IN THIS ISSUE OF COSMIK DEBRIS: Due to popular demand, we've brought you the second official Power Pop Special Issue of Cosmik Debris Magazine, featuring interviews with The Bears, The Westside Daredevils, and Brick Layer Cake. But you know us; we HAD to step outside the genre a bit, so we offer examinations of the Crescent City Soul series and more Real Folk Blues. Plus boocooreevyoos (our own house spelling) of CDs, DVDs, movies, concerts and other goodies, and our usual slate of Cosmik Columns. It's all here in the May issue of Cosmik Debris Magazine. Dig in!

COSMIK RADIO!: Yes, it's back, it's up, it's running, it's Cosmik Radio! An hour or so of genre whiplash, which is to say that you'll go toward jazz and then be jerked toward metal only to be moshed toward punk before being skanked into the reggae zone, and so on and so forth. But you'll need a Real Player from Real Audio to listen, so go pick one up. We're waitin' for ya in here.

THE BEARS ARE BACK - Beginning as The Raisins, Rob Fetters and his bandmates always did do things the DIY way. As The Bears, with King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew in the fold, that ethic continued until the band called it a day. Now, 13 years later, The Bears are back with a near perfect new album and the same game plan. Interview by Karl Cable.

WESTSIDE DAREDEVILS - For most of the members of Knoxville, Tennessee's Westside Daredevils, this is the first time in anything beyond a bar band, though you'd never know it by listening to their amazing debut album, All Small Things Produce A Spark. Guitarist/songwriter Brett Cassidy talked to DJ Johnson about what it's like taking those first steps.

BRICK LAYER CAKE - Todd Trainer is the drummer for Shellac as well as leader of Brick Layer Cake. How does he do it? Our guess is lots of coffee. And icing. It's the sugar. See, he really does get cakes into the act, as you'll soon find out. Holly Day caught up with him just as he was about to take off on tour to double bill up front for BLC and on drums for Shallac. So you see, kids, you really can have your cake and beat it too. ... Sorry.

CRESCENT CITY CONSIDERED - New Orleans Rhythm, Blues & Rock: EMI releases a terrific series of CDs celebrating the early rock and R&B of New Orleans, and Shaun Dale gives you the rundown plus a bit of the history behind it all.


PLAYING CHESS - Folk Blues: Real Folk Blues and More Real Folk Blues were released by Chess Records in the late 60s and inspired a new generation of blues musicians. Now they've been remastered from the original studio tapes by MCA and released on CD, where they might inspire yet another generation to follow in the blues tradition. Article by Eric Steiner.



CD & RECORD REVIEWS - All kinds of music, from blues to jazz to punk to junk, or so you may think, but when you're at Cosmik Debris you live by the Paul Simon ethic of "one man's ceiling is another man's floor." We have more ceiling and flooring than just any other mag we know of.

DVDs & OTHER THINGS IN REVIEW - We look at Various DVDs, cinematic releases and whatever else happened to catch our eyes in the last month.



CLOSET PHILOSOPHY - Rusty Pipes, our resident philosopher, looks at the history of the middle east conflict, discusses political solutions and reminds you to turn your filters on.

COSMIK BLUES - Eric Steiner prognosticates on the WC Handy awards. One prediction that will definitely come true: there'll be quite a lot of shakin' going on in Memphis in May.

MP3 FILES - Bill Holmes comes through with another installment of the MP3 Files, featuring 5 great CDs you can sail under the corporate radar to own.

PIGSHIT - Joey Ramone's final recording hits the shelves and Fan Numero Uno shares his thoughts and feelings on the occasion.

MASS APPEAL MADNESS - Part two of Catharsis in Contemporary Composition explores the rush that comes from punk music.

MEDIA CURMUDGEON - Karl Cable takes a look at Reality TV and why it's really not Real anymore, how it began, and why this wave's popularity may be starting to wane.



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.



Just a few quick things to mention here...

Recently we ran an issue that sported a trio of power pop features, which runs counter to our policy of diversity, and yet it turned out to be fun and got a good response. Once in a while we'll run an issue that focuses on one genre, but only in the feature section. It'd never work out in the review section. That would mean we'd have to listen to one genre all month and... Haha. Ain't gonna happen. But we do hope you enjoy the pop this month.

Our Music Business Microscope series will be back next month. We're making arrangements with several potential contributors and the desire is to bring you articles that maintain the quality standard set by Dina LaPolt's first two entries in the series. We may be asking too much of people, but we're hopeful. Keep an eye out.

Finally, we'd like to welcome Erick Mertz to the staff of Cosmik Debris. Erick has written for The Oregon Voice, The Elevator, The Comic News, Prism Magazine and Fireweed. He joined us in the last few days of the month, so you'll only see a review or two from him at first, but look for a lot of good work from Erick.

That about wraps it up. One more month and it'll be our 7th anniversary. As I understand it, we don't win anything. What a gyp.

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...