PREVIOUSLY: Phawker’s 2014 Album Of The Year: Supernova by Ray LaMontagne
CINEMA: From Russia With Love
RED SPARROW (Dir. by Francis Lawrence, 139 minutes, USA, 2018) BY EVAN HUNDELT Director Francis Lawrence’s seventh feature film Red Sparrow, starring his actorial muse Jennifer Lawrence, may, to the exacting cinephile, suffer from unbidden comparisons to his work with her on the culturally ubiquitous The Hunger Games quadrilogy. Whether or not Francis Lawrence consciously designed Dominika Egorova (the conscripted Russian special operative known as a “Sparrow,” stunningly portrayed by J.L.) with this nagging prospect in mind, what is certain, as emphasized bewilderingly in the film’s opening scenes (in which a cane-turned-warhammer figures prominently), is that Jennifer Lawrence has undoubtedly […]
WORTH REPEATING: The Man W/ The Golden Ear
From left to right, Bob Neurwith, Tom Wilson, Bob Dylan by D.A. Pennybreaker’s “Don’t Look Back” TEXAS MONTHLY: Without this producer, Bob Dylan would not have broken through like he did—effectively bringing on the swinging sixties and changing music forever. Without this producer, Simon and Garfunkel might have quit before they ever got started, the Velvet Underground might have stayed underground, Frank Zappa might have spent his career recording on hapless independent labels, and jazz greats Sun Ra and Cecil Taylor would definitely have labored longer in obscurity than they already did. This producer helped them all find their voices […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When U Can’t
FRESH AIR: Antidepressants and medications for bipolar disorder can be life-changing and even lifesaving, but journalist Lauren Slater warns that the long-term side effects of these drugs are “cloaked in mystery.”“As a nation, we’re consuming them; we’re gobbling them down,” she says. “And we don’t really know what we’re taking into our bodies.” Slater, who suffers from depression and bipolar disorder, has firsthand experience with psychotropic drugs; she’s been taking medication for 35 years. Her new book, Blue Dreams, dedicates separate chapters to drugs such as Thorazine, lithium and psilocybin. Slater says she wanted to “unveil” the drugs by explaining […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR: New York Times reporter Scott Shane discusses special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of 13 Russians who allegedly participated in a complex social media operation to undermine the 2016 election. MORE
JANELLE MONAE: Make Me Feel
SLATE: The trailer for Janelle Monáe’s new album, Dirty Computer, didn’t prepare us for this. Monae dropped two new singles on Thursday, and, to paraphrase one of them, they make us feel so effing good. First up is “Make Me Feel,” in which Monáe proves why she’s the natural successor to fill the void left behind by Prince’s death in 2016. Not only does the accompanying music video show off Monae’s androgynous style and unbelievably smooth moves, it also quickly turns into a bisexual anthem as Monáe bounces back and forth between male and female love interests, the latter of […]
DEJA VU: Jonathan Wilson’s Spirit In The Sky
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article appears in the February 2013 issue of MAGNET MAGAZINE. We are re-posting it today in advance of Jonathan Wilson’s performance at Boot & Saddle on March 9th in support of his new solo album, Rare Birds. BY JONATHAN VALANIA It is another peaceful, easy-feeling evening in Laurel Canyon. The day has finally surrendered to the onset of night, which signals the beginning of shooting the waltz scenes in the video for “Dear Friend,” the lead-off single from acclaimed producer/singer-songwriter Jonathan Wilson’s new album, Fanfare. The location of the shoot is patch of driveway at the end […]
FROM THE VAULT: It’s John DeBella’s Morning, Philadelphia Just Wakes Up In It Every Day
EDITOR’S NOTE: Wrote this 14 years ago (14? Good Lord!), reprinting this today in the wake of today’s news that DeBella is being sued for sexual harrassment by his long-time on-air sidekick. The title of the profile was JOHN DEBELLA IS NOT AN ASSHOLE. ANYMORE — in retrospect, that assessment was premature. BY JONATHAN VALANIA John DeBella has been a hippie and a punk. A winner and a loser. A hero and a villain. And now he just wants to be a nice guy. As if to prove it, he is going to start welling up in T-minus-three seconds. “I […]
BEING THERE: Bardo Pond @ Johnny Brenda’s
Photo by MARK LIKOSKY For a Boston indie kid from the ’90s like myself, Friday’s Bardo Pond/Major Stars show at Johnny Brenda’s was like a stroll down the proverbial memory lane. I used to walk into Twisted Village record store to check out the most obscure music I could find. Sometime around 1996 upon hearing that the owners of this eclectic record store in Harvard Sq were in a band called the Major Stars, I just had to go check them out. In the 20 years that have passed since seeing that show I can’t recall a more powerful live […]
CINEMA: Cat Scratch Fever
BLACK PANTHER (Directed by Ryan Coogler, 134 minutes, USA, 2018) BY DAN TABOR FILM CRITIC Black Panther catches up Chadwick Boseman’s Prince T’Challa — hands down the best part of Captain America: Civil War (2016) — upon his return to the fictional African nation of Wakanda in the wake of his father’s death. A quick prologue fills in the nation’s backstory: centuries ago a giant vibranium meteor crashed into Wakanda, helping the nation to flourish and advance at an amazing rate. Fearing this technological renaissance will invite marauding armies, the five governing tribes to seal off their small nation from […]
BEING THERE: Porches @ Union Transfer
Photo by ALAINA CLUNE Emotionally hungover from a Valentine’s Day spent trying to walk he fine line between embarrassingly enthusiastic and an even more embarrassing aversion for the holiday, me and my friends walk what feels like too many blocks from the subway to Union Transfer. We chug cheap beer without the ease and enthusiasm with which we normally do. The rafters and the general admission area of Union Transfer are blessedly uncrowded. There’s a calm, coolness that marks both the sound of the music and this rainy Thursday night. Girl Ray, a refreshingly laid back North London girl group, […]
GEEK SQUAD: Black And Proud
BY RICHARD SUPLEE GEEK SPACE CORRESPONDENT Black Panther (2018) is the best superhero movie I have ever seen. Not just the best this year, not just the best since Captain America: Winter Soldier (2013) or Tim Bruton’s Batman (1989) not just the best with a person of color superhero. Just The Best. Period. The film was already hyped due to Disney’s Deaths Star size PR department but it is actually quality. Director Ryan Coogler (Creed, Fruitvale Station) brings the Marvel country of Wakanda to life. And he slams it right into the rest of the world. Wakanda is the most […]