HW and OTHER: HW news? PTree releases?

[K Henderson]

Hi,

>I'm back from the dead, having unsubbed for awhile from my old
>iscladoc at idir.net account, and only today signed back on.
>
>What's the news on the Hawkwind front?

Only that it seems that the Nik/Huw/Tom Crimble/Terry Ollis lineup seems to
be more active than the Brock/Richards/Tree/Chadwick.  :)

Star Nation (Richards/Chadwick/Steve Taylor/Steve Hayes/Rizz+?) was formed,
recorded four songs on a very ltd. ed. CD-EP, and then already disbanded.
They cancelled all their appearances on the Travelling Strange Daze tour and
at SD'2K itself.  Nobody knows why, or those that do aren't telling.

>Any possible gigs in the USA besides Strange Daze?

Where are you?  If you're in Pittsburgh, you can jump in your car and drive
three hours west to Little Bros. in Columbus, OH to see Harvey Bainbridge
and Quarkspace tonight...prolly starts at 9ish.  (Near the corner of 3rd
Ave. and High Street halfway between downtown and the OSU campus area.)

(Also if you're in Pgh, check out Daevid Allen's University of Errors at the
Millvale Industrial Theater on Aug. 16th....www.mit.telerama.com for details)

Harvey is playing with Sloterdijk in Philly this coming Sun. (I think), and
then again with Slot. & Escapade at the Knitting Factory (?) in NYC Monday
(I think).  Is that all the shows prior to SD'2K?  I think so.  Pretty sad
that that's all they could round up....but then, given that Star Nation
bugged out, what can you do?

>While browsing through a retailer I deal with in Pittsburgh, PA
>(Paul Olszewski, at http://members.aol.com/paulsstore/), I ran across
>some new PTree releases, including a new CD called Lightbulb Sun and
>some singles presumably from it (Stranger By the Minute, Pure Narcotic,
>and 4 Chords that Made a Million).  Any reactions to it yet from the
>list?

Hmmmm...I just got it myself, after picking up the 4 Chords 3-track single
(two non-album tracks) a few weeks back.  I was reasonably encouraged by the
3 songs on the single, but the album is pretty bland I believe.  Maybe it'll
take awhile to recognize the merits in the music (I like Stupid Dream a lot
more than I did last year, though I still think it has some serious
problems).  On Lightbulb Sun, it appears that SW has made a conscious effort
to change his singing style, and IMHO it was a bad idea...it sounds forced
and full of 'faux confidence'.  And several songs have very nice parts here
and there, but there are not many that are interesting throughout.  I hope
it's a low point in PT's career.  The single is actually better.

Grakkl (FAA)

P.S.  Stranger by the Minute and Pure Narcotic are from Stupid Dream.