A recounting of George Clinton’s recording career, from his Motown beginnings (the Parliaments’ “(I Wanna) Testify” charted number three R & B in 1967) to his latest CD (Hey Man … Smell My Finger), won’t be crammed into this 286-word nutshell, but there is room to note that Finger finds him incorporating samples–most of which […]
Tag: Vol. 23 No. 40
Issue of Jul. 14 – 20, 1994
Posted inFilm
Villian the Blank
* BLOWN AWAY (Has redeeming facet) Directed by Stephen Hopkins Written by Joe Batteer, John Rice, and M. Jay Roach With Jeff Bridges, Tommy Lee Jones, Lloyd Bridges, Forest Whitaker, Suzy Amis, John Finn, and Stephi Lineburg. In the Roy Rogers westerns I saw as a kid, I could always figure out in a flash […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Lies and Falsehoods
Dear editors: You owe your readers an explanation for printing the ad featuring Mayor Daley’s picture on Section 1, page 38 of the June 24, 1994, issue. Does your advertising policy allow for ads that are as blatantly anti-Semitic as this one? Of course, “J. Johnson,” the supposed author of this ad, provides himself with […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Field & Street
Driving south on Naper Boulevard from the East-West Tollway you’ll see a string of houses plopped on grass trimmed so short it hurts just to look at it. Grass, even Kentucky bluegrass, is humiliated by harsh mow jobs. It wants to grow tall, have flowers, have sex the same as any plant. But mowing prevents […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Ritual Trio
Over the last four decades, jazz’s version of the power trio–the tenor/bass/drums alliance pioneered by Sonny Rollins in 1957–has launched a thousand flights of freedom: the exclusion of piano opens up the group timbre, and it also helps cut the music loose from its traditional harmonic moorings. In his Ritual Trio, drummer Kahil EI’Zabar loosens […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Blind Alley
You don’t have to see the pins. You just have to knock them down.
Posted inNews & Politics
Slanders and Calumnies
Joyous Christian Greetings! In your issue of 24 June, in the “Lecture Notes” column [Calendar], Imani Nyah made accusations that the Catholic Church supported the Fascist genocide against the Ethiopians. Specifically, the accusation was that the Pope blessed the planes used to bomb and gas civilians. These charges are nothing short of fantastic. It is […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Grant Park Symphony Orchestra
After several seasons in search of a suitable principal maestro, the Grant Park Music Festival has landed a real catch. At 41, Hugh Wolff is in the ranks of such up-and-coming Americans as Gerard Schwarz and James Conlon, both poised to head major orchestras within the next decade. Certainly he has the right credentials: a […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The Critic From Another Planet
Whatever Bill Wyman feels about Rick Telander’s opinion about Kurt Cobain’s lack of a coach [Hitsville, May 20], it is just that–an opinion. Mr. Telander is well versed in the facts of his chosen field, something that cannot equally be said for Mr. Wyman. Bill Wyman states, “Organized sports consists almost entirely of suit-and-tied strategists” […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Info: This Code’s for You
Using the U.S. postal service is an act of faith these days. Let that letter drop from your fingertips into the black void of a Chicago mailbox and you’d better believe in some higher authority than the courier in that angular little truck. When it absolutely, positively has to be there in 100 microseconds, through […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Sports and Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll
Dear Reader: OK, I give. Hitsville psychologist Bill Wyman is right: sports are evil. Just look, as Wyman has [June 24], at what playing football has done to O.J. Simpson. Never mind that Simpson hasn’t strapped on a helmet in nearly 15 years, he clearly is representative of the athletes of the world. Kurt Cobain […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Call Us Irresponsible
To the editor: The advertisement signed by “J. Johnson” on page 38, Section 1, of the June 24th issue, should not have been printed by any responsible newspaper. You have let “Mr. Johnson” (there is no address or phone number with his name) turn the Reader into a forum where the most vulgar racists can […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Local Boys Make Movie/Kushner’s Coup
Can Michael Caplan and Steve Diller hit movie pay dirt with a gay screwball comedy set in Peoria?
Posted inArts & Culture
Truth Hurts
LIE DETECTOR Cricket Playhouse at Center Theater Studio You understand, sir, that in reviewing Cricket Playhouse’s premiere of Lie Detector, by David Silvis, any inaccuracy in your comments will show up as a flutter on this polygraph machine to which we’ve hooked you up. Yes, sir. Good. You understand further that polygraph exams function best […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Buddy Ace
Vocalist Buddy Ace hails from Texas, and he’s got the suave sophistication one might expect from a Lone Star State bluesman who cites Bobby “Blue” Bland as one of his primary influences. But he’s capable of steamy funk as well as mellow balladeering, and his Old Testament prophet appearance–white suit, flowing mane, regal beard–adds to […]