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Pop: Hot Ticket
By GINA VIVINETTO
© St. Petersburg Times,
published November 8, 2001
Christian rock act pumps up melody
P.O.D., the popular San Diego rock-rap act, causes a stir with its devout Christianity as well as its passionate music. On 1999's platinum The Fundamental Elements of Southtown, thrashing guitar, aggressively funky rhythms and Sonny Sandoval's easy raps about being down with God make for a sound at home both in the pulpit and the mosh pit.
But it's not all religious fervor and metal mayhem on the follow-up Satellite. More melody and some acoustic ballads grace the new disc, as well as guest spots from reggae singer Eek-A-Mouse and the legendary H.R., singer for pioneer reggae punk rockers Bad Brains.
P.O.D. performs 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg. $20. (727) 898-2100.
-- GINA VIVINETTO, Times pop music critic
A burning social conscience
Midnight Oil scored just that one 1987 hit, Beds Are Burning, a plea for land rights for Australia's indigenous Aborigines. (Some of the tune's lyrics are lifted from The Dhammapada, a Buddhist book of tenets.)
The Aussie band, known for inspirational live shows featuring passionate, chrome-domed singer Peter Garrett, is outspoken, to say the least.
In 2000, at the Sydney Olympics, during Australia's heated controversy surrounding the human rights issues of reconciliation with aboriginal people, Midnight Oil performed during closing ceremonies.
Band members wore overalls until just minutes before their performance, to conceal their intent from Olympics officials. Then, overalls removed, the band, in guerrilla-style activism, went onstage in front of the Australian prime minister and a global television audience and resurrected Beds Are Burning wearing black shirts with the word "Sorry" written in huge white letters.
Midnight Oil performs at 7 p.m. Friday at Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg. $22.50. (727) 898-2100.
-- GINA VIVINETTO, Times pop music critic
The original shock rocker
Before Alice Cooper made his recent commercials for the Marriot hotel chain and Comp USA, he was the very scary original 1970s shock rocker with hits such as I'm Eighteen, School's Out, No More Mr. Nice Guy and the righteous rock ballad Only Women Bleed.
Cooper (real name: Vincent Damon Furnier) ran around onstage with all that runny mascara, the boa constrictor and the guillotine. He also did a weird collaboration with Salvador Dali, in which a hologram of Cooper bit the head off the Venus de Milo -- perhaps inspiring future head biting by Ozzy Osbourne?
But now this teetotaling dad and avid golfer doesn't seem so creepy next to protegees such as Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson and Slipknot. (Really, do any of them seem creepy anymore?) Still, Cooper is always a trend setter: first in shock rock, first in head biting. More than a decade ago he had an album titled Snorting Anthrax. Whoa.
Alice Cooper performs -- and, yes, he's bringing the guillotine -- 8 p.m. tonight at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater. $32-$50. (727) 791-7400.
-- GINA VIVINETTO, Times pop music critic
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