August 2005

« July 2005 | Main | September 2005 »

Party with me punker, in a movie theater

Filed under: Film

Their only eventual claim on the mainstream imagination was becoming the theme song to Jackass (with "Corona," a song about poverty), and serving as a soundtrack to a car commercial ("Love Dance," though I forget which car). But even if the greatest-ever American punk band deserves better than the new documentary opening Friday for a week at the Bell (where's the industrial landscape of San Pedro? Or the music videos? Or the stuff from IRS's The Cutting Edge? Or the bulk of their studio recordings?), I won't quibble with Spin editor Jon Dolan's eloquent rave in City Pages: "Equal parts civics lesson and group-therapy purge, a flashback to the hardly Edenic indie '80s, and an 'R.I.P.' written in sweat, We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen sends up a solemnly sweet glory-be for the corndog superheroes of American punk-rock humanism." Plus the rare live footage goes a long way.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at August 31, 2005 6:03 PM | Comments (0)

 

ReBirth: Trombone player alive, needs trombone

Filed under: Music

News of a Sept. 10 benefit for New Orleans relief at the Cabooze plus more links at Complicated Fun. And read Steve Perry's straight-talking commentary and links at Blotter today. Me, I just can't accept that the cradle of jazz has met a watery grave. I won't accept it.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at August 31, 2005 1:09 PM | Comments (0)

 

ReBirth Brass Band's Phil Frazier on New Orleans today

Filed under: Music

"Soon as I regroup with my band, we'll put everything on the table and decide where we'll go from here." Check out the interview and more New Orleans news links at Complicated Fun.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at August 30, 2005 7:58 PM | Comments (0)

 

Young Person Demands Audience with 50 Cent

Filed under: Music

I don't get a lot of fan letters, outside the ones I compose and send from a fictional address, but we at the paper do sometimes get letters from folks presumably looking for help getting in touch with their favorite performers, such as Dom DeLuise and 50 Cent. Not so often Dom DeLuise. Here's a note that came today from a young 50 fan:

HELLO MY NAME IS [WITHHELD] AN I LOVE EVEYTHING ABOUT 50CENT, I LOVE HIM WITH ALL OF MY HEART, HE MEENS THE WORLD TO ME,I WISH I CAN MEET HIM. I WENT TO HIS CONCERT IN BUFFALO AT DARIEN LAKE ON AUG. 11 BUT I DIDNT GET TO MET HIM. I LOVE ALL OF G-UNIT, WHEN I SEEN THERE BUS WHEN WE WERE DRIVING TO THE CONCERT I COULDNT EVEN BREATH, I WAS CRYING TO HARD. I JUST WISJ I CAN MET HIM OR AT LESS WRITE TO HIM. MY YOUNGER SISTER IS IN LOVE WITH LLOYD BAN$, (CANT FORGET ABOUT BANK$ DOLLAR SIGN)I JUST WISH MY SISTERS AND I CAN MET ALL OF THEM.

Posted by Dylan Hicks at August 30, 2005 3:55 PM | Comments (1)

 

Get Ready for "The Making of 'Down in the Groove'"

Filed under: Television

Martin Scorsese's Bob Dylan doc is coming soon to PBS. Here's some info on the film and a summary of other Dylan product being released in conjunction or in response to the film.

Posted by Dylan Hicks at August 30, 2005 1:57 PM | Comments (0)

 

Smoot! The Comix of Skip Williamson

Filed under: Blogs/Web

Artist Skip Williamson, one of the beloved granddaddies of the nihilistic underground comics movement, finally has his own website. Trippier than a sheet of windowpane acid, and often more political than compatriots like R. Crumb, Williamson also invented the "Playboy Funnies" section of America's favorite lad mag. Check out his candy-colored paintings and culture-vulture collages here.

Posted by Diablo Cody at August 30, 2005 11:07 AM | Comments (1)

 

From CTG to the NYT: Everyone's couch jumping!

Filed under: Pop Culture

We're not one to toot our own horn (or in this case, jump the couch) over such little pleasures as "jumping the couch" appearing in Maureen Dowd's Sunday NYT column. But long before Dowd declared it part of the pop-culture lexicon, and before the phrase appeared on urbandictionary.com, CTG first claimed that "jumping the couch" had replaced the tired Fonzie-inspired expression "jumping the shark."

Sure, the phrase is about as clever as the term "technosexual," a play on 2003's ubiquitous "metrosexual." (And in that vain, we'd like to introduce the term "netrosexual," defined as someone who is obsessed with the internet and uses it to search for such ludicrous things as the etymology of ephemeral phrases.) But we have to admit, imagining George W. Bush vaulting over the couch of insanity, as Dowd outlined in her piece, is way funnier than Tom Cruise's actual psycho sofa swing. So though we declared "jumping the couch" dead on July 6, we'd like to resuscitate it, just for a moment, to honor the poor leather Rent-A-Center-like sofa sleepers that have no doubt gone through the ringer at Bush's Texas ranch.

Posted by at August 29, 2005 10:57 PM | Comments (2)

 

In Da Club: Doug Little Quartet at the Artists' Quarter

Filed under: Local Nightlife

"If more drummers played like Kevin," Doug Little said from the Artists' Quarter stage during his quartet's CD-release party, "jazz would be a lot different in a better way." Seconded. During the group's first set this past Saturday, a living-in-the-moment Kevin Washington spurred his compatriots through galloping swing, hiccupping New Orleans funk, bossa nova ballads, tango meditations, what have you. The drummer's grooves were tight, his fills and accents surprising, his solos loud and crowd-pleasing but not bombastic. Not long after Little's stage compliment, when the band played the title track from the alto saxophonist's new CD The Phoenix, Washington responded with precisely the sort of pugilistic solo that striking NWA mechanics would want to hear right about now. Pianist Mary Louise Knutson's soulful chords and melodic blues playing suited the leader's sometimes Cannonball Adderly-esque compositions, and bassist Jeff Bailey was creative and responsive. Little, formerly with the Motion Poets, writes tuneful, harmonically fertile compositions that give musicians enough to sink into and listeners enough to grab hold of. He isn't, alas, always above sentimentality. One of the set's ballads, "Reminiscence," verged on the lugubrious. But his playing is sensitive, his tone dusky. All around, very good straight-ahead jazz. Unfortunately, the quartet has no gigs coming up at present, but Little will return to the AQ in late September with his Latin jazz group Seven Steps to Havana. --Dylan Hicks

Posted by Dylan Hicks at August 29, 2005 6:21 PM | Comments (0)

 

New Times to take over City Pages?

Filed under: Media

According to new documents obtained by the San Francisco Bay Guardian, "The nation's two largest alternative newspaper publishers have been in intense negotiations over a merger that would create an 18-paper chain controlled to a significant extent by venture capitalists." Click above for the article, and here for more background. UPDATE 9/7/05: NY Press is all for the takeover.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at August 29, 2005 1:17 PM | Comments (0)

 

Steve Carell, we hardly knew ye

Filed under: Film

Let it be known that it was on this day, Friday, August 26, 2005, that we discovered how Steve Carell's rise to fame would cease, plummet and fizzle out. The actor came to prominence as a faux-reporter on the Daily Show, then scored some choice roles in Bruce Almighty and Anchorman. He tackled Ricky Gervais' role in the American version of The Office, and most recently fronted the number one movie in America last week, The 40-Year-Old Virgin. (Yeah, yeah he also played Uncle Arthur in that shitty Bewitched remake earlier this year, whatever). Carell's white hot star will soon leave our galaxy and cool off in the deepest darkness of space known as Evan Almighty, the Jim Carrey-less sequel to Bruce Almighty, in which Carell's newsman character is inspired to build an ark. I'm hoping this is a joke, and that I've been fished in like the dim-witted rube I am.

Posted by Corey Anderson at August 26, 2005 4:33 PM | Comments (1)

 

Acid House Flashbacks

Filed under: CD Review

Originally, the term "house music" was used simply to apply to the disco and discofied R&B spun by Frankie Knuckles at the Chicago nightclub the Warehouse. Starting in 1983, though, house developed into a distinct genre--or better put a distinct genre containing divergent subgenres. Some of house's architects (sorry) advanced a high-tech, economical variation on '70s-style disco and Philly soul. Others used the same technologies (the Roland 303 bass synthesizer, for instance, and the then-new digital synths) to create experimental, four-on-the-floor dance music with no use for traditional song structure and an open mind toward strange noises. Anyway, you can't fence house in (sorry): Deep house like that made by Ten City is some of the most soulful music of its era; acid and jack tracks like those found on the new double-CD collection, Can You Jack? Chicago Acid and Experimental House 1985-1995 (Soul Jazz Records), are often deliberately soulless. The compilation is partly a tribute to the late Ron Hardy, a DJ who spun at the legendarily intemperate Music Box and competed with Knuckles for house-DJ supremacy. Hardy was the more accessible and adventurous of the two spinners, favoring hard, abrasive music and often turning demos from aspiring house producers into underground hits. He was also the guy to first spin "acid house," tracks for which 303 tones were distorted and abused to sound like demonic bird chirps, Miro squiggles, and other odd things. Can You Jack? includes a few (relatively) famous singles, such as Phuture's archetypal "Acid Tracks" and Marshall "Sleezy D" Jefferson [pictured] epic "I've Lost Control," which is at once absurd and harrowing. Most of the other selections are obscure but not unworthy. Larry "Mr. Fingers" Heard's "Beyond the Clouds" just might take you there, and Tyree's "Acid Crash" is fabulously over the top and polyrhythmic. This is trashy, intense (also occasionally warm and sorta pretty) DIY music, recommended even to folks who'd just as soon hear it on a quiet night at home. --Dylan Hicks

Posted by Dylan Hicks at August 26, 2005 3:57 PM | Comments (1)

 

August Wilson dying of cancer

Filed under: Theater

One-time Twin Cities resident and titan playwright August Wilson has told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he is dying of liver cancer and has only months to live (link here). Wilson recently finished the tenth and final play, "Radio Golf," in his dramatic cycle about the experiences of African Americans in 20th century America. It is currently in production at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

Posted by Quinton Skinner at August 26, 2005 1:37 PM | Comments (0)

 

Picked to Click Voters Stand Up

Filed under: Local Music

Hey, our annual Picked to Click poll, in which we ask experts on local music to vote for their favorite new musical acts, is coming up in late September. I've already received about 70 ballots, and am expecting more, but I know there are important people whom I haven't contacted or haven't heard back from. So if you're involved in the local music scene as a producer, talent buyer, record-store employee, promoter, record-label owner, DJ (radio or live), writer, sound engineer, etc., and have opinions about which new local acts are most deserving of a little recognition, please e-mail me, let me know what your credentials are, and I'll send you the info you need to vote (promptly, since we're approaching an already extended deadline.) Basically, the poll is designed to be voted on by folks with some kind of "music industry" position, rather than by musicians, but of course many of our voters are also musicians, or rather musicians first, and local-industry folks/tastemakers second. Anyway, drop me a line. The more, the merrier, and we're always looking for folks with an expertise in genres that are often under-recognized: heavy metal, hip hop, jazz, for instance, and I suppose everything that's not indie rock. Not that we don't want your indie rock faves, too!

Posted by Dylan Hicks at August 26, 2005 1:06 PM | Comments (0)

 

Will the real MC Skat Kat please stand up?

Filed under: Music

No longer a cartoon, the cat finds a home at the Current

Fans of Paula Abdul (pre-Idol/Corey Clark days) might remember MC Skat Kat as the crusty cartoon cat who rapped and danced his way straight outta South Central L.A. and into the hearts of suburban moms everywhere via Abdul's 1989 "Opposites Attract" video. While the myths of MC Skat Kat are on par with stories about the kid from the Life commercial whose head supposedly blew up after he washed down his Pop Rocks with Pepsi, MC Skat Kat's true-life tales are a little less explosive. It turns out that Skat Kat, Derrick Stevens, is alive and well and working as the production manager at 89.3 the Current.

In Peter Scholtes' excellent history of Twin Cities hip-hop, the story of Derrick "Delite" Stevens is detailed, from his days as Kid Delite to MC Skat Kat. Still, it seems that MC Skat Kat's real identity has eluded most fans for years, as illustrator Michael Patterson has been mistakenly credited as the voice behind Abdul's feline friend. Now that the, ummmm, cat's outta the bag, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that some day I'll hear Skat Kat's "I Ain't No Kitty" sandwiched between songs by Sufjan Stevens and Sleater-Kinney.

Posted by at August 26, 2005 11:39 AM | Comments (8)

 

Mallman on Moog

Filed under: Obituary

In honor of synthesizer pioneer Bob Moog, who died on Sunday, August 19, we asked local keyboard hero Mark Mallman for some thoughts on Moog and a list of his favorite Moog-driven or Moog-accented recordings. Here's what he came up with:

My father took me to a dusty garage just off the Milwaukee River when I was 12 years old. "Your cousin Randy has a synthesizer in here, if you want it," he said. On a card table was a white spaceship of a keyboard called a Moog CDX. This Moog could have been my first synth, but in 1985, analog was on the outs. I bought a Casio instead. Regrets, I've had a few..., and that decision goes in my top 10 list.

Ever go to Texas and order a Coke? But in Texas a Coke can mean any soda at all, grape or whatever. That's how essential Moog has become in the vocabulary of rock. When I'm in a session, producing or whatever, and someone says, "Let's put some Moog on it," that means the whirring of electrons in a musical phrase, the fat analog of tubes and circuits pulsing waveforms, square and triangular. A person may chuckle at the bygone imagery suggested by the word, but those associations become fewer as trends fade and truths remain steadfast. That truth being that Bob Moog is as pivotal to the keyboard as Les Paul is to the guitar, or Colonel Sanders to Fried Chicken.

Below is a list of what I feel to be essential albums in the history of (the) Moog, from 1969 through 1980:

The Beatles, Abbey Road (1969)
Dick Hyman, Moog, The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman (1969)
Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, self titled (1970)
A Clockwork Orange, original score by Wendy Carlos (1971)
Yes, Close to the Edge (1972)
Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
Tangerine Dream, Phaedra (1974)
Kraftwerk, "Autobahn" (1974)
Brian Eno, Another Green World (1975)
Jean Michel Jarre, Oxygene (1977)
Gary Numan, Telekon (1980)

Posted by Dylan Hicks at August 26, 2005 10:22 AM | Comments (0)

 

Josh Watch: Say it ain't so!

Filed under: Gossip

Bad news, Joshketeers: Star reports that Mr. Hartnett is shopping for real estate with buxom The Island culprit Scarlett Johansson. They're said to be looking for posh New York digs. (Look out SoHo, here come JoHar and ScarJo!) If only we could find a way to lure Josh back to the pebb'ly shores of Lake of the Isles, where he lived in less heady times.

Remember when Josh was a real Minnesotan, with that $8 monk's-tonsure haircut, blank, boyish gaze, and crappy roles opposite the likes of Shannyn Sossamon? He's totally gone Hollywood on us, with his unable-to-open-a-movie-yet-inexplicably-A-list girlfriend and Curtis Hansen cred. Looks like you get a D-minus in keepin' it real, Josh. A charitable D-minus.

Posted by Diablo Cody at August 25, 2005 3:17 PM | Comments (2)

 

Seek and Ye Shall Find, by Jim Walsh

Filed under: Pop Culture

We have a new "jump the shark," folks. Call it "the Partridge Family scene." It happens midway through the wretched Must Love Dogs, when the cast inexplicably breaks into the Partridge Family theme. I saw it Tuesday night. I turned to my wife and said there are no words for how bad this is, how insulting it is. We left shortly thereafter, and I'd been trying to work out why ever since. I got my answer last night.

I've walked out on movies and concerts before, and felt the empowerment of hearing, say, Simon & Garfunkel doing "Kodachrome" from the parking lot, or the knowledge that Bo Derek (Ten) or Bloc Party (after being killed by openers the Kills) would have to soldier on without me. Oh, there have been a few times when I"ve regretted bailing early--most recently at a Walker Art Center-sponsored anti-performance that people I trust were transformed by.

Like I said, I've been thinking about why we bailed. It's not enough to say it was a bad movie. That's been said, and it's been said well recently--first by Rob Nelson in City Pages, then a special issue in Entertainment Weekly and seemingly everywhere else: There is a tsunami of crap out there, and the theater-going experience is getting annoying. We didn't listen. We The Duped sat there for 20 minutes as commercial after commercial for pure shit bludgeoned us in digital sound, which was followed by a major motion picture with two likeable stars (Lane and Jon Cusack, shame on you) that was, from the get-go, soul-sucking.

Last night, a friend and I got together to watch In the Realms of the Unreal: The Mystery of Henry Darger. We'd both had it in our Netflix queues and decided to make a movie night of it. It's the story of cult outsider artist Darger, a reclusive Chicago janitor who died at the age of 80 in 1972. Three days before his death, a neighbor discovered Darger's collected works in his apartment: a 15,000 page novel, paintings, poems.

It is stunning, prophetic, wildly original, philosophical, and all the more so because Darger was the best blogger who wasn't a blogger. That is, he didn't need an audience. He created stories about superhero children and war and religion and art for himself, not for recognition, or feedback. He expressed himself to himself, which is what any artist does first and foremost. The question--was he happy?--hangs over the documentary for all 82 minutes, including while the end credits role to Tom Waits' "Innocent When You Dream."

And, while his pure self-expression suggests his happiness was derived through his creations and the act of creating, we get a sense of the veil being drawn back when his neighbor talks about visiting Darger in the nursing home a few days before his death. He told Darger that he'd found his words and paintings and deemed them "beautiful." He said it looked as if Darger had been hit in the gut. He gasped and said, "Well, it's too late now."

This film is brilliant. It is the essence of a tough mind and spirit; a Chicago kid who survived a horrible childhood and created a world for/unto himself. So inspiring was it last night that We The Privileged talked over it and traversed many topics, including the new obesity statistics in America, the miracle of technology, the fight to maintain optimism in the face of war and death of friends and lovers, and the fact that we could watch this story in the comfort of our homes, while two generations ago big American families were fighting like dogs, just for a place to sleep and eat.

In The Realms of the Unreal came out under the radar last year. The critics on www.rottentomatoes.com are divided on it. Some say it's haunting, some say it's hackery, one guy yearns for "critique and analysis" of the artist's work. To me, it's one more reminder that we create our own reality, and that there's a ton of cool stuff out there, stuff that has nothing to do with American Idol or reality TV. Namely, at the moment:

*Eliza Gilkyson's latest Paradise Hotel (Red House), the female counterpart to John Prine's Fair & Square, whose songs about war and love and the virgin Mary come from a voice so wizened, I"d follow it anywhere. The title track recalls Patty Griffin's "The Rowing Song," in that it is about simple fleeting peace and comes from a white girl who has considered suicide when the world isn't enough but who has decided to stick around and keep hoping.

*The works of the great writer and thinker Joseph Campbell, whom Garrison Keillor, the great writer and huckster of all things "Midwestern" so sloppily dissed in the Star Tribune a couple weeks ago.

*Oasis, led by two brothers who were beaten to an inch of their lives by their father and who hate each other's guts, yet whose tremendous new one insists, "love one another."

*The New York Times" Jon Pareles' "The Case Against Coldplay" (June 4)--a succinct argument for why we should have little patience for navel-gazing self-pity and wanton dourness in rock these days.

*Mark Wheat playing John Vanderslice's "Exodus Damage" in the middle of a dark night. Eels' Blinking Lights, the Capricorns' "New Sound," Modest Mouse's "Float On," Clem Snide's "Moment In The Sun," Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer's "Plays Pretty For Baby" and "There's That One Person You'll Never Get Over No Matter How Long It's Been," and Mary Gauthier's "Mercy Now," which no-duhs, "Every living thing could use a little mercy now/Only the hand of grace/Can end the race/Towards another mushroom cloud."

*March Of The Penguins, this kid generation's Bambi and Ol' Yeller weeper, but which can show the rest of us how to huddle together against insurmountable odds in the name of love and kids. The characters in Me and You and Everyone We Know, who navigate their way through complex lives and end up living happily ever after with what Gilda Radner called "delicious ambiguity." The beauty-whipped old witch in Howl's Moving Castle, who tells a bored and puzzled youngster, "As you get older, you just like to look at the scenery."

* Father Jim De Bruycker, pastor at tiny St. Leonard of Port Maurice, whom those lucky fucking liberals at St. Joan Of Arc church will get to know at the end of the year, when he brings his wise words of love and looking out for each other to their big groovy standing-room only place of worship in South Minneapolis.

Parabola, Tricycle, and Spirituality & Health, three periodicals that, every time out, go deeper than this week's Newsweek cover story "Spirituality In America." Parabola (www.parabola.org) is the bible of them all, a quarterly journal that celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, and which goes by the subhead "The Search For Meaning." Uncanny in its timeliness and topicality, it rarely acknowledges news events or the outside world, but regularly explores all things inner through essays, features, interviews, poetry, and theme-issues such as "Eros," "Language and Meaning," "Evil," "Solitude & Community," "Peace," "Restraint," and "Conscience & Consciousness."

The writings of G.K. Chesterton, who could have been talking about Darger when he said "a saint is one who exaggerates what the world neglects," and who wrote this about the nature-worshipping St. Francis of Assisi: "There is only one reason an intelligent person doesn't believe in miracles. He or she believes in materialism."

Craig Wright's brilliant bird episode on the late, great Six Feet Under. Paul Westerberg, working on a soundtrack for an animated film in his basement, like Darger and his drawings. Joe Henry, recording back-to-old-school recordings of Mavis Staples, Booker T., and others, for a fall release through (!) Starbucks. The Hold Steady's Separation Sunday pumping out of seemingly everywhere these days, and The Ike Reilly Assassination's Junkie Faithful, pumping out of everywhere starting Sept. 27, both of which, all of which, recall the words of 19th-century monk and seer Swami Vivekannanda:

"Do not depend on doctrines, do not depend on dogmas, or sects, or churches, or temples; they count for little compared with the essence of existence in man, which is divine; and the more this divinity is developed in a man, the more powerful he is for good. Earn that spirituality first; acquire that, and criticize no one, for all doctrines and creeds have some good in them. Show by your lives that religion does not mean words, or names, or sects, but that it means spiritual realization."

In The Realms of the Unreal: The Mystery of Henry Darger. The story of one man, and all humankind, and the best damn date movie of the year. --Jim Walsh

Posted by Diablo Cody at August 25, 2005 1:39 PM | Comments (3)

 

Books: Jesse Berrett on "Devils on the Deep Blue Sea."

Filed under: Book Review

Literally or metaphorically, great muckraking aims to make your gorge rise. Consider those heartwarming scenes of men and rats ground into sausage in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, or the yummy tidbits about how much you were lovin' e.coli in Fast Food Nation. By that standard, Devils on the Deep Blue Sea: The Dreams, Schemes, and Showdowns that Built America's Cruise-Ship Empires (Viking) merits only an unpleasant belch or two.

Sure, there are appalling moments. In the industry's early days, so many elderly cruisers passed away en route that one line used its meat locker as a temporary morgue. A beleaguered Carnival Cruises broke a four-day sitdown strike in 1981 by sneaking its private SWAT team aboard, then hustling the strikers onto buses that drove them directly to the airport and instant deportation. Grungy little Majesty Cruise Lines tried desperately to avoid foreclosure on a ship in 1995 by offering up a lifeboat and one of the stewards as collateral.

But there's simply not enough to get you properly irate here. In part, the problem is tonal: Journalist Kristoffer A. Garin muffles material that should make him smack his lips. In the post-Love Boat era, passenger traffic exploded by 400 percent within a decade, and crews enjoyed a sexual wonderland. But this is his best anecdote: A senior executive, upon espying a young woman sneaking out of an officer's cabin, sees not a serious breach of the rules but another satisfied customer. "'She'll be back again,'" he says. "That was the mind-set," Garin adds. "Give the people what they want." Plop.

Devils on the Deep Blue Sea seems to believe that what the reader wants is inside-business scuttlebutt, and an awful lot of it: who went public when, whose corporate parents couldn't get along, who bought whom and why. Garin does document, in general terms, oppressive and dishonest recruitment practices for workers (owners exercise plausible deniability). And he reveals the fact that endemic bribery still greases every ship's work culture. But the balance of yuck and blab is off, and you finish the book not nearly as disgusted as you should be. Put simply: too much M&A, not enough T&A. --Jesse Berrett

Posted by Diablo Cody at August 25, 2005 10:06 AM | Comments (0)

 

Why City Pages could really suck soon

Filed under: Media

On Tuesday the San Francisco Bay Guardian posted a thorough editorial on the rumors (more here) of a possible imminent merger between the Phoenix-based New Times alternative weekly newspaper chain and Village Voice Media, which owns City Pages: "If there's a grain of truth here, and VVM and New Times are in any sort of talks, the implications for the alternative press and for readers, advertisers, and employees in 18 cities are too serious for federal regulators to ignore." A spokeswoman for Village Voice Media, Jessica Bellucci, denied the rumors in the New York Sun on August 16: "As far as I know, it's complete fiction." But recent pay cuts at the Village Voice have fueled speculation to the contrary, and some anticipate the cookie-cutter layout and apolitical bent of a New Times Twin Cities. UPDATE 8/29/05 From the San Francisco Bay Guardian: "Internal Village Voice documents detail plans to create 18-paper alt-press chain." For anyone who's ever wondered who owns City Pages, here's a brief history of the newspaper and its corporate parents so far...

Founded as Sweet Potato in 1979, City Pages was purchased in February 1997 by pet-supply magnate Leonard Stern (who had bought the Village Voice from Rupert Murdoch in 1985, 30 years after it was founded by Norman Mailer and two colleagues). In March 1997, Stern Publishing also bought, and closed, the Twin Cities Reader (the same day that REV 105 was taken off the air).

In 2000, Stern sold City Pages, along with the Village Voice, Seattle Weekly, L.A. Weekly, OC Weekly, Cleveland Free Times, and Long Island Voice (closed two days later) to Weiss, Peck & Greer, a New York-based investment management firm founded in 1970, which had been acquired in 1998 by the Dutch company the Robeco Group. At the time of the Village Voice sale, Robeco was 50-percent owned by Rabobank, which in 2001 fully took over Robeco. (Rabobank, in turn, is owned by 288 Dutch banks.) More recently, Weiss has been vertically absorbed into Robeco, and is now a division of Robeco Investment Management. That's the current majority owner of Village Voice Media. (A notice on the Weiss web page reads: "As of the end of September, 2005, this site will be discontinued.")

Weiss was part of a team of investors headed by Arthur Howe, former president of Montgomery Newspapers (which owns the Philadelphia City Paper), who was named president of the new Village Voice Media. Longtime Voice publisher and Stern Publishing president David Schneiderman became CEO of VVM. Other backers included Trimaran Fund II, which is essentially the investment arm of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and Goldman Sachs. Around that same time, Weiss and Howe had acquired (or were in the process of acquiring) the Nashville Scene and the Lexington, Kentucky Ace Weekly, so both of those newspapers were folded into the chain until the Ace was sold to its editor-publisher in 2001.

According to a Village Voice report, Howe and company had "helped stave off a hostile takeover by New Times," which had been Stern's main competition. But Howe has since left his position, and the two chains have apparently grown more friendly. In 2002, Village Voice Media closed its Free Times in Cleveland in exchange for New Times closing its New Times Los Angeles, each competitor openly ceding one market to the other. The affair spurred a Justice Department antitrust probe, and both chains ended up settling with the U.S. in 2003. As a result, assets of the closed papers were sold off, and in no time the Free Times was back up and running, while the L.A. CityBeat has since emerged in Los Angeles. The Free Times was launched, oddly enough, in partnership with former Village Voice Media president Arthur Howe.

Obviously, there's more to this story, and most of this is background, so stay tuned, and post your responses here.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at August 25, 2005 7:50 AM | Comments (4)

 

Cody takes Hollywood, Hollywood takes Cody

Filed under: Media

Shortly before Diablo Cody's Tinseltown memoir (here) hit the street in this week's City Pages, she scored yet another screenwriting coup: a network is buying the rights to a TV project she's developed, whose premise is said to involve--well, we're sworn to secrecy here, but we can say that it's kind of, well, ironic--when you consider, you know, everything.

This latest gig, piled atop the three screenwriting projects she's got in the works, will unfortunately require Cody to depart the staff of CP at the end of September. She'll continue on, however, as the paper's TV columnist, and we'll still be hosting her Pussy Ranch blog.

Reached by phone at her recently purchased New Zealand ranch, Cody had this to say about her future plans: "Television is a sure thing! I look forward to fifty years of resounding success in this non-competitive industry. Meanwhile, I've hired a manservant."

Posted by Steve Perry at August 24, 2005 3:57 PM | Comments (0)

 

The apocalypse will be mimed

Filed under: Dance/Performance

K&K Mime, a traveling miming duo featuring twin brothers who are the founders of "gospel mime," vow to catapult viewers to the next dimension of worship with only the sheer force of their silence. The self-proclaimed God-appointed prophets to the nation slap on robes and some white cream over their stubbly faces and mime gospel tunes for a tearful audience. But from the looks of this video, it's hard to tell if they're actually mimes or just untalented dancers who didn't quite make the cut on Star Search. I just mimed this post. Did you feel it?

Posted by at August 24, 2005 12:03 PM | Comments (0)

 

CTG: on the forefront of puzzle trends

Filed under: Stuff

Su Doku, a Japanese puzzle craze already popular in the UK, is now making addicts out of Americans. Linguistics professor/So Doku enthusiast Mark Huckvale's new book, The Big Book of Su Doku #1, explains how to solve the deceptively simple puzzles using just a pencil and brain cells. While Su Doku does involve numbers and basic logic, killer math skillz are entirely optional. The rules can be picked up in a few minutes, though it may take years to regain your sanity after attempting an advanced puzzle.

The cover of Huckvale's book promises that players will get hooked, though one can't help but notice that Su Duko is suspiciously similar to the mind-enriching "games" your teacher assigned in sophomore geometry. However, if you you enjoy mental calisthenics, Su Doku is your new Scrabble.

Posted by Diablo Cody at August 24, 2005 9:18 AM | Comments (1)

 

50 weighs in on the literary scene

Filed under: Book Review

A quick blast through the first 50 pages (in the spirit of numerological appropriateness) of 50 Cent's new autobiography "From Pieces to Weight" has been a bit of an odd experience. Tucked inside the title page is the offhand acknowledgment "This book was written with Kris Ex." That might explain who came up with such prose gems as the gangsta primer on cocaine to start things off ("Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychology, called coke 'magical' and couldn't get enough of the stuff.") and odd bits of political insight ("Most politicians don't have any respect for the people who vote for them . . . but come election time, they're at the voters' mercy."). In fairness, it's a straightforward, decent read, and

it's filled with tons of details about 50's crazy upbringing and the intricacies of his well-regarded (in its time) drug franchise. Having logged some time in the murky world of the as-told-to autobiography (try as told to a tape recorder, and transcribed, and significantly embellished upon, in many cases), I know that the voice that emerges from the collaboration often bears only a passing resemblance to the voice of the "autobiographer." The book's main strength is its no-bullshit tone and a somewhat surprising restraint from self-aggrandizement. And lest you think 50 has gotten all touchy-feely, just have a look at who's among those thanked in the acknowledgments: Violator Management, Reebok, "Formula 50" Vitamin Water, and Vivendi Games. Oh, 50. You old softy.

Posted by Quinton Skinner at August 23, 2005 9:13 PM | Comments (0)

 

Little Big Man

Filed under: CD Review

I'm kicking myself for not tuning in earlier to local saxophonist Doug Little's CD-release show, coming up this weekend at the Artists' Quarter. Little's new album, The Phoenix, sounds real good on first listen, and features more than able backing from pianist Giacomo Aula, bassist Jeff Bailey, and drummer Kevin Washington. The quartet will be playing Friday and Saturday at the AQ. Look for a review of one of the sets in the Aug. 31 "In Da Club."

Posted by Dylan Hicks at August 23, 2005 5:28 PM | Comments (0)

 

Local rappers in the media

Filed under: Media

MC ILICIT (I Live In Crucially Intense Times) appears in a short video about "battle rapping" at MNStories.com, while Young Plukey is quoted about the ease of buying drugs on Plymouth Avenue by Nick Coleman in Friday's Star Tribune: "If this was a white neighborhood, the cops would go crazy. I mean, how can we be next to the station and yet you can come up here and get everything you need? It's a damn shame."

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at August 23, 2005 4:45 PM | Comments (8)

 

You Can't Imagine How Much They Spent on Booze

Filed under: Local Nightlife

Last Thursday's Atmosphere listening party at the Kitty Cat Klub was novel, if not unprecedented, for being an invite-only event focused on a local group. Partaking of the open bar, members of the Rhymesayers and Doomtree hip-hop collectives mingled with a broad cross-section of local industry and media. "This album is going to be huge," said Ross Raihala of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, as You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having (due October 4) played over the speakers. (This is the studio album, not the promised live one.) The real news came during a Q&A with rapper Slug and mustachioed producer Ant. Ant, who has never toured with Atmosphere before, will hit the road this fall as DJ for the group, doing half a set with Slug before the MC's live backing band comes out. "I'm going to buy a house, motherfucker," said Ant. "He could get fired after a week," said Slug.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at August 22, 2005 1:08 PM | Comments (0)

 

Gonzo's Red Glare

Filed under: Obituary

The Hunter Thompson memorial tribute--a $2 million affair underwritten by actor Johnny Depp, which included the gonzo journalist's ashes mixed in with a fireworks display and fired off at his Colorado ranch--is given a fairly thorough recounting in today's NY Times.

Posted by Britt Robson at August 22, 2005 12:41 PM | Comments (0)

 

One-click butt plugs: Amazon.com selling sex toys

Filed under: Stuff

Mark Morford of the San Francisco Chronicle, via Obscure Store, reported last Friday that Amazon.com has added a Sex and Sensuality department with very little fanfare, mostly likely to avoid attention from the religious right. The inventory features toys, lube, books, condoms, douches, performance enhancers - 37,000 items including over 4,800 toys. Sex and Sensuality appears to be a part of their new Health & Personal Care section which also features wheelchairs, toilet seats, and low-vision aids. Morford reports Amazon seems to be primarily a reseller in the sex toy department, offering its distribution channel to specialty sex-toy companies like ForePlay and Frolics Superstore. So next time you're contemplating purchasing Quinton Skinner's new book or the latest New Pornographers CD, head over and pick up a pair of remote control vibrating panties to score free shipping.

Posted by Corey Anderson at August 22, 2005 10:34 AM | Comments (0)

 

Bop Lives!

Filed under: CD Review

A recently discovered concert recording finds Bird and Diz at their peaks

The story of how bebop was, and was not, documented on recordings is one of serendipity and missed opportunities, felicity and rotten luck. There were sides made with the right people but at the wrong time, others made with the right people at the wrong time, squeaky saxophones out to sabotage inspired solos, great bass players that one has to use some imagination to hear, plus labor disputes, technological limitations, heroin. The recording ban of '43 and '44 kept Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie from committing their initial bop essays to wax, and when things got going again the commercial records of the time still couldn't accommodate the seven-minute renditions Bird and Diz would present in concert. Then again, those last two factors were curses and blessings. We get an incomplete historical record of bop's evolution--and a marvelously realized form once it debuts in '45. We have few records of how the music was actually played and heard in clubs--and a lot of perfect, economical solos that might have given quarter to some second-rate ideas if allowed to go on for an extra minute. Well, it's a great story.
Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945, a newly uncovered recording just released by the tiny Uptown label, offers a new wrinkle.

The holy grail of live bebop albums has long been that of the concert recorded in 1953 at Toronto's Massey Hall with Gillespie, Parker, Bud Powell, Charlie Mingus, and Max Roach. And for good reason: the music is wonderful, the personnel impeccable, and you get to hear everyone stretch out. But it was recorded in 1953. At which point "A Night in Tunisia," "Salt Peanuts," and the other new-jazz standards in the set had been around the block 28 or 30 times. The sense of upheaval, of ushering in a new epoch with a bag of lightening, was gone, naturally.
This Uptown album is all electricity, much of it from the music, some of it from the romance that the listener can't help bringing to the party. Town Hall was recorded only a few months after Gillespie and Parker's first commercial recordings together, just as they were starting to find their audience, right as they were in the midst of changing jazz forever. It features the trumpeter and alto saxophonist backed by pianist Al Haig, bassist Curley Russell, and the not yet famous but already great drummer Max Roach. All the tunes are either on the brisk side of mid-tempo or in the realm of Oh Christ, how do these guys play so fast? No ballads, no blues. Which is a minus in that one should always wish for more of prime Charlie Parker playing ballads and blues, but a plus in that, as master of ceremonies Symphony Sid puts it, things "jump like mad.'" (They'd jump even madder had Powell been in Haig's chair, though Haig performs well.) The concert even has narrative tension. As it starts, a nervous Sid announces that Bird hasn't shown up yet and tenorman Don Byas might be filling in. "Our alto sax player is probably shooting up somewhere," he says--No, of course not, but that's what you're thinking. But then Parker does show, during the opening number. Upon his arrival, the crowd stirs, some cheer. And right away he's on fire, navigating all of Gillespie's rapid changes and matching his rapid runs, responding to Roach's pistol accents. (Sidney Catlett replaces Roach for the final tracks, "Hot House" and "52nd Street Theme," which, all due respect to Catlett, brings the energy down a bit seems to move time back a few years.) Great improvisations abound, though for some loopy reason my favorite moment is the first turnaround of the "Groovin' High" theme. I've just never heard it sound quite as pretty before.
The fidelity is better than you'd think. As with almost all recordings made before the '50s, the upright bass is weak in the mix, though in contrast to the period norm, the bass drum is too loud (it is nice to catch each of Roach's kicks). Quibbles and the expected hiss aside, the sound is, well, not as vibrant as the music, but vibrant enough--Gillespie's trumpet in particular glimmers. Maybe the best part is that no one knew until recently that the concert had been recorded. A record dealer found the acetates in a junk shop, where they'd been sitting for decades, and sold them to Uptown's Robert E. Sunenblick, an internal physician who moonlights as an indie-label honcho. And you thought all that junk in junk shops actually was junk. --Dylan Hicks

Posted by Dylan Hicks at August 21, 2005 10:59 PM | Comments (0)

 

Spreading the word: Nelly vs. Kanye

Filed under: Music

Kanye West wants to put an end to the homophobia in hip-hop. "Gay" has been used all too often in certain hip-hop circles as a deragatory term to mean the exact opposite of the word "hip-hop," he told MTV. (Funny. I always thought the antonym for hip-hop was "Will Smith.") He added that he wanted to come on TV to tell his friends, and America, to stop it.

St. Louis rapper Nelly, meanwhile, is doing his part to get the word out on what he considers equally important to universal equality: the power of the bling. Nelly's heading up a hip-hop summit in his hometown this weekend, called "Get Your Money Right," where he hopes to educate his young fans about the benefits of financial empowerment. The hot, youth-centric topics Nelly hopes to cover include credit scores and asset management. Nelly's not exactly the ideal candidate to espouse the virtues of money management. Recently, 50 Cent told the press that he was terrified Nelly's "bling addiction" was spiraling out of control. To quote Fitty: "If you're spending $5 million on diamonds, you's a damn fool."

Posted by at August 19, 2005 3:22 PM | Comments (4)

 

Fringe numbers are in

Filed under: Theater

The 2005 Minnesota Fringe, with its 855 performances of 168 shows, is now but a memory (albeit of the evocatively blurred and pleasingly frantic variety). Ticket sales overall were slightly higher than last year, and the total of 67 sold-out performances was a record for the festival. Here are the Top Ten shows by total attendance:

1. Please Don't Blow Up Mr. Boban (Noah Bremer and Jon Ferguson with the Live Action Set).
2. Dick da Tird (Kevin Kling).
3. Adventures in Mating (Joseph Scrimshaw)
4. Kung Fu Hamlet (No Refunds Theatre Co.)
5. Corleone (David Mann and the Rogues)
6. Dance in the Dark (Sossy Mechanics)
7. Buckets and Tap Shoes (10 Foot 5 Productions)
8. I'm Sorry and I'm Sorry (The Candidatos)
9. Nibblers: A Musical With Sharks (Front Porch Theatre)
10. Why Actors Can't Love (June 1st Theater Company)

In all, 44,630 tickets were sold, and average attendance per performance was a very respectable 52.2. Keeping in mind that venue sizes vary quite a bit at the Fringe, here are the shows with the greatest number of sold-out performances:

1. Please Don't Blow Up Mr. Boban (7 sell-outs at the Soap Factory)
2. Corleone (5 at Minneapolis Theatre Garage)
3. Nibblers: A Musical With Sharks (5 at Minneapolis Theatre Garage)
4. Adventures in Mating (4 at Brave New Workshop)
5. Pentecostal Wisconsin (4 at Acadia Cafe)
6. The Princeton Seventh (4 at Bryant-Lake Bowl)
7. Why Actors Can't Love (3 at the Jungle)
8. Oedipus Wrecks: Shakespeare and Sophocles' Excellent Adventure (3 at Acadia Cafe)
9. Strapped (3 at Bryant-Lake Bowl)
10. The Virgin Diaries (3 at Via's Vintage Wear)

"Pentecostal Wisconsin" and "Corleone" both played to more than 100 percent capacity (latecomers were forced to condense into smaller versions of themselves). Playing at 95 percent capacity or above were "The Princeton Seventh," "Adventures in Mating," and Rik Reppe's "Glorious Noise."

Posted by Quinton Skinner at August 19, 2005 2:31 PM | Comments (0)

 

Ce-le-brate hip hop, come on!

Filed under: Local Nightlife

The three-day 4th Annual Twin Cities Celebration of Hip Hop begins at 4:00 p.m. today at First Avenue, and we'll be there for every minute (here's a preview in City Pages). Below you'll find a complete schedule with links, but before you read, check out some of the cool articles on the event, starting with Chris Riemenschneider's Slick Rick interview in today's Star Tribune (plus his rundown on the festival) and this week's Pulse cover story, which features an interview with T3 of Slum Village, an interview with I Self Devine...

...and an editorial by festival organizer Toki Wright. Besides this nod in the Pioneer Press, the festival has also gotten a slew of mentions in the national press. Anyway, down to business.

4TH ANNUAL TWIN CITIES CELEBRATION OF HIP HOP SCHEDULE

FRIDAY Slum Village headlines, with Interlock All Stars, Guardians of Balance, Big Quarters (the subject of a forthcoming feature in City Pages), Moochy C, Kentucky's Blue Collar Boys, Leroy Smokes, and MC battles beginning at 4:45 p.m., with a panel discussion on "the generation gap" beginning at 4:00 p.m. The show's over at about 11:00 p.m., with an afterparty at Euphoria Nightclub.

SATURDAY I Self Devine of the Rhymesayers headlines, with the Doomtree crew (profiled here last year), deservedly hyped local Christian rapper Knowledge MC, Fiction, Queens transplant Trama Sutra, Purest Form, Brooklyn's 3rd Party, the jazz-R&B group Soulistic, beatbox and b-boy battles between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (with prelimenaries beginning at 4:30--the beatbox battles were a highlight of last year, so come early), Kansas City's Style Network Cru beginning at 5:25 p.m. sharp, and a panel discussion on "street credibility" at 4:00 p.m. Free open-air market starting at 4:00 p.m. Afterparty at Euphoria Nightclub.

SUNDAY Slick Rick headlines, a few hours after starring in a documentary that premieres earlier the same evening at the Twin Cities Black Film Festival. Festival openers are the C.O.R.E., Illuminous 3, Maria Isa, American Dream, Kentucky's Cleazy, gangsta-esque females Heat, Melody Beats, Indigo, DJ and dance battles between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (with preliminaries starting at 4:30 p.m.), Teens Rock the Mic kicking off at 5:25 p.m. sharp, and a panel discussion on "indulgence" at 4:00 p.m. Free open-air market starting at 4:00 p.m. Afterparty at Euphoria Nightclub.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at August 19, 2005 11:19 AM | Comments (0)

 

Hey, It's the Black Film Festival

Filed under: Film

Click here to watch a great short film (The Evolution of Streetball) screening as part of this weekend's Twin Cities Black Film Festival at MCTC (1501 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis). The fest opens Friday with 2002's It's Black Entertainment! (reviewed here in City Pages) and closes Sunday with the local premiere of The Art of 16 Bars: Get Ya' Bars Up, a "how-to" for aspiring rappers starring Kanye West, Rakim, Jay-Z, and Slick Rick--who also happens to be performing later the same evening at the Twin Cities Celebration of Hip Hop. If you've never seen it, don't miss the Saturday 1:55 p.m. matinee of North Star: Stories of Minnesota's Black Pioneers (reviewed here), which includes a segment on local racecar driver and inventor Fred Jones (pictured). Here's the complete schedule with more in the print edition of City Pages on page 52.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at August 17, 2005 5:21 PM | Comments (0)

 

What's next for our homegrown movie stars?

Filed under: Film

Josh Hartnett - After a cameo this spring in Sin City, Josh might be looking for his first Academy Award nomination by playing a savant with Asperger's syndrome, a type of autism, who's involved in a doomed relationship in Mozart and the Whale. Just ask Daniel Day-Lewis, Holly Hunter, Russell Crowe, Tom Hanks, I could go on and on and on, how much Oscar loves actors playing disabled characters. Later in the year, Joshy appears with Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, and Ben Kingsley in the unfortunately-named Lucky Number Slevin and next year in the true Hollywood murder mystery The Black Dahlia.

Rachael Leigh Cook - Rach was poised to be the next hot starlet, her fame culminating in the lead role of Josie in the live-action Josie and the Pussycats movie. She's kept busy, performing in a dozen movies after Josie flamed out. Catch her this fall in the FOX television series "Head Cases" about a law firm made up of outpatients with various mental disorders starring Chris O'Donnell.

Steve Zahn - Zahn, a Marshall native, has become one of the most dependable comic foils in Hollywood, starring in You've Got Mail, Happy, Texas, Saving Silverman, and the Stuart Little movies, just to name a few. Zahn's next project is Disney's first foray into computer animation following their split with Pixar, Chicken Little, playing Runt, the huge brown-panted pig you may have seen in the film's trailer. His next gig posits him as the luckiest man in the universe, starring opposite Selma Hayek and Penelope Cruz as a bank-robbing duo in turn-of-the-century Mexico in Bandidas.

Jessica Lange - You can currently see the Oscar winner as an ex-paramour of Bill Murray's character in Jim Jarmusch's latest, Broken Flowers. Later in the year, Lange will be featured in Don't Come Knocking, by another notable director, Wim Wenders, which, like Broken Flowers, is about a man (Lange's husband and the film's screenwriter Sam Shepard) who sets out to locate a child he never knew he had. Lange follows this up by playing an alcoholic mother to a troubled daughter (Maria Bello) who subjects herself to electroshock therapy and opts to capture the experience on videotape in Aftershock.

Winona Ryder has four movies in production and Kevin Sorbo is available for weddings and bar mitzvahs. And that's your Minnesota movie news for today.

Posted by Corey Anderson at