Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
If there’s any justice at all, Beck, Smashing Pumpkins and Tracy Chapman will lug a few Grammy Awards home on Wednesday. And Alanis Morissette, whose “Jagged Little Pill” was released in June, 1995, will be shut out of this year’s ceremonies.
There’s safety in numbers. That’s the only explanation I can come up with as to why a stadium full of 95 percent men would work itself up into a collective dither, trying to get the few women in the venue to expose their breasts. Hey – ever hear of Playboy? If any one of these lumbering morons was at a beach, or even a bar, there’s no way he would walk up to a girl and scream, “Show your – – – -!” at her.
There is a moment in tonight’s episode of “Party of Five” when Bailey Salinger (Scott Wolf) stares vacantly at his brother and sisters as they confront him about a drinking problem he doesn’t believe he has. Sallow and dazed, he looks like a hollow shell of the ruddy teen who took it upon himself to keep the orphaned family together three seasons ago.
Veruca Salt rocks. So how come some folks still are describing the Chicago-based rock group as wispy? “I’m not sure,” said guitarist-vocalist-songwriter Nina Gordon. “I don’t think we even look particularly wispy.”
Back in the mid-1980s, 17-year-old Charlie Sexton was in a unique situation. The guitar sensation headlined at clubs across the country but was legally too young to order a beer at any of them. He was encouraged to trade his rootsy blues style for synth-driven rock and had a minor hit with “Beat’s So Lonely.”
Talk about bad timing. Just as the recording industry is giving electronic music the big public relations push, Moby – techno’s premier poster boy – has shifted gears and turned to heavy metal.