[ASTRO] Star Crunch article

["L H White" <lwhite@rigel.econ.uga.edu>]

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>From _The Flagpole_, the weekly entertainment freebie of Athens, GA.  
Available online at http:\\www.flagpole.com, under column heading 
"The Heckler".  Written by John Britt.

Local Music News, Transactionally Immunized

        MAN OR ASTROMAN? THE NEXT GENERATION: First, the news from
        space. Guitarist Star Crunch and bassist Dexter X are hopping
        into the old escape pod and jetting out of the sublime,
        surf-guitar spacedork combo Man or Astroman? Mr. Crunch told
        Flagpole that after seven years in his renegade star brigade,
        there arose "increasing differences of opinions of what the
        entity known as Man or Astro-man? actually is." Crunch says
        his decision to leave will have no effect on the upcoming MOA?
        European tour, which will enlist the help of beings who
        "remarkably resemble two of the Astro-clones," according to
        Crunchy. 

THE WHAT? The Astro-clones, if you haven't heard, are genetic
creations sent out to perform MOA? songs different players, same
repertoire in the spirit of similar ploys by Kraftwerk and Andy
Warhol. One group of Astro-clones has already played a show in
Atlanta; a second group of female clones is apparently in the
beta-testing stage. The clones were apparently created to compensate,
in part, for Star Crunch's vacation from the band this past January.
Of course, the scheme, although humorous, also reads like MOA?'s bid
for corporation status, as though the band wasn't a group of
particular (and peculiar) individuals but another consumable product
to be wound up and sent off. The idea of two or three simultaneous
MOA? and clone tours may have been too much for MC Crunch, who
admitted that he was as much into the "personal aspect of Man or
Astroman?" as he was the conceptual and performance side. Speculation
aside, Star Crunch says he approved of the clones concept and that his
split with the band was amicable. Although he will not tour or
seriously record with MOA?, there are smaller projects that Crunch
will finish with the band. These include recording the theme song for
the upcoming computer-animated Nickelodeon program "Jimmy Neutron,"
and short pieces for The Cartoon Network's "Space Ghost Coast to
Coast."

WHAT NOW, CAP'N CRUNCH?: "I've got a bunch of stuff I've amassed over
the past year," the artist formerly known as Star Crunch explained.
"There's a lot of noises involved. It's less rock and more texture."
Apparently, the guitarist also is hammering out plans to start a new
band with some fellow Athenians, and, although it is still embryonic,
Crunch avows that "it will have nothing to do with outer space." 

No word, either, on whether bassist Dexter's departure is at all
related to the diabolical plans of the Servotron Robot Alliance.
Dexter, unnamed sources have told Flagpole, is said to share synthetic
gene coding with Servotron's guitarist. Damn all these theme bands,
damn them!

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