The Winners!

The Providence Phoenix
Best Music Poll Results are in

by Michael Caito / photographs by Dana Siles

BEST ALTERNATIVE /
BEST SONG
THE AMAZING ROYAL CROWNS

"What's more rockabilly than that, fists swinging right after a show, bloodying each other?" Jason "King" Kendall asked rhetorically while ringing up another movie rental at Acme Video in Fox Point. He was at the tail-end of a double shift: selling records by day, renting films by night.

The brawling was mentioned in reference to a question about the Amazing Royal Crowns' in-fighting, which in their early days was common during rehearsal. Stopping short of endorsing haymakers as a key ingredient to music-making, Kendall maintained that things have settled down.

But only as far as fighting, because the Crowns are on a roll. Last month three songs were featured on an HBO comedy special ("They gave us screen credits and everything, which we didn't expect," Kendall said), and while they just finished one U.S. tour, another is being finalized. A recent deal with Bug Music helped get the word out to nightclubs around the country, and even commercial radio has gotten into the act, as they've been added at 'BRU and 'HJY. (And tonight they're in the finals of the WBCN Rumble.)

"Yeah it was kinda wild seeing Rodney Dangerfield fruggin' to one of our songs," Kendall said. "But you know, there's always gonna be something strange. I mean, we travelled four or five thousand miles and nothing bad happened -- well, except our spare tire got stolen in New Orleans -- and we get back home and play Lupo's. Big crowd, really into it. We had a great night, but I don't really remember too much. There were so many people coming up saying 'hi,' after a while I just got in this zone just trying to remember to do everything we were supposed to do onstage. It was nice but frantic."

"Ah, the glamour life of a Royal Crown," I cracked.

"Oh sure, bust my balls," he laughed, figuring out a customer's overdue movie rate. "Then we go outside and our tires are slashed, so I'm there with my girlfriend until 5 in the morning waiting for the flatbed to show up to tow us. Real glamorous."

The shows on the tour had followed a definite pattern, he noted. "Anything that billed us as rockabilly basically bombed," he said. "We had some great sets, but [the club] was dead. The ones that mentioned the punk-rockabilly thing did well, and in towns we'd played before -- like Boston and New York -- there were a lot more people than last time. I know there are a lot of purists who object to what we're doing, but it's still rock and roll. Look what Jerry Lee Lewis did, the people he freaked out. Johnny [a.k.a. The Colonel] has to deal with a lot. There's no place for that big guitar sound of his to hide, so there's always been pressure on him, especially being from around here with all these great players. If he should happen to fuck up, everyone in the place'll hear it immediately. He's over at [High Roller guitarist] Tom Ferraro's house as we speak. That's where he's coming from. With Jack and Dana [bass and drums] plus me with my hardcore background, you'll never please everybody so why even try? We've never been into that. We make music we love."

BEST FEMALE VOCALIST
GERI VERDI

The first pressing of Geri Verdi andthe Villains' Lipstick &Powder was sold out in a month, the CD release parties in Newport and Providence were jammed, and she has pros in her Villainous corner (Ken Lyon and Tex Burbank, to name only two), steeped in blues and rock traditions, capable of conviction while moving directly from Bessie Smith to Led Zep. Geri met Tex at a CAV open mike and Ken at a Robert Cray show at Lupo's. Lyon, of course, was a member of the legendary Tombstone Blues Band, and Burbank had been in a few outfits, the most recognizable of those being . . . Badfinger?

Yep. That covers some ground. So, among contemporary singers, who would Geri Verdi go out of her way to listen to live?

"Who are still alive? Steven Tyler, Robert Plant, Ann Wilson," she said last week. "KoKo Taylor, John Mayall."

Performing solo, with the Villains, the Jazz Ensemble and promoting must take its toll.

I have an agent now so I can spend more time writing and studying artists. People like Robert Johnson and Bessie. I talk about and introduce songs too, because I try to educate people [in the same way] I was educated -- by looking and seeing where they're coming from. Because I grew up with it -- both of my parents were musicians -- I know a lot about it, so I'd just like other people to learn too. We'll go from a Stones tune to a Bessie Smith, and I'll put one of mine in there so people can kinda see where I'm coming from, and I don't feel like I'm compromising or like I'm selling out, or a jukebox either.

What do you see a year or so down the line?

I'd like a record deal, and I want my band signed with me -- Tex, Kenny on bass and our drummer, Don Culp. They're wonderful, and so I guess I'm not wishing for too much because right now I'm thrilled. I love the band, we're lucky enough to have a lot of material, and I have a lot to learn.

Specifically?

More and more blues and blues history. I just wrote a song kinda based on an idea from Blind Lemon Jefferson. But really, I want to learn everything. There are so many and there's so much, learning different lingos and styles and periods. I just want to learn everything.

BEST MALE VOCALIST
CLAY OSBORNE

Sixteen pieces strong, John Allmark's Big Band had infused their opening set recently at Jezebel's with enough brass energy, Thad Jones and Monk to illuminate a mid-sized city. After a snappy reading of "You Rotten Kid," the man to whom that song was dedicated by bandleader Allmark ambled onstage, moving right into "Blackbird," one of his faves.

Clay Osborne, just turned a sprightly 70 years young, had us all in the palm of his hand. "You know what the best part of being 70 is?" he asked the audience. Holding for one beat, he smiled. "You don't have to do 69 anymore."

The crowd erupted, and one fan, motioning to the lovely Mrs. Osborne, who had been introduced earlier, noted aloud, "You're in big trouble now, Clay."

Then Clay started "My Funny Valentine" and, watching his eyes, you knew exactly to whom he was singing. How much the person he was singing it to meant to him. Call it another magic moment, years in the making.

BEST ALBUM / BEST JAZZ
DAN MORETTI

He's teaching at Berklee, touring, recording, writing a book for sixth to eighth grade jazz band members, is band director at the Lincoln School, and recently had a blast in California playing with Nat Adderly, brother of Cannonball. His sixth album, Impressions, had helped Dan Moretti earn his fourth and fifth Award, and the East Providence-based musician/producer was quick to note that despite his numerous current projects he's still mighty puzzled about that last one.

"It's an honor to be picked again," he said last week. "But it's strange in that I spent the least amount of time on that record than any I've done so far. People have told me it's the best I've done and I'm just scratchin' my head. It's funny how things work out -- you think about your 'artistic endeavor' and you get so focused that sometimes you get too anal about it. Something more spontaneous and looser becomes more of a musical experience for everybody, and people dig it more. Engineering it and playing on it at the same time really made it easy to focus, because there was nobody in the way. I'm in the control room playing with headphones on and the guys are right there.

Have many contemporary jazz artists tried that?

(laughing) There aren't too many that are crazy enough to try it. It was going to multi-track, so as long as I had good levels and the sounds were decent I knew I could deal with it all later in the mix.

So now you're gonna stick with it?

I just went in again with [Impressions bassist] Marty Ballou and Marty Richards, the drummer, and we did a similar thing with no chords, calling it Chordless Trio. We played some R&B and jazz, a little bit of funk.The sound is very spatial because there is no thick harmonic instrument there dictating anything.

Wouldn't that be a big challenge during mixdown?

It's a whole separate thing. Once you get used to hearing it it's interesting. Some people at first listen might think, "There's something missing," but the interaction and freedom in the rhythm section is so much greater. There are no harmonic chains there, and we can go anywhere we want to. We went in and did seven tunes, three hours, no charts. We'd never played them together, just kinda talked them out and played. Elvin Jones did it lot in the '60s, and [Boston's] the Fringe are noted for that sound. In fact, I have a date at Chan's with the drummer and bass player of the Fringe, and Peter Calo [Impressions guitarist] on August 9.

Right before the Narragansett Jazz and Blues Festival. How's that shaping up?

Last year was a lot of fun for the first time. It's a nice spot, right across from the Wall. It will always remain a regional, small, free festival. I don't envision it growing to Newport's stature.

The Dan Moretti Quartet perform in the Roger Williams Park Casino for a Rhode Island Legal Services fund-raiser on May 30.

BEST FOLK
BILL PETTERSON

Right off, Bill Petterson thanked Pendragon and Paul Geremia for not being on the ballot, because "I worship both," and believes theirs was a well-merited cinch in the Folk category through the years. He spoke excitedly of the inroads which his last album, Angell Road (Fine Print Music), has made on international airwaves, and of the upcoming festival in Columbia, Pennsylvania featuring himself, Tish Hinojosa, the Guess Who, Martin Sexton, Riders In the Sky andTony Rice.

"I thought of you the other day. My friend Chuck, a fine singer-songwriter, hit me with a great quote," Petterson said from his home out past the Scituate Reservoir last week. "He said, `You know it's OKto have a conscience and do the whole folk thing. And if I had a hammer I'd hammer every morning, too, but I have a fuckin' house payment, OK?' "

Should the Poll be chastised for not having a country category?

As far as country acts are concerned it wouldn't be a bad idea to have one as such. Have you had one before?

Yeah, every year 'til this year.

You can't please everybody, though. You'd have 100 categories if you tried to cover it all. Ido know there are a lotta great country acts out there. But there are so many different realms of just folk itself -- contemporary acoustic, country blend stuff like Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Jim Lauderdale . . . .

Are they your peers?

God, no, not peers, but people like Joe Ely I've followed for years. I'm living proof, in that respect, that having eclectic styles can play havoc with your commercial success. They've proven it too -- the John Hiatts and John Prines. They do have their devoted followers, they're phenomenal writers and players, but you can't stick 'em anywhere, and this is happening in folk a lot now. [It can go] from an Ani DiFranco to a Pendragon. That's a wide range.

What does "Americana" mean?

I think it's the term they're using this week. Used to be Triple-A. It's a radio format that covers that huge gap where people fall -- Tish, Joe Ely, Gilmore right up to Bela Fleck. You don't know where to put 'em. What's happened in the industry is that [many radio] stations have realized there's a huge audience of people, 25 to 40, who basically don't have anything to listen to. I think this is what they're thinking of. The heavy commercial country will always be there, but not the way it was 10 years ago. And Americana fills that gap with the Shawn Colvins and Greg Browns. There are a lot of those stations cropping up and they've been great to us. Angell Road's been in rotation all the way to Australia, England, across the U.S.

Bill Petterson appears at the Call on May 28 with the Thompson Brothers, and at Hear In Rhode Island in June.

BEST R&B / BEST LIVE SHOW
YOUNG NEAL &THE VIPERS

"Getting ready to go back in to do another record with King Snake, try to hone it a little bit more. You may miss, you might hit it right on, but you always try to work your craft to try to get it better." So said Young Neal Vitullo, guitarist/singer for the Vipers from his East Bay home. We were discussing the follow-up to his King Snake debut, 13, and how material from that release had settled with him about a year later, but we were actually just killin' time before we could talk fishing.

Are you your own toughest critic?

I'm harder on myself than on anybody else. Absolutely. And they think I've been hard on them.

Has songwriting become easier over the years?Is the process different for you now than, say, a decade ago?

It's different and more difficult, 'cause I think too much now. When you first do things there aren't as many rules. You just kinda do it.

Did you ever think about doing a whole record live?

Yeah, in fact as soon as I can I wanna get some live tracks down. It would be much easier for one thing, taking things from different shows or setting it up like a three-night stand somewhere.

This is an unfair question for someone who is out playing 200 times a year, but at whose live shows can you guarantee having a good time? Which shows left indelible impressions?

That's tough. Maybe . . . the High Rollers. It's tough because I used to go through such phases. I used to go see Duke [Robillard] a lot. Roomful. Guys around here put on some good shows. Lately I went to see Brian Setzer's orchestra. That was heavy, and I'd suggest that to anybody. When I've seen B.B. [King] over the years it's just completely, I mean, almost the same show, but it's on, and he'll show you how to be a professional no matter what. And here's a guy playing over three hundred nights a year. At his age. He gets up there and does it right -- knows how to work a crowd, leaves 'em smiling. One of the first shows I ever saw was Chuck Berry at Rhodes-On-the-Pawtuxet. My friend won tickets, and asked me who [Berry] was. By the end he wanted to pay to see the second show. The fathead. That was in '79; I was a senior in high school.

Do you ever want to get the big horn section and the keys or is that not for you?

It would just change me. It would be nice; if I could afford to do it maybe I would. Going with that style would be cool. It's a short walk for me obviously, but it's almost restrictive, and that's why I like the trio format.

Nowhere to hide ever.

I know. If I could find a keyboard player that would fit in maybe it might be cool.

Al Copley Junior?

I like his records.

What's the next big goal you've set for yourself?

A 70-pound bass?

What's the second-best place to catch stripers in Rhode Island right now?

I got 15 this morning. Let's see . . . second-best. Right now?Providence River.

C'mon. They're way up there already?

Up near where the Red Bridge is there are herring runnin' by that waterfall. They start first week of April.

Young Neal &the Vipers headline the Wreck in Misquamicut on May 25 and the Call on the 30.

BEST ROCK
BROOKLYN STEAMER

The band hearse was curbed outside, scaring all the puny, mortal vehicles surrounding it on Fountain Street. "I've been screaming at [Neutral Nation singer Mike] Yarworth about you guys since I heard your tape," I told the quartet as we assembled downtown. "The Toss-Offs, too, and Gringo. All good punk bands coming up, working hard."

"Yeah? Play him the tape," said Paul Kray, drummer of Brooklyn Steamer.

And Iwill. Rock and Roll Part 3 represents Brooklyn Steamer's first full-length CD. They're shopping it around, billing themselves -- quite dangerously, these days -- as a punk band, which they are. Cookie-cutter punk? Nope. Let the debut be your guide: it's tight, you can tell the songs apart, it goes kerrranggggg! in the juiciest places, from the opening instrumental through the quartet's dozen relentless attention-getters. A little Damned even, but not surprising given the later interview kudos dished out to Captain Sensible. "Unflinching" might be a good word to use, with emphasis on songs taking precedence over sticking to some obscure, defunct punk band's coat-tails for hipness' sake. Kray, singer Malt Laxton, their new bassist and guitarist Speedbump booked their imminent tour themselves with very little product support -- some vinyl, a compilation appearance -- and even fewer contacts. I was surprised that their tape sounded so, well, blazing. This quartet have their ship together.

Where are the best live venues for punk right now, outside Providence?

Paul: We've been to a few good shows at the Rat [in Boston]. The guitar player, Brian, from Gringo, they've had shows in his basement with the Swinging Udders and Dropkick Murphys. It's intimate and a lot of fun. It's in Cranston.

Could you not be in a band?

Malt Laxton: It's the most fun thing in the world. I go to school, work a crappy part-time job. The band Ilove. For three years now it's been getting better and better.

[Brief intermission as bassist climbs out of corner booth over lead singer for the sole purpose of passing gas elsewhere in the room.]

Wow, way too much politeness going on here . . .

Speedbump:Actually it's been four-and-a-half years, which is probably longer than any punk band around here. We played with UKSubs in 1993 when nobody showed up.

Paul:We put all we have into everything we do. We want audiences to be completely entertained, visually and songwise. We break onto the stage with smoke and fire and start into the toughest instrumental. Malt immediately leaps into the crowd.

We just want to be heard. Until recently it never dawned on us that we could actually do this for a living. I guess it had but finally about a year-and-a-half ago we said, "Fuck this, we're good." We'd been better than a lot of the bands we'd played with, no disrespect meant but it's true. There's just no reason we can't do it. I guess we'd always felt like a 'local band' until we realized we had something to offer the rest of the world. That was the shift we had to take, and we took it.

Brooklyn Steamer appear on an upcoming Roachender Records seven-inch split with Bastard Squad.

BEST NEW BAND
WET STEW

It's obvious that trying to keep a jazz-rock band going takes work when its four members live in three states, but Wet Stew have risen to the proximity challenge, and with the end of final exams pretty soon bassist John Turner, drummer Art Marcello, pianist Greg Raymond and singer/guitarist Mike Purcell will again share an area code. I recently talked with Purcell, who was quick to recount an excellent experience with Ladysmith Black Mambazo at the Strand. We discussed the celebratory, energy-creating power of the music, made more incisive to Purcell given his recent completion of a three-month volunteer stint in east Africa. Considering the knothead critic hadn't taken Randy Hein's advice to check 'em out months ago, Purcell was kind enough to fill in some blanks.

If you mention jazz and rock when describing your music, what misconceptions immediately arise? What you are, what you're not?

It's weird . . . I've thought about this for a while. When I explain our music and when people come to see us live, a lot of people who aren't familiar with jazz automatically associate it with just jazz because their experience with jazz is incidental. I mean, we all went through that, we all listen to it. As far as what style of music I think we're just trying to do something original within the jazz-rock vein. People have compared us to Steely Dan, and that's cool. We love Steely Dan. We may get compared to someone like, I don't know, Herbie Hancock, and our natural reaction is, "Well, maybe you haven't listened to him enough."

Half of our music is really focused on instrumentals. Most are written as such, and a lot of people come to our shows are Phish fans or Grateful Dead fans. Our approach is different. Those bands get popular and too many other bands are thrown into that category.

Vocals as an instrument in an improvising band plus guitar duties. That's a lot of work, Mike. As the singer, does adding vocals last make it tough to determine which should be instrumentals?

I find it the most difficult when Greg'll write a song, and I'll often feel that a song is strong on its own. That's happened, and we've ended up saying, "Oh, let it be." I enjoy improvising on guitar, but being able to sing is obviously another way to express myself. With my own songs that's comfortable. I'm still working at being able to express myself lyrically, vocally over a composition.

I think the Rhodes makes everything sound great. Some of our first songs didn't have set lyrics. They were improvised, and lyrics and vocals took the back burner. They're all strong enough to make it sound good whether my part's any good or not.

Are compositions gaining in complexity?

Greg's are, I think. We just look at him sometimes. As far as my writing goes, I've been trying to simplify. I went through a period of listening to solely jazz and instrumental music and lately it's been a lot of Beatles and Paul Simon. That's the way I'd really like to develop. It's my dream to have a nice balance of songwriting and improvisation. It's a hip thing to be able to combine and some bands have enjoyed some success doing it. It's tough to do, I think.

Have you heard Ben Folds Five? Not too much jazz, but a breath of fresh air...

No, I haven't, but we try to project something positive. As far as expressing yourself, if you have anger and frustration to express, it's fantastic when you can project musically in a way that people who are upset can go home and say, "Wow, you know, I feel better." Ladysmith were amazing. They're from South Africa; I'd spent from September to December volunteering in east Africa. And I happened to have just finished Nelson Mandela's book.

The music was such a force, and it was an atmosphere I hadn't experienced there before.

Can you see an influence from them in Wet Stew down the line?

It's tough to say. I haven't experienced what they've experienced. You can just tell when people are playing music for that reason -- years of being oppressed and then having freedom. It's so obvious when you hear them. While people grow personally you start expressing honestly what your feelings are. I realized I needed to grow as a person and a musician.

You can't grow without making some mistakes.

Our situation is difficult; we've been together under two years and we've never had the opportunity to really write together. Most of the time it's individuals, usually myself and Greg just throwing it out and all of us jamming around. Then trying a standard jazz tune for the sake of practicing. For the summer we'll have three months of solid practicing and gigging. We've got another coupla years of school to go. Greg just graduated from BC; Adam's got another year at Berklee and I've got a coupla years left.

On Friday, Wet Stew headline the Living Room, where their self-titled CD (recorded at Millrat Studios with Mike from Millrat and Scott from Normandy Sound) will be available.

BEST PRODUCER
TOM BUCKLAND

He is husband, builder of proscenium sets, horse owner, actor, singer, bassist. And now he's a producer at Millrat Recording Studio. Tom Buckland (aka TBuck) has recently finessed CDs by Geri Verdi andthe Villains (mostly blues), Thee Hydrogen Terrors (maelstrom rock), the Agents (ska) and the Amoebic Ensemble (no parentheses are wide enough). He played bass with Neutral Nation for more than a decade, now sings for Herbal Nation, who include NNdrummer "Stumpy" Neckritz, and works in the scene shop at Trinity Rep. A Florida native, he lives in Attleboro with his wife Jennifer and some large, demanding critters.

There are some times, he admits, taking a rare moment to relax at home one evening last week, that it all becomes too much. He recounted one point last summer when his father was put in intensive care and his beloved dog was put to sleep. This immediately after his various ramshackle vans had scoured the wallet with a Brillo pad and he had finally gotten to get out of Dodge to clear his head, working with Velvet Crush in Spain. He confessed that while not suicidal, he had certainly reached a level of mental critical mass, which seemed pretty dangerous nonetheless. When he credits the ensuing Hydrogen Terrors recording session with helping to save his life, it doesn't sound like an even slight exaggeration. Just being TBuck ain't a cakewalk, but the redemptive powers of rock and roll always manage to tip the scales at day's end.

Tom Buckland: There was a band in the building with Millrat rehearsing downstairs -- the Average Suburbanites. Killer little punk band. Whether they've ever made it out into the clubs at all I don't know. They're just rippin' downstairs, and I'd come down after a session and there was this storm going on. Really fun to see. They were a tight little bunch. Ihope they stuck together, but they were all pretty young; I mean, their sightings of Nation were only at reunion shows, but it was nice to see them at that last one. Made me feel good.

When's the next one?

Idon't know. That's not out of the question any more. We're just a long time between gigs is all; (laughs) we have a really bad booking agent. I was trying to track down someone about this punk fest in Wrentham on the first day of summer. It sounded like such a blast . . . big outdoor show, nothing but a punkfest. I just spoke with Brian Simmons the other day. He's putting a compilation together and he wants a Nation tune for that. A retrospective of Rhode Island punk. So we're finally gonna get "Frustrated" actually released on something, which for me was the best song we ever recorded. Sonically it was the right song at the right time. It was one of the last songs I actually wrote for the band, and we were definitely frustrated.

That was on the Funky Dung Tapes retrospective, wasn't it?

[On] the first one we did with Jack Gauthier, we got so lucky. Dave [Chabot, guitarist]'s amp was picking up the BBC at the time, and there's this little intro. We were hearing the radio in our headphones, this BBC reporter going, "But in Russia there are still some chickens in filthy unrefrigerated wire containers." And I decided to start the bass at that point -- "Ahhh, that's my cue!" -- and it kicks right into the song. It was tremendous. We had it out to the radio stations but they said it had the word "fuck" on it too many times. Can't have that. Iloved the fact that Rob Phelps reviewed it and all his review said was, "New song by Neutral Nation. Punk as shit."

Herbal Nation headline the Ocean Mist tonight (5/22).

BEST RAP
DERICK PROSPER

Derick Prosper is spending the next coupla weeks shuttling back and forth between Manhattan and his loft at the Providence Black Repertory Company on Washington Street, where for the past several months on Thursdays he's helped out as host of an evening called " 'Round Midnight," a workshop/open mike situation for aspiring rap and hip-hop MCs, with occasional drop-ins by established and respected turntable wizards like DJLefty (Saturdays on WDOM) and DJBuck (Sundays on WBRU). Prosper's current Manhattan treks involve his attempt to iron out final mastering (in the studio recently used by Mobb Deep and the late Tupac Shakur) and distribution for his new maxi-single, out in a few weeks. "I laid it all down there," he explained. "I did everything -- the beats to the mix. " The follow-up to '95's sizzling EP, Adventures of M.A.S.T.E.R. Mind (Brainchild), Prosper's new A-side "Waitin' All My Life" features a typically inventive narrative twist on the theme of one artist's realization of a life-long dream. I'm not giving that twist away here. The B-side is titled "Hip-Hop Heads," and Prosper certainly seems to fit that bill. "It's when hip-hop is your life," he explains. Over dinner downtown earlier this week, he gave a concise synopsis of two frequently misinterpreted aspects of hip-hop culture: the prime musical difference between "East Coast" and "West Coast" production and rap styles and the impact which the invasion of major labels had on both the quality of releases and the tastes of the listening public. "West coast is more earthy style-wise," he said, "and they're coming from more of a funk thing -- the whole P-Funk generation. East coast style involves less of that and more of a jazz influence."

Prosper -- a performing poet who until recently taught a poetry class at the Carriage House, is also due to release his first spoken-word-only cassette. And the 23-year-old poet/producer/MC is marshalling his seemingly boundless energy to get together a number of MCs and producers throughout the state, including Newport's Dark Flow, for a compilation project. "That's on the low right now," he said, but if this collaborative project comes to fruition, the heretofore underappreciated talent found within Rhode Island's hip-hop community may get some long-overdue notice outside the state.

"The independent labels are on the rise again, so that's why we're putting this record out ourselves, working our own distribution," he said. "When artists first started making money doin' rap and hip-hop, it was only college stations that were playing it. [Majors] came in and next thing you know everybody's got a record out. And a lot of it's garbage. It got so bad that the garbage started selling just because there was so much of it. A lot of the younger artists weren't given any time to develop . . . they were pushed out there before they were ready. They were just like cattle."

So heads up for the next maxi-single. If Derick and Mike's (aka Mastermind and Avatar's) Adventures of . . . was any indication, we'll hear a lot more from Prosper very soon. He has accurate info to convey. From the inside, and the word has even filtered to New York.

"Yeah, I got to play on the Stretch Armstrong show, and some on Hot 97 with Marley Marl," he said. "The spoken-word tape . . . well, I'm basically just trying to get the rap single out first. The poetry tape will have jazz accompaniment, some live percussion. I've been trying to do some remixes and production for a coupla artists coming out on Loud. The cat from Tha Alkaholiks, his name's Taz -- one of the better rappers in the group -- is doing a solo album this summer, and he wants me to do a coupla tracks on that. There's another girl on Loud, her name is Devina, and they're looking for another album or a remix. She's supposed to be real hot. She's an R&B singer, makes all her own music, kinda like a female D'Angelo. But they don't want her to do all her own music. For what apparent reasons I don't know. Like Erykah Badu's album was a lotta different producers. I think they want to do a variation of that on her record."

Is giving up all that control smart for a young artist?

"If you've got the money, sure, it really matters," Prosper said. "For me, at one point when I was making my music, Ialso always wanted other producers on it, but as my style started to mature, my production, I realized I don't need it. I want to do the whole thing. But I do work with a partner at Brainchild -- Avatar. It's just me and my man Mike. He did a lotta production on `Karma.' Right now I'm just trying to shop for Brainchild."

BEST WORLD MUSIC
THE AMOEBIC ENSEMBLE

I spoke with Matthew Everett and Al Redfearn of the Amoebic Ensemble before they headed to hear Thee Headcoats. Along were friends from RISD, including Chloe, a Providence native and graduating senior who made us promise to mention that Ensemble member "Steven Jobe is the best professor at RISD." Al had just mentioned the "trance" track on the upcoming CD Amoebiasis, scheduled for release on a French label whose name means "trumpet stupor."

What of the current European domination of electronic music -- techno, jungle, etc.?

Matt:It's kind of the same way that electric guitars created this cultural dissemination on a massive scale. Everybody could do this stuff. At one time only a few people had access to the equipment, and it's now in the hands of any youth willing to save enough money to do it.

Al:Which is part of the beauty of it, I think.

Matt: It's also empowering in that they're creating a completely new musical language which has very little to do with notation and note-reading. Anything that they would learn in a school is pretty much irrelevant to this kind of music. It takes an enormous amount of skill, and it creates a whole new culture around a music.

Many musicians fear electronic music as an invasion or onslaught, maintaining that there will be less respect for "live" musicians. Are they right? Has artistry suffered?

Matt:(laughing) I think artistry always suffers.

Where?Through change?Through expression?

Al: I don't think it's suffered but it's changed. There will always be a new set of tools. I don't think a traditional form of notation is sacred. What are you gonna do -- go back to the same 12 tones over and over again?There are only so many combinations you can create. But I can't see it totally taking over acoustic music. It's just evolution, and it will go in and out of phase. Eventually people will get bored with this, that or the other thing. I don't have any puritanical agenda for acoustic players. I'm open to it and it's done well. I mean, I'm open to it if I like it. Let's put it that way.

Does the Amoebic Ensemble represent a fear of boredom?

Al: Every aspect of my life represents a fear of boredom. I need constant, constant stimulation.

Is that a character flaw?

Al: Sometimes.

Chloe: How avant-garde do you think you are?

Al: I don't know. I'm just writin' tunes. It's avant-garde in the context of Providence rock bands. I think we're a punk rock band. Steve and I argue about that intensely -- "Why are we a punk band?" "Because we are, Steve." "Why?" "Because we are." It's the attitude.

Chloe: But you're an avant-garde band. Are you accepted by Providence? I mean, you've won the Readers' Poll.

Al: Yeah (laughing), so we're not really avant-garde because people like us.