Wendy James: Back, back, back

I know that we shouldn't be surprised at anyone who has ever released a record, ever, returning by now. But who ever foresaw a Wendy James comeback, much less one partnered by a Stooge (James Williamson) and a Bad Seed (Jim Sclavunos)?

Can you even imagine what it's going to sound like?

Actually, you don't have to imagine, as both tracks of the single are available to share through Soundcloud.

Here's one song, then, You're So Great:

That's a cover of Sonic's Rendezvous Band, although it carries a none-more-Wendy-James title.

This is the other side of the double-a sided single, It's Alright, Ma:

Yes, that's a Dylan cover in there.

You know, back during the pomp of Transvision Vamp I'd probably not have put money on being so pleased to see Wendy James turn up with a couple of covers in 2012.

[This important alert made possible thanks to a tweet from @frankosonic]

The Stooges think they know what we want

Why are The Stooges making a new album?

Experts aren't certain, but the best bet is that Iggy Pop is finding time sitting heavy on his hands since they replaced him with animated dogs in the insurance adverts. It's possible the album won't see the light of day if Pop gets round to clearing out the crawl space before winter.

Hall Of Fame shortlist announced

Who'll be given the increasingly-watered-down honour of an induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame? Some of this lot:
Abba
LL Cool J
The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Kiss
Darlene Love
Jimmy Cliff
Donna Summer
Laura Nyro
The Chantels
The Stooges
Genesis
The Hollies

It's hard to believe that Kiss - precisely the sort of dreadful good-idea-turned-into-grim-cash-machine that the Hall Of Fame trades in - aren't already in there.

Punkobit: Ron Asheton

Founder member of The Stooges Ron Asheton has been found dead at his Ann Arbor home.

Before he picked up his first guitar at the age of ten, he'd already mastered one instrument - the accordion. It was an unusual choice of instrument for a five year-old, but he was under the spell of his great aunt Ruthie, a vaudevillian star, who had already tried to interest him in the violin. That experiment had ended in failure when Asheton's mum took the hand-me-down instrument off him to turn into a planter.

Inspired by the Beatles and the Stones, the 16 year-old Asheton made a pop pilgrimage to England, visiting London, of course Liverpool and, perhaps more surprisingly, Southport. He was surprised by some of the reactions:

We got more aggravation than we did here in this sheltered college town, by Rockers and Mods. English people still had prejudices against that kind of look in '65 so we got a lot of flack. We were kinda shocked that "where's Ringo? We haven't seen him yet!" We got to Southport which was a little calmer but still got into trouble with some of the Rockers there- they'd kick your ass if you didn't run fast enough.

Back in America, he and brother Scott hooked up with James Newell Osterberg to form The Stooges in 1967. The trio came together at Discount Records, where Osterberg was working. It was the Asheton brothers who started to call Osterberg "Pop", which got amalgamated with his other nickname, Iggy, to create a stage persona and theme for future insurance adverts.

If Ron was instrumental in giving Iggy his name, he was no less significant in crafting the Stooge's sound: it's his guitar which drives the first two albums. For Raw Power, he switched to bass, edged out from both guitaring and songwriting during a period of turbulence that had seen the band dropped by Elektra Records. Pop had tried to completely restaff the band and it's fair to say Asheton wasn't entirely delighted at being brought back when that ploy had failed. Ron had already struggled with being the only sober member of a band awash with heroin, and his attempts to stay straight exacerbated the splits in the band.

The Stooges finally fell apart in February 1974 while Asheton moved on to The New Order (not that one), Destroy All Monsters and New Race.

In the late 90s, when Michael Stipe was pulling together musicians for the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack, Asheton proved to be the obvious choice for guitarist on the Stooges-like Wylde Rattz. It was this job that would lead to The Stooges reforming, as fellow Rattz J Mascis started to play with Asheton after a visit to Ann Arbor; the band were apparently so good as to tempt Iggy Pop over to have a look. From there, the reunion of The Stooges became almost inevitable, a process which moved from live dates to the perhaps-somewhat-ill-advised 2007 The Weirdness album.

Asheton is believed to have died from a heart attack around New Year's Day; his body was only discovered yesterday. He was 60.

[Thanks to Karl T]

Gathering at the hall

The shortlist for the 2009 intake into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame has been announced, with five of the following to have themselves pickled in aspic in next year's ceremony which should be in Cleveland with tickets for the public this year:

Jeff Beck
Chic
Wanda Jackson
Little Anthony and the Imperials
Metallica
Run-D.M.C.
The Stooges
War
Bobby Womack

The Stooges turned up to play for Madonna's induction this year; we're sure that's just a coincidence.

Truck found; still empty

They've found the truck that was stolen from Iggy and the Stooges; trouble is, it was without the kit.

Pop rolled

Sadly, stories of bands having their kit nicked after gigs are all too common, but normally the victims are the sort of groups who have to hump their own stuff to the van. Last night, though, Iggy Pop and the Stooges became victim to gear-pinchers, after someone made off with their van in Montreal.

Police are asking anyone offered a pair of see-through vinyl trousers and very, very sweaty guitars at a cheap price to get in touch.

Nuclear War set for July 2nd

Assuming, of course, Bush and Putin don't wipe us out before then in their 'who can piss the highest' contest, Future Pilot AKA is releasing the doubley a sided Tery Bina/ Nuclear War single on July 2nd.

The Sun-Ra Nuclear War cover features Alisdair Gray, Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, Davy Henderson and Mike Watt. (That's Watt, as in Stooges, not Batt, as in Wombles.)

Iggy's garden in the shade

A silver award at the Chelsea Flower Show is nothing to be sniffed at, but you can't help wondering if the first-ever punk-themed garden should have been aiming higher.

Iggy Pop, though, is delighted at the medal for the Lust For Life garden:

"It's awesome the Lust for Life garden won a silver medal. It's great to know my music reaches out to so many and inspires."

Claims that next year, a garden based entirely on home composting called We Are Not Talking About Commercial Shit, are probably all made up.

Iggy: my knob is in the Constitution, or something

Most men react badly when accused of thinking with, about, for (and sometimes through) their penises. Not so Iggy Pop:

“You write about things of importance to you. And it’s gotta be for real. Do I think about my dick? All the time. I gotta a right to sing about it.”

“If I thought ‘It’s time to write a rock song, I’d better mention my dick,’ then I wouldn’t be able to say dick right. But it’s nature orientated.”

We're not quite sure it's "nature-orientated" in the sense Bill Oddie would use, although we do like the idea of him and Kate Humble hiding in the bushes hoping to catch sight of the first emergence of Iggy Pop's manhood.

Cocker prepares to Meltdown

Jarvis Cocker has let slip some of the bands who'll be lugging equipment down to the South Bank to play his Meltdown Festival: Jesus and Mary Chain, Motorhead, Iggy and The Stooges and the 13th Floor Elevators. It's an impressive line-up, and one which simply couldn't have happened... well, as recently as about 1982.

Motorhead are, apparently, there to repay a historical debt:

At the moment I'm interested in quite loud things. Meltdown starts off with Motorhead, something people probably wouldn't associate with me. The first concert I ever played with Pulp was in Rotherham in July 1980. We didn't have many songs of our own so we covered a Motorhead cover version of a Motown song called 'Leaving Here'."

We'd like to see Motorhead repay the debt by covering a Pulp song, but... we won't hold our breath.

It's not proper, dancing around with no shirt on at your time of life

Some wonderful - and extraordinary - shots of Iggy Pop and the Stooges live in New York over on Brooklyn Vegan's site. It does seem the only concession Pop has made to being an older man is to keep the old man tucked away.

A little Iggy for the end of Good Friday

Something else to listen to, if you're sure you want to: NPR streaming Iggy and The Stooges from last night in Washington, sadly, rather than sometime in the past, but all Pop is some pop at some point. Or something.