Re: Skinny Puppy/Severed Heads Tour Cancelled? Wot?

[elroy!smeagol!earle@csvax.caltech.edu (Greg Earle)]

I just got email from Non Dadoun (dadoun@ubc.CSNET) in Vancouver, who 
called Nettwerk at my behest.  He was told the SP/SH tour *was* still on, 
and it would start Nov. 19th in New York.  Meanwhile, out here in L.A. I 
spoke to two people who claimed to work with/be related to the person who 
runs/is Sebastian Productions, the promoters who I was told by the Tour Manager
was promoting the L.A. gig (Dec. 9th @ the Roxy).  They claimed they
knew nothing about Sebastian promoting any such gig.   Hmmm ...

Sue, where DID you get this idea that it was cancelled??
Inquiring minds wanna know ...

Meanwhile, any reader of this list who lives in/will happen to be in the
L.A. area this weekend, and is dying of curiosity to (a) find out what a
JPL Post-Punq Computer Scientist looks like; or (b) see if I really am a
weenie; or (c) judge my musical taste [or lack thereof, depending on your
point of view] is hereby strongly urged to get your butts in collective
gear down to the (Legendary) Hong Kong Cafe this Saturday, Nov. 8th.
for the opening of Club Nichtophobia (alternatively, Club Sinophobia -
this is Chinatown, geddit?).  Entertainment will be provided by the band
Factory (who else), and dementia disco damage/noize will be provided by
none other than yers truly (with able assistance from his SO) his ever lovin'
self ...  there will also be artwork provided by various & sundry personages,
and hopefully a lot of fun will be had.  With any luck, we might be able
to cut through the impenetrable wall of Ancient History Mersh Metal & dried
funk that is the monotonous staple of all other L.A. clubs these days (no
thank you, Scream, Power Tools, Henry `Sucks His Own' Peck, et al.).
BTW, the Hong Kong is on Broadway in Chinatown ...

Personally, I am looking forward to hearing Big Black's `Kerosene',
Butthole Surfers' `American Woman', and Alien Sex Fiend's `Smells Like Shit'
(among others, that should give you a hint) at 110db :-)

For those of you in the L.A. area that make up the `soft underbelly' of the
Love-Hounds constituency, I would like to enlighten you as to some of the
fruits that may be plucked in your own backyard.  If you are a fan of 4AD
product (as I imagine a lot of us are), then you should check out DROWNING
POOL who have been laboring away virtally unnoticed for quite some time;
they make a very intricate and atmospheric music that on one hand is not
a million miles away from early Dead Can Dance yet at the same time is very
much distinctively different in their own vein.  They opened for the Cocteau
Twins out here, and were nearly signed to 4AD themselves but these long
distance romances seem to sour (cf. it took Factory over a *year* to release
the Abecedarians' `Smiling Monarchs' 12").  Look for a possible LP on some
Italian label (`Aura'?) but more importantly *see them live*.  Another band
who are much less tenuously 4AD-ish is SHIVA BURLESQUE, they favor lead
acoustic guitar fed through delays & things so the result is often reminiscent
of bits of `Treasure', but their songs aren't at all like the Cocteaus.  If
you can, you can catch them at the Amusement Park on Hollywood Blvd. @ Gower
this Saturday (of course, you'll leave early to come to Nichtophobia :-) with
FOUR WAY CROSS who I *highly* recommend to everybody out there since they
have an LP (`Fill The Sky') which should be somewhat widely available.
Finally there is DREAMS OF FLOWERS who opened for Nick Cave last week.
These people will also be doomed to suffer the `Cocteau rip-off' tag because
of the fact that their music is not terribly dissimilar, also their lead
vocalist (a blond Postpunq poodle of statuesque proportions) has the Liz Fraser
imitation down *to a tee*; I mean this chick not only sounds just like Liz
she even has the warbles down pat!  On the other hand, at least they're *trying*
so check `em out.
Well, I'm getting a little too L.A. specific so that's enough said for now.
Let me just add that if yer thing is more Hardcore/Motorhead/SST oriented
you can get in touch with John Reeves at reeves@CS.UCLA.EDU or ucla-cs!reeves
as he and the Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypso (reeves,srt,trainor,kyle@UCLA)
can give you a much better From The Trenches report than I ...

Miscellaneous Shit Flingings:
[IED:]
>The notion that "anybody can judge art", and that
>anyone's judgment is as valid as anyone else's, is
>entirely invalid.
Hmmm, beginning to sound like it's time to trot out the Tao Of Musical Opinions
yet again ...

>IED agrees with Mr. Rossi that in general, professional
>critics' opinions have no greater intrinsic value than the
>layman's. But this does not hold true with regard to the
>opinions of an experienced artist.
DAMN!  You mean I shoulda listened to Rick Wakeman and Phil Colons back in
`77 when they said the Sex Pistols were shite because they "couldn't play"??
Aw, rats ...

[Mike Meyer:]
>If any of you mod.music-gaffa-hounds are slumming in this group, could
>you fill us in on Clint Ruin/Jim Foetus and grace us with your
>comments on the other Foetus releases. ("Foetus On Your Breath",
>"Foetus Uber Alles", etc.)  I bet Greg Earle or Doug Alan could fill
>us in a bit...
Erm, well for myself, I own an ancient `Foetus Under Glass' single
and I think I used to own `Nail', but got rid of it ... my taste for matters
Thirwellian ended when he pulled the dead pigs' heads routine on us
(sorry, my ALF leanings rising to the surface).  As for his buddy in lust,
Lydia, gimme a break ... she's the world's whinyest wench ...
[Anecdote] Once at the Fetish club there was a night where the featured
attraction was for `volunteers' to be led into a single room where Ms. Lunch
and Henry Rollins would (ahem) Verbally Abuse you (physically, too?).  As the
guy in the medieval executioners mask (a la the Mentors) guarding the door
was a friend of mine, he offered to let me in ... needless to say, I politely
declined, having better things to do with my time ... [End of anecdote]

Everyone should own every Laibach record ...  but I shred on all of you
because I'm the only one on my block with a way bitchen Laibach t-shirt
with the official Franz Josef Tito manifesto on the back ...

Hey gtaylor - the new SPK LP has gamelan and other fun stuff from far off
lands on it ... just got it yesterday so no hearum yet ...
also, if you like Sylvian's instrumental stuff, you folks keep an eye out
for the solo LP from Alan Rankine, who was the instrumental genius behind
The (late, very lamented pop wizards) Associates (pop kids under 24 will not
understand the previous sentence.)  Reviews have spoken about similarities
to Sakamoto/Sylvian/`Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence' vein (in places) ...

Woodentopzzzzzzzz?

[Sue:]
>Cheers for you, Peter.  I agree, it is THE best album of the year --
>okay, I shouldn't use phrases like that, it's MY FAVORITE album of the year.
AH!  Someone who learned well the Tao Of Musical Opinions ...
>Followed by Throwing Muses, Peter Gabriel, R.E.M., That Petrol
>Emotion, Anna Domino, The Housemartins, James, and Red Lorry Yellow Lorry.
Hey, I still say `The Unacceptable Face Of Freedom' and `Atomizer' shreds
over all of `em ... oops!  where DID I put that Tao ... :-)

[Richard van Hoesel:]
>---->>  Anyone interested in the "Melbourne Underground" (?) sounds..
GIMME GIMME GIMME!!  (Probably @ Black Flag)

[Tsun-Yuk Hsu:]
>EXECUTIVE SLACKS '85 LP (cover with guys flailing around in saran wrap)
`Nausea' ... Hey everybody don't forget `Fire And Ice', it totally shreds too
Plus the Slacks are still the raddest live band this side of the Pond ...
Records are only a pale imitation of the Live Experience (if you've been to
enough concerts, you'll know this is a truism) anyway.
>First few tracks were really boring,
You're NOT serious :-) ... hey listen to it a few more times

>BOURBONESE QUALK        THE SPIKE
I'll add a second to John Hogge's rec for `Preparing For Power' (haven't seen
this one yet) also the latest Nocturnal Emissions (has the French painting on
the cover, I ferget the title momentarily) is totally rad.

[Tom Loden:]
>Hell, even the Dead Kennedys put out a remixed version of Holiday in Cambodia 
>so that the words were more discernable (bad form in my opinion)!

Anyone ever notice another Truism about Rock is: Redone versions of singles
(whether for subsequent LP's, or later on to try and ca$h in a la the Cure's
`Boys Don't Cry' 1986 version) ALWAYS are worse than the originals??  I don't
think I've ever heard more than 1 or two exceptions to this ...

[Greg Ward:]
>Can anyone give me information on the following groups? Discography, history,
>members, etc. would be nice.
>
>        Section 25
>        A Certain Ratio
Give me time to go home and collect info and I'll get back to you on these.
After all, I have to be thorough or else I'll lose my reputation with Sue ...

I'd second John Hogge's thumbs up for Controlled Bleeding's `Headcrack' and
a;Grumh...'s `Rebearth' but I think I already mentioned these a while back !?!

Meanwhile, while I'm at it:
New Things Out and About
------------------------
Cassandra Complex LP	This is *totally* awesome, imagine a pinch of Sisters
	plus a dash of Gargoyle Sox - synth + deep voice + wild thrash guitar -
	every Hardcore band should be forced to listen to Side 1 song 2 to see
	how it should be done.
Skinny Puppy LP	`Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse'
Severed Heads 12" `Gashing The Old Mae West' [Monotony Mix, 23 minutes long!]
Flipper LP `Public Flipper Limited' double live 1980?-85
The Tear Garden 12" `The Tear Garden' this is cEVIN KEY of Skinny Puppy +1
Alien Sex Fiend LP `It'	OK, laugh if you want, fuck you ASF are great so nyeah
new Controlled Bleeding LP `Curd' (I think?)
new Industrial Noize sampler from around the world LP (I forgot the name,
but it is compiled by the mainman from Controlled Bleeding, and features
Controlled Bleeding, Boston's Sleep Chamber, California's Problemist, and
a host of others - John, keep your eyes open, it has a picture of Calcutta
1946 on the back cover with body parts all over the place - yecch)


Yow ... I'm beginning to look like IED - diarrhea all over the terminal ...
See ya 
	- Greg