BY JON SOLOMON & MAGGIE SOLOMON-SCHELLER Rushing straight from the airport into McCormick Place with my 10 year-old daughter for our weekend in Chicago at Star Wars Celebration, it was hard not to channel True Hero of the Rebellion Wedge Antilles in the cockpit of his X-Wing, gazing upon the Death Star for the first time:?? “Look at the size of that thing.” Tens of thousands of Star Wars fans from all over the planet gathered at the nation’s largest convention center from April 11th through the 15th for the 20th annual edition of this enormous event, a potentially […]
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ALBUM OF THE YEAR: David Bowie’s Blackstar
BY STEVE VOLK In the spring of 2014, an old man walked into 55 Bar, a small West Village club where a particularly hot jazz band was holding forth, less bop than modern experimentation, an outfit that churned and surged in exotic, ecstatic bursts. The old man stayed awhile, at a table near the stage, letting the music wash over him along with everyone else, anonymous except that he wasn’t. Only after he left did the whispers start. “Was that David Bowie?” We now know the answer was yes—the old codger spaceman was out, on a Sunday night no […]
CRITICAL CONDITION: An In-Depth Q&A With New York Times Senior Film Critic A.O. Scott
Artwork via collageOrama BY JONATHAN VALANIA A.O. “Tony” Scott has been the New York Times resident film critic for going on 16 years. He has a razor-sharp intellect, unimpeachable taste, the chops to formulate persuasive, deep-end-of-the-pool aesthetic arguments and advance them in elegant and indelible prose — no matter what Samuel L. Jackson says. His new book, Better Living Through Criticism, mounts a robust defense of the necessity of professional arbiters in the age of Yelp and Metacritic. In advance of his reading/signing at the Free Library tonight, we got Mr. Scott on the horn in Seattle during a rare […]
INSTA-REVIEW: David Bowie’s Blackstar
BY STEVE VOLK In the spring of 2014, an old man walked into 55 Bar, a small West Village club where a particularly hot jazz band was holding forth, less bop than modern experimentation, an outfit that churned and surged in exotic, ecstatic bursts. The old man stayed awhile, at a table near the stage, letting the music wash over him along with everyone else, anonymous except that he wasn’t. Only after he left did the whispers start. “Was that David Bowie?” We now know the answer was yes—the old codger spaceman was out, on a Sunday night no […]
TIANANMEN SQUARE MASSACRE: 25 Years Ago, The Chinese Communist Party Was Just A Stone’s Throw Away From Falling To The People And That’s When The Tanks Rolled Into Tiananmen Square
Photo via the ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK TIMES: The interviews and documents show that even at the time, few in the military wanted to take direct responsibility for the decision to fire on civilians. Even as troops pressed into Beijing, they were given vague, confusing instructions about what to do, and some commanders sought reassurances that they would not be required to shoot. In an interview, a former party researcher with military ties confirmed the existence of a petition, signed by seven senior commanders, that called on the leadership to withdraw the troops. “The people’s military belongs to the people, […]
The Definitive Consumer’s Guide To Superbowl Ads
BY MIKE WOLVERTON SPORTS GUY That game was pretty good. I was rooting for Baltimore, so I’m happy. On to the commercials. They only count if they air during the game (kickoff-to-final gun, no halftime). I’ve thrown out the car ads, movie trailers and CBS promos and rated everything else that tried to be funny or cool. With a nod to the old axiom, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” I’ve changed the grading system from a 10-point scale to letter grades. The past three years have played out thusly:
ROMNEYCARE 2012: Sick People Deserve The Best Medical Care Their Money Can Buy, And No More
Click to enlarge BY WILLIAM C. HENRY This just in: Realizing that their Presidential candidate in fact championed government mandated health insurance during a previous incarnation, and recognizing that they have no worthwhile ideas of their own regarding national healthcare policy, the Republican party has decided to declare a moratorium on illness. In fact, so sure are they of the long term benefits and effectiveness of such a moratorium, they are now setting their sites on dismantling all vestiges of ObamaCare and anything else for that matter that smacks of non-preferential access to healthcare. Too cynical? Too sarcastic? I think […]
TONIGHT: All Jazz Hands On Deck
BY ZIVIT SHLANK Saxophonist, improviser and composer Steve Coleman is reticent to call himself a jazz musician because of preconceptions. It’s probably best to just call him a musical expressionist. Originally from Chicago, Coleman’s early explorations stemmed from his dad’s love of Charlie Parker. He gained foundational insight early on studying Windy City legends Bunky Green and Von Freeman at play. From there, it was onto New York in 1978 and that’s where the real work began. Coleman as an early, foundational member of the collective MBase, through countless collaborations and his most prolific vehicle, Five Elements, has been consistently […]
NY TIMES: How Saint Rick Got His Sanctimony On
[Illustration via VETERANS TODAY] NEW YORK TIMES: The Santorums’ beliefs are reflected in a succession of lifestyle decisions, including eschewing birth control, home schooling their younger children and sending the older boys to a private academy affiliated with Opus Dei, an influential Catholic movement that emphasizes spiritual holiness. As members of St. Catherine of Siena, a parish here in the wealthy Northern Virginia suburb of Great Falls, the Santorums are immersed in a community where large families are not uncommon and many mothers leave behind careers to dedicate themselves to child-rearing, as Mrs. Santorum has. Mr. Santorum has been on […]
SPECIAL REPORT: The Top 10 Drug Corners 2011
[Illustration by JAY BEVENOUR] EDITOR’S NOTE: The following report — the product of a partnership between Phawker and PW and funded by a grant from J-Lab and the William Penn Foundation — ranks the city’s 10 worst drug corners the way Philly Mag ranks pizza or bars or bikini wax salons. Sarcasm aside, the story is no joke, rather it is the product of six months of old fashioned shoe leather reporting, arrest statistics crunching, and and dozens of interviews with the police,academics, neighbors, drug dealers and drug buyers. The hope is that we can spark a new conversation about […]
WORTH REPEATING: The Desert Of The Real
SAM HARRIS: I should say, however, that there are psychedelic experiences that I have not had, which appear to deliver a different message. Rather than being states in which the boundaries of the self are dissolved, some people have experiences in which the self (in some form) appears to be transported elsewhere. This phenomenon is very common with the drug DMT, and it can lead its initiates to some very startling conclusions about the nature of reality. More than anyone else, Terence McKenna was influential in bringing the phenomenology of DMT into prominence. DMT is unique among psychedelics for a […]