Acquiring photos, especially those that have never been seen before, for a book on Woodstock is no easy task. Just asked Joanne Hague, co-author of the F&W Media tome "Woodstock: Peace, Music & Memories."

It's not like you have 40-year-old pictures sitting in your drawer," says Hague. "People really went out of their way for us to find these pictures."

And how. One man, Randy Sheets, offered the writers eight rolls of 8 mm movie film and just handed them over to Hague and her partner Brad Littleproud.

"Now, I don't know if I would have done that," says Hague. "He had no idea who I was. I wrote him and I asked him, and he said, 'It sounds like a great idea.' And I said, 'You need to send them to Toronto,' because Brad had already hooked up with a gentleman who specialized in kind of repairing and fixing old films. So here Randy sends these films all the way up to Toronto. We got a lot of pictures from that because the gentleman who cleaned them up and all for us, he was able then to pull the stills up off of them. So that was a great help."

A more difficult task was presented to the authors by a Bethel, N.Y., man named Cornelius Alexy.

"He had negatives from an old Minox camera that had never been developed," explains Hague. "And that's where we got a lot of the aerial shots. The aerial shots are taken by this little spy camera up above. It took me three months to find a lab that could even ... that was 7 mm film, and the only thing I could do with those was send them to Germany. And I wasn't sending priceless negatives overseas. Finally, talking with them back and forth, they directed me to a lab. It was just outside of New York City and after three months, that lab had those pictures back to me overnight. So there was a ton of black and whites. In fact, there's a picture in there of Richie Havens getting off the helicopter that day, and we were able to pull that out of those black and whites."

In retrospect, all that help the authors received in gathering photos for the book probably shouldn't have been all that surprising. With Woodstock being all about peace and love, there's a real sense of community that binds those who attended the festival — and those who didn't but wanted to — together. And it's certain that they wanted to see the event celebrated the best way possible.

"Woodstock: Peace, Music & Memories" does that and more. Loaded with remembrances from those who were there, in addition to the cavalcade of photos, the book is an absolute must for those who love the music and the message still emanating from that era and that historic event.

To buy the book, visit shop.collect.com/

Kenny Gamble, one half of the Philly soul songwriting/production duo of Gamble & Huff, had known Michael Jackson since he was a boy. He was shocked and saddened by the recent death of the King Of Pop, and spoke today to Goldmine about his memories of the man and the artist.






"I met Michael I guess when he was about 8 or 9 years," says Gamble. "'Cause he used to come to Philadelphia, and he used to perform at the Uptown Theatre. In fact, he used to come over to my house. All of his brothers, yeah. And we used to have a lot of conversations together. They were just really getting started. Little did I know that later on in life we would have the opportunity to record them, 'cause I think everybody was in awe of that family."

Gamble is referring to the time after the Jacksons left Motown and signed to CBS, which allowed them to work with the Philadelphia International production crew. Gamble & Huff co-wrote and produced songs for The Jacksons' first two post-Motown records The Jacksons and Going Places.

We'll have more on Gamble & Huff's work with the Jacksons in a tribute to Michael planned for the July 31 print edition of Goldmine. Gamble was at his office when he heard that Michael had passed away. "It was just amazing because Michael was such a special person," says Gamble. "You know it's possible for any of us. We never know what the next minute is going to bring for us, but of course, it shocked us. So it made you sort of think about all the days we used to spend together."

And it made Gamble think back to happier times, when Michael would dance up a storm at the drop of a hat. Those electrifying moves that made him an icon left an impression on Gamble.

"You could be sitting down talking to him, and he'd jump up and do one of those spins and sit right back down (laughs). You'd say, 'Hey man, what was all that about?' I mean, it was like a bolt of lightning or something. He was dancing all the time. All the time. In the studio ... I mean, he's doing those spins and ... I mean, all the time. If he was walking down the street with you, he's doing some kind of step. He constantly practiced all the time. In fact, when I went to see him in New York [one time], they had a dance floor in his suite. They had a dance floor in there where he was practicing his dance steps, 'cause to dance like he danced, without having any kind of professional trainers or whatever, this was a gift. This was a tremendous gift."

Jackson left behind many memories like this. We'd love to hear yours. If you'd like to share them with us, leave them in the comments section or e-mail your thoughts on Jackson to joyce.greenholdt@fwmedia.com.

Going back to when Michael Jackson's popularity was at its peak in the '80s and early '90s, anything associated with the King Of Pop sold like gangbusters.

"Michael could do no wrong," says Garry Schrum of Heritage Auctions. "

Jackson's well-documented troubles with the law and his creative and commercial swoon afterward changed all that — at least in the U.S. "His collectability fell in the U.S., but in Europe they read media like a book. When you'd go to conventions there, people would also ask about the Top 5 — The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Madonna, Prince and Michael Jackson. People always wanted to put stuff up."

Now, with Jackson's death dominating the news, Schrum says, "There will be a spike. There are people in town here going to stores and buying up things like Michael Jackson 8-tracks."

Coincidentally, Heritage's next auction will feature a number of Jackson items, including a contract with the Screen Actors' Guild for Jackson's mega-selling LP Thriller, featuring Jackson's signature. There's also an American Airlines pass for the Jackson 5 with autographs from all five Jacksons on it. And, last but not least, there is a matted picture of Jackson with handwritten lyrics of "Billie Jean" with Jackson's autograph.

One final note: Talking about how collectable Jackson items are overseas, Jackson's foreign picture-sleeve singles — ones that are unique to each country — are always in high demand.

For more information on Heritage's upcoming auctions, visit www.ha.com.

The day before Michael Jackson died, Backstage Auctions hadn't even had a bid on a lot of 29 mostly promotional 45 RPM singles — as well as 9 "early day" records — from the King Of Pop. It had been in Backstage Auction's store for a year and nothing. Everything changed, however, on June 25.

As the world mourned the passing of one of the true giants in the world of music, the lot known as the Michael Jackson vinyl collection — with singles from 1972 to 1982, all in Near Mint condition — sold for $175 that night. And there was bidding on another lot that had been long neglected, namely one featuring promotional films made in the 1970s featuring Michael Jackson, the Jackson 5 and other artists of the time.

Interestingly, for all his fame, Jackson's memorabilia and records weren't as collectable as you might think until word came of his shocking death.

Jacques van Gool of Backstage Auctions weighed in on Jackson's collectability:

"I would say his overall collectability up till yesterday is what I would call moderately good. I don't think that Michael Jackson was necessarily let's say a Top 25 collectable artist. But at the same time, his items would always sell. They wouldn't necessarily, again, sell for the same money as a Led Zeppelin or a Beatles or a Stones or an Elvis Presley. But at the same time, it would always sell. There definitely were a few eras, if you wish, in Michael Jackson's collectability life span, if you wish. There's the '70s with the Jackson 5. Then there is obviously the '80s, which are the highlight of his solo career, and then there is the past 20 years. And you can really cut it up in those three parts from a collectibility point of view. I think obviously the stuff from the last 20 years is the least valuable. His solo years ... it's interesting, I would say that what I call the official merchandise is not as collectable as the 1970s Jackson 5 material. You know, things like posters or T-shirts, or vinyl or any official merchandise. At the same time, personal items from the '80s — when he was at his commercial and artistic peak — like a personal shirt that he wore or pens or a record award, things along those lines, are probably among the most valuable Michael Jackson pieces. When you go back to the '70s, and then, of course, preferably the early '70s, that's where I would say again, the official merchandise is the most valuable. You take for instance the Jackson 5 first tour book that came out in 1970, and again Michael was 12 years old at the time, I mean that tour program is worth $300. That's worth more than a Michael Jackson tour program from his solo days. So you can really cut it up in those three blocks, if you wish, and there's that parallel with Elvis, too."

Comparisons with Elvis and the buying frenzy that erupted in the aftermath of his death in 1977 are bound to be made. For his part, van Gool sees similarities and differences.

"I mean, there's Elvis stuff from the '50s, which is obviously the most rare. Then there is Elvis stuff from the '60s, when he really became a gi-normous cultural, commercial icon," explains van Gool. "And then there is the Elvis stuff from the '70s, the Vegas years, and let's say the years after Vegas, if you wish, where he really didn't perform that much anymore, where he ballooned up and all that. So, ironically, Elvis, too, has three separate or separable, let's say, stages that I would say separate value very clearly. I would not be the least bit surprised that the same would happen with Michael Jackson as it did with Elvis. Meaning that now that this is Day 1 of the post-mortem of the Jackson era, I think that all three of those collectible phases in his life will be completely re-evaluated. I think even the items from the last 20 years that people didn't really care too much about — like a magazine cover from 1992, you know, I mean ... or a poster from 10 years ago ... items that were even hard to sell will become desirable now — [will see their value change]. So there's no question in my mind that the overall value, regardless of what era it is [from], will significantly increase. And that will come down at some point, but it will definitely increase for probably the next few years, and I also anticipate seeing a tremendous flurry of Michael Jackson memorabilia coming to the market over the next six to 12 months. People, especially the smart collectors, they always anticipate something to happen at some point. Parting with good collectibles in a time where the value isn't really there yet just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. And as I said, I really anticipate, for the next couple of years, that value to go up tremendously. But that will coincide with a significant increase in availability of Michael Jackson collectables. There will be some very, very good stuff coming out because I mean this guy has been in the news for 40 years. So there's 40 years of stuff out there. And if you look at all the auction homes, they haven't traditionally carried much Michael Jackson and Jackson 5 material. So I fully anticipate that will change again in the next few years."

When Elvis died, the Internet was not around. And that automatically makes things different today, according to van Gool.

"I think what you saw when Elvis passed away in '77 is that between '77 and '78 in that one full year after he passed there was an enormous amount of new merchandise that came out. There were literally dozens and dozens and dozens of like magazine specials and poster specials and posters and necklaces and t-shirts, and then, of course, you've got all the quote-unquote commemorative memorabilia. But commemorative for the '70s. You know, like a commemorative coin or a commemorative pen ... you name it and it was made. But this is all pre-Internet. And so the only way to get that merchandise was through advertising in newspapers and magazines. And as you know, now with the era we live in now, things have a much healthier chance for longevity. The Internet is essentially timeless. You can advertise for free for as long as you want, so to speak. So I expect, let's say in a similar way, quote-unquote memorabilia to come out, but I suspect that it will last longer because we live in a different era. But at the same time, it will have, if you have just from a 30,000-foot altitude, there will be a lot of parallels with the pre- and the post- passing away life span of memorabilia between both Elvis and Michael Jackson."

But what about the recession? Will that have any effect? Not according to van Gool.

"No, no. I really don't think so because there is going to be a lot of once-in-a-lifetime kind of stuff that is coming out and recession or not, this is not the time to worry about this particular investment. If something in the next 12 months becomes available that is truly unique and one-of-a-kind, you know that someone is going to buy that. And if it's not going to be you, then it will be someone else. And the chances of that piece still being available let's say 24 or 36 months from now is going to be very, very slim. And I'm not talking about the low-end stuff and I'm not talking so much about the commemorative items, but I'm talking about all the authentic memorabilia that will become available in the coming two years. I think that those will be recession-proof."

As the man who brought the mellotron to the Moody Blues — essentially changing, for good, the band's sound from a gritty R&B-fueled romp to a more symphonic, dreamy kind of progressive-rock/psychedelic/folk hybrid — Mike Pinder has every right to beat his chest over what he and the band have accomplished.






From majestic albums like Days Of Future Passed and On The Threshold Of A Dream to mist-shrouded hits such as "Nights In White Satin" and "Tuesday Afternoon," the Moody Blues take a back seat to no one — well, almost no one — from the 1960s and '70s in terms of commercial success and artistic achievement.

And yet, for Pinder, what he sees as his biggest contribution to music has nothing to do with the Moody Blues.

"One of the biggest kicks of the whole mellotron thing was that I actually got to turn the Beatles on to the mellotron," says Pinder. "And I told them about it. They immediately all got one. I went by a few of the Sgt. Pepper sessions, and they were starting to use it. And I heard them play 'Strawberry Fields.' And it was, 'wow.' Yeah, I did a good thing that day. I did a very good thing (laughs). I'm probably really the most proud of the fact that I actually was a factor in their music."

That's not the only Beatles connection for Pinder and the Moody Blues. The band opened for the Fab Four on their final tour of Britain. And as Pinder would discover, he had the same quirky sense of humor as one of them. We'll let Pinder tell it:

"Here's a little story for you: We were playing the Top 10 club in Hamburg, and you get a little bit crazy because you're doing a few shows a day, and there's not much you can do but go to the bar or the coffee-shop kind of thing. They weren't great gigs that we had. But we're onstage one night, and we're just getting ready to open the curtain, and I see this white toilet seat on the left there behind the curtains. And I grabbed it and put it around my head for the opening number (laughs). And then I found out later when I became friends with The Beatles after doing their last English tour together — we opened for them on their last English tour; we did 14 shows and then they got on a plane the next day and went to Shea Stadium and that was it ... but, back to the toilet seat. I was talking to John Lennon about doing that show in Germany and that white toilet seat, and [he said], 'Oh, it's the one I left there.' (laughs) He'd done exactly the same thing."

Of course, that hardly jives with the image of the cerebral, very serious, musicianly Moody Blues that's grown up around them over the years.

"That was before we were the suited guys," laughs Pinder.

On May 26, Eagle Vision released a DVD titled "The Moody Blues: Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970," which, as the title indicates, presents the legendary performance that many believe stands up to others at the historic event by the likes of The Doors, The Who and Jimi Hendrix, among others.

Never released before on film, although it's been available in audio form, the transcendent 11-song set was captured by famed filmmaker Murray Lerner.

To find out more about the release, visit www.eaglerockent.com. And watch for more with Pinder, and possibly Lerner, in a future print edition of Goldmine.

With two infectious new bits of ear candy out, "Ordinary Girls" and "Too Bad," and a few well-received reunion shows to their credit, the late 1970s/early '80s all-female punk outfit Cheap Perfume is gathering momentum for a big comeback this year.






Nancy Heyman, the rhythm guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist who was Nancy Street back when Cheap Perfume was tearing up CBGBs and Max's Kansas City, took time out recently to catch us up on what was happening with the band (which you can read about in my blog from June 22). She would delve deeper into the Cheap Perfume story in our talk, providing some background information on a group that was much-beloved in the Lower East Side of Manhattan and served as a precursor to the Go-Gos and The Bangles.

To hear what all the fuss is about, visit www.myspace.com/cheapperfumemusic, and if you like what you hear, go to Amazon or iTunes to purchase their latest songs.

How did Cheap Perfume come together?
Nancy Heyman: I’d met Lynn Odell back in Bethesda, Maryland (where I’m from), when she was dating Tommy Keene, who was in a band with my now-husband Richard X. Heyman and my brother Ricky called The Rage. I think she met Tommy at the University of Maryland. Lynn moved to New York to pursue her acting career. I moved to New York not long after to escape the suburbs! The first month I was here, I bumped into her on 8th Street and we started hanging out. One night we were over at her apartment in midtown when she put on a David Bowie record and started dancing around the room and lip-syncing the record. I was immediately floored by her charisma and exclaimed, “You should be in a band!” I took it upon myself to look for lead-singer ads in the Village Voice, and one day I saw one for an all-girl band seeking a lead singer. I called the number and spoke to Susan (Palermo, the bass player), telling her I wasn’t calling for myself, but for my friend Lynn who I knew would be perfect for the group.
 
I went with Lynn to the audition, and sure enough, she got the gig. I immediately started haranguing her to convince the band to let me join as rhythm guitarist. My brother Ricky made a special trip to New York to help me buy an electric guitar on 48th Street. Well, out of the goodness of their hearts, they did let me in the band, which consisted at that time of Brenda (Martinez) White on drums, Susan on bass and Alison Berger on lead guitar. Alison was dating a guy named Joey Cola, who was in a band called Sorrows, which my brother Ricky later joined on bass (they released two albums in the late '70s/early '80s on Pavillion Records, “Teenage Heartbreak” and “Love Too Late”). Alison was replaced after about a year by Bunny LeDesma.

What difficulties did you encounter as an all-female band trying to compete at places like CBGBs, Max’s Kansas City and some of the other New York punk venues? Were other bands of the time supportive?
Nancy:  As I recall, we didn’t encounter any difficulties — we were a novelty, in that there weren’t that many all-girl bands in the city at the time and especially not ones who could really play. We were universally loved for quite a while! We were friendly with a lot of the groups who were on the scene at the time.

Listening to “Ordinary Girls” and “Too Bad,” they’ve got great hooks, and though they’re not as trashy as what you might hear from the New York Dolls, they have that same primal rock ‘n’ roll feel. How big of an influence were the Dolls on you?
Nancy: Speaking for myself, The Dolls were no influence at all, although I liked them a lot. I used to see the David Johansen Band all the time. But I’m a Beatlemaniac from way back, and all I ever wanted was to be like John Lennon. That said, my writing was geared for Lynn’s voice and persona — edgy and sexy and aggressive. I know Bunny was very into The Dolls, especially Johnny Thunders. She even has one of his guitars.

You played a showcase gig in early 1979 at CBGB. What do you remember about that show?
Nancy: I was scared to death! I’d never played on stage with a band before. We’d done a lot of rehearsing, but I spent the entire set rooted to the spot and staring into space.  But it went very well, and we were soon weekend regulars at both CBGB and Max’s.

What happened in between 1979 and the point at which you broke up in 1981?
Nancy: We played a lot of shows, mostly in NYC, did a lot of partying, recorded a bunch of demos, changed personnel a lot, and finally gave up the ghost. We never released any records. It was much harder and more expensive in those days to do an independent release. Studio time was costly, as was mixing and mastering and pressing up the vinyl, not to mention the postage for mailing out all those records. We definitely caught the attention of various music-business types, but nothing ever materialized from that. Susan knows better than I do about that end of it.

Has Cheap Perfume gotten as much credit as they deserve for paving the way for bands like the Go-Gos and the Bangles?
Nancy: I would say definitely not. The people who knew us and loved us back in those days still remember us — our reunion shows were mobbed. But outside of the club scene of that era in New York City, we weren’t widely known.

Why did you break up?
Nancy: The band had run its course. There were too many personnel changes; it had gotten too far away from what it was in the early days. 

What happened to everybody after the band broke up?
Nancy: I had gotten back together with Richard by that time, and he and I started doing bands and releasing albums, which we do to this day.

Look for more on Cheap Perfume in the coming days in this space.

The scent of Cheap Perfume is, once again, wafting through the seedier environs of Manhattan's Lower East Side, and word has it that the all-girl pop-punk act that abruptly called it quits in 1981 is working on a new record, which actually would be their first.






Acting sort of as the big sister who made the male-dominated punk playground safe for siblings the Go-Gos and The Bangles, Cheap Perfume's insanely catchy little tunes had just enough edge and bite to them to garner the band big crowds in the late 1970s and early '80s at notorious New York City venues like CBGBs and Max's Kansas City. Their coming-out party came with a showcase gig in 1979 at CBGBs.

Odell remembers "being scared to f**king death" about the show. "When it was over I went to the second floor bathroom and puked up my guts," she adds.

In its brief history, Cheap Perfume played with the likes of The Plasmatics, the Dead Boys, the Tuff Darts and the Laughing Boys. But Cheap Perfume didn't linger in the air for long. Lineup changes and a car accident made singer Lynn Odell " ... a mess for a long, long time," in her words, stopped the band in its tracks, and everyone went their separate ways, with two members winding up with acting careers — Odell has appeared on "Law And Order" and "Criminal Minds," while (drummer) Brenda (Martinez) White landed spots on HBO's "Oz" and "Sex In The City."

Years passed, but White, bassist Susan Palermo and lead guitarist/vocalist Bunny LeDesma kept in touch, and eventually, they got the itch to play again as Cheap Perfume. They started performing again as a trio, but that wasn't enough for White.

"One day I was talking on the phone to Brenda, who said how much she wished the original band would get back together," says Nancy. "I said I'd be willing if Lynn was involved. Lynn had by that time moved out to Los Angeles, where she's lived for many years, but I figured we could ask her. I called her and said, 'How would you feel about doing a real Cheap Perfume reunion,' and to my surprise, she said she'd be thrilled."

In 2007, Cheap Perfume, back to being a five-piece, played a triumphant reunion gig at a packed Baggot Inn in Manhattan. Buoyed by the response, Cheap Perfume did another set in April of this year at Kenny's Castaways. And now, the band, which had only recorded a few demos while they were together way back when, is looking to roll out a full-length album.

"We recorded basic tracks a little over a year ago and have been working on them at my home studio (where Richard and I record) ever since," says Nancy Heyman, who is married to noted songwriter Richard X. Heyman of '60s garage-rock heroes The Doughboys. "We've finished two songs, have another two that are just about ready for mixing, and then another five or six that have yet to have lead vocals recorded. The way we've been working is, once the instrumentation is done, I send the tracks to Lynn to record her vocals at a studio in Los Angeles. She sends those back and then the songs are ready for mixing. We were fortunate enough to have Ed Stasium mix and master the first two songs, and I'm sure we'll continue to use him for that work."

Recently, a hot little two-song CD — honed and shaped by the famed Stasium, who has worked with The Ramones, Living Colour and the Rolling Stones, among others — was sent out to journalists featuring tracks "Ordinary Girls" and "Too Bad," and they show a band that is roaring back to life with Spandex-tight playing, plenty of attitude and smart hooks.

Look for more to come on Cheap Perfume in this space. To sample some Cheap Perfume, go to www.myspace.com/cheapperfumemusic. And both "Ordinary Girls" and "Too Bad" are available as downloads on iTunes and Amazon.

Anybody out there have any memories of Cheap Perfume? Or, if you've seen them at one of their reunion shows, give us the lowdown.

With the 40th anniversary of Woodstock coming up, Goldmine plans to celebrate the occasion with an issue devoted to the three days of peace and love and rock 'n' roll that made history.





The July 31 print issue of Goldmine will take a detailed look back at each day of the festival in the cover story, featuring excerpts from F&W Media's new book "Woodstock — Peace, Music & Memories." In addition, we'll have an interview with Eddie Kramer, the famed producer/engineer who worked the soundboard at Woodstock and commentary from some of the major artists who played the event.

But we'd also like you to be a part of it! If you were at Woodstock, share your thoughts and memories with us! Do you wish you were there? Tell us about what you heard about the event or what you heard later on.

Please e-mail your Woodstock tales to joyce.greenholdt@fwmedia.com, and be sure to put Woodstock in the subject line. We'll try to include as many as we can in print and online at www.goldminemag.com.

With a new box set and reissues of #1 Record and Radio City coming out this summer, there's never been a better time to get reacquainted with the patron saints of power-pop, Big Star.






Led by two genius songwriters, Chris Bell and former Box Tops prodigy Alex Chilton, Big Star's jangly melodies and crafty, irresistible hooks should have made the Memphis group mega-stars. After all, how could a band that married sunny, but sometimes wounded, California harmonies, Byrds-style folk and the sharp guitar-driven brashness of the British Invasion fail?

Alas, however, the usual record-label complications and the fickle nature of the buying public kept Big Star from breaking it ... well, big. Doomed to being a cult favorite, Big Star would, nevertheless, go on to influence thousands of bands, not the least of which was R.E.M. And #1 Record and Radio City are rightly worshipped as pop/rock masters.

Jody Stephens, the band's longtime drummer, did his part to drive Big Star to the top with solid stick work that helped to ground the band's sound. Much has been written about the choosing of "When My Baby's Beside Me" and "Don't Lie To Me" as the first singles off the band's debut, #1 Record, released in 1972, and some have speculated that perhaps it would have made more sense to go with other songs off that album first.

Don't put Stephens in that camp. "I thought they were great songs," he says.

And they are. Still, Stephens' favorite track off that LP is something different.

"[I'm] very reluctant to pick one but ... 'Ballad Of El Goodo,'" Stephens relents. "It incorporates much of what I like about Big Star. Wonderful lead vocal melody lines, guitar lines and harmonies, but there is a 'soul' there that takes me deeper than where just a pop band would."

It's hard to argue with Stephens on this point. As perfectly constructed a pop song as you'll find anywhere, "The Ballad Of El Goodo" is definitely a highlight for many Big Star devotees. Of course, most people who are only the most casual Big Star fans might opt for "In The Street" — mainly because of the Cheap Trick version that served as the theme song for the "That '70s Show." 

What about you? Is "The Ballad Of El Goodo" your favorite Big Star song? Or do you have a different one? And, ultimately, what is Big Star's legacy? Let me know. I would love to get a discussion going among readers.

The Big Star box set, titled Keep An Eye On The Sky, will be released by Rhino. For more information, visit www.rhino.com. As for the reissues of #1 Record and Radio City, there will be separate vinyl reissues in addition to a CD that features both albums. Visit www.conchordmusicgroup.com for more information on those reissues, which came out June 16.

Michael Sadler took his leave of Saga after the 2007 tour, and his departure left a gaping hole in the Canadian progressive-rock stalwart's lineup. His signature vocals, so much a part of the Saga sound, could fill arenas with their urgency and majestic acrobatics.

AOR staples like "Wind Him Up" and "On The Loose" give evidence of Sadler's prowess, and it's hard to imagine anybody else singing those songs. But, alas, nothing lasts forever, and when Sadler decided he wanted to spend more time with his family and less time on the road, it closed one chapter in the Saga story. But, another one is being written right now.






Two years ago, Saga found Sadler's replacement, enlisting Rob Moratti after an Internet talent search. His vocal stylings can be found on Saga's latest, The Human Condition, a guitar-heavy prog-rock adventure that's as metallic — especially on "Step Inside" and "Crown Of Thorns" — as any album in the band's catalog. Moratti was up to the challenge.

Guitarist Ian Crichton, whose brother Jim plays keyboards and bass in the group, explains how Saga and Moratti got on the same page. "We were writing the music first, as always in Saga, and sending the ideas to Rob; it was Rob that matched the guitars!!"

And match them he did, bellowing out powerful vocals that lived up to every power chord and shifting musical direction Saga threw at him. Finding someone of Moratti's talent was a stroke of luck. Ian admits the band did its search via YouTube.

"Yes we did, [and we] also we posted two of the hits on our site for people to download and upload their performances," says Ian.

Perhaps this is the way auditions will, from this day forward, be held.

To learn more about the latest addition to the Saga catalog, visit http://www.spv.de/eng/news.html

With Kerry Livgren and Steve Walsh shying away from writing new songs for the Heartland prog-rock institution Kansas, the rest of the band has decided to pick up the slack with Native Window.

Comprised of drummer Phil Ehart and other Kansans Richard Williams (guitar), Billy Greer (vocals/bass) and David Ragsdale (violin), Native Window will be releasing its debut self-titled album June 23 on StarCity Records, run by veteran Kansas producer Jeff Glixman.





Ehart nixes suggestions that Native Window was conceived because of any uncertainty surrounding Kansas.

"Well, it's not uncertainty," says Ehart. "It's just a situation of no new material for the band Kansas. And the guys who have usually written the material are either choosing not to write material or are doing other projects. So, the four of us just kind of went, 'Hey, you know, instead of sitting around whining about no new material, let's do something on our own.' So we did. And Native Window was born kind of out of necessity to scratch that new material itch. You can only play the old material so much and you kind of start yearning for something new to work on. So yeah, about two years ago, we started working on this and knew that Kansas is our main focus and that will always remain so. But when we had time off of the road, we'd come in and work on stuff and write stuff and that's kind of where it came from."

A little simpler, a little more straightahead, with swampy, blistering rockers like "Blood In The Water" sharing top billing with more surging, emotional triumphs such as the reflective "Still" and "Surrender," Native Window isn't necessarily a departure from the Kansas you grew up with. But neither will it give cause for critics to attack them for simply resting on their laurels.

To find out for yourself, visit www.nativewindow.com. A sampler of four songs will give you a taste of what Native Window is all about. Look for more on Native Window in this space and in the July 17 edition of Goldmine.

By the time Eddie Kramer went to Woodstock, the legendary record producer and audio engineer had already compiled an impressive work history. Born in South Africa, Kramer arrived in England at the age of 19, and it wasn't long before he was recording records by The Kinks and Petula Clark for Pye Studios.






Even bigger engineering projects lay ahead, including his work with The Beatles, Traffic, The Rolling Stones and others, like Led Zeppelin. And then there was Jimi Hendrix, as Kramer would help shape the sound of such landmark albums as Are You Experienced? and Electric Ladyland.

Woodstock, however, was a very different animal. You had multiple acts. You had massive crowds, the likes of which had never been seen before in rock history. And you had technical issues. Kramer, who worked the soundboard at Woodstock, lived to tell about it.

"It was a minefield of technical glitches that all had to be overcome on every band and on every set," says Kramer, who remembers arriving at the scene at the break of dawn and realizing what a quagmire he had walked into. "Well, I thought it was a bit of a disaster, quite frankly. I was kind of shocked in realizing the fact that we had to start recording in a few hours, and it was not quite ready (laughs). I was wondering how the hell we were going to pull it off."

Kramer did, though. His work can be heard in the classic "Woodstock" movie and the Woodstock album, and now, with the 40th anniversary of Woodstock just around the corner, Sony Legacy is issuing unreleased live recordings from five artists who headlined the historic event: Johnny Winter, Sly & The Family Stone, The Jefferson Airplane, Santana and Janis Joplin.

Also sonically enhanced by Kramer himself, who started work on these recordings just over three weeks ago, the concert material will be packaged with newly remastered versions of seminal albums by those acts, including Johnny Winter's self-titled debut, Jefferson Airplane's Volunteers, Joplin's I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!, Santana and Sly & The Family Stone's Stand! All of those albums were originally released in 1969, the same year as Woodstock.

The packaging breaks down this way: Each disc will be housed inside a mini-LP cover with inner paper sleeves, with CD-one showcasing the front and back covers of the original LP, and CD-two sporting performance photography of the artist playing at the festival. Fitting into a paper-board slipcase, the package will also contain a two-sided 16x20-inch fold-out poster — one side with iconic photography of the artist captured live at the festival, and the other side displaying a classic crowd shot of the audience.

The records will be available online and in stores June 30. Sony Music Entertainment has also launched Woodstock.com, which has a ton of features related to the event. Go and check it out.

More of our interview with Kramer will be included in the July 31 edition of Goldmine, which is dedicated to the 40th anniversary of Woodstock.

In this world of ever-changing social-networking capabilities and avenues, indie outfits like The Oranges Band have been at the forefront of a movement to break down the old invisible wall between performer and audience and get interactive with their audiences.







Toward that end, head Orange Roman Kuebler has jumped in with both feet. First, he started every7th.com, a monthly person-to-person music subscription service that allowed listeners to give Kuebler feedback on what they liked or didn't like about his music. Then came a recording blog he did for PopMatters.com that followed the creation of The Oranges Band's latest epistle of churning, slash-and-burn power-pop, The Oranges Band Are Invisible.

It was an experience that he hopes to relive at some point.

"Well, reflecting on the album as we were making it was kind of interesting because now I get to reflect on the reflections," says Kuebler. "Making an album for me is a pretty emotional process, and it requires so much attention and expense, physically and otherwise. So writing the journal was another way of just thinking about what we were doing, and it helped me to get a bit of perspective. Also, I am a bit of a blowhard and am also constantly performing, so it was another way to kind of create something. I think it will be fun to read in a few years."

Keeping things interesting is important for Kuebler. Perhaps that's why he accepts offers to moonlight with other groups like Spoon and Impossible Hair, a band he played bass with on a tour of Spain recently.

"Well I look at how people interact with their music, and it helps me to have a perspective on my own," says Kuebler. "Britt and Spoon were very meticulous and reverent towards their albums, but the process was essentially the same as mine. Sometimes this is inspiring, and sometimes it is totally frustrating. Joe and Impossible Hair are always trying to play off what the other is doing in the context of the songs that Joe has presented. The songs and recordings tend to just develop with everyone’s input and influence into something that is truly unique. I have played in a lot of bands and worked with a lot of artists and songwriters and am very sensitive to their relationship with the music. It always gives me a perspective on what I do, and it is exciting to know that the possibilities are limitless. Just working with different people and involving different personalities is always a way to experience your own music in a much different way."

Even with Oranges Band music, Kuebler enjoys taking the odd detour. Like they did with the retro-'80s vibe of "When Your Mask Is Revealing Your Future," which sounds a little like Elvis Costello fronting the Talking Heads.

"I remember exactly what sparked the creation of this song and it is not too far off from what you describe," says Kuebler. "I was watching late-night reruns, and NBC used to play old SNL re-runs after the current 'Saturday Night Live' had ended. One of those nights, Peter Gabriel was the musical guest, and it was during the album promo for Us so he was doing “Steam.” Something about it caught my ear, and I started to mess around with this same type of 'fake funk' riff. I basically just tried hard to get outside of myself at that point and really find a different song by adding the female vocals, which I did because the backing vocals I did on the demo sounded like girls, so I figured, 'Why not get girls?' Oh and at the time there was a Fela Kuti cover band that my friends played in that was so great that I just tried to steal a little of what they were doing also. I kind of cribbed the bass line in the chorus from that really popular Junior Senior song. So what I was doing was just adding and mixing influences. I have to say that I think there is a better version of that song in me somewhere and maybe one day I will try to do it again and make a 12” version, because this band version came out pretty great but when you try to do something that doesn’t sound like your band, it always sounds like your band. For this album and this version that is a positive, but for the song as an artistic expression I think there is some stuff left in there to say."

For more on The Oranges Band, visit www.theorangesband.com. But before you do, read the feature on The Oranges Band that will be posted shortly on the www.goldminemag.com Web site.

With Spinal Tap, it was the drummers who kept changing. Flipper, on the other hand, has trouble holding onto bassists.

Tired of touring, Krist Novoselic — the one-time Nirvana bassist — somewhat recently gave notice he'd be leaving the Bay Area punk legends. Novoselic took up bass duties with Flipper in December, 2006 for a tour of the U.K. He had replaced Bruno DeSmartass, who had departed a few months earlier, and now, the band has called on former Frightwig, Mudwomen and Van Gough's Daughter bassist Rachel Thoele to replace him.






Having to make another change at bass gave Flipper — who still have a core group of three original members, including Falconi, Bruce Loose and drummer Stephen DePace — a sense of deja vu. Although the situation wasn't nearly as tragic as when Flipper lost bassist and founding member Will Shatter to a heroin overdose (Shatter's replacement, John Daugherty, also died of a drug overdose).

"There was a sense of here we go again," says Ted Falconi of this latest switch at bass. "But at least the curse of the dead bass players was lifted."

Novoselic played a number of shows with Flipper and helped with recording Flipper's new studio album, Love, before saying, "So long." Another sludgy slab of noisy, art-damaged punk rock that's reminiscent of Flipper's early '80s work, Love features the single "Be Good, Child!" When Novoselic was still in the band, Flipper road-tested its latest material on tour, and as a companion piece to Love, the band has issued a live album called Fight.

Both albums were released May 19 and were produced by famed producer Jack Endino. Well, let's say Endino helped with producing them.

"Flipper has always produced itself," explains Falconi, "and Jack was great at listening and keeping everyone calm and focused and (laughs) what can I say? The man is very patient. He was more of a engineer than a producer, with us in the background — change this, do that, how about this. I liked it that way — more bass, more guitar, how about delay on the drum? (laughs) He was great to work with."

With the band celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Flipper's back catalog is also being made available for the first time in a number of years.

Also, tours of Australia, Europe and the U.S. are planned for this year.

More on Flipper will be coming on the Goldmine Web site, www.goldminemag.com. To learn more about what Flipper is up to, visit www.myspace.com/flipper

Ministry
Adios Puta Madres
13th Planet Records/Megaforce Records 2 DVDs
4/5 stars

This is not a tearful farewell. Then again, Ministry has never been the kind of band given to displays of weakness. The industrial-metal gods, led by the inimitable Al Jourgensen, said goodbye to touring with the worldwide “C U LaTour 2008” and this two-DVD set is the incendiary device Ministry left behind in its luggage.






Divided between En Vivo, a collection of 15 live performances, and Fuchi Requiem, a 45-minute rockumentary that explains how Jourgensen plotted Ministry’s death, the set gives you all the concert footage you could want and a behind-the-scenes peek at how Ministry prepared for its swan song. And there’s an audio CD of En Vivo if you want to just listen to the carnage.

Unrelentingly brutal, En Vivo is a testament to Ministry’s live prowess. Shedding its harsh industrial tendencies and militaristic rhythms for a more metallic shred-fest, Ministry — still tight as ever — kickstarts En Vivo with a double-barreled blast of the adreneline-fueled “Let’s Go,” with its swarming hornets’ nest of guitars, and the raging, groove-oriented “Last Sucker.” Attacking its catalog with venom and fury from behind the chain-link fence they brought back for one last go-round, Ministry sets a ridiculous pace from beginning to end, pummeling through “Waiting,” the riff-angry anti-government screed “LiesLiesLies” and “N.O.W.” And when all the violent, hate-filled energy dissipates, it ends with Ministry doing, of all things, a charming cover of Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World.”

Where En Vivo is serious business, Fuchi Requiem is a revealing and funny look at life on the road with Ministry. Packed with interviews, rehearsal footage and live material, it tells of partying and pranks, such as Jourgensen throwing a skunk in a bandmate’s bed, and the trouble that fence brought them onstage.

It’s Ministry in living color, and it’s cool as f**k.
— Peter Lindblad

To a New York City boy like Scott Kempner, guitarist for The Dictators and founding member of the twangy, rock 'n' roll revivalists The Del-Lords, Dion was a god. And not only was he a deity, but Dion was also a neighbor.

In an interview for Goldmine, Kempner talked about what a hero Dion was, and still is, and how a guy from a proto-punk outfit like The Dictators helped Dion rediscover his rock 'n' roll heart. Here's a little tidbit from Dion to whet your appetite for Kempner's comments:






Scott Kempner: "We’re from the same neighborhood. He was this mythical figure in the Bronx, not even a half a mile, like not even 10 blocks north of where I grew up. It was Belmont Ave., 182nd St., Hughes Ave. where Dion was. The Little Italy section and he was the only guy who walked away from the thing that made him rich in order to follow his artistic muse.

"You know, he was also recording blues records; none of it got released at the time by Columbia. It ended up getting released in the ‘90s; they started reissuing that stuff, but they were putting it out for the first time. But that folk/blues thing was a huge part of who he was, you know. Rev. Gary Davis, who lived in the Bronx ... Dion tells this story that he wanted to pay a visit. This was after he was already like a millionaire, already had all these hit records, and Dion wanted to take guitar lessons from Gary Davis. So he used to take the subway down to the South Bronx — the deep, deep south Bronx — and he’d go to Gary Davis’ house. And he said he would show him some like amazing great little licks, and Dion goes, 'You know, I immediately realized, it was like asking Picasso to teach you how to paint.' And him just going, “Don’t worry. It’s all in the wrist,” you know (laughs).

"So Dion moves up to New York. We write songs for like six months. My idea was we were going to write songs that do concern you spiritually, but we’re not going to make overt gospel records. We’re going to be more along the lines of somebody like what Bruce [Springsteen] does. They manage to get them in without making anybody feel excluded, without making anyone feel like ... they’re communicating as opposed to being exclusionary, really, you know. So that was like my job, you know. And we’d talk, and we’d talk about things that’d concern you, and we slowly came up with like a whole body of songs. We called my buddy Frank [Funero] from the Del-Lords, who was the drummer. Now he plays in Cracker. And Mike Meseros, who’s in the Smithereens, another great record-collector bunch of guys ... he was the bass player. So me and Dion would play guitar and Mike and Frank ... we would go out and play these clubs all around ... I don’t know how far south we went. Maybe as far as D.C. up to upstate New York, but that was it.

"Unfortunately, we didn’t do enough shows. Dion was kind of ... the one thing he’s out of touch with was not the music or contemporary music, but so much of the contemporary music business. I mean, he really thought we were just going to be able to get a lawyer, they’d get us a deal, we’d make the record, you know. But, you know, it doesn’t work that way anymore. But what it did turn into was about six, seven weeks worth of these shows that were billed at Little Kings, which was the name of the band. And the stipulation to all the promoters was if you want to use Dion’s name, you have to use everybody’s name and you have to make it alphabetical because this isn’t the Dion show. And as much as we would like to make the same money as Dion gets to go play like those shows, the truth was that we didn’t want people to be disappointed. We didn’t want people coming with any illusions. There were going to be a few Dion songs, but they were going to be rearranged. This is just guitars, bass and drums, no big vocal anything. So it was going to be way different, and I’ll never forget the one night we made 90 bucks, or I made 90 bucks. But I never saw a happier guy. The guy was like 58 years old, climbing in the back of a van, playing these gigs, having the greatest time. Like playing for real.

"I mean, when he gets up and does the oldies show thing, which I did with him for a couple of years as well, he sings every song like he means it. He never dogs a song. When it comes down to actually singing it, no matter how lackadaisical you may seem before a show, or whatever, it’s like once he’s up there, he’s there. And it was just unbelievable to stand next to him onstage every night. It was like, 'Wow, I’m onstage with Dion.' This guy very well could be the best rock ‘n’ roll singer in the world. He had not lost anything. Even the songs we would cover, and when I was doing the oldies thing with him, he sings every song in the same key that they were written and recorded. He was like a child, you know, a teenager. He was like 18 when “I Wonder Why” hit — 17, 18 ... whatever those guys were. And he still sings all those songs in the same key, it’s just unbelievable. Here he is right now. It’s just a couple of months he put out his second, mostly solo, acoustic blues and roots, country sort of record called The Son Of Skip James. He just never stops, you know. He just doesn’t stop. And that was the big attraction, and the big ... that was what really made it work. The fact that, I said, “Look, Dion.” And I said, “Between you and me, as glad as I was to get the ‘King of New York Streets’ or whatever — I forgot what it was ... that was called ‘Yo Frankie’ I think when it came out, that solo record that Dave Edmunds did — I said, 'I was going to tell you I was really disappointed.' I said, 'I’m not going to write like ‘Return of The Wanderer,’ or something, or ‘Still Wandering’ or ‘Street Guy.’ It’s like, “F**k that.” I said, “I’m not into doing that. And that’s out of respect for you, at least out of my respect for my idea of you.' I said, ‘We’re going to make this contemporary and real and relevant to who you are, and that’s what we’re going to bank on. And if people like it, they like it. And if they don’t like it, they don’t like it.'

And that was like that’s all he needed to know, that he was putting something on the line. That he wasn’t just going to come and ... and he took it as seriously as he’s ever taken anything in his career. He worked his ass off. And he’s a complete inspiration, and I gotta tell you man, as a friend, when my mom died and my dad, who’s down in Florida, like 20 miles away or whatever from Dion, I mean he was a great friend to me — looking in on my dad, trying to get him to get out of the house, which my dad was one of those guys who never wanted to do anything at all when his life, as far as he was concerned, had already gone by. But Dion, he’s just that kind of a guy. You know, there’d be times that I would call my dad, Dion would be there. It wasn’t like I was saying, 'Hey D., could you go over and check on my pop, you know.' He’s just a fantastic, fantastic guy. I can’t tell you how much I love Dion. Having him on this record, one of the songs that we had, doing it live is just such a thrill for me to look at that record and say 'Heartbeat Of Time,' Dion. Yeah ...

Yeah, that’s the song he sings on ...
SK: Yeah, me and Lou Reed, who is another guy that I know, we toured with him and he’s also my neighbor in New York. He inducted Dion into the Hall Of Fame, so he knows all this stuff, and he idolizes Dion as well. He gets it, you know. And the lyrics that Dion wrote as a kid, like for “Love Came To Me,” "I live In Dreams," you know ... “I Found That Place Where Lovers Wander,” I mean that’s pretty good, you know, for anybody. That’s pretty good for anybody at any time. That’s like beautifully poetic, and it also suited his voice so well. So, yeah, that’s my Dion thing.

Be sure to pick up the July 3 edition of Goldmine. In it, Kempner talks about his days with the Del-Lords.

Howard Kaylan was shaking in his boots. His band, The Turtles, were riding high as their joyous ray of pop-rock sunshine "Happy Together" was sitting atop the singles charts at #1 in 1967, but the singer had gotten his draft card in the mail.

Suddenly, there was the very real possibility that he was going to go to Vietnam to fight in the war.

"Yeah, the draft thing. That was probably the scariest thing I've ever gone through," Kaylan admits.

Kaylan and fellow Turtle Mark Volman ended up beating the system. A portion of the film "My Dinner With Jimi," with a script written by Kaylan, chronicles how the pair fooled the military into declaring them unfit for service. To learn more about the film, visit mydinnerwithjimi.com/

The DVD of Kaylan's movie — which garnered a Best Feature Film award in the Asheville Film Festival (North Carolina), and a Best Screenplay Award from Park City’s Slam Dunk Film Festival — is due out June 9 on Micro Werks. Much of the film centers around The Turtles' whirlwind promotional trip to England following the success of "Happy Together," and the band's first night out in the country. A wild night in which the band, with Graham Nash serving as tour guide, met a drunken and rowdy quartet of Beatles — a confrontation with John Lennon is, perhaps, the movie's most intense scene — in a London nightclub after hearing Sgt. Pepper's before its release and being blown away by how innovative it sounded.

Later on, Kaylan, left on his own after the rest of The Turtles went back to their hotel, partied not only with Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, but also a young Jimi Hendrix, who treated Kaylan to a never-ending stream of whiskey and cokes, a spinach omelette and a blackout. Kaylan says that to this day he doesn't know how he got back to his hotel room.

Like The Turtles' music, the movie is a lighthearted, fun romp. Produced by Rhino Entertainment co-founder Harold Bronson, it's a snapshot of the times and a look at swinging London in the 1960s through the eyes of someone — that would be Kaylan — who was, and still is, an admitted fanboy of not only The Beatles, but anything related to the British Invasion.

There will be more on The Turtles and the movie in a future edition of Goldmine.

Aside from the movie, Kaylan also has some book projects he's been working on that promise to reveal much about The Turtles' turbulent career (see the video below) — including their well-publicized legal fights to retain their name and rights to their music. And some of his writings will tell more about how Kaylan and Volman escaped the clutches of the military than is in the movie.






But for now, Kaylan says that information will remain with him because " ... I don't want to tell tales out of school."

As for that song "Happy Together" that made The Turtles such sensations — and as the movie reveals people like Brian Jones were fans of the band — Kaylan remembers hearing it for the first time on a "horribly scratchy demo." At the time, The Turtles were not recording their own songs.

"Our forte was picking songs that best suited us," says Kaylan. "That's what we did very, very well."

Well, that and how they blended the incredible vocals of Kaylan and Volman in harmonies that rivaled those of The Beach Boys.

Time may have passed the Meat Puppets by, but the great thing about the brothers Kirkwood — plus drummer Ted Marcus — is they don't care about trying to keep up with current trends.

Sure their high-water mark, at least commercially, was Too High To Die, which somehow dovetailed with the grunge phenomenon of the 1990s, but that was more of an accident. Not a fluke, but an accident, one of those cosmic happenstances where the planets align for an act like the Meat Puppets, these psychedelic hippie cowboys from the desert who started out as a loud square peg in the hardcore scene of the early '80s and seemingly couldn't care less if they ever got on the charts.







That nonchalance toward the business end of their own career, thankfully, has never resulted in half-assed music, as they've proven with their last two albums, Rise To Your Knees and their current offering, Sewn Together. Being the sponges that they are they've soaked up all the knowledge of traditional roots music they could and combined it with a Salvador Dali-style approach to fusing psychedelic and punk into a sound that is, and always has been, wholly original.

Curt Kirkwood should be considered among the great guitarists of his generation, a savvy navigator of mind-blowing atmospherics and uncharted psychedelia who is equally adept at flying through hot and authentic country material in a way that would boggle Buck Owens' mind.

Curt alone was worth the price of admission last Friday as the Meat Puppets (www.myspace.com/themeatpuppets) sent a big crowd at The Annex in Madison, Wis., on a wild, acid-laced journey through all kinds of musical environs. You could sense the joy the two brothers now experience playing live after a dormant period brought on by Cris' troubles with drugs and the law, especially as they launched into the sunny, bouyant title track off their latest LP to start the show. "Blanket of Weeds," from Rise To Your Knees, came on a couple of songs later and the strong current of its subtle melody and its forceful chorus grabbed you by the arm and didn't let go.

Whistling like a pro, Curt and company run through "Maiden's Milk" from the Up On The Sun LP, and eventually, the Meat Puppets ran into their biggest hit "Backwater." Not surprisingly, perhaps, the Puppets, who dredged up a lot of their old material, seemed less than passionate in playing it, as if they were doing it just because they knew the audience would go home unhappy if they didn't. They seemed as if they couldn't wait to get it over with. With "Backwater' in their rearview mirror, though, the rest of the show was a glorious, formless mess of jamming that was utterly captivating.

And speaking of glorious messes, before the Meat Puppets took the stage, Athens, Ga.'s Dark Meat (visit www.vicerecords.com to learn more) regaled everyone with a full-on blast of marching band Sturm und Drang, greasy R&B flavored garage-rock and crazed psychedelia that caused much head-scratching. Undeniably potent when they were focused and a little lost when they weren't, Dark Meat was, nonetheless, entertaining — what with their trumpets and trombones and incredible walls of guitar noises. It was absolute chaos and everything rock and roll should be — thrilling, unpredictable and if you searched hard enough, you found grooves that were irresistible. (Below is a taste of what Dark Meat is all about)






Alan Sparhawk, better known for his work with Duluth, Minn., slowcore pioneers Low, was not as inspiring. Appearing more interested in engaging the audience in conversation, Sparhawk's minimalistic approach didn't have that powerful, emotional affect that Low can have on an audience. And by the end, when Sparhawk was asking for requests, he seemed disinterested and distracted and completely in his own world.

Fortunately, the Meat Puppets, with Cris Kirkwood bobbing around and steering the ship through tumultuous shifts in tempo and mood and Ted Marcus solidly bashing away, were far more interesting. Catch them while you still can.

Got a record or music-memorabilia collection that goes way above and beyond that of the normal collector? Want to show it off to the world and possibly win a grand prize package worth $4,000?

Then have we got a competition for you. It's Goldmine's Superfan Competition, and we're giving away more than $8,000 in prizes.

Entrants competing for the title of Superfan have a chance to win a grand prize package featuring a new Spector Bass Guitar with case from KScope Records and Spector Bass; a Ringo Starr autograph with Certificate of Authenticity from Auction Outlet; and a signed copy of Billy Joel's The Stranger with Certificate of Authenticity from GottaHaveItRockAndRoll.com and more.

To enter, contestants must submit an essay along with digital photos or video clips demonstrating how big a superman they are. The deadline for entries is Aug. 15. Winners will be announced Sept. 15, 2009. The entrance fee is $15.

Along with the grand prize package, there is an opportunity to become one of 10 first-place winners. First-place winners will receive a set of nine Ben Harper vinyl albums from EMI/Capitol Music; a $750 prize pack from SPV Records; a copy of "Lennon and McCartney: Together Alone, A Critical Discography of Their Solo Work" from Jawbone Press and more.

Other prize sponsors include Music Video Distributors, Streetlight Records, Horizon Music, Mooreland Street Records, Whosontour.com, Arhoolie Records, JAM Records, Righteous Babe Records, Poobah, On The Rock Books, Angel Air Records and Varese Sarabande Records.

For complete rules and prize lists, and to enter online, visit www.goldminemag.com/superfan