One of Tim Rice’s dumbest lines in this Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is Che Guevara’s assertion that Eva Peron “did nothing for years”–the next 150 minutes contradict it completely. Once again confusingly celebrated and condemned, the Queen of Mean returns, this time played by local heroine Kathy Voytko (who resembles Patti LuPone, the original Argentinean […]
Tag: Vol. 34 No. 9
Issue of Nov. 25 – Dec. 1, 2004
Posted inMusic
Still Compromised After All These Years
The new Nirvana boxed set isn’t all it could be.
Posted inArts & Culture
Isis
From its inception there’s been a cerebral strain in heavy music, though its detractors have rarely approved of the thinking going on: consider Rush’s elaborate thematic and musical edifices, or even Led Zeppelin’s frequent nods to the occult. (Aleister Crowley’s writing is pretty thorny stuff–if Jimmy Page actually understands the fellow, he’s got a leg […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Califone
Ten years ago, when Red Red Meat was opening for the Smashing Pumpkins, the predictability of being an arena-rock warm-up act compelled them to turn a spirit of perversity loose in their music. Instead of making heads bob in unison by playing their infectious songs straight, they began shadowboxing with them, ducking and feinting around […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Omnium Gatherum
In Theresa Rebeck and Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros’s roman a clef script, Suzie has gathered a motley assemblage of self-important cultural elites for drinks, debate, and highfalutin eats post 9/11. This play might have worn out its welcome before the second course, but director Jason Loewith keeps the verbal balls in the air so well that even […]
Posted inMusic
Local Release Roundup
ATARI STAR Prayer + Pretend | Johann’s Face The Atari Star’s third full-length CD is a batch of ominous originals, ranging from “Starve a Fever,” a punk-prog spasm, to “Night Striped Assassins,” a slab of violent electro-funk. It’s a far cry from the lush emo and manicured indie pop of the band’s first two albums, […]
Posted inNews & Politics
It’s What’s on the Outside That Counts
Trying not to throw up at the Chicago Esteem Makeover. Plus: backstage with (but mostly without) Velvet Revolver.
Posted inArts & Culture
Orange Sky
It’s difficult to have an emotional response to Ms. Understood Productions’ “almost love story” since just following it demands such effort. Writer-director Summer Neville and her codirector and fellow performer, Christopher Alvarado, begin with a girl-meets-boy dumb show dully performed to rap, folk, and pop music samples. Once Neville and Alvarado begin speaking, they behave […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Stormy Weather
After eight years of delays, the last great old jazz haunt on 47th Street is on the verge of getting renovated. But the group that hoped to fill the place with music is falling apart.
Posted inArts & Culture
WR: Mysteries of the Organism
We may forget that the most radical rethinking of Marx and Freud found in European cinema of the late 60s and early 70s came from the east rather than the west. Indeed, it’s hard to think of a headier mix of fiction and nonfiction, or sex and politics, than this brilliant 1971 Yugoslav feature by […]
Posted inNews & Politics
News of the Weird
Lead Story Police Reports column in the Press-Star of New London, Wisconsin, July 23: “1:15 p.m., a juvenile approached an officer at [Hortonville Police Department] complaining about having a lock stuck around his right testicle for three days and he didn’t know how to get it off. . . . [After the officer obtained a […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Forces of Darkness
Looking to Chekhov on how to muddle through cultural upheaval.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Savage Love
I am a female university student with an etiquette question. There’s a girl I’ve seen around campus who I recognize from a few years ago, when “Jane” was a guy. I’m positive it’s the same person–she still has the same face, and I’ve heard that this person had a sex change. I’m wondering how I […]