What was up with the Dixie Chicks' bubblegum vampire get-up on the Grammys? Consider that anything-goes fashion sense a teaser for the group's upcoming ads for provocative shoe company Candie's. The cobblers nabbed the perky trio before they collected their Grammys for "Best Country Performance by a Group" and "Best Country Album" (which they won over former Candie's model Shania Twain). A press release from Candie's promises the Moshe Brakha-shot ads will feature the Chicks "in some surprisingly intimate and irreverent moments." What that means is anyone's guess, but hopefully they had enough sense to draw the line at posing on commodes with their panties around their ankles, like Jenny McCarthy did last year for the company shortly before her career went straight down the toilet. Candie's has also hired Brandy for its television campaign, which will feature the doe-eyed singer performing two original songs penned by her younger brother Ray J . . .

Snoop Dogg is attempting to turn back the hands of time, insisting that his fourth album (second for Master P's No Limit Records -- the feisty label that extricated him from Death Row) will not be a follow-up to last year's Da Game Is To Be Sold & Not To Be Told, but rather to his 1993 debut, Doggystyle. "This album will feature the 'Old School Snoop,'" says a No Limit spokesperson. Topp Dogg was produced by Beats By Pound, No Limit's production team which includes KLC, Craig B., Moby Dick, O'Dell and Carlos. In addition, Snoop brought in his own West Coast people like Superfly, Meech and Mark to round out the sound. Top Dogg, will hit stores on May 11 -- just about the time that Snoop will appear in Hot Boyz, a No Limit film starring Silkk the Shocker, C-Murder and Mystikal. It's the story about a good guy in the 'hood whose girlfriend is wrongly imprisoned on a trumped-up charge. In order to save his lady love, Silkk has to go undercover to unearth some nasty drug lords. Snoop signed on to play Silkk's pal, who helps him in this nefarious task . . .

The Washington Post reports that Washington, D.C. shock-jock Doug Tracht has been suspended indefinitely for a heinous racist comment. The WARW-radio jock, also known as the Greaseman, played a portion of a song by Lauryn Hill Wednesday before the Grammy Awards. After the snippet, Tracht blurted, "No wonder people drag them behind trucks," a clear reference to the death of James Byrd Jr. last summer in Texas. The General Manager of the station was none too pleased, saying she was "deplored and appalled by the comment." Tract has been suspended without pay, although he has faxed a statement to the Post, claiming he had "no excuse for the remark, and wishes he could take it back" . . .

Record labels send out press releases for all sorts of reasons, but until the other day, we'd never heard of a company printing one in order to drum up help in finding one of its own artists. Brit indie Cherry Red Records has done just that, however, in an effort to find Dan Treacy, leader of cultish combo the Television Personalities -- a band often cited as inspirational by the late Kurt Cobain. According to a spokesperson at Cherry Red, the label has been fruitlessly trying to locate Treacy -- who hasn't been in contact with bandmates or friends, either -- for several weeks. The situation is eerily similar to that of Richey Edwards, the Manic Street Preachers' guitarist who vanished without warning in September of 1995 and has never resurfaced, leading authorities to declare him "presumed dead." No such finality has been bandied about in Treacy's case, although one former associate expressed concern over the singer's "deepening depression" in recent months. "I don't think that Dan was so despondent that he would harm himself, but obviously we're all concerned about his whereabouts," says the friend, who has worked with Treacy on and off for much of the past decade. Representatives of Cherry Red, which plans to issue a TV Personalities retrospective titled Part-Time Punks on March 2, express similar concerns -- and ask that anyone with any information as to Treacy's whereabouts contact their London office . . .

Early evidence from the Wallflowers next album suggests the band has no intention of recasting "6th Avenue Heartache" or "One Headlight." The first song completed for their highly anticipated new album is a Sgt. Pepper-ish number called "Eat You Sleeping," which is quite a departure from the infectious, earthy singles of Bringing Down the Horse. Rife with heavy guitars, extraterrestrial keyboards, strings, moody harmonies and dark grooves, the song, produced by Julian Raymond (Fastball), is the first of two tracks (the second being "Hand Me Down") being mixed before the group decides which producer will work on the album full time. "Everybody really likes me, apparently, the last I checked," jokes Raymond, who is the frontrunner to assume the position if he's allowed to take several months off from his A&R gig at Hollywood Records. After "Hold Me Down" is mixed (possibly this week), the word will come down. The possibility exists that Raymond will share producing duties with Bringing Down the Horse producer/Wallflowers manager Andy Slater . . .

One year ago, Alana Davis was a spunky Greenwich Village tomboy who grooved on Birkenstocks, guitar picks and Ani DiFranco. Now, she's a smitten woman, discovering flowered skirts, candlelight and love songs for the first time. "I've gotten in touch with my femininity," Davis says from New York, where she is currently writing songs for the follow-up to her 1997 debut, Blame It On Me. "I tell my A&R guy that I'm writing love songs, and he gets nervous." Davis has penned and demoed a handful of tunes -- lovesick and otherwise -- for her next album, but doubts any of them will make the final cut. Above all, she says she wants a cohesive disc that incorporates the "vibing" reggae beats of Bob Marley or Steel Pulse, and the "pretty guitar chords" that typify her own sound. Davis plans to enter a New York studio this spring and release her sophomore album before the new year . . .

The RSN Staff (February 26, 1999)