Pandisc prez Bo Crane knows the music biz. Bo knows hit records. And boy does Bo know how to toss a pah-tay. It’s not Bo’s fault, either, that “Swelter” wasn’t around to chronicle these fine adventures, although a crew from Wire brushed in, then ran screaming out the door after…
Dozens of terrified tourists scrambled to shore as vigilant beachcomber Glenn McGahee alerted them to his shocking discovery: hundreds of mysterious sea monsters! “It was horrible!” exclaims the 37-year-old Miami Beach bartender, who adds that he wasn’t sampling his own wares at the time of the troubling encounter. “Some of…
The six members of Natural Causes, their manager Keith Schantz, and a two-man photo crew are parading down the long hallway of a Lincoln Road building, toward the back, where the musicians will pose for portraiture in their rehearsal studio. A glass door swings open and Washington Square music director…
Every year in springtime music-bizzers — songwriters, producers, agents, players, critics, programmers, sycophants — gather in the muggy city of Austin, Texas, for South by Southwest, an industry gathering during which they booze and schmooze and take a stab at shaping the future of rock and roll. As the Nineties…
Ah, the piney smell of Christmas trees, the lights twinkling and decorations shining, the spirit of the holidays glowing everywhere you go. Makes me want to hurt people. Can’t help it, just a feeling. Jack ’em up with a rock sock. Fry days this year, it’ll be a buster from…
Hey, hit the highway. Get outta town. Life is a field trip. The adventure never ends. On the road. Again. And there exist a thousand other buzz phrases mating trips (sans drugs) with rock music. I remember a few years ago, cruising up the New Jersey Turnpike about 10:00 at…
The world is too much with reference books, guides, and the like, but the two new rock-and-roll road compendiums are something new and different. Up to a point, anyway. In February of 1991 the Addison Wesley Publishing Company shipped a softcover called The Jazz and Blues Lover’s Guide to the…
Keeping the lines open and dialing in area codes With the three previous installments of this feature (April, June, and September) we covered 23 recordings, a mere drop in the local-sound bucket. We hope by now you have the idea — some of these are on sale, those that aren’t…
Time keeps chickens in my head — tick, tick, tick, it’s never enough. Normally when I’m turned on to something cool, I attempt some research, make some calls, whatever, but these days no way. So I feel pretty butthornal after dropping the name Eitzel (what is it, besides the godhead?)…
I don’t know about the future, but rock and roll died Tuesday night at the Miami Arena. It was not pretty. What’s worse, it wasn’t ugly either. I literally couldn’t even get arrested. I also couldn’t believe that I was seeing rock and roll die in my lifetime and in…
It’s feel good time. A churning version of “Adam Raised a Cain” and we are reborn to run, our faith restored and renewed, the music moving us the way it’s supposed to. Bruce? Right. (See “On the Beat.”) Soup Town, actually, one night A.B. (After Bruce), quaking Churchill’s Hideaway with…
I’ve got more than some and less than plenty, but one thing I have of real value is old friends. Plenty of enemies, too, but I’m not going to waste time and space on them. One old friend is Rich Ulloa, mentioned here because he nailed it when he said,…
I joined the Grave Dancers Union I had to file — Soul Asylum (on their debut album for Columbiaafter leaving A&M and Twin/Tone) The first, and perhaps only, lesson for struggling musicians is that there is no success other than the success that comes with a contract. The major label…
Hurricanes. Favorite football team. Least favorite weather occurrence. And more. There was that hurricane benefit writing contest thing in New Times, wherein people lucubrated their personal experiences, and $15K went to organizations helping victims of Andrew. Like the rest of the editorial staff here, I helped judge the entries, but…
One large container frozen lime juice, handful of ice, a slice of lime, and several glugs of vodka. Blend well (making sure lime slice is pulverized) and serve in frosted glass. Or, one 46-oz. can V-8, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, lime juice (fresh only), horseradish — all to taste — and…
It’s a little late now. Out of time, over deadline, which happens when you spend sixteen hours a day on the job, and still have to find time to fill this stupid space. None of this is going my way. And we promised, by God, not to critshit all over…
As editor of this section I felt it was not only my right, but my duty, to recommend which candidate you should vote for in the presidential election. Unlike the Miami Herald, where a former publisher once forced the editorial board to change its recommendation, this rag is a bit…
Life is a contest so play it. Or as poet Lionel Goldbart might say, “Integrity is a winning strategy.” Right, right. So it is with pride and pleasure we announce the Official New Times “Program Notes” R.E.M. Photo Contest. We could make this easy, of course, like by asking what…
Superstar Chet Atkins, of all people, doesn’t quite get it. Asked about a specific technique on a particular song, he mumbles that he barely even remembers the tune. Reminded of his profoundly significant encounter with drummer Herbie Cooper, he shoots back as to how ol’ Herbie’s doing these days. Prodded…
The year’s most important rock album has been released. The rectological explication engenders the broadening base of potential matched against the constricting demands of commercial success, and R.E.M. effectively negates that equation evocatively by juggling configurative…whoops, wrong column. Sorry. They didn’t headline their press release “Automatic for the Pundits” for…
Let’s put it this way: One recent weekend night dozens of top musicians gathered to perform an extravagant benefit concert to help victims of Hurricane Andrew. And Gloria Estefan failed to show up! She let everyone down, she doesn’t really care, she is, by all evidence, not going to single-handedly…
Zombie Birdhouse, Three Penny Opera, Mari Serpas and the Instigators. The winning band would get $1000, a cool guitar by a famous-name manufacturer, et cetera, courtesy of the booze company Tanqueray. As one of three extinguished judges, I probably shouldn’t do this, but I’ll tell you that I gave the…
