Celebrating Community
Neddi Heller’s paintings are in “Welcome Back Home” a curated art exhibit by Erin Treacy and Krista Dragoner now hanging in the back room at Sunny’s. The show will be up through May 18. Last year Heller had a solo show at Sunny’s which opened on March 6, and it, and just about everything else ended up closing about ten […]
When Melvin Van Peebles moved from San Francisco to Hollywood to make movies in the late 1950s, Tinseltown power brokers took one look at the young Black Air Force veteran (and director of a few short films) and offered him a job — running an elevator. When he pushed for something more, let’s say, creative, they said he could be […]
Siouxsie and the Banshees released their second record in 1979, after a quick rush to fame and acclaim (in England, anyway) with their first single and debut album the previous year. Join Hands didn’t do much to capitalize on earlier success. The album was tense, unhinged, unnerving, built from the unexpected inspiration of the first world war and informed by […]
Those who lived through the ’70s may recognize the title of this column as the signature line from the harrowing torture scene in the movie Marathon Man. Dr. Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier) drills into Babe’s (Dustin Hoffman) teeth, without anesthetic, while asking, “Is it safe?” Beyond the sheer pain, what makes the scene that much more excruciating is that Babe […]
Review of Another Day’s Begun: Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in the 21st Century by Howard Sherman Review by Michael Quinn “What is trivial and what is significant about any one person’s making a breakfast, engaging in a domestic quarrel, in a ‘love scene,’ in dying?” asked Thornton Wilder, reflecting on the question at the heart of his play, Our Town. […]
As the aircraft eased away from the gate, the dinky panel on the back of the seat in front of me screamed “Tenet!” Last year one of our greatest living directors, Christopher Nolan (a blond Brit of Irish descent and I am a BIG fan), advised his millions of worshipers that they should never see his latest film Tenet unless […]
Singer and seer Lonnie Holley has a remarkable way of playing off of others while never seeming to quite change his act. The Alabama native first gained attention as a sculptor and visual artist working with found materials in what might be labeled “folk” or “outsider” idioms. He found his way into music and performance, first accompanying himself on a […]
The Gang of Four revivalism of the early naughts got one thing terribly wrong. Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand and their ilk did a reasonable enough job at aping the angular punk-funk sound, but lacked the rigidity. They weren’t fierce. They weren’t disciplined. They seemed to want to have a good time. A generation later, London’s Dry Cleaning is out to […]
Vocalist Priya Carlberg formed Birthday Ass five years ago when she was a student at the New England Conservatory, but the band members’ backgrounds in jazz and improvisation shouldn’t be cause for concern. The sextet has sufficient attitude to back its name, as evidenced by the Bandcamp bundles for their new album which include purple vinyl and band logo undergarments […]
I’m not sure where Alpha Maid comes from, but it seems like a scary place. Reports say South London, although Godard’s Alphaville seems more likely. I might also have guessed Bristol, where producer/rapper Tricky comes from, but that might be an overgeneralization. Like Tricky, though, or at least Tricky at his best, Alpha Maid make disturbing mixes, putting unadorned vocals […]