Greg Burk

“I come from a very religious background. My father was a Sunday-school superintendent, my uncle was a preacher, my grandfather was head deacon at a church. Chris Holmes was raised a very devout, strict Mormon. Marilyn Manson — similar background. It seems that guys that do what we do all......

Metal howler Ronnie James Dio’s champagne moment at last year‘s L.A. Weekly Music Awards (where he and Mike Watt co-presented the Hard Rock LAWMA to Backbiter) arrived when he got to meet an old hero, guitarist Dick Dale. According to Dio (gabbing recently on the phone), the vet twanger admitted......

The Eric von Essen you never knew When somebody dies too young, the way Eric von Essen did in 1997 at the age of 43, you always wonder what he could have accomplished if he‘d lived. In von Essen’s case, few had any idea of what he‘d already accomplished. On......

MICRO-EAST COLLECTIVE 062099; Out of My Face (Umbrella) Listen to Micro-East Collective : Real Audio Format Out of My Face Exploring the Metal Sphere Download the RealPlayer FREE! What should outer space sound like? Sonar echoes and rumbling rhythms, quoth Pink Floyd and Hawkwind. But in 1968, Stanley Kubrick (figuring......

This band Spite is the realest thing I ever saw on a stage. So. Does that mean I “like” these four gentlemen‘s “music”? It’s a hard question, considering that what they do, symbolically, is pull gum out of their mouths and stick it on your forehead (using drums and guitars......

Photo by Debra DiPaoloONE GUY IS 15 AND FAVORS HIS RIGHT HAND, which he broke when he punched some kid in the head. The other guy is 50; he's been practicing Zen Buddhism for over 20 years, laughs easily and doesn't punch anything more resistant than the buttons on a......

Photo by Robert HaleBILLY HIGGINS HAS NO USE FOR HIP-HOP. HE'S A jazz drummer, one of the best ever; no electronic box can touch him. He says he hasn't stopped learning, though. So maybe there is one thing the MCs could teach him: how to assert his bragging rights. If......

photo by Douglas QuackenbushLAND OF THE FREE. YEAH, I ALWAYS COMPLAIN about the limitations of that description. And a lot of ghetto dwellers, victimless criminals and political prisoners would spit on it. But as I was knocking through the year-end jazz releases, I couldn't help marveling again at how many......

photo by F. Scott Schafer Mike Ness has to roll the dice a few more times before he can converse. He’s pitted against a friend, throwing the cubes on a coffee table backstage at San Juan Capistrano’s Coach House. "He’s got a four that I need to beat," explains Ness......

Candy wrappers plus bellyaches equal the day after Halloween. My kid stayed home from school. I ate no candy, got a bellyache anyway. But you’ve gotta do Halloween. For the children. ”Gimme my sweets or I‘ll kill your cat“: This is how they learn the American religion. Halloween also offers......