Sprawling, diverse, eclectic — hey, that’s just like the good ol’ U.S.A.! Displaying objects that we see every day in the real world out beyond the gallery walls, the Belger Arts Center’s expansive and multifaceted American Dream: By Design shows just how much the lines are blurred between art and utility, form and function. There’s way too much stuff…
For years, we’ve been hearing the same thing: Downtown’s coming back. Politicians and developers promise it’s just one more ballot initiative away. We follow, dreaming, voting for unleased stadiums and it-worked-for-Baltimore “entertainment districts” that promise “an urban flare and creativity not found in the region” (at least according to the “Project Overview” page of the Power and Light District’s…
Two weeks ago, a colleague insisted that Superman Returns isn’t a remake of the 1978 original, as I wrote, but a reinterpretation — its melancholy flip side. The Christopher Reeve model is pop art; the Brandon Routh version is heavy and solemn. Maybe that’s how one should approach Kevin Smith’s Clerks II — not because Smith wrote a script for…
It would be a mighty sweet thing to see M. Night Shyamalan as the great redemptive storyteller he clearly thinks he is — or as he portrays himself in those American Express commercials. Genuine yarn-spinning, even as a doomed ambition, is virtually extinct in American movies; what was the system’s priority in the studio years has become a neglected…
So much can happen in a year! Almost exactly 12 months ago, I reviewed a new restaurant at 7044 Troost called Grace, A Bistro on the Edge. The dream business of Mike and Lisa McLaughlin, the bistro had a lot of potential, but the food and service were inconsistent; six months later, the McLaughlins closed the place. But the old…
I like to think that I have a pretty sharp memory, except for a couple of party-crazed years in the early 1980s. (I conked out dancing to Patrice Rushen’s 1979 Pizzazz album and when I woke up, it was 1983 and disco was so over.) But even I get stumped at times, like when I walked into the two-month-old…
“How’s my foot doing?” a guy in black mandals asked sarcastically after we accidentally spilled beer on his foofily clad toes. The scene of our heinous crime against foppish footwear? Twenty 20, the little deli at 20th Street and Baltimore that turns into a faux club on First Fridays. Mr. Mandal turned his back to us as we apologized to…
Mondays at the Peanut aren’t nearly as big as Sundays, but there’s still hip-hop and there are still hot wings. Whether DJs Mythik and JD Flow provide instrumentals for volatile open-mic nights and funk-soul dance parties or glowstick-waving crunk rappers tear the place down, Monday’s Jump Off is a far cry from its backpacker-friendly Sunday-night counterpart. The B-boy crowd…
Golden Smog is probably the closest thing alt-country has to a supergroup. Originally formed as a one-off with aliases in 1992, the band — now including Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, the Jayhawks’ Gary Louris and Marc Perlman, Run Westy Run’s Kraig Johnson and Soul Asylum’s Dan Murphy — has a songwriting track record as impressive (if as inconsistent) as that of…
Childlike and slightly disturbed drawings of Kimya Dawson talking to assorted monsters, robots, ghosts and prehistoric animals appear on the cover of her fifth solo outing, offering a good clue as to what’s inside. Simple melodies imprint themselves on the brain after a single listen, with Dawson’s speedy, girlish, half-spoken, half-sung delivery washing over in a jumble of disjointed images…
The Format (Nate Ruess and Sam Means) is as jaded about the music industry as bands come. After the pair released 2003’s Interventions and Lullabies and scored a minor hit with the snappy, catchy “The First Single,” their label was folded into Atlantic Records, which ultimately dropped the Format. With Dog Problems, released on their own Vanity Label imprint, Means…
Grant-Lee Phillips has always been known as a sharp singer-songwriter. His ’80s version of Bowie’s Pin-Ups, however, proves that he’s even smarter than we knew. These 11, mostly acoustic versions of Reagan-era alternative classics wisely acknowledge a simple truth: Although there’s no point in recording an album of sound-alike covers, collections of unrecognizable “reinterpretations” are equally worthless. When Phillips quickens…
Like most other residents of New Orleans’ 9th Ward, Quintron and Miss Pussycat have spent the past year dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Their home was moderately damaged, but their nightclub, the Spellcaster Lodge, fared much worse and probably won’t reopen until this fall, if at all. Still, the husband-and-wife act are out on the road this summer…
First American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson’s steady distancing of herself from the show where she got her big break four years ago is reminiscent of Justin Timberlake’s exit from ‘N Sync: It was fun and all, but I don’t need you chumps anymore — I’m a superstar! Snippy Simon Cowell all but called Clarkson an ungrateful biznatch earlier this…
Describing Poison’s wild early days, drummer Rikki Rockett told the Pitch’s Geoff Harkness in 2000: “We only knew how to do it one way, and that was to entertain people.” And they did — by blowing up Harley engines on Sunset Strip stages while cavorting about in thick masks of makeup, spiked-out hair and Kiss-like costumes. In fact, this glam-granddaddy…
The Ditty Bops arrive in the area midway through a cross-country bike tour — a different approach to band travel that fits the group’s equally singular stage shows and thrillingly anachronistic songs. Songwriters Amanda Barrett (mandolin, dulcimer) and Abby DeWald (guitar, piano) range from western swing to hot jazz to vaudevillian show tunes, weaving the styles together in innovative fashion….
When asked to assess the postseason chances of his 1982 New York Knicks, Michael Ray Richardson predicted “the ship be sinking.” Jonny Santos foresaw the same fate for new metal, so he paddled away from his Grammy-nominated group Spineshank in 2004. His old outfit remains on indefinite hiatus, but Santos soldiers on with Silent Civilian, a modern metal-hardcore hybrid. A…
We weren’t surprised to hear that DJ Shadow was going crunk. He is from the Bay Area, which is home to the booming Hyphy sound, but his atmospheric brand of turntablism never crossed paths with the rappers in his backyard until now. The first single from The Outsider, “3 Freaks,” features rappers Keak Da Sneak and Turf Talk. (You might…
Just six months old, with an album in the works, Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk remains relatively unknown even in its native Kansas City. While still pecking out its niche, the group has been making stylishly haunting but ultimately optimistic music. The act started as a rambunctious and experimental “noise project,” with guitarist Drew Gibson (previously from Darling at Sea)…
When Swedish pop star Jens Lekman recently played Intonation in Chicago, he set up a blind date for himself. Realizing that his guest list for the 38-band bill “looked sad and empty,” Lekman posted a contest on his Web site to find a rhythm sample — and some company. “The most creative beatmaster would receive free tickets to both days…
Yes, Cat Simpson’s a babe, but I swear that’s not why I’m writing about her. The reason I’m writing about her has to do with the health of the local music scene, which this willowy brunette — recognizable in clubs by the music-note tattoos adorning the backs of her legs — is now in a position to help. About a…
Having fallen asleep facedown on my computer keyboard, I feel as though imprints of letters cover my face, composing nonsense words to greet my surprise visitor. I groggily assess the approaching intruder. His hair hangs over his ears in long flaps, like a black silk hunting cap, and his handsomely pronounced nose connects virile eyebrows and pouty lips. He’s…
Flag down: Thanks for C.J. Janovy’s June 29 column on burning the flag. Her closing comments, in particular, describe an unfortunate but nonetheless true circumstance. My thought for some time now is that a much more stirring symbolic act is flying the flag upside down. Granted, it isn’t “officially” allowed, but just like burning, it isn’t illegal and is a…
Playing a leader who wondered whether the war was necessary in the Shakespeare in the Park production of King Henry V, which closed last week, he made us ache for the real thing. He wooed Princess Katherine despite not knowing the language, convincing her to marry him within five minutes of their introduction. He accomplished these things in flouncy sleeves….
