WALL OF VOODOO’S OFF SOUND TRACK BETTING

“Sift.” That’s Stan Ridgway’s big word of the-hour as we gab away a spring afternoon in a dull Holiday Inn lounge. Maybe it’s the beer (he’s buying), but “sift” just keeps rolling off Stan’s clever tongue. Because of the rockbiz circumstances under which we’ve met, he suspects me of being a “rock critic,” and inquires whether practice of that discipline involves having to “sift and balance” records and other rock effluvia.

Later he tells me that Wall Of Voodoo’s music is about “sifting and balancing” all the sensory impressions flooding in upon an American of the ’80s. “Our songs are a balance of all areas—‘Let’s examine this,’ they say.” Wall Of Voodoo’s music strikes me as more interesting than boring ideals like that would imply, but as we loosen up on the grain, the true origin of Stan’s siftobsessions finally emerges.