Free improvised music is an ongoing story of encounters between players. Over time, if a particular group works together long enough, it begins to take on an identity that extends beyond that of the individual musicians, and at some point it may even deserve a name of its own. Guitarist, violinist, and cornetist Daniel Scanlan […]
Tag: Vol. 24 No. 35
Issue of Jun. 8 – 14, 1995
Posted inNews & Politics
Department of Thin-Skinned Program Directors
To Peter Margasak: So sorry you vehemently disapprove of our “Jamboree 95” [Spot Check, May 26]. I’m one of the 17 people who have read your ridiculous little fanzine, and I really couldn’t bring myself to booking one of the bad, obscure art rock bands you hype. Strange you should bash Faith No More and […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Hold the Hot Sauce!
Hold the Hot Sauce!, Bailiwick Repertory. It’s hard to dislike a solo show in which the performer offers audience members napkins on which to write their phone numbers, then deposits them in a shopping bag labeled “Garcia’s Dates.” Much praised for his consummate storytelling in Under Milk Wood, Michael Garcia in Hold the Hot Sauce! […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Reader to Reader
I was getting my morning cup of coffee at Borders bookstore, and having never given up the small- town habit of making conversation, I said, “It’s raining pretty good.” At which the clerk looked up and said, “Yes, it is raining pretty well.”
Posted inArts & Culture
Sixty Minutes
A fascinating and at times exciting one-hour video by Robert Frank, made in 1990 for French television and consisting of only one shot. It begins with the camera inside a van moving through lower Manhattan–mainly Tribeca and environs–with actor Kevin J. O’Connor and others. The camera emerges at various points to take in the street […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Don’t Blame Punk
To the Editor: If anything, Dave Marsh’s attempt to find greater meaning in Kurt Cobain’s suicide (“Kills Like Teen Spirit,” May 26) merely confirmed an opinion I’ve held for a while–namely, that rock critics should be very careful when waxing philosophical. The risk of seeming like you’re full of shit is quite high. Marsh’s attempt […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Whatever happened to Irene Siegel?
She gave up painting years ago, after a bitter dispute with neighborhood activists over her fresco for the Sulzer Library. Now she’s back, with new work and a new outlook on life.
Posted inNews & Politics
The Sports Section
Whoever put the curse on the White Sox made sure it was a good one. For the first month of the season the Sox not only played poorly on the field but were beset by bad weather, which dragged down attendance and afflicted them at home and on the road. From the first Chicago baseball […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Some People
A collection of character sketches drawn from author-star Danny Hoch’s observations of New York life in all its polyglot perversity, Some People invites comparisons to John Leguizamo’s Spic-O-Rama, Sherry Glaser’s Family Secrets, Lily Tomlin’s The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, and Eric Bogosian’s Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll. But as good […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Write What He Meant
I submit Cate Plys’s review of the City Council meeting (City Council Follies, April 21) as an example of subliminal racism. It seems she wanted to poke fun at some of the aldermen and curiously, she chose members who are African-American. I was in attendance covering the meeting for another publication. It is this kind […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Souvenirs of Paris, 1950
Souvenirs of Paris, 1950, Royal George Theatre Center Gallery. Claudia Hommel has a sweet smile, a charming presence, and a pretty soprano voice. I’d consider her for a supporting role in any musical–especially one that required a French accent. But she’s not strong enough to carry off the challenging set of songs from and about […]
Posted inMusic
Spot Check
MUDHONEY 6/9, Metro Seattle grunge progenitors Mudhoney have shrugged their shoulders at that classification and spit out another blast of maximal rock rudiments on their new My Brother the Cow (Reprise). Disgusted with the critically sanctioned significance that’s been foisted on them, they rip Gen-X iconography on “Generation Spokesmodel” and viciously assault calculatedly sincere rock […]
Posted inArts & Culture
George Freeman Unit
To best discuss the circumstances of George Freeman’s recent Southport album Rebellion, I paraphrase George Burns (in discussing his intermittent film career): Apparently, people were so fond of Freeman’s previous album, released in 1969, that they asked him to do another one. Seriously, though. It defies logic that a quarter century should pass between dates […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Victim Watch
To the editor: I’m stunned at the lack of professionalism that was displayed in Justin Hayford’s May 19 convoluted attempt to criticize press coverage of the Oklahoma bombing (“Exploding Myths”). Most appalling was Hayford’s blatant disregard for the facts: twice in the piece he actually depletes the number of deaths in an attempt to prove […]
Posted inMusic
Outsider Rock
Television Personalities Yes Darling, But Is It Art? (Seed) The record titles say it all: Live Through This, The Downward Spiral, One Foot in the Grave. In the alternative rock scene it’s currently cool to wear your torment and anguish on your sleeve. Courtney Love, Trent Reznor, and scores of other rockers shriek and wail […]