Sunday, April 30. 2006
 Alice Cooper told me to start this webzine, telepathically. Some in the reptile industry, however, feel I need to adjust the reception on my aluminum foil hat.
Mention the name Alice Cooper to most people and they will tell you he was the world's first "shock" rocker, best known for a song hated by generations of teachers and parents everywhere, the infamous "School's Out," or for his extremely timely and incredibly vacant opus of wasted youth, "Eighteen," or for the infamous myth that he bit the head off a live chicken onstage in 1968. Ask somebody who owns a snake and they will probably tell you somewhere deep in their subconscious, Alice Cooper taught them that rock & roll & snakes were cool.
I know for me this imprint happened in Indianapolis in 1973 when I was 10 and saw a news story on TV about Alice. Politicians were trying to ban him from appearing because of stage antics where he appeared to behead himself with a guillotine. I remember watching the coverage of him onstage and he had this monster boa constrictor. To a ten year old the snake seemed huge. And Alice really seemed to piss the adults off.
I got three things out of this when I was 10: Rock 'n' roll was cool, Alice Cooper was really cool, and I wanted to own a really big snake. It was probably a good thing my mom turned off the TV just as Alice was sticking his head on the chopping block or lord knows what else I'd have gotten out of it or how I'd have turned out. No matter, what I did take away has kept me in fairly good stead so far.
Many, many songs, albums, tours, and years later, Alice Cooper is still the purveyor of cool to me, and he still takes snakes on tour with him. Last year he had one of Amazon Reptile Center's pythons on the road with him. His next tour starts in June and I'll be curious to see if the snakes go with him again. I don't think it swings through Austin, but if he makes it to Texas somewhere I'll try to catch up and give him a kingsnake.com T-shirt. ;)
Since then, many popular music stars have used snakes in their act or promotions, including Britney Spears and LaToya Jackson, or kept them in their personal lives, including Kerry King from Slayer. But certainly no other musician of record has influenced so many people to turn up the music, put on a black t-shirt and leather jacket, and take up the snakes like Alice.
Rock and roll has long been influenced by reptiles, whether it's the 1001 covers of the old blues standard "Crawling Kingsnake," a personal favorite, or Jim Morrison, the infamous "Lizard King," encouraging all to "Ride the snaaaaakkke." While most rock and roll has introduced reptiles subtly through lyrics, Alice's use of large constrictors onstage was essentially a cathartic progression that has resulted in a huge subculture of black-wearing, goth-influenced reptile owners wholisten to music with an alternative edge or message.
This webzine is basically for all the fans of rock & roll & reptiles. Thanks, Alice, for telling me to start it - whether you actually did or not.
Saturday, April 29. 2006
We can't promise you backstage passes, limousines, or groupies, in fact, we can't even pay you, but we can guarantee two things - someone will read what you've written, and someone will disagree with what you've written.
We are looking for a few good writers who want to blog about the alternative and indie music scenes from a variety of locations, perspectives, and genres. Applicants must enjoy music (of course) and be able to write good well.
If you're interested in blogging here, drop us a note and let us know where you're located, what kind of music you like, and what your background with music and writing is. Like we said, this is not a paying gig, you have to do it for the power and prestige alone.
Friday, April 28. 2006
 No matter how many sub-genres the elitists (and pigeon-holing critics) create, there's always going to be a band that needs one created just for themselves. The Dresden Dolls are definitely one of those bands.
Just about the best description I've heard for them thus far is "cabaret-punk," which at least hints at the unique piano and drum sound created by Amanda and Brian. Their latest album, Yes, Virginia, builds brilliantly on the style they've cut out for themselves. With a little more of a produced and polished feel on this album, they've made themselves more accessible but never any less compelling. Amanda's lyrics don't back down, she's confrontational, she's spilling her guts, she hates you but she wants you and especially wants you feeling her emotions just as vehemently as she does. Sometimes with a haunting feel (especially with the first track "Sex Changes" opening with piano very much resembling the film Halloween's theme) or a romantic one, this album explores every part of the spectrum. Amanda's powerhouse vocals have a spectacular range and seduce you like a sexy jazz singer lounging across a piano ("Mandy Goes to Med School") or make you want to hug the little broken down girl she portrays herself as on "Me and the Minibar." Mental health, sex, drugs, and rock have always been frequent themes for the Dresden Dolls, almost as though Amanda tries to piece together the events of her seemingly traumatic life through her music. Yes, Virginia evokes the band's first taste of fame, with the first single "Dirty Business" showing Amanda's reaction to the recognition she's slowly gaining - not surprising for a band breaking out of the underground and becoming the next big thing.
Amanda's sexual prowess never ceases to be a driving force behind the music, with lyrics like "I'm trying hard not to know the name of who is waking up beside me," she captivates listeners but never gives away too many details. This album perfects the Dresden Dolls' sound, and I expected nothing less.
 The Beck show announced for June 19 at Austin's Backyard has been pushed back a day and will now happen on June 20. The show is officially SOLD OUT, so if you were waiting to get tickets, you're too late.
Hank III (Hank Williams Jr, Jr?) will be bringing his hellbilly mash-up of country western speed metal to La Zona Rosa on May 23, and Echo and the Bunnymen will be there on June 17.
In other Austin music news, Tom Petty has been announced as this year's headliner at ACL fest. The official, complete, lineup will be announced on May 11. Also appearing this year: Ben Harper, Thievery Corporation, Son Volt, The Flaming Lips, Los Lonely Boys, Iron and Wine, Asleep at the Wheel, Massive Attack, KT Tunstall, New Pornographers, the Shins, Matisyahu, Kasey Chambers, John Mayer, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Subdudes, Buckwheat Zydeco and the Greencards. More to follow...
Thursday, April 27. 2006
 I believed Apple when they told me I have to take all my music with me everywhere I go, and thus have taken on a Herculean task: Putting all my CDs on my iPod. Daunting though this may seem, it does have its payoffs, one of which is now and then hearing music as if for the first time. And that happened to me last night when I decided it was time to load up all my Velvet Underground.
I originally discovered the Velvet Underground around 27 years ago, listening to a bootleg of Patti Smith singing "White Light, White Heat" live. My friend said, oh, that's a Velvet Underground song, and I said, the who? So she played the original of "White Light/White Heat," and I just lay on the floor and thought: This is unbelievable. Who knew? And then she played "Pale Blue Eyes" and I was lost, lost, lost.
The Velvet Underground got their start as proteges of Andy Warhol, who designed the cover of their first album, 1967's The Velvet Underground and Nico. The lineup was Lou Reed on vocals, guitar and songwriting duties, John Cale on crazy electric viola, Sterling Morrison on guitar, Maureen Tucker on drums (girl drummer in 1965, how cool is THAT?), and for their first album only, Nico singing on three tracks ("Femme Fatale," "All Tomorrow's Parties," "I'll Be Your Mirror") of the cool dark pop Reed was writing then - if you can write pop songs about heroin and sadomasochism, which he could. And did.
Nico didn't stay with the band, Warhol lost interest, and in 1968, with Reed handling all the vocals, they released their second album, White Light/White Heat. And this time, they unleashed something primal and hard and cacaphonuous, that got rough in a way that still sounds modern today, unlike the music of many of their contemporaries who were, at the time, better known. They used feedback and distorted sound, and "Sister Ray" clocked in at SEVENTEEN AND A HALF MINUTES LONG - not even the most Ecstasy-drenched, mindnumbing electrotrancedance song gets away with that. This stuff was just weird and out of step with the 60s and anything remotely acceptable or marketable back then; this is the song that gave birth to punk rock.
Cale left after a huge feud with Reed, and was replaced by Doug Yule. The group released their third album, The Velvet Underground, in 1969. This one was more muted and less "anti-beauty," with a couple of standout rock tracks and a handful of chiming pop songs ... "Pale Blue Eyes," "Candy Says," and "Jesus," three of the best songs Lou Reed ever wrote. And of course, "Sweet Jane," possibly one of the most covered songs ever.
It made me absolutely crazy to see Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" listed on a "One Hit Wonders" playlist on iTunes, although I suppose the real problem is that "hits" are a piss-poor way to define the impact of a musician or a group on the music world. Reed and the Velvet Underground could have never had a "hit," and they'd still be more important than groups that churned out top forty hit after hit during the 60s. They influenced Patti Smith, Brian Eno, David Bowie, and so many others it would be impossible to list them. (Eno is supposed to have said that almost no one bought their first album, but everyone who did went out and started a band.)
If you have never heard them, and you're a fan of punk, post-punk, indie, lo-fi, or any other possible genre or hyphenation of alternative music, go find their stuff and listen to it. Then see if you can believe this music is forty years old. I was in kindergarten when it came out. You might not have even been born. Then tell iTunes to choke on their "One Hit Wonders."
Wednesday, April 26. 2006
 When I quit clubbing in my late 20s, I started snake hunting. Let me tell you that the one thing that kept me from driving off of numerous cliffs in the middle of the night in Davis County was loud screaming rock and roll. Joe Forks always used to say that the reason I rarely saw graybands was that the bass was shaking my eyeballs too much. Snake hunting and music go well together, the music often acting as a soundtrack or mood enhancer to what was usually a long monotonous drive.
I remember driving east on 90 between Sanderson and Langtry listening to the Doors' "Riders on the Storm" as I dashed from rain shower to rain shower, parking at 5:30am overlooking Lake Amistad watching a lightning storm over Mexico, the sun dawning to the east and "Dark Side of the Moon" providing an aural backdrop, or dodging 18 wheelers and weekend boaters zipping down 277 on a hot friday night with some Soundgarden to help keep the pace.
Music and snake hunting are a natural.
Tuesday, April 25. 2006
Via WiredBlog from News.com:
For the last few years, a coalition of technology companies, academics and computer programmers has been trying to persuade Congress to scale back the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Now Congress is preparing to do precisely the opposite. A proposed copyright law seen by CNET News.com would expand the DMCA's restrictions on software that can bypass copy protections and grant federal police more wiretapping and enforcement powers.
What does this have to do with music?
From WiredBlog:
If you're feeling guilty about all the music you're downloading without paying for it, perhaps reading about new attempts to double down on the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) will help assuage that guilt. The "Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2006" includes some frightening expansions of current anti-piracy efforts, making it illegal to "make, import, export, obtain control of, or possess" anything that can be used to circumvent copyright protection. It also allows authorities to use wiretaps whenever copyright infringement is suspected (as opposed to in general, without permission?), doubles copyright-related prison terms, allows for the seizure and destruction of anything used for copyright infringement, and more.
From BoingBoing:
The new law would send you to prison for attempting to infringe copyright. It would make it even more illegal to own tools that could be used to remove copy-restrictions, like DVD-ripping software -- it could even bust Symantec for making software that removed the Sony rootkit malicious software that the company distributed with its CDs last year.
And why are they doing this? Back to WiredBlog:
According to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the problem is that the money made by infringing businesses is being used "quite frankly, to fund terrorism activities." Sure, buddy.
I'm trying to comprehend where the money comes in with peer to peer sharing .... but OK. Go delete Limewire from your computer right now or the terrorists win.
Monday, April 24. 2006
Via Dave at Line Out, a 2003 gem from the Onion (need I say more?):
(M)y mind has features your iPod will never have. Does your iPod have real-time remixing? No?! Well, if I don't like the original lyrics to Kansas' "Carry On Wayward Son"—zip, zip, zing—my mind can change them! Adding a cool bass line or a rocking keyboard flourish to any piece of music? No problem! Adding images of myself performing on stage with the band? Done!
Sunday, April 23. 2006
From The Stranger:
Blame Thomas Dolby if cell-phone ringtones piss you off. Nah, he didn't write that egregious "Crazy Frog" tune. But the '80s synthpop legend best known for the international hit "She Blinded Me with Science" is responsible for the polyphonic squawking of mobile devices worldwide, thanks to audio software developed by his company Beatnik.
More here.
Saturday, April 22. 2006
 Les Claypool, sometime bassist and frontman for the band Primus as well as bands such as Oysterhead, Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains, Sausage, Frog Brigade, and Holy Mackerel, will roll through Austin in July supporting the release of Of Whales And Woe on Prawn Song.
Hard to peg in terms of genre, one word keeps consistently popping up in reviews of his works; that word is WEIRD, and it's accurate, although other adjectives such as bizarre, sick and twisted have merit. Kind of a rural version of S.F.'s late 70s experimental band The Residents, Les has a streak of dark humor that runs through his soul, appearing in his music with songs about things like fishing, beavers, and burying your dead buddy.
Some of his songs are so basic and annoying that they immediately grate on the ear ("Barrington Hall"), others are ethereal and engaging and take the listener on a weird audio voyage of musical exploration. It's no doubt that his work with the bass guitar is some of the best and his ability to transcend genres is amazing. On "Capt. Les Claypool's Flying Frog Brigade Live Vol 1" he slides from a cover of King Crimson's "Thela Hun Gingeet" with an almost superhuman bass riff, to his own cryptic "Riddles are abound tonight," to a tremendous cover of Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." Amazingly. Vol. 2 is a cover of Pink Floyd's album Animals.
Incredibly talented, and musically more prolific than a rabbit, Les Claypool will be at La Zona Rosa in Austin on June 21.
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