Shortly after 8 o’clock last night Sharon Van Etten took the stage accompanied by Heather Woods Broderick in the Swyer Theatre at The Egg. She wore a simple but very flattering black dress and shyly said “Um, hello” into the microphone before slinging her bright red electric (yes, electric) guitar over her shoulder. Continue reading
The long awaite
d solo effort from the silky-voiced Frank Ocean was big enough. Add to the fever his announcement/note/whatever it was that Frank once loved (like, love loved) another man changed this from a record release, to a seismic shift in macho hip-hop culture, not to mention giving his crew, Odd Future, a new air of legitimacy and complexity in the face of all their blatant gay-bashing.
Somehow, lost in all of this, was the record. Ocean’s first release “Novacaine” left many wanting more, including Jay-Z and Kanye West. Ocean would be tapped to sing the refrain on both “Made it in America,” and “No Church in the Wild” on the duo’s epic collaboration Watch the Throne. He would release two more singles, “Swim Good” and “Thinkin’ Bout You,” the latter being the lead track to his major label debut, Channel Orange. Continue reading
Jonny J was kind enough to take point on LCD Soundsystem’s documentary which played for one night only in select theaters this past week. A big thank you is in order for Jon as he purchased a pair of tickets for him and I to the last show as an early birthday present for me last spring. I shared the concert with someone great!
I was fortunate enough to see LCD Soundsystem’s rock-doc in Astoria’s Museum of the Moving Image, where the theater acoustics were the most perfect I have heard in any theater to date. The concert segments made you feel you were actually at the show, superbly recorded in audio and film.
Comic actor Fred Willard was arrested on suspicion of committing a “lewd act” at the XXX Tiki Theater in Hollywood on Wednesday night. The 72-year-old actor was detained after a routine, uniformed LAPD inspection of the theater (yes, apparently pornographic theaters are patrolled routinely).
Aside: I had no idea that XXX theaters still existed Continue reading
Amy Heckerling’s Clueless (1995) should be on everyone’s Top 10 Teen Comedies list. First of all, it might be the best adaptation of a Jane Austen novel (Emma). Second, the film is solely responsible for the popularization of phrases like “Whatever!” and “As if!” which (regrettably in hindsight) remained a major part of teenage girl vernacular for the better part of two years. But most importantly, Clueless is a zeitgeist flick that Continue reading
Seeing the Light: Inside the Velvet Underground by Rob Jovanovic (2010)
Republished on Pop ‘stache after some tidying up…
Lou Reed: “We put a ship in the water, it turned out to be a turbo-powered sub and it took a while for it to land wherever it landed. Time was the real judge. The proof was in the work, and the work is on the record.”
SHH: “Rob Jovanovic put out a book on The Velvets, it turned out to be a slow-chugging sub and although it infrequently put its periscope up for an interesting anecdote, it never lands. The proof is in the shlock, and the shlock is in the book.”
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Rob Jovanovic has penned very competent and comprehensive books on artists including R.E.M., Pavement and Big Star. His latest book on music is Seeing the Light Continue reading
Congratulations to SHH’s newest contributor, Brian. Aside from being an avid reader, he’s also a local scholar of HBO’s The Wire. Enjoy!
“Easy Money: Anatomy of a Drug Empire” is a series of five articles written by David Simon that ran in The Baltimore Sun from January 11, 1985 to January 15, 1985. Simon is best known as the creator of the HBO series The Wire, but he started his professional career as a reporter for The Baltimore Sun. He joined The Sun out of college in 1982 and left in 1995, disillusioned by the corporate culture that invaded his newspaper. While reading Simon’s first book, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, I found that “Easy Money” was referenced more than once by Simon and Continue reading
(Oh, hello. This is my non-triumphant return to blogging. Been a while since I checked in around these parts, but I am hoping to change that. Here is another installment of my fictional Sunday newspaper column.)
Dwight Howard will play next season in Los Angeles, whether he likes it or not. While nothing is official, it seems the Lakers are the last team standing in this race. Brooklyn/New Jersey got up from the table earlier this week, and made their peace with acquiring Joe Johnson and Deron Williams to lead them into the Barclay’s Center next season. Houston, while still technically in the race, is attempting to sell the farm to buy the prized cow. They even cut loose their hardest working player in hopes of freeing up enough money to land the big fish. Atlanta would have to similarly dismantle their team in order to bring Dwight to town. Continue reading
The Modern Lovers by The Modern Lovers (1976)
The Modern Lovers were a super group of not-yet-knowns in the 1970s. The band that played on their classic debut consisted of Jonathan Richman on guitar and vocals, Jerry Harrison on keyboard, Ernie Brooks on bass and David Robinson on drums. They disbanded after two short years in 1973 and the album itself wasn’t released until three years later. Richman went on to have a successful (albeit sappier) solo career keeping the band name as his back-up band, Harrison became the keyboardist for the Talking Heads, Brooks Continue reading
As some of you may or may not know, my birthday happens to coincide with America’s: the 4th of July. You may have also noticed that there are longer gaps in between my posts. I have been working more and writing less. My apologies. My sincerest apologies if you look to my website for regular, entertaining material. Continue reading
the self-hating hipster 