John S. Hall is back with the third incarnation of King Missile, his spotlight dance with spoken-word absurdity. How absurd? Consider the following: "Gay/Not Gay" is Hall"s hysterically offensive meditation on all sorts of behavior that may or may not be gay. "Failure" is an ode to "the one you can count on when success, that is ever elusive, eludes you." "The Little Sandwich That Got a Guilt Complex Because He Was the Sole Survivor of a Horrible Bus Crash" is about... Well, you figure it out. While Hall"s lyrics are still as amusing as ever, the backing music has a more avant-garde feel, thanks to cellist-keyboardist Jane Scarpantoni (who has played with Bob Mould and Nirvana), guitarist Charles Curtis (André Previn, Herbie Hancock) and percussionist Bradford Reed of the Blue Man Group. It"s not always successful, but when Hall gets in a good mind groove, he"s fascinating. --Jason Josephes