After examining the strange world of outsider conspiracy theorists in 2001’s acclaimed Them, chronicler of cultural weirditude Jon Ronson has now turned his attention to the murkey milieu of covert US military ops and sinister, Pentagon-sanctioned psychological experiments. Peter Murphy switches on the interrogation lamp and probes the Cardiff-born author for details on Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, the tactical deployment of Barney the Dinosaur, and the men who attempted to kill goats simply by staring at them.
Shorn of his beard and pony-tail GERRY RYAN is to join forces
with Barney the dinosaur, Twink and OTT in a poptastic pantomime
in The Point, SLEEPING BEAUTY (SORT OF).
Interview: CHRIS DONOVAN.
JACK LYNCH'S opening priest routine didn't bode well - the dinosaur that is the Catholic Church is too easy a target now, unless the humour is really novel - but once the cute Cavan hoors, Quighie 'The Feather' and PJ Gallagan, strolled on the scene, things improved dramatically.
When the offer came to produce the new Rolling Stones album in Dublin what answer could Don Was give but a resounding ‘Yes’. Mick, Keef & Co. are the latest in a long and impressive list of the man’s studio credits which includes Bob Dylan, The B-52’s, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt and Paula Abdu. But throw in the small matter of the career of Was (Not Was) and the musical rehabilitation of errant Beach Boys’ genius Brian Wilson and we’re talking major industry player here. Bill Graham takes up the story . . .
The mere concept of Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones and all the other aforementioned geriatrics striking out into space is so fantastically out-there it defies logic that someone actually deemed it worthy of a movie.
It all went to hell when he started calling himself The King Of Pop. The backroom boys work their usual production juju, but Invincible has the air of everything Prince has done since Diamonds & Pearls: beautifully crafted tracks, top-notch performances, not a blemish in the merchandise (unless of course it was put there on purpose) but still light years from his best work.
STUART CLARK travels to New York to see and hear ONEIDA - the best American band you haven't heard of, yet - and to take the eve of the millennium pulse of the city that never sleeps. Pics: PETER MATTHEWS.
