August 1978
CREEM
This is to inform you that since John Winston Ono Lennon has not produced a record, played in concert, appeared on television, or for that matter, been seen in four (4) years, we have now, for all rights and purposes, declared him legally dead.
CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
Robert Christgau
THE CARLA BLEY BAND: "European Tour 1977" (Watt):: Although the basic concept—Kurt Weill Meets Ornette Coleman for Indiscreet Ellingtonian Frolic—is a little abstruse for my taste, this actually does reward the sort of close listening that earns so many theatrical payoffs.
ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS
THE BEAT GOES ON
Patrick Goldstein
LOS ANGELES—Ian Dury was lounging in the back of Rodney Bingenheimer's old Cadillac, juggling a shopping bag full of trinkets from Frederick's of Hollywood, while reminiscing about a youth misspent behind the walls of a British cuckoo's nest.
TOM PETTY: ANIMUS AMERICUS UNPOUTICUS
Stephen Demorest
Shelter Records may have the coolest offices in America, a ramshackle wooden house nestled under a grove of tall trees set well back from Hollywood Boulevard. There's a genuinely rural flavor about it, a substantial earthiness which contrasts the surrounding city of electric lights and sky, Los Angeles, the mirage in the desert.
Creem Profiles
STARZ
(Pronounced “Boy Howdy!”)
Rewire Yourself
Watts New In Car Stereo
Bill Kanner
The boxes arrived separately.
BOB SEGER VS. THE PLATINUM PARANOIA
Patrick Goldstein
The night was clear and the moon was yellow and the leaves came tumbling down.—"Stagolee" It's practically impossible to write about Bob Seger and not begin with his unflinching vision of the American night—a time when the ground is cool, the maiden moon is full and weary rock 'n rollers "want to dream like a young man with the wisdom of an old man."
Ten Ways To Greet The Summer
Simon Frith
1. We didn't have spring this year, just a long wet winter. But we did for the first time have a May Day bank holiday like the rest of Europe's workers. And we did have a May Day weekend, 80,000 people marching through London to make public their contempt for racism and fascism.
Eleganza
My Life In Promo or The Postman Always Rings Twice (If His Hands Aren't Too Full)
Rick Johnson
It was the dead rat that did it.
BOOTSY: Ththumping To P-Funk’s Bumping
Ed Ward
United Sound is one of Detroit's most famous studios.
DAVID JOHANSEN: Lonely Planet Boy comes Home
Billy Altman
It's somewhere between the hours of three and four a.m. on a rainy Monday night in early May and the atmosphere in the back room at the Bells of Hell is getting so deliriously high-spirited that a raid by the po-lice any minute now would not surprise me one bit.
CREEMEDIA
Rick Johnson
If you're as mixed up about all this new wave donkey thought as poor Ward and June seem to be, then these handy new volumes are just the starter set you've been looking for. Packed with memorable shots of Johnny Rotten trying to see his face without looking in a mirror, and Siouxsie Banshee squatting on upturned funnels, as well as informative punk grooming and etiquette hints, Punk and 1988 will tell you all you need to know about this new hook in the world fish population.
Confessions of a FILM FOX
Hiya, hiya, hiya gang, and welcome to another segment of Everything You Wanted To Know About Hollywood (But Were Too Cool To Check Out): As today's episode opens, we see Burt Reynolds hustling ex-girlfriend Dinah Shore into a chic New York jewelry store.
DRIVE-IN SATURDAY
Edouard Dauphin
Imagine you've got a large zit on your back—right between your shoulder blades. Imagine it grows to the size of a golf ball. Jack Nicklaus is prepared to endorse it. Then, to make matters worse, your boyfriend is Tony Curtis and he reads tarot cards for a living.
Features
PAUL McCARTNEY: Is this man guilty of power pop?
Roy Carr
Imagine that Paul McCartney didn't bury himself in hermit-like seclusion in Liverpool after the assassination attempt by Jack Ruby that followed the break-up of the Beatles.
SKIN TIGHT BOY HOWDY’S GUIDE TO DRUMS
Dave Patrick
The Earth, Wind and Fire stage show is the slickest production you'll ever see, and that's saying a lot considering you've got nine guys in the band and so much equipment that the stage has an extension where the first 15 rows of seats go. There are pyramids, giant gongs with Tutlike attendants, suspended animation tubes, two complete drum sets, two percussion rigs out front, a keyboard arsenal, and all of the usual guitar and bass equipment, too.
Records
TODD RUNDGREN OPENS HIS EYES
Wesley Strick
Can ya hear that dulcet mother?
A Little Science, A Little Magic...
Mitch Cohen
Daniel and Gloria met at a rock flea market when their hands reached for the one over-priced copy of Hackamore Brick's One Kiss Leads To Another. They fell in love. But lately the relationship has not been going all that well. Rock 'n' roll is tearing them apart as their tastes diverge, and it's gotten to the point where the only new album they listen to together is Rocket To Russia.
BATTLE OF THE GNATS!
THE MAD PECK
ROCK • A • RAMA
Michael Davis
ELLEN McILWAINE—(United Artists)::This oughtta send all the solo simper sisters scurrying for safety. True, the production veers too close to the recent Raitt route for comfort but if that means Ellen's sassy slide leads are too infrequent, her voice still ain't takin' no lip from woman, man, or mixing board.
Backstage
BACKSTAGE
Where the Stars Tank Up & Let Their Images Down