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Austin Inspiration: In an interview with Dwight Yoakam, CNN's Showbiz Today revealed that the actor/singer's new album was written while he was in Austin shooting Rick Linklater's historical western The Newton Boys. This is Yoakam's first album in three years; he'd been spending his time writing a screenplay and acting in several films. Yoakam told CNN, "I did feel like I was in a transitional point in my life when I began writing this album. I've been inspired to do other things too because of that musical exploration." I was a part-time waiter while the movie was shooting in Austin and happened to have Yoakam as a customer. The admission that he was in a transitional period at the time came as no surprise to me. The night I waited on him he ate modestly, mostly just picking at his vegetables. He gave no real sign that his writing might be going well other than the tip: he left ten dollars on a $25 check. His generosity was appreciated at the time, and I hope his record does better than the movie he made while writing it.
 What'd Willie Think? The New York Post reports that Willie Nelson was among the throng of Led Zeppelin fans who caught the recent Jimmy Page/Robert Plant concert at Madison Square Garden. According to eyewitnesses, cheers erupted from the crowd when the aging duo launched into "Stairway to Heaven." Nelson's reaction to the playing of the classic song is unknown. Propelled by the Press: A Series of Sneaks, the Elektra debut of Austin's Spoon, was recently reviewed in the Washington Post. A good clip for the noisy trio, the reviewer says that the album's first single, "Car Radio" -- which has caused problems for the record company because at 90 seconds it's too short for radio play -- is "probably also too jumpy, too oblique and just too catchy [for airplay]." He goes on to praise the album's distinctive and varied sound, writing that the "union of artiness and earthiness makes the album both distinctive and propulsive."
(8/1/98) |
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On the record:
