August 1982
I know we haven’t had a lot of communication in the last few years, and it might just be out of line for me to write this letter. I’m writing it anyway. It’s been a few days since I heard the news about Lester, and it’s only at this early hour of the morning that I’m able to deal with it.
CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
Robert Christgau
LAURIE ANDERSON: "Big Science" (Warner Bros.):: Like protest singers, novelty artists put too much strain on the words. Anderson’s performance, as they say, is richer and subtler than Si Kahn’s or John Prine. But her music is more, as they say, minimal, which diminishes replay potential.
ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS
London’s been calling Joe, but Joe ain't heeding the call-up. Joe Strummer, the Clash’s lovable crooner, was mussing for three weeks in May, forcing the band to cancel their spring U.K. “Know Your Rights” tour. He was last seen on April 27, when he completed a phone interview with a Scottish newspaper.
THE BEAT GOES ON
Iman Lababedi
NEW YORK—“Baby psychedelia,” claims Billy Altman three songs into the Bongos’ first set at the Bottom Line. “Like an early Nervus Rex if Nervus Rex had been better musicians” he amplifies, “I don’t like this type of pop if it doesn’t know how to rock.” Me, I like pop whether it knows how to rock or not, but the Bongos’ friendly mediocrity has never been less appealing than tonight; all forced enthusiasm, smooth surfaces, and boyish whimsy as epitomized by singer /lead guitarist/writer Richard Barone’s sweaty jog-pacing getting worked-up through the music doesn’t explain why.
DWIGHT TWILLEY: SALVATION THROUGH WATER SPORTS
Toby Goldstein
Dwight Twilley, his tall, rangy frame barely contained by the walls of EMI Records’ conference room, is thinking about one of the only good things that’s left a mark on him in the past three years. “I’ve been inspired by just one record that came out and it was good for me at the time because it was toward the end of my torture, when they were releasing the chains off the rack.
ASIA MAJOR OR ASIA MINOR?
Dave DiMartino
I do not hate Asia. I do not love Asia. I am not torn by Asia; I am torn by how anyone can make a living writing about them. I’m just puzzled by Asia. Jackie Lomax’s first album was called Is This What You Want? arid title-wise, no one’ll ever beat it.
I CALL ON ROSANNE CASH
Jeff Nesin
1. The Set Up Driving to Rosanne Cash’s home a few miles outside of Nashville I had to briefly take an interstate to a suburban road, turn off onto a country road (horses, cows, etc.), and finally onto a dirt road which winds along for a while until it ends at Rosanne’s door.
HUNTERS IN AN URBAN JUNGLE
Toby Goldstein
Chris Stein, Deborah Harry and I are sitting in an office of Blank Tapes Studio, catching up on the recent past and future prospects of Blondie. At the same time, the duo are hustling through a last-minute blast of errands before taking Chris’s historical photo exhibit to London, where they’ll promote their book Making Tracks, the new Blondie album, The Hunter, Deborah’s forthcoming film role in Videodrome, a worldwide tour set to begin in midsummer, Stein’s own independent label, Animal Records, and whatever else they’re planning for their spare time.
THE REAL G.I. JOE
Penny Valentine
The drums of war beat out across our breakfast tables, to our laughter. It was like watching a rerun of The Mouse That Roared with a cast of stereotypical British characters, if it hadn’t got so serious so fast and they actually started shooting each other.
Creem Profiles
JOHN COUGAR
(Pronounced “Boy Howdy!”)
CREEM DREEM
SUSAN LYNCH
Rock ‘n’ Roll Calendar
CALENDAR
NASHVILLE CATS: CREEM LOOKS AT COUNTRY MUSIC
Allen Hester
Ah, those Nashville cats—“clean as country water” sang the Lovin’ Spoonful in one of the more obvious, but by no means the only tribute that rock bands of the 60’s era made to the sound and style of the hillbilly bands from Music City USA. Back in those days,, the Rolling Stones did “I’m Movin’ On” by Hank Snow, and the Beatles covered Carl Perkins’s “Matchbox” and other country tunes like “Act Naturally.” Going back a bit further, Elvis’s first single release had “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” on one side, which was a big hit for Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys.
I'M WITH STUPID: SHIRTS GO FOR MORSO TORSO
J.Kordosh
The unending angst of American fashion is-on occasion—overlooked, overwhelmed, or otherwise bulldozed by common sense. A classic example is blue jeans, pre-B.S. (Brooke Shields.) Blue jeans are functional and durable and they even used to be cheap...and you practically have to go to church if you want much more than that.
CREEMEDIA
Bill Holdship
Albert Goldman would have had a field day with a Jerry Lee Lewis biography. Lewis is one of the most genuinely “insane” characters rock ’n’ roll has ever produced, and his life includes many elements that could substantiate Goldman’s theory of most rock stars being crazed, strung-out degenerates: drugs, alcoholism, guns, violence, “uncivilized” sexual mores, “incest,” bigamy and general social anarchy.
DRIVE-IN SATURDAY
Edouard Dauphin
Wondering what to get Sis for her birthday? How about a parasite? Yep, these little critters make the N perfect gift. They�re cuter than goldfish. They don�t take up room �cause they live in your stomach. And there are no messy feeding problems, since they chomp away contentedly on your insides.
CONFESSIONS OF A FILM FOX
Looks like we�ll all be checking into the Bates Motel soon: Anthony Perkins, who was unforgettable as that troubled mama�s boy Norman Bates, is producing a sequel to Psycho, (to be called Psycho II), and has gathered several of the original stars; notably Janet Leigh, who raised wearing black brassieres into an art form.
Stars Cars
TOMMY TUTONE
Records
SELLER’S MARKET
Jeffrey Morgan
Not only is this album an insult to the average consumer (who will have to pay upwards to ten dollars for it), it is an exceptionally vicious kick in the teeth to Van Halen fans everywhere.
We Who Are About To Crash Offer You A Smoke
Mitchell Cohen
•�I no longer love the way you hold your pens and pencils� is a line that any one of a thousand writers might write. But not many would have that line accompanied by bagpipes, or have those bagpipes do the Raelettes part in a call-and-response based on �What�d I Say.� Laurie Anderson would, and did. Bagpipes are, of course, inexcusable.
OL' HAIR WEAVE IS BACK
Gene Sculatti
Remember the 70�s? Not much of a decade, you say. Yeah, well. Fella here used to be a mover and a shaker back in the mid-70�s. Real big wheel. Hits? For awhile there, even the holes in his singles charted. Acclaim? In the Village Voice, Robert Christgau himself discussed the cat's �metier.� Like I say, big.
ROCK • A • RAMA
Richard Riegel
A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS (Jive/Arista):: Electronic? You bet �lectronic! But I�m still not sure whether this is a different group than Our Daughter�s Wedding, as terminal interchangability seem to have set in among the synth crowd. Most likely you heard these catchy machine rhythms in Kraftwerk years ago, too bad A.F.O.S. didn�t cop those Kraut�s dry-ice wit while they were at it.
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