Oct 29 2009
Update: Chuck Biscuits' condition has improved considerably since last week. Reports are that he is in fact alive and that his death was a hoax played upon a Brooklyn-based freelance journalist that went viral on the Internet. If this is true, and it appears to be so, Biscuits had the rare privilege of reading his obits. And now rock writers across the country have pre-written ones ready to go for when the day actually comes. We hope it's a ways in the future... Now, please tell me Michael's alive too.
The punk rock scene has lost one of its most beloved drummers with the death of Chuck Biscuits Saturday to throat cancer at the age of 44.
Biscuits, born Charles Montgomery in British Columbia, was best known as the original drummer for Danzig, playing on the hardcore band's first four albums in a stint that lasted from 1987 to 1994.
Prior to that, he was a touring member of Black Flag for five months in 1982 and went on to play with the Circle Jerks and Fear. His most recent high-profile gig was with Social Distortion from 1996 to 1999, appearing on "Live At The Roxy."
Through his association with Rick Rubin, Biscuits also played drums on Run-D.M.C.'s 1988 record "Tougher Than Leather."
In addition to drumming, Biscuits was a sculptor and a collector of vintage breakfast cereal.
His last visit to Pittsburgh was likely in the summer of 1997 on the Warped Tour.
Oct 22 2009
The title track of Nanci Griffith's new CD, "The Loving Kind," about the Loving v. Virginia case that ended the ban on interracial marriagesin 1967, became oddly topical in 2009 last week when a Louisiana court judge banned a such a marriage.
In protest, Griffith is making the sweet country-folk ballad a free download on her web site www.NanciGriffith.com, for the next 30 days.
Griffith said in a statement that she was moved to write the song after reading Mildred Loving's obituary in The New York Times last year. "It just floored me," Griffith said. "Tragically, Richard died in a tragic car accident just months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the couple's favor. "
"The Loving Kind" is Griffith's first album of new material since 2005's "Hearts In Mind." It also includes a song called "Not Innocent Enough," about the celebrated case of Philip Workman, who was convicted in 1981 of killing a Memphis police officer and executed in 2007 despite new evidence that may have proved his innocence. She's joined on the track by John Prine.
"Up Against The Rain" is her tribute to country-folk legend Townes Van Zandt.
Oct 21 2009
Pete Seeger's forthcoming "Live in '65" will have a familiar ring to some of Pittsburgh old folkies.
The two-CD, 31-track set -- previously unreleased and sonically updated -- was recorded Feb. 20, 1965 at Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland.
Seeger acknowledges his surroundings right away, opening the concert with a song he says "hit the charts" in 1848 -- "Oh, Susanna" by Stephen Foster, on which he accompanies himself on banjo.
He follows that immediately with "He Lies in an American Land," a song about a mill accident written by local steel worker Andrew Kovaly in Slovakian and translated to Seeger by a music superintendent in the Pittsburgh schools. The liner notes indicate that the song served as inspiration for Bruce Springsteen's "American Land," which Springsteen did on "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions."
The live record also features such folk classics as "If I Had a Hammer," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "Greensleeves," plus a cover of Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall."
It's available on Appleseed Recordings on Nov. 10.
Oct 21 2009
As you may know from one of those Facebook quizzes, The Damned was the first British punk band to tour the States.
Thirty-some years later, though, it's not happening.
The band announced yesterday that its U.S. Halloween tour is canceled, including Friday's show at Diesel, due to their visas not being approved.
The Damned wrote on its Web site, "We are devastated to be disappointing our fans in the U.S. who wished to see us on this tour, and sympathize with all those who have made travel arrangements and other commitments."
The gothic punk band is still led by the vampiric Dave Vanian, with founding member Captain Sensible on guitar, plus bassist Stu West, keyboardist Monty Oxymoron and drummer Pinch.
Along with touring, The Damned still records, last year releasing its 10th album, "So, Who's Paranoid?," less a punk record than a platform for the band to explore Britpop, piano ballads and psych-pop.
Oct 13 2009
I remember walking away from the 31st Street Pub on the cold winter night wondering how far I would have to get down the street before I couldn't hear Blue Cheer blasting through the concrete walls. It must have been about a block and a half.
The band, one of the great sonic forces in the history of rock, has gone quiet with the death of frontman Dickie Peterson on Oct. 12. He died of cancer at the age of 61 in Germany.
The late '60s San Francisco band was an icon to punk, stoner and metal bands that followed, but was very scarce for many years. The Pub show in 2007 was the band's first in Pittsburgh in decades.
"We were in a large part ignored by a lot of the rock upper echelons at the time," Peterson told the PG at the time. "We were pretty wild, so we scared a lot of people. We hung out with bikers, smoked dope and did stuff, and we got in a lot of trouble for that. There were a lot of people in the music scene that had a problem with us. A lot of people dug what we were doing; otherwise we would have never done what we did. They saw what we were doing. We were angry young men. Now, we're angry old men."
Oct 08 2009
Best packaging ever award goes to AC/DC for "Back Tracks."
You can not only play this boxed set on your CD player and turntable, you can play the packaging! It's an amp you plug your guitar into.
Watch Angus Young demonstrate here.
Inside the package you get 3 CDs, 1 LP, 2 DVDs, a 164-page hard-cover book and collectible merchandise reproductions including buttons, picks and posters.
The 18 rarities in the package include songs that appeared on Australian-only LP releases, movie soundtracks and other oddball releases. The DVDs include an update on "Family Jewels" and the entire 2003 Circus Krone gig.
It will set you back about $199.
Now, for their next boxed set, here's what I'd like to see: a holographic Angus appears in your living room and teaches you to play "Highway to Hell."
Oct 02 2009
OK, I'm kind of glad the "Fame Kills" tour is dead.
Why?
Because it wasn't coming here anyway, and now we don't have to feel like we're missing anything. There's a provincial Pittsburgh sour grapes attitude for you...
TMZ reported that the tour featuring Kanye West and Lady Gaga was scrapped because ticket sales "sucked," which is surprising in that both are huge right now and not surprising in that tickets went on sale right after Kanye made an ass of himself at the VMAs.
Meanwhile, Taylor Swift gets the last laugh with her totally sold out "Fearless" tour, which spread nothing but good vibes and hugs to her adoring fans.
Now let's hope the Metallica, U2 and Kiss tours are canceled too. Sour grapes, blah blah blah....
At least we have Trans-Siberian Orchestra... oh well.