AltWeeklies Wire
How Today's Pot Debate is Like the Fall of Prohibitionnew
Law-enforcement maverick Norm Stamper noted "striking" parallels between Prohibition of a bygone era and today's drug debate. "Major difference? It took us only 13 years to end the former" over "essentially identical" reasons: violence, overdose deaths on bad "bathtub gin," public health and revenue.
San Diego CityBeat |
John R. Lamb |
10-07-2009 |
Drugs
Survivor of Ohio's Latest Botched Execution Reveals Breathtaking Incompetencenew
Romell Broom achieved a macabre notoriety this past month when he became the first man to survive his date with the needle. The eyes of the world are on Ohio now, and many are questioning our death-penalty apparatus.
Cleveland Scene |
Damian Guevara |
10-07-2009 |
Crime & Justice
A Race is on to Record the Untold Stories of Aging Holocaust Survivorsnew
Until the Iron Curtain parted, the Holocaust stories like Lupyan's and others' from the former Soviet republics went largely untold on the world stage. But now, there is an urgency to record survivors' stories while a dwindling number still are alive to tell them.
Metro Times |
Sandra Svoboda |
10-06-2009 |
History
Is Kurt Vile a Lo-Fi Schizo Prodigy or the Most Important Man in American Music Today?new
When Gerard Cosloy signed Kurt Vile to Matador Records, he issued a press release declaring the Lansdowne native "one of the more important figures in American music circa 2009."
Philadelphia City Paper |
A.D. Amorosi |
10-06-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
'Tony Manero' Shows Us That the Flipside of Pop Culture Escapism is Soul-Sucking Insanitynew
Shot on Super 16mm film, employing a handheld camera that purposely loses focus, and creating a seedy, claustrophobic atmosphere of despair, Tony Manero is the kind of edgy, angering work cinephiles flock to because it seems so much more uncompromising than it is.
Metro Times |
Jeff Meyers |
10-06-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Pablo Larrain, Tony Manero
Obama is More Hoover than FDR
It's 1933. This time, however, Hoover got reelected. Can we hold out until 1937 for a president who understands that we need 10 million new jobs, and that we need them yesterday?
An Inside Look at the G20 Summit and the Police State That Surrounded Itnew
The phrase "lockdown" doesn't quite get to the core of how militarized and contained Pittsburgh really was throughout the two-day G20 Sept. 24 and 25.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Matt Stroud |
10-06-2009 |
Civil Liberties
Michael Moore on 'Capitalism,' Reagan's Destruction and Getting Booted Out of GMnew
General Motors isn't Moore's only target this time. He argues that America's economic gap is a chasm, and that the foundations of a corrupt political and corporate system are about to crumble. With a wink and nudge, he wants you to help him push it over the edge, and then pick up the pieces.
Metro Times |
Corey Hall |
10-06-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
'Bright Star' Casts John Keats as King of All Proto-Emo Boysnew
If you got a D in English Lit, Bright Star probably isn't the romantic ode for you. If you've got a taste for chaste love affairs with unhappy endings, however, Bright Star delivers.
Weekly Alibi |
Devin D. O'Leary |
10-06-2009 |
Reviews
Can the Colectivo Tonantzin and the ACLU Beat One City's Anti-Day-Laborer Ordinance?new
The Colectivo has concentrated on fighting for the rights of day laborers in a county that has seen cities pass increasingly stringent ordinances against them. And few are more adamant about running jornaleros out of town than Orange, the Colectivo's new target.
OC Weekly |
Gustavo Arellano |
10-06-2009 |
Business & Labor
Master Class Dismissed: Tad Friend Recounts the Fall of the American WASPnew
In reading Cheerful Money, part family memoir and part sociological inquiry, I understand that Wasps are an endangered species of American society. It seems fair to say that most people won't feel a sense of empathy for those who've done most of the excluding in U.S. history. Yet there is a tragic note to Friend's portrait.
New Haven Advocate |
John Stoehr |
10-06-2009 |
Nonfiction
Return of the B Movie: Full Moon Entertainment is Backnew
To a certain percentage of the population -- those who grew up in the dawning Home Video Age of the '80s -- Full Moon still holds a certain nostalgic resonance. Now, after years of weathering bankruptcy, various lawsuits and the death of the VHS tape, Full Moon is back.
Weekly Alibi |
Devin D. O'Leary |
10-06-2009 |
Movies
Alto Saxophonist David Binney Paints New Sounds on a Moving Canvasnew
Complicated or not, Binney's jazz compositions also reflect a wide variety of influences. Both as a composer and player, Binney has drawn from many sources to create a highly expressive, highly individual oeuvre.
Weekly Alibi |
Mel Minter |
10-06-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Hopi Reggae Artist Casper Lomayesva Brings Redemption Songs to the Desertnew
Because of a shared resistance to tyranny, reggae is wildly popular among Native Americans -- from the Seminole Tribe of Florida to the Hopi of Arizona.
Phoenix New Times |
Niki D'Andrea |
10-06-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Two Dance Lables -- Warp and Hyperdub -- Look Back at Their Own Historiesnew
When a record label hits a divisible-by-five anniversary, it celebrates -- especially in dance music, which takes all the parties it can get. And as you'd expect, most of the compilations that ensue tend to be fairly self-indulgent.
Baltimore City Paper |
Michaelangelo Matos |
10-06-2009 |
Music
