SPIN Presents Lipps Service With Failure

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In this week’s edition of SPIN Presents Lipps Service, host Scott Lipps spoke with none other than Failure. In his conversation with Ken Andrews, Greg Edwards and Kellii Scott, Lipps discussed the band’s new album Wild Type Droid and how things have gone since their 2014 reunion. They also traced the band’s origins and career that launched in the ’90s

Since it began in 2018, the acclaimed podcast has featured many of the biggest voices and personalities in music, including exclusive interviews with Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis, David Lee Roth, Shepard Fairey, Courtney Love, Dove Cameron, Mick Fleetwood, Nikki Sixx, Perry Farrell and many, many more.

To kick off the year, host Scott Lipps spoke with Black Label Society’s Zakk Wylde. In their conversation, the two chatted about Wylde’s early memories of music, his audition for Ozzy Osbourne and his first time working with the band. He also broke down what it was like to play with Guns N Roses before forming his own band, Pride and Glory, and his solo albums before forming Black Label Society.

Every week, a new episode of SPIN Presents Lipps Service is available wherever you consume podcasts (Apple, etc.). Listen to the full episode with Failture below.

Tommy Lee’s Penis is Voiced by Jason Mantzoukas in ‘Pam & Tommy’

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For those counting down the days until the premiere of the new Hulu miniseries Pam & Tommy, there’s some truly outstanding news regarding one pivotal scene between Tommy Lee (played by Sebastian Stan) and his not-so-little Tommy.

In a new feature from Variety, the second episode of the miniseries finds Lee having a “heart-to-heart talk with his penis” about whether or not he has fallen in love with Pamela Anderson, even though they had just met.

To take this situation from hilarious to brilliantly hilarious, Lee’s penis will be voiced by Jason Mantzoukas, whose credits notably include Rafi from The League, Dennis Feinstein from Parks and Recreation and Jay Bilzerian, the horny bisexual middle schooler from Big Mouth. (For anyone that has seen Big Mouth, Jay Bilzerian would probably be really proud of Mantzoukas for landing this gig. Actually, Rafi and Dennis Feinstein would probably be really proud, too.)

Anyway, Variety notes Lee’s exchange with his penis was inspired by a passage from the Motley Crue drummer’s 2004 memoir Tommyland. Creator and showrunner Robert Siegel said, “As much as I’d like to take credit for that, I was simply adapting a chapter from [Lee’s] memoir. I think it might be a first [for television]. There was gentle pushback, because you’ve got to push back a little when a talking penis is presented to you. But Hulu was extremely supportive.”

So, what was it like filming a scene like this? Director and executive producer Craig Gillespie said it was “just awkward” and would detail, “You’ve got four puppeteers working with an animatronic penis. And then, how much is too much, and do you start to lose his emotional torment of what’s going on? Hopefully it works.”

As for Stan, he said of acting opposite an animatronic penis, “By the end of it, I treated it like it was an intimate buddy conversation that one might have when they’re falling in love.”

Pam & Tommy will be premiering on Hulu — animatronic penis and all — on February 2.

Motley Crue: Their 40 Best Songs, Ranked

Erica Banas is a rock/classic rock news blogger who’s well versed in etiquette and extraordinarily nice.

How Fire Inside Crosby Elementary Will Affect El Paso Planetarium

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A portion of the shuttered Crosby Elementary in northeast El Paso went up in flames Sunday (1/23) in a fire the El Paso Fire Department classified as a Condition 4 Fire, which is about as intense as a fire can get.

Crews arrived to find a classroom fully engulfed in flames but were able to knock down the fire and keep it from spreading much further and doing too much damage.

El Paso Fire Department El Paso Fire Department loading…

Although the school has been vacant since June of 2021 with students in the area now attending the newly built Archie Duran Elementary, the campus is the new home of EPISD’s Gene Roddenberry Planetarium.

So, what’s the status of the planetarium, and did the fire affect its day to day operation?

Gene Roddenberry Has a New Location

The 2016 EPISD Bond modernization plan resulted in the consolidation of Dowell, Schuster and Crosby schools to the new Coach Archie Duran Elementary this school year.

And thanks to funding made possible after the district partnered with the City of El Paso, a grant was acquired to cover the cost of relocating to and renovating a section of Crosby so it could accommodate the planetarium’s 40-foot dome, and create a star gazing park and parking.

After being closed for more than a year due to both the pandemic and its relocation, the planetarium just started welcoming students into its new home last November, so news of the fire had many wondering about its status.

Gene Roddenberry Planetarium Gene Roddenberry Planetarium loading…

Safe and Sound

Good news lovers of all things outer space and elementary school field trips; the Gene Roddenberry Planetarium is safe and sound.

The planetarium posted a photo of the fully intact building on its social media with the caption,

The recent fire at Crosby Elementary School did not in any way affect our planetarium. This photo was taken this evening.

Gene Roddenberry Planetarium Gene Roddenberry Planetarium loading…

I checked with planetarium team and was told school field trips are still on. “In fact, we will restart our EPISD field trips Feb 1, and this week we host some students from Reyes Elem in Canutillo ISD.”

Public shows, however, are still a no-go and there’s no word on when those might re-start.

8 Celebrities Who Once Called El Paso Home

VINCE NEIL Schedules Solo Concert In Middle Of MÖTLEY CRÜE’s ‘The Stadium Tour’

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According to InForum, MÖTLEY CRÜE frontman Vince Neil will headline the Red River Valley Fair on July 16 at the Red River Valley Fairgrounds in West Fargo, North Dakota. Also scheduled to appear on the bill are GREAT WHITE and VIXEN. Tickets go on sale on January 28 at 9 a.m.

Neil’s appearance at the Red River Valley Fair is raising eyebrows with CRÜE fans who are concerned that the band’s “The Stadium Tour” will once again be postponed after it was originally scheduled to take place in the summer of 2020 but ended up being pushed back to 2021, and then to 2022, due to the coronavirus crisis. As it stands, Vince is scheduled to perform with MÖTLEY CRÜE one day before the Red River Valley Fair, on July 15, in Cincinnati, Ohio at Great American Ball Park and again one day after the West Fargo gig, on July 17, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at American Family Field.

Last month, Nikki Sixx said that MÖTLEY CRÜE is still on track to finally launch its long-awaited reunion this year. The bassist addressed the status of “The Stadium Tour” while answering a fan question on Twitter. Responding to a fan who wrote, “I’m hopefully going to see The Crue in Houston Tx Aug 2022!”, Sixx said, “We 100% plan on touring in 2022. See ya at the show.”

This past October, Sixx told Germany’s Radio Bob! that he and his CRÜE bandmates will “start rehearsals in May” for “The Stadium Tour” — which also features DEF LEPPARD, POISON and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS. “I start training in December,” he said. “Now it’s down to hard work, getting ready, getting the band into rehearsal.

“We rehearse really hard because we will take a song like ‘Dr. Feelgood’ and while we’re building the show — let’s just say the show is… all the lights are moving, they’re green and they’re slowly moving — we’ll build a whole intro in and design the lights and the lasers around that,” he explained. “So it’s a long process and tedious. So we go to rehearsal and we might need to build in those 32 bars. And then we’ve gotta work with the lighting and the laser company. And then we’ve gotta make sure everything is organized so we get our count-ins for where we need to be onstage. So there’s so much going on.”

When it happens, “The Stadium Tour” will mark the CRÜE’s first live dates since wrapping its 2014/2015 farewell tour. CRÜE toured with POISON back in 2011 and DEF LEPPARD teamed up with POISON for a string of road dates in 2017, but the upcoming jaunt marks the first time all four acts — including JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS — have hit the road together for an extended tour.

MÖTLEY CRÜE’s last studio album was 2008’s “Saints Of Los Angeles”, which was followed by a 2009 “Greatest Hits” compilation.

In 2018, MÖTLEY CRÜE recorded four new songs for “The Dirt” movie, including the single “The Dirt (Est. 1981) (Feat. Machine Gun Kelly)”, “Ride With The Devil”, “Crash And Burn” and the band’s own spin on Madonna’s “Like A Virgin”.

Top 10 Debbie Harry (Solo) Songs

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A pioneer of punk, pop, rap (“Rapture“), and a fashion and pop culture icon (that 1980 Andy Warhol print!), Debbie Harry was born July 1, 1945, in Miami and raised in New Jersey, and started her career in ’60s folk band Wind in the Willows before joining the Stilettoes, featuring guitarist—former husband, lifelong collaborator, and Blondie bandmate—Chris Stein.

Throughout her career with Blondie, which disbanded in 1982 and later reformed in 1997, Harry released several solo albums and also dipped into acting. First starring in David Cronenberg’s 1983 sci-fi horror Videodrome, Harry also appeared in Hairspray in 1988, the Tales From the Darkside movie (1990), and more through the 2000s in Deuces (2002), My Life Without Me in 2003, and the 2008 release Eulogy, also starring Matt Dillon and Norman Reedus.

In 2017, Harry released her 11th album with Blondie, Pollinator, followed by a worldwide tour and a document of their journey and live performances in Havana, Cuba in the short film Blondie: Vivir En La Habana, released in 2021.

In 2019, Harry also released her memoir “Face It,” baring all about drugs, loves, lovers, the music, and how wild the ride has been… so far.

“I’ve had great, happy times and I’ve had some confusion,” said Harry. “I kept going somehow and I don’t know if that’s from stubbornness or stupidity, but both those words start with an ‘st’… is anybody’s life all happy or all sad? It’s impossible. I don’t think it’s over yet. I feel like saying to everybody “Not dead yet! Not dead yet!”

Though Blondie is her root, Harry’s solo material since the 1981 debut KooKoo through her fifth album, Necessary Evil in 2007, is something to explore or revisit.

Here are a handful of purely addictive tracks within the Harry solo catalog that are worth a play, on repeat.

“French Kissin (in the USA)” (1986)

Written by sitcom legend Chuck Lorre, who would later go on to create TV shows like The Big Bang Theory, Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men, and more, “French Kissin in the USA” became a big hit in the UK. Harry promoted the track, performing it on Saturday Night Live and if you look close in the video, you’ll recognize actress Katey Sagal (Sons of Anarchy) in her pre-Peggy Bundy Married with Children days.

“Chrome” (1981)

Still with Blondie at the time of recording her debut Kookoo, produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic, some of the band’s pop, rap, and funk beats spill into the album, but there are several stand-out moments for Harry as a solo artist, including the dreamier “Chrome.”

“Rush Rush” (1983)

Harry’s second collaboration with Italian producer Giorgio Moroder (the first, Blondie’s 1980s hit “Call Me”), “Rush Rush” was her first single after the breakup of Blondie in 1982. Recorded between her first and second solo album, “Rush Rush” is about many states of euphoria and even references yeyo, the Spanish colloquialism for cocaine.

“In Love With Love” (1987)

Written with Stein, “In Love With Love,” off her second solo album Rockbird, produced by Seth Justman of the J. Geils Band, was a sequel, said Harry, to Blondie’s 1979 hit “Heart of Glass.”

“Comic Books” (1989)

For the first time, Harry referred to herself as Deborah Harry on her third album Def, Dumb & Blonde. Never released as a single, “Comic Books” revives Harry’s punk side with the nostalgia and daydreams tied to all those paper periodicals, singing Long before I was 12 I would read by myself / Archie, Josie, super-heroes / I would read them by myself / I had the stars on my wall… 14 was a gas for me / Batman on TV / I would cheer the super-heroes / They were all I wanted to be. (Another more punk track off Def, Dumb and Blonde: “Bike Boy.”)

“Two Times Blue” (2007)

Released as the first single from Harry’s fifth solo album Necessary Evil, and Harry’s first solo release in 14 years, “Two Times Blue” hit it big on the international dance scene. There are several versions and remixes of the track by Soul Seekerz and The Stonebridge Vocal, and this one, featuring Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx side project Sixx:A.M.

“Brite Side” (1989)

Another track off Def, Dumb, and Blonde, “Brite Side” talks about looking at the positives in darker times—Whenever I feel trapped / Held by the inescapable / I try to put my mind at ease / Protect the heart worn on my sleeve / That’s when I feel brand new. Co-written with Stein, “Brite Side” was also featured on the 1980s TV show Wiseguy, which also starred Harry.

“I Can See Clearly” (1993)

Off Harry’s fourth album Debravation, which also featured instrumental backing from R.E.M. on the track “My Last Date (With You),” the first single “I Can See Clearly” was dance-y and showed off a slightly goth Harry in the video. Like many of her solo releases, Harry co-wrote many of the Debravation tracks with former partner, Blondie bandmate Chris Stein.

“Standing in My Way” (1993)

Featuring longtime friend, the late Joey Ramone, “Standing in My Way” leaves its punk mark on Debravation. Harry and Ramone (see her duet with The Ramones below) bang through the chorus with Harry’s empowering There’s a banging in my head / Every day I’m seeing red / Feel I can do nothing at all til I break the chains, tear down the wall… Too many people tell me what to do, what to think, and say / Now it’s time for me to do what I want / You better get out of my way / I’m moving out, getting out of here / I can’t waste anymore time.

“I Want That Man” (1989)

Produced by Thompson Twins’ Alannah Currie and Tom Bailey, “I Want That Man” (Def Dumb, and Blonde) was Harry’s biggest hit, peaking at No. 13 in the U.S. and topping the charts internationally. At one point referencing actor Harry Dean Stanton in the lyric I want to dance with Harry Dean, the song—both ended up in a brief relationship—”I Want That Man” is a more empowering song, about getting “that man” and anything else desired in this lifetime—Here comes the twenty-first century / It’s gonna be much better for a girl like me / ‘Cause I want everything I can / But most of all I want that man.

*BONUS TRACK (DUET) #1: ‘Go Lil Camaro Go” by The Ramones (Featuring Debbie Harry)

Though this track is technically by The Ramones, off their 1987 album Halfway to Sanity, it’s the perfect pairing of kindred music spirits, featuring the band’s longtime friend Harry. Though Harry has had some memorable duets (Nick Cave, Iggy Pop, Perry Farrell, and more), this was a special moment in time with the late (great) Joey Ramone and Harry singing a simple tune around the summertime swoon of Girls, cars, sun, fun / Good times for everyone… Go lil’ Camaro go Oohh! Go lil’ Camaro go Oohh.

*BONUS TRACK (DUET) #2: “Rainbow Connection” with Kermit the Frog

In 1980, two unlikely beings united for what would be one of the most iconic performances in network television. Still with Blondie at the time, Harry broke from the band to host The Muppet Show. In one of the rare performances in the five seasons of the series, a white kimono-clad Harry joined Kermit for a sweet rendition of his signature song “Rainbow Connection,” a song originally written by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher for The Muppets Movie in 1979. Harry later performed Blondie’s hit “Call Me” with the Muppets house band for the finale.

Photo: Press Here Publicity