AltWeeklies Wire
For a Bogeyman, ACORN Sure is Smallnew
What's missing from the news media's ACORN stories is any sense of perspective or proportion. In North Carolina, the organization employs eight people, and it operates on a annual budget of between $400,000 and $450,000.
#thissongissogreat: How to Change This Band's Life, in 140 Characters or Lessnew
The Twitter paradigm reverts to the antiquated record-store clerk model, where you discover new music because you trust the person behind the counter who loves something you've yet to hear.
Ellen Page Whips it Good in Her Best Post-'Juno' Rolenew
After seeing Juno, my outraged teen daughter rightly asked, "Where is the girl's version of Ferris Bueller's Day Off?" Whip It steps into that void.
Michael Moore's Antics are Finally Justified in 'Capitalism'new
To summarize the sentiment fueling Michael Moore's latest agitprop, one need only quote Tony Montana: "You know what capitalism is? Gettin' fucked!"
'Our Noise' Tells the Story of Merge Records, and Tells it Wellnew
The book is remarkably candid; it thoroughly examines interpersonal and financial problems, not just triumphs. Because of the candor, we believe the portrayal of Merge as a genuinely noble label, with an uncommon blend of ethics, frugality and business savvy.
INDY Week |
Brian Howe |
09-18-2009 |
Nonfiction
On Album 12, Yo La Tengo Again Turns Familiar Music Inside Outnew
For 25 years, Yo La Tengo has taken a contrarian approach to originality. Unafraid to evoke other artists, genres and time periods, the trio has dabbled in folk, pop, doo-wop, classic rock and the avant-garde.
INDY Week |
Marc Masters |
09-18-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Two Jersey Boys Called Spider Bags Find a New Chance in North Carolinanew
Goodbye Cruel World, Hello Crueler World, the second album by Spider Bags, is a glorious mess. Each of its 10 tracks feels as if it fights from beneath a haze of distortion or gasps for air underneath a tide of tape hiss.
INDY Week |
Grayson Currin |
09-18-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Elephant 6's The Circulatory System Returnsnew
Talking to Will Cullen Hart is like talking to a tape collage. It is sometimes hard to sort out what is medication, what is self-medication, what is Hart, what is something else.
INDY Week |
Jesse Jarnow |
09-03-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Ted Kennedy: Awesome and Inspiringnew
Though an invitation-only affair, Kennedy's funeral in the heart of urban Boston was intended for mass consumption -- a fitting contrast for a man who led a privileged life yet fought for the working class and poor.
INDY Week |
Matt Saldaña |
09-03-2009 |
Commentary
Mistaken Identity in Chapel Hill Hits Race Nervenew
Charles Brown was just walking home, being black on Rosemary Street on a Monday night in June when Chapel Hill police mistook him for the wrong man, handcuffed him and detained him for an hour.
INDY Week |
Joe Schwartz |
09-03-2009 |
Race & Class
Depression-Era North Carolina String Band is Generously Anthologized on New Two-CD Setnew
The subtitle of the anthology, The Complete Recordings of the Red Fox Chasers (1928-31), is truthful: The two discs contain the entire recorded output of Brooks, Miles, A.P. Thompson and Bob Cranford.
In 'The Big Rewind,' Nathan Rabin Uses His Pop-Saturated Memory as a Window into His Lifenew
Did I mention that most of this book is extremely funny? Rabin is aware that there are plenty of hard-luck stories out there, and he's just as hard on himself as he is on such targets as a video store boss, several girlfriends from hell and a Movie Club co-commentator married to the guy who wrote Soul Plane.
INDY Week |
Zack Smith |
08-28-2009 |
Nonfiction
Ang Lee's 'Taking Woodstock' is a Marvelous, Unabashedly Nostalgic Trip Backnew
Lee (born in 1954) is just barely old enough to claim membership in the Woodstock generation, even if he was living in his native Taiwan at the time. Still, the Oscar-winning director nails the groovy vibe as effortlessly as he conjured up 1970s suburbia in The Ice Storm.
Tags: Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee
A Ho-Hum Predictability in 'Adam'new
"I'm not Forrest Gump, you know," deadpans Adam when Beth gifts him a box of chocolates. Unfortunately, Adam is a pedestrian film in which, protagonist's eccentricities aside, you pretty much know what you're going to get.
Lessons from the Henry Louis Gates Casenew
Profiling appears to be a universal experience in nonwhite America. The clowns who toss coats and car keys are no Klansmen, of course, just grotesque boors who have no idea of the damage done when one brain-dead gesture robs another person of his dignity.
INDY Week |
Hal Crowther |
08-28-2009 |
Race & Class
