The Real Bob Saget
You’re better off remembering him this way. In the early ’90s, Bob Saget — or Danny Tanner, as he was known to his cult of Full House followers — was an island of wholesomeness in a sea of TV sleaze, sex, and violence. Those tender, knee-bouncing lectures he gave to the Olsen twins seemed so…
Fabulous Food Show: No Free Munch
Ted Allen: One dull piece of meat. The Fabulous Food Show came to the IX Center last weekend, complete with celebrity chefs, cooking demos, wine tastings, and more than 150 exhibitors peddling everything from santoku knives to spaghetti sauce. I dropped in for a few hours on Friday afternoon, caught Queer Eye chef Ted Allen’s…
Praising Drew Gooden
Drew Gooden: More manly than Carlos Boozer? There are too many stories of people leaving Cleveland by way of the almighty dollar. Not so long ago, the Cleveland Cavalier voted 2003-2004 Hardest Worker of the Year used deception and cunning to not only flee Cleveland, but flee to Salt Lake City. I understand that Cleveland…
Joanna Newsom, Mongol hordes overtake Beachland
For Cleveland’s indie nation, Joanna Newsom’s Friday-night gig at the Beachland Ballroom upstaged anything else going down around town that evening. Before a sold-out audience, the California folk singer and harpist delivered a charming show. After warming up with a handful of chestnuts off her debut, Newsom invited her six-piece orchestra onstage and unleashed her…
R&B Legend Gerald Levert Dies
Gerald Levert died of an apparent heart attack in his sleep in his Newbury home on Friday. The R&B singer was 40 years old. Levert, the son of the O’Jays’ Eddie Levert, broke through in the mid-’80s with LeVert, a trio that also included his brother Sean. Over the next 15-plus years, Levert had eight…
Hirax Cancels Cleveland Gig
Hirax’s show scheduled for Wednesday, November 15, at Parma’s Jigsaw Stage and Saloon has been canceled, as have most of the group’s dates for this leg of its first national tour. It’s just the latest disappointment in the band’s 20-plus year, off-again-on-again (mostly off) non-career. The following press release not only explains the cancellation, but…
Frivilous suit leads to consumer rights
From mortgage brokers to car dealers, Ohio has been a longtime haven for shady sales practices, courtesy of lax consumer rights laws and even lazier law enforcement. But all that may change, thanks to a new Ohio Supreme Court decision that now allows consumers to collect damages for the “stress” of being fleeced by unscrupulous…
More bad luck for Notre Dame
Poor Notre Dame College. It seems the South Euclid school just can’t catch a break. Last spring, the college was crucified by county prosecutors for failing to inform students about two sexual assaults on campus (“Hush,” May 17). Because a dean hid the information from campus police, the student was allowed to assault at least…
Joe P’s take on the Cavs (so far)
David Wesley gets the early nod as the Cav’s most entertaining player Checked out the Cavs-Bulls at The Q last night, and made several important observations, most of which concern the new pleather outfits of the Cavaliers Girls. However, I also found time to make some observations about the actual players, although some of those…
Free AIDS testing
Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman isn’t afraid of it. Neither is Cuyahoga Municipal Judge Joan Synenberg. And Stonewall Democrats President Patrick Shepherd even welcomes it. They’re just three of nearly 40 Cleveland luminaries who’ll submit to HIV antibody tests on November 16 as part of National Minority Health Month. The program will be held at…
Pink Revolution
Mary Taylor Ok, so everyone’s excited about Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) taking over as Speaker of the House. And sure, there’s a record number of women in the Senate now. But what about the gals from Ohio? Looks like they threw down quite nicely themselves. We now have a female auditor, Mary Taylor, and secretary…
Fulwood fumbles the political football
Headline: Cheer up, GOP, this, too, shall pass Date: November 9, 2006 Topic: Fulwood gloats about the election results in a letter to Republicans, pretending to feel their pain. Originality: 1/10. Having once heard the phrase “political football,” Sam decides that the gridiron is a great way to explain politics, though his knowledge of both…
A vote for the puppy mill bill
With the election behind us, the legislature is back in session for a final few weeks. One bill I would like to see pass this session will set minimum standards for the puppy mills across Ohio. It is House Bill 606 and Senate Bill 342. Ohio holds the unenviable title as one of the biggest…
Food critic praises smoking ban
Whew! Talk about a breath of fresh air. The passage of Issue 5 — which apparently will eliminate smoking in Ohio restaurants and bars — and the simultaneous defeat of Issue 4 — which would have pretty much ensured the status quo — is a huge relief, at least to this professional restaurant-goer. After more…
A plea from a smoker
[Author’s note: The following is a completely uneducated, un-researched rant. Choke on it.] You people make me sick. Literally, right now I feel physically ill. What were you thinking yesterday? Smoking nowhere except bars sounds about right to me. Hell, might as well just isolate the two legal vices in the same place; seems fine…
Bob Saget arriving in Cleveland
Bob Saget: Rebounding from a history of really, really bad TV Bob Saget has a crapload of things happening right now. The former Full House star hosts NBC’s hit game show 1 vs. 100, he has a rare dramatic turn coming up on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and he comes to town Saturday…
Chronicles in Leadership
Among the crowd at last night’s victory party for Senator-elect Sherrod Brown was Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. But while some revelers were hoping for a few words of congrats from Jackson, the mayor was just there to watch. “He’s a man of few words,” Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones explained to the audience. Mayor Jackson, whose…
A night with Sherrod Brown
I ditched the Cavaliers-Hawks game early last night and headed to Sherrod Brown’s victory rally, hoping there would be more drama and intrigue in a hotly contested Senate race than a basketball contest involving the Hawks, who I believe are a CYO team from South Yemen. Turns out the Hawks had more fight than the…
Soldier of Love
In the 1951 French swashbuckler Fanfan La Tulipe, a peasant is caught rolling in the hay with the farmer’s daughter. To escape pitchfork-wielding townsfolk, he joins the army. Before this rollicking adventure is over, he encounters a lying gypsy, a horny king, and some fey henchmen. Sun., Nov. 12, 4 p.m.
All Eyes on Her
On October 24, Kimberly Osorio, The Source’s editor-in-chief from 2002 to 2005, won $15.5 million in a workplace lawsuit against the hip-hop monthly. Along with colleague Michelle Joyce, she’d filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission shortly after being fired for poor performance; she alleged constant, pervasive sexual harassment and insisted that she…
Jackie Mittoo
While the late Jackie Mittoo never achieved the same fame as his peers (Augustus Pablo and Tommy McCook), he was a major player in the history of reggae, rock steady, and ska. Mittoo was an ace keyboardist, a charter member of the Skatalites, and a performer on recordings helmed by Bob Marley, as well as…
Our top DVD picks for the week of November 7:
Anna Karenina (Kino) Arrested Development: Seasons One-Three (Fox) The Best of the Scripps National Spelling Bee (ESPN) Beverly Hills 90210: The Complete First Season (Paramount) Cinema Paradiso (Weinstein) The Fallen Idol (Criterion) Freak Out (Anchor Bay) Jag: The Complete Second Season (Paramount) The James Bond Collection: Volumes One and Two (MGM) LoudQUIETloud: A Film About…
Harpy Chick
If Devendra Banhart is the freak-folk movement’s reigning king, Joanna Newsom is its queen. The San Francisco singer-songwriter mixes a number of styles — rustic Appalachian folk, lo-fi indie-rock, and shape-shifting modernism — on her new album, Ys, which comes out Tuesday. It’s a challenging but rewarding listen, made all the more knotty by Newsom’s…
Say Yes to Prog
For many indie-rock fans, “Oh dear God, why?” was the initial reaction when Portland, Oregon’s the Decemberists leapt from Kill Rock Stars to the majors and released The Crane Wife, an epic and all too audacious song cycle based in part on an ancient Japanese folk tale. Much has been made of the record’s obvious…
4 Degrees by Sunday
Cleveland’s 4 Degrees by Sunday plays a blend of jangly pop and Americana that’s wired for good times. Even on a lyrical downer like “Where Does It Go?” singer Tony Colon muses on a rocky relationship with almost giddy aplomb, in a velvety croon that sounds like Elvis Costello with a touch of acid reflux.…
In the Clouds
On its latest CD, Planetary Harmony, Pittsburgh’s Vequinox takes inspiration from ethereal popsters like Loreena McKinnett and Enigma. The trio’s exotic instrumental mix includes pennywhistle, hammered dulcimer, and sitar. Tue., Nov. 14, 8 p.m.
Gettin’ Busy With Bob
Bob Saget’s unlikely reinvention continues. And it’s a wonder Saget has found any spare time to do stand-up shows, like the one at Playhouse Square tonight. The former Full House star and erstwhile host of America’s Funniest Home Videos came out last year as a potty-mouthed joke-teller in The Aristocrats and as a pot-smoking whore-lover…
Evening Matinee
There comes a time when you just don’t feel like dancing to the Killers and Frankie Goes to Hollywood at 2 in the morning. The Matinee (812 West Market Street), located in the heart of Akron’s pop-culture district, Highland Square, has fast become a low-key watering hole for aging scenesters. Formerly Vodka, the bar is…
Labor Force
Labor Force’s . . . True to the Blue starts with the sound of a factory whistle, and the Rubber City quartet promptly gets to work on a model of low-fi street punk, turning out a half-hour shift of anthemic guitar leads, holler-along choruses, and lyrics about loving the union and hating debt collectors. As…
Hypnotist Gets Raunchy
Believe it or not, there’s more than one comedian using the name Sandman. If you’re wondering which one is appearing at the Funny Stop tonight, it’s the hypnotist-comic from Nashville, who was born Jesse Conner. “There are five of us,” says Conner. “And nobody can copyright the name, because it’s been used so much. But…
Leader of the Goddamn Band
Like former tourmate Bright Eyes, Brooklyn indie-rocker Kevin Devine hits all of life’s big issues in his ultra-personal songs. On his major-label debut, Put Your Ghost to Rest, Devine and his group — the excellently named Goddamn Band — run through a series of tunes about love, politics, and death. Devine is on tour with…
Hinder
Oklahoma City quintet Hinder is tearing up commercial radio and Billboard charts with its debut album, Extreme Behavior, proving that replicating the everyman rock of Nickelback and Three Doors Down is still lucrative business. Nothing moves units out of Wal-Mart quite like a sappy post-grunge/post-nü-metal power ballad, and Hinder’s latest smash, “Lips of an Angel,”…
CCJR
Cleveland to the core, CCJR straddles alt-rock and classic rock, sounding like vintage Heart updated for airplay on K-Rock. Rich’s humming bass wraps around Jeremy’s insistent guitar like an impenetrable electromagnetic force field. The blues influences that singer Cassie Q. displays during the band’s hit-or-miss live sets disappear in the recording studio, but her big…
Fathead’s Revenge
Veteran sax player David “Fathead” Newman is best known as a character in the 2004 biopic Ray, but he still loves touring. He stops at Nighttown tonight for a pair of shows spotlighting his latest album, Cityscape. Keyboardist Tony Monaco will be on hand to assist Newman on songs from last year’s I Remember Brother…
Opera for the Rest of Us
Broken hearts, dying wishes, and fallen women come to life in full operatic splendor at the Cleveland Institute of Music’s La Traviata and Friends. “There is this legend that opera is silly,” says CIM director David Bamberger. “But this is actually very fun material, with insights into the human experience. These were the Broadway musicals…
Jamie Lidell
Sporting a sparkling tailcoat, Jamie Lidell sings soulfully in the upper register, then whips that vocal into a tornado of live-sampled beats that climb ever higher. Smoothly delivering tracks from 2005’s Multiply and cutting up the techno-funk from his days as one half of Super_Collider, Lidell slices his oohs and ahs into rich, layered dance…
Seeing Is Believing
I was languishing in the cozy dining room of the Cleveland Grill on a recent weeknight, waiting for my tardy companion to join me, when my phone rang. “Where the hell is this place?” L.J. sputtered into the phone. “I’ve been driving up and down West 117th Street for the last five minutes, but I…
Jammin’ Biscuits
The Disco Biscuits may have one of the worst names in rock, but the Philadelphia jam band sure is an adventurous crew. For the past decade, the quartet has combined world music, funk, and blues in a heady, spacey mix. Many jam bands merely find a groove, settle in, and noodle away for 17 minutes.…
Dino Might
One of the most impressive dinosaur exhibits ever unearthed roars into town today. A T. rex Named Sue features the world’s biggest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex, which spans 42 feet. Lectures, special events, and hands-on activities will occupy visitors during the exhibit’s five-month run at the natural history museum. Among the coolest features: you…
Blame It on the Jager
This year’s Jägermeister Music Tour, which stops at House of Blues tonight, features a pair of bands that owe a debt to 311. Without the white-boy reggae riddims mined by the Nebraska dub rockers, Pepper and Slightly Stoopid would have fewer musical and lyrical tricks at their disposal. On the new CD No Shame, Hawaii’s…
36 Crazyfists
36 Crazyfists/Scars of Tomorrow Even in a genre marked by really bad, interchangeable band names, 36 Crazyfists, a metalcore crew from Alaska by way of Portland, Oregon, has the worst moniker of them all. (For a list of 35 other famous fists, visit C-Notes, Scene’s new blog, at www.Clevescene.com/blogs.) But the music isn’t nearly as…
Clean Food?
He’s only 31, but outspoken chef Richard Cicic already has a lock on that grumpy old man thing. Mostly, he’s pissed about what’s on our plates. “People don’t know what food tastes like anymore!” he fumes. “The food at places like Applebee’s and Friday’s is a trainwreck. And my friends come over to visit, and…
Open-Mic Blowout
The Cleveland Foundation recently gave organizers of the monthly concert and open-mic series Second Saturday Coffee House some cash so that performers could finally be for their efforts. Tonight, the founders of the monthly event for local musicians, artists, and poets are doing what most reasonable people would do when money lands in their laps:…
Classical Music for Dummies
Classical music tends to attract middle-schoolers and grandmas, but hardly anybody in between. Tonight, the Cleveland Orchestra hopes to change that with Benjamin Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.” Perhaps the world’s most popular educational score, the 1945 masterpiece brilliantly embraces both the young and young-at-heart. “It’s not childish, but it’s not highbrow either,”…
Baritones, Too!
Bohemian National Hall morphs into a mini opera house tonight and Sunday for Opera Cleveland’s production of Rigoletto. Sung in Italian, the Verdi classic is about a hunchbacked court jester who tries to even the score with his boss for wooing the hunchback’s daughter. The plot then unfolds with abductions, assassins, and bodies found in…
Hirax
Thrash legends Hirax exploded out of the Orange County metal scene in 1984. Frontman Katon W. De Pena, the only major black musician in thrash’s golden age, played with such Bay Area giants as Metallica, Exodus, and Testament. The early lineup recorded two albums for Metal Blade, but internal squabbles and endless label problems prevented…
Anchor Man?
Once an actor gets big enough to take whatever kind of role he wants, it makes sense that the biggest stretch imaginable, in comparison to his current situation, is the part of a powerless man with no control over the world around him. Call it a “nice” movie — a vehicle designed to tone down…
From Portugal, With Love
In her native Portugal, fans treat traditional folk singer Ana Moura like a rock star. And with her smokin’-hot looks, the 26-year-old “fadista” may pick up a few more followers in Cleveland tonight, when she performs as part of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Viva! series. On her second album, Aconteceu (Happening), Moura brings fado…
Copeland
Piano rock, schmiano rock. What Copeland produces is something much more than the recycled Ben Folds schmaltz typical of most ivories-oriented groups. Both Beneath Medicine Tree, the quartet’s 2003 debut, and In Motion, its 2005 breakthrough, were awash in lush, dreamy indie pop that eschewed irony for introspection. The guitar work of Bryan Laurenson and…
Heart Attack
Pity Max Skinner, emasculated over his lamb chops. On a gray afternoon, at London’s hot spot du jour, his gloating superior unveils a plot to poach his most lucrative client, divesting him of a six-figure bonus in the process. Fuck it. The bummed-out bond trader hands in a resignation letter and the keys to his…
Boiling Point
In American Hardcore, a documentary about 1980s punk rock that opens today, an audience member grabs at Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins while he’s onstage. Within seconds, Rollins and the fan are pummeling each other, as Rollins’ bandmates provide the hundred-miles-a-minute soundtrack behind them. The scene pretty much sums up hardcore’s testosterone-fueled appeal to suburban…
Robyn Hitchcock and Venus 3
Truth is often stranger than fiction for Robyn Hitchcock. During an interview a few years ago, he described a scene as absurd as his surrealistic lyrics. “My wife has just been to the Arctic Circle on a two-masted schooner, circumnavigating Spitsbergen,” he said. “So I’ve been looking after the cat.” Then again, you’d expect nothing…
Communication Breakdown
Time perhaps scrambling it’s for Alejandro González Iñárritu to stop his narratives. After making an exciting debut in 2000 with Amores Perros — a movie whose gimmicky Tarantino-esque tinkering with structure seemed fresher en Español and grounded in gritty Mexico City location shooting — González Iñárritu apparently decided to devote his feature-film career to telling…
Music Soothes
Local alt-rockers Cactus 12 play Wilbert’s inaugural Rock Against Hunger. Singer-songwriter Will Bowen and the Nicholas Megalis drum-and-piano duo lend their talents to benefit the Cleveland Food Bank. Plus, Indie Guitars raffles off one of its axes. “We have a fondness for the poor,” says Cactus 12 bassist Phil Palumbo. “We really love Cleveland, and…
New Black City
The neighborhood of Indian Hills used to be the place people came when they made it. Just a stone’s throw from the Euclid-Cleveland border, this ’60s-era hilltop development seemed far away from the problems of the city. Chris Gruber was just a boy back then. His father moved to Euclid after losing both legs in…
American Dog
Things are back in full swing at the Crossroads, formerly the modern-rock clubhouse Voodoo, formerly Ron’s Crossroads, a onetime can’t-miss (330) tour stop for yesteryear’s hair-metal heroes. A triumphant set by hometown boy Tim “Ripper” Owens and his powerhouse Beyond Fear saw the place jammed wall to wall, formally announcing a new era at the…
Blurry Bobby
Few who lived through nine weeks of 1968, from April 4 to June 6, can adequately explain the sense of hopelessness and despair that enveloped much of the country. In that brief span, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated, sweeping the politics of ideas and idealism off the national stage and…
Space Jazz
Tony Dagradi, the saxophonist for jazz group Astral Project, says his iPod has “a whole lot of Indian classical music” on it these days. No surprise, since the New Orleans band is known for taking a free-range approach. “Your whole livelihood depends on being proactive,” Dagradi says. Since 1978, the quartet has explored everything from…
Burial at Sea
It’s a soggy Saturday morning at Cleveland Memorial Gardens when Yvette McKee arrives at her father’s grave — a sticky mound of mud, completely submerged under inches of cold, filthy water. McKee’s younger sister, Martiese Head, kicks through the cloudy puddle with her boots, hoping to get a glimpse of their father’s tombstone. But it…
A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays
Think the rolling-skating revelers in the Rapture’s “Whoo Alright — Yeah . . . Uh Huh!” video look like they’re having fun? They’re not just faking it for the video; the song really gets the dance floor going. See for yourself at A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays, the B-Side Liquor Lounge’s newest weekly party…
Spy Vs. Spy
It’s been observed that a person can fool a lie detector by simply believing his own lies. This may also explain how Dick Cheney can go on Sunday talk shows and claim he never said what a videotape shows him saying. For most of us, that blissful state of extreme self-delusion is not accessible, which…
Christmas Wine
Looking to get some holiday shopping out of the way tonight? At Stan Hywet’s Twelve Grapes of Christmas winetasting, all the vino sells for less than $25 a bottle. “I love watching people walk up, say they love the wines, and know they can afford to take home a bottle,” says Stan Hywet representative Rhonda…
Testing Time
To all outward appearances, Jen Buza looks like the picture of good health. A former college athlete, she has a Fitness subscriber’s build. So the 28-year-old was surprised by the results of a test that revealed she had the body of a 34-year-old. “It’s kind of depressing,” Buza says. “I already feel like an old…
Diddy
The Bad Boy roster closed the millennium spitting lyrics over an inane series of ’80s classics, a movement that screamed of selling out. However, No Way Out, Diddy’s 1997 vanity-rap debut, went seven times platinum on the strength of the Bowie-sampling “Been Around the World.” Indeed, the man has always had a vision for hip…
Capsule reviews of current area theater presentations.
And Baby Makes Seven — In Paula Vogel’s play, Ruth, Anna, and Peter not only share an apartment, they also participate in a free-floating and continually shifting faux life in which stout Ruth is also Henri, the young French boy from the movie The Red Balloon, and Anna pretends to be his American counterpart Cecil.…
Dance, Dance
The Wiggles are like Fall Out Boy for preschoolers. They dress kinda goofy, they have their own line of action figures, and kids know the words to all of their songs. The color-coded Aussies (who sing insanely catchy tunes like “Wah Hoo Hey, I’m Combing My Hair Today”) are celebrating their 15th anniversary with a…
To Slur, With Love
Story reveals bias for 40-ouncers: Thanks for the article regarding musical impostors [“The Great Pretenders,” November 1]. It was definitely something I had never heard of and walked away from the story more aware of this issue. However, two notes within your story struck a small chord with me. You draw a parallel between buying…
Badly Drawn Boy
No one is more British than Damon Gough, aka Badly Drawn Boy, which may explain why he hasn’t broken through in the States. His brilliant score for the Hugh Grant film About a Boy failed to attract Yanks in sizable numbers, and the subverted nod to Springsteen contained in the title of his new CD…
Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.
NEW Laurence Channing — One jaw-dropper after another — that’s the only fair summary of these new drawings by Laurence Channing. Officially, Channing is the head of publications at the Cleveland Museum of Art. But he’s also the charcoal master of Northeast Ohio, wielding carbon with a gifted photographer’s eye and Rembrandt’s technical skills. Here,…
Hot or Not?
Urban fashionistas strut the catwalk tonight as they compete in the semifinals of the Mr. and Ms. I’m Bringing Sexy Back Contest. Two finalists then square off at a final showdown next Thursday for a prize package of clothes and accessories. “This is for people who are looking their most attractive,” says organizer Dakota Smart…
The Kids Love uTube . . .
The world’s gone crazy for uTube.com — and the newfound fame is driving the company to ruin. uTube is the name of the 10-year-old website for Universal Tube & Rollform, a Toledo distributor of pipemaking supplies. But it seems another, somewhat more popular site called YouTube.com is sending undue attention Universal’s way. When websurfers across…
Beck
This is typically when Beck would hit you with a change-up — dim the lights, warm the milk, and go quietly into the darkness to follow the party-rock highjinks of Guero with an album more in keeping with his introspective side. And Nigel Godrich did produce Beck’s two most understated records, Mutations and Sea Change.…
Burning the Yule Log
The Junky’s Christmas (Koch) They just aren’t cranking out claymation Christmas specials like they used to, which makes this a welcome one. Nicer still, it’s got heroin! A mixture of stop motion with a little puppetry and live-action shots of William Burroughs (who may himself have been a Muppet), this tale of a junky scrambling…
Fat Albert Lives!
Comic impressionist Alex Ortiz does a lot of cartoon characters in his stand-up act. Sesame Street’s Grover and many of the classic Looney Tunes are favorites. He’s also quite fond of Fat Albert, although he despised the corpulent cartoon as a kid. “He was broke, he lived in a ghetto — it was too close…
Alice Is Back
On the evening of April 20, 2002, three members of Alice in Chains — singer-guitarist Jerry Cantrell, drummer Sean Kinney, and bassist Mike Inez — walked toward the International Fountain in Seattle. There, with the Space Needle towering overhead, hundreds of people were assembled in the chill air, bearing flowers, notes, and candles. The previous…
Deftones
Ten bucks to anyone who can explain how the Deftones continue to produce good music years after most of their nü-metal contemporaries devolved into shameless parodies of themselves. On their latest effort, Saturday Night Wrist, Chino Moreno and company sound every bit as vital as they did more than a decade ago. The reason: multidimensionality.…
Coke Dreams
In the gangsta pantheon, nobody gets more respect than Tony Montana. Consider all the homages: Not one, but two rappers have named themselves after Montana (Scarface of the Geto Boys and Tony Yayo of G-Unit), and Nas borrowed Montana’s slogan for his breakout hit, “The World Is Yours.” Indeed, the plot of the 1983 remake…
With a Little Help From His Friends
Bobby Bare Jr. had a cool idea for his CD, The Longest Meow: Last March, 11 pals went into the studio for 11 hours straight and recorded 11 songs. They emerged with the roots rocker’s loosest, most beer-soaked record. “It was the most fun I’ve ever had making music in a day,” says Bare. Bare…
Uniting the Scene
Here’s a picture for you: Four indie rockers are headed to the Broken Social Scene gig. Their Civic is filled with tattered hoodies, new American Apparel, and pastel lady slippers. The Magnetic Fields are on the stereo. Driving is Gabe. He likes the hard indie stuff: mathematical time maneuvers, stabbing guitars, and anthemic angularity all…
Yo La Tengo
Strip away the three monsters that begin, end, and shore up the middle of Yo La Tengo’s new release, and you might be tempted to call this the band’s ’60s album. Without those tracks, I Am Not Afraid would be the band’s most concise album in ages: a dozen songs (not jams or soundscapes) in…
Here are the week’s best releases from the pop-culture universe:
CD — The Clash: The Singles: All 19 singles by the world’s best punk band are gathered on this boxed set, which is also available as a collection of seven-inch vinyl 45s. Famous fans like the Edge, Pete Townshend, and the Beastie Boys’ Mike D check in with new essays, while more than 40 B-sides,…
