Arts & Entertainment
Off The Wale
Hip-hop artist Wale Folarin (pronounced “wall-ay”) fills Street in on rocking with The Roots and mixtapes about Seinfeld.
The Hunted And The Gathered
This review might be coming a little late for those of you who heard Deerhunter’s Microcastle performed at a secret show in Brooklyn this April or when it was leaked in an excessively dramatic fashion in June.
This Week in Music History: Nov. 20 - 26
1889: The first jukebox debuts at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco. 1969: John Lennon returns his 1965 award of knighthood to Buckingham Palace.
A New Beginning
Butch Walker makes a living making music for other people. He’s written hits for Bowling for Soup (“Girl All the Bad Guys Want”) and Avril Lavigne (“My Happy Ending”), worked with Katy Perry, Pink and Fall Out Boy — all of which culminated in being named Rolling Stone’s Producer of the Year (2005). Tragedy struck last November when his Malibu home burned in the wildfires that spread across California and Mexico.
The Defibrillator: Beat Happening
Beat Happening Beat Happening 1985 I’ll be the first to admit it — Calvin Johnson and Heather Lewis can’t really sing.
Time-Proven Cure
Oh, Robert Smith. With an ever-expanding bird’s nest of hair resting neatly atop his head and a mouth covered in countless layers of lipstick, there’s nothing more to say about his disheveled appearance than that it perfectly suits his disgruntled vocal style.
Whigging Out
The Whigs have had a busy year. After releasing their major-label debut Mission Control in January, they’ve toured relentlessly, and are planning on some well-deserved rest after a year of talk shows, truckstops and tours.
This Week in Music History
November 13 1974: An imposter posing as Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore crashes a borrowed Porsche in Iowa City, after conning fans and receiving celebrity treatment. 1990: Rod Stewart sued by a fan who claimed that a soccer ball kicked into the crowd at a concert damaged a tendon in her middle finger.
Guilty Pleasures: Newsies (1992)
Newsies 1992 Let’s face it: musicals are the ultimate guilty pleasure. The dialogue is always cheesy and the plot is generally sacrificed for campy song-and-dance numbers every 15 to 20 minutes.
Synecdoche
Charlie Kaufman has a great track record: he’s the guy who penned cult classics Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Adaptation.
Shaking [But Not Stirring] It Up
James Bond has been around for 46 years, and — because he’s only human, we think — he’s changed a lot over the decades.
Point/Counterpoint: FILM AWARD CEREMONIES
Do award shows confer legitimacy, or are they just political tools? Do they reflect the will of the masses or broadcast the view of the super elite?
Guilty Pleasures: Cutting Edge (1992)
The Cutting Edge 1992 If it were possible to distill the essence of the early ’90s to its purest form, the result would be a VHS copy of The Cutting Edge, the tale of two zamboni-crossed lovers set against the backdrop of the decade’s ice skating craze.
Summer? No. We Hot? Definitely.
Street: Did you have any inclination to do Wet Hot American Summer-type things with this film? DW: Not really.
Paul Rudd: We Want To Be Him
It’s an ode to dorks. Referencing everything from L.A.R.P.-ing (live action role playing) to KISS trivia, Role Models brings out the pedant in us all.
The Defibrillator: Nirvana
Nirvana Bleach 1989 In sixth grade I developed a massive crush on a boy named Gus. He was the better half of a pair of twins and played the clarinet next to me in jazz band.
Like Drawing a Perfect Circle, Freehand
I've got to start off by admitting that I hate Coldplay. I think that the peak of Chris Martin’s creative ability came when he named his first child Apple.
No Reminder Necessary
Kintrell “Krispy Kream” and Alvin “Rah Almillo” Lindsey aren’t rappers. They aren’t hipsters either.
The Renaissance Age
It was way back in 1991 when Q-Tip rapped the now classic line “Industry rule #4080: Record company people are shady.” Shady indeed.
