AltWeeklies Wire
Ten Discs With Indie Spiritnew
Look here for alternative albums of 2004 that whump and rock yer face off.
A Dark Year for America Was Great for Musicnew
The last 12 months saw Bush and the GOP continuing to roll back progressive causes. That kind of sucked. But there's nothing like a tidal wave of conservatism to motivate musicians to get off their asses.
Great Balls of Firenew
One thousand acts play the CMJ Music Marathon each year, and thousands of fans, journalists, and record executives converge on New York City like a frothing crew of Ahabs. This year's Moby-Dick: the Arcade Fire.
Respected Small-Town Paper Struggles to Survivenew
The Point Reyes Light is among the nation's most respected small-town papers, having won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for public service for its work in exposing the Synanon cult. But the inheritance money Editor/Publisher Dave Mitchell used to keep the weekly alive is running out.
Tales From the Dark Sidenew
The first time Silke Tudor heard a rough mix of the Boxcar Saints' Last Things, she thought about her friend with epilepsy, quietude, and the dark, poignant insights born from violent upheaval.
SF Weekly |
Silke Tudor |
12-07-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Boxcar Saints, Last Things
Anatomy of a Sumbitchnew
This fascinating documentary is no mere instructional video about how to fail in show biz. It's about willful self-immolation, about letting raw ego and crazy delusion run amok, about driving friends and family into storms of rage.
A Psychomagical Encounternew
In life, as well as film, Chilean-born director Alejandro Jodorowsky is avant-garde.
SF Weekly |
John Mecklin |
12-06-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Sunrise on a Green Daynew
San Francisco may have the most thriving underground music scene in the country, but very few mainstream acts emerge out of it, at least few that we can be proud of. Green Day is a rare exception.
Building Robots That Protestnew
At the Institute for Applied Autonomy, a five-man collective creates robots and computer software for the purposes of political activism.
Tags: Health & Science
Red Road Tripnew
If you follow our travel guide, you'll discover that the residents of Red States are not so scary after all.
Tags: humor & satire
Enduring Creepinessnew
The film wants to come from behind and surprise in a way that feels punishing, as though the audience being taught a bitter lesson. The result is creepy and unpleasant. There is hope, however bleak, at the end, but mostly there's a sense of unnecessary devastation.
Tags: Roger Michell, Enduring Love
Well Trainednew
The runaway-train action stuff is fantastic. Where the movie falters is when it delivers platitudes about how the spirit of Christmas is in every one of us and Santa is the symbol of the spirit of giving, etc., etc.
Tags: Robert Zemeckis, The Polar Express
Redemption Thongnew
The witless inanity of this film is so numbing that the sole reason for any living creature to sit through it is to marvel at actress Salma Hayek's relentless succession of thongs, sarongs, diaphanous cocktail frocks, and all-but-nonexistent bathing suits.
Tags: Brett Ratner, After the Sunset
San Francisco Suffers Reputation As Little City That Couldn'tnew
Democrats need to retake the can-do mantle if the Republican Reich is ever to end. I can think of no better place for this to happen than San Francisco, the place America sees as the epitome of liberal ideals.
SF Weekly |
Matt Smith |
11-12-2004 |
Commentary
Method Rocking: Juliette Lewis and Minnie Driver Have Started Bandsnew
Musicians do a better job of switch-hitting as actors than vice versa. Two actresses, Juliette Lewis and Minnie Driver, have launched their own bands with conflicting results.
