Don’t let this guy fool you. He may drop porn stars’ names and joke about his early-morning Guinness jones. But Hazel — the front man for the Noise and member, variably, of other area acts such as the Gold Coast and the Virginia Reel — is committed. He’s committed to music that makes a difference locally and globally, and he’s done things to prove it. Take the benefit he organized early last year for Second Harvest, the food bank that came to the aid of the 4,600 Pillowtex workers who were left jobless when the Kannapolis plant closed. “This is close to my heart because some of my family suffered a similar situation in the mid-80s in New Jersey when our town’s textile plant closed,” Hazel told CL last year. So when this local Springsteen and Waits fan riffs on the five things that rock his world, you oughta know:
1. Guinness. “The best part of waking up. . .”
2. John Fante. “I got to him by way of Bukowski. America’s greatest unknown writer.”
3. Rodney Lanier. “Every band should have one.”
4. Wonder Boys. “My favorite movie not featuring Jenna Jameson.”
4. Tom Waits. “My brother has a T-shirt that says simply, ‘LISTEN TO TOM WAITS.’ I think that says it all.”
This article appears in Sep 7-13, 2005.
