Like children of divorce, diehard Pixie fans are willing to grasp at any straw that even hints at a reconciliation of the seminal Eighties band, which set off a mini-revolution that would wet nurse the birth of Nirvana and other proto-grunge bands with the release of the genre-busting Surfer Rosa.

Now, nine years after the Pixies' untimely demise, comes a faint ray of hope. Not only has Frank Black (a.k.a. Black Francis, born Charles Thompson) leaked the news that he plans to incorporate two Pixies songs ("Where Is My Mind" and "Monkey Goes To Heaven") in his upcoming Frank Black and the Catholics tour, but there are also hopes for a partial Pixies reunion this month in London when Black and Co. play the Camden Underground on Nov. 15, as part of their promotional tour for their new album, Dog in the Stand, due Jan. 30 on War Records.

According to a source close to Black, former Pixies guitarist Joey Santiago might be on hand to join in the revelry. Santiago will arrive in London a few days before Black's gig to attend the London film festival, where Crime and Punishment in Suburbia (which Santiago helped score, and to which Black also contributed a song) will premiere in the U.K. "I wouldn't be surprised if Joey turns up for the show," says Ken Goes, Frank Black's manager. "It would be just the kind of thing that Charles would do, to have Joey play and not tell me."

Black and Santiago have remained friends since the Pixies' demise. Santiago performs on two songs on Black's new album, and the demos for Dogs in the Sand were recorded at Santiago's home studio with Black on acoustic guitar and Santiago filling out the sound with his own playing. "It's not a Joey/Charles record" Goes explains. "Charles likes to make demos before he records an album -- he just recorded them at Joey's. But people have been asking us to put it out."

Black released the idiosyncratic Oddballs this past summer, a collection of B-sides and edgy never-before-released tracks. According to Goes, the album can only be found at a Frank Black show, or on War's Web site (www.war.com).

Right now, Black is in Hamburg, Germany doing press for Dog in the Sand, and dodging more than the occasional request that he put his seminal band back together again. "[Black and former Pixies bassist Kim Deal] really don't like each other," says a source close to the band. "They don't want to work together." Deal still lives in her native Dayton, Ohio, and is working on a long-promised album with the former members of the band Fear.

As for Pixies drummer David Lovering, he served with Santiago in the Martinis until he defected to become a full-time magician in Los Angeles, where he opened for bands and performed at science shows under the rubric of "David Lovering, Experimentalist." Lovering will open for Frank Black and the Catholics during their three-night stint at Los Angeles' Knitting Factory later this month.

Frank Black and the Catholics U.S. tour dates:

11/30-12/2: Hollywood, CA, Knitting Factory
12/6-7: San Francisco, CA, Cellar at Johnny Foley's
12/8: Palo Alto, CA, Cubberley Community Center
12/14: Santa Barbara, CA, Rocks
12/15: Santa Monica, CA, McCabe's Guitar Shop
12/16: San Diego, CA, The Casbah (w/ John Doe)

JAAN UHELSZKI
(November 4, 2000)