Tito & Tarantula Tarantism (Cockroach Records) Tito Larriva is the very definition of a rock ‘n’ roll journeyman. His stints with influential but obscure L.A. bands like the Plugz and the Cruzados long ago established his credentials as a roots-rock true believer, a guy long on heart if a bit…

Xanadu. It was the colossal palace that Charles Foster Kane built as a monument to himself in Orson Welles’ masterpiece Citizen Kane. Xanadu was staggering in scale, and absolutely breathtaking in its devotion to lavish excess. But, despite Kane’s persistent efforts, it was never finished and never supplied anything but…

Al Casey is rocking. But the 61-year-old guitar legend isn’t plugged into an old Fender tube amp. His custom Gibson L-5 guitar is nowhere in sight. No, he’s idly swaying on a swing in front of Papa’s Place, the preeminent–and possibly only–diner in Cordes Junction, a ghost of a trailer-park…

Thirty years ago, no male in the Western world could have been blamed for wanting to be like Mick. Living the life of Jagger at that time meant you had fame, wealth, looks, great drugs and glamour. It meant you were the toast of swingin’ Carnaby Street and you had…

Mary Timony sounds confused. The singer/guitarist for the Boston trio Helium knows she’s supposed to be calling someone, but she can’t quite recall the name. “Umm, is Shawn there?” she asks in her soft, reedy voice, revealing an absolute lack of confidence. Before she can be told that no one…

Ivy Apartment Life (Atlantic Records) What exactly is pop music? When Van Morrison was asked about the term in 1984, he said that to him it meant the pre-rock recordings of people like Rosemary Clooney. Pop is such an amorphous term that it can be applied to Barry Manilow one…

So-called “ethnic” bands face a perpetual dilemma. If you unite with other bands and organize a movement, you’re likely to be marginalized, seen as a hyphenated artist. If you downplay your ethnicity and try to win acceptance on strictly musical terms, you’re likely to be ignored altogether by wary radio…

It was a Friday night, and Glen Buxton was jumping up and down with excitement as he watched boxing on TV. The only indication that anything was wrong was a pain in his side, which he mentioned to his younger sister Janice Davison over the phone that night. He thought…

Portishead Portishead (Go! Beat/London Records) Portishead’s 1994 single “Sour Times” was one of those rare tracks so arresting and so original that it makes other musicians slam on the brakes and rethink what they’re doing. While nothing else on Portishead’s debut album Dummy scaled those steep heights, the album sustained…

Christine Zahn is excited. Because of circumstances no one could foresee, this 47-year-old owner of Tempe Bowl and admitted musical neophyte has become a player in the local rock scene. There’s only one point that she’s kind of sensitive about. After enduring my numerous references to her “bowling alley,” she…

Anybody can be dumb. Stupidity requires vision. In rock ‘n’ roll, the distinction means everything. Journey was just plain dumb, but the Ramones were gloriously stoopid. Today, as always, we’re overrun by dumb bands that think they’re smart, earthbound in their attempts to prove their seriousness, their literary weight and…

Fairness and legality. They are two separate concepts. Though they stop to chat from time to time, they don’t always hang out together. Consider an example: If a cop picks you out of a bunch of speeding cars and nails you for driving 37 in a 35 mph zone, his…

Bjork Homogenic (Elektra Records) The very idea of Bjork is so appealing that you can feel like Ebenezer Scrooge for even hinting that her music is somehow deficient. In an industry never short of calculating frauds, Bjork is a force of nature and an absolute original: someone who can intuitively…

All Mick Fleetwood wanted was a guitarist. Fleetwood Mac’s drummer was checking out the studio of engineer Keith Olsen when he heard a track from an obscure California duo named Buckingham Nicks. Looking for someone to replace departed guitarist Bob Welch, he sought out the nimble-fingered Lindsey Buckingham. Perhaps it…

The Wilsons The Wilsons (Mercury Records) With the wretched Wilson Phillips, Carnie and Wendy Wilson–along with childhood chum Chynna Phillips–cashed in on a fleeting pop moment. At the dawn of this decade, progeny rock managed to unite proud baby boomers (who vicariously felt that they had raised these pampered superstar…

It’s three in the afternoon, and Mark Zubia has a sore head. The Pistoleros guitarist staggers into the band’s roomy Tempe rehearsal room a few minutes late for an interview, flops down on a corner chair and swears off any questions for a while, explaining that he’s been downing rum…

Although they’ve never really gone away, the Rolling Stones have had more “comebacks” than Richard Nixon. Every time they emerge from their cocoon of luxury for a new album, Rolling Stone magazine assures us that they’re back, that previous Stones recordings may have been subpar, but this new one is…

Hip-hop has many enemies. It must constantly defend itself against misguided censors disguised as social crusaders, timid record companies and toothless radio programmers. After nearly two decades, it continues to fight old-guard music purists who refuse to consider hip-hop valid music and wish that it would just go away. In…

The history of pop is actually the story of great rivalries, real or imagined: Elvis vs. Jerry Lee, the Beatles vs. the Stones, mods vs. rockers, Bowie vs. Ferry, Nirvana vs. Pearl Jam. And, by the way, whose side were you on during the fabled Tiffany-Debbie Gibson wars of 1987?…

Cornershop When I Was Born for the 7th Time (Luaka Bop/Warner Bros. Records) During the latter stages of Michael Dukakis’ disastrous 1988 run for the Oval Office, an old friend snidely remarked, “I knew him before he was Greek.” The rude–if bull’s-eye–implication was that for the Duke, ethnicity was an…

When is an icehouse really a sauna? When it’s mid-June in downtown Phoenix and a newly installed air-conditioning system breaks down on a Friday afternoon. That’s exactly what happened at the Icehouse Recording Studio last year right smack in the middle of a Trunk Federation session. Though the Trunksters were…

Fred Green Groover (Rorschach Records) It’s a common syndrome. Great live party bands, when put in the clinical confines of the recording studio, often just don’t cut it. It’s easy to see why. Live performance and recording require very different skills. Manic energy and fierce commitment can carry a live…