What was up with the Dixie Chicks' bubblegum vampire get-up on the Grammys? Consider that anything-goes fashion sense a teaser for the group's upcoming ads for provocative shoe company Candie's. The cobblers nabbed the perky trio before they collected their Grammys for "Best Country Performance by a Group" and "Best Country Album" (which they won over former Candie's model Shania Twain). A press release from Candie's promises the Moshe Brakha-shot ads will feature the Chicks "in some surprisingly intimate and irreverent moments." What that means is anyone's guess, but hopefully they had enough sense to draw the line at posing on commodes with their panties around their ankles, like Jenny McCarthy did last year for the company shortly before her career went straight down the toilet. Candie's has also hired Brandy for its television campaign, which will feature the doe-eyed singer performing two original songs penned by her younger brother Ray J . . .
Snoop Dogg is attempting to turn back the hands of time, insisting that his fourth album (second for Master P's No Limit Records -- the feisty label that extricated him from Death Row) will not be a follow-up to last year's Da Game Is To Be Sold & Not To Be Told, but rather to his 1993 debut, Doggystyle. "This album will feature the 'Old School Snoop,'" says a No Limit spokesperson. Topp Dogg was produced by Beats By Pound, No Limit's production team which includes KLC, Craig B., Moby Dick, O'Dell and Carlos. In addition, Snoop brought in his own West Coast people like Superfly, Meech, and Mark to round out the sound. Top Dogg, will hit stores on May 11 -- just about the time that Snoop will appear in Hot Boyz, a No Limit film starring Silkk the Shocker, C-Murder and Mystikal. It's the story about a good guy in the 'hood whose girlfriend is wrongly imprisoned on a trumped-up charge. In order to save his lady love, Silkk has to go undercover to unearth some nasty drug lords. Snoop signed on to play Silkk's pal, who helps him in this nefarious task . . .
The Washington Post reports that Washington, D.C. shock-jock Doug Tracht has been suspended indefinitely for a heinous racist comment. The WARW-radio jock, also known as the Greaseman, played a portion of a song by Lauryn Hill Wednesday before the Grammy Awards. After the snippet, Tracht blurted, "No wonder people drag them behind trucks," a clear reference to the death of James Byrd Jr. last summer in Texas. The General Manager of the station was none too pleased, saying she was "deplored and appalled by the comment." Tract has been suspended without pay, although he has faxed a statement to the Post, claiming he had "no excuse for the remark, and wishes he could take it back" . . .
Record labels send out press releases for all sorts of reasons, but until the other day, we'd never heard of a company printing one in order to drum up help in finding one of its own artists. Brit indie Cherry Red Records has done just that, however, in an effort to find Dan Treacy, leader of cultish combo the Television Personalities -- a band often cited as inspirational by the late Kurt Cobain. According to a spokesperson at Cherry Red, the label has been fruitlessly trying to locate Treacy -- who hasn't been in contact with bandmates or friends, either -- for several weeks. The situation is eerily similar to that of Richey Edwards, the Manic Street Preachers' guitarist who vanished without warning in September of 1995 and has never resurfaced, leading authorities to declare him "presumed dead." No such finality has been bandied about in Treacy's case, although one former associate expressed concern over the singer's "deepening depression" in recent months. "I don't think that Dan was so despondent that he would harm himself, but obviously we're all concerned about his whereabouts," says the friend, who has worked with Treacy on and off for much of the past decade. Representatives of Cherry Red, which plans to issue a TV Personalities retrospective titled Part-Time Punks on March 2, express similar concerns -- and ask that anyone with any information as to Treacy's whereabouts contact their London office . . .
Early evidence from the Wallflowers next album suggests the band has no intention of recasting "6th Avenue Heartache" or "One Headlight." The first song completed for their highly anticipated new album is a Sgt. Pepper-ish number called "Eat You Sleeping," which is quite a departure from the infectious, earthy singles of Bringing Down the Horse. Rife with heavy guitars, extraterrestrial keyboards, strings, moody harmonies and dark grooves, the song, produced by Julian Raymond (Fastball), is the first of two tracks (the second being "Hand Me Down") being mixed before the group decides which producer will work on the album full time. "Everybody really likes me, apparently, the last I checked," jokes Raymond, who is the frontrunner to assume the position if he's allowed to take several months off from his A&R gig at Hollywood Records. After "Hold Me Down" is mixed (possibly this week), the word will come down. The possibility exists that Raymond will share producing duties with Bringing Down the Horse producer/Wallflowers manager Andy Slater . . .
One year ago, Alana Davis was a spunky Greenwich Village tomboy who grooved on Birkenstocks, guitar picks and Ani DiFranco. Now, she's a smitten woman, discovering flowered skirts, candlelight and love songs for the first time. "I've gotten in touch with my femininity," Davis says from New York, where she is currently writing songs for the follow-up to her 1997 debut, Blame It On Me. "I tell my A&R guy that I'm writing love songs, and he gets nervous." Davis has penned and demoed a handful of tunes -- lovesick and otherwise -- for her next album, but doubts any of them will make the final cut. Above all, she says she wants a cohesive disc that incorporates the "vibing" reggae beats of Bob Marley or Steel Pulse, and the "pretty guitar chords" that typify her own sound. Davis plans to enter a New York studio this spring and release her sophomore album before the new year . . .
Marilyn Manson and his co-author, Neil Strauss, promised Harper Collins an extra chapter in the paperback version of Manson's autobiography, Long Hard Road Out Of Hell, due out next month, but they never delivered, crying scheduling conflicts. True enough -- Manson has a U.S. concert tour to think about, and according to the folks at Collins, the New York Times scribe is penning a book with the members of Motley Crue. Sure, he's a busy guy, having also just finished co-writing a coffee table book with former Jane's Addiction/Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarist Dave Navarro, but surely he could have made time to at least give some explanation to Manson's recent engagement to actress Rose MacGowan (which reportedly took place in the bathroom. Ick). . .
If it were us, we would have chopped down that killer tree already. But Caroline Feld, the cousin of T Rex frontman Marc Bolan, is trying to raise money to preserve the still-standing hardwood into which the glam progenitor's paramour Gloria Jones plowed during that fatal car crash of September 1977. Since the musician's death, fans have been making a pilgrimage to the spot, and have bedecked the tree with ribbons, letters, and tokens of their affection, even going so far as to erect a plaque to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the crash. But now town fathers are threatening to chop down the mighty deciduous. If Feld gets her way, perhaps she'll christen the tree "the Slider" . . .
Since Noel and Liam Gallagher seem to get their pictures in the paper more often for their extra-curricular -- and, in many cases, extra-legal -- activities, it's only fitting that their Oasis bandmates would try to catch up. That might help explain guitarist Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs' attempt to pad his police record by going ballistic at a London club where Tommy Hilfiger was celebrating the opening of a London store. Arthurs was taken into custody late Tuesday night by cops who responded to a call from security guards at the club, who claim that the guitarist was shouting and acting in a menacing manner -- although how a wiry musician can menace a thick-necked security man is beyond us. Although he was whisked off to West End police station in a paddy wagon, Arthurs was not formally charged, and released the following morning with what police describe as "a formal warning." He will definitely maybe be on his best behavior...
What would you pay in order to have a butt just like Madonna's for your very own? And no, we're not talking about ordering one up from one of those celebrity-lookalike escort services. The Material Girl -- who's apparently decided to take things a bit easier now that she's hit the big four-oh -- recently divested herself of the array of exercise equipment she formerly used to get the maximus out of her own gluteus, and now the set-up can be yours. For a price, that is. A Manhattan collectible shop called Gotta Have It! recently obtained the collection -- which includes an array of weights, an Ab-Roller, an exercycle and a passel of other machines -- and has put the whole shebang up for sale at the hefty price tag of $39,000. Store representative Peter Siegel guarantees "absolute authentication" that all the items involved actually came from Madonna's home. "She donated these things to a charity auction, for which she signed certificates of authenticity," says Siegel. "Those, of course, come as part of the package." Even so, thirty-nine grand seems a bit steep to us, although we do know a filthy rich (and just plain filthy) fella who'd probably pony up if the collection also included some unwashed workout gear from the Ciccone hamper as a bonus...
What little Smoking Popes legacy that remains will get its due on two forthcoming releases from the now defunct quartet. After announcing their break-up last week, solely because frontman Josh Caterer wished to pursue more spiritual endeavors, the remaining members of the Popes -- the other two brothers Matt and Eli, and drummer Mike Felumlee -- are putting the finishing touches on Smoking Popes 1991-1998, a rarities collection that includes material from the indie release Get Fired, along with seven-inches ("Writing a Letter," "Brand New Hairstyle") and previously unreleased material ("Do Something"). Due out late next month, the compilation will precede the summer release of a Popes live album, tentatively titled Live at the Metro, which captures the group's third-to-last performance ever, recorded at Chicago's Metro just prior to Thanksgiving last year. Both albums will come out on the remaining Popes' own indie label, Double Zero Records . . .
Back in the Sixties, the three-martini set quaffed many a decanter to the swinging sounds of Lee Hazlewood, erstwhile duet partner of Nancy Sinatra and hero to such latter-day crooners as Lydia Lunch, Billy Ray Cyrus and the Jesus & Mary Chain's Jim Reid. Despite the fact that he's been absent from the music scene for more than two decades, the seventy-something singer/songwriter's songs still resonate in the realm of underground rock, as well as the repertoire of Holiday Inn lounge-a-teers. To that end, Steve Shelley (whose day job as drummer of Sonic Youth fits him into at least one of the aforementioned categories) managed to coax Hazlewood out of retirement in order to record a new album for his Smells Like label. In typically off-kilter fashion, Hazlewood agreed, provided he could bring along Al Casey, a bandleader he'd worked with nearly half a century ago -- and when Shelley bit, the team concocted the twistingly-titled Farmisht Flatulence, Origami, ARF!!! and Me. Title aside, the disc may not be nearly as loopy as Hazlewood's vintage work -- much of which Smells Like will also be reissuing in the coming year -- but it still wipes the floor with fellow Social Security recipients like those pesky Rolling Stones . . .
When you're called "cute as a button," as Rufus Wainwright no doubt is, sooner or later the fashion world is bound to take notice. The second-generation minstrel wowed fans during last week's Fashion Week in New York, when he sauntered down the runway in a big, brown-fringed poncho as a model for Perry Ellis. Two days later, Wainwright was back again, walking a little wilder at the Anna Sui show, sharing the spotlight with Smashing Pumpkins' James Iha, Naomi Campbell and Shalom Harlow. The New York designer has abandoned her trashy rock & roll muse, opting instead for a folkloric peasant look, sticking Wainwright in a Sonny Bono vest and oversized sheepskin coat. Iha donned a Greek Fisherman's cap, and affected a rather beatnik demeanor, according to witnesses. And just in case fashion types didn't recognize these expatriates from rock, Sui had them both tote guitar cases on their backs . . .
Sly Stone, one of San Francisco's more outrageous local heroes, is getting the tribute treatment. ATR Entertainment group has rounded up Stone's former producer and erstwhile tour manager and sent out invitations to some of the Family Stone's more famous fans, including Madonna, Lenny Kravitz, Puff Daddy, D'Angelo, and Alanis Morissette. George Clinton has already accepted and flown in to record the vocals to "Remember Who You Are," one of Stone's lesser-known hits from 1979's Back on the Track Album. An ATR spokesman says that they may even coax Stone himself out of retirement and into the studio -- although insiders say that's unlikely since the reclusive musician is holed up in an apartment in West Hollywood. In fact, the last time anyone remembers seeing him was at the 1991 induction ceremony for the Family Stone at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. But the folks at ATR aren't discouraged, and are confident that they can deliver the great man, and release Sly and the Family Stone 30th Anniversary Woodstock Tribute by late summer . . .
When punk avatars Jeffrey Bischoff and Cinder Block from Tilt celebrated the tenth anniversary of their silk screen and merchandising company -- also dubbed Cinder Block -- on Feb. 20 at their Oakland, Calif., factory, a few of their more illustrious clients stopped by to pay homage. Included among the revelers were Matt Freeman from Rancid, Fat Mike from NOFX and Green Day. Green Day were bound to show up, since Billie Joe Armstrong's wife Adrienne worked there as a silk screener until the birth of their second child last year. Green Day stayed to play a two-hour set for the guests. Also performing was Jello Biafra, who teamed with Canadian malcontents Huevos Rancheros for "Surfin' Bird," and, appropriately, "I Fought the Law." Seems the neighbors were none too enthused with the festivities and called in Oakland's finest, who were greeted by Green Day's Mike Dirnt's announcement, "The strippers have arrived!" Luckily the defenders of the streets recognized him and laughed. Okay, they grimaced . . .
Look what the Pearl Jam Rumor Pit Web site recently coughed up: Regarding the gossip that PJ are performing with Neil Young at his upcoming shows at Seattle's Paramount Theatre on March 5 and 6: "You never know, baby," followed by a punctuating "Ha!" We'd advise fans to run out and find a scalper immediately . . .
A sinister pervert in clown make-up first reunited them in a storybook tale of murder, mayhem and rock & roll. Now, nearly a year after reforming for the soundtrack to frontman Dee Snider's horror film, Strangeland, Twister Sister are back with a vengeance. Though the glam-rock quintet has no plans to record together again, they are clearing their calendars this summer for the first national Twisted Sister tour in more than a decade. Concert booker Dave Kirby of the Agency Group says Twisted Sister hope to create or join a package tour with other nostalgic fist thumpers -- perhaps the recently reformed Iron Maiden, who also plan to do an arena tour in the near future. Though details of the road jaunt remain tentative, Snider told Rolling Stone Network in an interview last year that the band will insist on a "full KISS-style return, not like Motley Crue" if they ever decided to revisit the past. One way or another, Twisted Sister -- song/screenwriting frontman Snider, guitarists J.J. French and Eddie Ojeda, bassist Mark Mendoza and drummer A.J. Pero -- will dig out their baby blue eyeshadow and feel the noise again on an undisclosed date this summer. Stay tuned and hungry for more details . . .
Oh dear . . . you're being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on March 16, and because you've already been inducted once before (with that band of Beatles you used to run with), you figure the public could do with a little refresher course on your latter-day achievements. What's a knight like Paul McCartney to do? Simple: release a limited edition, Silver Anniversary version of 1973's Band on the Run, generously fattened with a bonus disc of twenty-one unreleased bonus acoustic and live tracks. The Capitol Records reissue of the classic Wings album will hit the shelves March 9 . . .
JAAN UHELSZKI, DAVID SPRAGUE, BLAIR FISCHER and RICHARD SKANSE
(February 25, 1999)
