Day: February 7, 2020

Music

Jalopy Records release: ‘Fatboy Wilson & Old Viejo Bones’

Jalopy Records has recently released the debut album Fatboy Wilson & Old Viejo Bones. Samoa “Fatboy” Wilson and Ernesto “Lovercat” Gomez (aka Old Viejo Bones) are an acoustic duo who specialize in old-time, folk, Americana, blues, and more.  Wilson sings and plays baritone ukulele while Gomez sings and plays guitar and harmonica. The sound of this recording is true to […]

Music

Cambridge, England: some of that rock & roll music

I moved to Cambridge, England for almost a year back in the fall of 2016. I now have a version of the Jack Grace Band in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and one in Cambridge, England. I also have versions in Colorado, Canada, and Austin.  I have spent much of my life in a van. Lately, my general approach is to go to […]

Music

Bloco La Conga bringing Conga Santiaguera to NYC

When you think of Cuban music, what comes to mind? Perhaps the slow, emotional son and danzon music represented by the Buena Vista Social Club; or the fiery singing from Celia Cruz; or the energetic mambos of Perez Prado; or, if you happen to be the type that digs a little deeper, the Afro-Cuban rumba tradition featuring thick, dense rhythms […]

Music

Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ reconsidered

Much has rightly been made of the drama surrounding and embedded into David Bowie’s ★, an album that not only addressed mortality but directly addressed his fans as well. Less has been said suggesting that it stood upon its release, as it does today, as one of Bowie’s finest records. Opinions vary, of course, and his back catalog is a […]

Music

Album review: ‘The Sunset Canyoneers’

There’s a wholesomeness to the Sunset Canyoneers’ self-titled debut album, and I can’t quite tell if it works for or against the sun-worshipping California country music outfit. The album’s motif is purposefully and perfectly reminiscent of the Bakersfield Sound that came about in the mid-1950s, influencing a hippie country music scene that gave rise to the likes of The Byrds, […]

Arts

Live comedy comes to Red Hook

Red Hook residents no longer have to leave the neighborhood to enjoy New York’s stand-up scene. On the third Wednesday of the month, Hoek Pizza (117 Ferris Street) will host a recurring free show emceed by comedians Candyce Musinski and Meagan Walsh at 8:30 pm for patrons 18 and older. The monthly engagement began in January and continues on February […]

Arts, Film

Big names, small screens: MoMA series helps make sense of TV movies

Since the advent of VHS, discerning moviegoers have known that “made for television” and “direct to video” were kisses of death – signals the movie they were about to see, God help them, was the lowliest junk. Nascent cable channels and the dustiest recesses of Blockbuster were where the schlockiest horror, hardest soft-core, and cheapest action flicks were dumped by […]

Arts, Film

No such thing as an anti-war film: 1917 and the limits of ambition

On November 13, 1854, Alfred Lord Tennyson opened his morning newspaper, eager for word from far-off Crimea. He read about the Light Brigade, the six hundred cavalry troopers ordered to charge a heavily defended fort, and about their subsequent slaughter. Moved by their courage and sacrifice, Tennyson wrote a poem.  Tennyson was, of course, an abominable poet. A Victorian to […]

Arts, Books

Stagg party

Review of Sleeveless: Fashion, Image, Media, New York 2011-2019 by Natasha Stagg In another era, the worst thing you could be accused of was selling out.  But for a younger generation, it’s become the objective: the new version of the American dream. No matter how old you are, the corporatization of our culture makes it common to talk about things […]