brother don in frisco writes this report 'bout Magic Christian "forgive me for a sketchy report but i'm exhausted...just got home from great american music hall. most impressive debut for cyril's new band. they really rocked. cyril wore dark trousers, beatle boots and a long sleeve sort of t-shirt. he had his trademark dan armstrong plexi thru fender twin reverb and purple (!) vox ac-30. he had a pretty killer echo sound (rack stuff). alec palao in great check jacket w/velvet collar and black turtleneck played a brand new gorgeous hollow body gretsch bass. they had another guitarist who played a telecaster - but only played occasionally - he also played some keyboard (dx-7). paul - also in black t-neck and checked trousers - didn't play guitar. he belted out the lead vocals and banged on a tambourine. prairie prince - in god save the queen t-shirt- was pretty awesome on drums. they were LOUD and POWERFUL. even tho i've heard a lot of the new stuff i didn't recognize half the songs as these were super new. my fave that they did is called - i think - no time to cry - or something like that. very beatles. KILLER! cyril took a very george solo on it. oh - cyril played mostly without a pick - reminding me of mick green (from the pirates). they did a great version of the spoonful's "my gal" - dedicated to zal. originals i recognized were "too close to zero", and "here she comes". cyril peeled off some great solos -- he was in good form. i met eric and tom - from this list- in the back of the joint afterwards. very cool guys. chas was sorely missed. there were quite a few oldtimers in the crowd including KALX dj (and ex-groovies roadie) marshall stax. (he swiped the set list - as always). also spotted roy loney. cyril was great afterwards, chatting with everyone and posing for pictures during the romantics set. at one point in the show he said, "it's great to be back". and it's great to have him back. in case you're curious...the other bands were very good too -- chesterfield kings before and romantics after. romantics were suprisingly excellent -- they did great versions of the pretty things "midnight to six man" and the kinks' "she's got everything". they were really tight. all in all a great job was done by all - especially our hero. it was a real rock n' roll assault!

OK, the MC5 thing rumbles on. Dennis has posted a response on the site in the link from my post of the other day. Today, I went on to Amazon to see if they were pre-selling the DVD and they have it listed as True Testimonial and are offering it for $11.89. Nobody's gonna be getting very fat off a retail price like that. But anyway, it's all very disappointing and ugly and I hope it all gets sorted out fairly and squarely in the very near future. Surely BMG should put up the requisite licence money if they want to release it and everybody involved should get their slice of the action, particularly the musicians and their families. Being cited as a legend or being seminal doesn't pay them bills. So screw the noggins there troops...

Keeping up the theme of "returns", all hail the second coming of Kentucky's finest NINE POUND HAMMER