On the national front, I'm sure it will come as no surprise to any of my friends and fans that I'm a 100% Nader man. You know, I lost my right to vote as a result of my bad career choices in the '70s that eventually landed me at my old alma mater Federal Correctional Institute in Lexington, Kentucky. But now I've regained my right to vote and I would do it every day if they'd let me. What we've ended up with in Bush and Gore is two hereditary politicians fighting like professional street rats over a big piece of pork fat. Like Ralph says, "if you're voting for the lesser of two evils, you're still voting for evil." Four years is not such a long time, and I, for one, will be working hard to make Green Party politics a force in America and the world.
In cultural news, I've been back and forth to England a couple times over the last six months. I did a terrific concert at Royal Festival Hall in London in support of Pere Ubu for the Outro Festival. I had the opportunity to bring Brock Avery and Paul Ill with me on the band and it was just superb. What is this? Great sound. Great lights. No stink like some punk rock shithole. Could I be in the right place?
I spent a week in Leeds mentoring a baby band there named Parva. Five twenty year-old upstart lads who have been taken under the Muscle Music wing and who have attracted the ear of not only me, but of Dave Creffield, who produced the trillion selling Embrace albums in the UK, as well as Rob Howes, who is a deejay and songwriter in England who also goes by the moniker The Overseer. The three of us worked together at Adam Pearson's studio busting out a couple of tracks with the lads for future release. What a pleasure! The kids minds' were open and Dave and Rob were full of ideas. I'm pleased with the result and you'll hear it soon enough.
Last month's trip was to do a solo electric performance (Yikes!) in coordination with Lech Kowalski's film on Johnny Thunders called "Born To Lose." The movie is still very rough, but I think he'll pull a great documentary out of it. It was a lot of toxic shit for me, watching myself talking about the Gang War days on camera in a standing room only theatre. The gig was good. It was in an Internet Cafe in SoHo and Lech's got it all on film.
We also spent considerable time laying the groundwork for Mad For The Racket. If you haven't heard (or didn't read my last installment), Brian James and I have started a new band called Mad For The Racket. It was originally called The Racketeers, but we discovered there were numerous other Racketeer bands around the world and found it easier just to rename our project. It's kind of a rock and roll experiment gone right. The idea is that we run it more like a musician's collective based on the songwriting collaborated on by Brian and me. So, each record will show an ever-changing cast of sounds and characters, but the core will remain the same. The first record, called "The Racketeers," came out in the UK in a very limited run last week on legendary Track Records (former starter home of Jimi Hendrix and The Who) and Duff McKagan, Stewart Copeland, Clem Burke, Adam Pearson and Brock Avery all contributed generously to the sessions. We've set up a couple of live experiences to launch the band in England in December (12th in Dublin and 13th in London) and so far we've got Mani from Primal Scream playing bass on the live shows. That will be fun. The record will be available worldwide in spring, 2001.
Here in L.A., I did a short run at the Baked Potato with Gilby Clarke. Unfortunately it was one of those loose jam-based gigs that fell apart almost as fast as it came together. Also, my dear friend and mentor John Sinclair was on the West Coast for a short fun. We played up and down the California coast north of San Fran and a few jobs here in LA. Sinclair is the hardest working poet in show business. Check out his most recent work on the CD "Underground Issues" through SpyBoy Records and his own archival recordings of Sun Ra on Alive-Total Energy Records.
Speaking of Alive Records I've got a new CD available through them called "Cocaine Blues." In 1975, when I was arrested, charged with conspiring to sell cocaine and sentenced to 4 years in jail, many gathered around to help. When I was finally released in 1978 after serving 2.5 years, one of my best friends Mick Farren welcomed me to England by setting up a gig at Dingwall's. The CD is a nice chunk of that very show, discovered this year on old reel-to-reel tapes by Andy Colquhoun, who played bass with me that night in the Pink Fairies. It's also got other gems on it, for the complete-ist in you.
In September, I went up to Portland for NXNW and spoke on a panel with some music business notables on the subject of alcohol and drug abuse (something I know a little bit about) in our world. The discussion was designed to bring awareness to various foundations set up to help musicians in need. If you need more information on what to do if you or someone in your band is having trouble, you can contact these organizations: Musicians Assistance Program, MusiCares, Sweet Relief and Alcoholics Anonymous.
While at NXNW, I ran into At The Drive-In who are sweet guys. I love their look. Somehow, it seems familiar...I might write a piece on them for a dot com later this month. I'll let you know. I'm continuing to write and record my next solo record and I must say that I'm--at the moment--well pleased with how the songs are shaping up. The other big thing that's been happening with me, and I'll try not to go into too graphic of detail here, has been health related. I've had four trips to the emergency room with kidney stones in the last year. I've finally had the surgery to have a huge stone removed last week. This has been a whole new world of pain for me, but I think I'm over the worst of it. Suffice to say; I know what it means to be a woman, because I’ve had the pain of childbirth. Seriously, I actually had an emergency room physician tell me she has treated women for kidney stones who have told her it was more painful than childbirth. In the words of Louis Armstrong, "Leavin' it all behind me."
I've just finished the final sequencing and liner notes for "Beyond CyberPunk," my compilation album featuring, among so many, Richard Hell & Voidoids, Dee Dee Ramone, Jimmy Zero's new band Lesbianmaker, Mother Superior, Ron Asheton and Mudhoney. It will be the first ever Muscle Tone Records release and will be done in conjunction with our friends at Musicblitz.com. In case you don't know what Muscle Tone is, my manager Margaret Saadi and I have launched our own imprint called Muscle Tone Records. We'll use it as a channel for my solo work (both old and new), and numerous other projects for 2001.
Future/Now Film's MC5 documentary "A True Testimonial" has gone into post production and we are going up to Chicago to view the footage over the Thanksgiving. They tell me they have discovered over 4.5 hours of never before seen concert footage, home films and interviews. This is going to be a great movie.
On December 2, I go up to Seattle for a week of panels and live shows surrounding a celebration of the work of Jimi Hendrix at the Experience Music Project. The week climaxes with a special one-off appearance of a band I've assembled featuring Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie, Tin Machine) and me trading guitar duties, Johnny Rzeznik (Goo Goo Dollas) on vocals and Paul Ill and Brock Avery from my band on bass and drums. We'll perform a selection of Hendrix material, a couple of my songs and a couple of Reeves' songs and who knows what else? I understand that Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox are going to be there too, along with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Double Trouble. Maybe we'll all make a joyful noise together.
My kidney is sore, but my spirits are high. We're still trying to sort out a way for me to answer your e-mail. It's not quite together just yet, but it will be. I promise. No, really, I'm getting all of it forwarded to me and it's all truly appreciated. Keep it coming and tell a friend.
God bless you all.
Wayne
In cultural news, I've been back and forth to England a couple times over the last six months. I did a terrific concert at Royal Festival Hall in London in support of Pere Ubu for the Outro Festival. I had the opportunity to bring Brock Avery and Paul Ill with me on the band and it was just superb. What is this? Great sound. Great lights. No stink like some punk rock shithole. Could I be in the right place?
I spent a week in Leeds mentoring a baby band there named Parva. Five twenty year-old upstart lads who have been taken under the Muscle Music wing and who have attracted the ear of not only me, but of Dave Creffield, who produced the trillion selling Embrace albums in the UK, as well as Rob Howes, who is a deejay and songwriter in England who also goes by the moniker The Overseer. The three of us worked together at Adam Pearson's studio busting out a couple of tracks with the lads for future release. What a pleasure! The kids minds' were open and Dave and Rob were full of ideas. I'm pleased with the result and you'll hear it soon enough.
Last month's trip was to do a solo electric performance (Yikes!) in coordination with Lech Kowalski's film on Johnny Thunders called "Born To Lose." The movie is still very rough, but I think he'll pull a great documentary out of it. It was a lot of toxic shit for me, watching myself talking about the Gang War days on camera in a standing room only theatre. The gig was good. It was in an Internet Cafe in SoHo and Lech's got it all on film.
We also spent considerable time laying the groundwork for Mad For The Racket. If you haven't heard (or didn't read my last installment), Brian James and I have started a new band called Mad For The Racket. It was originally called The Racketeers, but we discovered there were numerous other Racketeer bands around the world and found it easier just to rename our project. It's kind of a rock and roll experiment gone right. The idea is that we run it more like a musician's collective based on the songwriting collaborated on by Brian and me. So, each record will show an ever-changing cast of sounds and characters, but the core will remain the same. The first record, called "The Racketeers," came out in the UK in a very limited run last week on legendary Track Records (former starter home of Jimi Hendrix and The Who) and Duff McKagan, Stewart Copeland, Clem Burke, Adam Pearson and Brock Avery all contributed generously to the sessions. We've set up a couple of live experiences to launch the band in England in December (12th in Dublin and 13th in London) and so far we've got Mani from Primal Scream playing bass on the live shows. That will be fun. The record will be available worldwide in spring, 2001.
Here in L.A., I did a short run at the Baked Potato with Gilby Clarke. Unfortunately it was one of those loose jam-based gigs that fell apart almost as fast as it came together. Also, my dear friend and mentor John Sinclair was on the West Coast for a short fun. We played up and down the California coast north of San Fran and a few jobs here in LA. Sinclair is the hardest working poet in show business. Check out his most recent work on the CD "Underground Issues" through SpyBoy Records and his own archival recordings of Sun Ra on Alive-Total Energy Records.
Speaking of Alive Records I've got a new CD available through them called "Cocaine Blues." In 1975, when I was arrested, charged with conspiring to sell cocaine and sentenced to 4 years in jail, many gathered around to help. When I was finally released in 1978 after serving 2.5 years, one of my best friends Mick Farren welcomed me to England by setting up a gig at Dingwall's. The CD is a nice chunk of that very show, discovered this year on old reel-to-reel tapes by Andy Colquhoun, who played bass with me that night in the Pink Fairies. It's also got other gems on it, for the complete-ist in you.
In September, I went up to Portland for NXNW and spoke on a panel with some music business notables on the subject of alcohol and drug abuse (something I know a little bit about) in our world. The discussion was designed to bring awareness to various foundations set up to help musicians in need. If you need more information on what to do if you or someone in your band is having trouble, you can contact these organizations: Musicians Assistance Program, MusiCares, Sweet Relief and Alcoholics Anonymous.
While at NXNW, I ran into At The Drive-In who are sweet guys. I love their look. Somehow, it seems familiar...I might write a piece on them for a dot com later this month. I'll let you know. I'm continuing to write and record my next solo record and I must say that I'm--at the moment--well pleased with how the songs are shaping up. The other big thing that's been happening with me, and I'll try not to go into too graphic of detail here, has been health related. I've had four trips to the emergency room with kidney stones in the last year. I've finally had the surgery to have a huge stone removed last week. This has been a whole new world of pain for me, but I think I'm over the worst of it. Suffice to say; I know what it means to be a woman, because I’ve had the pain of childbirth. Seriously, I actually had an emergency room physician tell me she has treated women for kidney stones who have told her it was more painful than childbirth. In the words of Louis Armstrong, "Leavin' it all behind me."
I've just finished the final sequencing and liner notes for "Beyond CyberPunk," my compilation album featuring, among so many, Richard Hell & Voidoids, Dee Dee Ramone, Jimmy Zero's new band Lesbianmaker, Mother Superior, Ron Asheton and Mudhoney. It will be the first ever Muscle Tone Records release and will be done in conjunction with our friends at Musicblitz.com. In case you don't know what Muscle Tone is, my manager Margaret Saadi and I have launched our own imprint called Muscle Tone Records. We'll use it as a channel for my solo work (both old and new), and numerous other projects for 2001.
Future/Now Film's MC5 documentary "A True Testimonial" has gone into post production and we are going up to Chicago to view the footage over the Thanksgiving. They tell me they have discovered over 4.5 hours of never before seen concert footage, home films and interviews. This is going to be a great movie.
On December 2, I go up to Seattle for a week of panels and live shows surrounding a celebration of the work of Jimi Hendrix at the Experience Music Project. The week climaxes with a special one-off appearance of a band I've assembled featuring Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie, Tin Machine) and me trading guitar duties, Johnny Rzeznik (Goo Goo Dollas) on vocals and Paul Ill and Brock Avery from my band on bass and drums. We'll perform a selection of Hendrix material, a couple of my songs and a couple of Reeves' songs and who knows what else? I understand that Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox are going to be there too, along with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Double Trouble. Maybe we'll all make a joyful noise together.
My kidney is sore, but my spirits are high. We're still trying to sort out a way for me to answer your e-mail. It's not quite together just yet, but it will be. I promise. No, really, I'm getting all of it forwarded to me and it's all truly appreciated. Keep it coming and tell a friend.
God bless you all.
Wayne
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