Ving, 'mersh, reviews and `fiesty rock crits'

[hofmann@nrl-css.arpa (James B. Hofmann)]

First a note:  Lee Ving can also be found in Flashdance as the sleazy
guy in the "other" bar who is always grabbing at Beals and her friends.

John Reeves probably knows more of Ving's roles than I do.  I understood
that he started acting, though, shortly after Fear came into being so I 
don't think he was an actor beforehand.

>Really-From: IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu

>Just as you feel competent to generalize unfavourably about
>American mainstream music based only on those musicians
>With whose work you are familiar, 

Not to sound like I'm putting you down but in this day and age only a 
HERMIT can not be familiar with American and British and other mainstream
music.  It's piped into every mall, shopping center.  It's overly
prevalant on the boomboxes and radios that you pass on the streets.  It's
very hard to be unfamiliar with the mainstream.  Even Princess Kate is heard
around the block.  More people probably know who Phil Collins and 
Lionel Richie are than Ronald Reagen.

I agree with IED on his comments on dance music though I fear the time
for innovation in this field is long gone (I do object to his labeling
dance music as "black" music as this is not strictly the case but that's
another argument, another time and I may have misinterpreted his phrasing
(i.e. see Ira Robbin's preface to his underground guide) and now the
"bollocks" are invading.  Strange that net.music ignores this genre in
their search for the pop of the 80s though, since I feel it fits 
qualifications of pop mainly being an exploitable popular (oops, the inevitable
self-reference!) form of music with very little challenge to 
the western music heirarchy, (arguments ad nasuem...)

*** WARNING *** APOLOGY APPROACHING *** SHIELD UP *** *** ***

Well since IED has semi-apologized for his generalizations about music, I'll
apologize for my generalizations about IED's discussion of backwards
messages in a certain rich brat's compositions.  I get this mod.group in
digest form and get really tired of having to skip over IED's long postings (as
I'm sure he does over mine) and occasionally get annoyed at his verbosity.  I 
propose we change the name of this group to mod.music.alternative or something 
to show that this is not all Kate Bush drivel (whoops, get out the asbestos
suit, Martha).

And now back to the music:

Recent 7"'s that have invaded my premises have turned up at least one gem
in the rough.  The band is called THE IDEALs and their record is entitled,
"A Poor Man's ZZ Top."  However, the only thing that's ZZ is the first
cut appropriately entitled, "Big Bad TExas Millionaire" in reference to
ZZ's land development and investment schemes. The rest of this 5 song
gem mines the rockblue vein right next to KILLDOZER and SCRATCH ACID.  
Technically, don't expect wild playing, but the song ideas and execution don't 
really demand it (with the exception of the blues piece which comes out sounding
like a send-up rather than a tribute - who knows maybe that's what they
want?).

Other 7"'s that don't fare so well are the GARGOYLES gothic bar-room new
wave pop, a group notable for their singer, Bebe Buell, who has been 
featured in Playboy once or twice.  Also, the new 7" from Legion of Doom 
(the California Legion Of Doom) is an awful hardcore piss-take which
outlines what is so wrong with alot of American hardcore these days - 
stoopid lyrics, no craftsmanship or innovation.  Finally, I got a listen
to the DESCENDENTS new promo 45 - one song is sickenly modeled after
the Beach Boys (with a bit of razor clarity) and is ironically about wet dreams
or masturbation (the title is "clean sheets"), a subject appealing only
to Wicinski while the b-side is much better and sounds more like the
DESCENDENTS I knew and loved - a semi-brillant mixture in the small
island where pop meets hardcore.  Not too suprisingly, side A is penned
by Milo while Stevenson wrote "Coolidge" on side B.

An LP I received by BRAVE NEW WORLD shows a group with some promise.  This
is all copyrighted 1985, so I'm wondering why they want the fanzines to
review it now 1/4 of the way through 1987.  It sounds to me like a bunch
of hardcores who get off on PiL standing still in the recording studio.
The guitar shrieks and the whiney Johnny Rotten cum Jello Biafra (the
Steve Nicks of punk) are thankfully left in the background.  The lyrics
are all (with the exception of "I wanna be Van Gogh") blantantly politically
and socially correct with very little personal insight.  It's on 
Fartblossom records and costs about $5 PPD. 

Addresses for any of the above can be provided upon request.

*** Coming Soon - the fIREHOSE LP!  the BRIGADE LP!  and more!!!

aside to Trowelbridge:

Sue, that's a good "feisty rock critic" (c.f. Life In Hell) phrase you
coined there, `erstwhile chanteuse'.  May I put it in a Trust with
some of my faves like "hook-laden", "riff-concious" and and "lick-heavy".
Feel free to borrow at will...

My new US Mail address is:  P.O. Box 1067, Oxen Hill, MD  20745

"Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to 
 reform"  
					--- Mark Twain

"He had that rare weird electricity about him -- that extremely wild and
heavy presence that you only see in a person who has abandoned all hope
of ever living `normally.' "
					--- Hunter S. Thompson 
			       		[Fear and Loathing '72]


--- James


(to RPS:  "Barbarella" was written and performed by The Bongoes]