We've gotta hand it to Bobby Brown. Just when we thought we were ableto dismiss him as a gangsta wannabe -- with a criminal record limited to suchnancy-boy offenses as reckless driving and public urination -- he goes andgets himself busted for a legitimate offense. Brown was arrested in BeverlyHills, California on Sunday night and charged with sexual battery -- morespecifically, fondling a strange woman at poolside -- a charge the singer hasvigorously denied. Brown, who was released on $2,778 bond -- a number thatlets us believe that Bob Barker has somehow gotten involved in California'scriminal justice system -- will appear in court on July 17 to officially entera plea. If found guilty, he could face six months in prison. On a similarnote, Sade lived up to her image as the foremost proponent of gangstaeasy listening by skipping another court date in Jamaica this past week. Shewas slated to answer charges of reckless driving, stemming from an incidentlast summer where she led police on a car chase to avoid being ticketed for alesser speeding offense.

Newer Days of the New

If you thought that the Days of the New story -- a bunch of teenagefriends from the backwoods of rural Indiana making it to the chart-tops with aone-for-all, all-for-one attitude -- was too good to be true ... well, you'rea pretty smart cookie. Days' leader Travis Meeks dropped by a fan-run Websitethe other day to tip followers off that he'd just fired all his bandmates andwas looking for replacements ASAP. Meeks didn't mince words when a cyber-sleuth inquired as to the reasons behind his decision, noting that guitaristTodd Whitener, bassist Jesse Vest and drummer Matt Taul were holding back hisartistic vision -- although he didn't have much to say about the allegedintra-band fisticuffs that led to tour-interrupting injuries earlier thisspring. Then again, the nineteen-year-old wunderkind may have the chance todiscuss it up close and personal real soon, since he's still on the road withhis soon-to-be-unemployed mates.

Samhain I Am

Short people, Randy Newman once sang, "got no reason to live" -- which mightexplain tiny terror Glenn Danzig's continued fascination fornetherworld carnage. L'il Glenn has announced that he's temporarily shelvingthe gloom-metal band that bears his name in order to briefly reunite Samhain,the gloom-punk band he fronted in the early Eighties. Plans call for the band-- named, for those who've misplaced their copy of Crowley For Dummies,in honor of the witch's festival that spawned our Halloween -- to do a shortAmerican tour in support of a planned boxed set. Since Samhain only releasedthree albums in its fleeting lifespan, we'll presume there'll be plenty ofunreleased material -- and a few dashes of eye of newt -- to round thingsout.

Brass in Racket

Call us old-fashioned, but we remember the days when rockers hung out in darkcorners, quaffing cheap suds and sneering at the local jocks. But from X-Gamesmalarkey -- okay, we're bitter over the fact that we got beat out for thebronze medal in turnstile jumping -- to rapping basketball stars, gym ratsseem to be taking over everything in sight. The latest round of crossoversinclude soccer's Alexei Lalas, who at least had the courtesy to grow asilly goatee before bothering us with the tunes that will grace the ball-kicking album he's ready to release this fall. Even last decade's bad boy,John McEnroe, continues to get in on the act. He took some time outfrom working with his, er, "multi-talented" wife, Patty Smyth (of Scandal"fame") in order to jam with Chrissie Hynde's Pretenders at a New Yorkshow last week.

Superfly Recovery

Soul legend Curtis Mayfield, who valiantly battled back from a 1991stage accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down, is facing a newround of health problems. The fifty-six-year-old Mayfield, who is sufferingfrom diabetes, had to have his right leg amputated at the knee earlier thisweek. We wish him a speedy recovery.

DAVID SPRAGUE
(June 26, 1998)