It's a question we all think about, but hardly any of us actually will ever have to deal with at any point: If a movie was being made about your life, what actor or actress should play you?

Cherie Currie, former lead singer of The Runaways, did not have a say in the matter for the new movie that's coming out in March about the renegade band of teenage girls she once fronted that challenged the male-dominated music business in the 1970s with their rebellious, punk-spiked rock. But she could not have made a better choice.







Young starlet Dakota Fanning played Currie, and that's all right by Cherie.

"Oh, it was a dream come true, because she's my favorite actress of all-time," say Currie. "Yeah, from the first time I saw her, and I was actually sitting with my sister, Marie, watching, I believe, it was 'Man On Fire,' and our jaws were just on the floor and we were saying, "Who is this girl?" And I just became a huge fan of hers. And I ended up finding out that she was playing me, or was in negotiations to play me, on the 10 o'clock news, and my knees just buckled, because I just couldn't believe it. It was just ... it's beyond words."

And really, it was meant to be, which Currie found out in a lunch with Fanning.

"I asked her how she got involved in the film and wanting to do the film," relates Currie. "She had gone to school, and one of her schoolmates had brought these little temporary tattoos, and [Fanning] had picked a single cherry and put it on her arm. And when she got home, her mom had this script and said, 'Dakota, you're not going to believe this, but this girl has a cherry tattoo.' And she kind of figured that was a sign, and when she read the script, she knew there was no one else who could do the part as far as she was concerned. 'What are they gonna do?' she said. 'Get some 27-year-old to play a 16-year-old.' And so she really knows she's got that edge, you know that old edge that this part really needed."

For more on The Runaways, visit www.therunaways.com.

"Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood"

For the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, that plea has often fallen on deaf ears. That's not to say that everything written about the noisy, avant-blues anarchists has been derisive or belittling. In fact, critics have usually had nice things to say about the trio's hard-hitting, visceral blasts of deconstructed rock 'n' roll.






In taking apart and reassembling traditional forms of the blues and '50s rockabilly, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion pays only the most sincere homage to their heroes. Yet a lot of people don't buy it. They think it's all a put-on, that Spencer, guitarist Judah Bauer and drummer Russell Simins have, for the last almost 20 years, been creating gritty, wild, postmodern rock 'n' roll mayhem with a wink and a nudge and very little respect for the past.

Spencer takes offense at that.

"I do. I think we've been misunderstood," says Spencer. "We've been dismissed as a joke. We've been dismissed as ironic hipsters and even racists."

Sure, says Spencer, some of the Blues Explosion's songs have some humor, and he admits they can even be a bit silly, but he adds, "There's a lot of life to it."

And much of that life is fueled by from Spencer's deep appreciation of the blues and old-time rock 'n' roll, a genre that he feels is under attack these days.

"America has a real stick up its ass and a real problem it seems with rock 'n' roll," says Spencer, who continued about how it's even more marginalized and misunderstood than it was when the Blues Explosion arrived in the early '90s to give the dour, taking-itself-way-too-seriously world of alternative rock a good, swift kick in the pants.

To remedy at least one of those problems, the Blues Explosion is releasing a 22-song retrospective of its most bad-ass works titled Dirty Shirt Rock 'N Roll: The First Ten Years. Due out March 30 on Shout! Factory's Majordomo Records imprint, the record is the opening salvo in a Blues Explosion reissue project that will see the band re-release six albums.

To find out more about the reissue campaign and the band's first-ever greatest-hits package, visit www.majordomorecords.com.



 

Only cancer and human mortality could beat Doug Fieger.

The lead singer of The Knack, whose stuttering vocals on the 1979 power-pop anthem "My Sharona" will ring in the ears of generations to come, was a fighter right up until his death on Tuesday at his home in Woodland Hills, Calif.






David Was, of the idiosyncratic dance-music dynamo Was (Not Was), had known Fieger since junior high in the Detroit area. "Not only was he an inspiration," says Was, "but also a good friend."

Even while Fieger was battling his illness, Was visited often with The Knack front man, and Was hoped he'd beat cancer. But it wasn't to be.

Looking back during an interview today, Was recalled seeing Fieger for the first time. "He looked like he had fallen right out of New Music Express," says Was. "He was wearing bell-bottoms and he had pink leather boots on. I remember someone called him a sissy, and Doug kicked his ass. In fact, I think he dug his pink leather boot right into his chest."

Was added that "you didn't mess with Doug." And that extended to Doug's family. For those who don't know, Doug's brother is famed attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who gained fame for representing assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian.

Doug Fieger, according to Was, was always ambitious when it came to music. In fact, Doug and Was' partner in Was (Not Was), noted producer Don Was, had quite the rivalry in school. Doug's single-minded determination brought him fame quicker as The Knack, the band he formed in Los Angeles in 1978, made the rounds on the Sunset Strip scene and broke it big with "My Sharona," a song Doug co-wrote that was inspired by a girlfriend of four years.

"He took rock 'n' roll as seriously as a physicist takes uranium," says David Was. "That kid was like a roman candle, with a trajectory that could take you to great heights and depths."

David Was says he owes everything to Doug Fieger, and that includes the success Was (Not Was) had. A new 19-song retrospective set titled Pick Of The Litter is due out Feb. 23 that encapsulates the career of Was (Not Was), described by the New York Times as "the funkier art-funk band" and featuring David's somewhat surreal poetry and a strange brew of jazz, disco, rock and skewed political-socio commentary.






We'll have more on Was (Not Was), plus stories about the group's connection to Ozzy Osbourne, Madonna and Mel Torme, among others, in this space. To revisit the strange, colorful world of Was (Not Was), go to www.myspace.com/wasnotwasfreaks.

"When my ship comes in ... I'm going to open up a record store!"

How many of us have, at one time or another, dreamed of doing just that. I know I have. Well, it's a tough business, and in these troubled economic times, it's getting harder and harder to keep the small, local, independent record store going.






One that keeps on keeping on is All That Music in El Paso, Texas. Its owner, George Reynoso, has done an amazing job of not only staying afloat but actually thriving. Using every bit of guile, street smarts, business savvy and that ability to change with the times, Reynoso has kept All That Music going.

And for those that would like to follow his lead and open up their own independent record store, Reynoso has a word of advice.

"Don’t give up your regular job," says Reynoso. "I’ve been lucky because this is my passion and I’m too stubborn to fail. But in 30 years, I’ve seen most of my competitors come and go because they were poorly capitalized, mismanaged, or otherwise naïve. This is a fast, cutthroat, and rapidly changing industry. People are attracted to the glamour of music and entertainment. But in reality, we are living in the midst of a technological, computer-based revolution. The world is now a virtual marketplace of digital files. Do your homework before you jump into this industry."

Despite all the gloom and doom, there are stories of success among record-store owners. We've profiled many of them in our For The Record segment in the print issue of Goldmine. To read the rest of our interview with Reynoso, pick up the March 12 print edition of Goldmine.

To find out more about All That Music, go to www.allthatmusic.com.

Being the owner of an independent record store in this day and age is not easy, but George Reynoso is still fighting the good fight.

His is All That Music, out of El Paso, Texas. And like all small business owners, market forces create a myriad of challenges that make it difficult for them to just survive. Competing with the big-box chains like Wal-Mart and Best Buy is like swimming against a strong tide, and the whole downloading phenomenon has only exacerbated the problem for the mom-and-pop record shops.





Smartly, Reynoso, a former television journalist, has decided against going head-to-head with the Goliaths.

"Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target all sell what I call the 'no-brainer easy business' — that is, mostly the Top 50 Billboard chart CDs," explains Reynoso. "Although we stock these chart hits, we conceded the easy business to the giants long ago. Now, as the giants are allocating less space to deep catalog and the big chain stores are all but gone, we're realizing the increased traffic of customers who require and enjoy a good record store. Serious music buyers are left with the 'last man standing,' which is usually the local independent. That works for me!"

That enthusiasm isn't just false bravado. Reynoso sees a future for small record stores like his. They just have to work hard and figure out what their customers really want, and that extends to employees as well.

"The future will be service and collectibles for serious music enthusiasts," says Reynoso. "Today's record store employee must bring something to the table. Young clerks fulfilling cash-register duties and generally hanging out and acting cool are gone. Thank God! With today's bleak economy, we are all doing more with less. So slackers quickly find themselves unemployed. Today's employee needs to bring a depth of knowledge in any particular genre of music. Strong retail, marketing and merchandising skills are a must. Computer, database and Web site expertise is a bonus. In general, with Google, YouTube and hundreds of Web site resources, I tell prospective employees that logic, common sense and a desire to provide service to a customers is all that's necessary. We can teach the new hires the resources and steps for great customer service. Finding employees with charisma, values, good attitude and a strong work ethic is the challenge."

But there is more to it than that. These days, record-store employees have another role: That of an educator.

"We spend a lot of time educating people about the collectibility of records," says Reynoso. "Most are good sports, but some don't understand and get offended when we reject common, low-demand items in poor condition. With advance notice, I'll direct sellers to allthatmusic.com to read our guidelines for selling CDs, LPs & DVDs."

Having to take a tough stance in negotiations is just part of the business, which has benefitted from a boom in vinyl sales.

"In part, credit today's 15- to 30-year-olds for spearheading the return of the LP," says Reynoso. "They grew up knowing music by file trading, computers and ear buds. Eventually, these consumers mature and realize you can't beat first-edition, physical, hands-on product. In the end, whether for full, complete liner notes and a high-quality (non-MP3) sound, physical product will be sought out by the true hard-core fans. Sure, the volume of product sold is less, but remaining copies in the marketplace are worth more, especially if the condition of the LP or CD is like new. We sell lots of product in the $20-to-$75 range. This is our new marketplace. We've spent the last 30 years learning what's in and what's not and we use that knowledge to buy and sell fairly and strategically."

Live Review
Dr. Dog and The Growlers
Madison, Wis.
Feb. 5, High Noon Saloon

Full confession: I did not know a single Dr. Dog song before being lured into the unwashed throng of humanity that attended their show in Madison, Wis., on Feb. 5. That's not to say I had no idea what they were all about.

Someone had graciously allowed me to borrow their fifth studio album, Fate, months ago, and I gave it a cursory listen. It was quirky, acoustic folk-pop that didn't exactly resonate with me at the time, and so, when a friend suggested seeing Dr. Dog live, I went ... but my expectations were subdued. Mostly I wanted to go because it was a night out with a buddy and one of his friends, and it had been a hard week.






So, to the High Noon Saloon we went, getting there just in the nick of time to hear the opening band, The Growlers. Now, if you're not familiar with them, there's no time to waste: Give them a listen. Their music is exotic and intoxicating, a heady brew of lounge, psychedelia and country, and singer Brooks Nielson works the stage like a hippie Dean Martin. And they wear funny hats, always a plus in my book.

Wonderfully languid, fluid grooves and hooks that come straight out of left field make The Growlers a band to keep an eye on, and their merchandise ... well, it has to be seen to be believed. One t-shirt had a guy wearing very little clothing in a toilet with a topless girl, and vinyl and CD copies of their latest release, Are You In Or Out, sat in a piece of luggage guarded by an kitschy electric candelabra. And Nielson, while wandering through the crowd, possibly drunk, even shared a shot with someone in our party. How cool is that?

Even before The Growlers left the stage to a roar of approval, the audience was growing. By the time Dr. Dog came on, the place was filled to the rafters. All this for some ramshackle acoustic act whose sound will undoubtedly grow more and more tiresome as the night goes on? Surely, there must have been an amazing beer special at the bar that brought out all these college kids.

But, no. It was Dr. Dog, and they completely demolished all of my preconceptions. Their playing was electric, vibrant and tight, more British Invasion or The Beach Boys than The Band, although Dr. Dog bore the birthmark of each of those three influences. Every song had amazing hooks and each one seemed more triumphant than the last, buffeted by beguiling vocal harmonies that CSNY would be proud of. And they jumped around the stage in utter ecstasy, with the crowd grooving along and cheering their every note. I still have no idea what songs they played. I don't know how long they played either. I don't even care. Call me a lazy reviewer if you will, but this was one of those magical nights when a band — make that two bands — reminds you why you go to see live music, and unlike a lot of shows, at the end, I wanted more.

My 40-year-old body wasn't ready for bed. It was prepared for whatever else the night had in store, which wasn't much — just a pitcher of dark beer at a corner tavern and more carousing. And on the long walk home, we talked about music and whether the sounds of this decade had any lasting value. Well, at least for one night, for me, I found a couple of bands who just might be able to change my mind ... for the better.

Dr. Dog has a new album coming out April 6 called Shame, Shame on their new label, Anti- Records. And I'm very, very excited to hear it. Check out www.drdogmusic.com for more on the band. As for The Growlers, visit www.myspace.com/lbcgrowlers to get the lowdown on what they're up to.
 

The stage was spectacular, as was the laser show and the pyrotechnics. As for The Who's performance at the halftime of Sunday's Super Bowl ... well, let's just say they've had better nights.






Yes, we've all got to remember that both Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend are in their sixties. Yes, playing in that kind of environment can adversely affect a band's effort. And yes, perhaps those Monday-morning quarterbacks of us who expected perfection have unreasonably high standards.

But, let's be honest: This was not The Who's finest hour. Many are even going so far as to call it an "embarrassment." That's being a little harsh. For their age — and yes, I'm using that caveat — Daltrey and Townshend play with as much energy and passion as rockers half their age. And that's really what has often set The Who apart as a live act. At their peak, when Keith Moon and John Entwistle were still alive and being the force of nature as a rhythm section that they were, the band was explosive, crashingly loud and destructive. The Who was everything rock 'n' roll was supposed to be — rebellious, powerful and even violent.

What the Super Bowl halftime show told us was that Daltrey and Townshend are still capable of moments of transcendent glory. Just as obvious, however, was that time is catching up to them. Their vocals were often out of sync, and "Won't Get Fooled Again," despite Daltrey's famous scream, whether it was pre-recorded or the real thing, sounded lethargic and slow. At least it did to these ears.

And talk about wardrobe malfunctions ... Townshend really need to shed that jacket. Time after time, it kept getting in the way when he'd go to execute one of those big, iconic strums of his. A minor quibble, sure. But that must have annoyed him to no end. You could not help but yell at the television, "Get rid of that damn thing!"

Have there been worse halftime shows? Absolutely. Even discounting the notorious wardrobe malfunction, the Justin Timberlake-Janet Jackson debacle was simply dreadful and — talk about lethargic — Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers seemed hopelessly out of their element. People have been critical of Prince's performance, but I thought that, along with Bruce Springsteen's, have been the best.

What do you think? Which Super Bowl halftime performances have lit your fire? Which have been duds? And what did you think of The Who's show?

It's the mid-1960s and B.J. Thomas is an upcoming singer from Texas whose sound was a little bit country, a little bit pop and a little bit rock 'n' roll. And he's white.

So, on paper — and I'm trying very hard not to stereotype here — what would you think of a tour with James Brown, whose R&B was as sweaty and funky as it comes, and Thomas as the opening act? Pretty strange combination, huh? Do you think Thomas was able to win over crowds that had come to see the explosive R&B shows of one "Mr. Dynamite"?







With a little help, he did.

In a recent interview, Thomas talked about going out on the road with a Dick Clark tour, where he shared stages with artists such as Gene Pitney and Chad & Jeremy. Before Thomas hopped on the bus, he parted ways with The Triumphs, the band he joined as a teenager. The one that backed him  on his first album, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry. The Triumphs had too many responsibilities at home tying them down, so they could not join Thomas on the Dick Clark tour.

But it was the fact that Thomas had a backing band that helped him get on the Dick Clark tour in the first place, because that band was going to support many of the other acts on it. In short order, Thomas got with Glen Spreen, who would later work on many of Dan Fogelberg's hits, and they pieced together a band for the tour.

Anyway, Thomas, strangely enough, before getting the Dick Clark gig, wound up being paired with Brown, as well as other R&B acts, initially. And it didn't go as badly as one might think.

"It was kind of a pivotal thing for me because the first bookings I had they booked me out with James Brown," recalls Thomas. "So I worked three days with James Brown, and then I went to Cleveland and worked with Jackie Wilson and then Johnny Mathis. And then the business people, the booking people, realized that hey, B.J. is not a black guy. He's not an R&B singer, and so, bang, they booked me with Dick Clark."

And those shows with Brown?

"Oh, they went good," remembers Thomas. "At one point, James had to come onstage and say, 'Hey, look. This guy's a great singer. He's got a great band, and I want you to give him a chance.' So I'd do my show and the people would go nuts. They loved "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" [the old Hank Williams song] and back in that day, all my big idols were R&B singers. I loved Bobby Bland and Jackie Wilson and all these guys, so we did some R&B music in our show. We did 'Mustang Sally' and 'Get Ready' by The Temptations and things like that. So they'd go nuts. And they loved us,  thanks to James Brown. James Brown was a god to us then. So that was nice."

Collectors' Choice is undertaking a reissues series with Thomas, putting out the albums he made for Scepter Records in the mid- to late-'60s and early '70s. Visit www.ccmusic.com to find out more. And go to www.bjthomas.com to find out what B.J. is up these days.

Before they stepped out on their own, The Band, as anyone familiar with their history knows, backed up not only Bob Dylan, but as The Hawks, they supported rockabilly hero Ronnie Hawkins.







Later on, however, it was The Band, and individual members, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson, who needed the assistance of a fine-tuned unit that could breathe life into their own solo projects. Both chose Professor Louie & The Crowmatix, the Americana flavored rock crew who have a new album coming out March 9 called Whispering Pines that takes its title from a somewhat forgotten song by The Band.

The Professor is multi-instrumentalist, producer and singer/songwriter Aaron Louis Hurwitz, and he explains how he and the rest of the Crowmatix came to work with both Danko, who gave Hurwitz his nickname, and Hudson.

"At the time I was playing duo shows with Rick Danko," says Professor Louie. "We assembled a band to play a party for Quentin Ryan, who had a record company, Breeze Hill. Garth played the show with us, which was recorded, and the recording came out so well that Quentin decided to release it as a CD, Live On Breeze Hill. He then asked Rick, Garth and Professor Louie & The Crowmatix to make solo studio CDs with me producing and arranging. We recorded Rick's CD Times Like These, but I had to finish it by myself as he passed away when we got home from a tour of the Midwest. We had recorded enough songs to fill out the CD. The Crowmatix were the musicians of choice, and Rick Danko had brought in drummer Gary Burke for all our recording sessions and Gary fortunately for us never left. When it was time to start recording Garth's CD, The Sea To The North, The Crowmatix were still the musicians of choice."

In time, the Professor and The Crowmatix decided to put out some records of their own. And, they've been prolific, putting out six studio albums and two live efforts.

"I had been in the studio for many years producing/engineering and playing on recordings for other artists, which I always enjoyed, but I just felt it was time for me to start performing as a musician /singer," explains Professor Louie. "The Crowmatix are great musicians, and I am happy that many people have come to hear us live. There is nothing like performing for an audience."

Still, the good Professor continues to get a charge from producing other artists' CDs. "I still produce CDs, so I am in the studio all the time," says Professor Louie. "One CD that I am proud of came out in 2009 — Dopers, Drunks & Everyday Losers by The Commander Cody Band."

Establishing their own identity was important to the Professor and The Crowmatix. But working with The Band and its individual parts was an amazing education for them. When asked what he learned from them, Professor Louie responded, "Everything and I tried to take it all in. Their original records were extremely innovative at the time."

Of course, by the time the Professor joined forces with The Band, they were music-industry veterans who had their own way of doing things.

"The Band was in the studio for many years before I got involved with them and each player had his own sound and recording technique," says Professor Louie. "Rock 'n' roll is a very creative musical genre for developing recording techniques. Since The Band had gotten such accolades before I was there, the pressure was on for me to live up to their reputation."

With the Crowmatix, it's time for him to have some fun, and they do let loose on Whispering Pines, an example of roots-rock done right.

For more on Professor Louie & The Crowmatix, visit www.professorlouie.com, www.thecrowmatix.com or www.woodstockrecords.com.

Class is once again in session for Professor Louie & The Crowmatix. Known best for his production work with The Band on their mid-'80s and '90s recordings, the good Professor and his pupils are releasing their latest LP Whispering Pines on March 9.

If the title rings a bell, that's because it's also the name of a long-lost, and unjustly ignored, song by The Band. For Professor Louie, whose real name is Aaron Louis Hurwitz, the track has a deep personal meaning.






"Garth Hudson brought this song back to my attention," says the Professor. "The song is very special and was overlooked at the time it came out. I had worked on Richard Manuel's solo projects with Garth and Richard's singing was very moving. I wanted to perform this song as a tribute to Richard. We were playing 'Whispering Pines' in concert for quite a while. This song is not easy to sing and play correctly. The Crowmatix did a great job on this version, and I really wanted people to hear it."

A live version of Professor Louie & The Crowmatix doing "Whispering Pines" made the rounds on YouTube, and the Professor says, "It got so many favorable responses that we decided to release the song on a CD."

For those unfamiliar with the story of The Crowmatix, whose music is a rootsy mix of blues, folk, rock and country that carries the same freewheeling spirit of Helm, Robbie Robertson and company, it all begins in Woodstock, N.Y., where a group of studio musicians were assembled to prepare songs for Hurwitz's productions for The Band.

"We would meet every week at Levon Helm's recording studio and work on arrangements for upcoming recordings," says Hurwitz. "The Crowmatix have had some personnel changes since then. Miss Marie (vocals, percussion) and (famed drummer) Gary Burke have been there from the start. Frank Campbell, our bass player, was working at Levon's during the making of The Band's CD Jericho, and we got to be good friends. He moved to Texas and was with the Asleep At The Wheel organization for a while and then came back to Woodstock. I asked him to come on board, and it was great he did. Frank has a good harmony voice, and his bass playing is very rootsy. A few years back, I was playing on a Jessie Winchester video and Josh Colow was the lead guitar player. I immediately asked Josh if he would join the The Crowmatix, and he took me up on it and he has been a great addition to the group."

Look for more on Professor Louie & The Crowmatix tomorrow on World's Forgotten Boy. In the meantime, visit www.professorlouie.com, www.thecrowmatix.com and www.woodstockrecords.com to find out more about the group.