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Sean Lennon did not publicly acknowledge the eighteenth anniversary of his father's death yesterday (Dec. 8), but instead spent the day in Sao Paolo, Brazil, where he is on tour with Cibo Matto, the Japanese pop duo he's been playing with for the past two and a half years. |
Lennon returns to New York City on Dec. 12 with longtime girlfriend
Yuka Honda (from the aforementioned Cibo Matto)
and, according to a spokesperson, they intend to spend the holidays
in peace and quiet until New Year's Eve, when the band is scheduled
to perform at the infamous cradle of punk civilization, New York's
CBGB. As soon as everyone recovers from their hangovers, Sean will
start rehearsals with his band for Australia's annual Big Day Out
concert, which kicks off Jan. 15 in Perth. It's none too soon,
since insiders reveal that Lennon's guitarist Smokey
Hormel, whom he purloined from Beck's
band last year, has been feeling rather adrift. So adrift in fact,
that he's been making phone calls to his former employer and asking
Beck to take him back.
Although Beck replaced Hormel last year with San Francisco strummer
Tony Hoffer -- and that arrangement has been
working out just fine -- Beck has told Hormel that he could return
to play some of the acoustic shows he has planned for early next
year. "Smokey was an integral part of Mutations, and Beck
wants him to play with him whenever he's around," a spokesperson
from Gold Mountain Management said. "Since Beck
really hasn't been touring much, it hasn't come up -- and Smokey
has been on tour with other people like Sean Lennon. Smokey will
always be a part of any band Beck has."
How does this bode for Hoffer? "Tony will do the four Christmas shows, and Smokey will play on the dates that Beck will do early next year."
That's not to say that the future looks dire for Hoffer. The
guitarist has been working alongside Beck, drummer Joey
Waronker, keyboardist Roger Manning and
bassist Justin Meldal-Johnson at Beck's home
studio, where they're laying down tracks for his next album.
According to DGC Records, Beck has not yet brought
in a producer, but rumors are rampant that he is producing it
himself. Insiders say that the impish musician plans to book some
studio time for next summer and is ruminating over the names of
producers. It's unlikely that Nigel Godrich will
turn the knobs again, since he's booked up both for the next
Radiohead record, as well as John
Squire's next Seahorses album.
In other Beck news, the singer is human just like the rest of us,
and after buying a sprawling mansion in Pasadena, Calif., last year
(after he sold his Silverlake abode to E of the
Eels), he decided that it was just too damn hot
there. So he and his girlfriend plunked down $495,000 for a pied a
terre in Santa Monica, situated right on the beach where they can
catch the ocean breezes when it simmers in Los Angeles.
JAAN UHELSZKI(December 9, 1998)