“Chupa” means “suck” in Spanish, and the motto on the fliers for Phoenix’s defunct but legendary underground dance spot of the same name used to read: “A club never sucked so good.” From the fall of 1994 to the spring of ’96, Chupa sucked long and hard, every weekend, all…
X, the Replacements, and the Pixies. Innovative ’80s bands that changed the rock side of pop music from the underground up. Disparate characters from various sides of the country–X the proto-West Coast punks, the Replacements the standard in Midwestern garage bands and the Pixies a textbook Eastern college-rock act–who nonetheless…
Al Casey is rocking. But the 61-year-old guitar legend isn’t plugged into an old Fender tube amp. His custom Gibson L-5 guitar is nowhere in sight. No, he’s idly swaying on a swing in front of Papa’s Place, the preeminent–and possibly only–diner in Cordes Junction, a ghost of a trailer-park…
Xanadu. It was the colossal palace that Charles Foster Kane built as a monument to himself in Orson Welles’ masterpiece Citizen Kane. Xanadu was staggering in scale, and absolutely breathtaking in its devotion to lavish excess. But, despite Kane’s persistent efforts, it was never finished and never supplied anything but…
I confronted the want ads this morning. Help wanted. Yeah. The agony. If I ever commit suicide, there’ll be a newspaper open to the want ads somewhere near my dead body. One ad read: Yo-Yo technician, assembly and stringing–no experience necessary. Drug test required. Another: Circle K offers career opportunities…
Tito & Tarantula Tarantism (Cockroach Records) Tito Larriva is the very definition of a rock ‘n’ roll journeyman. His stints with influential but obscure L.A. bands like the Plugz and the Cruzados long ago established his credentials as a roots-rock true believer, a guy long on heart if a bit…
Ivy Apartment Life (Atlantic Records) What exactly is pop music? When Van Morrison was asked about the term in 1984, he said that to him it meant the pre-rock recordings of people like Rosemary Clooney. Pop is such an amorphous term that it can be applied to Barry Manilow one…
When longtime saxophone legend Grady Gaines thinks of Sam Cooke, his aged, raveled voice softens. “Sam Cooke was one of the most beautiful people that I ever worked for,” Gaines says from his home in Houston. “In every way. Being nice, being there for you. He was just a wonderful…
Mary Timony sounds confused. The singer/guitarist for the Boston trio Helium knows she’s supposed to be calling someone, but she can’t quite recall the name. “Umm, is Shawn there?” she asks in her soft, reedy voice, revealing an absolute lack of confidence. Before she can be told that no one…
Thirty years ago, no male in the Western world could have been blamed for wanting to be like Mick. Living the life of Jagger at that time meant you had fame, wealth, looks, great drugs and glamour. It meant you were the toast of swingin’ Carnaby Street and you had…
So-called “ethnic” bands face a perpetual dilemma. If you unite with other bands and organize a movement, you’re likely to be marginalized, seen as a hyphenated artist. If you downplay your ethnicity and try to win acceptance on strictly musical terms, you’re likely to be ignored altogether by wary radio…
Don’t utter his name in vain. The Artist–or whatever he chooses to call himself–is once again part of a revolution. The Minneapolitan maestro has moved into a brave new world, and he sends a message: For fans, The Artist still wants to party until 1999 with his new concert tour…
It’s an unusual story. A reputable hard-core label signs a pop band recommended by another band. The pop band tours, releases a shittily produced LP and becomes the darling of the American indie scene. So the band goes to a better studio with a better producer. The label releases the…
The Beach Boys The Pet Sounds Sessions (Capitol Records) A few weeks ago, VH1 aired a documentary on the making of some Fleetwood Mac record–it was either Tusk or Rumours; it hardly matters which. Lindsey Buckingham sat behind the console, fiddling with knobs and dials until he managed to separate…
Portishead Portishead (Go! Beat/London Records) Portishead’s 1994 single “Sour Times” was one of those rare tracks so arresting and so original that it makes other musicians slam on the brakes and rethink what they’re doing. While nothing else on Portishead’s debut album Dummy scaled those steep heights, the album sustained…
It’s safe to say that Pat Flannery, lead singer for the heavy-rock group St. Madness (formerly known as Crown of Thorns), has an enormous chip on his shoulder. “I’m angry, I like angry and I want to stay angry,” grouses the lanky purveyor of doom and gloom who sings “I’m…
Time to get ill? Nah–time to get sik, on location in the Sik Bay, creative den of R.C. Lair, underground DJ and premier graphic artist for the Valley’s dance-club and rave scenes. R.C. (the initials stand for Ryan Christopher) is a bit nocturnal. Sik Bay–actually one room in the Tempe…
It was a Friday night, and Glen Buxton was jumping up and down with excitement as he watched boxing on TV. The only indication that anything was wrong was a pain in his side, which he mentioned to his younger sister Janice Davison over the phone that night. He thought…
I have come not only to mourn John Denver’s passing but to castigate his stinkin’ rotten legion of desertin’ fans. A few years back, Goldmine Magazine did a listing of albums most likely to turn up at Salvation Army or Goodwill stores. Amazingly, that listing just about holds true today…
Love fades, but with me it is always wrenched away like a rotten tooth. My expertise at self-sabotage and being continually defeated, drained and drunk guarantee this. Sometimes it’s like being tied to a post opposite a firing squad, the squad members pulling their triggers while I stand there watching…
Anybody can be dumb. Stupidity requires vision. In rock ‘n’ roll, the distinction means everything. Journey was just plain dumb, but the Ramones were gloriously stoopid. Today, as always, we’re overrun by dumb bands that think they’re smart, earthbound in their attempts to prove their seriousness, their literary weight and…
Christine Zahn is excited. Because of circumstances no one could foresee, this 47-year-old owner of Tempe Bowl and admitted musical neophyte has become a player in the local rock scene. There’s only one point that she’s kind of sensitive about. After enduring my numerous references to her “bowling alley,” she…
