Nick Broomfield’s controversial 1998 documentary Kurt and Courtney works very hard to paint a negative portrait of Courtney Love. So hard, in fact, that by the end of it you almost find yourself feeling sorry for her. Everyone from Love’s father to her ex-boyfriend to her former nanny fires verbal…
Branford Marsalis calls exactly at the appointed time, 3 p.m., despite a schedule that should not allow for such promptness. He is on a cellular phone, sitting on the front stoop of his 13-year-old son Reese’s piano school on White Plains Post Road in Eastchester, New York. Branford does not…
Various artists Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (Maverick Records) The world inhabited by Austin Powers is more an evocation of the way the ’60s were documented than of the time period itself. Its absurd devotion to swinging at all costs echoes films like Casino Royale and the Matt…
It’s not often that I feel like I’m in the middle of an episode of V.I.P. Actually, part of the inept glory of Pamela Anderson Lee’s action series is that it never feels like anybody’s real life, with the possible exception of those well-tanned, scantily clad super sleuths out there…
On the eve of Cinco de Mayo, while many bars spent a slow evening stocking a shitload of Coronas, limes and tequila, Boston’s was quite busy serving an eclectic crowd of fans who came to see Atlanta space rockers Man or Astroman?. This band has been immortalized within indie rock…
The year is 1983. Offspring singer Dexter Holland–looking very much the blond, spiky-haired, ersatz Billy Idol that he is today–is pathetically bashing away at the drums, in his very first band. This raw piece of camcorder verite is the kind of stuff that VH1’s Before They Were Rock Stars is…
Ricky Martin Ricky Martin (Columbia Records) Whatever happened to the good old days, when the Grammy Awards were a joke and everybody knew it? Grammyland used to be a fanciful place where Jethro Tull was the pre-eminent hard rock band, while Toto and Christopher Cross were recognized as Mozarts of…
Old 97’s Fight Songs (Elektra) On “Victoria,” the opening cut off the Old 97’s 1994 release Wreck Your Life, front man Rhett Miller sings, “This is a song about Victoria’s heart/You might think it’s stupid but I still think it’s art.” In truth the same sentiment could be applied to…
If rock’s first half-century ends with Korn’s “Rock Is Dead” tour pulling down the largest 1999 concert receipts, what hope could there possibly be for people to get excited about the acts that once made rock live? Come New Year’s Eve, Little Richard will probably be woohooing it up in…
After 11:00 on any uneventful night, the bicycle ride to Circle K takes maybe 10 minutes, tops. And that includes stopping, avoiding eye contact with the crack dealers and the panhandlers and purchasing the beer. The return trip, though, is a bit trickier. First, it is slightly uphill. Second, both…
The scene is a self-serve copy shop on Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago, the time is several years ago and the protagonist is Wesley Willis, beloved local icon. Willis is built like a Sasquatch (he’s six feet four inches tall and weighs more than 300 pounds), but his spirit is friendly…
“Who’s in charge of this? Is it okay if I sing?” The question came from Peacemakers guitarist Steve Larson. The answer was a soft murmur, neither affirmative nor negative. In actual fact, no one was in charge at Balboa Cafe on Wednesday, April 28, the night that the recently formed…
Ben Folds Five The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner (550 Music) It’s a strange paradox of the music industry that a recording artist’s most common response to success is a case of melancholia. The cutout bins are overloaded with self-pitying follow-ups that lament the emptiness of fame and the tedium…
We keep hearing rumblings that Phoenix has emerged as a major metropolis. Some inhabitants even take pride in the smog they inhale, viewing it as confirmation that we’re in the big leagues. But Phoenix still struggles to find its own identity and forfeit facsimile. Serving as one of many sketchbooks,…
By definition, grindcore is an abrasive form of music. It’s fast, harsh and noisy, residing somewhere between metal and punk, and inevitably confusing fans of both. Born out of punk’s mid-’80s search for an identity that the thrash metalers were co-opting at the time, its musical message remains intact. It’s…
Tom Waits has unleashed his first album of new material in more than six years. For those who have followed the lowlife renaissance man’s career over the past 26 years, that statement is all the incentive they need to rush out and buy it. Fortunately, Mule Variations, his first album…
Fountains of Wayne Utopia Parkway (Atlantic Records) At year’s end, when critics and other know-it-alls compile their best-of lists for 1999, Fountains of Wayne’s Utopia Parkway will be there. Words like “smart” and “quirky” will adorn the disc, and no doubt there will be references to “heavenly” sounds and other…
About a month ago, singer-songwriter Pete Forbes and his band were in Los Angeles rehearsing for a club gig that night. During a short break, the band’s drummer, a wiry, bespectacled, mad scientist of the skins named John O’Reilly Jr., idly picked up a violin belonging to Forbes sideman John…
Look through the north window of Alice Cooper’stown and the message is clear. You’re greeted by a life-size cardboard cutout of the king of shock rock in black leather, welcoming you to his nightmare. In front of the cutout, the window sports an orange neon Alice Cooper signature, and directly…
Robert Pollard Kid Marine (Rockathon Records) Tobin Sprout Let’s Welcome the Circus People (Wigwam Records) If Guided by Voices is any indication, you can’t underestimate those working-class towns when it comes to spawning talented songwriters. Maybe it has something to do with the amount of beer consumed being directly proportionate…
The most frequently repeated joke about the ’60s was that if you could remember it, you weren’t there. Along those lines, the morning after the overwhelming spectacle that was the New Times Music Awards Showcase, the hazy cloud of amnesia that fills my head might be my only solid proof…
In a day and age where most bands are eager to take the quickest shortcut to commercial success, the Mob 40’s are a refreshing change of pace. While discussing their brief but eventful history in the back room of Long Wong’s, the group members never broach subjects like major-label conglomeration,…
