Tucson, Thursday, April 19, 1984

The Arizona Daily Star

Tucson. The Black Hole of the West. Come here and disappear.

It ain't necessarily so.

Local musicians might say that everybody knows this is nowhere. Tucson's a fine place to get your stuff together, and to me it looks like we've got a disproportionate amount of inspired talent. But it's a miserable place to get noticed. You leave or you fade away.

Yet it seems that People Who Matter are beginning to notice how much wonderful talent comes out of the desert. It didn't end with Linda Ronstadt.

Of course, you can't just lie around in your house and expect some guy with a contract to bash down your door. Most hands with aspirations have taken a vigorous approach to getting noticed by People Who Matter.

The Serfers, for instance, went to Los Angeles and put in some serious dues before being eventually signed, under the name Green on Red, to Slash Records. The Pills, now Gentlemen Afterdark, went to Phoenix, met up with Alice Cooper and produced an EP, and then ~ poof! -- their picture appeared in People magazine (appropriately enough). Now, magazine in hand, they're off to Los Angeles to re-relocate.

The now-defunct Yard Trauma has had songs on a couple of compilation albums, and should be releasing an album of its own soon in connection with Bomp Records.

But perhaps one of the oddest and most heartwarming of success stories materialized just this week, when the May l0 issue of Rolling Stone came out. Therein, Rainer Ptacek -- or Rainer as he's better known, our resident blues guitar hero -- had his independently produced and released tape, "The Mush Mind Blues," reviewed by well-known rock critic Kurt Loder.

It was sort of a case of the guy with the contract coming to the door. Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top was in town one night and went to Nino's when Rainer was playing. He was knocked out by what he saw (you ought, to go see Rainer if you haven't; you may have a similar reaction). Gibbons and Rainer talked, and Gibbons took a tape of some of Rainer's stuff with him.

When ZZ Top came to town in January to play at the Tucson Community Center, Rainer went backstage with his "Mush Mind" tape and shortly thereafter got a call from Loder.

The long-awaited review has just appeared, and it's pretty glowing. Loder gave the album three stars and suggested "some enterprising record company should pick up and produce" Rainer and backup band Das Combo.

"It's straight to Las Vegas," Rainer said wryly, after his gig Tuesday night at Nino's.

Actually, Rainer seemed happy but levelheaded about the review, which was being eagerly perused by a couple of people at the bar.

"We'll just have to see what happens," Rainer said when asked if he thought the publicity would affect life with his wife, two kids and broken guitars (he repairs them).

Rainer said that since the tape came out. last fall, he's given away 15 copies and sold 10 and has none left. "I'm going to have to go out and make some more," he smiled.