RS USA - 30 January 2014

THE GOPS STEALTH WAR ON ABORTION RIGHTS

SPECIAL REPORT

BRUCE SPRINGSTEENSNEW CLASSIC

LORDE

Phil EverlyHARMON Y &

HEARTBREAK

1939-2014

ROCKS GREAT LOST GUITAR LEGEND

Adam DriverGIRLS MYSTERY

HUNK

The Girl Who Broke the Rules

Issue 1201 >> January 30, 2014 >> $4.99rollingstone.com

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rollingstone.com | Rol l i ng St on e | 7Photograph by Theo Wenner

All the NEWS THAT FITS

FEATURES

RS1201

ON THE COVER Lorde photographed in Los Angeles on December 10th, 2013, by Matthias Vriens-McGrath.Styling by Kemal and Karla at the Wall Group. Hair by Jen Atkin at the Wall Group. Makeup by Robin Black at Starworks Artists. Jacket and pants by Martin Margiela, jewelry by Meadowlark.

RECORD REVIEWS

Bruces New Glory DaysTom Morello helps make lost classics rage like new.

MOVIE REVIEWS

Jack RyanTom Clancys hero has been revamped for millennial tech-heads but whos buying?

DEPARTMENTS

61

67

ROCK & ROLL

Grammy ShowdownOur expert panel of artists weighs in on who they think will win big.

Lemmy Roars AgainAfter a health scare, the Motr-head frontman gets back onstage.

15

22

The War on AbortionThe Tea Party is eviscerating abortion rights nationwide. By Janet Reitman

Lorde: The New GirlTexting Taylor and hanging in New Zealand with pops unlikeliest young superstar. By Rob Tannenbaum

The Accidental Success of Adam DriverHow a small-town loner became Hollywoods most dynamic live wire. By Alex Morris

Phil Everly, 1939-2014 He and his brother changed pop music and fought a bitter rivalry. By Mik al Gilmore

Sex, Death and JesusWhen the wife of the leader of a cultlike prayer group turned up dead, dark secrets began to spill out. By Jeff Tietz

30

36

42

46

50

Former Marine and

current Girls guy

Adam Driver. Page 42


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8 | Rol l i ng St on e | rollingstone.com Ja n ua r y 30, 2014

Its been a crazily great year at the movies, mak-ing the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards more competitive than ever. Is this the year for 12 Years a Slave? The Wolf of Wall Street? Her? Check RS.com for complete coverage.

MOVIE AWARD SEASON KICKS INTO HIGH GEAR

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MUSIC

Q&A: STEVIE NICKS LOOKS AHEAD TO 2014Fleetwood Mac just wrapped up their latest world tour, but Christine McVie (who quit the group in 1998) has said she wants to return, re-forming the bands classic Rumours lineup. We spoke with Nicks about the future of the Mac.

David Crosbys new LP, Croz, is his rst

solo release in 20 years. Itll probably

sell 19 copies, says the singer. Im

making it for me. Hear an exclusive

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CORRESPONDENCELOVE LETTERS

& ADVICE

Anchors Aweigh!jona h w ei n ers i nside look at Anchorman 2 was ter-rific [Anchor Management, RS 1198/1199]. Its rare to get such a detailed picture of the creative process, and I now have a richer appreciation of Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and the crazy-pies they bake for us.

Joshua Pringle, New York

expectations for an an-chorman sequel were so high, but after reading how this bril-liant brand of comedy is creat-ed, how can the movie not be a hit? Ron Burgundys fake-news team, and the idiotic news they deliver, does look alarmingly like mainstream-TV press.

Anne C. Shaw, via the Internet

on ly the comic gen ius Will Ferrell could make turn-ing off part of his audience a personal goal. I will forever be in the turned-on camp.

Marie Moates-Cavanaugh

Via the Internet

Jersey Bluesas a lifelong resident of the state, I thank Matt Taibbi for his excellent reporting on Camden [Apocalypse, New Jersey, RS 1198/1199]. It was great to read such a blunt and straightforward piece, and it also gave insight into what a lot of New Jersey has become.

Jesse Collins, Belmar, NJ

rs is hands down the best magazine out there, and the story on Camden was excel-lent. We were warned, howev-er, about what would happen if American jobs were shipped overseas and U.S. manufac-

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For her riveting feature on blogger Glenn Greenwald and NSA

whistle-blower Edward Snowden [The Men Who Leaked the

Secrets, RS 1198/1199], Janet Reitman traveled to Brazil to in-

vestigate how two unlikely men broke the biggest news story

of 2013. The Council on Foreign Relations called Reitmans

piece a must-read, and RS readers everywhere weighed in.

as an 80-year-old cold War vet, Im ashamed by the eagerness with which we in-vade other countries in the name of freedom and secu-rity. Reitmans Greenwald-Snowden story reveals that despite leaders like Cheney, Bush and Obama, Ameri-cas young people are not all automatons. There may be some hope for us yet. Bill Howard

Chester eld, MO

regardless of ones opinion of Greenwald and Snowden, the ques-tions they raise are un-deniably essential for defining the future of our 250-year democrat-ic experiment. Democ-racy requires vigilance and constant adapta-tion. Excellent reporting. Michael Palmer, Chicago

great article, very in-formative, scared the shit out of me. The NSA sells fear, and we buy it. I truly hope Snowden survives all of this. Ellen Heizman, Zellwood, FL

a f t er r e a di ng r ei t -mans story, Im left with conf licting thoughts: how amazing it is that corporate America is willing to cave to NSA-information-col-

lection demands without a fight, and how ironic it is that Snowden has landed in a country where spying on ones own is as commonplace as snow. Bob Bennett, Roscommon, MI

t h e p r o b l e m w i t h Snowden making a unilat-eral decision to leak what he did is that we dont know what comparable programs exist in other countries. Now the U.S. looks like the enemy

of freedom. We need surveil-lance systems, but how far should they go?

Edie Haynes, Boston

an incredible piece on the NSA (may the saints of past, present and future watch over Greenwald and Snowden), an electrifying Taibbi story on Camden, New Jersey, and Bill McKib-ben on climate change. What an amazing issue of RS.

Roland Jacopetti

Santa Rosa, CA

turing dried up. When poverty and chaos resulted, draconi-an law-enforcement policies were the inevitable next step. I wonder who is now profiting from that.

Jan Tache, Penn Valley, CA

Empty Promisesbill mckibbens story on Obamas climate legacy was so-bering [Obama and Climate Change: The Real Story, RS 1198/1199]. Americans wont care about climate change as long as they can fill up their gas guzzlers and have their drive-thru burgers. We want cheap gas and cheap food, and well worry about the consequences of that after we die.

Will Slayter, Modesto, CA

The Songwriteri was raised on john mel-lencamps music, so his obser-vations in RS left me feeling kind of betrayed [My Life in 15 Songs, RS 1198/1199]. Its hard to read how unhappy he was at every turn in his career I feel like the kid who finds out theres no Santa Claus. Hope Mellen-camp finds some joy in his life.

Renae Chaves, Providence, RI

The Year in Rockas always, i pored over RSs year-end lists [Albums of the Year, RS 1198/1199]. That Lordes great Pure Heroine was on the same page as Josh Hom-mes excellent Queens of the Stone Age release and Kanyes best record in years really gave me hope for 2014. Maureen Oaks, via the Internet

what joy to see my favor-ite albums and singles make the best of 2013. I was surprised that John Fogertys record placed as high as it did, knowing how much you guys are into hip new music. Tom Peterson, via the Internet

Exposing the NSA



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Ja n ua r y 30, 2014

The guitarist and Bruce Springsteen collaborator picks ve songs he loves.

KissRock and Roll All Nite

I like music that is serious and has a social conscience but I also have a desire to cast of the worlds problems and party hard. My kids and I rock out to this in the car.

Knife PartyCentipede

Theyre my favorite EDM group. This song sounds like one of my rif s played through a Moog at the devils backyard barbe-cue. Fantastic!

The Last InternationaleWanted Man

Its the lean, angry blues of the Black Keys with Rage Against the Machine politics and a badass frontwoman. I hope it be-comes the biggest thing in the world.

Pitbull feat. Ke$haTimber

I cant imagine myself ever being in a club where this song was played, but if I was, I would hope to be doing shots with Ke$ha. You know, its not Fugazi, but overall its a jam.

PhosphorescentSong for Zula

I thought this was a great song, until I learned it was about a gorilla at the Bronx Zoo. Then I realized it was a really great song!

Tom Morello

GUESTLIST

3. Neil Young Mellow My Mind YouTubeYoungs recent stand of solo acoustic shows brought down the house at New Yorks Carnegie Hall. Best of all? This banjo-led take on a bittersweet classic from Tonights the Night.

1. DrakeTrophies

Canadas coldest MC

rings in 2014 with a

supercocky, brass-laced

anthem that sounds like

the kind of thing Darth

Vader might play on club

night at the Death Star.

2. Lady Gaga feat. Christina AguileraDo What U Want Gagas sweaty duet with R. Kelly

was already the best thing on

Artpop by a mile. Thought that

song couldnt possibly get any

hotter? Wrong! Check this brand-

new version where Kells steps

aside to make room

for Christinas

gale-force wail

for proof.

4. Vampire Weekend Step (Remix)The dreamiest song from

2013s best album gets

even better with screwy

guest verses from un-

derground rap stars like

Danny Brown. Ace!

5. Queens of the Stone Age Austin City Limits Josh Homme and Co.

are one of the most

badass live rock bands

in the land right now.

See what we mean by

checking the Queens

full TV concert online,

featuring cannonball-

heavy renditions of

tunes from their

killer 2013 LP,

...Like Clockwork.

6. Speedy OrtizAmerican Horror A few months after blowing our minds with its gnarly, noisy debut LP, the Mass-achusetts crew returns with another shot of Dinosaur Jr. rif s and supersnarky vocals.

7. Beck Love Starbucks new Sweet-heart 2014 compilation recruits cool artists like Fiona Apple, Jim James

and more to cover classic love songs. Our favorite: Becks soft, pretty take on this standout ballad

from John Lennons Plas-tic Ono Band LP. Now were even more ex-cited to hear Becks

new album.

12

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIG

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McDonalds McCaf. Proud to serve the

U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams.

Oh, and black, with one sugar. At McDonalds, I can get

my freshly-brewed McCaf coffee just the way I like it,

along with a tasty grilled Egg White Delight McMuffin.


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rollingstone.com | Rol l i ng St on e | 15Illustration by Gluekit

ENCOUNTER THE LION IN WINTER: LEMMY ROARS PG. 22 | Q&A KEITH URBAN PG. 24

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Eight years ago, the gram-mys were in trouble. After years of up-and-down ratings, the 2006 broadcast bottomed out at

an average of 17.6 million viewers half that of the same nights episode of Ameri-can Idol. The Grammys had rarely seemed less cool. But the Recording Academy has decisively reversed that trend in re-cent years, mostly by putting a renewed emphasis on must-see performances by major stars from Lady Gaga to Bob Dylan and by cutting the number of actual on-air award presentations by a fth. The

reimagined broadcast now routinely pulls in about 25 million viewers a year, con-siderably more than the average episode of Idol. It may sound heretical for the Recording Academy, but the medium is television, says Ken Ehrlich, the awards shows longtime producer. Theres no question the Grammys have become a performance show.When the 56th annual Gram-

mys air live January 26th, view-ers will see one-of-a-kind per-formances by Daft Punk with Stevie Wonder; Metallica with classical pianist Lang Lang; plus Paul McCartney, Katy Perry, Lorde, Pink and more. The push to pair artists in surprising combinations comes from Neil Portnow, who has been president of

the Recording Academy since 2002. You want diversity in terms of what these per-formances look like so you take, say, a heritage act and someone brand new, says Portnow. Its a television program, and not all great music makes great television.For artists, getting a prime perfor-

mance slot has become more de-sirable than actually winning a Grammy. Performing is a million times better than an award on your shelf, says Dan Reynolds, the singer from Imagine Dragons, who

will perform a medley this year with Kendrick Lamar. I remember

when I saw Mumford & Sons performing on the Grammys. I went out and bought their album. DAVID BROWNE

Inside the Grammys ReboundHow musics biggest night pulled out of its long ratings slump and got cool again

TURN

FOR OUR

EXPERTS

PICKS


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16 | Rol l i ng St on e | rollingstone.com

ROCK&ROLL

Ja n ua r y 30, 2014

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Odds provided by Johnny Ovello at Wynn Las Vegas

Will Daft Punk get lucky? Could Kendrick beat Kanye? Our panel of expert artists and a top Vegas oddsmaker tell us who they want to see win the big categories By Patrick Doyle

Grammy Showdown: 2014

JAMES BLAKE Kendrick is a no-brainer. He has an amaz-ing ability to tell a story.

DARIUS RUCKER Mackle-more made a special record. Now he has to live up to that for the rest of his career.

MATT BERNINGER Ken-dricks album surprised me every 10 seconds. Its excit-ing, ambitious and unique.

THE EXPERTS SAY

Macklemore

Sara Bareilles

The Blessed Unrest

Daft Punk

Random Access Memories

Kendrick Lamar

good kid, m.A.A.d city

Macklemore and Ryan

Lewis The Heist

Taylor Swift

Red

Daft Punk and Pharrell

Williams Get Lucky

Imagine Dragons

Radioactive

Lorde Royals

Bruno Mars

Locked Out of Heaven

Robin Thicke feat.

T.I. and Pharrell Williams

Blurred Lines

A-TRAK I stay on the fringes of mainstream, but Bruno Mars is dope.

ALANA HAIM Whenever I listen to Get Lucky, it brings such a good vibe. I love that discos back!

JAMES BLAKE Pharrell wins. He can do anything he wants. Thats my goal.

THE EXPERTS SAY

MATT BERNINGER Queens are badass. Josh Homme does cocksure posturing in a funny, compelling way.

DARIUS RUCKER Crazy Horse picked up right where they left of : loud, hard rock.

ALANA HAIM Bowie is still pushing boundaries with amazing music and videos.

THE EXPERTS SAY

Black Sabbath 13

David Bowie The Next Day

Kings of Leon

Mechanical Bull

Led Zeppelin

Celebration Day

Queens of the Stone Age

. . . Like Clockwork

Neil Young With Crazy

Horse Psychedelic Pill

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

RECORD OF THE YEAR

BEST ROCK ALBUM

BEST RAPALBUM

THE EXPERTS SAY

VEGAS ODDS FAVORVEGAS ODDS FAVORVEGAS ODDS FAVOR

WHO SHOULD WINWHO SHOULD WINWHO SHOULD WIN

A-TRAK Its Yeezus. Kanye always puts his ass on the line, and everyone follows.

DARIUS RUCKER Jay Zs records are so hot and original.

ALANA HAIM This is like So-phies Choice! But Ive always been a fan of Drake. Even in the Degrassi days.

Drake

Nothing Was the Same

Jay Z Magna Carta. . . Holy Grail

Kendrick Lamar

good kid, m.A.A.d city

Macklemore and

Ryan Lewis The Heist

Kanye West

Yeezus

DAFT PUNK Nine months after hitting radio, Daft Punks classic-sounding dis- co jam still isnt close to get-ting old. Advantage: robots!

KENDRICK LAMAR The Compton MCs fresh take on West Coast rap made for a mind-blowing listen from start to nish.

QUEENS OF THE STONE

AGE Their rst album in six years was packed with heavy rif s and trippy, headphone-worthy production.

KANYE WEST Kanyes confrontational sixth album took more risks than anyone last year and they paid of . Pass the croissants!

Drake 11-5Kings of Leon 5-2Bruno Mars 9-5Taylor Swift 2-1

Bruno Mars

Jay Z

Darius RuckerSinger

Alana HaimHaim

Matt BerningerThe National

A-TrakDJ-producer

James BlakeSinger-producer

PANEL

OF

EXPERTS

WHO SHOULD WIN

VEGAS ODDS FAVOR

Bowie


WorldMags.net

How Sherlock Made Holmes Sexy AgainI

n the second-season finale of the BBCs Sherlock, the detective hero (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) leapt off a roof. Sherlock Holmes was pro-

nounced dead on the bloody sidewalk. Then, in the nal shot, as Martin Freemans devot-ed Dr. Watson grieved by his grave, Holmes appeared in the distance very much alive. The episode set off a roaring

debate among fans leading up to the shows third-season premiere (air-ing stateside January 19th on PBS). Everybody had their own theory, says the shows co-creator, Steven Mof at, who also runs the reboot-ed Doctor Who. Every newspaper in England had a theory!The cinematic 90-minute premiere kicks

of a season that plays like an orgy of wishful llment for fans. The cases are as wild as ever, but the relationship between Holmes and Watson deepens. In the second episode, the hyperlogical Holmes has to deliver a best-man speech at Watsons wedding; riotous ashbacks reveal the pairs earlier soused adventures. Holmes is a known substance abuser heinjects cocaine in the original books, says Mof-

fat. We thought: What about Sherlock drunk? Getting absolutely pissed? Id like to see that.The shows global success its a smash

in the U.K. and a rapidly growing cult hit here, and 3 million fans watched the premiereonline in China owes much to the chem-istry between Cumberbatch and Freeman. Fans have taken to writing homoerotic slash fiction about a Watson-Holmes romance. Sherlock Holmes has always been a sex symbol, says Moffat. The most attractive person in the room is not always the best-looking; its the most interesting.

Holmes, as played by Cumber-batch, isnt always likable. He likes to think of himself as a high-ly functioning sociopath, saysMof at. More accurately, hes some-one who wants the excuse of being asociopath so that he doesnt have to do the things that bore him.The showrunner emphasizes that

his Holmes isnt a Vulcan with no emotions hes simply decided that things like sex and jokes would interfere with his deduction. Its the decision of a monk, not an af iction, Mof-fat says. Its an achievable superpower. The imminent danger of Season Three is

that Holmes icy facade might nally crack. He is not wrong to be distrustful of hisemotions, says Mof at. And he will learn this ruefully in the nal episode. LOGAN HILL

Inside the third season of the cult-hit BBC series starring Benedict Cumberbatch

HOT SHOW

Ja n ua r y 30, 2014 rollingstone.com | Rol l i ng St on e | 17

Sherlock has always been a sex symbol, says the hit BBC shows co-creator.

FROM TOP: ROBERT VIG

LASKY/HARTSWOOD FILMS FOR M

ASTERPIECE; GABRIELA COWPERTHWAITE/C

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F M

AGNOLIA PICTURES; D DIPASUPIL/FILMMAGIC

BBC BROMANCE

Freeman (left)

and Cumberbatch

in Sherlock

Each year, SeaWorld brings in top artists to help boost attendance at its Orlando park during the slow months of February and March. But 2014s Bands, Brew and BBQ fest which was set to feature concerts by Heart, Willie Nelson, Cheap Trick and more has turned into a PR nightmare. The docu-mentary Black sh, which reveals the horri c mistreat-ment of orcas at SeaWorld, has caused eight of the 10 scheduled acts to drop out, leaving only Scotty Mc-Creery and Justin Moore on the books for the six-week concert series. Black sh really opened my eyes, says Heart singer Ann Wilson, who pulled her band out of the concert series as soon as she saw the movie. What they do with the orcas is es-sentially slavery. SeaWorld is a billion-dollar business, and after months of relative silence, the company re-

cently took out a newspaper ad characterizing Black sh asinaccurate. Adds Wilson, Itll be inter-esting to see what happens. There are people who really want that whale money. ANDY GREENE

CONTROVERSY

ROCKERS

JOIN FIGHT

AGAINST

SEAWORLD

Animal-cruelty concerns lead acts to ee concert series

SeaWorlds

Orlando park

Hearts Ann

(left) and

Nancy Wilson


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ROCK&ROLL

FROM TOP: RYAN RUSSELL; COURTESY O

F O

SCILLOSCOPE FILMS

I found out its hard to press guitar pedals in high heels, says Laura Jane Grace. In May 2012, following a lifelong struggle with

gender dysphoria, Grace the singer of the punk act Against Me! and formerly known as Tom Gabel came out as a transgender woman in a Rolling Stone interview. Coming out was really positive for me, she says, sitting with guitarist James Bow-man by a hotel pool in North Hollywood a few weeks before the release of Against Me!s sixth album, Transgender Dyspho-ria Blues. But it doesnt mean everything in my life is worked out all of a sudden.

Dressed down in a long-sleeve blackT-shirt and a knit cap, Grace seems happy. Since hormone therapy does not af ect the voice, she sounds the same as ever. Being totally absorbed in making a record doesnt leave a lot of time to do anything else, she says. I wake up, eat breakfast, hang out with my kid for a second and then go to a studio until 11:00 at night, six days a week.

Even so, Grace describes her life recently as a whirlwind. A tree fell through the roof of her Florida studio during a bad storm. A move to Chicago with her wife and young daugh-ter was marred by the theft of $15,000 worth of guitars en route. And half of Against Me! bassist Andrew Seward and drum-mer Jay Weinberg (son of the E Street Bands Max Weinberg) abruptly quit. Did her transition to living openly as a

Laura Jane Graces Fresh StartAgainst Me! singer leads the band through changes after coming out as transgender

had this past yearreally solidified your friendship with me, Grace says, turn-ing to Bowman. The fact that were still here means that re-lationship is fuckingrock-solid.

The bands self-released new album started out as a col-lection of songs about a transsexual prosti-tute. When Bowman seemed perplexed early on, Grace still presenting as male at the time told him it was a concept album. After she came out, everything became clearer. Grace says the anthemic True Trans Soul Rebel is about the fears that sur-

round coming out as trans. You become more brave about presenting femme, but youre still closeted, so you have nowhere to go, she says. You end up in a weird motel in the middle of nowhere, wandering down halls, hoping nobody sees you.

Through it all, music has remained a constant in Graces life. Im a 33-year-old transsexual felon who didnt graduate from high school, she says. My job opportunities are pretty nonexistent, but Ive been playing guitar since I was eight years old. This is what Im going to do with my life even if that eventually means that Im standing on a street cor-ner, busking for change. GAVIN EDWARDS

woman put a strain on the band? Sure, Grace says. But there were a lot of othercircumstances that made it more stress-

ful. She cites the bands rocky tenure on Sire Records for its past two albums. Thats what happens when youre a punk band that signs to a major label, she says without bitterness.

Against Me! have a new rhythm section (drummer Atom Willard and touring bassist Inge

Johansson), but the core of the band re-mains Grace and Bowman close friends since their rst day of high school in Naples, Florida. Having all the shake-ups weve

Its not like everything worked outin my life all of a sudden, says Grace.

UPDATE

As an art student in Bal-

timore, Lotfy Nathan was

fascinated by the dirt-bike

and motorcycle gangs he saw

roving the city. So for a class

on documentary lmmaking,

he decided to track them

down. Seven years and two

Kickstarter campaigns later,

his lm, 12 OClock Boys

distributed by late Beastie

Boy Adam Yauchs Oscil-

loscope Laboratories is hit-

ting theaters. They call them

the 12 oclock boys because

they drop the bike straight

back, like the hands on a

clock, teenage protagonist

Pug explains onscreen. If

you get to 12 oclock, youre

the shit. While police tend

not to appreciate the bikers

tricks, Nathan chose to leave

them largely out of his lm.

Some people think docu-

mentaries are accountable

for presenting all the argu-

ments, he says. Ultimately,

I thought it was more valu-

able to have the voice of the

riders. ELISABETH GARBER-PAUL

A NEW KIND OF MOTORCYCLE GANG

Documentary pro les Baltimores inner-city street bikers

BACK IN BLACK

Johansson, Bowman,

Grace and Willard

(from left) in Los Angeles

Pug in 12

OClock Boys


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ROCK&ROLL

Ja n ua r y 30, 2014

One day during the mid-1965 sessions for Bob Dylans electric turning point, Highway 61 Revisit-ed, some of the studio mu-

sicians were having dinner. Guitarist Michael Bloomeld a brash young virtu-oso from Chicago who also played in the Paul Buttereld Blues Band asked the others, Are you going to be in a band Bob forms to play this music? If you get the chance, you should. He quickly added, Im not.I thought, Thats hilarious, recalls

organist Al Kooper, one of the sidemen at that meal. Michael said he loved being in a blues band, and nothing could unseat him from that. Kooper did tour briey with Dylan after the album was done. I was 90 percent ambition, 10 percent tal-ent, he admits, laughing. Bloomeld was the reverse 90 percent talent, 10 per-cent ambition.The result: Almost 50 years later,

Bloomeld the subject of a new multi-disc anthology produced by Kooper, From His Head to His Heart to His Hands, re-leased by Columbia/Legacy is rocks greatest forgotten guitar hero. From 1965 to 1968, he was nothing less than the fu-ture of the blues, charging the primal forms and raw truths of his idols B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf with cutting-treble tone, breakneck improvis-ing and incisive, melodic articulation on a machine-gun series of classic records: Dylans epochal single Like a Rolling Stone and the Highway 61 LP; the But-tereld bands 65 debut album and 66 raga-blues thriller, East-West; and the 1968 Top 20 hit Super Session, a dynam-ic jamming collaboration with Kooper. In 1966, Eric Clapton, on the verge of his own stardom, called Bloomeld music on two legs.But in the Seventies, as Clapton ascend-

ed to sold-out arenas, Bloomeld slipped into twilight in San Francisco, working

with low-prole bands and making small-label records while wrestling with chron-ic insomnia and heroin. On February 15th, 1981, three months after reuniting with Dylan onstage, an appearance that is a previously unissued highlight of From His

Head, Bloomeld was found in a car, dead of an overdose. He was 37.A lot of people dont know who he is,

says Kooper, one of Bloomfields clos-est friends. Thats why I did the set, which includes a DVD of a frank, moving

Clapton and Dylan revered him, but drugs took him too soon. New box set honors a crucial legacy By David Fricke

Mike Bloomeld: Rocks Forgotten Guitar Prodigy

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Bloomeld

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documentary, Sweet Blues, directed by Bob Sarles. Its an instructional, pleasant way to hear someone who did something marvelously.In a 2009 Rolling Stone interview,

Dylan remembered Bloomfield as the guy that I always miss. . . . He had so much soul. And he knew all the styles. From His Head opens with proof: tracks from Bloomfields early-1964 audition for Dylans original producer, John Ham-mond, a display of roots, speed and tonal grip that draws from country and rocka-billy as much as Robert Johnson.Michael was organic he played di-

rectly from his heart into an amp, says keyboard player Barry Goldberg, who met the guitarist in high school in Chi-cago and was in Bloom elds psy-chedelic-R&B big band the Elec-tric Flag. When he shook a string, it was like Otis Rush. He had the intensity in his soul. He didnt need anything else.The rst disc in From His Head

shows Bloom elds prowess in full revolutionary-blues bloom: his blazing sidekick ourishes in an outtake of Highway 61s Tomb-stone Blues; the ery, modal as-cension in his soloing in East-West; the slow-blues web of ache and shriek in Texas, from the Electric Flags 1968 LP A Long Time Comin. Expression, pure expression, Bloomfield replied when asked about his passion for the guitar in a 1968 RS inter-view. Without a guitar, Im like a poet with no hands. He was only 24.He put tremendous force into

what he was doing, says pia-nist Mark Naftalin, who played with Bloom eld in the Butter eld band, then on many post-68 gigs and sessions. But thats not the same as am-bition. He turned away from possibilities of success ritually.The classic example is Super Session,

Bloomfields only hit record under his own name. Tracks from that album, out-takes and associated live material ar-guably some of his most sublime, furi-ously poetic soloing on record comprise From His Head s second CD. Guitarist Jimmy Vivino, the bandleader on Conanand a lifelong Bloom eld disciple, cites the gleaming tangle of vocal-like phras-ing and diamond-hard melodic certainty in Alberts Shuf e, the opener on Super Session, as the peak. The intro and rst chorus are breathtaking, he raves. And its just a Les Paul Sunburst into a Super Reverb amp with that Bloom eld tone no bass, volume all the way up. And you control it from the guitar.

But Bloom eld is on only one side of the original LP. He quit the sessions after one night of recording, leaving Kooper a note: Alan, couldnt sleep. Went home. Koop-er nished the album with Stephen Stills. You know what it was in retrospect? Mi-chael wasnt properly challenged by any-one, Kooper says now. Even I didnt want to take that position. Id rather be his friend.Bloom eld was charismatic people

wanted to be around him, touch the hem of his garment, says Electric Flag singer Nick Gravenites, another lifelong friend from Chicago. He liked the attention. But he didnt like idolatry. He was looking for a happy medium of people who liked good

music and enjoyed listening to him.Michael Bernard Bloom eld was born

on July 28th, 1943, in Chicago, on the wrong side of the blues. His father, Har-old, ran Bloom eld Industries, a success-ful restaurant-supply rm. The older of two sons, Michael rebelled against school, discipline and his familys wealth, seek-ing solace and purpose in the music com-ing from the citys black neighborhoods on the South and West sides. A grandfather, Max, owned a pawn-

shop, and Bloom eld got his rst guitar there. Born left-handed, he forced him-

self to play the other way around. Thats how strong-willed he was, says Goldberg. When he loved something so much, he just did it.Hanging out at the pawnshop, Bloom-

eld also got a certain empathy, for people on the skids, on the down and out, looking for $5, Gravenites says. He got to know that kind of life.By the early Sixties, Bloom eld was a

major part of Chicagos blues scene. Adept on piano and acoustic as well as electric guitar, he recorded as a sideman with Sleepy John Estes and Big Joe Williams and jammed at black night spots with Wa-ters and Wolf before joining singer-harpist Butter elds band in early 1965. Muddy

called him his son, Gravenites says of Bloom eld. Muddy knew. He didnt call him his partner or buddy. Believe me, thats impor-tant. It tells you something that it has nothing to do with show business. It has to do with soul.Bloomfield also impressed

Dylan when they first met at a local folk club, in 1963, an en-counter that led to Dylans phone call in 65 asking Bloom eld to record with him in New York. Kooper, who played organ on Like a Rolling Stone, actual-ly showed up for that session expecting to play guitar. Then Bloom eld walked in, sat down next to me, said hello and start-ed warming up, Kooper says. Id never heard anybody that good, much less somebody my age. I put my guitar in the case and slipped it under the chair. He got rid of me in ve minutes.A stubborn fallacy in Bloom-

elds legacy is that his gifts de-clined with his fame, as he be-

came more reclusive and entangled with heroin, which he used in part to relieve the insomnia. In the 1969-and-on tracks on From His Head, the playing and set-tings are less ashy but more earthy, clos-er to the Delta blues, soul and gospel he loved. Vivino recalls a Seventies gig in New York where Bloomfield sat down with an acoustic guitar and played back-porch music all night. He wasnt throwing licks. He played the way he felt.Goldberg believes Bloom eld ultimately

resigned himself to his downward spiral. His brain was on re thats what made him such a great guitar player, Goldberg says. The fact that he couldnt shut it of he wanted that peace so badly he took the chance with drugs. But he left his mark.Still, in that 2009 interview, Dylan

wondered what might have been. I think hed still be around, he said of Bloom eld, if he stayed with me.

ONCE UPON

A TIME... Dylan and Bloom eld

in 1965

Expression, pure expression, Bloom eld said of his love for guitar. Without a guitar, Im like a poet with no hands.

DON HUNTSTEIN/SONY M

USIC ARCHIVES


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ROCK&ROLL

Ja n ua r y 30, 2014

This is Lemmys rst visit back to the Rainbow in six months. The last time was before a bout of heart trouble and bruis-ing last summer forced Motrhead off the road for the rst time in years. There is nothing weirder than having every-thing you are taken from you in one day bingo, he says. Now he rides an exercise bike every day at his new condo nearby. His drinking has slowed to a trickle, and the two packs of Marlboro Reds he used to smoke each day are down to one or two cigarettes a day. Lets face it it isnt as much fun, says Lemmy. But it cant be as much fun if I die. I dont believe thats much fun, either.Lemmys illness kept him quietly at

home as Motrheads thunderous 21st album, Aftershock, brought in the bands best rst-week sales in decades last Oc-tober. A few months earlier, his friend and onetime songwriting partner Mick Farren had collapsed onstage in London while performing with the Deviants. Far-ren never regained consciousness. There are worse places to go, Lemmy says. Its better than having tubes up your nose. Id much rather go dressed in my best, trying to reach that last note.After being forced to cancel the rest of

Motrheads European festival dates last July, Lemmy backtracked and tried to per-form for the 85,000 rock fans at the Wack-en Open Air concert in Germany. But he had to leave the stage after just a hand-ful of songs. We only did 38 minutes and I was done, he says. I was too tired. I had to come of. Adds Motrhead guitarist Phil Campbell, It reminded us that this mountain of unwavering Lemm is actual-ly a tiny bit mortal like we all are.Lemmy will give it another try on

Motrheads upcoming European tour, kicking of in Glasgow in February and in-cluding a summer stop at Wacken to nish that incomplete set. I think its going to be really a joy, once I get back into it, Lemmy says. Then it will be OK.He starts rifng on other rockers who

have kept their edge without overindulg-ing, like Mick Jagger. Jaggers straight he just gets married, Lemmy says with a laugh. Thats how he spends his money.Lemmy had his own season of hard par-

tying, drinking and speed. I suddenly re-alized I was waking up in pools of other peoples vomit, and I had no recollection of them, he says. Thats a bit much. Im not saying dont have fun, dont snort the oc-casional line but dont make it your life. He eventually found a comfort zone, with a tumbler of Jack-and-Coke as his con-stant companion.He recorded his vocals for Aftershock

last year, after the abortive set at Wacken. The sessions at Los Angeles NRG Studios were brief, often just two hours a day, and

The hard-rock lion in winter: After a health scare, Motrheads frontman roars again By Steve Appleford

ENCOUNTER

Lemmy

The sun is still shining on l.a.s sunset strip as lemmy

Kilmister takes his favorite spot at the bar of the Rainbow Bar

& Grill. Sipping from a glass, he feeds dollars into a machine to

play games of trivia and chance like Clock Teaser, a quiz about

women and nature. At 67, the Motrhead frontman looks just as he al-

ways has: black cavalry hat with gold insignia, prominent warts and mut-

ton chops, embroidered cowboy boots. But thats Diet Coke in his glass,

not Jack Daniels. And while the jokes roll out easily in his distinctive Brit-

ish rasp, he sounds like a man whos still recovering from a gut punch. ROB

ER

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OH

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Youd h av e to be i nsa n e to work with Ariel Rechtshaid. The 34-year-old producer and songwrit-er becomes obsessed by his profes-

sional projects even to the detriment of his love life. Musics always rattling in my head, constantly, he says. Its made for a lot of un-successful relationships. What he looks for in col-laborators is a sense that people Im working with are as sick as I am. Three 2013 albums

on which he contributed significantly by Vam-pire Weekend, Haim and Sky Ferreira fin-ished among Rolling Stones 50 best records of the year, and he was recently nominated for a producing Grammy alongside stars such as Dr. Luke and Pharrell Williams. Rechtshaids rsum also includes work with Snoop Dogg and Justin Bieber. Col-laborators appreciate the clarity he brings to the studio. He was an important creative partner, says Vampire Weekends Rostam Batmanglij. We had one song that was real-ly complicated, and Ariel was just like, If you believe in this, how about we record it live?

Rechtshaid grew up as a snot-nosed teen-age skater in Van Nuys, California. (Even hes been known to trip over his complicated last name: In the rst grade, he aced a spelling quiz, but misspelled Rechtshaid.) His par-ents lived in Israel before moving to the West Coast, and he traces his intensity to his moth-er, whose family ed Poland during the Holo-caust; Rechtshaids maternal grandfather saw his own mother shot dead in front of him. After dropping out of high school, Recht-

shaid fronted the Hippos, a slightly successful late-Nineties ska group, but he got restless and split. Prior to his 2013 breakthrough, his big-gest credit was produc-ing the Plain White Ts 2007 chart-topper Hey There Delilah.He likes untradition-

al methods the leadvocals on Vampire Week-ends Step were large-ly recorded with a laptop mic and reinventing es-tablished artists. Ushers Climax, which Recht-shaid co-wrote, didnt sound like anything on the radio, he says.Whether hes work-

ing with an act that plays clubs or one that rocks arenas, he says, the only thing that really varies is the level of ca-tering in the studio. I remember a lot of Swed-ish Fish and Slurpees on the Bieber session, Rechtshaid adds, and more of a sushi ap-proach with Usher. ROB TANNENBAUM

A Surprising New Secret Weapon for Indie Rock

HOT PRODUCER

HaimDays Are Gone

Co-wrote two songs and produced seven; played keyboards, guitar and mbira, building on an R&B spin to their Seventies rock sound.

Sky FerreiraNight Time, My Time

Heard one of her songs in a Pinkberry and loved it. Went on to produce half of her debut LP, adding a punk edge.

Vampire WeekendModern Vampires of the City

Co-produced the New York bands acclaimed third album, helping VW create fresh sounds and spooky tones.

THE ALBUMS

THAT MADE

HIM A STAR

Lemmy sometimes had to sit down while he sang. But you cant tell from the nal takes, which snarl like the best of Motr-head. I know when we do turkeys, he says, and I know when we dont. Lemmy says he worries about the

future of his beloved rock & roll as his gen-eration eases past middle age into retire-ment or worse. He sees few younger artists committed enough to the tradition to carry it into the future. Theres nobody now, he says. There is going to be a huge hole, and nobody to step into it. You can see the

concern on his face. I think its important music. Its the constant music of this gen-eration and the last one and the last one.He worries less about the audience. The

fan letters have only increased since he got sick, many addressed to him at the Rain-bow. Oh, man, the kids were unbelievable when I got sick, he says. No bitching. It was all Take your time, get better. Dont worry, well wait for you. Get well. Lemmy looks up from his drink and sees

a familiar face. Hey, its Mario, he says as 89-year-old Mario Mag lieri the re-tired co-founder of the Rainbow and Sun-set Strip landmarks like the Roxy and the

Whisky ambles over, white-haired and walking with a cane. You been sick or somethin? Mag lieri

says, joking around like he still owns the place. I havent seen you in so long. You been all right? I sent nurses to your house with scotch. Can I do something for you?Lemmy laughs. Just stay alive.Soon, the rockers girlfriend arrives to

take him back to the condo with the new pool table a gift from his friend Slash. Hes got more rest ahead, but things are looking up. As Lemmy steps away from the bar, he types a name back onto the video-game machines high-score list: lemmy.

LEMMY

Meet the quiet ace whos worked with everyone from Vampire Weekend to Justin Bieber

Rechtshaid

in Los

Angeles

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Q&A

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Last year alone, keith Urban recorded a banjo-fied Almost Saturday Night with John Foger-

ty, duetted on the Beatles Dont Let Me Down with John Mayer, backed Steven Tyler on Walk This Way and traded verses on Respectable onstage with the Rolling Stones. His sev-enth album, Novembers Fuse, is packed with electronic ourishes, plus a collabora-tion with Stargate, producers of Rihanna and Beyonc hits. So its hard not to wonder: Is the Strat- toting Aussie sure hes a country act? Theres a long history of artists who are too rock for country and too country for rock, says Urban, who returns for a second season as an American Idol judge this month. I dont really think in terms of labeling as much as I used to. I just create but theres a de nite country foundation in most all of what I do.

Ever consider quitting country for rock?

Yeah, I was about 15. Some buddies of mine were in this band Fractured Mir-ror, and they asked if Id play guitar. It was around 1983, and Im playing Saxon, Scor-pions, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne in this band. But I had also just discovered Ricky Skaggs and became, like, obsessed with learning chicken-pickin stuf from his gui-tarist, Ray Flacke. So theyd throw a solo to me and Id play chicken-pickin licks through a Marshall stack. Its the only band Ive ever been red from. You said Nicki Minaj and Mariah Careys Idol

ghts were nothing compared to gigging in

Australia. Was it like the Blues Brothers club?

Very much like that, yeah! A massive fight broke out one night in this place we were playing, and it got bigger and bigger on the dance oor. The DJ booth was suspended up in the roof, with a re-movable ladder so people couldnt go up there re-questing songs. In the middle of this ght, the DJ threw down the ladder, and the band scaled it, and we were hunkered down in that booth looking at this massive ght below until the police came. Totally crazy.

Is it hard to maintain a loose, bar-band vibe in your

arena shows?

I try to let the tour always move, so its not exactly the same night after night. But its tricky, because certain things work! Its like that great quote, The only real music is when a baby rst cries, and after that, the baby knows Mom will come running, so its all show business [laughs]. Countrys sonic boundaries are shifting right now.

I look at something like [the 1973 hit] Swamp Witch by Jim Staf ord, with wick-ed wah-wah guitar in there, and if you say, Well, what would be the 2014 ex-ample of that? thats what Eric Church is doing with The Outsiders, thats what Ive done with Fuse. Its meant to be a little bit jarring, to create that expres-sion that a dog has when it hears some-thing weird. And then in a few years time, its so acceptable. How do you know if you push it

too far?

A lot of times, when you try to take country to a new place, its like, Youre trying to put lipstick on Grandpa. Its not working. But theres a way to do it where it feels right. Where Grandpa looks sexy?

[Laughs] For me, sometimes I wonder if I could go even further. Thats what the next records for. Do you and your wife, Nicole

Kidman, have compatible

musical tastes?

Nics expanded my music a lot theres an indie, cool

spirit to the music she responds to.What did you take from jamming with

the Stones?

They still have a thing nobody else has. Mick is extraordinarily inspiring. He and Springsteen show how you can really keep it together and be an explosive performer. Doom and Gloom was a great record. I hated that it didnt get more traction. You seem so comfortable playing with

Fogerty. Do you almost see Creedences

hits as country?

Its undeniably drawing from a Southern place. Its interesting, as were looking at the passing of Phil Everly. Bye Bye Love was a Number One country hit, it was a pop hit, it was an R&B hit. There werent several dif-ferent mixes, you know? Its like, Wow, why arent we still having this common space?Youve been credited with getting rid of

the mandatory cowboy hat in country. Ever

try one?

Yeah, but I had extremely long hair, and I just went, Nah. Im all hat, no cattle. I remind people, Johnny Cash didnt wear one, George Jones didnt wear one.Was your hair just too excellent to hide?

It was just that I had some!

On the future of country, jamming with the Stones and the trouble with hats By Brian Hiatt

Keith Urban


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TELEVISION

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BC

In the excellent new season of Girls, somebody confronts Lena Dunhams

Hannah Horvath with a damn good question: Hannah, why dont you place one crumb of basic human compassion on this fat-free muffin of socio-

pathic detachment? See how it tastes. No chance. As Girls heads into its third outing, Hannah remains rmly com-mitted to her narcissistic lit-tle joke of a life. She still fum-bles around New York with her crew of fellow emotional crip-ples, blurting out overshares like I was playing Truth or Dare the rst time I got n-gered! Hannah cant figure out the details of human com-passion any more than she can get a real job or operate a Q-tip. But all that sociopathic detach-ment tastes ne to her. In a lot of ways, Girls has

the same premise as Downton Abbey. Both present a clique of dilettantes giving speeches about how their tiny world is changing. They grapple with the alienating efects of tech-nology, whether that means swivel chairs or FaceTime. Hannah is really a Dowager Countess for our time, which means instead of complaining about the servants and musing about King Canute, she pon-ders how to pronounce Ryan Phillippes name. By now, Girls has stuck

around long enough for a third season which means that, like Hannah and her friends, its reached the point where its picked up a whif of adult despair. But that just makes the laughs sting a little hard-er. Even Hannah realizes her self- absorbed art-brat routine might have an expiration date now that shes pushing 25.

As the new season begins, some of the Girls gang are aging more deftly than others. Alli-son Williams Marnie has de-veloped into a surprisingly in-teresting character, especially now that shes unloaded her in-sufferable boyfriend Charlie. Zosia Mamets Shoshanna is still a whirlwind of comic bab-ble. But Jessas (Jemima Kirke)

precocious-bitch routine has gotten very hard to take. As if to make up for Charlies absence, we meet Gaby Hoffman as Adams sister. Like, wow shes the most unbearable whiner yet, on a show full of them. As usual, people who ex-

pect TV to resemble real life will marvel at Girls fantasy boho setting, which is identi-

ed as North Brooklyn yet may as well be 123 Sesame Street. And theres a hilariously wide-of-the-mark tour of magazine culture: Hannah gets a writ-ing gig where her only duty is working on a dating listi-cle. Yet she gets a desk, health insurance and free food from the snack room. She wonders if this cushy life means shes selling out to the Man, where-as viewers are more likely to wonder whether shes slipped through a wormhole back to 1998. (Four magazine employ-ees working on one listicle? And a snack room? What is this, a Just Shoot Me! rerun?) Yet the emotional realism of

Girls is all too accurate. These hipsters dont ask much from life but damn, they hate work-ing at it. So they settle for their familiar miserable routines, re-peating the same old mistakes because its less hassle than try-ing something new. They hope their gigs will eventually add up to some kind of job, just as they hope their half-assed hookups will coalesce into an adult love life. But, you know, whatever. Hannah boasts, Im used to people being belittled by, like, my rapid-re mind pace. Only by now, shes starting to get the suspicion she might not have much to say. And that doesnt taste good at all.

Dunham and Co. return, older, no wiser and just a little more desperate By Rob Shefeld

Brooklyns Dowager Countess

Girls Sundays, 10 p.m., HBO

Theres never been a TV story like this one. Community was given up for dead when NBC exiled showrunner Dan Harmon and a new creative team got stuck in the cant-win abyss of trying to rep-licate the sitcoms surreal humor. So its inspirational to see it come revving back from the boneyard, with Harmon in command. These remain some of the most emotion-ally believable characters on TV, despite the fact that they com-municate entirely via stupid jokes (Thats like blaming owls for how much I suck at analogies!).

Joel McHale and the gang (minus Chevy Chase) all return to the study table, with Breaking Bads tough guy Jonathan Banks joining as a sinister criminology

teacher who hangs around the cafeteria just to steal his stu-dents meatballs. As for the study group, theyre still the same old losers poor Britta got her psych degree but ended up bartending at a place that serves shooters out of belly buttons. (Though thats only on Tummy

Tuesdays.) Even the jokes about Chase quitting are great. Not a bad resurrection especially for a sitcom thats been on death row for its entire existence. R.S.

Communitys Surprise ResurrectionCommunityThursdays, 8 p.m., NBC

GIRL TALK

Dunhams Hannah

is still failing at

adulthood.

Banks

(left) and

McHale


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Ja n ua r y 30, 201428

Kanyes music is outstanding....If it was a concert, then I might not mind listening to him. Barack Obama

SKI-ZUS Kanye West hit the bunny slopes in Park City, Utah, in a face mask that could have been from his latest tour. He warmed up making smores with Kim at the lodge.Daughter Lourdes

expressed herself to

photographers.

BLACK DIAMOND DIVA Madonna

hit the Swiss Alps with a ski

instructor on a family trip. We

go hard or we go home! she said.

Snoop Packs a BowlSnoop Dogg has been running a youth football league

for years, but he took it to the next level this month

when his team faced of against Flo Ridas at the rst

Annual Flo Rida Youth Snooper Bowl in L.A. Snoops

squad won two games, but he kept it in perspective.

All the kids and families had a real good time, he says.

PRINCELY

ENTRANCE

In Connecticut,

Prince rolled

onstage on a

gurney before

joining pal

Janelle Mone

for a duet.

MILEYS BEST

FRIEND

In L.A., Cyrus

took a stroll with

Mary Jane, one

of her ve dogs.

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Phishs Totally Baked New YearsTrey Anastasio wrapped Phishs

30th year by passing out pieces

of a keyboard-shaped cake at Madison

Square Garden. Says bassist Mike

Gordon, It felt like the perfect

way to commemorate 30 years.

VIVA LA BEACH-A

Chris Martin caught a

wave with daughter

Apple in Hawaii.

HUSTLERS CLUB Drake, Diddy and

Rick Ross celebrated New Years

Eve at Diddys Miami mansion.

We de ne hustle, tweeted Ross.

ENTER SAND-

CASTLE MAN

James Het eld celebrated the

holidays in Uruguay with his family.

Gold Dust WeddingThere was only one person cool enough to of ciate the wedding between Deer Ticks John McCauley and Vanessa Carlton: Stevie Nicks! Nicks, a friend of Carltons, got licensed and invited them to her rented Arizona home. Im of cially Reverend Stevie Nicks now! she says. It was really beautiful. Adds Carlton, Its so badass that she did it. Thats the type of friend she is.

BEACH BUM Rihanna

cooled of with a

beachside brew in

her native Barbados.

Stevie got some

Cristal to pop after

we completed

the ceremony,

says Carlton.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: PATRICK JORDAN; JOHNNY NUNEZ/WIREIM

AGE; SANDY PITT/SPLASH NEWS; JOHN M

CCAULEY/IN

STAGRAM; VANESSA CARLTON/TWITTER; SCYLLA/FAMEFLYNET PICTURES; GMB SP/LPA/RAMEY PHOTO


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O n the morning of december 11th, gretch-en Whitmer, the charismatic 42-year-old minori-ty leader of the Michigan Senate, stood before her colleagues in the Statehouse in Lansing, and told them something shed told almost no one before. Over 20 years ago, I was a victim of rape, she said. And thank God it didnt result in a pregnan-cy, because I cant imagine going through what I went through and then having to consider what

to do about an unwanted pregnancy from an attacker.No one in the gallery said a word. Instead, with just hours to

go before it broke for Christmas recess, Michigans overwhelm-ingly male, Republican-dominated Legislature, having held no hearings nor even a substantive debate, voted to pass one of the most punishing pieces of anti-abortion legislation anywhere in the country: the Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act, which would ban abortion coverage, even in cases of rape or incest, from vir-tually every health-insurance policy issued in the state. Women and their employers wanting this coverage will instead have to purchase a separate rider often described as rape insurance. Whitmer, a Democrat known as a erce advocate for womens issues, described the new law as by far one of the most misogy-nistic proposals Ive seen in the Michigan Legislature.And its not just Michigan. Eight other states now have laws

preventing abortion coverage under comprehensive private in-surance plans only one of them, Utah, makes an exception for rape. And 24 states, including such traditionally blue states as Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, ban some forms of abortion cover-age from policies purchased through the new health exchanges. While cutting insurance coverage of abortion in disparate states might seem to be a separate issue from the larger assault on re-productive rights, it is in fact part of a highly coordinated and so far chillingly successful nationwide campaign, often fund-ed by the same people who fund the Tea Party, to make it hard-er and harder for women to terminate unwanted pregnancies, and also to limit their access to many forms of contraception. All this legislative activity comes at a time when overall sup-

port for abortion rights in the United States has never been high-er in 2013, seven in 10 Americans said they supported uphold-ing Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. But polls also show that more than half

the country is open to placing some restrictions on abortion: In-stead of trying to overturn Roe, which both sides see as politi-cally unviable, they have been working instead to chip away at reproductive rights in a way that will render Roes protections virtually irrelevant.Since 2010, when the Tea Party-fueled GOP seized control

of 11 state legislatures bringing the total number of Repub-lican-controlled states to 26 conservative lawmakers in 30 states have passed 205 anti-abortion restrictions, more than in the previous decade. What youre seeing is an underhand-ed strategy to essentially do by the back door what they cant do through the front, says Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is currently litigat-ing against some of the new anti-choice laws. The politicians and organizations advancing these policies know they cant come right out and say theyre trying to efectively outlaw abortion, so instead, they come up with laws that are unnecessary, technical and hard to follow, which too often force clinics to close. Things have reached a very dangerous place. Last June, the rights stealth attack on abortion rights be-

came front-page news, when, in an attempt to block a vote on a sweeping omnibus bill that included 20 pages of anti-abor-tion legislation, Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis embarked on an 11-hour-plus libuster in the Texas Statehouse. Wearing rouge-red Mizuno running shoes and an elegant string of pearls, the blond, blue-eyed Davis, a onetime single mother and a graduate of Harvard Law School, became an overnight symbol of what, in many states, is a growing popular resistance to the conser-vative anti-choice agenda. But Davis libuster failed to prevent the Texas Legislature from holding a special session in July to pass the bill, despite widespread public opposition.This was the latest failed battle to protect reproductive rights

in a state that in the past few years has passed some of the harsh-est abortion restrictions in the country. Thanks to the cumula-tive impact of Texas law, a woman seeking to terminate a preg-nancy must receive pre-abortion counseling to advise her of the supposed physical and emotional health risks, undergo an ul-trasound and view an image of her fetus as well as hear it de-scribed by her doctor, and then, in most cases, wait another 24 hours before having the procedure. This assumes she can even nd a clinic to go to. Womens-health centers have been shut-

THE STEALTH WAR ON ABORTION

While more Americans support upholding Roe v. Wade than ever, the Tea Party and the Christian right have teamed up

to pass hundreds of restrictions eviscerating abortion rights in GOP-controlled state legislatures across the country

By Janet Reitman


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rollingstone.com | Rol l i ng St on e | 31Illustration by Victor Juhasz

ting their doors all over the Lone Star State since 2011, when, in a specic attempt to defund Planned Parenthood which op-erated only a portion of the states womens-health clinics the Texas Legislature cut the funding to family-planning clinics by two-thirds, eliminating access to low-price contraception and other health services like breast exams and cancer screenings for more than 155,000 women. With the passage of the new re-strictions last summer, a third of Texas remaining clinics an-nounced theyd have to close or ofer fewer services. If additional measures go into efect this September, it could mean potential-ly leaving just six clinics ofering abortions in a state of 26 mil-lion people, all of them in urban areas, and none in the entire western half of the state.

Much of the public outrage in recent years has revolved around extreme measures, like proposed personhood amendments that would have outlawed abortion outright, and banned many com-mon forms of birth control, stem-cell research and in-vitro fertil-ization. But the anti-abortion movements real success has been in passing seemingly innocuous regulations known as TRAP laws (Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers), which are

designed to punish abortion providers by burying them in moun-tains of red tape, and, ultimately, driving them out of business.

Twenty-six states, including Texas, have laws on their books requiring that abortion clinics become mini surgical centers, a costly proposition that would require clinics to widen hallways, expand parking lots, modify janitorial closets or install surgical sinks and pipelines for general anesthesia regulations most pro-viders say are unnecessary. Four states currently (and four more may soon) require that the doctors performing abortions have ad-mitting privileges at local hospitals, which applies even in places where the nearest hospitals oppose abortion or are simply too far away to meet the states distance requirement. Sixteen states re-strict medication-induced abortion; in 39 states, only licensed physicians not their physicians assistants or nurse practitio-ners are permitted to hand out the drug. Fourteen states ban its use via telemedicine, which is often the only way a woman in a rural part of the country can consult with her doctor.

Its a brilliant strategy to package these laws as just making sure abortion is safe, [and] in many states, theyve been able to sell it that way, says Eric Ferrero, VP of communications at


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Planned Parenthood Federation of America. But abortion is al-ready safe. The mortality rate for abortions is less than .67 per 100,000 procedures. By comparison, the mortality rate for colon-oscopies, also commonly performed in outpatient clinics but not subject to similar restrictions, is about 20 out of 100,000.

This incremental approach to eviscer ating abortion rights grew out of the recognition at the high-est levels of the pro-life movement that their previous message equating abortion with murder and the ac-companying extremist tactics werent working. Twenty

years ago, wed storm a clinic and close it down for a day and then Id get thrown in jail, says Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue, the infamous Kansas-based anti-abortion group that made its name during the 1980s and early 1990s by blocking the entrances to clinics and holding noisy sit-ins a practice Congress outlawed in 1994. Other tactics, which ranged from handing out pamphlets emblazoned with the image

of aborted fetuses, to naming and shaming the friends and as-sociates of abortion providers, proved equally unfruitful. All of that just made the community angry at me, at the clinic, says Newman. And I hated that. I dont want to wave pictures on the street just to piss people of . I want to win. So Newman stopped the overt harassment, and settled on a new plan to push for TRAP laws and document alleged abuses at abortion clin-ics and report them to the authorities. Today, there are only four clinics of ering abortions in all of Kansas, which, like Michigan, has its own version of the rape insurance law, and has also im-posed myriad other restrictions, including the criminalization of abortion after the fth month of pregnancy. The so-called 20-week ban violates one of Roes central provisions, that a woman has the right to an abortion until the fetus is viable outside of the womb roughly 24 weeks by todays medical standards. None-theless, nine states currently impose the ban, basing it on a the-ory that is widely disputed by medical groups, that a fetus is able to feel pain at ve months.

Polls have consistently shown that support for abortion after the rst trimester drops precipitously 64 percent of the country opposes it during the second trimester, and 80 percent opposes it during the third trimester. This has allowed pro-life groups to strike a note that might on the surface seem reasonable, and as Newman points out, once you start enforcing a second-trimester ban, the camels nose is in the tent. Arkansas has banned abor-tion after 12 weeks. North Dakota recently passed a law to crim-inalize abortion after six weeks, a point when many women dont even realize theyre pregnant. Two Washington-based advocacy groups, the National Right

to Life Committee and Americans United for Life, are responsi-ble for much of the model legislation restricting abortion, as well as for the grassroots organizing thats been needed to pass it. Of the two, AUL, which describes itself as both the legal arm and intellectual architect of the movement, is chie y responsible for the most recent and highly successful under-the-radar strategy. We dont make frontal attacks, AUL president and CEO Char-

maine Yoest told the National Catholic Register in 2011. Never attack where the enemy is strongest. Some abortion-rights advo-cates have compared AUL to the American Legislative Exchange Council, the secretive corporate-funded organization responsi-ble for many of the countrys voter-suppression and Stand Your Ground laws. Each year, AUL sends state and federal lawmak-ers across the country a 700-page-plus pro-life playbook, De-fending Life, which it describes as the de nitive plan for coun-tering a pro t-centered and aggressive abortion industry, while laying the groundwork for the ultimate reversal of Roe. Among its annual features is a 50-state report card on the state of anti-abortion legislation, as well as a step-by-step guide, Yoest says, to help lawmakers understand that Roe v. Wade doesnt pre-clude them from passing common-sense legislation. While each state has a dif erent scenario, says Yoest, AULs

central strategy is to make women not the unborn the focal point of its ef orts. In the past few years, AUL has drafted nu-merous bills that claim to protect women, recently including them in a new package it has dubbed the Womens Protection Project. Based on misleading facts and dubious medical infor-mation, the package is full of model legislation with names like FR

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Contributing editor Janet Reitman wrote about Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden in RS 1198/1199.

Company introduces plastic products made from airborne carbon.

De Blasios New York

Federal judge strikes down drug testing of welfare recipients.

California doubles rooftop solar- power installations in just 12 months.

Booze found to boost immune system.

New York Times

editorial board declares Snowden a hero.

WITH US

Legal pot! Dick Cheneys daughter abandons Senate bid.

SO-CALLED TRAP LAWS ARE DESIGNED TO PUNISH ABORTION PROVIDERS BY BURYING THEM IN RED TAPE AND, ULTIMATELY, DRIVING THEM OUT OF BUSINESS.


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rollingstone.com | Rol l i ng St on e | 33Ja n ua r y 30, 2014

the Parental Involvement Enhancement Act (which requires parental noti ca-tion or consent for underage abortions), the Abortion Patients Enhanced Safety Act (imposes draconian regulations on abortion providers), the Womens Health Defense Act (designed to protect women from the supposed physical and emotional health risks posed by later-term abortion) and the Womens Right to Know Act, per-haps the most punishing measure in the package. To make it possible for a woman to give her informed consent before ter-minating a pregnancy, it requires that she view the fetus she is about to abort, justi-fying a mandatory ultrasound. Forced ul-trasounds tell a woman exactly what she already knows that shes pregnant, says Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. These laws arent intend-ed to provide new or useful information; they are intended to force more burden and shame on women who are simply exercising a constitutional right.In 2012, Arizona became the rst state to pass a version of the

Womens Health Defense Act, one of 65 life-af rming laws that AUL claims credit for in the past three years. According to the ACLU, during the 2013 legislative session AUL worked in at least 27 states to, among other things, ban later-term abortion in North Dakota, further limit access to abortion care in Kansas, tight-en regulations on parental-consent laws in Arkansas and Mon-tana, and restrict access to medication abortion in Mississippi, a state where unnecessary regulation has already shut down all but one abortion clinic.

While all of this speaks to the clever tac-tics of anti-abortion groups, it also speaks to the new culture of the Republican Party. Nowhere has this been more apparent than Michigan, where gerry-mandering combined with term limits have handed

the GOP a hammerlock on the state Legislature, at least one-third of whose members are freshmen during any given term. Because of this, abortion opponents like the National Right to Life Committees Michigan af liate now have the kind of broad political in uence they might have only dreamed of a few years earlier. Right to Life of Michigan is looked upon by most Re-publican legislators and probably some Democratic legislators as one of the most coercive, if not the most coercive lobbying

group in the state, says former U.S. congressman Joe Schwarz, a self-described pro-choice Republican who served 16 years in the Michigan Statehouse, from 1987 to 2002. The amount of pres-sure Right to Life both directly and indirectly puts on legislators in Michigan is considerable. And some legislators arent exactly pro les in courage when it comes to standing up to these guys. Right to Life of Michigans president, Barbara Listing, who

also sits on the board of the national organization, is known as a savvy operator who has wielded power in the Michigan State-house for more than 20 years. As far back as the early 1990s, re-calls former Republican legislator Shirley Johnson, Listing would show up in the gallery and tell pro-life legislators how to vote. Wed be voting on an amendment, something that those mem-bers who vote Right to Life did not have the opportunity to read, and they would look right up there and shed give them a thumbs up or thumbs down, says Johnson. Most of us were shocked, but we got used to it.Michigans rape insurance law was written by Right to Life,

which had proposed it twice before most recently in 2012. Two governors, including Republican Rick Snyder, vetoed the bill Snyder, who opposes abortion, nonetheless said he felt the bill went too far. So Right to Life employed a rarely used provi-sion in the state constitution that allows for a citizens initiative to bring a bill to the Legislature, provided a certain percentage of the electorate supports it. Michigan abortion opponents spent four months gathering the requisite 258,088 signatures to rein-TO

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Climate-denial funding: At least $1 billion a year

Cured HIV patients relapse.

AGAINST US

Study: All-nighters cause brain damage.

8 million acres of Chinese farmland combined area of New Jersey, Connecticut too polluted to grow food.

GOP forces 1.3 million to lose unemployment bene ts.

Homeless Japanese men recruited to clean radioactive Fukushima.

Duck Dynasty clan launches its own gun brand.

Supreme Court halts gay marriages in Utah.

CHOICE WARRIOR After libustering

an anti-abortion measure last summer,

Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (center)

became an overnight political star.


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troduce the insurance ban, skirting the veto entirely. We used the democratic process and we won, says Right to Life of Mich-igan spokeswoman Rebecca Kiessling. After the vote, says Gretchen Whitmer, a number of her Re-

publican colleagues approached her to say they wished theyd had the courage to vote against the bill. That was a tough thing to hear, she says. Not one Republican stood up and defended what they were doing not one. Every one of them will get up and de-fend a business tax cut. Not one of them defended this action.

Of the 30 states that have been actively pur-suing the anti-abortion agenda, most, like Michigan, are also anti-union right-to-work states, where the alli-ance of powerful donors and corporate interests has been steadily working to change the political game. Thanks

to the 2010 Citizens United decision, conservative dark-money groups have spent millions on political campaigns, much of it im-possible to trace. Theres a lot of money behind this efort, and you have to ask, Why is that? says the Center for Reproductive Rights Nancy Northup. Its been apparent to me for a long time that this is part of a huge, larger agenda, and were just the ca-nary in the coal mine. What this is really about is democracy.In Michigan, Amway scion Richard Dick DeVos, the 58-year-

old former Republican candidate for governor, is a force behind what he refers to as the states freedom to work legislation, which passed in 2012 despite a 12,000-person protest that locked opponents out of the state Capitol. DeVos has also funded a va-

riety of religious-right groups, including Right to Life of Michi-gan and the Michigan Family Forum, which supported the states rape insurance bill. A similar scenario has played out in North Carolina, where

millionaire Art Pope has si

Documents

RS USA - 30 January 2014