Great Radio

The '80s Underground radio show comes highly recommended by the Classic Alternative Blog.  The show airs on KSCU FM in Santa Clara, California, every Wednesday morning from 9-11 a.m. Pacific Time.  You can listen live via KSCU's streaming audio, which, by the way, always works.  DJ Jeff is also kind enough to provide podcasts of the majority of the shows -- click here to download them and experience the magic!  This week's edition (August 29) featured '80s indie artists and the music they are putting out today (or at least fairly recently), including The Mission UK, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Church, and The Waterboys, just to name a few.  Great show -- check it out at once.

R.I.P. Hilly Kristal

Hilly Kristal, founder of the celebrated New York City punk club CBGB, passed away on Tuesday from the effects of lung cancer. CBGB was the place where the careers of bands such as the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads and Sonic Youth were started. The rollingstone.com story is here, and a follow-up story with memories from some of the artists who played CBGBs is here.

Photo Credit: Fluzo

Lost and Found Video - Stan Ridgway

Original Wall of Voodoo vocalist and synth player Stan Ridgway continued to make music after leaving the band in 1983, scoring films and releasing eight solo albums, the most recent of which was 2004's Snakebite:Blacktop Ballads and Fugitive Songs. Ridgway toured this summer "In Celebration of Wall of Voodoo's Call of the West", having just wrapped up a string of US dates last week. He'll be back on stage in October.

This is the title track from Ridgway's debut solo effort, The Big Heat (1986).

Links!
Stan Ridgway's Official Website (very nice)
Stan Ridgway on MySpace
Wall of Voodoo on MySpace

Morrissey Refutes Retirement Rumors

Last Friday, The Classic Alternative Blog passed along a spin.com story, part of which insinuated that Morrissey would be retiring from performing. NME ran a similar story. In response, Morrissey today released this statement to the Morrissey Zine True to You:

"I would like to stress to members of TTY that the recent quotes on NME.com attributed to me concerning "retirement" and "final concerts" were not made by me, and that the NME are wrong to put my name next to these quotes."

Morrissey went on to address the issue of ticket pricing. Click here to read the entire statement.

New Mullet on Monday - OMD

In 1985, Paul Humphreys of Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark wore a nifty little mullet...

Secret, from the album Crush.

Last year, the original line-up of OMD reformed, and has been busy performing, with upcoming European dates scheduled supporting Erasure. After the dates with Erasure, the band will play the Night of the Proms, which OMD's website describes as a series of autumn shows in Belgium and Holland featuring "well-known artists performing with the aid of an orchestra to provide a new take on classic songs."

Links:
The Official OMD Website
OMD on MySpace

On the Talk Shows this Week

• The Tonight Show with Jay Leno - Wilco (August 30).
• The Henry Rollins Show - Sinead O'Connor (August 31).
  

Briefly...

• The desire to finish the oft-postponed upcoming Cure album has prompted the band to postpone it's North American tour scheduled for this fall. They plan to make up the dates in April and May of 2008. Billboard.com has the full story.

• Fans of The Smiths have a couple of reasons to cry; according to this story on spin.com, Morrisey is once again refuting rumors that The Smiths will reunite. The statement, released by Morrissey, claims he was offered up to $75,000,000 to tour with Johnny Marr, and refused. Morrissey also stated that the final shows of his extensive 2007 tour will be his last "for the foreseeable future."

• Elvis Costello will be supporting Bob Dylan for thirteen shows this fall. Click here for the story via livedaily.com.

• On October 16, R.E.M. will release it's first ever CD/DVD, R.E.M. Live, featuring 22 songs from a 2005 Dublin Show. For more, check out the story at remhq.com.
  

• A new documentary on Joy Division directed by Grant Gee, entitled Joy Division, will premiere at the Toronto Film Festival next month. Control has also been selected to screen at the festival. Read more at New Order Online and pitchfork.com.
  

Continued Control Coverage

The highly anticipated Ian Curtis biopic Control has finally arrived in Great Britain, via the Edinburgh International Film Festival, and was chosen to be part of the Best of the Fest line-up on August 26. Here is an interview from the festival with actors Alexandra Maria Lara (Annik Honoré) and Tony Kobbell (Rob Gretton).

A new trailer is available for viewing at Yahoo Movies UK and Ireland. The movie opens officially in the UK on October 5 in the US on October 10.

Links:
Official Control Website
Joy Division on MySpace

Lost and Found Video - Cactus World News

Our Lost and Found Video for this week is from Cactus World News, an Irish band that had a lucky break early-on, tapping Bono to produce it's debut EP, The Bridge. The band went on to release a full-length album, Urban Beaches, from which there were three moderately commercially successful singles. The next effort was an album entitled No Shelter, recorded in 1989, but shelved by record label MCA, which subsequently dropped the band. In 1991, Cactus World News disbanded.

Rumors circulated that No Shelter never really existed, but in 2004, the album was finally released by Red Coral Records. Several years earlier, the label had reissued Urban Beaches.

Cactus World News has an impressive official website -- surprising, given they haven't been together in over fifteen years. Info on buying their recordings is there, as well as several MP3s available for downloading.

Here's Years Later, one of those singles from Urban Beaches.

Thanks once again to Jeff, who's '80s Underground radio show helps clear the mental cobwebs.

Sources: Wikipedia, All Music Guide, & cactusworldnews.com.

Manchester Says Goodbye to Wilson

Tony Wilson's funeral was held on Monday. Video for the BBC Northwest Tonight news story is here, and here is the story that appeared in the Manchester Evening News.

New Mullet on Monday - The Alarm

Even in the '80s, it was difficult to find a mullet as majestic as that of The Alarm's Mike Peters.

Strength (1985)

Although the founding members of The Alarm got back together a couple of years ago via VH1's Band's Reunited, Mike Peters is the only original member in the band's present line-up, which recently wrapped up a summer tour supporting the Psychedelic Furs and The Fixx. The current incarnation of the The Alarm has some notable musicians, though -- guitarist James Stevenson (Gene Loves Jezebel), bassist Craig Adams (The Sisters of Mercy, Mission UK, and The Cult), and drummer Steve Grantley (Stiff Little Fingers).

More Alarm dates are scheduled starting in September.

The Alarm Links:
The Alarm Official Website
The Alarm on MySpace

Cool Offerings on the Sundance Channel

Once again, in the coming week, the talk shows are offering no musical guests of much relevance to this blog, other than a rerun of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno with Suzanne Vega will air on Wednesday (August 22). Seems like there were all sorts of performances that would deserve a heads up -- until I started making a concerted effort to pass the info along...

But I noticed that The Sundance Channel will be airing a Joe Strummer documentary this week, and while poking around on the network's website, I found a few things worth mentioning. The documentaries aren't necessarily new, but if you haven't checked them out yet, you may want to. Click on the name of the program to find air dates and times. Descriptions are as written on the Sundance website.

• Let's Rock Again - Shortly before Joe Strummer's untimely death in 2002, filmmaker Dick Rude profiled the legendary guitarist and Clash co-founder as he toured with his band the "Mescaleros" in the United States and Japan. Prefaced by a montage of Clash-era archive footage, LET'S ROCK AGAIN! features some memorable high-voltage performance footage from 2001 when the "Mescaleros" were promoting their second album. Intercut are frank and amusing interviews with Strummer, in which the rock icon's philosophy and personal energy are movingly captured.

• New York Doll - The anarchic history of punk rock has been chronicled in countless documentaries, yet few are as astounding and touching as Greg Whiteley's profile of Arthur "Killer" Kane, former bassist for the proto-punk/glam band The New York Dolls. Early success and extreme excess marked The Dolls' professional career, but when everything bottomed out, Kane shut the door on his past, converted to Mormonism, found peace and took a job in a library. Now, after years in seclusion, Kane dons leather pants and reunites with former Dolls for a London show. Note: Morrissey facilitated the New York Dolls reunion and is featured throughout this documentary. Appearances are also made by Chrissie Hynde, Bob Geldof, and Iggy Pop.
  

• Robyn Hitchcock: Sex, Food, Death...& Insects - Celebrated for his wry, darkly comic, twisted rock songs, British singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock is profiled in this Sundance Channel original documentary, directed by John Edginton. Hitchcock and the band Venus 3 — featuring REM veterans Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and Bill Rieflin — are observed recording an album of new material at Hitchcock's London house. Later, Hitchcock is seen performing live in Hoboken, New Jersey, and Seattle. With appearances by musicians Morris Windsor, Nick Lowe, John Paul Jones and Gillian Welch.
  

• Music Rising - Hurricane Katrina didn't merely scar the landscape, it uprooted lives and destroyed livelihoods. Affected were thousands of musicians whose instruments were destroyed in the storm. Music Rising follows the efforts of prominent musicians — including U2's The Edge and Gibson Guitar's Henry Juszkiewicz — dedicated to helping their New Orleans colleagues by replacing their instruments and returning to them the means to earn a living. Included are many first-hand accounts of the storm and concert appearances by Arlo Guthrie and Willie Nelson.
  

Insert Your Own Punny Violent Femmes Headline

Violent Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie was apparently in agreement with fans unhappy over the use of a classic Femmes song in a Wendy's television ad, and has other serious complaints. Fresh off the band's tour of South Africa, Ritchie has filed a federal lawsuit against vocalist Gordon Gano, claiming deprivation of song credit and rightful earnings. In addition, Ritchie asserts that Gano failed to properly account for the band's earnings and damaged the band's reputation by allowing Blister in the Sun to be used for the Wendy's ad campaign.

The story was reported by eonline.com -- link here for the full article, which includes some seething remarks by Ritchie, as well as Gano's response.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out, particularly since the band has shows scheduled in October.

By the way, the Wendy's ad was sited by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the "Worst Rock Sell-Outs Ever". You can click here to see the list, the reader responses, and/or add your own.

Photo from a December 2006 performance in San Fransisco, via vfemmes.com.

Lost and Found Video - Midge Ure

This week's Lost and Found Video is from Midge Ure, former vocalist for Ultravox, co-writer of Do They know it's Christmas, and co-organizer of Live Aid. Ure is still actively recording and touring. His next show will take place in Twickenham, UK this Saturday night; part of the Here and Now Tour, this show includes Belinda Carlisle, Bananarama, and our band of the week, Altered Images.

If I Was hit #1 in the UK in 1985. The audio/video synch is slightly bad here and there are some other quality issues (sorry). The images in the metal pin thingees (what do you call those?) are pretty interesting, though.

Midge Ure Links:
Midge Ure Official Website
Ultravox Official Website
Ultravox on MySpace

Midge Ure on Myspace (?)

Tony Wilson Tributes

Those wanting to get a feel for what is going on in Tony Wilson's hometown of Manchester since his passing last Friday, can check the following links to the Manchester Evening News website:

• Wilson's Obituary
  
• Tribute Photos
• Words from Tony Wilson's partner, Yvette Livesey.
• An article on the positive effect Wilson had on Manchester.
  
• Celebrity Tributes

Radio station XFM Manchester will broadcast a tribute this Thursday at 7 p.m. local time (1 p.m. EDT). Their website features streaming audio. Wilson's funeral is expected to take place this Saturday.

Briefly...

• Despite having left R.E.M., drummer and founding member Bill Berry has made Stylus Magazine's list of the 50 Greatest Rock Drummers (#20 to be precise).
  

• Atlanta website Creative Loafing recently featured an interview with Cindy Wilson of the B-52's. Time Out London ran an interview with Fred Schneider. The band plans to release it's new album early next year, and will perform in Altantic City on August 18.
  

• Previews of four tracks from Alison Moyet's new album, The Turn, are now available on her MySpace page. The album is scheduled for release on October 15.
  

• Chrissie Hynde talked about The Pretenders' current tour in this interview with Denver's Rocky Mountain News. Hynde also revealed that The Pretenders will start working on a new album in September.
  

• You can preview a new tune from Duran Duran, Night Runner, on Entertainment Weekly's website.
  

New Mullet on Monday - Simple Minds

Yes, another Monday...another mullet. Here is a photo of Simple Minds vocalist Jim Kerr and his mullet, circa 1985.

Simple Minds is still around, and includes founding members Kerr (who is definitely experiencing better hair days), guitarist Charlie Burchill, and drummer Mel Gaynor. The band's most recent release was 2005's Black and White 050505 and they are said to be working on a new album. Kerr and co. also toured Australia with INXS earlier this year.

Further Simple Minds info can be found at simpleminds.com (official) on their MySpace page, and at simpleminds.org (comprehensive fan site).

From the 1982 Album New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) here is the video for Promised You a Miracle.

China Crisis Update

Judging by the number of Classic Alternative Blog visitors who have found the site via searches for China Crisis (only to find one brief mention), an update seemed to be in order. It isn't completely obvious whether or not the band has been together continuously since it's inception in 1979 (the Wikipedia article lists the band as being active from 1979-present, yet says the 1995 album Acoustically Yours was the band's swan song), but China Crisis is still (or again) in existence, and according to it's MySpace Page, will be on tour in the UK from late September through early November. It is clear that founding members Gary Daly (vocals and keyboards) and Eddie Lundon (guitars) are still with China Crisis -- sadly, drummer Kevin Wilkinson committed suicide in 1999. Regarding other band members, in a 2004 interview, Eddie Lundon said he had not spoken to them "in a long time", but that bassist Gazza Johnson had played a show with them the previous year.

Wishful Thinking

China Crisis Links:
Dockland - A China Crisis Fan Page
China Crisis Updates - Not updated since 2005, but still has a lot of band info.

R.I.P. Tony Wilson

From the Associated Press - Tony Wilson, a music impresario credited with guiding a crop of bands from industrial England to the international stage, died Friday. He was 57.

Wilson promoted a host of influential musicians from his native city of Manchester in northern England, including Joy Division, New Order and the Happy Mondays.

He died from complications of kidney cancer, the city's Christie Hospital said.

Wilson's influence on the city, and on British music, is documented in the 2002 movie "24 Hour Party People," which charts the rise - and eventual fall - of Wilson's empire, which included Factory Records and the Hacienda nightclub.

Manchester-born and Cambridge-educated, Wilson's record label and nightclub were credited with making the city Britain's most vibrant music center through the 1980s and 1990s, spawning bands including the Smiths, the Stone Roses and Oasis.

Though Factory Records and the Hacienda closed down in the 1990s, Wilson remained a passionate advocate for his city, presenting a radio show for the local British Broadcasting Corp. station.

"He was a true free spirit and a passionate advocate for Manchester - the city, its people and, of course, its music," the BBC said in a statement.

Here is a feature from BBC2's Newsnight.


Part Two of the Newsnight feature.

Forthcoming Joy Division Book

A book comprised of classic and contemporary writings of Journalist Paul Morley, Joy Division: Piece By Piece, is set for release in the U.K. on November 15 and in the U.S. on January 28, 2008. According to the book description, Morley wrote extensively about the band during the years in which it was active, witnessed Ian Curtis having a near-fatal epileptic seizure in April of 1980, and was the lone journalist permitted to see Curtis after his suicide. Post-Joy Division writings include, among other subjects, comments on the movies 24 Hour Party People and Control.

Speaking of Control, here is another French trailer for the movie, not previously seen on The Classic Alternative Blog. Parents should be advised that there are multiple f-bombs in this one. And in case you missed the news last week, the movie will open in the U.S. on October 10.

Lost and Found Video - The Suburbs

Fatigue is keeping me from writing up a coherent summary of the career of the Minneapolis, Minnesota band The Suburbs, so here is a synopsis from the Minnesota Historical Society:

The Suburbs, true to their name, hailed from Minneapolis' western suburbs and were founded in the autumn of 1977. Their eponymous EP released in April 1978 was the local Twin/Tone label's first release. Keyboardist Chan Poling and guitarist "Beej" Chaney fronted the band and were joined by Hugo Klaers on percussion, guitarist Bruce B.C. Allen, and Michael Halliday on bass. A "new wave" dance band, the Suburbs signed to the national Mercury label in 1984 and two years later released an LP on A&M. They played frequently at the Longhorn, most often as headliners but also opened for national acts like the B-52s and Iggy Pop. After a hiatus from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s, they regrouped and played sold-out shows at First Avenue in 2002 and, opened for the B-52s once again, this time at the 2003 Minnesota State Fair.


Love is the Law

Suburbs Links:
Twin/Tone's Suburbs Page - Features a discography, photos, and links.
The Suburbs Fan Page on MySpace - Very well done and up-to-date on current projects of the band members.

Concert Reviews

Wondering if your favorite 80s era bands are worth checking out today? Here are links to a few concert reviews that may help you decide.

• Sonic Youth in Berkeley (July 19).
• The Police in New York City (August 1).
• Violent Femmes in Anaheim (August 1).
• Squeeze in Boston (August 1).
• Stray Cats and The Pretenders in Oklahoma City (August 3).
• Crowded House in Boston (August 5).

Finding current reviews was a little more difficult than I thought it would be, so if you have a link to a concert review that would be relevant, feel free to pass it along either by commenting or email. And as always, if you have any concert notes or recommendations, feel free to post a comment.

Hooky: Last Words on the Matter

Regarding the back and forth between Peter Hook and the other two members of New Order, Hook's lawyer has advised him to "shut up" until they start negotiations, so this blog post may be the last we hear from him (on that matter) for a while.

We shall see...

New Mullet on Monday - Howard Jones

Things Can Only Get Better -- Particularly when it comes to hair. :)

Howard Jones has never stopped recording and touring, and you can even download his podcasts.

HoJo Links:

The Howard Jones Official Website

Howard Jones on Myspace

Barney: Hooky Needs to Chill Out

I understand that inquiring minds need to know the latest in the Peter Hook vs. Bernard Sumner/Stephen Morris saga.  The New Order Information Service (via Rolling Stone Magazine) ran this story on Friday.

On the Talk Shows this Week/Inside the Smiths

The only somewhat relevant musical act scheduled on a talk show this week is Modest Mouse, who will appear on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Tuesday (August 7). Johnny Marr, formerly of The Smiths (Electronic, The The, etc.) has been part of Modest Mouse since May of last year.

Speaking of The Smiths, Inside the Smiths, a documentary made without the cooperation of Marr or Morrissey, was recently released on DVD. According to Pitchfork.com, Smiths bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce "contributed extensively" to the documentary. Click here for the full story, and scroll down a bit for the trailer.

Links:
Johnny Marr's Official Website
The Modest Mouse Official Website
Trib Street Films - Producers of Inside the Smiths
XFM Manchester - A Radio Station where Andy Rourke DJs. The website features streaming audio.

By Request - The Sisters of Mercy

Classic Alternative Blog reader Karine requested an update on The Sisters of Mercy, and I am, of course, happy to comply. The band, formed in Leeds, England in 1980, is still together, with original members Andrew Eldritch (vocals) and Doktor Avalanche (a drum machine) still in the line-up.

Due to feuds with record labels, the band has not released an album since 1993's singles collection, A Slight Case of Overbombing. Eldritch has been writing and the band has been performing unreleased songs (up to 50% worth) at their shows. An undated news entry on The Sisters of Mercy website talks about the intention to self-release some singles, and how that idea has not come to fruition, but says that they are working on an album. In 2006, First And Last And Always (1985), Floodland (1987), and Vision Thing (1990) were reissued with bonus tracks.

As far as touring goes, the band mostly plays festivals, although they did did embark on an extensive 25th birthday world tour last year.

And for your viewing (and listening) pleasure...

Lucretia My Reflection


This Corrosion

Links:
The Official Sisters of Mercy Website
Heartland: The Sisters of Mercy Unofficial Discussion Forums
The Sisters Fan Wiki (Unofficial Fan Wiki)

Authority: Wikipedia, All Music Guide, livedaily.com, & side-line.com.

Briefly...

• On August 11 at 9 p.m. London time (3 p.m. EDT), Echo and the Bunnymen will be appearing on BBC 6 Music. Non U.K. fans can listen to the audio stream on the BBC 6 Music website.
  

• The announcement came this week that the U.S. premiere of the Ian Curtis biopic Control will be on October 10 at Film Forum in New York City.

• Bob Mould has announced six dates in October (with more to come) to promote the release of his upcoming Circle of Friends DVD. According to Mould's blog, each evening will consist of a Q & A session, a short solo acoustic set, and a full screening of the DVD. He will also be selling and signing the DVDs.

• Fans of The Smithereens have the opportunity to help vocalist Pat Dinizio celebrate his birthday this October -- at his house in New Jersey. In a blog post on the band's MySpace page, Dinizio announced that he will be selling tickets to the event, which includes a private concert in his living room and all you can eat and drink, for $100 (reminding readers that Prince charges $3121 for a private concert). The Smithereens are actively touring, BTW, and even have some free shows coming up. The MySpace page and their website have all the details.
  

Lost and Found Video - The Three O'Clock

This week's Lost and Found Video is from The Three O'Clock (originally named The Salvation Army), a self-described Paisley Underground band from Los Angeles band that released five LPs between 1982 and 1988.

According to the band's Wikipedia and All Music Guide Entries, vocalist/bassist Michael Quercio continued to play in L.A. pop bands after the demise of The Three O'Clock, briefly joining Game Theory in 1990 before founding Permanent Green Light, which later became The Jupiter Affect. Original guitarist Louis (formerly Gregg) Gutierrez played with Louis and Clark and then became a principal member of Mary's Danish. Subsequent guitarist Jason Falkner joined Jellyfish, then The Grays, before launching a solo career in the mid-1990s.

From the band's 1985 album Arrive Without Traveling, this is Her Head's Revolving.

Links:
The Three O'Clock on MySpace - Described as a fan site.
The Jupiter Affect Website
Michael Quercio on MySpace
Mary's Danish Fan site
Jason Falkner's Official Website
Jason Falkner on MySpace