IN THIS ISSUE OF COSMIK DEBRIS: We can't believe that we are having to say goodbye to yet another of our favorite rockers. We talk about the musical career of John Enwistle, and the fact that the Who have decided that the show must go on. Also in this issue are an interview with Wayne Kramer, the music industry versus the internet, a reprisal of Dean Martin's work on Reprise, a look at slack key guitarist John Keawe, and an evening spent with Phil Lesh and Friends. The usual slew of reviews, CD and otherwise, columns... all the stuff you are used to finding, in the July 2002 issue of Cosmik Debris Magazine!

COSMIK RADIO!: Cosmik Radio isn't EXACTLY "radio." It's actually a one hour audio program that we create for you, and it very much reflects the odd juxtapositioning of musical styles and attitudes that Cosmik Debris Magazine does. We call it "Genre Whiplash." You might call it "nuts." You might call it your favorite hour of music in cyberspace. Mingus melts into Megadeth, who burns into Third World, who skanks into Eubie Blake, who plinks into Badfinger, who powerchords into Fatboy Slim, who... Well, you get the picture. Now get listenin'. You just need a RealAudio Player to listen. If you don't have one, go pick one up. Cosmik Radio is the perfect thing to listen to while reading Cosmik Debris Magazine. It's all part of our eeeevil plan to convert you into one of us - the people who refuse to be tied down to one genre of music. Crank it up!

WAYNE KRAMER - Proving that there is life after the MC5, Wayne Kramer continues to put out strong new material. This time around he's making music specifically for adults, going inside himself for inspiration. He took a few minutes out to talk with us about his new album, Adult World, his career since the MC5, and the documentary film just completed about that legendary band.

JOHN ENTWISTLE - They're going in twos and John Entwistle is the latest. He wasn't one we expected to lose now, really, and was just about to start touring with the Who again. The show must go on, though... Bill Holmes says goodbye in his own way.

MUSIC BUSINESS MICROSCOPE PT 4 - This month we delve in to the threat that the Internet poses to the major label music industry, and the threat that the music industry poses to Internet radio.

DEAN MARTIN - When Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis broke up their partnership in 1956, most people thought that Dean Martin's career was about over. Not so, however - in fact in many ways it was a new beginning. Dean made movies, starred on TV, and oh, yeah, made hit records on the Reprise label.

JOHN KEAWE - Eric Steiner traveled to Hawai'i this spring and saw slack key guitarist John Keawe perform live. This month he tells us about that experience.

PHIL AND FRIENDS - Phil Lesh's Grateful Dead member band visited Eugene, OR and Tim and Ananda Owens documented the six hour show for us.


CD & RECORD REVIEWS - Once again we offer you more than 80 reviews of clashing genres: rock, punk, blues, humor, country, classical, funk, pop, kiddie music... It's all there, and more.

EVERYTHING ELSE IN REVIEW - Movie, concert, and DVD reviews. Our writers were having a life besides music again this month, and you are the beneficiary!



CLOSET PHILOSOPHY - Stephen Jay Gould has died and Rusty wants to know who's going to search for the truth now? Somebody needs to keep us aware of the state of the Earth today, and it certainly isn't going to be what passes for the Left in this country...

COSMIK BLUES - Eric Steiner has a dream: He wants to go to Memphis and tread where the blues artists of old have been. This month Eric walks us through that dream itinerary that just may come to pass.

GARY PIG GOLD - Another Ramone is gone. Gary Pig Gold memorializes Dee Dee Ramone's effect on music and culture over the past quarter century, and tells another rock-n-roll icon goodbye.

MASS APPEAL MADNESS - According to Jason Thornberry, punk is a rotting corpse. He's not about to let you think that what you are hearing today is anything like punk, and this month he gives you a couple of lists of essential listenings to get yourself educated.

MEDIA CURMUDGEON - Karl Kable works in television, but he doesn't watch much of it. This month Karl expounds on the reason for that - almost ALL of television is commercials of some sort.

KEEPING IT REEL - We introduce a new column by Bill Holmes, which will feature film industry news and commentary. This month Bill talks DVD, and tells us about ten (or so) favorite classics that he can't believe are not yet available in the format.



CREDITS - The names and e-mail addresses of the people responsible for this thing.

COSMIK RADIO - Want an hour of music that fits the personality of Cosmik Debris Magazine? That's right, Sinatra segues into Megadeth into Peter Tosh into Man Or Astro-Man into... well, you get the picture. It's a little something we like to call Genre Whiplash. Or maybe you're in the mood for a trip into The Fog Machine, our mix of music of the ethereal variety. All you need is a RealAudio player. Come on in.

OUR OWN WEBSITES - Many of the Cosmik Debris writers have websites of their own. We have some links right here.



I can't pretend to be shocked at the loss of Dee Dee Ramone. I am saddened by it, but not shocked. Dee Dee's life-long dance with drugs made it a safe bet for the morbid gambler. In this issue of Cosmik, Gary Pig Gold has plenty to say about Dee Dee, so if you were/are/always will be a fan, you'll want to read that. On the other hand, I, like everyone, was caught completely off guard by the passing of John Entwistle. Dee Dee, then John... The first thought is it seems they were looking for bassists in rock and roll heaven, and the second thing that hits you is how many bands are down to two original members. It's getting a little spooky and quite sad. I'm not even close to finished mourning George Harrison, let alone John Lennon, and now all this. I'm still trying to get used to the thought of Joey Ramone being no more when I always thought it would be Dee Dee, and now it's Dee Dee too, which is like salt in the wounds. It seems impossible that so many of my heroes - your heroes, too - are falling so quickly, until we stop to realize the cold, hard fact: father time is fleet of foot. What seems like only yesterday in our rock and roll memories actually happened 20, 30... even 38 years ago in the case of The Beatles appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show.

The blink of an eye.

Father time didn't do it alone, in most cases. When these people were young they lived hard and fast, like every day might be their last and those bodies weren't going to be needed for anything like a long haul. Some of them lived longer than they expected to. Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy partied, drank, snorted and shot up until his body quit on him at 37, a complete system shutdown during a hospital stay, not an O.D. as oft reported. Rory Gallagher's liver called it quits when he was 46. Those were extremes. We may have to get used to the idea that many of the legends of rock and roll are hitting 60 in bodies that have at least 20 years of life expectancy punched off their cards due to the excesses of youth. Of course, some will just die "because." That's the way of the world. The cleanest living people sometimes drop dead at 35 for no apparent reason, and the most chemically altered people sometimes hit 70. I'd just like it to slow down for a while now, though, wouldn't you? No more sucker punches for a bit. Most of us didn't know The Ox had a heart condition. It was none of our business. No warning on that one.

This issue of Cosmik Debris is dedicated to John Entwistle, Dee Dee Ramone, Stephen Jay Gould and Ted "The Splendid Splinter" Williams, four more who shuffled off this mortal coil in recent weeks. Yeah, Stephen Jay Gould was a paleontologist, not a musician, but he was a genius who thought in technicolor and brought difficult ideas into a light where we could all see them clearly. And sure, if you want to get picky about it, Ted Williams was a baseball player, on top of which he was 83 years old and in poor health, but I'm the editor, so I can write about him if I want, and his swing was poetry in motion, so case closed.

Bon voyage, gentlemen, where ever it is one goes.

DJ Johnson
Editor

Did you miss an issue? We now have many of our back issues online, including sound clips and extras. Check out interviews with The Witches, Electric Frankenstein, the Vampire Beach Babes, Jeff Berlin, Curve, Michael Shermer, Steel Pulse, Transglobal Underground, Mark Helm, The Southern Rock All-Stars, Ottmar Liebert, Jason Noble of Shipping News, Phil Vassar, Joel Dorn, Mark Cline of Love Tractor, Texas Terri (of Texas Terri & The Stiff Ones), Mike Keneally, Chris Shinn of Unified Theory, Alley of Wise Monkey Orchestra, Mario Escovedo of The Dragons, The Clarks, Big Ass Truck, Richard Cheese, Paul Krassner, Tony Iommi, Ron Dante...