Jason Falkner Can You Still Feel? (Elektra Records) “Take a chance with me.” Those are the first words out of singer-songwriter Jason Falkner’s mouth on his sophomore CD, a message delivered with a touch of vaudeville piano and a disembodied vocal that sounds like it could be coming from a…
When the original members of Kiss re-formed for a take-the-money-and-run tour in 1996, a persistent rumor followed their platform boots from city to city. According to this slice of gossip, guitarist Ace Frehley was occasionally in such fragile (read: drunk) condition that at some shows a look-alike had to fill…
As a kid, I went through a very brief infatuation with the clarinet after watching The Benny Goodman Story on TV with my dad. All these years later, it’s as clear to me as the horn-rims on Steve Allen’s ugly mug that this film was a ludicrously romanticized bio-pic typical…
Built to Spill Keep It Like a Secret (Warner Bros.) Since the dawn of psychedelic music in 1966-1967, rock auteurs have searched for ways to stretch the pop song into longer and wider shapes. But it’s unlikely that anyone has ever expanded the form with more twisted grace than Doug…
For years Nick Francis dreamed of producing a contemporary instrumental album. For years Cliff Sarde dreamed of having a producer to help him shape his musical ideas. These dreams collided two and a half years ago when Sarde–a veteran Valley musician who’s recorded for MCA and done extensive film and…
Blondie No Exit (Beyond) It’s pro forma in the world of rock that whenever a band reforms after a long absence, the band members always claim that working together felt like they’d never been away, that they’ve picked up right where they left off. The good news surrounding No Exit,…
Finally. That’s what the members of Sistah Blue considered calling their brand-new debut CD. For three-and-a-half years, the members of this all-female blues quintet have patiently endured the same question from their ultra-avid local fans: When is that CD coming out? Now, finally, the band has a satisfactory response, in…
Charlie Levy has something in common with Michael Corleone. No, Levy isn’t a Sicilian mob boss (at least as far as we know), and his dad probably looks nothing like Marlon Brando. But, just like Corleone, every time Levy thinks he’s out, they keep pulling him back in. In Levy’s…
To an outsider, the rave culture probably looks a bit like an impenetrable, monolithic beast composed of blissed-out, glow-stick kids who’ll respond to any beat that jumps off a turntable. It’s a bit like the perspective that the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff had on the Communist bloc in the…
Jimmy Eat World Jimmy Eat World (Fueled by Ramen) Local bands haven’t gotten much love from major labels lately. Jimmy Eat World is relatively lucky, since it hasn’t been axed like so many other Valley bands, but the band’s crystalline new LP, Clarity, has been sitting on the shelves at…
Bldg 5 is not the most serious band in the world. If you spend any time at all with this funky hard-rock quartet, you’ll find that practically every topic–from the group’s recent road mishaps in snowy Colorado to its contempt for conservative state authorities to its collective appreciation for the…
Ahmad Jamal is reminiscing about Pittsburgh. Known to much of the world simply as a grimy steel town, Pittsburgh has also been one of the great breeding grounds for jazz. It’s a city whose musical legacy is so imposing that Andre Previn turned down other offers for a chance to…
Four years ago, I briefly met Peter Guralnick at a book signing in Memphis, Tennessee. At the time, Guralnick–one of the few great chroniclers of American music–was basking in considerable acclaim for Last Train to Memphis, the first volume of his Elvis Presley biography. The book, arguably the first legit…
Fear of Pop Fear of Pop (550 Music) In the middle of a recent interview with Spin magazine, Korn’s voluble front man Jonathan Davis blurted out a kind of off-the-cuff mission statement for his band. Davis said he wants to “bring heavy back into rock ‘n’ roll. Because goddamned Ben…
A few months ago, when rumors were floating around that Toolies Country might be on the verge of closing after 17 years, owner Bill Bachand offered an unusually intriguing denial. Toolies wasn’t going to close, Bachand said, but if any change did happen, it would be in the form of…
Koko Taylor has a touch of the flu. She assures me she’s feeling fine, but earlier in the day she was concerned enough about the possibility of pneumonia that she postponed our interview to go see a doctor. Sure enough, Taylor’s voice is a little softer than you’d expect from…
It’s hardly a news flash that all-ages shows are a hassle for clubs in this state. Recent history suggests that local bars strongly associated with all-ages events, from The Heat to Electric Ballroom, are all the more likely to wind up on the wrong side of state authorities, particularly if…
Checking the vital signs for guitar-based rock has long been an ongoing preoccupation for critics. Still, you knew something was a bit different this year when new releases by Hole, Marilyn Manson and even the sample-heavy Garbage were judged not merely for their musical merits but for their potential to…
As the film world’s foremost peddler of nostalgia-driven baby-boomer romanticism, Nora Ephron is acutely aware of the crucial role that music plays in selling her three-hanky tales. The soundtrack to her 1993 megahit Sleepless in Seattle not only enhanced that film’s sentimental mood, it sold more than two million copies…
Elvis Costello once sang about a fictional couple who had “songs for every occasion.” You could make the case that Jamal Ruhe has bands for every occasion, or at the very least, bands for every type of song he wants to play. Ruhe, guitarist for the late, lamented Tempe band…
Jewel Spirit (Atlantic Records) Jewel Kilcher may have made a mint by marketing guilelessness, but she’s a bit savvier than she lets on. Consider that her latest single, the characteristically preachy “Hands,” instructs listeners that “only kindness matters.” Of course, a pesky music fan wouldn’t be out of line to…
Four months ago, Nita Craddock was fed up. After 23 years as the owner of Nita’s Hideaway, she was only too glad to sell off the popular Tempe bar and wash her hands of the whole business. When a Nita’s farewell show on July 12 resulted in patrons running off…
