After a decade adrift, the Muffs have gotten their melodic pop groove back. Frontwoman Kim Shattuck has reunited with longtime backing members Ronnie Barnett (bass) and Roy McDonald (drums) for Whoop Dee Doo (Cherry Red/Burger). The Los Angeles-based trio will also be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand-new feature on the band.
Barnett: The rock-music/magic connection. While I admit this is not the strongest or most known of categories, it does exist. We all know that David Lovering of the Pixies became a magician during his non-music years. And yours truly, while not a performer, is a magician member of Hollywood’s exclusive home for magicians the Magic Castle. (My audition was the hardest gig I’ve ever done, but that’s another story … ) Then there’s Rob Zabrecky.
Rob led the beloved Los Angeles band Possum Dixon from 1989-1999. In the music world, they did it all: were indie darlings, were buddies with Beck, got signed to Interscope, made expensive videos, were on MTV, backed Jeffrey Lee Pierce, were produced by Ric Ocasek, were on Conan, dated supermodels, etc. But, on tour one day, trying to beat the heat, Rob walked into an air-conditioned magic shop, learned a trick, ended up doing it onstage that night for PD fans, and everything changed. Rob had fallen in love with magic.
The band by then had run its course and broke up. Rob, not missing a beat (so to speak), immediately recognized that magic was a performing art that would would allow him to be original, innovative and fulfilled as a “solo act.” He worked hard on his character and show, learned, messed up, worked even harder and now with his fully formed, funny, innovative and highly entertaining act, is one of the most respected figures in the world of magic. His show makes you think, feel, laugh and get fooled. It’s earned him numerous awards for the Academy Of Magical Arts, gotten him on magazine covers and takes him around the world performing, lecturing and making people happy. Rob is … a magician.
Video after the jump.
