Fricke’s Picks: Black 47 The Fighting Irish Iraq (United for Opportunity), by the New York Celtic-rock band Black 47, is an unashamedly topical wallop of the early-Seventies Jersey-bar E Street Band and the Combat Rock-era Clash, laced with the mourning siren of Uilleann pipes. The album is as blunt in its frontline detail as it is in title. “Much of Iraq is written from the viewpoint of Black 47 fans who have served over there,” according to the album credits, and the cordite and emergency-channel chatter confirm that. “The Hummer took the bend at forty plus and then/The IED cut the door and driver to pieces,” guitarist-songwriter Larry Kirwan sings with tremulous shock in “Stars and Stripes,” a roughed-up echo of the homesickness in the West Indian folk song “Sloop John B.” There are “mortars in minarets,” and “even the dead are rigged to ignite” in the drinker’s waltz “Battle of Fallujah,” while the chorus is a bitter toast: “Here’s to the old men back in the States/Don’t ever let on that they used you/When you’re down in the dirt with your heart in your mouth.” But Iraq is not merely anti-war. It is pro-life — as in quick, safe return, because with every extra day of Fox News patriotism and Beltway paralysis, the only guaranteed surge is in body count. “I can’t believe it’s so peaceful/In only moments, it’ll be hell … I hope I see the sunrise in Brooklyn again,” Kirwan sings in the night-patrol lament “Sunrise in Brooklyn.” That’s not protest. It’s prayer.
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Published: 2008-02-29
Provider: Rolling Stone
Keywords: Rock News, Fricke's Picks
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Kat Von D: A New Hollywood Wild ChildWhich self-respecting guy doesn’t secretly lust for a bad girl? Kat Von D, the star of TLC’s “Miami Ink” and “LA Ink,” screams bad ass with her raven-colored hair, love for rock and heavy metal and more tattoos than you could possibly count.Not only is Kat Von D a hard-partying wild child with a hot body (though every inch of it being covered in tats might be a slight turn-off for uptight guys), she’s a gifted tattoo artist to boot. What’s not to love?Since she began the hottest spinoff on TV in LA Ink (eat your heart out, Private Practice), the wild side of the former Miami Ink co-star has really taken hold.As if she weren’t inked up enough, Kat and her boyfriend just got matching tattoos with each other’s names on them - and they’ve only been dating a month!While most would wait more than a few weeks to tag their lover’s name onto their skin for life, the LA Ink hottie and her long haired, Shaggy-like boyfriend showed off the new tats at a Rolling Stone Hot Party last week.Perhaps a second, tattoo-removal spinoff is in the works for Kat Von D?In really random news, the boyfriend in question is Alexander Orbie Lee Kelton Orbison, son of Roy Orbison and drummer for Cisco Adler’s band, Whitestarr.Also interestingly, Kat Von D was on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” last week and actually said she’d never tattoo a boyfriend’s name on her clients if it were a new relationship. Someone doesn’t follow her own good advice!
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Published: 2007-10-09
Provider: Celebrity News Spot
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