AltWeeklies Wire
Jim White Has Finally Found What He Searched Fornew
There is a great deal of both liberation and ineffability on Transnormal Skiperoo, which is a welcome rebound from White's uneven 2004 album, Drill a Hole in that Substrate and Tell Me What You See.
The Portland Mercury |
Chas Bowie |
03-27-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Jim White, Transnormal Skiperoo
Ambition Achievednew
Richard Price betrays his cellular familiarity with the Lower East Side in Lush Life, his riveting eighth novel, without once sounding like he's broken a sweat.
The Portland Mercury |
Chas Bowie |
03-20-2008 |
Fiction
For the Love of Moneynew
Lydia Millet's sixth novel, How the Dead Dream, opens with an unforgettable image: A young boy named T. is so entranced by money that he purses coins in his mouth, as if to absorb the currency's mysterious power.
The Portland Mercury |
Chas Bowie |
03-06-2008 |
Fiction
Martin Beats Stillernew
Your enjoyment of Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins can be predetermined by one question: Do you think an obstacle course showdown between Martin Lawrence and Cedric the Entertainer sounds hilarious? If not, move along to the next review.
The Portland Mercury |
Chas Bowie |
02-08-2008 |
Reviews
Wu-Tang Forever and a Day!new
All that stuff about Wu-Tang's genius and influence aside, they are a notoriously dismal live act.
The Portland Mercury |
Chas Bowie |
12-27-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: 8 Diagrams, The Wu-Tang Clan
Remember the Brilliant Steve Martin?new
Martin's slim new memoir, Born Standing Up, covers his stand-up years, and thankfully it's a lot more interesting of a story to tell than a facile tale of perseverance and cheap hotel rooms.
The Portland Mercury |
Chas Bowie |
12-13-2007 |
Nonfiction
English Speakers, Meet Tetsuo Miuranew
More than four decades after its original release, Miura's novel has been translated into English for the first time, introducing Western audiences not only to one of Japan's most revered writers.
The Portland Mercury |
Chas Bowie |
11-29-2007 |
Fiction
The Music and Mythology of M.I.A.new
It was up to M.I.A. to prove that she wasn't a fluke, and she did just that with Kala, a global journey of underground dance, weaving together samples from the Clash, guest spots from Nigerian rappers, cues from Bollywood soundtracks, seizure-inducing album art, and quasi-political phrases
The Portland Mercury |
Chas Bowie |
11-15-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
'Famous Writers School' Offers Chucklesnew
Steven Carter's novel zooms in on the fictional correspondence between an inept Famous Writers teacher and his three ragtag pupils.
The Portland Mercury |
Chas Bowie |
11-08-2007 |
Fiction
'McSweeney's 24': Gorgeous, As Alwaysnew
One half of the new McSweeney's consists entirely of a tribute to the postmodern master of short fiction, the late, great Donald Barthelme, with recollections by friends, colleagues, and admirers such as George Saunders, Ann Beattie, Robert Coover, and Lawrence Weschler.
The Portland Mercury |
Chas Bowie |
11-01-2007 |
Fiction
Plowing Down Kids on 'Reservation Road'new
Based on its concept, the film should have been an all-out gut-wrench fest. If you're going to have a plot device as emotionally manipulative as a dead child, I should at least choke up once, right?
The Portland Mercury |
Chas Bowie |
10-18-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Reservation Road, Terry George
'Living Biblically': A Skeptically Holy Experimentnew
It could have been shaved down by a quarter without losing its effect, but Jacobs' dedication to his project, combined with his own ambivalence to the Bible, make this book one of the surprise hits of the fall.
The Portland Mercury |
Chas Bowie |
10-18-2007 |
Nonfiction
