SMALL STUFF

Rip It Up, Issue 16, 1 October 1978, Page 2

SMALL STUFF

Back home in his native Minnesota after his European tour, Bob Dylan showed at Minneapolis’ Cabooze bar to catch sets by Chicago bluesman Luther Allison. The gum-chewing Dylan went unnoticed for nearly an hour, but was eventually spotted and the cry went up for Dylan to perform. The management thought it best that Dylan didn’t play, but paid him off in T-shirts. Dylan offered to help Allison out in finding a record label and Allison said of Dylan: “He was very nice, friendly, straight man-to-man, no ego trippin’, you know?” . . . Marianne Faithfull is going on tour in Europe after 10 years away from singing . . . Bootsy Collins has been hospitalised and ordered to remain in complete seclusion because of what doctors call a nervous reaction, forcing the cancellation of several of Bootsy’s Rubber Band appearances ... A first for Rolling Stone. In the September 21 issue, Editor Jann Wenner contributes reviews of the latest releases by Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones, which were recently panned by RS critics Dave Marsh, Greil Marcus and Paul Nelson. Wenner leaps into print to say his reviewers blew it in their assessment of the two albums . . . Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham had a health scare on the group’s recent American tour. He collapsed after his morning shower in Philadelphia. A spinal tap, followed by a plane ride to Washington DC left Buckingham in so much pain the band cancelled shows in Pittsburgh and Cleveland. He's now recovered . . . Aerosmith’s Steve Tyler escaped injury when he racked up his Porsche 911 on a back road in Massachusetts . . . Boz Scaggs is a daddy again. He and wife Carmela have a new son, Austin William Scaggs, a brother to 15 month old Oscar. . . George Harrison has married 28 year old Olivia Arras, mother of his new son Dhani, Harrison’s first child. The couple met five years ago when Mrs H was working for Dark Horse Records . . . Ray Charles is to be the subject of a two hour CBS television drama based on his autobiography, Brother Ray . . . Blondie’s Deborah Harry has turned down several film offers, including one from Performance director Nicholas Roeg to star in Dino DeLaurentiis’ Flash Gordon . . . Allen Toussaint will produce the next Albert King album at his New Orleans' Sea-Saint studios . . . The Babys have split with Mike Corby breaking away due to a “difference of musical opinion” . . . Rory Gallagher is being wooed again by the Stones. The Stones, working on a studio album in Los Angeles, are seeking Gallagher’s raw sound for some tracks . . . Suggestions of an Allman Brothers Band re-union gain ground with the old band playing at the Capricorn Records Picnic in Macon, Georgia. Reports of disharmony have been labelled as untrue. It was reported that several members of the band walked off-

stage when Gregg Allman came on. Not so, apparently. The confusion seems to have arisen from Allman himself walking off-stage at one point in the set. But only because the organ he was playing was not functioning properly ... Jethro Tull’s new live album release has been delayed because of the cover artwork . . . Rick Danko is producing his second solo album, his first self-production job ... Plans are afoot for former Byrds Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark and Chris Hillman to record a joint album, following their recent tour together . . . The Clash have been in San Francisco working on their second album. The group’s first album sold a reported 100,000 copies in England and 20,000 in the U.S. where it’s available only on import . . . Shades of Blind Faith: Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood are reportedly recording together. . . British sei-sion guitarist Chris Spedding, said to have turned down an offer to join the Rolling Stones, will replace Link Wray in Robert Gordon’s band . Jonathan Richman has left the Modern Lovers to launch a solo career . . . The world famous Marquee Club in London is in strife with the English Musician’s Union. The Union is threatening to black the Marquee unless support groups playing there are paid more. The Marquee which celebrates its 21st birthday next April has played host to just about every notable figure in British rock . . . Paul Rodgers is producing an unknown English singer Terry Morrison. ELP’s Greg Lake is in the studio with the MOR act The King Singers . . . David Bowie says he’ll never produce Lou Reed again. David says Lou is borrowing too much from the Bowie identity . . . Pete Townshend is to finance a London bookshop. Known as Magic Bus, it will specialise in music and mysticism. The shop was due to open on October 2, but the untimely demise of Keith Moon may upset plans . . . Willy De Ville has

signed to do the soundtrack for the forthcoming movie Hard Core, starring George C. Scott . . . The Stones recently-completed 25 date U.S. tour is estimated to have grossed 9 million dollars. No-one’s saying how much the Stones are likely to see . . . Ozzy Osbourne, Tony lommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, collectively known as Black Sabbath, are celebrating their tenth anniversary with an upcoming Madison Square Garden concert . . . The English version of the Essential Jimi Hendrix collection contains Jimi’s version of “Gloria" as a bonus single . . . Devadip Carlos Santana will perform for free with his guru, Sri Chinmoy, at the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock. The faithful are promised the debut of a new band, Sri Chinmoy Rainbow, with Santana on lead guitar . . . The Bee Gees are expected to gross 10 to 15 million dollars from Saturday Night Fever. Stayin’ alive . . . . . . this month (October) your favourite record store will have the elusive Pink Parker, a 12” EP pressed on pink vinyl. A thousand copies are being imported from Australia. The EP features “Hold Back the Night”, the Trammps song that was a highspot of Graham Parker’s Auckland concert . . . Bryan Ferry’s new album The Bride Stripped Bare features re-makes of some classic soul tracks, Sam and Dave’s “Hold On (I’m Coming)” and Otis Redding’s “That’s How Strong My Love Is”, as well as J.J. Cale's "Same Old Blues” . . . Sid Vicious played the famed Max’s Kansas City with a pick-up band dubbed the Casualties. Included were the Clash’s Mick Jones on guitar, one Arthur “Killer” Kane on bass and Jerry Nolan on drums. Observers noted that the band generated “a tremendous amount of audience response, but

weren’t that good.” Apart from some Iggy songs and “My Way" Sid included The Monkees’ “I’m Not Your Stepping Stone." . . . Don McLean in a letter to Melody Maker: “It’s very satisfying to me to know that my audience can respond to the fact that I charge a reasonable ticket price and give them one and a half hours of non-stop music in spite of the fact that cynical papers like yours continue to sell the disco junk and glitter trash that make the commercial music scene the perverted cesspool it has become, awash with no-talent clowns who’ll do anything to sell records, except make decent music.”

an American Neil Young and Dolly Parton tour is now a Neil Young tour. Neil apparently decided he didn’t want an opening act and would rather play a longer, half acoustic and half electric show with Crazy Horse . . . this month on the US charts, there are 34 entries containing the word “night” (counting “tonight” and “midnight”). Chartophiles say nothing like this has happened since 1967 when every other song had the word “summer” or “sunny” in the

title. . . Elvis Costello is working in London on a third album. He reportedly has recorded about 20 songs from which he’ll pick 10 or 12 for the LP . . . John Travolta snubbed Britain’s Royal Prince of Photogs, Lord Snowdon. Travolta refused to sit for a pix session with Tones, saying he didn’t “know the guy's work” . . . bootleggers are getting more industrious all the time. At Britain’s Knebworth festival no fewer than three professional bootleg crews (French, Dutch and German) were on hand with the most up-to-date portable equipment to capture the set by Frank Zappa. One outfit brought along their own photographer to shoot the cover pics ... a fan of the J. Geils Band is filing a law suit against the band, claiming his ears have never been the same since he attended one of their gigs three .years ago. He’s asking SIOO,OOO compensation ... ah, nostalgia. The Move are contemplating getting back together for the bucks in the memory bank. To his credit, Dave Clark allegedly turned down a huge fee to reform the original Dave Clark Five for a one-off US tour/album/movie/T-shirt . . . rock vets The Pretty Things have reformed yet again with a line-up of Phil May (vocals), Dick Taylor (guitar), John Povey (keyboards), Wally Allen (bass) and Skip Alan (drums) all previous members at some stage of the Pretties’ turbulent past.