ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS

ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS

You want a Hollywood just like there used to be? Well, wish no longer, aspirant glitterites of the Plains states. Just get on your thumb and head out for tinseltown, go straight to the john at the Whiskey and you’re sure to be discovered. If you persist long enough, in fact, you may even become as glamourous as the pacesetters captured in the midst of a typically wild spree in the picture above. Among the gifted and beautiful here congregated we see David Johansen (W. arm around David Cassidy’s brother!) and Arthur Kane of the Dolls, Iggy Pop w. Tijuana Small and next to him the legendary Kim Fowley giving the Slade salute, also known as “Take it up the drainpipe.” Our correspondent/ .J photog calls this “low camp.” We think they’re all fabulous. '||S

Rumors that Leon Russell will be concentrating heavily on gospel in upcoming months were bolstered by the announcement that his | Shelter Records had signed the O’Neal Twins, long-time gospel heavies,

A group called Ruby, featuring original Procol Harum bassist David Knights and ex-Grapefruit drummer Goeff Swettenham, have been signed by Chrysalis, and will begin recording shortly.

You can expect Eric Clapton to do a brief stateside tour sometime after the first of the year. Insiders 'vclaim that he’s already got his band assembled, but Eric — as usual — isn’t talking.

So rock & roll jeally does decay our youth: there’s a new band in England composed of sixthgraders, and the call themselves The Fags,

Terry Knight recently told a reporter from Playboy that his income increases by $1 million every ninety days.

When “Midnight Special” heads to London in the near future, one guest they’re pulling out all the. stops to get is David Bowie.

Though tiie Firesign Theater will reunite for one more album, don’t bet on the reunion being extended too far beyond that.

Patrons of San Francisco’s pniversal Cafe were treated to an unexpected and impromptu reading of “Amazing Grace” by a.. choir Qf diners not long ago. The choir turned out to be Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Judy Collins anB Mimi Farina.

The line-up for the new Lou Reed band is as follows: Steve Hunter /. and Dick Wagner (guitars), Peter Walsh (bass), Ray Colcord (keyboards) and Whitey Gian (drums). Hunter was the lead guitarist for Mitch Ryder’s Detroit, while Wagner did the same in the Frost and Ursa Major; both have been used extensively by producer Bob Ezrin on Alice Cooper sessions. Gian formerly played with Mandella, Walsh with Seatrain. Colcord was, of all things, a staff producer at Columbia.

Rick Nelson* who’ll have his Vf own TV special syndicated by If Metromedia, is set to guest on the “Streets Of San Francisco” series. And John Denver will do the same on “Owen Marshall.” They both, by the way, play murderers.

Yes friends, Pickwick/33 has actually dared release Watkins Glen, an album “recreating the sound of the musical be-in that attracted 600,000 young people to Watkins Glen.” For the record all the “heavy hits” of the Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead and the Band were interpreted and performed by the King’s Road.

Jimmy McCulloch, guitarist for the late Thunderclap Newman (whose album has been doing very well on reissue),/has left Blue to , | form a band with ex-Cactus '* ? vocalist Pete French.

Help Yourself, a fine British band, that many expected would one day break in the States, have disbanded.

When Bitiy Preston tapes his next “In Concert” appearance, look for a special guest in the person of Mick Jagger. And maybe even George Harrison.

Here’s hoping that Grin’s recent singing with A&M (two previous 1 albums were released on Spindizzy through CBS) will help generate the Attention that Nils Lofgren has deserved these last three years. ^

The first album by Mick Ronson & the Spiders From Mars is due any day now. It’s titled Slaughter on 10th Avenue, and besides the title track includes a version of Lou Reed’s “White Light/White Heat.” The band consists of guitarist/ vocalist Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder, pianist Mike Garson and drummer Aynsley Dunbar. T* •

Sparks, relocated in London, are I showing some signs of life after a several-month period of inactiv| ity. They have a new manager in John Hewlett (who previously managed John’s Children, a mid-sixties almost-great that spawned Marc Bolan), and are believed to be close to a new record contract with Island. Producers whose names are being tossed around: Roy Wood, Muff Winwood, Glyn Johns and Roxy Music bassist John Porter.

The four original members of Free have assembled a double album “Best OF’ package, to be released in an English-only limited and numbered edition of 50,000. included will be unreleased material from Andy Fraser’s band Toby and Paul Rodger’s group Peace, as well as a special booklet. Plans for such a package in America are reportedly being considered.

Rick Kenton, former bassist with Roxy Music, has embarked on a solo venture, with the aid of ex-King Crimson man Ian MacDonald and assorted Roxies.

The new Deep Purple vocalist is David Coverdale, a former salesman whose only previous experience was with a semiprofessional English bar band called the Fabuloso Brothers. The reconstituted Deep Purple line-up (Coverdale, bassist Glenn Hughes, Jon Lord, Richie Blackmore and lan Paice) will tour the States in January. s

Phil Spector will supervise recording of the film tracks to the follow-up of tire English musical That'll Be The Day, tentatively titled Stardust, David Essex, who recently topped the British charts** with “Rock On,” will once again star, with Ringo Starr also back.

Word i£"Out that Stories who struggled through two albums before hitting the top with “Brother Louie,” might call it quits. More likely you’ll see one — possibly two — of the present band replaced.

Anne Murray is now being managed by Alice Cooper’s Shep Gordon. The possibilities are too gruesome to verbalize...

As you read this, Allman Brothers’ guitarist Richard Betts should be in London, hard at work on his first solo album. Speculation has Allmans’ pianist Chuck Leavell helping out, one of the tracks being a reworking of “Revival,” a Betts tune from the second ABB album.

On another African front, Paul McCartney has apparently run into some difficulty with the local talent he’s Using on sessions in' Lagos, Nigeria. He’s reportedly been accused of “exploiting” ' African music, and was told by Fela Runsome-Kuli (4 former Ginger Baker sidonun) that it walk his “patriotic duty” to stop foreigners from stealing African culture. The trouble seems to have started when Ransome-Kuti attempted to add congas to a track that McCartney didn’t think needed them. sSmm

In recent Stooges developments: newest member of the band is keyboard man Scott Thurston, who they rescued from die L.A. session grind. While in St. Louis, the band dined with Mitch Miller, and after the encounter he confided to Chill Wills’ daugher that “those boys have three years to live.” Bassist Ron Asheton has been spending a lot of time at the MGM Rest Home in L.A. of late, whiling away the hours with original Stooge Larry Fine. And, when last seen, drummer Rock Action was taking'on the entire Ann Arbor, Michigan, police force. And winning.

Ready for yet another comeback is Fats Domino, recently inked to Atlantic. His last comeback move was four years ago, with the Richard Perry-produced rendition of “Lady Madonna.”

Looks like Columbia may have Flo & Eddie, who decided not to renew ties with Warner Bros. But whoever gets the dangerous duo will be getting quality ; they’re media criminals of the first order. Also, belated congrats to Howard Kaylan and Diana Balocca, who _tied the knot in L.A. a couple months back. s

Ex-Beach Boy and current California member Bruce Johnston is working on a solo album, with no label deal as yet announced. Meanwhile, where’s that California album we’ve been promised for so long?

And now David Bowie’s back on stage. . sort of. He’s starring in a slaw version of l*)84 that's running six nights a week at an \ unlimited engagement at a London theatre. Look fox a-road production if this run proves to be successful. And we ‘1 stick by our prediction that Boe will be back on the rock & roll stage within a year.

Spotted recently at the L.A. Ampitheatre: two of the Andrews Sisters, singing along (from their seats) with Bette Midler on “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.” Off-key, according to our sources.

When last sighted, Beach Boy Dennis Wilson seemed headed in the direction of St. Ives and Newport, in the company of a surfboard. (He and Jackson Browne have reportedly spent much time surfing together along the Southern California coast in recent months.)

Terry Kath, guitarist for the recently-glittered Chicago, lit into his host country while on tour in England last month. “All English musicians are jerk-offs,” he was quoted as saying. “English musicians are white; they ain’t got no soul.” Sing the blues, Terry.

Nico, seen briefly in England last month, has confirmed (or ' complicated) rumors that the original Velvet Underground might reform for “a short while,”

Following a spate of letter bomb crimes in London, Hawkwind asked their record company to withdraw their single “Urban Guerilla” from the market, saying “We have withdrawn the single because we did not want to feel that any extra sales might be gained by the record being associated with recent events.”

Negotiatiohs for Rick Derringer to produce Jeff Beck’s next album fell through when tT mutually satisfactory time could not be worked out, but the kid’s got more than enough to keep himself occupied with: production on the next Johnny Winter album, a tour as part of Edgar Winter’s band, and'bags of mail congratulating him on his superlative first solo album', All A merican Boy. •-

Following a recent Sly & The Family Stone gig, Mick Jagger was refused a backstage audience with Sly. told that Sly “did not wish to see him.” Something to do with' the fact that Mick had been “too busy” to see Sly when the two "were in L.A. some time before that.

Off on a vacation to Africa, Stevie Wonder has hinted that he may be bringing back some musicians for use on his next album. Then again, that album might just be comprised of leftover tracks from Music Of My Mind, Talking Book and Innervisions.

Mick Jagger, June 20, 1964:^-1give the Stones about another two years. I’m saving for the future. I bank all my song royalties fdr a start.”