Timur PANKOV
ALMATY, October 14 (THE GLOBE)
These engaging Hollywood ruffians mixed funk, punk and grunge in the mid-80s and encouraged a legion of other bands to regurgitate the formula. Led by �Antwan The Swan� (b. Anthony Kiedis, 1 November 1962, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA; vocals), the band�s original line-up also featured �Flea� (b. Michael Balzary, 16 October 1962, Melbourne, Australia; bass), Hillel Slovak (b. 31 March 1962, Israel, d. 25 June 1988; guitar) and Jack Irons (b. California, USA; drums). They began life as garage band Anthem before Balzary departed for seminal 80s punks Fear. When Irons and Slovak moved on to join the less notable What Is This?, the nails appeared to be firmly in place on the Anthem coffin. However, under their new name, the Red Hot Chili Peppers acquired a speculative recording contract with EMI Records America. Unfortunately, as Irons and Slovak were under contract with their new band, their debut album had to be recorded with Jack Sherman on guitar and Cliff Martinez (ex- Captain Beefheart ; Weirdos ) on drums. Production was handled, somewhat surprisingly, by the Gang Of Four �s Andy Gill. The band set about building their considerable reputation as a live outfit, much of which was fuelled by their penchant for appearing semi-naked or worse. Slovak returned to guitar for the second album, this time produced by George Clinton. Also featured was a horn section comprising Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley, veterans of James Brown, among others. Martinez returned shortly afterwards to reinstate the original Anthem line-up, and their third album saw a shift back to rock from the soul infatuation of its predecessors. In 1988 they released the Abbey Road EP, featuring a pastiche of the famous Beatles album pose on the cover (the band were totally naked save for socks covering their genitalia). However, the mood was darkened when Slovak took an accidental heroin overdose and died in June. Deeply upset, Irons left, while the band recruited John Frusciante (guitar) and Chad Smith (b. 25 October 1962, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA; drums). After the release of Mother�s Milk, the single �Knock Me Down� was released as a tribute to Slovak. Of their most commercially successful excursion, 1991�s BloodSugarSexMagik, they accurately diagnosed their motivation, and much of their attraction: �Just recognizing that I was a freak, but knowing that was a cool place to be.� Producer Rick Rubin, usually associated with the harder end of the metal and rap spectrum (Slayer, Danzig), nevertheless brought out the Peppers� first ballads. Such sensitivity has done little to deter the vanguard of critics who have long since raged at what they saw as the band�s innate sexism. Frusciante was replaced in June 1992 by Arik Marshall, who in turn was sacked one year later. In 1994 new guitarist Dave Navarro (b. 7 June 1967, Santa Monica, California, USA; ex-Janes�s Addiction) joined in time to participate in recording the excellent One Hot Minute, released in 1995. BloodSugarSexMagik had sold four million units in the USA by 1996. Navarro left the band in 1998 and was replaced by ex-member John Frusciante.
Hilary Skeels
London, Oct 13
(THE GLOBE)
As work continues at the sight of last weeks train crash in Paddington, West London, investigators beleive they can confirm the death toll to be no more than 40. At one point last week, up to 170 were feared dead as increasing numbers of passengers were reported missing to Scotland Yard. However, later in the week and over the weekend, many showed up alive and well or recovering in one of several London hospitals treating the victims. Carriage H, the first in the larger train was the carriage which ploughed through the other, smaller train, and was then worst affected in the following fire. Carriage H was finally fully examined, and despite fears about the number of fatalities which would be found, it yielded only one body. The fire inside the carriage could have reached temperatures of up to 600 degrees Centrigrade.
Memorial Service Held in Car Park overlooking Crash Site A memorial service was held for the victims of the train crash on Sunday in a car park in West London where many of the wounded gathered in the hours after the crash last Tuesday. A brass band played solemn hymns as the victims relatives were joined by over 1,000 mourners, including recovery workers and members of the emergency services who were working at the scene of the crash. A cross made out of wood had been set-up for the service, but it was hard to miss the remaining carriages which could clearly be seen from the site of the service.
RailTrack will have safety setting and policing rights removed This train crash, which is one of the worst this half century, has led to an intense scrutiny of the saftey systems of the British Rail network. Railtrack is the group who own most of the UK railway system, and since privatisation they have overseen and controlled the individual train operating companies. (These include Thames Trains and Great Western, whose trains were involved in last Tuesday�s crash). Railtrack also set and police the safety standards for these comapnies. However, John Prescott, deputy Prime Minister, has confirmed Railtrack will no longer have controll over the safety standards, and he is expected to be backed-up by an independant study published today. This train disastor is the last in a series of embarassing and dangerous crashes and near-misses for Railtrack.
October 15, 1917 - Mata Hari, the archetype of the seductive female spy, is executed for espionage by a French firing squad at the Vincennes barracks outside of Paris. Mata Hari first came to Paris in 1905, and found fame as a performer of exotic Indian-inspired dances in the Parisian salons. Mata Hari soon began touring all over Europe, telling the story of how she was born in a sacred Indian temple and taught ancient Indian dances by a priestess who gave her the name Mata Hari, meaning �eye of the dawn.� In reality, Mata Hari was born in a small town in northern Holland, and her real name was Margaretha Geertruida Zelle Macleod. But regardless of the authenticity of her eastern origins, Mata Hari packed dance halls from Russia to America, largely due to her willingness to dance almost entirely naked in public. Mata Hari was also a famous courtesan in European society, and with the outbreak of World War I her catalogue of lovers began to include high-ranking French officers. In February of 1917, French authorities arrested her for espionage, and she was found guilty and sentenced to death. It is generally believed that Mata Hari never acted as a spy for Germany or any other nation, and that her only crimes were her elaborate stage fallacy and weakness for military men.
October 15, 1945 - Pierre Laval, the puppet prime minister of Nazi-occupied Vichy France, is executed in France for treason. Laval, originally a deputy and senator of pacifist tendencies, shifted to the right in the 1930s while serving as the French premier and minister of foreign affairs. A staunch anti-Communist, Laval delayed the Soviet-Franco pact of 1935 and sought to align France with Fascist Italy. Hostile to the declaration of war against Germany in 1939, Laval encouraged the antiwar faction in the French government, and with the German invasion in 1940 used his political influence to force an armistice with Germany. Laval offered full control of the new Vichy state to Phillipe Petain, and as Petain�s deputy led the Vichy government in full collaboration with the Nazi programs of genocide and oppression. After the Allied liberation of France, Laval, imprisoned and condemned to death by the High Court of Justice, attempted suicide by poison, but was nursed back to health in time for his execution.
October 16, 1964 - The People�s Republic of China detonates its first nuclear bomb at the Lop Nor test site in the western province of Xin Jiang. The successful explosion of the twenty-two-kiloton fission bomb makes China the world�s fourth nuclear power, after the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain. Nuclear testing at the Lop Nor site continues well into the 1990s, with China detonating an average of one nuclear weapon every year within the extremely radioactive area of Lop Nor. In 1980, exactly sixteen years after the detonation of their first bomb, China moved its nuclear testing out of the atmosphere and underground.
The Kosteyev State National Museum. Exhibition of S. Kalmykov, I. Itkind, and V. Eifert�s works, and Rudolf Nuriev�s painting.
From 10.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. Closed on Mondays.
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
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