging skills to works composed by Frank Zappa. Those familiar with the Meridian Arts Ensemble will recognize the names Raymond Stewart, Daniel Grabois, and Jon Nelson. Each are members of the Ensemble, which consists of a five piece brass section, sit-down drummer, and on this CD, piano. Stewart plays tuba, Grabois plays horn, and Nelson plays trumpet. Second trumpet and drums are performed by Josef Burgstaller and John Ferarri, respectively. Anxiety of Influence also finds a new recruit, Jon Klibonoff, who fulfills the piano requirements in some of the compositions. Klibonoff's performance is excellent with his most impressive work found on Zappa's "Little House I Used to Live in." Klibonoff brings a sensitive and moving approach to a three minute piano introduction that skillfully articulates Zappa's uncanny ear for rich harmonic chords and complementary melodic forms. The Meridians have always recognized the importance of being unique. Although the ensemble in the past has specialized in contemporary American compositions, this release uses other ethnic influences as a framework for composed material. Anxiety of Influence explores stylistic elements ranging from Afro/Cuban in nature (Nelson), ska (Stewart), French (Debussy), and even musical adaptations of spiritual ceremonies (Barber). The CD opens with four intriguing works composed by Frank Zappa. The Meridians' Jon Nelson penned the arrangements based on Zappa's original compositions. Performed on this CD are "Run Home Slow," "The Little March," a piano and ensemble version of "Little House I Used to Live in," and a drum solo and ensemble performance of "The Black Page." The Meridians have previously performed and recorded works by Zappa on their Smart Went Crazy and Prime Meridian releases. Their latest addition brings the same attention to detail and unity between musicians required when performing Zappa's compositions. The Meridians always sound quite comfortable performing Zappa's work. Stephen Barber's "Semahane" ("Whirling Wall") further explores ideas derived from Zappa's work. Barber dedicates this composition to both Frank Zappa and the Meridian Arts Ensemble. Inspired by the spiritual ceremonies of the Mevlevi sect of Sufism, Barber gives us an abbreviated yet structured aural glimpse of this ritualistic ceremony. While Barber composed "Semahane," Frank Zappa died (December 1993). Thus, the dedication and musical influence of Frank Zappa are found in one segment of this work. The Meridian's quest for new sounds may best be heard in this 21 minute composition. Barber's contribution of past material to the Meridians' repertoire has proven fruitful, and "Whirling Wall" continues along the same explorative path that has helped define the Meridian's unique musical voice. Also included is a wonderful composition by Stanley Silverman composed in 1977, "Variations on a Theme of Kurt Weill." Silverman's work as musical director for Joseph Papp's production of Brecht and Weill's "Three Penny Opera" became the thematic influence for his Variations. Based on the theme from "Lied von der Unzelanglichkeit Menschlichen Strebens," which translates to "Song of the Insufficiency of Human Endeavor," Silverman takes a more traditional approach by performing the work in a smooth legato form. More recent performances of Weill's theme utilize a quicker tempo. Due to the harmonic and rhythmic simplicity of the work, Silverman composed his Variations parallel to the legato form Weill originally used. The result is a captivating work that captures the stylistic personality that is so characteristic of Kurt Weill. Consistency in musical output can be as much a defining factor of an Ensemble's ability as the quality of performance. The Meridians have always favored adventurous programming, and the collection of material on "Anxiety of Influence" delves deeper into remote avenues of musical exploration. Their apparent disregard for musical boundaries is what makes the Meridian Arts Ensemble a unique and valuable addition to 20th Century music. There are very few ensembles that can program such a diverse set of material and actually make the repertoire work. Channel Crossings should be applauded for its continued release of material by the Meridians, and the usual high quality production they bring to each CD. I'm sure it won't be long before the Meridians entertain us with another release. Until that time, we have plenty of music to enjoy from their ever-growing catalog. MINSTRELSY: Vieni O Cara (Lyrichord) Reviewed by DJ Johnson This is most certainly one of the most beautiful recordings to grace my review stack in years. 17th century works by Monteverdi, Castello, Weelkes, Steffani and others are handled with expert precision by Minstrelsy, a five piece collective from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The group consists of David Livingston (recorder), Phillip Rukavina (archlute), Carole Hofstad (soprano), Nancy Froseth (viola da gamba, recorder), and David Hays (baroque violin). The music is obviously well researched and quite authentic, as they perform in workshops at various schools as often as they perform in concert. Vieni O Cara flows with strength, emotion and beauty from beginning to end, in works that range from tense theatrical to light carnival. In this area, layman's terms are all I can provide. I don't know why Steffani and the other composers represented here wrote each individual note: but I do know that this music transports me to another time. It is a beautiful performance. MOZART: Symphony No. 23, Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major, Symphony No. 36 - Berlin Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado conductor - (Sony SK 66859) Reviewed by Paul Remington There is no arguing Mozart is one of the great composers in the history of classical music. Having died prior to his 36th birthday, Mozart composed an impressive quantity of material, and harbors a catalog one can spend a lifetime exploring and enjoying. Sony's recent release of two Mozart symphonic works and a Sinfonia Concertante adds to the growing collection of recorded material in Mozart's catalog. Mozart's Symphony No. 23 (K. 181) in D-major more closely resembles an Italian overture than a German symphonic work. The symphony is scored for two oboes, two trumpets, two horns, strings, and no timpani. Each of the three movements segue into each other. The opening bars of the Allegro Spiritoso--the first movement--echo that of an Italian opera, while the closing movement--the Presto Assai--is charged with energy and life, resembling the closure of an Italian opera. Mozart completed the symphony in May of 1773 at the age of 18. Symphony No. 23 shows a matured compositional approach from a composer who was barely through his pubescent years. The Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major (K. 364) is a curious work borrowing from the compositional history of Salzburg. Mozart clearly quotes musical themes composed and performed in Salzburg at the time. Mozart scored the solo parts of the Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola, quite similar to Michael Haydn's D-major Sonata for violin and viola. Such practices during Mozart's time were thought of as quite respectable, and were not thought of as plagiaristic, or unoriginal. Rather, Mozart's recycling of music popular in Salzburg was thought of as a sign of respect from one composer to another. The Sinfonia Concertante was composed during the final months Mozart lived in Salzburg in 1779. He wrote to his father that work was a burden, and he was quite unhappy. Yet, his time in Salzburg produced numerous sacred works, symphonies, a concerto for two pianos, the Posthorn Serenade, and the Sinfonia Concertante. Frustration must have been a factor during Mozart's final months in Salzburg. His complaints that work was a burden and that he was unhappy appear to be contradictory to his musical output. The final score gives no indication of a frustrated composer, nor does it reflect a composition lacking originality due to musical quotations. It is definitive Mozart Perhaps the most interesting work is the Symphony No. 36 (K. 425) in C-major, known as the "Linz" Symphony. Named after the city where it was both composed and first performed, Symphony No. 36 is an example of Mozart's compositional talents and ability to compose at astounding speeds. In a letter to his father dated 30 October, 1783--the same day Mozart arrived in Linz--Mozart states he is giving a concert at a theater in Linz, but he has no symphony to perform. He expresses that he is feverishly writing a new symphony for performance in the theater. If we include the day Mozart wrote the letter, Mozart completed the entire score for performance, as well as orchestrated each part and rehearsed the work in a staggering six days! The work was first performed on 4 November, 1783, and was highly admired by Mozart. He later referred to the symphony as "great," and on another occasion, "Perfect." Sony's release of these fine works is enhanced by the performance of the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Claudio Abbado. The selection of material is quiet appropriate and flowing. Symphony No. 23, with it's Italian form, acts as an overture while the Sinfonia Concertante features solo violin and viola performed by Rainer Kussmaul and Wolfram Christ, respectively. The disk ends with Mozart's Symphony No. 36, which has been described as Mozart's final symphony before the completion of his four final works in Vienna which preceded Mozart's untimely death and brought an end to his symphonic compositions. Recorded with 20-bit resolution, the sound is as exceptional as the performance. Abbado's intimate understanding of Mozart's compositions enhance the subtle detail incorporated in each composition. Mozart's catalog may be brimming with multiple performances of each work, but when a disk emerges featuring such a quality performance as this, a new addition to the large collection of recorded material is a welcome addition. NEW JERSEY KINGS: Party to the Bus Stop (Hollywood Records) Reviewed by Shaun Dale I don't know who the New Jersey Kings were. I don't know where they ended up. And I sure as hell don't know how they ended up on Hollywood Records' Acid Jazz imprint. What I *do* know is that there were some fine nights in some eastern seaboard clubs in the seventies when these guys showed up to play their particular brand of Stax influenced 70's funk. This is party music, stuff to dance till you're sweaty to, and the players are hot enough to hint at the jams they must have been capable of live. This is, though, a period piece. Both the music and the production are evocative of a time and place. Exactly what time and in what place these sides were created is a mystery, though, which is not solved by the virtually nonexistent notes which accompany this disc. If you like this kind of thing (and if you like, say, Booker T. & the M.G.s or the Bar-Kays you'll probably find something to like here) I'm happy to recommend this as a fine example of the form. I have to take the label to task a bit though. I may be grateful that this music has been released in a format that makes it accessible, but damn it, there must be someone somewhere that knows something about this band. It's sure not me, but a little research and a better package might have changed that. I wish it had. Track List: The Monkey Drop * Get Organized * Solid * Sweet Cakes * Sweet Shirley * The Latin One * All Wrapped Up * Charlies Groove * Solid (alternative take) RACHEL'S: The Sea and the Bells (Quarterstick Records) Reviewed by coLeSLAw Who is Rachel's? Good question, and deeper than you may think. Jason Noble (guitar), Rachel Grimes (piano) and Christian Frederickson (viola) make up the core of Rachel's this time around. In the past the band's albums have incorporated anywhere from three to seventeen players (Noble didn't even appear on their second release, 'Music for Egon Schiele'). Yet the instrumentation on this particular release is the boldest and farthest reaching to date. Drums, violins, violas, cellos, bells, musical saws, trumpet, clarinet... The list goes on and on. If Rachel's never gains notoriety for their exceptional talent, they may at least get some award for the largest band that doesn't have their own recital hall. As epitomized by their second release, the base of their sound is classical in nature. Yet with 'The Sea and the Bells,' as with their first release 'Handwriting,' they show elements that are undeniably modern, and which lack the "I've heard that song a billion times" aspect which classical music has going against it. This is where Rachel's succeeds for me. I like classical music, I like it a lot. But if I have to hear Beethoven's fifth symphony one more time, I promise to draw blood. It is time for modern day musicians to breathe life back into a genre full of brilliant yet undeniably long-dead pieces and sugary-sweet movie anthems. Rachel's music does have a sort of movie-like visual quality to it, but on a level far superior to those swelling sweeping tear-jerker themes. The rest of their sound is... is... something else entirely. Hauntingly beautiful, or just plain haunting, as the sounds of creaking boats, spiteful sirens calling sailors to the rocks, and general ambient noise bring the listener one step further into the music. Elements of jazz and rock provide the ongoing originality throughout the album, as each song has its own quality distinguishing it from the rest. This necessary inconsistency is evident between Rachel's albums as well. Each release is its own thing, making it far easier and more entertaining waiting to see what they will do next... and who they will be. HENRY ROLLINS: Everything (2.13.61) Reviewed by Shaun Dale "Everything" is a two disc reading from the book Eye Scream by singer, actor, writer, producer, publisher and all round popular culture man of the planet Henry Rollins. It's hard to tell from this recording what kind of writer Rollins is because there are elements of performance which dominate the words, but it's clear that he's a hell of a reader. The text itself consists of darkly apocalyptic urban rants and vignettes, reminiscent in turns of Burroughs, Bukowski and Chandler. Rollins renders the work convincingly - at times pitting out chunks of invective then turning to softer, conspiratorial tones, then reading in flat tones that suggest a radio reader dispensing the mystery of the week. He's accompanied here by Charles Gayle on piano, violin and sax and by percussionist Rashied Ali, credited in the notes with "ambient noise" but providing an extended free jazz jam which supports and surrounds Rollins' monologue. The musical accompaniment gives the whole thing a tone reminiscent of a reading in a beat coffee house. Is this good? I don't know. What's "good?" It's more challenging than entertaining, but it's effective, or at least affective. I've sat through the whole two hours or so about three times and *I've* certainly been affected. Something new is revealed with each listening, but the set is more about mood than content, at least to my ear. If the discs are designed to promote the book, I'm not sure the project is a success. Listening doesn't particularly make me want to read this stuff - in fact, it makes it seem that reading this stuff would be more work than I want to invest in reading. It *does* make me want to hear more, though, and if that's the point, the point is well made. This work will affect you - it will challenge, attack, probably offend and possibly inspire you. If it *entertains* you, you may not be someone I want to meet. (2.13.61 Records, Box 3001, Spring St. Station, New York, NY 10012) RUDER THAN YOU: Horny For Ska (MoonSka) Reviewed by DJ Johnson I love the sound this band gets! What is it about Philadelphia bands of all genres and biiiiig sounds? Woody Woodman's drums are a huge part of it. The man beats the crap out of those drum heads. Don Pancoe's fluid bass work makes Woodman sound even sharper. The results aren't hard to guess: what we have here is one of the coolest rhythm sections in ska. Good thing, since the rest of the band is upper crust as well. They had me in their corner by the ten second mark of track one. These guys had the balls to skank out Sabbath's "Paranoid!" Gotta love 'em! Now, if you had told me two days ago that you thought a ska version of Paranoid would be great, I would have thought you were daft. But wait! It's a damned SKA song! No, I'm serious. It works perfectly within the framework of the ska rhythms. Somebody had to THINK of doing that song, and here's to whoever it was. They weren't done, though. "Misskaculation" is a brilliant high stepping rendering of The Chantay's surf classic, "Pipeline." Surf and Ska being two of my very favorite styles of music, this one is bound to be my track of the month. Ruder Than You rocks out in the Philly tradition on tunes like "Uncle Albert" (not the McCartney tune) and "Beg You A Little More," then effortlessly slips into a big band sound for "Swarata." They swing from clean to gritty for "Skahall Connection," a tune with a big enough roostertail to be classified as ska-core and enough Devo-esque herky jerkism in the horn arrangement to be called New SkaWave. The best moments of all happen when they put on the big vocal sound. Too many otherwise dynamite ska bands are burdened with proficient but bland vocals. Not true of Ruder Than You! Zero defects. Great rhythms, great arrangements, great performances. This is a band that's clearly firing on all cylinders. SCHUBERT: Mass in F Major, D. 105; Mass in G Major, D. 167. Alexander Nader, Thomas Puchegger, Sopranos (Vienna Boys Choir); Georg Leskovich, Alto (Vienna Boys Choir); Jorg Hering, Tenor; Kurt Azesberger, Tenor; Harry van der Kamp, Bass; Arno Hartmann, Organ; Vienna Boys Choir; Chorus Viennensis; Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by Bruno Weil. (SONY VIVARTE SK 68247 [DDD] 61:34) Reviewed by Robert Cummings I listened to this recording with some trepidation at the outset: a noted critic in a prestigious classical review journal had turned decided thumbs down on the two preceding installments in this series. Among his complaints were extremely fast tempos and the use of boy sopranos instead of adult female singers. As I auditioned these performances I took special note of the tempo markings in the text. I heard nothing rushed, nothing distasteful in conductor Weil's choices. In fact, his pacing seemed rather judicious. In some sections you might find the tempos on the brisk side, but hardly egregiously fast. The F Major Mass's Credo, for instance, marked Andantino, sounded a bit like a Moderato, but that's barely a notch up on the metronomic scale. Overall, Weil achieves a quite natural flow in these performances, his readings being fairly straightforward, unencumbered by any misguided attempt to plumb the depths for some hidden profundities. He is fully cognizant that simplicity and grace are what matters here, and he scores handsomely on both counts. He also obtains unmannered, solid playing from the orchestra. The G Major Mass, only about half as long as its sibling, is the greater work of this pair. Not that the earlier piece isn't rewarding--it is, and as performed here is an immensely enjoyable composition. At the conclusion of this work Weil offers the second version of this mass's Dona Nobis Pacem, a superior revision Schubert wrote in 1815, a year after the original, and also the same year he composed the G Major Mass. Concerning the issue of sopranos, I'm inclined to favor an adult female over a prepubescent male in these works, although both young Nader (in the F Major) and Puchegger (in the G Major and as Soprano I in the F Major's Benedictus) acquit themselves quite well. I would give the latter youth a slight edge over his colleague. Both have a chalk-whiteness to their tone, producing what many find a purity and beguiling innocence of sound, but one lacking color and expressive depth, too. Tenor Hering and Bass van der Kamp also turn in fine performances. Perhaps the chief attraction to this recording for many collectors, though, is the use of original instruments. There isn't a bevy of recordings of either of these early Schubert works in the catalogs, whether on modern or original instruments, so to many this disc may be self-recommending. Sony serves up excellent, if slightly distant, sound reproduction, and the scholarly H.C. Robbins Landon provides informative notes. In sum, this is a fine pair of performances that Schubert mavens and those interested in choral and church music will find quite rewarding. SHCHEDRIN: Carmen Ballet -and- BIZET: Carmen Suite No. 1 Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, James DePreist conductor (Delos DE 3208) Reviewed by Paul Remington Although Rodion Shchedrin leaned towards a compositional style derived from Prokofiev and Shostakovich in his early works, he is best known for his ballet score of Bizet's "Carmen." Shchedrin studied composition at the Moscow Conservatory in Russia. After marrying Russian ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, Shchedrin composed works that featured Maya's dancing. One of these works is based on the thematic ideas originally composed by Georges Bizet in his opera, "Carmen," and is formally titled "Carmen Suite, Ballet Suite for Strings and Percussion, Based on Themes from Carmen by Georges Bizet." Shchedrin's Carmen views the work in thirteen separate sections, each section emphasizing a particular mood and expressing a specific idea. Each section features a thematic idea originally composed by Georges Bizet in his Carmen opera. Shchedrin's composition for string orchestra and percussion is very well orchestrated and cleverly expresses the mood of each section. Popular themes and rhythmic patterns closely resemble those used by Bizet, and are used by Shchedrin to emphasize dramatic sections of the ballet. The resulting score exudes the similarly passionate approach Bizet brings to his opera, although it does not match the intensity Bizet accomplished. Regardless, Shchedrin's work contains unique qualities that allow it to stand on its own. Carmen is best expressed by Bizet in his fully orchestrated score. For this reason, Delos includes Bizet's "Carmen Suite No. 1" immediately following Shchedrin's ballet score. This suite contains orchestrated segments of Carmen that give us a fulfilling glimpse of the colorful and rich final score composed by Bizet. Since its premier in 1875, Bizet's Carmen has become a standard addition to operatic repertory, and is Bizet's best-known opera. Carmen's lush orchestration and haunting melodies were originally rejected by the public following its premier. Not until Bizet's death did the opera capture the ears and hearts of its listeners, and is now regarded as one of the more popular operatic productions, along with Puccini's "La Boheme" and Verdi's "La Traviata." Carmen has not just delighted the eyes and ears of the general public, but also other composers. Richard Strauss was so moved by Bizet's orchestration of Carmen, he referred to it as "sheer perfection," further stating, "If you want to learn how to orchestrate, don't study Wagner's scores, study the score of Carmen . . . What wonderful economy, and how every note and every rest is in its proper place." These are high words from a composer who ultimately mastered three musical genres: opera, orchestral tone poems, and lieder. Delos' release of Carmen is sonically flawless. The CD features 20-bit resolution, an added feature for those with 20-bit playback capability. The recording utilizes VR2 (Virtual Reality) technology and Dolby surround sound. The performance was recorded in the small 450 seat Salle Garnier hall in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. Delos engineers temporarily enhanced the hall's acoustics for this recording. As the liner notes state, "The pattern of early room reflections and subsequent ring-out is sufficient to add warmth to the string sound without blurring in any way the detail of the percussion." Played on a conventional stereo, the sonic enhancements are noticeable, and produce a warm, crisp, and highly detailed playback. For those with Dolby Surround Sound and Dolby Pro Logic systems, you're in for a real treat. Delos' recording of Carmen uses advanced microphone techniques and placement to achieve expanded spatial ambiance detectable from common two-speaker systems. Delos' attention to such a quality recording makes this CD suitable for all audiences, regardless of the equipment used to reproduce the work. For those audiophile-minded individuals, this version of Carmen will surely tickle your ears with its sonic detail and imagery, and just may find you reaching out to touch that instrument that's not really there. NANCY SINATRA: Movin' With Nancy (Sundazed) Reviewed by DJ Johnson If you only loved her for her boots, this album won't thrill ya. If you love the cheesiness of 60s pseudo-culture, step right up! Movin' With Nancy is the soundtrack of her debut TV special, circa 1967, and it's weeeeeird! The concept was to film Nancy and her guests in a variety of situations, on location, and from unusual angles. Today, most of the practices are commonplace in rock videos. Now, there's a little interview in the liners, done recently, in which Nancy and director/producer Jack Haley Jr. refer to that program as the first music videos. Uuuuuuh... guess they never saw A Hard Days Night. That's okay, though, it was still a wonderfully cheesy show, with wonderfully cheesy music, and this soundtrack is...wonderfully cheesy. Nancy is as Nancy does cover tunes like "Up Up And Away," "Friday's Child," and even Ray Charles' "What'd I Say." The best moments include her duet with the always cool Dean Martin on "Things," Papa Frank's solo take on "Younger Than Springtime," and the true goosebumper of Nancy's career, "Some Velvet Morning," performed with Lee Hazlewood. Nancy 'n Lee team up again to take a stab at C&W: "Jackson" is the most playful moment of the program, though any trace of country guts has been magically wiped away. That's okay, because Nancy is just Nancy. It's a Park Avenue coolness kind of thing. SNFU: Fyulaba (Epitaph) Reviewed by DJ Johnson God have mercy on anybody who amuses SNFU, because today's headline grabbers are tomorrow's barbecue platter. On Fyulaba, they tear into Kate Moss, John Wayne Bobbitt, Eddie Vedder, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dean Martin and a few other unlucky targets. The result is an album that functions as something of a bookmark in time: a snapshot of MTV News' version of pop culture as seen through questioning eyes. The tunes are fast and furious and funny, and thankfully they included lyrics in the liner notes! Otherwise I might not have known they said "Vomit dripping off my lips - stop trying to make me sick." And that would have been a damned shame. The CNN-eye view of this moment in time gets the treatment as well, with such diverse newsy topics as mad cow disease, bulimia, and Charlie Manson's parole hearings. That tune is funny right down to the title, "Charlie Still Smirks," and not just because of the vicious line "I heard that Axl Rose once gave him a blowjob." I like this record for a lot of good reasons. First of all, I agree that Eddie Vedder is yesterday's news (YAY!), and I agree that the super-skinny super-model look is a joke shoved down the throats of the females of this planet. I also respect their devil-may-care attitude and complete lack of respect for potential lawsuits! And while I love a good three chord energy band, I'm knocked out by the cool musical textures in SNFU's brand of punk. And that's what this is: punk music, loud and edgy, with the main separator between themselves and the average punk band being that they can focus angst and make it amusing. ROBIN TROWER: Bridge of Sighs (Mobile Fidelity) Reviewed by Steve Marshall When I first put Mobile Fidelity's new gold Bridge of Sighs in the CD player, I really didn't think it was anything spectacular. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. By the time it got to the extended fade on "Day of the Eagle," I started to change my mind. This is a perfect example of what makes most audiophile CDs and vinyl so enjoyable. As the song fades into oblivion, the only thing you hear is the music. It's amazing that after years of listening to this album, you can still pick up nuances in the music that seemingly were never there before. The studio chatter on the title track is more prominent now. The original album never sounded bad, but this gold pressing blows it away--it's warmer and much more spacious. Channel separation is superb on all the songs. Each instrument stands on its own in the mix. "Too Rolling Stoned," in particular, never sounded better. The handclaps during the solo are right in your face. Besides the improved sound quality on the CD, Bridge of Sighs includes new liner notes and photos, and the single version of "Day of the Eagle" as a bonus track. U-ROY: Babylon Kingdom Must Fall (Ariwa/RAS) Reviewed by DJ Johnson Daddy U-Roy may live in California, but his music is still firmly rooted in the ghettos of Jamaica. As the title of this album would suggest, his music remains conscious and vital. I'm happy to report that he hasn't lost a step in the performance department, either. U-Roy's influence on American rappers is undeniable, and though his delivery is melodic, it's his vocal rhythm that sets him apart from other performers in the genre. "Keep On Running" clearly showcases this aspect of his talent. "Reggae Hip Hop" puts it into a more obvious (less melodic) framework for those who remain unconvinced. These tracks, while entertaining, are just samples and distillations of various components of U-Roy. The total package is found in the conscious songs, beginning with "Shaking Up The City." An indictment of violence, poverty and government, the song is punched across in a surreal semi-dub style. Not surprising, since the album was produced by the great Mad Professor, their 3rd collaboration. Indeed, the album ends with "Moses Dub," an absolutely indispensable example of the Prof's dub magic. Kunta Kinte appears as a metaphor for the common black experience of displacement, oppression and brutalization in "Taken From Africa," a point made all the more compelling by U-Roy's passionate vocal performance. Still teaching after all these years. The CD sounds wonderful, as you would expect considering it came from Mad Professor's Ariwa studio. Secret: This album was actually recorded in The Beastie Boys' studio, but it was mixed at Ariwa. The best of the reggae underground played on the album, including Mafia (bass), Sly Dunbar (drums), Black Steel and Lloyd Gittens (guitars). Some artists age like fine wine. Laurel Aitken comes to mind. So does U-Roy. Babylon Kingdom Must Fall is his strongest statement in a long while. VARIOUS ARTISTS: Cha Cha Le Amor (Capitol) Disc Nine in the Ultra-Lounge Series Reviewed by DJ Johnson Another disc in the Ultra-Lounge series. This one begins and ends with "Sway," first by Dean Martin and then by Julie London. I've always been a Dean fan, but Julie's is the more exotic of the two. She was a smokey one, that Julie! (She was Nurse Dixie McCall on Emergency back in the 70's. Remember, fellow old people??? She was a smokey nurse, that Dix...) Some of the music in this series pushes my cheese tolerance a bit, but this disc scores big with great Latin rhythms, exotic orchestration, and kinky song selection. Les Baxter's "Whatever Lola Wants" is worth the price on its own. Throw in great shakers like Perez Prado's "Zelda's Theme," swanky bits of exotica like Billy May's "So Nice (Samba De Verao)" and the shattering vocal power of Yma Sumac's "Gopher Mambo," and you've got yourself a cocktail party, Mac. The kinkiest bit of all is the 2nd mystery track: lesson number one from some old bongo training record. Hey, it fits. No surprise, though, because on this particular entry in the series, just about EVERYTHING fits. Even the cocktail recipes in the liners. TRACK LISTING: Sway (Dean Martin) * Recado Bossa Nova (Laurindo Almeida & the Bossa Nova All Stars) * You're My Thrill (Georgie Auld) * It Must Be True (The John Buzon Trio) * The Carioca (Martin Denny) * Whatever Lola Wants (Les Baxter) * A Nega Se Vingou (Walter Wanderley) * Dark Eyes/It Happened In Monterey (The Mallet Men/80 Drums Around he World) * Dark Eyes (The Mallet Men) * It Happened In Monterey (80 Drums Around The World) * Gopher Mambo (Yma Sumac) * Zelda's Theme (Perez Prado) * The Magnificent Seven (Tito Rodriguez) * Cha Cha Cha d'Amour (Dean Martin) * Desafinado (Laurindo Almeida & the Bossa Nova All Stars) * Bei Mir Bist Du Schon/La Furiosa (Jack Costanzo/Don Swan) * Bei Mir Bist Du Schon (Jack Costanzo) * La Furiosa (Don Swan) * Choo Choo Cha Cha (Rinky Dink) * So Nice (Samba De Verao) (Billy May) * Rock-Cha-Rhumba (Various Artists) * Rock-umba (Ray Anthony and His Orchestra) * Rock Rock Cha Cha (Dickie Harrell) * Blue Rhumba (Rolley Polley) * Sway (Julie London) * Plus two non-musical bonus tracks. VARIOUS ARTISTS: Jackpot! The Las Vegas Story (Rhino) Reviewed by John Sekerka This is where the real swingin' lounge begins, baby! Deano, Sammy, Mel,... run with the rat pack if you dare. With a drink in one hand and a lit butt in the other it's a wonder these guys managed to cradle a mike, let alone belt out some swank tunes. Las Vegas staples Liberace and Wayne Newton (who by all medical reports is still kickin') are featured in a well balanced representation. And to top it off you get local boy Paul Anka closing down the house with 'My Way.' Comes complete with a pair of lucky dice in the jewel spine for added entertainment pleasure. So go pleasure yourself. VARIOUS ARTISTS: The Missing Chord (Snatch) Reviewed by DJ Johnson The surf breaks in England, too, it seems. Actually, the bands on The Missing Chord aren't all British, but that's the main course here. Canada is well represented by Huevos Rancheros ("Girl From N.A.N.A.I.M.O.") and Los Mel-Tones ("Poseidon"), and Ireland even gets in on the act with The Sabrejets ("Chickie Run"). Be advised that this isn't all surf, either. There's some absolutely stellar psychobilly from Slim Whitfield ("Ring Stinger") and some good ol' fashioned three-chord rawk from Wild Bob Burgos And His Band ("Salt Box Hill") and Shotgun ("Shotgun Rides Again"). But let's talk about surf! I'm salivating heavily because it's been a lean month around here as far as surf releases go. This one popped up in the mailbox just as I was starting to slip into a deep coma. And I'm here to tell ya, I'm CURED! Los Mel-Tones' "Poseidon" on CD? Hell yes! Finally getting to hear Dead Man's Curve ("Charlie's Point") was a nice bonus, too. I suppose it's bad form to admit being surprised by the skill of the Brit surf bands, but if I start worrying about form now, I'll be down to two or three reviews per issue, tops. I'm very very pleasantly surprised. Guess you don't have to be from a smoggy city with over-crowded beaches to play authentic surf music, huh? Highlights aplenty: Mel-Tones, of course; the reverbed murky power of "Toxic Beach" by Surf Creatures; the punchy riff of "Electric Pineapple" by The Interceptors; the aforementioned gonzo guitar attack of Slim Whitfield; the sultry chill of "Body Bag" by Sandblasters; and the psychotic twangy melding of surf and rockabilly on "The Missing Chord" by Empress Of Fur. These are by no means the only highlights. They're just the ones that smacked me right in the face. This is a great guitar collection, a great rock collection, and a great surf collection rolled into one. (Snatch Records: Shakespear House - 37-39 Shakespear Street, Southport PR8 5AB, England. Snatch Records can be reached by e-mail at rauc@globalnet.co.uk) VARIOUS ARTISTS: Saxophobia (Ultra-Lounge Vol. 12) (Capitol) Reviewed by Shaun Dale The folks at Capitol Records have done it again! Following on the heels of "Organs in Orbit," which was the eleventh in the Ultra-Lounge series, they've once more assembled a package of exotica tracks that make even a doubter like myself want to settle down into a piece of Danish Modern furniture, light up the lava lamp and have a highball or two. Last time they hit my sweet spot by playing on my affection for the Hammond organ. This time out the focus is on the king of the woodwinds, the saxophone. Kenny G notwithstanding, the sax is about as fine a thing as a human being can use to make music and there are saxes aplenty on these 18 tracks. The usual suspects are on hand - Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins, Les Baxter - along with some artists I wouldn't normally put in the lounge music bin - King Curtis, Louis Prima and the Count Basie Orchestra - but it all holds together. Many of the cuts here, like "Street Scene," "Harlem Nocturne" and, of course, Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn Theme" (offered up here by Ray Anthony and His Bookends as "Peter Gunn Twist") have a kind of gangster movie soundtrack feel that could be tabbed "exotica noir." Others dip into the blues or veer toward jazz, and some have the novelty aspects commonly associated with the genre, but every track is listenable, most are truly enjoyable, and some are downright impressive. Kudos to producer/compiler Brad Benedict for a set of tasteful and not always obvious selections that can hold the listener's attention long enough to notice the generally high quality of musicianship present on these vintage recordings. While many of us were busy listening to four piece guitar bands struggle to stay in tune and on key in 4/4 time, this is what the A-list cats of the day were doing. And, on reflection, they were doing it quite well indeed. Now pardon me while I slip into my smoking jacket, refill my Perfect Rob Roy and hit the replay button... Track List: I Dig/Les Baxter * Street Scene/Sam Butera * All Or Nothing At All/ George Auld * Bernie's Tune/Curley Hamner & Milt Buckner * Watermelon Man/King Curtis * Volare/Nelson Riddle * Tanya/Plas Johnson *Samba De Orfeu/Bill Perkins * Peter Gunn Twist/Tequila With A Twist/Ray Anthony & His Bookends * Goldfinger/Count Basie & His Orchestra * Caravan/Gordon Jenkins * Speakeasy Blues/Nelson Riddle * One Mint Julep/Earl Palmer & King Curtis * Ebb Tide/The Out-Islanders * The Big Twist/Plas Johnson * Harlem Nocturne/Louis Prima & Sam Butera * The Misfits/Don Costa * Bongo Bash/Sax Con Rilmo/Pepe Dominguin & Jack Costanzo VARIOUS ARTISTS: Smooth Grooves Vol's 1, 2 & 3 (Rhino) Reviewed by DJ Johnson At first glance, this appears to be just another drop in the nostalgia bucket. There are songs on each of these three CDs that you will more than likely already have on half a dozen discs. "Stand By Me," "Tell It Like It Is," "When A Man Loves A Woman," and "When Something's Wrong With My Baby" are all wonderful soul tunes, but they're also old hat. If you have a radio, you've had your fill. But on closer inspection, you start to notice the less familiar tracks, like Bobby Blue Bland's "I'll Take Care Of You," The Dynamics "Ice Cream Song," and about 35 others. 35 out of 48 ain't bad! The artists are mostly familiar, but the selections are anything but obvious. The liner notes are educational in places, but that's not what they're designed to be. What they DO offer is a fairly accurate description of the emotions poured out by the performers. They're best read while listening to the music, because if you're not in that frame of mind already, the notes might seem a bit over the top. If you appreciate beautiful soul music of the smokey variety, a la Etta James, I recommend this whole heartedly. The music is romantic, soulful, emotional, and as the title suggests, smooth as glass. Because such a huge majority of this music has escaped over-exposure through the years, the series makes a great companion to any of the more predictably programmed packages available. TRACK LIST: VOLUME ONE: Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes) (Carlo Thomas) * These Arms Of Mine (Otis Redding) * Stand By Me (Ben E. King) * Just Out Of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms) (Solomon Burke) * Love Letters (Ketty Lester) * Let It Be Me (Betty Everett & Jerry Butler) * Prisoner Of Love (James Brown & His Famous Flames) * I'll Take Care Of You (Bobby Bland) * Every Beat Of My Heart (The Pips) * I Found A Love (The Falcons) * Hello Stranger (Barbara Lewis) * You Don't Miss Your Water (William Bell) * I Wish You Love (Gloria Lynne) * Need To Belong (Jerry Butler) * You'll Lose A Good Thing (Barbara Lynn) * At Last (Etta James) VOLUME TWO: When A Man Loves A Woman (Percy Sledge) * I Do Love You (Billy Stewart) * Hold What You've Got (Joe Tex) * Make Me Your Baby (Barbara Lewis) * It's An Uphill Climb To The Bottom (Walter Jackson) * Close Your Eyes (Peaches & Herb) * If You Need Me (Wilson Pickett) * When Something's Wrong With My Baby (Sam & Dave) * The Sweetest Thing This Side Of Heaven (Chris Bartley) * Get It While You Can (Howard Tate) * I'm So Proud (The Impressions) * That's How Strong My Love Is (Otis Redding) * Natural Woman (Aretha Franklin) * Dry Your Eyes (Brenda & The Tabulations) * Cry To Me (Freddie Scott) * Stay With Me (Lorraine Ellison) VOLUME THREE: La La Means I Love You (The Delfonics) * Hey There Lonely Girl (Eddie Holman) * Ice Cream Song (The Dynamics) * I've Never Found A Girl To Love Me Like You Do (Eddie Floyd) * Tell It Like It Is (Aaron Neville) * Back Up Train (Al Greene & The Soul Mates) * Cover Me (Percy Sledge) * Stay In My Corner (The Dells) * Nothing Takes The Place Of You (Toussaint McCall) * Share Your Love With Me (Aretha Franklin) * Going In Circles (The Friends of Distinction) * Not On The Outside (The Moments) * I Forgot To Be Your Lover (William Bell) * Baby I'm Lonely (The Intruders) * I'm Just An Average Guy (The Masqueraders) * Court Of Love (The Unifics) VARIOUS ARTISTS: Strictly The Best Vol 17 (VP) Reviewed by DJ Johnson This entry in VP's Strictly The Best series rounds up the usual suspects for dancehall madness. Lady Saw, Beenie Man, Capleton, Anthony B., Shabba Ranks, Spragga Benz, Buccaneer, General Degree, Bounty Killer, Barrington Levy, Captain Barkey, and others fill out the 16 tracks with some high intensity toasting and big beats. The only leaf floating against the current is "Politics Time Again" by the great Buju Banton, who takes an actual melody into the framework without losing the rapper's perspective. Shabba Ranks and Lady Saw contribute some great give and take on "Want It Tonight." As usual, Lady Saw generates a little down and dirty heat. It's a fairly even disc: nothing spectacular, but there's a certain cocky snotty arrogant mood we all have now and then, and this is a pretty good soundtrack for days like that. VARIOUS ARTISTS: Violent World - A Tribute To The Misfits (Caroline) Reviewed by DJ Johnson After suffering through about a dozen recent tribute albums, it's good to hear one that has some bite in its bark. Some of this stuff is a bit too crunchcore for me, but tracks like Astro Zombies" (Pennywise) and "Last Caress" (NOFX) seem to be drawn from the same well The Misfits once drank from. Shades Apart turns in a rousing version of "20 Eyes" that would be the top of this heap if not for Tanner's powerfully groovy reading of "T.V. Casualties." This song, more than any other here, captures the dark vibe and jaundiced outlook of The Misfits. Any of the aforementioned tracks should keep you bouncin' through the rest of this mixed bag. TRACK LIST: She (Snapcase) * Astro Zombies (Pennywise) * 20 Eyes (Shades Apart) * T.V. Casualties (Tanner) * Where Eagles Dare (Therapy) * London Dungeon (Prong) * Death Comes Ripping (108) * Mommy Can I Go Out & Kill Tonight (Bouncing Souls) * Ghouls Night Out (Goldfinger) * Horror Business (Deadguy) * All Hell Breaks Loose (Sick Of It All) * Last Caress (NOFX) * Earth A.D. (Earth Crisis) * Return Of The Fly (Farside) J. ARIF VERNER: A Vision Beyond Light (Spotted Peccary Records) Reviewed by coLeSLAw Multi-instrumentalist J. Arif Verner's new release "A Vision Beyond Light" has been an extremely difficult album for me to pin down. It works in such a way that repeated listenings will invariably evoke new and unique reactions. At worst, I felt as though I were only getting the audio track from what would probably be quite an impressive movie. At best I became lost within my own pictures produced within my mind, moved by the emotion and sweeping themes of ambient ju-ju juice. Blending pristine, almost William Ackerman-like guitar patterns into an unmistakable synthesized core of keyboard textures makes for an enjoyable audio version of cloud-surfing. While full of sounds, it feels vast and expansive like an open sky. Even some of the song titles "Above Empty Clouds," "Floating Feather," "An Embryonic Breath" suggest the ongoing theme of space, sky, wind, and this is how it moves. While not as sonically challenging as most of the ambient works I have reviewed, the beauty and freedom of movement kept my attention. Almost too much. The act of 'zoning out' became not an option so much as a pre- destined condition to being an observer. So remember kids...NO OPERATING ANY HEAVY MACHINERY WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF RELAXING MUSIC! The Infinite Sound Web Site - www.epix.net/~verner/ JOHN WAITE: Falling Backwards: The Complete John Waite Vol. 1 (EMI/Chrysalis) Reviewed by Steve Marshall Believe it or not, this year marks the 20th anniversary of John Waite's debut in the music business. From his work with The Babys, through his solo career, to the brief stint in Bad English, Waite has had one of the most distinct voices in rock. Falling Backwards includes tracks from his entire career, together for the first time on one CD. The songs appear in reverse chronological order, hence the title. The first three songs are new, and the disc would be better off without them. "How Did I Get by Without You" sounds disturbingly like the title of a Michael Bolton song, and it's not much better, either. The lyrics include just about every cliché in the book. Skip all three of these tunes. Next up is the Bad English material. There were two great songs on that album--"Best of What I Got" and "Forget Me Not"--but unfortunately, neither are included here. The CD stays in adult contemporary mode through the Bad English tunes and into the songs from his first few solo albums. It's not until "Encircled" (which features a great riff on the chorus) that Waite starts rocking at all. The only song from his solo debut, Ignition, is "Change." This song was originally done by an obscure band called Spider, but Waite's version is the best. It's too bad they didn't include "Mr. Wonderful" (also from Ignition). The song's a killer. After "Change," it's into The Babys songs. Naturally, the hits are about all that's included, which means that the best material didn't make the cut. Even so, the hits in this case aren't bad. "Back on My Feet Again," "Midnight Rendezvous" and "Isn't It Time" are all here, as well as a couple FM tracks like "Head First" and "If You've Got the Time" from the band's debut. Falling Backwards includes insightful liner notes by Steve Gett and Waite himself, and an assortment of photos from various points in his career. This collection isn't bad, but it could be better. If nothing else, it gives you a good overview of Waite's music over the years. For optimum listening pleasure though, start at the end of the disc and work your way back. C O S M I K Q U I C K I E S RUSS BALLARD: Russ Ballard / The Fire Still Burns (Renaissance) Reviewed by Steve Marshall To me, Russ Ballard's 1982 self-titled album was one the best things released in the early 80's. "Voices" was a fairly big hit in some areas, and there were a lot of other great tracks on it as well. Until now, the album has never been available here in the US on compact disc. Renaissance has just released Russ Ballard and the follow-up album, The Fire Still Burns, on a single CD. Unfortunately, the album had better sound. The CD lacks the low end and warmth of the original vinyl pressings. Lyrics and liner notes for both albums are included though, and for those people who have been waiting all these years for its release on compact disc, it's great that it's available once again. In case you have trouble finding the Russ Ballard CD in your local record store, you can order it direct from Renaissance through their web site. Point your browser to http://skymarshall.com/renaissance for more information on Russ Ballard or any of the other Renaissance artists. LES BAXTER (Conducts The 101 Strings) Que Mango! (Scamp) Reviewed by John Sekerka Slated for supermarket bins, albums by 101 Strings may be the strangest discovery yet in this lounge revival craze. The time is 1970. Woodstock fever is still burning, and with it, an acceptance of new sounds. Enter 101 Strings. No kidding folks, there are 101 bloody strings here. On Astro Sounds space age bachelor pad music blends with corny jazz, Laugh-In go-go rock and a barn full of guys fiddling away. There's nothing quite like it. Unless of course, it's Les Baxter conducting the 101 Strings. The twist to Que Mango! is that Baxter flips the supermarket formula shtick into a grand lounge album, much more sophisticated than what the project had called for. Baxter's complex touch is all over this release as he mixes equal parts Ravel and Liberace, for a wondrous, sweeping soundtrack. And as always, the music is way out of this world with Baxter pushing every musical envelope available to him. CREAM: Wheels of Fire (DCC Compact Classics) Reviewed by Steve Marshall DCC did a fine job on the packaging, including a replica of the original cover art with full recording notes. Collectors will be happy to find the full length version of "Passing the Time" and the semi-rare bonus track, "Anyone For Tennis." The sound quality is quite good throughout both discs, unfortunately the material is dated. Diehard Clapton/Cream fans will probably find this reissue indispensable, but people with just a passing interest will probably be satisfied with the regular release. DIRTY THREE: Horse Stories (Touch & Go) Reviewed by John Sekerka Crazy instrumental improvisation passionate rawk from down under. But then again you already knew that, right? Just in case you missed the boat last time around, here are Dirty Three with another stellar performance captured on record. Violin, drums and guitar is really all it takes to make sumptuous steamy soundtracks and explosive temple-throbbers. Dirty Three work both sides of the coin as they like to start slow and rev up to make yer blood boil. Do not miss 'em a second time around. FISH: Acoustic Session (Renaissance) Reviewed by Steve Marshall Acoustic Session is an assortment of Fish and Marillion songs, recorded live in the studio. This CD was the thing that inspired the collection of live acoustic tracks on the four "Fortunes of War" CD singles. Most, but not all, of those songs appear on Acoustic Session. "Somebody Special" and "Jumpsuit City" are the highlights and rival the studio versions heard on Suits. Fish fans will want to add this CD to their collection, but newbies should check out the originals first. In case you have trouble finding Acoustic Session in your local record store, you can order it direct from Renaissance through their web site. Point your browser to http://skymarshall.com/renaissance for more information on Fish or any of the other Renaissance artists. THE GRIPWEEDS: We're Not Getting Through/I Can Hear The Grass Grow (Twang!) Reviewed by The Platterpuss The Gripweeds have been regulars on the NY/NJ club circuit for years and it's a damn shame that they've never gotten the recognition that they truly deserve. They combine the best elements of Byrdsy folk-rock, UK Mod-Pop and some good old fashioned Garage and, when they're on, the results are nothing short of mesmerizing. "...Grass", an old Move cover has been a mainstay of their live set ever since I can remember and I'm just so happy that they've finally put it to vinyl. But, as much as I love that, the real treat here is "We're Not Getting Through" which combines some of the most luscious harmonies this side of The Hollies with some "I Can See For Miles" era Who type touches in their crisp power chords and those Moon-like drum fills. No shit, this is definitely one of the top singles of 1996. (PO Box 41 03 11, 12113 Berlin, GERMANY) THE HEATHERS: I Came I Said (Circumstantial) Reviewed by John Sekerka Although L7, Lunachicks and 7 Year Bitch like to crank out grrrowling kick ass rock, they've nothing on The Heathers. Y'see, The Heathers frighten me. Frighten me deeply. When they burn through 'Chicken Boy' (my man covered in chicken blood, he cook for me chicken for dinner, I need my chicken boy), I know exactly who they talkin' about. MICHAEL HEDGES: Oracle (Windham Hill) Reviewed by Steve Marshall This is a great CD for showing off your stereo system. The instrumentation is clear and warm. Hedges' acoustic guitar work is superb, as always. Highlights include "The 2nd Law," "Ignition," and "Jitterboogie." There are also a couple interesting covers on Oracle. The first is the only vocal track on the disc, The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows." The second is an almost unrecognizable version of Frank Zappa's "Sofa No. 1." Hedges probably won't win over many new fans with Oracle, but existing fans will enjoy it. ISTANPITTA II: (Medieval Dances). New York’s Ensemble For Early Music (Wayne Hankin, Karen Hansen, Rosamund Morley, Patricia Neely, Christa Patton, Paul Shipper, Frederick Renz, Thomas Zajac), Frederick Renz, Director; Glen Velez (Guest Artist), Frame Drums. (LYRICHORD LEMS 8022 [DDD] 67:01) Reviewed by Robert Cummings Here is one of those few recordings that can be appreciated by almost any lover of music. With lively rhythm, infectious melody, and exotic, if ancient, instrumentation, these dances, not one devised later than 1430, mesmerize the ear and carry the listener back to a chivalrous age of castles with moats, in whose walls minstrels and court jesters entertained. The ensemble on this Lyrichord disc render each dance with imagination and spirited virtuosity. Try nos. 1 (La Quinte Estampie Real), 5 (La Seconde Estampie Royal), 7 (English Dance) and 9 (Estampie) to sample the abundant variety and effervescent playing. I have not heard Istanpitta I, but I’ll surmise that it, too, was an exceptional effort. Excellent sound and notes. KAYAK -- The Best of Kayak (Renaissance) Reviewed by Steve Marshall Kayak is one of those bands that achieved more success in Europe than elsewhere around the world. They had a cult following of sorts here in the states, but never amounted to much commercially. The Best of Kayak gives a good overview of the Dutch band. The single version of "I Want You to Be Mine" is included instead of the (better) album version, but the CD also includes four cuts from the group's hard-to-find live album, Eyewitness. As far as the liner notes and packaging, there isn't much to speak of--which is surprising when you consider that the individual albums included full lyrics, etc. Still, it's great that this music is finally available on CD. In case you have trouble finding The Best of Kayak in your local record store, you can order it direct from Renaissance through their web site. Point your browser to http://skymarshall.com/renaissance for more information on Kayak or any of the other Renaissance artists. LES GODZILLAS: 5-song EP (Larsens) Reviewed by The Platterpuss These 5 French femmes have a very pleasing, kinda sparse, melodic sound that's distinguished by some lush organ chording and a lead singer with a somewhat Nicoesque type voice. While this didn't immediately bowl me over, it's power is more subtle and as I listened , their sound grew more seductive and alluring. I believe 'atmospheric' might be the word I'm looking for as this record is surely more suited for those quieter moments rather than when the party's going full tilt. Nonetheless, this is very highly recommended. (116 rue du Crey, 73230 St. Alban Leysse, France) MOZART: Favourite Works for Piano: Sonatas: in A minor, KV 310; in C minor, KV 457; in B flat, KV 333; in A KV 331; Fantasia in C minor, KV 475; Adagio in B minor, KV 540; Nine Variations in D on a Minuet by Jean-Pierre Duport, KV 573; Rondo in A minor, KV 511. Alfred Brendel, Piano. (PHILIPS DUO 454 244-2 [DDD] [ADD]) Two Discs 78:01; 54:55. Reviewed by Robert Cummings All but the A major Sonata and B minor Adagio were recorded digitally in this splendid reissue of performances from 1975, '85, '90, and '92. Brendel serves up a quasi-muscular pristine approach to these Mozart compositions, not unlike Richter's, but very much unlike the subtle nuancing and feline delicacy of Murray Perahia. Try Brendel's assertive opening to his A minor reading. But he's never extreme in his dynamics as some might charge Richter, and his playing is consistently insightful and tasteful. I wish he'd drop his humming along, however, barely audible though it is. Delicious music and excellent sound. A winner. NEW BOMB TURKS: Scared Straight (Epitaph) Reviewed by John Sekerka You can rant and rave and scream and holler all you want, but if'n there ain't no catchy hooks to go along with yer punk, then it's a lost cause. New Bomb Turks have been crankin' out their nasty slice of three chord heaven for quite a spell, and they've finally managed to coerce their maelstrom into something you just might wanna shake yer butt to. Scared Straight seeths with the same instant loud passion as previous efforts, but you may notice yerself humming the melodies a day after the fact. Watch out man, this thing is catching. SANDRA ST. VICTOR: Mack Diva Saves The World (Warner Bros) Reviewed by DJ Johnson When you're in the mood for modern soul, this will do nicely. Too many ballads to get my full attention, but almost every track has a little something worth hearing. The better tracks ("Mack Diva," "Knocked Up And Locked Down" and "Mph") stack up well against the best contemporary soul being released today. The album's great strength is St. Victor's considerable talent as a vocalist. She does most of the exquisite backing vocals as well as the lead. The big weakness, in my opinion, is the over-reliance on MIDI sequencing. While some of the instrumentation sounds impressive, the drums in particular seem uninspired and static on many tracks. Y'know, I understand the convenience factor of working with a drum machine, but I sure wish people in this genre would start recording with living breathing (and grooving) drummers again. Aside from that, this is a worthwhile record for those who like streetwise contemporary soul. SEX PISTOLS: Filthy Lucre Live (Virgin) Reviewed by John Sekerka Hey what do we have here? Never Mind The Bullocks live, but actually a decent sounding concert recording. Shrug all you want, The Sex Pistols were punk. No one else came close. One album, one American tour, one heroin OD, one legend. So why get excited over a bunch of fat, over the hill geezers jumping back into the fray to pay off their mortgages? Why not? When you come right down to it punk, no make that rock, is just one big fucking joke anyway. I mean really, a group of misfits groping electrical instruments on stage, garbling gibberish into the mikes, while the masses fork out money and worship like cold fusion was being perfected. Johnny Rotten just happens to be the best ring leader of this bizarre circus. He knows exactly what to say, who to piss off and what hue to dye his hair. And has there been a better record since Bullocks anyway? Here's to ya! MICHELLE SHOCKED: Kind Hearted Woman (Private Music) Reviewed by Steve Marshall Kind Hearted Woman is the first commercial release from Michelle Shocked in four years. This CD finds her back in 'blues singer' mode--a welcome return after the bluegrass sound of her last effort. Most of the songs feature bare-bones accompaniments, at times only Shocked and her Stratocaster. The best tracks are "Homestead," and "No Sign of Rain." Kind Hearted Woman isn't as good as her earlier albums, but there are at least a few songs worth a listen. TCHAIKOVSKY: The Nutcracker, Op. 71 (Highlights). Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. (SONY SFK62675 [DDD]) Reviewed by Robert Cummings Originally released in 1985 on Caedmon to accompany a reading of the E.T.A. Hoffman story of the same name, this recording has been licensed to Sony from Caedmon/Arabesque. It is a sparkling performance to stand with or above the classic Reiner highlights LP from the 1950s on RCA. This Sony release offers more than three-quarters of the ballet in excellent sound and may therefore be the choice even among complete issues, where Temirkanov, Previn, Ozawa, Jansons, Slatkin, and others offer stiff competition. Tilson Thomas has entered the superstar class these days, and this splendid disc serves to further bolster his reputation. THE TIME BEINGS: Visions/Louie Go Home (Stanton Park) Reviewed by The Platterpuss This is truly a very schizophrenic affair. The A-side is little more than a whole lotta psychedelic baloney that sounds like the result of way too much LSD. But on the flip, it's back to the beer for our heroes where they rock it out with a really fine version of an old Paul Revere & The Raiders song. Now this is definitely more like it. (PO Box 58, Newtonville MA 02160) VARIOUS ARTISTS: Steinway to Heaven (Magna Carta) Reviewed by Steve Marshall The producers of this CD got 12 of rock's best keyboardists and had them play solo piano versions of a classical piece of their choosing. Steve Porcaro does a nice job on Ravel's "Pavane for a Dead Princess." Keith Emerson contributes his rendition of Alberto Ginastera's "Creole Dance." He had been performing the song live for quite some time with ELP, but this is its studio debut. This CD could appeal to classical fans as well as rock fans. It's interesting to hear these musicians perform in a style different from the norm. THE WAISTCOATS: Valley Of The Mono-Apes EP (Alopecia) Reviewed by The Platterpuss Gee, how d'ya think they thought up their name? In truth, basing their name on Thee Headcoats might not prove to be such a hot idea in the long run 'cause, while they are obviously influenced by Childish & Co., it would be doing them an injustice if people don't take these guys seriously in their own right. Equally split between instrumentals and vocals, on this 4-songer, these loonies have definitely got that dirty garage sound that I just love so much down to a 'T'. Supposedly there's an album on the way and I can't wait. (35 Mill Lane, Benson, Oxon, OX10 6SA, UK) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- BETWEEN ZERO AND ONE By Steven Leith WHAT DID YOU DO DURING THE WAR DADDY? It is the job of government to obstruct the easy flow of change within the body politic. Add to this the vested commercial interest in government policy and you have a system that perpetuates itself in defiance of common sense. On the bright side, such systems are pushed aside and change happens. In every land, at nearly every point in history, such obstructionist systems are modified or swept away in a tsunami of blood. The USA is on the eve of just such a sea change in government and social policy. No it is not the Republican majority or advertising on the Net. The Vietnam War was and is a tragedy. Like all tragedies it had heroes who were mislead, villains who prospered, and victims. Lots of victims. The War on Drugs, like Vietnam, began as a wild patriotic adventure. But, not since Vietnam has there been a such at tragic war. The dead hand of ignorant policy has steered us toward the reefer of our own destruction. Americans have a hard time with social programs, but they love a good war. The trouble with war is that it is best suited for making a few people rich and killing many. War is not subtle enough to make useful social change. It is the doctor's scalpel not the warrior's battle-ax that is needed. It takes time, but even American's learn the difference between a good war and a bad one. They learned about the Vietnam War and the are learning about the War on Drugs. There are several stages of disillusionment that overtakes the average American. First stage is stumbled into when winning doesn't seem to be in the cards. When it is obvious that drug seizures numbers are about as useful as body counts in keeping score, the public starts to question if the war is being won. If not winning then why go on? The second stage is when a friend or family member becomes a victim of the war. When casualties (addiction, murder, imprisonment,) befell mostly the dark-skinned citizens, they were an acceptable price to pay. Now the roll call of shattered lives reaches into the best neighborhoods and rural landscape. Is the price too high? The third stage is when the war spotlights a society's underlying inequalities. An example of which is that the average sentence for rock cocaine (a black inner city drug) is 100 times greater then the sentence for powdered cocaine (a white middle class drug). The fourth stage is when the youth of the nation cease to believe in the force of law and a few old fogies begin to cry out in the wilderness for change. Then the prisons fill with those who do not obey (We now imprison more than the Russian's under Communism). The fifth stage arrives when the state shifts its war aim to focus on the defense of its war policy. In effect it wars on its own citizens. We are in the fifth stage now and the body bags are coming home to roost. The War on drugs must end. Drugs must be legalized in some form and regulated. There are many successful examples around the world where drugs are controlled and the state gets on with more important work. The only question is how many more will suffer before the state and vested interests can be swept aside to let history move forward? Will the end be signaled by massive marches that turn violent? Will there need to be a Kent State II before we can begin to heal? If Vietnam is any indication, we will need all of that and more to move toward a common sense approach to drug use. So, in twenty years, when your kids ask you what you did during the War on Drugs, what are you going to tell them? Additional Reading: DRCNet Home Page http://www.drcnet.org/index.html DRCNet Drug Policy Library http://www.druglibrary.org/ old library page: http://www.calyx.com/~schaffer/LIBRARY/basicfax.html Word-Ware 420 Wall Suite 305 Seattle WA 98121 206-443-0604 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- PHIL'S GARAGE: Hill Of Beans By Phil Dirt Santa Cruz is known as Surf City. You'd think it was a haven for surf music, but it has never been. There is little awareness among musicians, and even less among the clubs and the general population. Still, there have been some bright moments. In the late seventies, Santa Cruz Dojo operator and guitarist Douglas Eaton, aka Soave Loco, formed the Surf Pistols, blending the edge and style of the Sex Pistols with Surf instrumentals and his love for surfing. After the first wave of UK punk bands faded, the Surf Pistols dissolved. In the mid eighties, Soave formed a new unit called the Thrusters, adding a keyboard player and sax player to drums and his highly charged guitar and stylized vocals. They were an awesome band to behold. Soave's approach was a bit like Jimi Hendrix meets Dick Dale and the Sex Pistols at Pleasure Point...high energy, melodic, and highly original music. About half instrumental, they mixed surf classics like "The Wedge" and "Church Key" with Soave's originals like "The Landing," plus his powerful vocal numbers like "Soul Surf Stomp," "Sunshine Rider," and "Beirut Surf." Toward the end of the band's existence, his keyboard player was Roger Rush, a veteran of many a Midwest band and stage sound genius at The Catalyst. Roger added to the huge commanding sound of the Thrusters with smoothing fills and effects. They recorded a handful of tracks, including "Bombora," and "The Landing" (named after local surf spot and fishing port Moss Landing). "The Landing" appeared on the third volume of the acclaimed What? Records / Iloki Records series "What Surf." When the end came for the Thrusters, Roger landed a gig as rhythm guitarist with San Jose surf monsters The Shockwaves, recording "Surfin' Louie" with them, which was issued on Rhino's "The Best of Louie Louie Volume 2." The Shockwaves were the first San Jose band, almost the first Bay Area band to take on the surf mantle in the eighties. They were the caldron from which emerged the Mallards and others. It was not long after Roger joined that the Shockwaves fractured and Roger was on his own again. He set about forming his own band, The Spores, with John Anderson (ex-Baymen, Eddie and the Showmen, the Humans, Ed Hatch, Ed) as a strictly instrumental outfit. They would merge surf traditional music with John's post-surf Humans guitar sounds, and new originals. For a number of years, they were the only working surf band in Santa Cruz, and were quite good. I recorded numerous live sets with them, resulting in many hours of great material. John's intense energy and his creativity were a good match for Roger's precision on rhythm, Sam Bam's machine-like drumming, and Keith's precise bass lines. When the end came for the Spores, Roger went back to doing sound, both as an independent and an employee at the Catalyst. As with the thousands that had gone before, years of sluggin' it out in the garage and in clubs hadn't amounted to a hill of beans. Roger would change all that, but quite unexpectedly. One of his favorite hangouts, Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Company, was running a series of ads in the local press which included some answers to commonly asked questions about his near-favorite brew coffee. Roger, being almost as adept at operating scissors as he is with his other chosen instruments, carefully snipped out the ads and kept them in a coffee can (of course). The ad series ended with a contest of six questions, requiring answers included in the prior ads. Roger was the first one on his block (or the world, for that matter) to submit his answers. That got him into the drawing. When the mighty mitt of fate dipped into the jar and pulled out the winner, it was Roger's name that was scrawled on the entry slip. Roger had won himself a pound of his favorite blend every week for a year. He was a happy man, satisfied that he was the one that had finally proven a surf guitarist COULD amount to a hill of beans! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- STUFF I NOTICED By DJ Johnson I'd like to talk to you today about a tradition that goes back centuries. Truly one of the finer things in life, as it educates, entertains, and passes time that would otherwise seem long and uncomfortable. I'm talking about, of course, reading in the bathroom. Young men grow up reading an assortment of publications in the can, from Sports Illustrated to Popular Mechanics to Playboy. Consequently, by the age of 18, most men know the important things in life: how many home runs Willy Mays hit in his career, how air flow works with a wing flap on an airplane to manufacture lift, and just what turns Babette on. Sooner or later, however, most men allow the ultimate invasion of the bathroom: they co-habitate with a woman. Once co-habitation begins, the reading material is altered forever. The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue moves without leaving a forwarding address, and in it's place there appears a dog-eared copy of Cosmopolitan. Your stack of Popular Mechanics is suddenly relegated to a box in the storage shed, replaced by a stack of Better Homes And Gardens. You'll never find out WHAT happened to the Playboy's. Gone gone gone. Because man must evacuate, man must spend quality time in the bathroom. And because boredom is the single most intolerable emotion, man must read. And because woman has refitted the bathroom library... you will soon know which bulbs should be planted in the spring, Jennifer Aniston's hair secrets, and how to train your man to give you pleasure in bed. Wait! Say it ain't so! You're reading the SURVEYS? Don't you know that sex surveys in women's magazines are harmful and even fatal to men? DO NOT READ THEM! If you have to, read the directions on the toilet paper package. Read the sticker on the hot water heater. Read ANYTHING but the sex surveys in Cosmo and all those other "Super Empowered Breasted Person" magazines. They can only confuse you and bring on early hair loss, blindness, and a disorienting sense of enlightenment that must be avoided at all costs. Consider the saga of Brad Shelton, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Brad was a construction worker who had lived with his girlfriend for five years. After reading a Cosmo survey, Brad suddenly realized that women have orgasms. Well, OTHER women, anyway. This, coupled with the fact that the pages were bent over to that survey by his girlfriend, worried him so much that he eventually became impotent and joined an ice show. Men, if you must read sex surveys, read the ones that speak Man. If there is any mention of scented candles, put the magazine down. Just put it down and read the back of the Q-Tip box. Here is a survey you can print out and tape inside the pages of her magazine. Heh... Oh BOY, this'll be fun! Just imagine her face when she... Well, let's take it one step at a time.     MODERN GUY MAGAZINE'S SEX SURVEY 1) You know your woman wants it when: A. She hasn't bitched at you for at least an hour about toenail clippings in the bed. B. She hits you over the head and says "Now, you &$%@ing mook!" C. Of course she wants it. They ALL want it!   2) She obviously wants you, and who can blame her? But Terminator 10 is on HBO tonight. You should: A. Tape Terminator 10 and go get sweaty. B. Tell her you'll do her twice tomorrow, watch Terminator 10. C. What's the problem? Terminator 10 isn't gonna be on for another 4 minutes yet!   3) Rate yourself as a lover: A. Well, it's obvious, isn't it? B. She always knows something happened. C. I dunno... SURE I lover and stuff. Can we talk about something else?   4) Rate HER as a lover: A. Well, you know... Yeah. B. You know.... I honestly can't remember. C. Okay, maybe I don't LOVER, but I'm getting used to having her around, you know?   5) Foreplay is: A. Disgusting. B. Her department. C. The only "alone time" I get anymore.   6) Describe your lover's orgasm: A. What's that? B. They have those? C. Can I skip this part? It's making me feel all icky inside. 7) Your lover isn't exactly inviting you into the bed lately. You should: A. Buy her something expensive and then rip off her clothes. B. Slip her some Spanish Fly. C. Pull out the wallet and say "Okay, how much for Around-The-World?" 8) She thinks you're not interested in her as a human being. You should: A. Stop watching ESPN's SportsCenter when she's telling you about her day. B. Ask her about her period. C. Cut your losses and find a new squeeze. 9) She says your orgasms are premature. You should: A. Be more sensitive to her needs in bed. B. Oh yeah, right. C. Well, in 1955, Willy Mays hit 51 home runs in just 659 plate appearances! On top of that, he also stole 24 bases! Imagine that! 24 bases! That's amazing! Amazing! Think of it! RUN WILLY!! SLIDE! SLIIIIIIIDE!!!!....ooooh hell. 10) She is bothered that you don't seem willing to talk after sex. 11) She asks if you think of other women while having sex with her. You say: A. Be serious, Rachel. JENNIFER! NO, SUSAN! DAMN! B. Well, if you'd wear the damned name tag, these things wouldn't happen! C. This is the most important answer I will ever be asked to give, isn't it? 12) You're selling the car so you can buy a cooler one. It needs a ring job. You should: A. Be honest and tell the interested party that there's a problem. B. Slap a few quarts of 90 weight in the ol' crank case and then move away after you sell the car. C. Do the ring job, tape Terminator 10, do the ol' lady, think of baseball players, question sexuality, sell the car while thinking of another prospective buyer. -*-   How did you do? Who knows? There's no right and wrong answers here. The real question is... did you kill enough time to finish your mission in the bathroom? Did you avoid reading HER magazines? Is your masculinity unthreatened? Good! Then you've passed the test. You're truly a typical, arrogant, insensitive sonofabitch: a real man! Don't beat drums in the woods. Shout it out in public! Shout it from the rooftops! You, uh, might wanna do it when she's at work, though.   --------------------------------------------------------------------------- - % @ ]]]]]]]]]] . " ~ + . ]]] ]] ]] ]]]] , ^ . ]]] ]]]]] ]] < ]]] ]] ]] ]]]] & # ]]] ]] ]] ]] ! ^ | . """ "" "" """" ]]]]] ]]]] ]]]] ]]]]] ]]]]]] ]]]] - \ ~ ]] ]] ]] ] ] ]] ] ]] ] ` ? $ ]] ] ]]]] ]]]] ]] ]] ]] ]]] ~ ` ]] ]] ]] ] ] ]] ]] ]] ] l """"" """" """"" "" "" """" `"" ]]]]] ]]]]]] ]]]] ]] ]]]]] @ : ]] ]] ]] ]] ]] ]] / + ]]]] ]] ]]]] ]] ]] ] | ]] ]] ]] ]] ]] ]] ! : "" """" """" """"" """"" + . Random stuff for your entertainment. Happy scrolling! On those splendid days when we confront those who carry our fears, who attempt to build a new world on our stubborn resistance; those who dream of the marvelous cornucopia that pours from the head of old men leap from the aspen air where the blood runs hot, those, who remain hidden from us in the bowels of unnamed cities drink from the skulls of our conscience and ruin our fine aspirations. We resist and read old poets who wander between the mountain and sea, lamenting the lost people who inspire them. 'Claustrophobia even here,' they sing, arms outstretched to the boundless forest of unsmoothed shells encased on the mountain trail. They sing to old poets who lay supine under the care of doctors, looking to an empty spot in the sky and finding their soul, their vision. Copyright (c) David Eide 1996 All Rights Reserved eide491@delphi.com http://people.delphi.com/eide491 * * * * * * * CELESTIAL CLOCKWORK dir: Fina Torres players: Ariadna Gil music: European party techno reviewed by: John Sekerka A very nice slice of fluff that really won't stay with you for too long. And that can be a good thing. Ariadna Gil is this movie. She plays Ana, a spunky lady who bolts her wedding and flies across an ocean in a moment of true escapism. In Paris she is Cinderella, a poor, struggling thing with dreams of stardom. The inevitable fairy tale ending takes a while to unravel, giving our heroine plenty of adventures and misfortune to wallow in. If you care for plot, this ain't the movie for you. See it for the clever bits and for Gil, who is an extraordinary talent who should be all over the screen in the near future. * * * * * * * EXECUTIVE ROCK AUTHOR: Willie G. Moseley PUBLISHER: Vintage Guitar Books MISC: Paperback, 219 pages, $9.95 I FIND THIS WHERE?: Vintage Guitar, Inc. PO Box 7301, Bismarck, ND 58507 REVIEWED BY: DJ Johnson Willie G. Moseley is a good old boy who writes a column for Vintage Guitar Magazine that focuses on... well, it doesn't focus on anything, really. Willie has a blank check. He can write about whatever strikes his fancy at any given moment. Executive Rock is a collection of his columns and essays. Columns are about personality, and Willie Moseley is one of those people who you'll either love or hate. If Willie likes a genre, it's good. If Willie doesn't like it, the twenty-million people who DO like it have their heads up their asses. There's not much gray area in his world. Whether you agree with his views or not, there's one thing that can't be denied: he is damned comfortable with his opinions. My favorite is "Ron Wood couldn't carry Mick Taylor's jockstrap." Absolutely! He's also a keen observer of cultural events past and present. In one essay, Live Aid and Farm Aid were broken down into a list of bests and worsts. As a person who was glued to the TV for both of those events, I was pleased to see that ol' Willie made many of the same observations that I had made. It seems we were both amused by--as he refers to her--Joan "Pinko" Baez's over the top opening speech in which she told the Live Aid audience "This is your Woodstock!" No, it wasn't, but it was what it was. Willie crowns Queen as best performer and slaps Madonna with the Worst Performance award, noting that it was like watching the robots at Disney World. Throughout the book, Willie's editor, Malc, appears as a catalyst for various essays and lists: top ten lists, desert island disc lists, separated-at-birth lists (including Pink Floyd keyboardist Rick Wright and Beetlejuice!), and as many other kinds of lists that he could think up over the years. Entertaining lists, these! In most of these columns, the listing is a result of Malc's prodding and urging, which always seems to set Willie ta thinkin'. It's this relaxed style that makes Executive Rock such a joy to read. * * * * * * * XLIV: Your name or your person, which is dearer? -Lao Tzu from the Tao Te Ching * * * * * * * I AM CUBA dir: Mikhail Kalatozov players: throng of masses music: Cuban lounge and communist march tunes reviewed by: John Sekerka By now you've all seen the infamous balcony to underwater pool shot. If you own a television that is. The most celebrated clip from this long buried masterpiece is now a feature commercial for something or another. And that is quite funny when you come to think about it. You see, this semi- documentary was supposed to be a communist propaganda film outlining the evils of capitalism as it threatened to destroy Cuba. Problem was that the filmmakers got so enthralled with the cornucopia of vice available on this fantasy island that they wound up documenting some real juicy bits of decadence. Hell who wouldn't want to be swilling hard liquor, dancing with nubile locals and well, you know, the stuff that happens afterward. No wonder the Ruskies flipped when they saw it back home. What Alexei wouldn't jump the next boat to Cuba for a bit of that action? Can you say banned? But I digress. The film, oh yes, the film. Way too long. Unless you like to nap, which I did about halfway through. Didn't miss much as it turns out. There are several story lines here, and they're all yawnsville. They would do well to stick to the first story and leave it at that. I, in fact, got up several times only to find another plot stumbling my way. The saving grace is the breathtaking photography, which still astounds some thirty years later. * * * * * * * DISGUSTING RECIPE OF THE MONTH MAGERITSA Ingredients: Intestines, heart, lungs, & liver of 1 lamb 1 Lamb's feet and tripe 1 Lamb's head 2/3 c Chopped fresh parsley 1/2 c Chopped fresh dill 1/4 c Chopped celery leaves 1 sm Bunch scallions; chopped 6 tb Raw long-grain white rice 3 Whole eggs Salt Freshly ground pepper 1/2 ts Aniseed 2 Lemons (juice only) Instructions: Wash lamb's head, then soak it in cold water for 3 hours. Drain. Cut the head in half, using a sharp knife, and tie with a clean string. Prepare the lamb's feet and tripe as follows: If tripe is not parially cooked, cut open with a sharp knife and clean the inside thoroughly under running water. Put in a pan with cold salted water to cover and soak for 30 minutes, then drain and wash with cold water. Cut into small pieces and put in a large soup pot with the lamb's feet. Cover with cold water, and simmer until tender, adding salt to taste during the last minutes of cooking. Cube the tripe, remove the meat of the feet from the bones, and add to the mageritsa at the same time as the cut-up intestines, adjusting the liquid by adding more water. Clean the intestines thoroughly by turning them inside out, using a long skewer or stick (this turning will be quicker if the intestines are first cut into 2-foot lengths), then wash under cold running water until clean. Rub the intestines with salt and the juice of 1/2 lemon, rinse again in cold water and drain. Braid the intestines or tie the ends together with clean string. Put in a large soup pot with the lamb's head, and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, skim, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the intestines, drain them, and cut into 1/4 inch pieces with the scissors and set aside to add to the soup later. (Use the remaining portion of the head for another dish.) Bring the soup stock to a boil and add the scallions, parsley, dill, and celery leaves. Cut the heart, lungs, and liver into small bite-sized cubes, and add them to the soup, and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the rice, cut-up intestines, aniseed, salt and pepper to taste and continue simmering until the rice is tender, approximately 15 minutes, adding more water as needed and the brains during the last few minutes of cooking. Half an hour before serving, bring the soup to a boil, then remove from the heat and prepare the avgolemono: Beat the eggs for 2 minutes. Continue to beat, gradually add the remaining lemon juice. Then 1 to 2 cups of the hot soup by droplets, beating steadily, until all has been added. Add the avgolemono to the soup. Stir over minimum heat until thickened. Serve warm but avoid boiling the soup after adding the avgolemono. A richer Mageritsa can be made by sauteing the scallions in 3 tablespoons butter or oil before adding to the soup. * * * * * * * JOB, ISSAC AND THE BARRIO Forgive me my Father, if I sleep with one eye open. . . . . . . Let me understand this: you were having tea with Satan and in casual conversation made a bet with the bleak, red one. You killed my herds, forcing me to debtor's prison; when I complained you killed my wife; when I complained again, you slaughtered my children; when I still complained you covered my skin with rotting, bleeding sores which the dogs licked as I slept in a bed of soot, wearing only burlap; when I still complained you berated me with your omniscience and belittled my powerless existence demanding repentance for a sin I did not commit; when I did not repent, you won your bet. . . . . Forgive me my Father, if I sleep with one eye open. . . . . Voices, you said you heard; and coaxed me to the hill of blood where you slash the lambs; you bound my body with hemp and lay me on the cold stone, the stench of your last kill still lingering; a crooked dagger you raised, shouting prayers of adolation and obedience to your Voices, ignoring my pleas and tears; but all is well now you assure me; the Voices relented and my blood stays with me. . . . . Forgive me my Father, if I sleep with one eye open. . . . . Mama's brow wrinkles as she watches me and Katie sitting expectantly at the table picking at the black tape patch over the peeled veneer; she seems to pace as she hears us argue over who is the most hungry; the look on her face acknowledging the empty rumble in our stomachs. Mama walks into the room chiding us for our petty argument; sending us to our rooms without supper, punishment for our transgression; we cry quietly in our beds, praying for forgiveness, confused by the echo of Mama sobbing downstairs at the table. . . . . . Forgive me my Father, if I sleep with one eye open. Copyright (c) David E. Cowen 1997 All Rights Reserved Ripford@aol.com http://members.aol.com/ripford/homepage/cowen.htm * * * * * * * It is never too late to be what you might have been. -George Eliot * * * * * * * Star Wars 'A New Hope' - Special Edition Reviewed by coLeSLAw Star Wars. Ever heard of it? Well it's back all gussied up by the folks at ILM for the slovenly masses to drool over once again. Should George have re-done it? Should he have left it alone? The talk of the year approacheth. Beware the dark side of media lust. Not afraid? You will be, you will be. Yes, Star Wars is back upon us in full force, the dream of a lifetime for avid fans and Alliance virgins alike. It is not just back, it is BACK. Now touted by Lucas himself as being as close to his original vision as he can do, the new Special Edition of Star Wars is a must see for almost anyone. Restored scenes, enhanced special effects, bigger sound, yo-ho! Yes it is all there. I won't go into plot synopsis or other such nonsense. You know how it goes. What follows is merely my opinion of its contents post- changes. Given the fact that most people are at least mildly familiar with the story, many of the additions can seem at first glance quite distracting. This was probably most evident in the full scenes which were cut from the original release. If you can get beyond the transfixed gawking at unfamiliar lines and movement of story, you will find that these scenes do much credit towards explaining who these people are and where they are going. There aren't many of those scenes (for those who have not yet bookmarked 10+ Star Wars sites I will refrain from disclosing how many), but they are valuable. For Die-hards such as myself, I know of other cutting-room-floor scenes which I also would have liked to see included, but this is George's baby, and I will not tell him how to parent such a beaming child. Other additions, and those which I found to be the most awe-inspiring and well-done were the transitional shots. Short little additions of the Millenium Falcon leaving Docking Bay 94 or Luke's speeder moving through Mos Eisley helped to ease what I always found the most frustrating with the movies. That is the lightning quick pace of movements between scenes. Of course you cannot tell a story with special effects alone, yet there is merit in lingering on your imagined creations as they move through your imagined worlds. These snips do not detract from the trademark swiftness of plot movement, but add a new dimension of beauty. Unfortunately, I could not get a truly good feel for the sound quality. My seat was about midway back and about three-fourths of the way off to the right hand side of the theater. It was like being a bit to the side of all the action. I attribute this to bad positioning on my part, not the picture's sound quality. Additionally, the theater was (in my opinion) being a bit on the conservative side of volume. This must be remedied, or other star systems will suffer the same fate. The only downers (and they were few and extremely far between) were one additional Terminator-esque character in Mos Eisley that I found to be well... ...useless, and some consistent oversights. Those being the magic cup-swapping done by Luke as he eats with his Aunt and Uncle, the Stormtrooper whacking his head as they discover the droids hiding in the Death Star and finally (and I admit that I may be wrong on this one), I still think that Luke yells out "Carrie!" to Carrie Fisher after blowing up the Death Star as opposed to the more accurate "Leia!". Although maybe those quirks are part of the fascination. A movie that changed the world as we know it in many ways and touched the hearts of multiple generations that still has the cahones to remain lighthearted. So it is done. The movie set in stone has changed with the sands of time. For better or for worse depends greatly on what you expect. If Independence Day knocked your socks off, then stay home and play with your socks, but if you want to see defining proof of why movie theaters were made, then you must learn the ways of the force, if you're to come with me to Alderaan! Buy your tickets early, stand in line because you want to, and prepare to be blown away...again. * * * * * * * Jack Kerouac is Jack Kerouac is Jack Kerouac. -the bone man * * * * * * * BJORN AGAIN Reviewed by: John Sekerka January 23rd (Barrymore's, Ottawa, Canada) ABBARIFIC! Leave it to the Aussies to generate the greatest revival shtick in show biz. Seems the sweet sweet innocent sounds of Sweden's greatest pop export is bigger than Jesus down under. Going well on eight years, Björn Again have proved successful enough a touring act to rekindle ABBA record sales world wide. And it's not just old farts like meself who lived through all that satin and platform mania who are gobbling it up, the kids dig it too. When the seventies became a hip retro proposition for the younger jet set, ABBA stood to fatten their bank accounts considerably. Then came Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and Muriel's Wedding, a couple of, you guessed it, Aussie flicks, which celebrated that carefree, wide-legged spirit so lacking in these hard nineties, not to mention a smattering of ABBA songs. Björn Again waste little time as the ladies, clad in shiny kung-fu robes welcome the impatient crowd (chanting 'ABBA ABBA' till it hurts) with 'Waterloo': the quintessential feel good, mindless pop anthem for those with blue eye shadow and gold neck chains. Bookended by the male bees (Benny and Björn), the 'chicks' offer glitzy escapism with tuneful harmonies and some basic, pedantic yet carefully choreographed stage moves. The crowd is well into it, dancing foolishly right to the upper rafters as the hits come fast and furious. 'Take a Chance on Me,' 'Fernando,' 'Gimme Gimme Gimme' ... arms sway, bic lighters flicker, bodies contort, platforms stomp till the floor vibrates like a big ol' trampoline. This is pop mania baby! Some costume changes, a lot of cough-inducing fog, some mushy luv talk from the couples, and enough stolen hooks to hang the crowd's coat collection. I never liked ABBA during my stressful schooling life - too sappy, too clean, too pop - but tonight I get to live the nightlife, I get to boogie, reliving my youth as if I was a carefree disco energizer bunny with infinite battery life, and most importantly, no shame. Childhood was never this good. Björn Again finish with the pinnacle mid-seventies song, a tune you could twirl to till you hurl. Tonight the city is one massive, heaving, delirious, time- warped 'Dancing Queen.' * * * * * * * Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards. -Soren Kierkegaard * * * * * * * CALLING THE TOADS Hummm Hummm Hummm Hummm Hummm Hummm Hummm Hummm Calling the toads Calling the toads We shall come rejoicing Calling the toads one step out the door off the step goin down swingin in a peyote amphetamine benzedrine dream I'm five years old I am the messenger holdin William Burroughs' Bill Burroughs' Old Bull Lee's hand holdin Bill's hand on some lonely godforsakinuppermiddleclassSt.Louisstreet and we're hummin we're hummin we're hummin in tones we're hummin in tones callin the toads oh yeah we're callin the toads Bill's eyes twinklin glitterin a devilish grin crackin the corners of his mouth and I'm lookin him right smack in the eyes deep in the eyes I'm readin his heroined heart yes I'm readin his old heart but it ain't the story I expected as we move this way and that raisin and lowerin out heads our voices callin the toads and here they come marchin high and low from under the steps from under the shrooms of the front yard from round the corner of the house fallin from the trees rainin down here come the toads all sizes and shapes all swingin and swayin and dancin that magic Burroughs Beat yes here come the toads singin and swayin and swingin their hips now standin all round us hundreds thousands of toads eyes bulgin tongues stickin out hard dancin a strange happy vulgar rhythmed dance for Burroughs and me yes Burroughs yes Burroughs yes Burroughs I see his heart and I know his secret a secret no one has discovered til now but I'll never tell never reveal as I witness this sacred scene this holy ceremony this gathering this universal song and dance I witness through the eyes the heart of William S. Burroughs King of the Toads Calling the toads Calling the toads We shall come rejoicing Calling the toads hummmm * * * * * * * There ain't no answer. There ain't going to be any answer. There never has been an answer. THAT'S the answer. -Gertrude Stein * * * * * * * CEMETERY MAN dir: Michele Soavi players: Rupert Everett, Francois Hadji-Lazar, Anna Falchi music: forgettably unobtrusive reviewed by: John Sekerka Zombie boy scouts! Zombie boy scouts! Have you had this nightmare? If not, then Cemetery Man will fill your quota. In fact, it'll fill your quota of pretty well everything, and then some. The brooding and wistful Rupert Everett is our Cemetery Man, a likeable sort who makes congenial phone conversation while nonchalantly plunking bullets into the foreheads of the walking dead, who indeed are walking right through his front door. Clint Eastwood running an Italian graveyard with an English accent; how can this movie be taken seriously? It cannot. It is, in fact, a comic book. Literally, Cemetery Man, or, if you resided in Europe a couple of years ago, Dellamorte Dellamore, is a comic book. It's been one for a good decade. Coincidentally enough, the lead character on those pages was based on the physical nature of one Rupert Everett. This is not the only thing that comes full circle, but I digress. Cemetery Man works wonderfully as a series of creepy vignettes, indulging in silly dialogue, lustful sex and gory deaths. And even though it fails as a whole, falling prey to appalling continuity (see appearing/disappearing shoulder bandage on our hero), confusing sequences (is She dead? is She dead now? okay, now is She dead?) and meandering plot, it manages to slip in enough wild and exotic sequences to appease. There are too many juicy bits not to give a nod of approval. Mickey Knox who used to pal around in noir classics with Bogart and Cagney makes a surprising appearance as a happy-go-lucky police inspector, who, unlike Columbo, is not destined to get his man. French punk rocker Francois Hadji-Lazaro makes another wonderful cinema splash as the childlike Quasimodo Gnaghi, a piggish grave digger simpleton who plays a home-made violin, eats horrific food combinations in a horrific manner, and has a heady relationship with the Mayor's daughter. Supermodel Anna Falchi appears, over and over again, to pout thick lips and reveal her famous curves as the object of our hero's lusty fascination. Their initial close encounter, which steals René Magritte's hooded kiss painting, is a riveting bit of cinema. This is a film of various wonderful parts, that never holds back an inch. Forget pulp fiction, this is racy comic book fare at its best. And though things get rather messy and way out of hand, director Soavi manages to wrap matters up in a brilliant cliff-hanger ending. Cemetery Man eventually comes down to a bizarre buddy-buddy relationship between master Everett and servant Lazaro, and both actors put in exquisite performances worthy of your coin. * * * * * * * The sleeping brain has eyes that give us light; we can never see our destiny by day. -Aeschylus * * * * * * * BOO! I know what's going on I know what it's all about The closed doors The darting looks The whispers Microwaves Cellular waves Radio waves Beamed at me The President And relevant talk show hosts Alerted to my every movement My phone tapped My garbage scrutinized My tax forms public My credit rating shot to hell My social security number Plastered on billboards Throughout Idaho Jesus God, am I that dangerous? Just because I know they know? I've tried meditation I've tried affirmation I've tried incantation And still I know whats going on All the hierarchies and secret societies Bilderbergs Freemasons Illuminati The Trilateral Commission The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Meeting once a year In submarines under the North Pole Mapping out the New World Order The Thousand Points of Light I can hear 'em now "Cut off his health insurance! Confiscate his automatic teller card! Set him up for consensual sodomy With a bi-sexual kangaroo!" They're out to get me! Little ol' wimp-ass me! Because I know too much! (We've been on Mars with the Russians since 1962! You can breathe without a spacesuit on the moon! Bill and Hillary drink the blood of newborns and pour whats left over the Whitewater Billing Records!) Hangar 18! Area 51! This explains the homing device in my sinuses! The transistors in my teeth! So what if this is a narcissistic awareness Many are called Few are chosen And, by God, I'm it! You need me! You need me to tell you these things! Who else is going to tell you about Children barcoded with invisible tattoos Who else is going to tell you that Prozac Spelled backwards says "Lucifer" Who else is going to tell you That it really was Adam and Steve Just remember, I told you so I'm too important Everything you know is wrong! Copyright (c) Paul McDonald 1996 All Rights Reserved Paul@louisville.lib.ky.us * * * * * * * CONCERT VIDEO REVIEW: THEE HEADCOATS Live At The Picket (With Thee Headcoatees) Running time - 55 minutes. Reviewed by: DJ Johnson This is the second concert vid I've picked up from Visionary, a British company with a catalog filled with cool stuff just like this. The 1993 club performance by Thee Headcoats is predictably informal and raw. Just a little rock and roll band having a good time. The sound is marginal, but the film quality is just fine. Billy Childish and the boys casually run through "Comanche," "The Girl From 62," "Jack The Ripper," "Lie Detector," and seven others before bringing the ladies--known as Thee Headcoatees--out for the remainder of the show. Each girl takes her turn at lead vocals, and a few of 'em aren't bad. Childish steps back up to the microphone for "Action Time Vision," "Youngblood," "Troubled Times," and "She's Fine She's Mine" while Thee Headcoatees shimmy, smack percussion instruments, and sing backing vocals. It's casual, easy, and entertaining. You've got to send for the Visionary catalog! This is just ONE of the nice big fish in the pond! (VISIONARY - PO Box 30 Lytham St. Annes, FY8 1RL, England. Telephone 0253 712453, or fax 0253 712362) * * * * * * * SUBMISSIONS! JOKES, QUOTES, POEMS, RECIPES, REVIEWS, FEEDBACK! GENERAL GOOD JUNK! We need 'em, you got 'em! Write this down: aquaria@serv.net needs you! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- E-MAIL ADDRESSES FOR CONTACTING COSMIK DEBRIS' WRITERS DJ Johnson (Editor)......moonbaby@serv.net Ann Arbor................Nprice@aol.com coLeSLAw.................coleslaw@greatgig.com Robert Cummings..........rcumming@csrlink.net Shaun Dale...............stdale@well.com Phil Dirt................Luft.F@diversey.geis.com Alex Gedeon..............abraxas@primenet.com Keith Gillard............liquid@uniserve.com Louise Johnson...........aquaria@serv.net Steven Leith.............leith@speakeasy.org Lauren Marshall..........Ocean@pluto.njcc.com Steve Marshall...........SteveM@pluto.njcc.com The Platterpuss..........Plattrpuss@aol.com Paul Remington...........premington@rochgte.fidonet.org John Sekerka.............jsekerka@gsc.NRCan.gc.ca Cosmik Debris' WWW site..http://www.cosmik.com/cosmikdebris Subscription requests....moonbaby@serv.net Shaun Dale's web site is at http://www.zipcon.com/stdale Phil Dirt's Surf Site is at http://www.cygnus.com/kfjc/surf Keith Gillard's "Liquid Records WWW site is located at http://haven.uniserve.com/~liquid Steven Leith's web site is at http://www.serv.net/~leith