IN THIS ISSUE OF COSMIK DEBRIS: Irakere leader and Latin jazz piano master Chucho Valdes; Poli-social satire with John Dryden of The Daily Feed; Real rock n rollers Marah; An evening with Four Bitchin' Babes; In concert with Ani DiFranco and Greg Brown; Bill Holmes' new column The MP3 Files; Plus columns by Kenny Love, David G. Walley, and our resident philosopher, Rusty Pipes. Not to mention lots and lots of reviews!

COSMIK RADIO!: We have an hour of genre whiplash sure to introduce you to music you might never have heard otherwise. You just need a RealAudio Player to listen. If you don't have one, go pick one up. Cosmik Radio is just the kind of Net-Only audio that radio station program directors don't want you getting hooked on. So go ahead. Inhale!

CHUCHO VALDES - As leader of Irakere, Chucho Valdes and his bandmates were the first Cuban musicians to tour the US in the Castro era. As a solo artist, he tours here again. Shaun Dale and DJ Johnson teamed up for this article on the occasion of Valdes' Seattle concert.

THE DAILY FEED - Every weekday there is a few minutes of wit and wisdom waiting for you on the Net. John Dryden's audio comedy show, The Daily Feed, is even right there on your Real Audio Player menu. Have you discovered this gem of a show yet? Interview by DJ Johnson.

MARAH LIVE AT MOHAWK PLACE - The last rock and roll band kicks ass and takes names. Bill Holmes takes in the sights and sounds on an April night in Buffalo.

FOUR BITCHIN' BABES - Folk wit and beautiful four-part harmony. Eric Steiner takes in a great performance.

ANI DIFRANCO & GREG BROWN - Ananda and Tim Owen cover yet another outstanding concert in the great state of Oregon.


CD & RECORD REVIEWS - Everything from rock to jazz to reggae and back again.

EVERYTHING ELSE IN REVIEW - Things that don't fit into the CD rack.



THE MP3 FILES - Bill Holmes introduces his new column with a look at some of the music made available on the Net by bands you need to hear.

KENNY LOVE'S PERSPECTIVE - Doing unto others. More valuable advice from Kenny Love.

CLOSET PHILOSOPHY with Rusty Pipes - Rusty's wired!

WALLEY@WITZEND - by David Walley - How Steely Dan brings peace.



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... and too many more to list!!



Hello, and welcome to issue #59 of Cosmik Debris Magazine. This month we're pleased to bring you two new writers, David J. Klug and Ron Saranich. You'll find their work in the review section, where David covers rock of the indie flavor and Ron covers jazz. Welcome aboard, guys. Meanwhile, our search for good hip-hop and classical specialists continues. Stay tuned.

We have a wide-ranging assortment of features for you this month, all of them artists that matter to the writer of the piece, which is what sets us apart from magazines that assign writers to cover artists they couldn't give a rat's butt about. We hope you'll enjoy the issue and discover a new favorite artist or two. That's always our intent.

That's about it for now. See you next month.

DJ Johnson
Editor