Extreme drummer and wunderkind Marco Minnemann graces the cover of the June 2007 issue of Modern Drummer, while nestled inside its glossy pages you will find my update on drummer Mike Marsh of Dashboard Confessional. Exciting! Read the full issue online at This Link!
“Move Over, ‘Cause You’re Standing In My Light”
This past Wednesday I had a total blast going out to a CD release party for Legendary Rock God Ian Hunter. I was invited to this hipster hang by my pal Katherine, who produces Alice Cooper’s nightly syndicated radio program, appropriately titled Nights with Alice Cooper — thanks Katherine! The party was held in the John Varvatos clothing boutique on Spring Street down in Soho, so it was very swanky. Right away I ran into my old sidekick Tommy Rocker and his lovely lady Leona, and we got caught up on each other’s lives as party goers sipped refreshing Greyhounds (vodka and grapefruit juice, so tasty) and ate delicious bite sized snacks amid racks of fragrant leather jackets and overpriced jeans.
Dennis Dunaway (bassist, original Alice Cooper band) was also there with his wife Cindy, and I spent some time hanging out with them since I sort of know them already. It feels kind of surreal to say that, because I had such a hard crush on Dennis when I was 12 years old and Billion Dollar Babies had just been released. But the hilarious thing is that when somebody asked Dennis, “Do you know anybody here?” He replied, “Well, I know the band, and I know Gail.” Seriously.
The similarly legendary rock photographer Bob Gruen was also there. He is impossible to miss even in a crowd of rabid scenesters, because he’s on TV all the time and has such a distinctive look. Bob (along with guys like Mick Rock) took a lot of the photos of all the classic rockers — too many to name — which have become icons of the era. I have a few of his shots of my friend Neal Smith on display in the Chickpad. Bob has the eye, as they say.
About an hour into this festive shindig, Ian performed a short set of tunes from his new CD, Shrunken Heads plus an awesome rendition of “All The Young Dudes,” which is my favorite song of all time. That song changed my life, and I was standing about five feet from Ian when he sang it that night. It was so cool. Ian is one-of-a-kind and I will adore him until I die.
Best…movie…ever…
Top Ten Awesome Reasons to Love Grindhouse
1. Rose McGowan. I am so gay for Rose McGowan after seeing her in this movie.
2. Freddy Rodriguez. You loved him in Six Feet Under. Now fall in love all over again.
3. Jeff Fahey! Oh my god, when was the last time you saw Jeff Fahey in a movie? I think it was in The Lawn Mower Man about a gazillion years ago. Watch Grindhouse do for Jeff Fahey’s career what Pulp Fiction did for John Travolta.
4. Bruce Willis: I even love Bruce Willis in this movie.
5. Four Words: The Crazy Babysitter Twins.
6. Trailer for Don’t!
7. Trailer for Thanksgiving!
8. Machete: “If you hire him to kill the bad guys, you had better make sure you’re not one of them.”
I LOVE IT!!!!
9. Four Words: Hypodermic Needle Garter Belt.
10. Kurt Russell as Stunt Man Mike! I think the first time I saw Kurt Russell in a film was when I was five years old and my parents took us to see Walt Disney’s The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes. Forty years later, Kurt is still kicking big screen ass. Now that’s career longevity!
I’ve Been Deaf Now I Want Noise
It’s fairly old news at this juncture that singer-slash-rock god, Chris Cornell left Audioslave a few months back to do the solo thing again. I can’t say that I’m terribly heartbroken about the move. Rage Against the Machine was always one of my least favorite angry pinko bands on the planet, and being as Audioslave was 3/4’s of Rage, they didn’t really know what to do with the more subtle textures of Chris’s voice anyway. Good riddance.
Chris has a new CD coming out in June and I’m trying to snag an advance copy of that as I type. But he played a show last night at NYC’s Irving Plaza and thanks to my friend Jason Sutter, who is also Chris’s new drummer, I was there. Thanks, Jason. You rule.
I knew I must be seriously starved for The Rock when I was able to get all wet and crazy over the opening song of the evening, “Spoon Man” — which, for me at least, is not one of Soundgarden’s best songs. From what I heard last night, Chris’s new disc sounds like it will be worth buying, but the jury is still out over whether it will even be able to touch his last solo album, Euphoria Morning, which is just insane.
I would like to now personally thank Chris and his band for doing “Outshined,” “Rusty Cage,” “Jesus Christ Pose,” and the shocker of the night, “Loud Love.” Wow. Chris Cornell is awesome.
Kurt Vonnegut, Great American Novelist: 1922 – 2007
Author Kurt Vonnegut has passed away at the age of 84. He was my favorite author of all time and my single greatest writing influence. His book Slapstick literally changed my life. He is the reason I started writing. I am so sad right now.
Here is a passage from another favorite Vonnegut novel, Slaughterhouse Five, which was based in part on his own experiences as a WWII Prisoner of War.
“A guard would go to the head of the stairs every so often to see what it was like outside, then he would come down and whisper to the other guards. There was a fire-storm out there. Dresden was one big flame. The one flame ate everything organic, everything that would burn.
It wasn’t safe to come out of the shelter until noon the next day. When the Americans and their guards did come out, the sky was black with smoke. The sun was an angry little pinhead. Dresden was like the moon now, nothing but minerals. The stones were hot. Everybody else in the neighborhood was dead.
So it goes.”
— Slaughterhouse-Five