L.A. pop past and present collided Tuesday night (Dec. 15) when Brian Wilson and Nancy Sinatra joined local faves the Wondermints (best-known outside the city of angels for composing the theme to Austin Powers), for the band's record-release party at the trendy Silverlake club Spaceland. |

Although the celebrated record, Bali, is currently only available in Japan, hundreds of fans jammed in to watch as Wilson, who recently tapped the Wondermints to help back him on his upcoming U.S. tour, joined the group for a spirited run-through of the Beach Boys classic "Do It Again." Not to be outdone, Nancy Sinatra led the 'Mints through a slightly demented but totally rewarding version of her neo-psychedelic/country-pop classic "Some Velvet Morning." The Wondermints' own material, played sans celebs, took the audience to the edge of delirium with their futuristic, Barbarella-meets-Beach Boys pop . . .

The band once rumored to be completely deaf, the Scorpions, will make what they hope to be a million-decibel return to the fold next spring with a new album called Eye to Eye. Set for release on a yet-unknown label, Eye to Eye will be the German quintet's first album in three years and first without original drummer Herman Rarebell, who was replaced by James Kottak, of Warrant and Krunk fame. According to band manager Stuart Young, the album, which was produced by the "other" Peter Wolf (Wang Chung, Heart) and recorded in Austria, will be a major departure from previous material, relying on "more technology ... more loops ... [and] much more rhythm-based [material]." The band will tour both in the States and abroad to support the release, which will actually debut in Germany on March 8 following the release of the optimistically titled first single "To Be Number One" . . .

The Artist formerly known as married plans to make an honest woman of his wife Mayte -- again. His Purple Majesty announced late last week that he and wife Mayte Garcia-Nelson will annul their three-year marriage before joining hands in a spiritual ceremony on Valentine's Day 1999. "We will return [to Spain] on Feb. 14 to be united in a symbolic manner, leaving aside legal proceedings that do no more than separate people," the Artist said during a press conference last Friday (Dec. 11). "Mayte and I are joined for life, and the best way to demonstrate it is to do away with the legal bonds that people demand." Plus, there are no prenups, only spirits in the material world . . .

Desperate situations call for desperate measures. In a press conference held Tuesday (Dec. 15), the Recording Industry Association of America and all five major players in the music world (Sony, BMG, EMI, Universal and Warner Bros.) announced their "precedent-setting" initiative to curb pirating and non-compensatory downloading of digital music on the Web. Coined the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), the enterprise resolves to create open specifications to which all digital formats must adhere in order to be deemed compliant by the industry. Though no exact methods have yet been proposed, RIAA president and CEO Hilary Rosen assures that the SDMI will "enable consumers to conveniently access music in all forms, artists and recording companies to protect their intellectual property and technology and music companies to build successful businesses in their chosen areas." So come Christmas 1999, don't expect to download Jennifer Lopez's debut album (yikes!) sans fee -- the industry is only (reluctantly) embracing technology to reap its profits, not to divvy out its merch to freeloaders . . .

The RSN Staff (Dec. 16, 1998)