Archive | June, 2012

Review: Rosie Dastgir’s ‘A Small Fortune’ Is a Delightful, Often Funny Tale of East Meets West

It is no small feat for an author to capture world issues from a personal point of view. Sure, many try – and authors like Khaled Hosseini succeed – but often these novels fail to tell a story. Instead they serve as a platform for writers to express their political views. Theoretically there is nothing [...]

Splatter-Rama Serves Up a Double Feature of Horror, Schlock, and More This Sunday at Cinema Paradiso

Streaming media, on-demand services, Hulu, Netflix, and everything else have sapped our collective wills to actually go to a movie theater, especially if there’s no 3-D wizardry involved. As with so many other media that have now shifted to the digital realm, that means less of a communal experience around seeing a new film. That’s [...]

Review: Explosions in the Sky Brought a Cinematic Sweep to Grand Central Last Night

Last night’s Explosions in the Sky show at Grand Central was almost shockingly crowded for a mid-week rock show at the venue. You could chalk it up in part, perhaps, to the gig’s all-ages entry, a rarity for the place, or the fact that school’s out for the summer. Most of the elbow-to-elbow audience, though, [...]

What We Talk About When We Talk About Voyager 1

The biggest news last week had nothing to do with presidential elections, overseas financial crises, or fiddly football coaches. The really big news, the only news that will be popularly remembered 500 years hence, was that a human artifact was, for the first time, on the verge of departing our solar system, en-route to who-knows-what [...]

Danation: You Know What Rick Scott Needs? Executive Privilege

It’s no secret that the past few weeks haven’t been good for our governor. Or maybe the past few months would be more accurate. OK, OK — it’s been a pretty bad governorship in general. Gov. Moon Lizard’s approval rating has never gone higher than the low 40s, and it’s not hard to see why. [...]

Death of a Noise: Farewell to Steven Tyler’s Voice

Steven Tyler’s voice has died, and I’m in mourning. For me, rock ‘n’ roll began with Steven’s voice. In particular, it began with the world-eating scream that begins the song “Nine Lives,” the first track on the 1997 record of the same name. I was 14 when I saw Aerosmith on the Nine Lives tour, and not interested in [...]

The Brains Behind West Coast Label Light in the Attic Records Spin Dusty Vintage Nuggets at Radio-Active Records Saturday

For exactly a decade now, Seattle- and Los Angeles-based record label Light in the Attic has specialized in a particular kind of music geek’s dream come true. The imprint, founded by Matt Sullivan, signs the occasional new artist, but that’s far from its focus. Instead, Sullivan and his team excavate old, forgotten vintage nuggets that, [...]

RIP: Eric Barton Has Been Removed as Editor of New Times Broward-Palm Beach

Eric Barton has been removed from his post as editor of New Times, Broward-Palm Beach, according to sources at the weekly newspaper. His last day was today. Miami New Times editor Chuck Strouse, who was editor in Broward for five years preceding Barton, will again take over editing chores, with BPB’s Deirdra Funcheon staying on [...]

Don’t Call Explosions in the Sky “Post-Rock” When They Play at Grand Central on Wednesday

Yes, the long-running Austin, Texas-based quartet Explosions in the Sky eschews vocals. Yes, the group often favors feeling over the strictures of pop-song form. Yes, the feeling of choice is often expansive, unfurling slowly from its source to the rafters. But to call the group, as so many do, merely “post-rock” is sort of missing [...]

Danation: Destroying the Economy in Order to Save It

A pair of events caught my eye over the weekend. First, Speaker of the House John Boehner made his first campaign appearance with Mitt Romney. The event took place in Boehner’s home state of Ohio — indeed, it occurred in Troy, Ohio, which is in Boehner’s own 8th congressional district — and featured the Speaker [...]

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