It turns out that more than a few bands were inspired by Twisted Sister's 1982 anarchical cry of "We're Not Gonna Take It." Over the years some of Dee Snider's spiritual descendents have paid homage to the grizzled rockers -- last year Lit used the song as inspiration for "Zip-Lock," and Bif Naked recently covered "We're Not Gonna Take It" for the soundtrack to Ready to Rumble. Now Twisted Sister's devoted foot soldiers have gotten together to put out a tribute album on Koch Records. So far the indie label, based in Snider's old stomping grounds of Long Island, N.Y., has signed up only Motorhead and Sevendust, but Anthrax, Type O Negative, and Lit have all been approached and expressed interest in contributing tracks. According to a spokesperson for Koch, Twisted Sister will also appear on the disc, but instead of reprising one of their own tracks, they'll record a cover of AC/DC's "Sin City." The album, titled Twisted and Strange, is due in stores on Sept. 12 . . .

ANI DiFRANCO will perform on the first night of jam band MOE.'s upcoming three-day moe.down, scheduled to take place September 3-5 at the Snow Ridge Ski Area in Turin, N.Y. More artists are expected to be added to the bill in upcoming weeks, and will be announced on the band's Web site, www.moe.org . . .

Michael Abram, the thirty-three-year-old Liverpool man arrested for stabbing former Beatle GEORGE HARRISON last December, has been ordered to stand trial for the crime on May 12. Abram appeared before the Oxford Magistrates on Friday April 7 wearing a pinstripe suit, white shirt and pink tie, and was heavily guarded by a human chain of armed police to thwart any attacks. Abram has been confined to the Scott Psychiatric clinic in St. Helens Merseyside since the incident. He will remain at Scott Clinic until his trial . . .

Although EMMYLOU HARRIS had to bow out of an April 1 appearance with TRISHA YEARWOOD on A&E's Live by Request due to injuries she sustained in an auto accident on March 26 near Hattiesburgh, Miss., her management says that after a week of rest the singer is doing fine. Contrary to early reports on the accident, Harris apparently only bruised -- rather than broke -- her ribs in the weather-related, one vehicle accident. Harris' next regularly scheduled live date is May 19 at Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh, Pa. In other Harris news, Eminent Records -- which released her 1998 live album Spyboy -- is set to reissue her albums Cimarron (1981) and Last Date (1982) with bonus tracks on May 9 . . .

RICHARD SKANSE, JAAN UHELSZKI
(April 11, 2000)