AltWeeklies Wire
The Mantles Keep it in the Family and Create a Cali Pop Classicnew
Fueled by friendship and romance, the Mantles are relaxed enough to enjoy absurdity, whether it arrives in the form of a shirtless dude in a Yoda mask or entails playing the role of "psychedelic band" and "mid-tempo downer" at a sweltering garage rock party where people are doing cannonballs into a pool.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Johnny Ray Huston |
09-16-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: The Mantles, indie pop
Catching an Elusive Icon's Drift As He Sings About Pasolini and Mussolininew
Time stood still yesterday in the music Scott Walker made, and it stands still today when 30 Century Man languishes in the songs from Walker's quartet of self-titled Philips solo albums from 1967 through 1970.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Johnny Ray Huston |
01-21-2009 |
Reviews
'Barf Manifesto' is So Great You'll Wanna Pukenew
Not a rant so much as a pair of roiling bursts of text, Bellamy's book has feminist intent, but ultimately it presents an artistic credo, in the manner of Andre Breton's paeans to Surrealism.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Johnny Ray Huston |
12-04-2008 |
Nonfiction
Why My Bloody Valentine Isn't Anything to Dismiss: A Fan's Sonic Memorynew
I don't even know if I'm going to see MBV this week. If I don't, I suspect I'll still hear their noise, or feel it, from across town. If I can touch that instrumental passage of "You Made Me Realise," I'll grab on to a point within it. That point will be my nostalgia. It'll levitate, compress, and then shatter.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Johnny Ray Huston |
09-24-2008 |
Music
'Love Songs' Steps Out From Under An Umbrellanew
Love Songs proves few movies are entirely terrible or terrific. Its crushworthy final half-hour is touching and sometimes magnificent. But much of its initial hour is maddening.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Johnny Ray Huston |
06-04-2008 |
Reviews
Big Books on Tiny Topicsnew
It seems that one surefire way of selling a nonfiction tome is by focusing on a very specific subject. For evidence, one need only look at recent efforts such as Pierre Laszlo's Citrus: A History, Henry Petroski's The Toothpick: Technology and Culture, and Andrew D. Blechman's Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Johnny Ray Huston |
03-12-2008 |
Books
You Can Judge This Book by its Covernew
This catalogue of what United Kingdom censors called video nasties proves visually and verbally lively. And for a book bathed in blood and drawn to depressing and despairing expressions of murder such as the infamous Maniac (1980), Nightmare USA is surprisingly and endearingly warmhearted.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Johnny Ray Huston |
01-23-2008 |
Nonfiction
Sorcerer Shows His Magicnew
The 11 tracks feature fluorescent glimmers and surprising melodic nuances signal a major album-of-the-year contender at a time when such claims aren't just Baby New Year gibberish.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Johnny Ray Huston |
08-29-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: White Magic, Sorcerer
Our Springfield Soft Spotsnew
Ten (out of 10,000,000) reasons why we love The Simpsons.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Cheryl Eddy, Dennis Harvey and Johnny Ray Huston |
07-25-2007 |
Movies
The Church of Santinonew
The man who stole Project Runway discusses fabulous fashion in film.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Johnny Ray Huston |
07-25-2007 |
Fashion
Tags: fashion
Ball of Firenew
In praise of Barbara Stanwyck.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Johnny Ray Huston |
07-05-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Rhymes With Worknew
Men are from Mars, Bjork's Volta is for Venus.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Johnny Ray Huston |
05-16-2007 |
Reviews
The Mark of Zidanenew
Douglas Gordon speaks about Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Johnny Ray Huston |
05-16-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
360 Degrees in the Shadenew
Syndromes and a Century reinvents the romantic comedy.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Johnny Ray Huston |
04-11-2007 |
Reviews
Beyond the Valley of Vinylnew
Multiple Otomo is an ear-scorching blast of mind's-eye candy.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Johnny Ray Huston |
03-28-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Multiple Otomo, Otomo Yoshihide