BY PELLE GUNTHER The best thing to come out of Kentucky since fried chicken, Cage The Elephant are a gang of punky, blues rockers currently wreaking their own brand of testosterone-driven, rock-havoc on the world. Currently they are as popular as they are obvious — I hear undigested chunks of Pixies, Janes, Pumpkins in the mix — but since when was that a bad thing in rock and/or roll? Their self-titled debut spawned three singles that charted in the top 5, and the new Thank You, Happy Birthday has been eagerly awaited at my house. Saturday’s Factory sold out lightning […]
WORTH REPEATING: Let Freedom Ring
“I believe we have to judge our society not by how we treat the privileged and the empowered, but by how we treat the silenced, the condemned, the undocumented, and all those whose views and rights are deemed inconvenient. The ACLU works tirelessly to uphold the promise of the Constitution, and I am proud to support their courageous and necessary work.” — OLIVIA WILDE
CINEMA: Hammer Of The Gods
THOR (2011, directed by Kenneth Branaugh, 114 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC It’s the unofficial kick-off of the summer blockbuster season when it seems that a Marvel super hero epic arrives as dependably as Spring allergies. At this point the Marvel franchise can’t pretend to be a product of inspiration; Marvel characters are being forged into films like widgets on an assembly line. Past botched entries like Wolverine and Daredevil have kept expectations low, so it is a pleasant surprise to discover that the latest, featuring the intergalactic Norse God Thor, has been hammered into a pretty […]
Koch Brother Says Obama Deserves Zero Credit For Getting Osama, Calls Prez A ‘Hardcore Socialist’
DAVID KOCH: “I don’t think he contributed much at all. He just made the decision, it was obvious where the guy is. He was one of the worst terrorists organizing attacks on the United States. I mean, no president in his right mind would not approve that decision to go eliminate him. So he’s getting a lot of recognition and his polls have jumped up, but his decision was the easiest of them all. The real hard work was done by the intelligence and the SEALs.” MORE THINK PROGRESS: “Obviously, the SEALs did the work here. But making decisions is […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead
[Artwork by ALEX PREISS] BY WILLIAM C. HENRY So, we finally got the scumbag. Am I happy? You bet your sweet ass I am! The only thing that could have made me happier would have been his being taken alive, shipped back in a cage, tried in a New York courtroom, found guilty, and publicly hanged (televised worldwide) at Ground Zero in front of a jeering crowd made up of every living relative and friend of every person who lost their life or suffered any harm as a result of the 911 attacks. I’d also have wanted a specially placarded […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Veteran journalist and writer Pete Hamill fondly remembers the nearly 40 years he spent working in the newsrooms at the New York Post and the New York Daily News. “[At the Post,] We had Murray Kempton [on staff,] who wrote like an 18th century restoration dramatist. We had Nora Ephron, who was a brilliant writer when she was a kid, walking into the city room. We had William F. Buckley in the paper,” he tells Fresh Air‘s Dave Davies. “These were not people who thought the audience was stupid. They thought the audience was smart and they wrote […]
LISTEN LIKE THIEVES: The Cars Move Like This
The new Cars album, Move Like This, comes out next Tuesday. You can listen to it HERE. The Cars play the Electric Factory on May 22nd. “The Cars’ long-awaited, brand new record Move Like This has all the precise swagger, art-rock minimalism and chrome-gleam pop of their classic hits.” – Rolling Stone “Those (understandably) wary of any band reuniting decades later can rest easy… updated to gel with the 21st century’s idea of what the ’80s sounded like.” – Entertainment Weekly
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
LEAKED: Graphic Photos Of Osama Raid Aftermath
REUTERS: Photographs acquired by Reuters and taken about an hour after the U.S. assault on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad in Pakistan show three dead men lying in pools of blood, but no weapons. The photos, taken by a Pakistani security official who entered the compound after the early morning raid on Monday, show two men dressed in traditional Pakistani garb and one in a t-shirt, with blood streaming from their ears, noses and mouths. The official, who wished to remain anonymous, sold the pictures to Reuters.[…] Based on the time-stamps on the pictures, the earliest one was dated […]
SIDEWALKING: Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia*
PIFA Street Fair, Broad St. Sunday by MEREDITH KLEIBER *Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia is the third album by Dayton, Ohio musical group Guided by Voices. MORE
Dalai Lama Tacitly Approves Of Bin Laden Killing
[Illustration by mark_hue] LOS ANGELES TIMES: As the leader of Tibetan Buddhism, the 14th Dalai Lama says he practices compassion to such an extent that he tries to avoid swatting mosquitoes “when my mood is good and there is no danger of malaria,” sometimes watching with interest as they swell with his blood. Yet, in an appearance Tuesday at USC, he appeared to suggest that the United States was justified in killing Osama bin Laden. As a human being, Bin Laden may have deserved compassion and even forgiveness, the Dalai Lama said in answer to a question about the assassination […]
PRODUCT PLACEMENT: Roky Erickson Bobblehead
Roky Erickson, founding father of psychadelic rock gods The 13th Floor Elevators, has been immortalized in the throbblehead kingdom. This figure capturing Roky’s look circa 1980, or “The Evil One” era, is limited to 1000 numbered units, stands at 7 inches tall, and is made of super strong polyresin. Displayed in a window box, Roky is accurately sculpted right down to the grizzly beard, wild hair and Vanson jacket. The figures cost $19.95, and orders will ship immediately. All Throbblehead figures are distributed by MVD Entertainment Group – a company specializing in music-related distribution since 1986 – and DKE Toys […]