Rockin with Alaina


January 17
The Fold (Silverlake Lounge) features The Lies w/ The Fuse, Dame Darcy and Kill Me Tomorrow; Wrecked, Simple Sin and Noctem at the Whiskey; Gary Sunshine (former member of The Silos, Circus of Power, N.Y. Loose) opens for Niles Thomas at The Mint; For only a mere $7 you can see The Cherry Valence, Drunk Horse and Gunfighter at Spaceland.

January 18
The Greyhounds at Knitting Factory's Alterknit Lounge; My Barbarian, Competitor and The Special Goodness at Spaceland; Judas Priest and Anthrax, who was once simply a heavy metal band to head bangers is now an ominous household name, will undoubtedly rock the Universal Amphitheater.

January 19
A must see spastic arrangement of music and deranged entertainment called Captured! By Robots at Spaceland; Deadwait, Defile, and Diminished at The Whiskey; Trey Gunn Band (bassist for King Crimson) at the AlterKnit Lounge.

January 20
Litmus Green, Meet the Vivus at the Whiskey.

January 21
Allergic, Stolen Babies, Lunatics on Parole, Gustavo and Color Blind Society at The Troubadour.

January 23
Speak No Evil and Halo Grey at the Roxy; Dirtnap featuring members from The Flys, Slowtime Mondays at The Troubadour; Sum 41 with special guests Unwritten Law and Gob at the Hollywood Palladium.

January 24
80's punk band Bad Religion, famous for their sing-along-as fast-as-you-can songs and unrelenting, iconoclastic lyrics are headlining at the Whiskey with the Distillers; Hed at The Keyclub.

January 25
The estrogen propelled, definitive punk rock sounds of all girl trio Bratmobile who preserve a much audible resemblance to Bikini Kill will be at The Troubadour with Neon King Kong and Gravey Train; Bad Religion and the audacious, punk rock Death By Stereo at The Roxy; Ratt mildly glam in their appearance but heavy metal in their hearts at The Galaxy; Featuring The Lily's w/ Minus the Bear at Spaceland; Concrete Blonde at the El Rey Theater.

January 26
Alterknit Lounge (Knitting Factory): Mates of State, Track Star, New Bethel and Black Cat Music stewing the unforgettable sounds of Iggy Pop and Nick Cave; The Negro Problem, Candypants, The Halycon Band and The Twigs at Spaceland; Chuck Berry and Little Richard performing as at the inception of his fame for his unmistakable squeals and animated smile while his fingers dance vehemently on the piano keys will be at the Universal Amphitheater.

January 27
Josh Dianado, James Combs and Halycon at the Alter-Knit Lounge (Knitting Factory); L.A. Philharmonic presents Schoenberg/Gershwin Cabaret with Michael Feinstein and Friends.

January 29
Fu Manchu ignites the stage at the Troubadour playing thunderous, heavy rock overtly inspired by the delightfully devilish sounds of legendary Black Sabbath.

January 30
Slaves on Dope w/ Hemlock at the Whiskey.
January 31
Blue Bird, Dead Meadow opening for Indie Rock band Brian Jonestown Massacre who will melt your consciousness with droning, sweet melancholic tunes immersed in a 1960's arrangement with the jangle of a tambourine and charming organ swells at the Glass House (Pomona).

Carl Verheyen
Solo Guitar Improvisations
The long awaited new album release features 16 brilliantly mastered tracks called Solo Guitar Improvisations where Carl Vereheyen's unmistakable talent and soulful relationship with his guitar are highly emotive. The album is carefully comprised with an assortment of reverential sounds blending blues, folk, and jazz with classical undertones. You'll either feel like hangin' out on a porch with a bunch of guys drinking beer or you'll most likely hear it in the background of some moderately fancy restaurant.

Mest
Destination Unknown
Destination Unknown, Mest's second album, includes the single "Cadillac" where they highlight much of the song with D.J. Scratching. The album has the melodic, repetitive tunes of punk rock. It's modern day punk rock with a flippant approach. Although somewhat fun, loud, fast and melodic, their familiar sound lies parallel with those heard from the trite existence of Blink 182, New Found Glory and 311.




music notes
by Lily Raven

Lorenza Ponce, a violin virtuoso, has spent most of her professional career performing and recording alongside countless numbers of music's biggest names including Stevie Nicks, Deborah Harry, Jon Anderson (Yes), John Tesh, Kitaro, Sheryl Crow, Ben Folds Five, Sarah McLachlin and Bon Jovi on the Tribute To Heroes TV special. She has dazzled audiences as well as musicians alike for years and has finally stepped out of the shadows to begin performing on her own and has released a new sensational CD entitled Mystic Fiddler. Her music is a unique blend of pop and new age.

The soundtrack for the acclaimed French movie Am
'8elie (Virgin) features 18 exquisite songs composed by Yann Tiersen, a multi-instrumentalist and performer known as "a magician of the notes."
Judas Priest will rock down the Universal Amphitheatre Friday, January 18. They are on tour in support of their current record Demolition. And 2002 marks the 20th anniversary of the release of their breakthrough album Screaming for Vengeance.
Songs Without Words 11 features eleven beautifully composed original piano pieces by superstar Jim Brickman and David Benoit, pop songwriting legend Janis Ian, cabaret great Michael Feinstein, pianist/vocalist/violinist and former Montreux member Barbara Higbie, songwriter/activist Margie Adam, jazz phenom Taylor Eigsti, Brian Culbertson, Paul Sullivan, composer Michael Gore, jazz great Alan Pasqua and Jordanian musician Zade.

Ivan Neville will perform on The Late Show with David Letterman Tuesday, January 29. He is currently on tour across the country in support of his new record Saturday Morning Music with Bruce Willis' band the Accelerators teaming up with him on the tour.
edify, MCA recording artists, released their self-titled debut album recently. The band's lead track "Prevail" was just released to rock radio nationally, and an amazing music video was made for the song. Log on to edifymusic.com to sample the tracks from the album, get up-to-date concert information, meet the band members on a more personal level, see the "Prevail" music video and the band's EPK.





The Handsome Family
interview by Novy Ann

What is...er...who are The Handsome Family? Brett Sparks (aka the bi-polar Texan) and collaborator/wife, Rennie Sparks comprise the mainly 2 member team known as The Handsome Family. Brett composes the music while Rennie pens the lyrics. These darkly gothic narratives define the essence that is The Handsome Family. Rennie Sparks, a former performance artist, is native to Long Island, where she insists every room she entered into contained at least one spider on the wall.
Largely a duo when playing live, Rennie, a somewhat askew but spellbinding storyteller, strokes her Autoharp, plucks out some bass, and puffs away on the melodica. Brett, meanwhile, juggles the tasks of twanging his guitar while manning the remote control for the Minidisc which provides backing tracks. Recently released, yet another phenomenal CD, Twilight, 13 tracks of darkly descriptive tales. Twilight is their 6th CD release to date. Earlier releases include: In the Air, Down in the Valley, (an anthology of past CDs), Through the Trees, Milk and Scissors, and Odessa. Last year The Handsome family were honored by Mojo Magazine, who named In The Air the #1 Americana CD for the year 2000.
Much praise was also dished out by The LA Weekly, The Austin Statesman and Spin's annual "Best Ten Records You Didn't Hear This Year." They were also featured on NPR's "All Things Considered" and "This American Life" and Greil Marcus's "Real Life Top Ten." The Handsome Family's musical persona is generally filed under alternative-country or alt-goth-country. The country touch is soft and gentle, not heavy-handed plaintive wailing and twangy head banging. In fact, the first track on Twilight, "The Snow White Diner," offers a new sound from this pair, a subtle techno-rhythm ticking along in the background. Although the only track on this CD to exhibit this unexpected inflection, it thoroughly gave me the chills, and thrilled me. The expertly crafted compositions and solemn beauty exuding from this couple will certainly raise the hairs on the back of your neck.
N Congratulations on the release of Twilight, another excellent piece of work from The Handsome Family.
H We're happy to have written a few more songs. You never know what song will be your last.
N Much of the visual characteristics of your work, and, indeed, your lyrical content centers on many aspects of nature. What are the origins of this focus?
H Well, I'm just following the ant trails and the patterns of falling leaves trying to figure out where we are and what we're supposed to be doing here. Life is mysterious and seemingly random, but sometimes the
way a flock of birds falls toward the branches of a dead tree makes it seem like there is an order to things.
N What would be your favorite living animal and your favorite dead animal?
H Right now my favorite animal is the raccoon, living and dead. I saw one licking the highway recently and it refused to stop licking even as my car approached within a few inches. I wanted to pull him into the car and dress him up as a sailor.
N How have you adjusted to the change in your home base from Chicago to Albuquerque? Obviously any major changes in one's life will have a great deal of influence in many areas. Do you feel it will influence your music in a new and different way?
H I hope so. I'm hoping to write about fire and dirt instead of snow and snow and more snow.
N Of all The Handsome Family's releases, is there one in particular you favor most?
H I rarely listen to any of them after they're finished. Too scary to listen and hear all the mistakes. I guess Through the Trees as it was a really big leap for us, musically, conceptually.
N Your popularity overseas is much more pronounced than here in the US. What do you feel would account for this discrepancy?
H People in Europe never ask me whether a song of ours is funny or sad. They have the ability to laugh and cry at the same time. A lot of Americans insist we ought to choose one or the other.
N Could you share with me some of your strongest influences, musical or otherwise?
H Leonard Cohen, Kafka, Vic Chestnutt, Faulkner, Giant Sand, Virginia Woolf...
N What are some of your usual reading subjects?
H See above.
N Do you derive many of your musical narratives from reading such material?
H Yes. Though lately, I've been reading mostly non fiction that I buy at thrift stores. Keeps a sort of randomness to my reading which I like. Sometimes reading about things like near death experiences or the habits of ant colonies can really inspire.
N Again, congratulations to you both on the release of Twilight, an absolutely exquisite body of work. Much luck to you in the future. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me.




Jackie DeShannon's New Song
by Lily Raven
Songbird Jackie DeShannon has just released a beautiful and touching new song entitled "You're Here For Me."
The song is about seeing eye dogs and proceeds from the record will benefit the charity The Seeing Eye organization that she is so passionate about. Jackie says,
"I've written this song for them and I'm hoping to raise money for the organization to put a program in inner city schools that would help blind kids have dogs earlier in their lives."

You're Here For Me

I know that you won't lose your way
And when you're close I'm feeling safe
A better friend I could not have
To guide me through the things I ask
Chorus:
You're Here For Me
I'm here for you
The two of us together
Loving care
Through the years
You've taught me how to understand
To reach my goals, to make my plans
And with your heart and with your grace
You make this world a better place
Chorus
If I stumble, should I fall
It's your name that I will call
As long as you will stand by me
A brighter day I know there'll be
Chorus
The promise that tomorrow brings
You'll lift me up, you'll give me wings
And you won't let me stay behind
We'll take it one day at a time

To find out more about this song, check out Jackie's web site at
www.JackieDeShannon.com and for more information about this worthy organization, check out their web site at www.seeingeye.org. }