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6
November, /V 79
li\pc by Instrumentality
Preliminary hearings were recently
held in the case of composer/producer/
music ian Jac k Nitzsche, who was charged
with rape by instruinentalily, burglary,
assault with intent to commit murder,
assault with a dead I v weapon and false im
prisonment. all stemming from his alleged
June 29 visit to actress Carrie Snodgress.
who says she and her son /eke, 7 (by Neil
Yxing). were asleep when Nitzsche arrived
at 2 a m., brandishing a handgun. Cues!
Paul Williams (the director, not the song
writer) fled into the night while Nitzsche
reportedly pistol-whipped Snodgress,
threatened her son. and then committed
rape with the barrel of his revolver. Snod
gress suffered a fractured cheekbone,
bruises and abrasins, and had an l#-stitc lies
c ut on her thumb. I his ease will Ik* one of
the first to applv a new California statute
which outlaws rape hv instrumentalitv —
using an object otbei than sexual organs.
( I he new rape law is sometimes called the
Horn Innocent law; a 9-year-old San Fran
cisco girl was taped with a beer bottle by
four kids wbo were inspired by a similar
assault in that I V movie). Nitzsche. 42.
pleaded not guilty to all counts. Nitzsche
worked with Neil Vexing and Crazy Horse
during the six years that Snodgress lived
with Vexing; Nitzsche did the music for One
Tlru• Oxrr the Cuckoo's \e\t and Performance.
Earlier in his career. Nitzsche worked as an
artanger foi Phil Spector, had a I9B5 hit
single. ‘ I'he Lonelv Surfer,” and appeared
as pianist and arranger on a few Rolling
Stones album. Snodgress. 3!), was nomi
nated for ant )s< ai for ber perform.mee in
Diary of a Wad Housewife, and recently ap-
|K*aied in The Tun
Whatever Happened to ...
PaulSimon who hasn't released an album
since Still Crazy After All These Years in 1975,
Ampersand
is now at work on his first movie (still unti
tled). He wrote it and he stars in it. playing
a contemporary musician ”in coni lid with
changing times"; other cast members are
lilait brown as bis wife and Dan Stern
(w ho played Cyril in Breaking Away). There
w ill be concert footage of various big-
name acts of the Sixties — sue h as Peter.
Paul & Mary, the Byrds. Sl\ Stone —but
none of these has actually been signed
(yes, there will Ik* new Simon tunes, at last,
and a soundtrack album). Director is
KoIk‘11 Vf. Vexing, w ho did Huh Kols, and
filming started a few weeks ago in ...
Cleveland. Cleveland! Short people got no
reason.
No Knack for Humor
Every Saturday in Hollywood there is a
post-midnight musical memorabilia swap
meet in the parking lot across from Capitol
Records’ Vine Street hcadcpiarters. Until
recently, San Francisco artist Hugh Brown
had the hottest items on the lot — an array
of “kntike the Knack" shirts, bumper stic
kers and buttons ridiculing the well-hyped
Capitol “new wave” group. One hilatious
night, leader Doug Kieger and other
Knack members grinningly purchased
armloads of Brown's satiric goodies, but
the Joke was referred to the Knack's legal
eagles soon after "Honk if You’ve Slept
w ith Sharona" bumper stickers became
Brown's top seller. Under a salvo of
c harges — "trademark infringement,
copyright infringement, unfair competi-
tion. defamation and invasion of
privacy" — Brown has knuckled under.
I hus Saturday night collectors arc dep
rived forever of what was to Im* Brow n’s
next comment on the Knack
phenomenon — little voodoo dolls of
everyone in the group, pins included.
Energy' Drain
Estimated receipts from the MUSE
(Musicians United for Safe Energy) con
ceit. held Septenibei 19-25 at Madison
Square Carden, have dropped f rom
$750,000 to “less than half a million."
according to concert spokesman David
Kenton. Spearheaded by John Hall,
former leader ol Orleans and now a solo
artist, the Ml’SK. shows were hiightened
hv a lux Btucc- Springsteen performance,
along with appearances by James lay lot ,
(.arly Simon, the Doobie Brothers,-Rv
UchmIci, C'.haka Khan, lorn Petty, Bonnie
Rain, Paul Simon, Peter losh and others.
What went wrong is that the concert went
so light: overtime fees to the huge Carden
stafl were necessary because the shows
cooked cxi till 1:50 some nights. However,
notes Kenton, a film of the event and a
soundtrack album mav Imosi the take liac k
up K.lektra-Asylum, which has the record
i ights, has not yet set a release elate. An
outdoor rally near the World Trade
Center, held on the last day of the concert
series, drew approximately 200,000 anti-
nuke demonstrators.
But what atxxit the lonely pro-nuke de-
monstrators? A pair of them was recently
Black Sabbath has c ancelled its fall tour;
in fact, the group has cancelled half its
members, with guitarist Tony loitimi and
drummer Bill Ward remaining. Vcxalist
Ozzy Osbourne has been replaced by
Ronnie James Dio (formerly with Rain-
bow). and bassist Ceezer Butler was re
sighted at los Angeles International Air
port. separately, of course. One, a young
woman reminiscent of Cilda Radnor's I.isa
l.cMipner charac ter, wore a sign that read
"More People Have Died in Ted Kennedy’s
Car Than in Nuc lear Accidents." A few
clays later her place had lK*en taken by a
blond and pudgv vexing man whose slogan
was "Nuc leal Plants Are Built Better Than
Jane Fonda."
Big Deals
Alan Ai.da and Jane Fonda (build or no
build) are ImxIi much richer these clays;
Alda signed a deal with Universal that gives
him total artistic control of any film he
wants io make, providing he stays undei a
$7 million budget. His fu st projec t, The Tour
Seasons (which he wrote), trace’s the friend
ships ol three ccxiples in a one year period.
Onlv Woody Allen has suc h a good deal, at
U A Fonda, meanwhile, gets $2 million
from Columbia, her biggest salary yet, for
Her Hiothei's Keeper, .iImhiI a woman prison
guard.
Tut: Illustrated George Cami.is is the
comedian's first starring/producing film
venture, lot which (Uirlin sent exit this call
for siip|Mxting players: ’male, vaiieel age,
500-400 lbs, femme, varied age, 500-400
lbs; males (2) and femme, varied age,
midgets.”
Ken Russell, the British director who
gave us l.isztomania. The Devils, Valentino
and others, will next make The Monster of
Loch Mess, no less, in which said monster
placed by (Iraig (iruber. Iomini reportedly
wants to make more (Hilished noise, like
Queen or Foreigner, while Osbourne —in
l.os Angeles auditioning musicians
recently —claims he'll carry on with the
pulverizing riffs and a new hand. Saldiath
hopes to re-schedule for mid February.
emerges as a mutant victim of radiation
fallout — just like all those ants, blobs, and
Things of the Fifties. More had news:
screenwriter is John By rum, who wrote
the wretched Mahogany
John Contardo, after nine years as Sha
Na Na’s Ixillad specialist, has scored a solo
album deal. Plans call for a tone h ol disco,
a heavy serving of romantic lialladrv and
absolutely no "oldies but goodies," of
which the handsome Contardo seems to
have become pretty sick. But he won't
hang up the gold lame pantsuit just yet.
“Sha," as lie c alls the dui able ad, still makes
tidy sums from its tours and television
show.
lucrative Kiss-Off
As HER MARRIAGE to Kiss' c uddly Peter
Criss veered toward the rcxks, Lydia Criss
did as so many of icxlas's smart women do:
she hired attorney Marvin Mitrhclson.
mouthpiece of choice in several recent
celebrity alimony and living-togethcr-
no-longer settlements, Michelle Frieda
Marvin's and Britt F.kland's among them.
How did the former Mrs. Criss make exit?
"All I can say." gloated Mitchelson, “is that
she's glad to Ik* a millionaire."
Don’t Tall In
Disney Studios is sending Dr. William J.
Rauf maun III cm a ten-university lecture
(Continued on page 22)