AltWeeklies Wire
Take a Seat: How the Adirondack Chair Became a Classicnew
What started as a regional, functional craft is now mass-produced in countries thousands of miles from the Adirondacks and bought by people who couldn't locate the majestic park on a map. But this emblem of rural industry still means something to the people whose lifestyles inspired the chair more than 100 years ago.
Seven Days |
Lauren Ober |
07-31-2009 |
Recreation
An Odd Way to Honor Daniel Burnhamnew
The man behind the Plan of Chicago was a doer, a pragmatist, a builder of consensus. The folks behind the architectural component of his centennial tribute must've been thinking of someone else.
Chicago Reader |
Lynn Becker |
07-20-2009 |
History
The Strange Saga of Geronimo's Skullnew
Out there somewhere, lost for 146 years, there really is the head of a great Apache leader, taken in the most violent and ignominious means imaginable. With the exception of his family and a few historians, no one knows a thing about him.
Tucson Weekly |
Leo W. Banks |
06-11-2009 |
History
Tommy Hall, an Originator of Acid Rock in the '60s, is Still Psychedelicnew
For many of his 66 years, Hall has been pursuing intellectual enlightenment through acid. He began that quest in the mid-'60s with the 13th Floor Elevators.
The Forces That Shaped Rogers Park and West Ridgenew
Time has made Rogers Avenue, an old treaty boundary, just another city street. But edges remain, perhaps most notably in the division between the residents who see their neighborhood going to hell and the residents who are grateful to have escaped someplace worse.
Chicago Reader |
Bill Savage |
02-09-2009 |
History
Drexel Prof Has Some Concrete Answers About How the Pyramids Were Builtnew
Michel Barsoum says the theories that modern science have devised to explain the construction of Egypt's Great Pyramids are wrong. Barsoum's theory, naturally, has been treated as heresy in the world of Egyptology.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Patrick Rapa |
01-27-2009 |
History
Why Philly Needs to Appropriate the Legacy of Edgar Allan Poenew
Goodbye Ben Franklin, goodbye Rocky. It's time for a new figure to represent everything good and bad about our city. One in whom we can see both our dreams and nightmares. It's time for Philly to embrace its inner-Gothic self and celebrate Edgar Allan Poe.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Edward Pettit |
01-13-2009 |
History
Spam: It's Not Just for Inboxes Anymorenew
Just in time for the recession, let's take a look at all the wondrous ways to eat Spam.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Rachel Hutton |
12-03-2008 |
Food+Drink
Len Barron Brings Einstein Back from the Deadnew
Barron has spent the past 20 years trying to exalt Albert Einstein in his one-man show. He just released a DVD, Portraits of Einstein, with clips of his show and other goodies.
Boulder Weekly |
Dylan Otto Krider |
11-20-2008 |
Performance
Ask a Mexican: More Shameless Self-Promotion (Buy Gustavo's New Book!)new
In honor of and to shamelessly promote my muy caliente libro (which deals with America's Gomorrah, the Reconquista and John Wayne!), I'm answering historical questions this week.
A Guide to Boston's Secret Trove of Peculiar Artifactsnew
There are peculiar piece of history tucked away in the nooks and crannies of Boston–area archives -- from death masks to a book bound in human skin.
Boston Phoenix |
Jacqueline Houton |
08-28-2008 |
History
1968: A Wild Time in Madisonnew
Like the rest of the nation, the Wisconsin capital was awash in chaos, confusion, confrontation and change.
The 'Forever Young' Generation Reflects on Life in Vermont's First Communesnew
A revival of Hair is giving audiences in New York's Central Park a vicarious contact high these days, but memories of the bygone Age of Aquarius in Vermont have sparked an upcoming commune reunion and a new book, Farm Friends: From the Late Sixties to the West Seventies and Beyond by Tom Fels.
Seven Days |
Susan Green |
08-25-2008 |
History
Why Can't Philly's Thriving Theater Scene Use the City's Grand Old Stages?new
Ironically, Philadelphia is worse off because we have so many great old theaters -- we might sustain one or two, but what do we do with a dozen?
Philadelphia City Paper |
David Anthony Fox |
08-12-2008 |
Theater
Springfield, Ill., Was an Important Station on the Underground Railroadnew
Part of the intrigue of the Underground Railroad is its mystery -- we'll never know the whole story. Its activists tried to keep their work secret, so they kept no official records; many African-American participants couldn't read or write, which prevented them from leaving records. What we know comes from oral histories, journals, and memoirs sometimes found by luck.
Illinois Times |
Tara McClellan McAndrew |
07-21-2008 |
History
