[Artwork by M©] RELATED: The generally accepted consensus among Scorsese proselytes cites this sequence, from John Huston’s Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) as Robert DeNiro’s prime source of inspiration behind Travis Bickle’s legendary mirror scene in Taxi Driver. The following findings are about to throw film history a curve ball. After decades of eye-straining research, the truth behind the source of Travis’ psycho-soliloquy can at last be revealed. The following scene was lifted verbatim from Michael Gordon’s relatively obscure 1965 Rock Hudson/Leslie Caron romantic comedy, A Very Special Favor. MORE THE COLONEL: So untrue. Bobby De Niro and Marty […]
EARLY WORD: Fleetwood Mac Preservation Society
Nearly two years after they performed Lindsey Buckingham’s enduring creative statement, the 1979 Fleetwood Mac double-album TUSK, at shows in Boston, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia – joyous gigs that pleased both the old heads in faded Buckingham-Nicks bootleg tees and young’uns probably conceived while RUMOURS spun in the background – indie rock not-so-supergroup THE LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM APPRECIATION SOCIETY returns to perform Fleetwood Mac’s 1982 album MIRAGE in its entirety, along with select Mac and solo Buckingham gems at two shows: Friday, February 17 at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia, and Saturday, February 18 at Littlefield in Brooklyn.
WORTH REPEATING: Food Trucks R The New Black
[artwork by MITCH] ?UESTLOVE: I did a few DJ gigs out on the West Coast, and these really great, awesome food trucks would be outside selling weird specialty things. This one guy was selling his “world famous” roasted corn. So at 3 in the morning, I’m watching these people kill all this Mexican corn. And I was like, “Man, I want a food truck.” I imagined having a “Soul on a Roll” Mister Softee truck that served good soul food. It’s sort of like “be careful what you ask for.” In a perfect world, I would like to have a […]
Scientist Mutates New Strain Of Flu Virus That Will Kill Us All; Wants To Publish ‘How To’ Instructions
DAILY MAIL: A group of scientists is pushing to publish research about how they created a man-made flu virus that could potentially wipe out civilisation. The deadly virus is a genetically tweaked version of the H5N1 bird flu strain, but is far more infectious and could pass easily between millions of people at a time. The research has caused a storm of controversy and divided scientists, with some saying it should never have been carried out. The current strain of H5N1 has only killed 500 people and is not contagious enough to cause a global pandemic. But their are fears […]
RIP: Ex-RAM Squad Rapper/Crack Dealer Tommy Hill Gunned Downed Outside Mount Airy Bar
INQUIRER: Philadelphia rap star Tommy Hill – a key member of the group RAM Squad – died Sunday morning, two days after being shot in an apparent robbery outside an East Mount Airy bar, police sources said. Hill, whose given name was John Wilson, had been living in Atlanta since serving two years in prison on federal drug charges and since the RAM Squad’s breakup. Hill launched his career in the late 1990s with the help of former mob boss Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino, and federal authorities later pressured him to cooperate with investigations into drug dealing and City Hall […]
Q&A With The New Yorker‘s Susan Orlean
Susan Orlean has written for Rolling Stone, Vogue and Esquire. She has been a staff writer at the New Yorker since 1992 and has published two collections of her work for the magazine: 2001’s The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup: My Encounters with Extraordinary People and 2004’s My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who’s Been Everywhere. However, she is probably best-known as the fictionalized version of herself played by Meryl Streep in Adaptation, Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman’s transmogrification her 1998 bestseller The Orchid Thief. She will be appearing at the Free Library tomorrow night to promote her latest book […]
RIP: Hubert Sumlin, Blues Traveler, Dead At 80
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Hubert Sumlin, who made his name as the slash-and-burn guitarist for Chicago blues great Howlin’ Wolf before embarking on an illustrious solo career, died Sunday in a hospital in Wayne, N.J., reportedly of heart failure. The Chicago bluesman had turned 80 years old on Nov. 16. A week later, Rolling Stone magazine unveiled a list citing him as one of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. MORE NEW YORK TIMES: Born in 1931 in Greenwood, Miss., Mr. Sumlin, who took up the guitar at age 6, first met his own musical mentor, Howlin’ Wolf, at a roadhouse […]
CINEMA: Curious George
HUGO (2011, directed by Martin Scorsese, 127 minutes, U.S.) THE DESCENDANTS (2011, directed by Alexander Payne, 115 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK After six years, director Alexander Payne is back with his fifth feature, The Descendants. Payne has written and directed some of the most insightful American satires of the last fifteen years, including Election, Citizen Ruth, and his last film, Sideways. With this tale showing George Clooney as a Hawaiian real estate mogul who through tragedy becomes closer with his daughters, Payne seems to stumble a bit from his high perch. After she is seriously injured in a boating […]
MUST SEE TV: Woody Allen Boxes A Kangaroo
Verging on animal cruelty by today’s standards, but like meat, it’s already dead so let’s not waste it. Besides, this was prime time stuff in 1966. Woody never lays a glove on him, but the kangaroo gets a few licks in. At the end he goes kinda buck wild, and Woody says ‘fuck it’ and jumps out of the ring and declares victory, while the kangaroo registers his extreme displeasure with the referee/animal handler.
PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A MIDDLE-AGED MAN: A Q&A With Cartoonist Dan Clowes
EDITOR’S NOTE: To mark the occasion of yet another swell New Yorker cover by Mr. Clowes, we are re-running our interview with him from last spring. Enjoy. BY JONATHAN VALANIA Daniel Clowes’ 30-plus-year career as a cartoonist/graphic novelist/screenwriter has seen some remarkable reversals of fortune. Back in the mid-80s, when Clowes was fresh out of Pratt and looking to take the graphic design/illustration world by storm, he couldn’t get art directors to return his phone calls. These days, post-Ghost World, the New Yorker and The New York Times plead with him to return their calls. When not busy cranking out […]
WORTH REPEATING: Blowback’s A ‘Bitch’
[Artwork by BIGBOITHOMAS84] Pitchfork: What kind of reactions have you received since? ?uestlove: I’ve seen some really colorful epithets in the past four days, but “nigger fuckhead ghetto stick” is probably the one that takes the cake. I’m still trying to get my head around that one. Blocking 3,500 tea party extremists [on Twitter] in a three day period is no fun, especially when you’re a drummer dangerously close to carpal tunnel. In the end, was it worth it? Absolutely not. Pitchfork: Was there a moment when you were scared that you might get fired? ?uestlove: Yeah, last Wednesday, the […]
Frank Luntz, The Dark Lord Of Obfuscating GOP Euphemisms, Says He’s Scared Sh*tless By #Occupy
YAHOO: The Republican Governors Association met this week in Florida to give GOP state executives a chance to rejuvenate, strategize and team-build. But during a plenary session on Wednesday, one question kept coming up: How can Republicans do a better job of talking about Occupy Wall Street? “I’m so scared of this anti-Wall Street effort. I’m frightened to death,” said Frank Luntz, a Republican strategist and one of the nation’s foremost experts on crafting the perfect political message. “They’re having an impact on what the American people think of capitalism.” Luntz offered tips on how Republicans could discuss the grievances […]