The legendary singer, guitarist, and songwriter, once named artist of the decade, started with the Nuns in the early days of the San Francisco punk scene and opened for the Sex Pistols' final show. Later forming Rank and File with ex-Dils Chip and Tony Kinman, he went on to start the True Believers with brother Javier before launching a solo career that has yielded 20 albums. His latest release is the striking "Echo Dancing," revisiting earlier compositions with recontextualized treatments. While on a recent tour stop in New Orleans, Alejandro enters the Feral Zone with René at a notorious downtown hotel to make sense of it all.

Topics include James Mastro, Ian Hunter, Scott Danbom, Mark Henny, Mike Garson, a jazz sensibility, minimalism, touring costs, casting a spell, Townes Van Zandt, the Stooges, Iggy Pop, the Velvet Underground, moving to Orange County, hippies vs. garage rockers, juvenile delinquency, a family of musicians, record collecting, moving to L.A., meeting Patti Smith, the Last Trash Dance, hitchhiking to San Francisco, filmmaking, the No Wave ethos, the Dum Dum Boys, the Lion's Share, Jennifer Miro, the Mabuhay Gardens, the Residents, Jonathan Postal, playing CBGB, the Heartbreakers at Max's Kansas City, living at the Chelsea Hotel, hanging out with Sid Vicious, Nancy Spungeon, Quentin Crisp, Judy Nylon and the performance art world, moving to Austin, touring with Los Lobos, a sniper story, EMI records, orchestra gigs, Stephan Bruton, a tragedy, "Gravity," a mythical memoir, culture shock, Don Antonio, Suicide, Scott Walker, "The Crossing," Chuck Prophet, Galveston, a tribute record, illness and recovery, Nicola Peruch, Dripping Springs, a new record, and much more.

 

Intro music: "Trucker Takes A Wife" by Styler/Coman