Ryan Adams: Big Baby McBitcherson or clever, self-deprecating prankster? The jury’s still out, so we submit the evidence for your consideration: According to the Associated Press, a fan in the audience at a concert last Tuesday in Nashville jokingly called out a request for Canadian ’80s cheesyball Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ’69.” Ryan responded with “a stream of expletives” and ordered that the houselights be turned up while he located the fan, paid him a $30 refund for his ticket, and demanded that he leave the premises, or the artiste would not play another note. The venue manager then reportedly “apologized profusely” to the booted man, ushered him back into the show, and let him pocket the 30 bucks. But wait! The exact same thing happened at subsequent shows in Detroit and then New York (where the guilty request-hurling audience member received $40 for his trouble—Manhattan cost-of-living increase, but of course). In response, musician Robbie Fulks has made this proposal on his Web site: “Any reader on this site who attends a Ryan Adams show and disrupts the show with a Bryan Adams song request will receive in return merchandise of his or her choice, equal to the cost of the ticket, from my online store. You’re on the honor system, necessarily; but please provide the date and location of the show, what you yelled, and what Ryan’s reaction was.” We await with bated breath Adams’ Oct. 29 appearance at the Moore Theatre. And if you’re wondering about the actual post-hissy-fit content of his show, word is he does a Jack White impression, covers the Stones, Madonna, and Sonic Youth, and even manages to squeeze in some of his own material, or so they say. . . . Speaking of crazy Canadians, congratulations are in order to Victoria’s own Hot Hot Heat, who are making the jump to the big time, having just signed a contract with Warner Bros. Seeing as how their Sub Pop full-length, Make Up the Breakdown, is still hot off the presses, there’s likely
no huge rush for their major-label debut, but knowing how driven to succeed the HHH are, we have faith they’ll manage just fine in the big time. . . . Al Qaeda gets a break this week; venerable world-events magazine Newsweek has Kurt Cobain on its cover instead. Reporter Lorraine Ali’s piece says it’s “Nirvana’s moment again”—what with the “new” hit and upcoming diary publication—and writes about his soon-to-be-released journal, which gets excerpted exclusively in the Oct. 28 issue. If you want a piece of it, save some of your Mojo money, or just go to www.msnbc.com/news/822516.asp like other cheapsters. . . . The cockles of our heart are officially warmed. Weeks and weeks ago, we erroneously (erroneous? Us? Never!) reported that Interpol had had their gear stolen from Graceland following a show there. In fact, it was stolen from a Vancouver show that Graceland booker Jason Lajeunesse had arranged for them, but instead of shrugging off responsibility for the theft, Jason has worked his patootie off to recover the gear, managing from across the border to retrieve one of the stolen guitars, while simultaneously working with the band to get them as much as possible on the value of their second, still-MIA guitar. Salutations to him, and a pox on the stupid crackhead/fanboy who scooted off with the stuff in the first place. . . .Musicians are diversifying like crazy from their day jobs lately. Example One: Neutral Milk Hotel frontman Jeff Mangum, who is now a sometime DJ on N.Y.C. independent radio station WFMU; you can check his archives at www.wfmu.org/playlists/MU. Example two: eels frontman E is now hosting an online advice column (eels.artistdirect.com/uncle.shtml) as Dear Uncle E, where he answers questions about everything from heartbreak to beard maintenance to band problems. He’s no Dear Abby, but the man makes some sense. . . . One band’s
voice won’t be heard much in the next few weeks: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who nearly brought down the Showbox when they opened for the John Spencer Blues Explosion last month, have been forced to cancel the remainder of their tour dates opening for Sleater-Kinney due to a nasty case of bronchitis afflicting singer Karen O. They do promise they’ll be back by the end of the month on a co-headlining tour with the Liars (who include Karen’s freakishly tall boyfriend Angus Andrew). In the meantime you fans can find an original YYYs track on Kill Rock Stars two-CD comp Fields and Streams—which came out in May and also features Mooney Suzuki, Neko Case, Quasi, and more—or wait for the band’s three-song single due next month, or their full-length debut, slated for release sometime early next year. That should keep you busy. . . . In other releases, the perfect soundtrack for your child’s next birthday party: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ next album, Nocturama, is due early February on Mute. Trust us, the kids will love it, even if it looks like they’re crying. . . .Last but not least, Portishead is also raring down the comeback trail. Four million years ago—or maybe it was five years?—they released their self-titled sophomore effort; now they’re slating Alien for sometime this winter, but not before lead singer Beth Gibbons puts out her own solo record, Out of Season, this week and tours behind it. Cafes and hair salons of the world, celebrate. . . .It sounds like dirty Icelandic porn, but it’s really just a documentary; Inside Bj�/I> covers everyone’s favorite hugely pregnant pixie, and is currently running all over Europe. Alas, even though it features interviews with a bunch of American celebrities—Sean Penn, Missy Elliot, RZA—as well as Euros Thom Yorke, director Lars von Trier, and Elton John, no one has mentioned any U.S. screenings; still, there are some clips on www.bjork.com. In the
meantime, Bj�s activist mum, Hildur Runa, is still on a politically-motivated hunger strike; since Oct. 6, she’s ingested nothing but some special root tea in protest of an ecologically damaging aluminum plant proposed for their homeland. . . .And finally, we’re all for artistic license, but we’re not so sure we can condone the appearance of reggae star Beenie Man at the Ballard Firehouse this week. A number of his songs call outright for the murder of gays and lesbians, and you don’t need some dumb gossip columnist to tell you that’s flat-out wrong.
Send news flashes, sightings, and bitchy bits to nights@seattleweekly.com.
