Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
When the album “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart last fall, the Smashing Pumpkins seemed destined for a stunning future. Their previous works “Gish” and “Siamese Dream” had made them superstars, but no one in the band imagined that “Mellon Collie,” which has sold more than 7 million copies in the United States, would become the most successful double CD ever.
Reverend Horton Heat is one of the best bands you’ll hardly ever hear on the radio or see on MTV. And that’s just fine with the Texas trio, which falls somewhere between the retro rockabilly sound and the frenetic psychobilly craze.
Despite the paradoxical name of the Gin Blossoms’ current album, “Congratulations, I’m Sorry,” the five-man band from Tempe, Ariz., has no reason to apologize. “Congratulations” is as good as the Blossoms’ 1992 breakthrough CD, “New Miserable Experience” – something many critics predicted wouldn’t be possible after the suicide of original member Doug Hopkins, who wrote many of the group’s hits.
I pity the fool who doesn’t like the Mr. T Experience. Playing a potent blend of poppy punk tunes, the 10-year-old San Francisco trio sings songs that are sweetly melodic and, at times, hysterically true-to-life (“I’m like, `Yeah’/But she’s all, `No’/And I’m all, `Come on baby, let’s go’/And she’s like, `I don’t think so’).
As a warm-up before resuming their world tour in Las Vegas, the Smashing Pumpkins played a “surprise” concert Friday afternoon at Metro. It was the band’s first show since the firing of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin in connection with the July 12 heroin overdose of keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin.
At the Aragon soundcheck, it was Liam who was intent on hassling Noel. The moody singer jumped off the stage and meandered around the venue playing with a worn soccer ball. Looking at Noel, who was still rehearsing, Gallagher took aim and expertly kicked the ball to or, depending on who you asked, at his brother. Noel stopped the ball with his right foot, but wouldn’t surrender it to Liam until the song was over.
Matthew Caws can’t wait until he gets to Chicago for his band’s Friday night concert at Metro. Sure, the Nada Surf singer is anxious to show fans that his trio has more substance than its kitschy single “Popular” would indicate. But just as important, he wants to collect his birthday present.
Scholars and artists may argue about punk’s origin, but few will disagree that until the Sex Pistols exploded onto the music scene in 1976, not many people paid attention. “The Sex Pistols were created by Malcolm McLaren, who was in the fashion business, so a look was pushed on them more so than on the American punks,” said James Stark, author of “Punk ’77” (Stark Grafix). “That definitely made them more marketable.
God save the queen – the Sex Pistols are back. And if they’re not as lean and mean as they were 20 years ago, they don’t care. The British press gleefully speared the quartet whose name has become synonymous with punk rock, accusing the 40ish musicians of being too old and fat to be punk.
When a cocky guy like Noel Gallagher rates your band as being better than his, there might be a tendency to get a swelled head, especially since the Oasis guitarist isn’t particularly generous in his assessment of other groups. But while John Power is quick to tout the merits of his band, Cast, he’s just as swift to set the record straight with a modicum of modesty.
Back in the early 1980s, when he was doing the Stray Cat Strut, neither Brian Setzer nor his fans would have envisioned the tattooed, pompadoured singer playing in an orchestra. These days, the former rockabilly hep cat not only performs in one, he fronts one.
J.R. Richards quit college to be in a band. His parents weren’t disappointed. “I was a music major, and there’s not much you can do with that other than teach or conduct,” Richards said, calling from his record company’s Hollywood digs. “I couldn’t envision myself doing either.”
Jason Gedrick’s career is red hot. The actor who claims that girls weren’t interested in him in high school now has a file devoted to him on America Online, where cyber fans lovingly dissect the merits of his acting, hobbies and, uh, other attributes.
The Smashing Pumpkins have an open invitation from the producers of “The Simpsons.” Should the Chicago-based supergroup ever decide to stop the music, they are welcome to join the cartoon’s cast.
“People are so preoccupied with the way they look, and looks are just a small aspect of any person,” Ben Chaplin, 26, said, having high tea at the Ritz-Carlton. “In my eyes, women who are smart and funny and confident have always been the most attractive ones. They just have this air about them that makes you want to be with them. I think there are plenty of women who are beautiful on the outside and lost on the inside, and their beauty ultimately isn’t nearly as interesting.”
The Jesus Lizard is about the last band anyone expected to sign to a major label. But seven years after its inception, the exhilarating hard-core alternative band has jumped to Capitol – home of the Beatles.
Writer-director David O. Russell looks a lot like Ben Stiller, who stars in Russell’s latest picture, “Flirting With Disaster.” The physical similarity hasn’t been lost on the director of the critically acclaimed “Spanking the Monkey.” “I wouldn’t say that that’s why Ben got the part,” Russell said earlier this month during a lunch interview at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel downtown. “But yes, it’s come to my attention that there is a likeness between the two of us.”
“Leaving Las Vegas” co-stars Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue each won top acting honors at the Chicago Film Critics Awards Monday night at the Park West. But best picture recognition went to Ron Howard’s “Apollo 13.” Shue made no attempts to hide her pleasure at winning and said that growing up with three brothers (including Andrew Shue of “Melrose Place”) made trophy collecting a competition in her household.
It wasn’t until recently that the five young actor/filmmakers who made the clever and hilarious “Bottle Rocket” learned that their producer, James L. Brooks, hated their first presentation to him. “I asked Jim, `So, what did you think of that reading we gave?’ ” said co-writer and co-star Owen Wilson, 27, one of three brothers involved in the project. “He said, `It was the worst one I ever heard in my whole life.’ ”
Jackie Chan’s stunt man has the easiest job in film. All of Chan’s action films are full of dangerous free falls, explosions and rapid-fire kung fu fighting, but the stunt man doesn’t have to participate in any of them. Chan insists on doing all the stunts himself and uses his stunt man more as a double. “I believe all the people who come to my movies buy tickets not to see the double,” said Chan. “They want to see me do everything, which is why I do all my own stunts. My double does things like run from a car into a store.”