AltWeeklies Wire
In a Time of Growing Need, NYC's Homeless Are Running Out of Optionsnew
This winter, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration quietly declared a two-front campaign against the shelter system that was developed to assist with the persistent homelessness problem.
New York Press |
Matt Harvey |
03-05-2009 |
Economy
Tags: homelessness, New York City
The Dark Side of Extra Lifenew
Extra Life’s 2008 debut Secular Works strikes a curious balance between angular instrumentation and ancient melody.
New York Press |
Chris Richards |
02-05-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
What Pop Music Sounds Like Coming From the Pure at Heartnew
The charms of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, the jangly guitars, dreamy boy-girl harmonies and atmospheric distortion, are hard to resist.
New York Press |
Amre Klimchak |
02-05-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
'Memorial Day': Boned and Readynew
Memorial Day displays major cojones with its graphic depiction of human brutality, but its in-your-face didacticism comes with loads of naivete.
New York Press |
Eric Kohn |
02-05-2009 |
Reviews
'Fanboys': Honoring Geek Eruditionnew
Dull social commentators compare Star Wars to religion, but Fanboys commemorates how crazily fans anticipated the opening of Star Wars Episode I:The Phantom Menace. Fanboys is actually about the sweetness of innocuous/inane adolescent passion.
New York Press |
Armond White |
02-05-2009 |
Reviews
Hip-Hop and the Obama Effectnew
Nas, Young Jeezy and others don't think Obama's presidency spells the end of hip-hop.
New York Press |
R.M. Schneiderman and Ray LeMoine |
02-05-2009 |
Music
Tags: Barack Obama, hip-hop
The Secrets (and Sadness) of Living in a Women's Dormnew
For $1,000 a month I’d get two meals a day and daily maid service. My room would be outfitted with a single bed, dresser, small closet, desk and sink. And I’d be surrounded with women of all ages and backgrounds. But I soon realized it was also utterly dispiriting.
New York Press |
Alyssa Abkowitz |
02-05-2009 |
Culture
Tags: New York City, communal living
Army of Two: Au’s Dynamic Duo Does the Work of 30new
Verbs, the latest record from expansive experimental pop group Au, pulses with the unbridled passion of an exuberant mass of people, nearly 30 collaborators in all. Its manic keyboards, swooning horns, complex percussion and manifold other instruments combine with Luke Wyland’s voice and at times an ebullient choir to generate a sweeping feeling of propulsion.
New York Press |
Amre Klimchak |
01-22-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tune In to the Turned-On Dropouts, Asa Ransomnew
"I Like to walk to the center of an intersection!" wails Jacob Bills, lead singer and sole guitarist of Brooklyn-based four-piece rock noisemakers Asa Ransom, a touch of whimsy and madcap paranoia in his voice. Playing up on the extreme highend of his guitar’s neck, his bandmates musically swirling around him, Bills's description of playing amidst traffic seems pretty apt.
New York Press |
Greg Burgett |
01-22-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
David Ondaatje Creates a Clumsy and Insincere Past in His Hitchcock Remakenew
Writer-director David Ondaatje repeats the past so inexpertly that The Lodger (an update of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1926 film) is almost comically schlocky.
New York Press |
Armond White |
01-22-2009 |
Reviews
'Donkey Punch': Butt It Hurtsnew
Oliver Blackburn’s British thriller offers a unique thrill: It indulges in juvenile scares by placing them in a larger canvas of sophisticated moods, developing the scenario with remarkably shrewd structural finesse.
New York Press |
Eric Kohn |
01-22-2009 |
Reviews
The Revolution Is Here!: A Small Bookstore Preparesnew
More than just a bookstore, Manhattan's Revolution Books’ agenda for change is not to work within the system. It’s to prepare people with the tools of communism so that they’ll be ready when the system collapses.
New York Press |
Justin Richards |
01-22-2009 |
Books
'Of Time and the City' Bestows Emotional Grandeur to the Everydaynew
In a new documentary, Terence Davies connects intimate yearnings to his political and existential quandary to demonstrate the importance of movies and music as means of spiritual sustenance.
New York Press |
Armond White |
01-22-2009 |
Reviews
Doll Parts: The Making of Lissy Trullienew
Plenty of models have tried their hands at music; the architects behind Lissy Trullie have done a smooth retro take on hookladen pop. A bisexual teenybopper fantasy is being built, but there are no buyers yet.
New York Press |
Matt Harvey |
01-22-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Pols Promise Change; Many New Yorkers Wonder What the Word Really Meansnew
With seemingly insurmountable problems in Iraq, Afghanistan and Gaza, the Labor Department announcement that another 524,000 jobs were lost last month and Democrats and Republicans still struggling to find a strategy to get the economy back on track, people are left wondering: What does change really mean?
New York Press |
Allen McDuffee |
01-22-2009 |
Commentary
Tags: Barack Obama, New York
