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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 . . .
Neil Young gets an F for punctuality and an A+ for
intrigue. As 1998 skids to a halt, Reprise Records is slapping its
fifth tentative release date on Young's forthcoming album, which
has neither a title nor a definitive producer after more than a
year of studio work. Originally due on store shelves last June 23,
Young's first studio album since his mid-1996 release Broken
Arrow is now penciled in for March 23, 1999. Bob Merlis of
Reprise says that release date remains tentative, but the elusive
album should arrive in stores by mid-1999 with a tour to follow.
Details surrounding the CD remain scant, but reports suggest that
Young is working with a number of collaborators, and has not yet
whittled down his track listing . . .
Of course, Young is the very model of productivity next to
Billy Idol. Idol's last album was 1993's
Cyberpunk, a commercial milk dud that found him playing
the role of a rocker storming into the brave new world of, well,
cyberstuff. Fitting, then, that Idol's first new rebel yell in five
years should be an online exclusive. Two new Idol tracks, "Find a
Way" and the Glen Ballard-produced
Christmas-themed "Sleeping With an Angel," are currently available
at www.mp3.com. Both tracks, available for free download, are
currently unreleased and credited to CyberCorp Recordings. Idol was
apparently close to joining the roster of Ballard's Java label, but
a source there said the deal did not go through . . .
If you don't wanna wait any more for a new Paula
Cole album, take heart. On Monday (Dec. 14) Cole entered a
New York studio to begin laying down tracks for the follow-up to
her 1996 breakthrough album, This Fire, which spawned the
Dawson's Creek staple "I Don't Want to Wait" and the
Lilith Fair favorite "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" Cole has
written twenty new songs already and will kick off her studio stint
by recording a seven-minute song that her manager John Carter calls
"intense and dramatic." He says the feminist singer/songwriter will
"stretch out" a bit on her forthcoming release and incorporate a
full orchestra and a stringed quartet into new material. Cole will
most likely produce the album, which is tentatively slated for
release next fall . . .
Less than a week before his band was tentatively scheduled to begin
recording its second album, Snot singer
Lynn Strait died in a car accident in California.
Last Friday (Dec. 11) at approximately 1 p.m. Strait was exiting a
stretch of coastal highway between Santa Barbara and Carpinteria
when his Ford Tempo collided with a truck, killing him and his dog
Dobbs (who appeared on the cover of Snot's debut album, Get
Some). Strait, who was thirty, was due to appear in a
Massachusetts court in January to begin his trial on felony charges
of indecent exposure at an Ozzfest show. According to a Geffen
spokesperson, Strait's funeral will be held Wed. (Dec. 16) at the
Old Mission in Santa Barbara, located at 2201 Laguna Street. In
lieu of flowers, Strait's family has requested that donations be
made in the singer's name to the Sweet Relief Fund, P.O. Box 39666,
Los Angeles, Calif., 90039 . . .
There are no free lunches for Greg Dulli,
apparently. After a sold-out performance with his band the
Afghan Whigs at Austin's Liberty Lunch nightclub
on Saturday (Dec. 12), Dulli was rushed to Brackenridge Hospital to
treat a fracture at the base of his skull. According to the
Dallas Morning News, a fight ensued after the show between
Dulli and a security guard at the venue. Bassist John Curley told
the paper that, earlier, when the band arrived for soundcheck and
found the doors locked, they began knocking and kicking at the door
to catch the attention of insiders. When employees from the club
finally answered, "There were some aggressive words exchanged."
After the show, at approximately 2:15 a.m., the club guard and
Dulli engaged in some fisticuffs, during which witnesses say Dulli
fell backward and hit his head on the floor of the venue. No
charges were issued on site, but police have interviewed eight
witnesses in relation to the case. Dulli was released today from
the hospital, and plans to return to his hometown of Seattle in a
few days to recuperate. According to the band's publicist, the
remainder of the tour, including three dates at New York's Bowery
Ballroom on Dec. 17 - 19, have been postponed until February . .
.
While Mariah Carey professes that she and
Whitney Houston are the best of pals after
recording their duet "When You Believe" for the Prince Of
Egypt soundtrack, intimates say otherwise. In fact, gossip Ted
Casablanca revealed on E!'s Gossip Show this past weekend
that Mariah Carey personally called Jeffrey Katzenberg, one of the
chiefs at DreamWorks, and insisted that her name precede Houston's
on the album credits. Ever the diplomat (that's why he makes the
big bucks), Katzenberg reportedly told the former Mrs. Motolla that
her name would go first in the European version of the disc, and
Whitney's would precede in America. Unbelievably, Carey was
appeased. When contacted, DreamWorks confirmed that the two "share
credit worldwide" . . .
Hole played a secret show at Los Angeles' Roxy
after their appearance at KROQ's Acoustic Christmas bash at the
Universal Amphitheater -- at both shows, Ed Norton
played guitar on "Malibu." Courtney's good pal Pat
Smear was backstage lending moral support, as was Smear's
former bandmate, Foo Fighters drummer
Taylor Hawkins . . .
The Arizona Daily Star reported that the Black
Crowes concert at the Rialto Theater in Tucson, Ariz., was
stopped short on Friday night (Dec. 11) when singer Chris
Robinson was hit on the shoulder and head by a flying
plastic water bottle. According to the report, the crowd was
unusually unruly at the show, and prior to the incident Robinson
was forced to defend himself with his microphone stand from at
least one inebriated fan. In addition, a security guard was stabbed
in the arm by one of the two men he was attempting to eject from
the club . . .
Finally, this being the season of giving and all, isn't it about
time somebody gave Seal some damn clothes?
The RSN Staff
(December 16, 1998)