Now He Wants To Save Your Dog

Iggy Pop is involved in a campaign to limit human medical experimentation on animals. Who would have pegged the Pop to be an animal activist? More here.

She's back

Detroit art punk rock queen Niagara will team with iconic rock and roll soldiers the Hitmen for a seven-date Australia tour in April.

Niagara made a name as the femme fatale of Detroit bands Destroy All Monsters, whose ranks included late Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton. Destroy All Monsters released a string of singles and toured the US and England extensively in the late 1970s and early ‘80s, keeping alive the legacy of the Stooges.

Her next band was Dark Carnival, a travelling carnival of high-energy underground artists. Membership included Niagara and Ron Asheton, as well as Stooges drummer Scott Asheton and Dead Boys guitarist Cheetah Chrome as well as a string of Detroit musical luminaries. The band issued albums on French and Australian labels Revenge and Zeus, as well as US imprint Sympathy For the Record Industry

Since the ‘90s, Niagara has concentrated on her exploding career as a pop art painter and has dipped back into music only rarely. Niagara exhibits to vast acclaim around the world and her artworks command huge prices. She was recently commissioned to provide a design for a own line of Vans shoes. The tour will coincide with exhibitions at the Outre galleries in Melbourne and Sydney.

The St Valentine's Day Massacre Tour will promote the CD of the same name, released locally on Savage Beat/Shock. The album captures the one-off February 2008 show at The Crest Hotel at Sylvania in Sydney when Niagara was lured out of retirement, with the Hitmen as her backing band.

The show as a spectacular success, drawing a full house of rabid fans, some of whom travelled from overseas to be there.

Fans can expect more of the same with a two-hour show comprising a Hitmen set followed by a high-energy bracket from Niagara, reprising songs from Destroy All Monsters, Dark Carnival and the Stooges.

Niagara and the Hitmen proved to be a scorching combination last time out. Anything could happen – and will.

The Hitmen are one of the Australian rock scene’s most enduring acts, a Radio Birdman outgrowth who took underground music to the suburbs and towns.

They were re-animated by principal members Johnny Kannis and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Chris Klondike Masuak in 2007, and have rallied old and new fans since with their back catalogue re-issued in deluxe packaging by Savage Beat/Shock.

Dark Carnival made it to Australia in 1991 for a 43-date tour with the Hitmen. Niagara’s 2010 gigs with the Hitmen shows brings that connection full circle.

Tickets for the “St Valentine’s Day Massacre Tour” are on sale from February 18 through venues, www.moshtix.com.au or 1300 GET TIX

Niagara opens exhibitions at the Outre Gallery in Melbourne (April 1) and Sydney (April 8).

Special guest for the tour will be Gold Coast artist Hazel Eyes The Devil.

The “St Valentine’s Day Massacre” live album by Niagara & The Hitmen is out now on Savage Beat/Shock.

Niagara & The Hitmen
St Valentine's Massacre Australian Tour
with special guest Hazel Eyes The Devil
+ supports tba
APRIL
2 - National Hotel, Geelong
3 - Ding Dong, Melbourne
4 - East Brunswick Club, Melbourne
9 - Step Inn, Brisbane
10 - Hard Rock, Gold Coast
16 - Crest, Sylvania, NSW
17 - Gaelic Club, Sydney

Funhouse turns 40

As the newly reconstituted Stooges consider putting their rep on the line to record another studio album and prepare to be inducted into the Hall of Lame, I thought you'd like to know that "Funhouse" is turning 40 this tear. Here's a great retrospective piece on one of the greatest albums of all time.

House band for hire

Some guy named James Williamson turned 60 recently and look who he played with in the party band. That's host Scott Thurston on the far left, who turned over his Culver City, California, home for the event. You may know him from Tom Petty's band these days but many years ago he was in a more notorious outfit.

Continuing along the line that's Mike Watt on bass, Scott "Rock Action" Asheton behind the traps, Steve Mackay with his sax and (far right) Strait James.

Ring any bells?

Weddings and parties a speciality. Robert Mattheu took the photo.

Mike Watt remembers

The Stooges bassist honours fallen brother Ron Asheton every time he takes his Gibson bass on stage. You can hear him interview bandmate James Williamson here.

Pretty good summation, I'd say

Former Sounds writer and NY Dolls biographer Kris Needs on "The Stooges" LP.

Niagara & The Hitmen

Their live album "St Valentine's Day Massacre" is coming down the turnpike and is out on Savage beat/Shock in Australian retail on October 9 and on Steel Cage around the world about the same time. Steel Cage have started online sales from their website. Stay tuned for live Hitmen dates. Here's a preview of what to expect on the album:

I Wanna Be Your Dog

Hiawatha Bailey of the Cult Heroes joins Scott Morgan and Powertrane for a run through of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" from the Ron Asheton Tribute at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor recently.

Ron Asheton Tribute Night

That's Ron's schoolmate Scott Morgan and his band Powertrane making the running on "1969" and ex-Stooges roadie Hiawatha Bailey (of the Cult Heroes) on "Down On The Street".

More Ron

At the Houndblog's blog, with some nice pix taken by his wife, Gillian McCain, who co-authored Please Kill Me. Go here and listen to an unissued Stooges track.

Rare Stooges photo unearthed

The line-up with Bill Cheatham and Zeke Zettner. Here.

Danny Fields on Ron Asheton

The Houndblog - one of the crew from the world's coolest radio station WFMU - has a great Ron Asheton tribute from onetime Stooges mentor Danny Fields here. That's Danny and Ron pictured.

Tributes and Tribute Nights

Back from holidays after the depression news of Ron Asheton's passing.

On the I-94 Bar front, you can read Mark Sisto's moving tribute here and you can also leave a comment.

Here's the details of the first of a few tribute shows:
Niagara and The Colonel invite friends to pay tribute to the late Stooges guitarist, Ron Asheton as they host, “Ronnie…Thanks A Million”, Saturday, January 17th at 9PM at the historic Music Hall Center For The Performing Arts in downtown Detroit.

There is free admission but attendees are encouraged to donate what they can to help cover the night’s expenses and Ron’s favorite charity, The Michigan Humane Society.

Niagara, Asheton’s former Destroy All Monsters and Dark Carnival band mate and muse will host along with Colonel Galaxy a celebration of Ronnie’s life and a chance to express their love along with all of his friends and fans with a tribute for a guy Rolling Stone called: "One of the greatest guitarists of all time”.

Tributes from those who knew him- and some who didn’t, but were influenced by him will speak from the stage where such legends as WC Fields, Miles Davis and Billy Holiday performed, Ron’s music will be played and a tribute film retrospect by Tim Caldwell will be shown. Music Hall is Detroit’s oldest performing arts venue (1928) and is a beautifully restored facility, appropriate for this memorable night.

There will be a cash bar in the Hall as well as in Jazz Café for attendees.

Plus, a special Jazz Café  show -

A Dark Carnival alumni performance led by Bootsey X  & The Lovemasters and some VERY special friends will play in honor their late band mate and friend, in the Jazz Café following the main stage tributes at 11 PM. 

Ron Asheton was more than an innovative guitarist, he was an easygoing, subtly hilarious guy- who, simply and effectively created a sound and aesthetic, which will forever reverberate as long as there are guitar players. Ron maximized his early work into postmodern art of the highest order. In retrospect, Ron’s influence cannot be overstated, only imitated.

Ronnie used to like to say, “thanks a million” in mock gratitude when joking with friends. Now here’s our last chance to say, “Ronnie… Thanks A Million.”

More info for this tribute may be found on  www.myspace.com/niagaradetroit 

Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts
350 Madison  Detroit, MI  48226
313 887-8500
www.musichall.org

R.I.P Ron Asheton.

Found dead yesterday at his Ann Arbor home. Very sad news.

Hall of Lame again

Hot off the wires an hour ago, AP reports:

Run-D.M.C. could "Walk This Way" into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The 1980s rap act, along with Metallica and the Stooges, are among the nine nominees for next year's hall of fame class, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation announced Monday.

The other nominees are guitarist Jeff Beck, singer Wanda Jackson, Little Anthony and the Imperials, War, Bobby Womack, and disco and R&B group Chic.

Chic? Should we feign surprise? The R & R Hall of Fame is anything but.

Do The Pop to hit the silver screen

Radio Birdman's "Do The Pop" has been licensed for use in a forthcoming feature film to be directed by Madonna's other half, Guy Ritchie. With her listening to the Stooges and him cocking an ear to Birdman around the house, their kids must have been getting a varied musical education, prior to the separation.

I heart TSOOL

As in The Soundtrack Of Our Lives. So it was cool to find them covering the Stooges' "Sick Of You" on YouTube.

And here's Iggy and The Trolls doing the same number in the late '90s.

New Stooges album

A more in-depth I-94 Bar review is here. A few listens down the track and nothing's changing.

New Stooges album

A leaked copy of the new Stooges album, "The Weirdness", fell off the back of a virtual truck over the weekend. First impressions are that it's very ordinary. I badly wanted this to be a masterwork, maybe approaching the brilliance of "Funhouse". It's not to be. There'll be a full review at the I-94 Bar in due course but here's a quick and dirty take:

Ordinary songs, ordinary production. Steve Albini has a rep for giving a band their heads in the studio and being hands-off, but this is ridiculous. Rock Action's drums are drier than a dead dingo's donger but Watt's bass rumble is MIA. When Ron Asheton launches into those characteristic wah-wah solos (all too rarely), the guitar's compressed tighter than a Scotsman's wallet or buried. To be really blunt, Iggy's vocals are the weakest thing about the album. Apart from the songs. Lyrical observations on the ordinariness of everyday life, they end up sounding like a dumbed-down parody, sung by a Rolls Royce driving leathery old guy. "My dick is turning into a tree", indeed.

Don't be a Stooge and not sign this

There's a string of live Stooges dates being locked in all over the USA right now, but if you're Australian here's a more pressing reason to let your mouse do the walking and show we're interested in a return engagement. Click here.