January 1979
Creem
When Bowie's article (feature) came out, I wrote and told you of my appreciation. In fact it did appear in the November issue, under MV, Pittsburgh. After the copy of my letter was printed this remark appeared from the editor: "There does in fact exist a used Bowie lot located along a clandestine autobahn on the outskirts of Dresden. Keep watch for transatlantic franchising."
CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
Robert Christgau
THE BEACH BOYS: Album" (Brother/Reprise):: On The Beach Boys Love You, lyrics like those of "Solar System" may have been a little embarrassing, but basically their silliness registered as charming. "Match Point Of Our Love" ("Early in the game when you broke me/Just like a serve") and "Belles Of Paris" ("There's a chapel 'Sacre Coeur' in quaint Montmarte [sic]/In the open air the painters show their art") are just dumb, and despite a lot of fairly pleasant music and a few passable songs, so is this.
ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS
More than the normal amount of Stones stories this month, filtering down from Toronto: according to that city's newspapers, the "benefit for the blind" portion of Keith Richards's sentence was suggested indirectly by Rita Bedard, a blind girl from Montreal, who was present throughout the proceedings.
THE BEAT GOES on
Alan Madeleine
BIRMINGHAM, MI-From the entrance level of the Midtown Cafe (not a free plug—watch for our bill) my compadre editors and I pool reconnaissance in search of our man Flint. Being the tallest in our group as well as wearing funny shoes, I am first to spot what looks to be a wooly cactus peeking out over the balcony.
CREEM'S PROFILES
HOME: A California-style California beach house teeming with tattooed errants Joe is either too polite or too undermanned to evict. AGE: Young enough to still be allowed to drink without a physician's reproach. PROFESSION: Caterwauling as though lower extremities had been placed in a raging campfire. Part time beard therapist.
STEVE GIBBONS: A PORTRAIT IN BLACK & BLUE
Mike Flood Page
Julie Burchill of the New Musical Express, never one to mince her words when she cart hang, draw and quarter them first, said recently of Steve Gibbons: "Why is it that every redundant old rock 'n' roller who makes an effort to look like a fresh-faced post-punk contender ends up looking like a vain Latin waiter who's never pulled anything more thrilling than an outside lavatory chain?
KIHN~ESTHETIC RESPONSES
Mitch Cohen
Greg Kihn is up for this one. "The Bottom Line set's gonna scorch. There's gonna be electricity in the air thick. We take 'em out in the fifth round. And it's only one night. We can get out of town fast." What there is on this Sunday night at the Line is tension (not all of it the performers', but that's another story).
Stars Cars
MEAT LOAF
PEROXIDE IN CRISIS!
John Pidgeon
It's two years now since Rod Stewart formed his new group, and the odds are it'll be a deal longer than that before anyone talks of quitting, least of all Rod himself. Having been in and out of half a dozen bands in as many years at the start of his career, he stayed with the Faces through six rackety rumbustious years before Woody's defection to the Stones turned an inevitable estrangement into actuality.
LETTER FROM BRITAIN
Simon Frith
One of the nice things about writing this column is that I never have time to find out what's going on. I take things as they come and so, for example, it was only after I'd written about the Sex Pistols for six successive months that I realised they were significant and by then they weren't anymore anyway.
TED NUGENT: The Night They Drove Old Gonzo Down
Kat Gisi
The call came one Friday, as twilight was kissing the multi-colored treetops of Birmingham. Hovering over the boss's shoulder (that's the boss, not The Boss), I saw her scrawl directions for our latest adventure—"Delta. From Florida. Flight arrives Metro airport 7:11 p.m. Drive to farm.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Calendar
CALENDAR
REWIRE YOURSELF
Bill Kanner
For four days last October, the New York Hi Fi Stereo Music Show played the Statler Hilton (across the street from Madison Square Garden). New products were in abundance, and audiophiles got to see some far out items they may never have read about.
"No Stones In '77 & No Sex Pistols In '78!"
Roy Carr
[As you recall from last month, our Keith conversation was progressing famously; so much so, in fact, that our correspondent was coerced to take a (perfectly natural!) washroom relief. But more words were yet to exchange. Bear in mind that this interview occurred prior to the trial of October 23-24, in which Keith was judged guilty of possession of heroin without intent to sell, and subsequently given a year's probation and sentenced to arrange for a Rolling Stones charity concert for the blind. —Ed]
CREEMEDIA
Robot A. Hull
Monsters seem to be everywhere. Most major cities of the world are now being destroyed. Moscow by Rodan! Peking by Mothra! Akron by Gammera! Stand by, here's another bulletin ... we just heard New York is under attack by Godzilla! Repeat... New York is being invaded by Godzilla! (Long shot of any metropolis skyline, a scene of fiery destruction, Godzilla's radioactive rays raining down on skyscrapers and scurrying ants alike.)
Confessions of a FILM FOX
As friends gather to hoist a bit of holiday cheer, mouths are flapping about the latest Stones rumors: Bianca dagger has reportedly dropped divorce proceedings and is trying to work out a reconciliation with hubby Mick. And where does that leave Mick's current cutie, Jeri Hall?
BOY HOWDY'S GUIDE TO ELECTRIC GUITARS
Allen Hester
Not so very long ago, guitarists had only a few instruments to choose from; there were a handful of established names in the business, and it was generally considered that if you couldn't quite afford a Gibson, you played a Fender. If you were of the country-western persuasion, it was a Gretsch, simple as that.
RECORDS
PATTI SMITH
The man, a changeling, journeys across the radiant waste of the American west, there is a quake, a crack, he sprawls, he laughs, he sticks his prick into the jagged warp and spews his seed of trust and disgust thru the hard red vein of the desert, he does not emerge, he cannot rise, his cock is caught in the mouth of the wilderness, gestures of sound but no sound, there is to be silence before god.
G.O.P-Funk; The Doo-Doo Manifesto
Joe Fernbacher
The Language Wars had commenced. Verbs, if uttered around certain people, were subject to the death penalty. Get caught mouthing a noun out loud and it's the pillory; besmirch a consonant and prepare yourself for five to ten in a Sensory Deprivation Prison—no sounds, no sensations, no nuthin'.
ROCK•A•RAMA
Jeffrey Morgan
JIMI HENDRIX—The Essential Jimi Hendrix (Warner Bros.)"Hey, not a bad selection, even if it isn't as essential as the title claims (the only real essential Hendrix is the definitive Hendrix: i.e., the first three albums). However, since everything after Electric Ladyland is in a constant state of going in and out of deletion, if you didn't grab albums like War Heroes and Rainbow Bridge before they got pulled, this album is not only the next best thing, but a must.
BACKSTAGE