Illustration by KEN TAYLOR FRESH AIR In the 2008 pilot of AMC’s Breaking Bad, high school teacher Walter White fails to interest his chemistry students in the study of change. But over the course of the series, Walt himself came to exemplify radical change, using his knowledge of chemistry to become a master meth cook, and transforming himself into a notorious outlaw who was willing to kill, when necessary, to keep his operation running. Acting is also about change and transformation, and Bryan Cranston is a master. While Breaking Bad fans were watching him portray Walter White in the final […]
Win Tix To See Bradley Manning Ryan Hamilton
No that’s not Bradley Manning. Bradley Manning can’t come out to play — he shared his father’s dirty pictures with the other kids and now he’s grounded for 30 years. Nor is that Kenneth Parcell, beloved bumpkin/NBC page of 30 Rock fame. His name is Ryan Hamilton and he is a master of the dying art of being funny without ‘working blue,’ as we used to say back in the Vaudeville days. See above for absolute proof that even a hot air balloon ride can be funny as shit, even without f-bombs or dick jokes. Which in part explains why, […]
WORTH REPEATING: I See A Darkness
NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS: It is an astute point, all the more so for seeming obvious: the unique policies put into effect by Bush and Cheney were not consequences of the September 11 attacks but calculated responses to them. There was nothing fated about Stellar Wind, or “black sites” and the “enhanced interrogation techniques” that were practiced in them, or Guantánamo and military commissions; these and the other distinctive post–September 11 policies that still cast their shadows over us were born of choices made by government officials and, in the event, by a vanishingly small number of them. […]
EARLY WORD: The Sounds Of Silence
All proceeds will help fund these youth music programs. Tickets and info HERE.
INCOMING: New Brian Jonestown Massacre Album
Brian Jonestown Massacre will release their 14th album, Revelation, on May 20, 2014 through A Records. Encompassing all the weirdness that has been discovered in the past 40 years, Revelation advances the traditional Brian Jonestown Massacre sound of mixing eastern influences with western rock. Two-dozen band members later and numerous “ups and downs” (some have been famously sensationalized in the media), the one thing that has always remained consistent for this psychedelic collective, is front man Mr. Anton Alfred Newcombe. Recorded from late 2012-2014, Revelation is the first album that was fully recorded and produced at Anton’s recording studio […]
Jon Stewart Discusses City Gardens With Butthole Surfer Gibby Haynes & Amy Yates Wuelfing
Tuesday night Jon Stewart had Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers and Amy Yates Wuelfing, co-author of NO SLAMDANCING, NO SPIKES, NO SPIKES: AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE LEGENDARY CITY GARDENS, to reminisce about the bad ‘ol days. EXCERPT: The Day The Butthole Surfers Came To Town PREVIOUSLY: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Butthole Surfers But You Weren’t Sure It Was Even Legal To Ask
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Imagine an America that has been plagued for years by a mysterious epidemic of insomnia — an affliction so serious that many are dying from lack of sleep. That’s the futuristic premise of Karen Russell’s new novella, Sleep Donation. Russell’s 2011 novel , was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and her short story collection won the praise of critics, including Fresh Air‘s Maureen Corrigan, who Russell’s work “otherworldly yet emotionally devastating” and “daffy and daring.” Sleep Donation was published Tuesday as an e-book. Russell tells Fresh Air‘s Dave Davies how she came up with the idea for an […]
SIDEWALKING: Vampire State Building
The Drake, 15th & Spruce, by ERIC ASHLEIGH
THE BLACK KEYS: Fever
Kinda underwhelmed, to be honest. PREVIOUSLY: Given the expansive economies of the ‘90s, it was no wonder that stripped-down, gutbucket guitar-and-drum duos like Flat Duo Jets and Doo Rag couldn’t get arrested, their minimalist roots-rock exiled to the sub basements of the indie concert circuit and the privileged ghetto of college radio. But in this age of austerity, when everyone is doing more with less, it is stripped-down, gutbucket guitar-and-drum duos like The White Stripes and, more recently, The Black Keys, that have made some of the most seminal and commercially-viable music. Where Auerbach is reserved, Carney tends to speak […]
OMG: World Trade Center Base Jumpers
NEW YORK POST: The breath-taking video of three BASE jumpers who leaped off the Freedom Tower last fall was released Monday night as the trio were set to be arraigned in court. Daredevils James Brady, Andrew Rossig and Marko Markovich — who turned themselves in on Monday afternoon — released the video of their stunt from Sept. 30 on YouTube. The leap off the 1,776-foot-tall building’s spire is seen in first person from a helmet cam. The jumper is seen plummeting for several seconds, pulling his ripcord and floating down to land safely in a West Side Highway intersection several […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR According to political scientist Kimberly Marten, Russia’s decision to annex Crimea from Ukraine may have changed its relationship with the outside world for many years to come. Marten, “The leader of a state that wields a massive strategic nuclear arsenal, controls a significant portion of the world’s petroleum and other raw materials, and holds a veto in the U.N. Security Council, has just revealed his willingness to use force on behalf of ethnic nationalism. This was the nightmare that Western policymakers hoped to avoid when the Soviet Union collapsed.” Marten is a professor of political science at […]
WORTH REPEATING: David Lynch Tells British Hipsters How He Left His Santa Claus Heart In Philadelphia And Then We Threw Snowballs At It
Illustration by moonaniteone DAVID LYNCH: Every film has its story. It has to be a certain place, with a certain light, with certain things said by certain people. Then you make a world in cinema that didn’t exist before. The world of Eraserhead was inspired by Philadelphia, a bit of an industrial city. I fell in love with Philadelphia for its architecture and mood. But now all the cities are looking more and more the same. The real treasures are going away; the mood they create is going away. Graffiti is one of the worst things that ever happened to […]
THANK SNOWDEN: Obama To Call For An End To The NSA’s Bulk Collection Of Phone Call Metadata
NEW YORK TIMES: The Obama administration is preparing to unveil a legislative proposal for a far-reaching overhaul of the National Security Agency’s once-secret bulk phone records program in a way that — if approved by Congress — would end the aspect that has most alarmed privacy advocates since its existence was leaked last year, according to senior administration officials. Under the proposal, they said, the N.S.A. would end its systematic collection of data about Americans’ calling habits. The bulk records would stay in the hands of phone companies, which would not be required to retain the data for any […]