European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 4, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 16 the stars and stripes monday november 4, 1985 by sue Allison United press International Nashville the undisputed Mecca of country music has Given birth to a different sound blend of Punk Rock and country that is Sone even the dozen or so bands performing i Don t know what Label to give it. We Are at the forefront of said Jason Ringenberg the main Man with Jason and the scorchers. In just a Lew years he immodesty predicted the sound variously described As co Punk. Rockabilly Trad Rock or Basic american Rock n Roll will be top 40, the music of the masses. Ii preserves country s Down Home twang while capturing the raw Energy of hard Rock. And. Rigenberg said it has something Tor everyone. Ii you re a Punk it s a Ltd. If you re country it ". Listen to this pure country. And ii you re Rock. It s absolutely Sweet Marie " he said. The look is new too. Out with Orange spiked hair and in with string ties sideburns Cowboy hats boots and tin Star sheriff s badges. We have Broad Appeal Ringenberg said. We just Haven t been heard by everyone yet. To me what we re doing is Rock n Roll and the other stuff should have the the other stuff is new wave Punk and most of the music teeny toppers tune in on their pm Walkman stereos. Bands such As Jason and the scorchers. Lone Justice the clusters and x have the sound and at least a toe of their Cowboy boots in the music Industry door. In a few years if the door does t open on its own a groundswell of groupies May kick it in. The music is honest Ringenberg said. It s not a put on. It s natural guitar music. We re not into 26 the lyrics they sing often Are More country than Rock including old Loretta Lynn and Hank Williams standards with Bob Dylan s classic absolutely Sweet mar also a scorchers favorite. But mostly they write their own and while it s not a rated neither is it Goodie two shoes. There s reality a lot of intense themes about Heartbreak and sin and despair said Ringenberg who someday May be known As the father of this new sound. Jaton and the scorch an have a hard Core cult following but Only two albums Fervour and lost and found to their credit. Record sales after All. Depend in Large part on radio play. And that depends on promotion by the big Bucks establishment music Industry. It takes a Long time to educate the Public. I think kids initially Are drawn to the scorchers because of the Uii scor Cefers co Punk rockabilly Trad Rock the Storhm bomb it the fun him of Rock Onetho tout of country. Energy and drama. It s a very exciting band to be a fan of. It s a volatile for 5,000 screaming tans who turned out at a recent scorchers concert in a Nashville parking lot. That goes without saying. Jason jumped howled like a Coyote and climbed a billboard. The fever pitch excitement is a scorchers trademark much like James Brown who pranced danced and wallowed on the stage in his heyday. The tree concert was a thank you gift for local scorchers tans those dedicated mostly Young groupies who remember Jason and the scorchers playing their hearts out in Middle Tennessee clubs. Besides their influence on his music Ringenberg said country artists have made another contribution to his band s modes Operand. Every fan we be gained is a fan for life. We be made a commitment to them and in the end that will make us commercial he said. One thing we be Learned from country music is the philosophy of treating fans with those fans Are not limited to Nashville not by a Long shot. During three european Tours the scorchers have wowed and won groupies by the thousands. Their last overseas gig billed As rednecks in Europe was an overwhelming Success said Kay Clary director of operations for praxis International a management firm. You look marvelous Billy by Bob Thomas associated press t he latest saturday night live alumni costar in a movie is Billy Crystal that marvelous Host of Fernando s hideaway and the Man who acts More like Sammy Davis or. Than Sammy Davis or. With his Litany of characters including the Milkman brother and the elderly baseball player. Crystal had a whirlwind season on Abc. A season in which he Rose trom a slightly known comic to a Multi Media Star. Today he s everywhere music videos to talk shows National magazines record albums. His latest venture is Mem a s running scared in which he and Gregory Hines Star As Chicago cops who encounter trouble on a vacation to key West Fla. The producers Are Lawrence Turman the graduate and David Foster the getaway the director is Peter Hyams 2010. They were recently filming in a Seaside Saloon that was supposed to be located in key West but was actually in Venice. Calif., a few Miles West of the Mem studio. Between scenes Billy Crystal relaxed in his Mobile Home dressing room and marvelled at what has happened to him in the past 12 months. I had been doing of with soap personal appearances and Hob Home Box office specials. But i played the same character Gay Stepson Jodie Dallas for four years and people thought that was All i did. Hob has a limited audience and on concerts i played to 1,000 or 2,000 people a night he said. I loved the pressure of my work. I m an adrenalin addict. In College i was the kind of Guy who did a term paper on the night before it was due. I was making More Money on the Road than i could have from saturday night live he continued. But when the offer came i decided i d better take it. And am i glad i did. I did Only 18 shows but in them i was Able to play everything from a 75-year-old Black baseball player to a transvestite piano player in a bar to to talk show Host Joe his most indelible character has been Silver haired to personality Fernando to whom everyone looks the portrait bears an obvious resemblance to the late Fernando lamas and recently his widow. Esther Williams told people Magazine that she found the routine in poor taste. Thai Turp Laed me commented Crystal. When i met Lier at the night of 100 stars we talked Tor an hour and she told me she enjoyed the act. I met Lorenzo lamas that night too and he said he was a fan. Like Esther he mentioned things that i should include such As Fernando s love of there the no Trace of Fernando Sammy or any other members of the Crystal gallery in running scared. The comedian even has a mini Beard Lor a tougher look. Crystal had ambitions of becoming a movie Star during his boyhood on Long Island . I be been practising my acceptance speech in the bathroom Mirror since the age of 6," he quipped. If i had won the emmy As supporting player in a series. I would have thanked my principal my teachers my fellow the French Are especially into rockabilly she said and the scorchers Are huge stars in the sound is american and the bands who conceived it Are american but europeans adopted it Clary said. It s an american movement but american bands that Don t sell Many records in their own country Are getting pictures on the covers of British she said. The band introduced co Punk to fans in England. Ireland France Belgium Luxembourg Holland Scandinavia. Germany Italy and Liechtenstein. They also had a successful Lour in Canada and will play Japan and Australia Early next year. There was nobody like us in Europe. It flipped them out. They d never seen anything like the band Ringenberg said. Now there Are other Trad Rock bands touring the continent but Clary said Jason and the scorchers stand out. The scorchers Are different. They grab it by the Throat combining the la shyness of Rock and the soul of former Illinois farm boy Ringenberg adds i d say we re a hard Riding american Rock n Roll band. We tried to make a sound you could Only define As Jason and the that he said will keep them alive in this fragile and Quick business. It will be our saving Grace in the Billy Oyt Toli running scared. Students. But John Larroquette won Lor night court instead and he gave the same Crystal 37, is no film beginner. He starred As the pregnant male in Rabbit test directed by Joan Rivers and appeared in his Friend Rob Reiner s this is spinal tap. He also played Meathead s buddy Al in television s All in the family. Now i m starting to get offers from studios for my own development projects which is what i want to do Crystal said. But i m being very cautious. I Don t want to be one of those runners who keeps watching the finish line before he races the rest of the
