POLITICS: Department of things that should be perfectly obvious to everyone: Colin Powell says we should close Guantanamo. “Essentially, we have shaken the belief the world had in America’s justice system by keeping a place like Guantanamo open and creating things like the military commission. We don’t need it and it is causing us far […]
Entries Tagged as 'Music'
Roundup: Green Blood and Near Beer Edition
June 11th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Comedy, Comics, Culture, Hate Crimes, Heroes, Human Rights, Internet, Journalism, Language, LGBT, Media, Music, News, Politics, Roundup, Tech, TV
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DVD: Priscilla with “Extra Frills”!
June 10th, 2007 · Comments Off on DVD: Priscilla with “Extra Frills”! · Comedy, Culture, Film, LGBT, Music, News, Video
At long last! An “Extra Frills” special edition of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was released on DVD this week. It includes director commentary from Stephan Elliott, deleted scenes, bloopers, a making-of featurette, trailers, teasers and more. AfterElton.com waxes enthusiastic about it here. When the film premiered at Cannes, it was such a smash that […]
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Music: “Free Money” for Rent Day from Patti Smith
June 5th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Chicago, Culture, Music, New Wave, Video
Today’s rent day,* here in Chicago anyway, so here’s some Patti Smith to soften the blow. This is Patti doing my favorite song from Horses, “Free Money,” at the final CBGB’s show on October 15, 2006. (Dodgy sound and video quality — looks like a phone video — but the historic nature of the occasion […]
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Roundup: Magnum Opus Edition
June 4th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Magnum Opus Edition · Apple, Books, Comics, Culture, Food, Heroes, iTunes, Language, LGBT, Lit, Media, Music, Nature, New Wave, News, Tech, TV, Vegetarian & Vegan
COMICS: For once I’m starting out with the comics section, in honor of the fact that Salon has added Opus by the mighty Berkeley Breathed (Bloom County, Outland) to their repertoire. Oh, happy day. Here’s the first installment. Along with my favorites This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow and Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben […]
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Cooking with Kate Bush, or The Man with the Bean Sprouts in His Eyes
May 30th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Culture, Food, Health, Journal, Music, New Wave, TV, Vegetarian & Vegan, Video
I’m embroiled in some serious end-of-the-month deadline drama this week, so posting will probably be lighter than usual for the next few days. Fortunately for us all, Kate Bush is here to share vegetarian cooking tips! (From a 1980 TV interview.) Here’s to putting nuts in everything! I love the way Kate and the […]
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Roundup: Fried Ice Edition
May 28th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Fried Ice Edition · Blogs, Books, Climate Change, Comedy, Comics, Culture, Film, Food, LGBT, Music, New Wave, News, Organic Food, Politics
Profile of Newtok, Alaska: One of the first victims of climate change, a town gradually sinking into the mud. As the hardest hit of the 180 Alaskan villages suffering from erosion, “studies say Newtok could be washed away within a decade.” Iceberg of Yuck: The Consumerist says, “Poison toothpaste, killer cough-syrup, and tainted pet food […]
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Music: “The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned” (and A Tale of Two Ultravoxes)
May 25th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Culture, Music, New Wave, Video
Here’s a nice video find for Friday: “The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned” by Ultravox! (the early, John Foxx-led incarnation of the band). This song has possibly the most figuratively ambitious lyrics you’ll find in any song not written by David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, or Bob Dylan. And what a thrill to watch John […]
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Roundup: Pottymouth Jar Edition
May 22nd, 2007 · 1 Comment · Apple, Blogs, Business, Comics, Culture, Foreign Policy, Health, HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, Macintosh, Music, News, Politics, Religion, Tech, Terrorism, Torture
It’s the foreign policy, stupid: This great post at Crooks and Liars takes apart the simplistic and unhelpful notion that terrorists “hate us for our freedoms.” As Michael Scheuer, former station chief of the CIA’s Osama Bin Laden task force, says: “The fundamental flaw in our thinking about Bin Laden is that ‘Muslims hate and […]
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Music: Captain Sensible — “If You Don’t Talk Happy, and You Never Have a Dream …”
May 18th, 2007 · Comments Off on Music: Captain Sensible — “If You Don’t Talk Happy, and You Never Have a Dream …” · Comedy, Culture, Music, New Wave, TV, Video
Just the thing for a Friday: Captain Sensible doing his version of “Happy Talk” (i.e., the best version ever!) on Top of the Pops. If you ask me, the parrot steals it. Bonus: Captain Sensible cereal commercial! … and the good Captain getting interviewed by a puppet. I just wish there were a […]
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Roundup: Carrot Whittling Edition
May 15th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Blogs, Culture, Education, Energy, Film, Food, LGBT, Music, New Wave, News, Politics, Science, Science Fiction, Tech
White light, green heat: LEDS aren’t just for clock radios any more. In fact, LED lightbulbs may turn out to be the bulb of the future instead of compact fluorescents. Thanks to a breakthrough in the 90s, modern LEDs can emit white light instead of just red or green. They last up to five times […]
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Forty-Onederful: Alt Q Review
May 14th, 2007 · 5 Comments · Chicago, Culture, Fringe, LGBT, Media, Music, Performance
Speaking of Jorjet, as I was a couple of posts ago, I spent the evening of my forty-first birthday sharing a table with her at this year’s Alt Q festival at the Old Town School of Folk Music (after having a nice coconut and basil dinner with Lisa Buscani at Thai Classic). Alt Q was […]
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Music: The B-52’s, “Give Me Back My Man”
May 13th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Culture, Music, New Wave, Video
Rare video for “Give Me Back My Man” — not sure why, but I never saw this one on MTV back in the day. Well, never mind, it’s great fun to watch it now. This is still my all-time favorite B-52’s song, and the video really lets you see Cindy work her magic on it. […]
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