THE FANATIC (Dir. by Fred Durst, 88 minutes, USA, 2019) BY DAN TABOR FILM CRITIC No one is more familiar with the fickle and bizarre nature of fame and fandom than Limp Bizkit’s backwards-baseball-cap-wearing bro-dawg front man Fred Durst who had the world turn on him almost as fast as it embraced him. Since his precipitous descent from rap-rock stardom Durst has since ingrained himself in Hollywood, trying his hand at acting and even hosting a weekly jazz night at a Magic Club that was inspired by La La Land. So, when I heard he was directing a film […]
PLAGUE VENDOR: New Comedown
PLAGUE VENDOR + NO PARENTS + WARPARK @ JOHNNY BRENDA’S OCTOBER 9TH
REVIEW: Hamilton @ The Forrest Theatre
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip hop musical about the life of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton has tapped into the politico/sociocultural zeitgeist, generating the kind of rabid fandom usually reserved for things like Marvel and Star Wars, and commanding thousands on the grey market for a seat at one of its sold out shows. The touring production opened Wednesday at Philadelphia’s Forrest Theatre where it will play through November 11, bringing Hamilton’s story to the city where the titular protagonist spent 15 years of his life while a member of the Congress of the Confederation and the Constitutional Convention. In fact the location […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR: You might not recognize the name of our guest Stephen Root, but chances are awfully good you’ve seen his work. He’s a character actor who’s appeared in nearly 800 TV episodes and a hundred movies and sometimes brief appearances, like one as a bank manager on “Seinfeld” or his short but memorable scenes as the sad sack office worker Milton in the film “Office Space.” He’s had several recurring roles in TV series over the years, including “The West Wing,” “NewsRadio” and “Justified.” After decades in acting, Root has earned his first Emmy nomination for his supporting […]
CINEMA: He Who Laughs Last Laughs Best
Deep down we all knew it would take a fellow Method Actor madman to tattoo over the indelible scar Heath Ledger’s Joker left on the culture. WARNER BROS: Director Todd Phillips’ “Joker” centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone fictional story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck, who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham’s fractured society. A clown-for-hire by day, he aspires to be a stand-up comic at night…but finds the joke always seems to be on him. Caught […]
Q&A With Americana/Alt-Country Zelig Neal Casal
Artwork by MARK LOUGHNEY EDITOR’S NOTE: Upon hearing the sad news that Neal Casal has passed away at the too-soon age of 50, we are re-posting our 2012 interview with him. DISCUSSED: Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, Owen Wilson, Sweeten The Distance, Chris Robinson, Beachwood Sparks, Fade Away Diamond Time, talking music and art and life with Keith Richards around a table for six hours, and getting stoned with Willie Nelson. BY TONY ABRAHAM Neal Casal is a renaissance man. Even if you’ve never heard of him, you’ve heard him – believe me. Since the release of his solo debut […]
INCOMING: El Camino, Bitch
The Netflix Television Event EL CAMINO: A BREAKING BAD MOVIE reunites fans with Jesse Pinkman (Emmy-winner Aaron Paul). In the wake of his dramatic escape from captivity, Jesse must come to terms with his past in order to forge some kind of future. This gripping thriller is written and directed by Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad. The movie is produced by Mark Johnson, Melissa Bernstein, Charles Newirth, Diane Mercer and Aaron Paul, in association with Sony Pictures Television. RELATED: “Bitch!” Montage
BEING THERE: Tame Impala @ The Mann
Photo by ALEX PATERSON-JONES Twenty-three stops into tour for their long-awaited and still-unreleased fourth album, Tame Impala played a way, way sold out Mann Center Friday night. A darkened stage and 14,000 screaming fans marked the entrance of TI mainman Kevin Parker and co. as the intro to “List Of People (To Try And Forget About)” unfurled. Tame Impala’s uber-psychedelic sound was matched with an equally trippy light show while smoke machines pumped out fog all night long. The stage had a frame of lights that would act as a race track of color to surround the band, which they […]
EIGHT MILES HIGH IN THE LAND DOWN UNDER
In the last year Tame Impala auteur Kevin Parker has gone from trippy bedroom Lonerist to beloved global psych savant. MAGNET journeys to the Land of Oz to press an ear up to his inner speaker. BY JONATHAN VALANIA Kevin Parker, the one-man-band psych-rock wunderkind who records under the name Tame Impala, lives across the street from a professional magician (and sword swallower) in a quaint cul-de-sac of houses ringed with lemon trees in Freemantle, a charming seaside town of 25,000 in Western Australia. He shares a granny flat with Melody Prochet, his beautiful and cool French girlfriend, who is […]
TIX: No, You Are Not Too Cool For The Wallflowers
Photo by ELLIOTT LANDY The curse of being a scion of greatness is that you will never outrun the titanic shadow of your father’s legacy. Case in point Jakob Dylan of The Wallflowers. Back in the ‘90s, I remember thinking I was too cool for The Wallflowers. But either I was never too cool for The Wallflowers or I have, in my dotage, become just uncool enough to love them, or more specifically, their one big hit “One Headlight.” It is a perfect engine of Big Radio’s endorphin-triggers: the deathless thock of the snare, the galloping rhythm guitar dancing the […]
BEING THERE: Beck + Spoon + Cage The Elephant @ BB&T
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER It’s not easy for a band to maintain its integrity in an industry that reserves gratification for mainstream success. Remarkably, over two decades, indie rockers Spoon [pictured, below right] have managed to avoid committing the penultimate sin of ‘selling out.’ Opening the show at BB&T last night, Spoon’s set swerved from 90’s grunge throwbacks to the delicate synth-pop tunes that populate their most recent albums. While their quintessential single “The Underdog” is crunchy and defiant, “Inside Out” off 2014’s They Want My Soul is plush and drifting. For as much as they have evolved sonically, the […]
G’DAY: Eight Miles High In The Land Down Under
EDITOR’S NOTE: In advance of Tame Impala’s sold out show at the Mann on Friday, I’m re-posting this 2013 dispatch from Australia where I spent a week interviewing TI mainman Kevin Parker for a MAGNET cover story. I will post that story in full tomorrow. BY JONATHAN VALANIA As I mentioned previously, I have been in Australia for the past week profiling Tame Impala for the cover of the September issue of MAGNET MAGAZINE. I promised to blog some local color on a daily basis, but a hectic schedule, unreliable WiFi and soul-sapping jet lag put the kibosh on those […]