Back in the day, the only bad thing I could think of to say about The Gaslight Anthem was that they might have too much of a Bruce Springsteen fascination going on.  This was okay, because A) I never listened to that much Springsteen anyway and B) because the songs were just so brilliant.  They were poetic in an old timey greaser sort of way (like The Killers tried, less successfully on Sam’s Town), which made for some seriously sad, beautiful songs; and all of this combined with a Strummer-inspired punk aesthetic, made me feel like I was listening to something like the band Jesus might put together if he decided to come down from heaven and show us a few tricks he picked up in the last 2000 years.  So, when singer Brian Fallon came to The First Unitarian earlier this year to play an acoustic set and tell us how the new Gaslight album was going to be their London Calling, that is, the album where they find the sound they’ve always secretly wanted to be, and get remembered for the rest of history as being as good as The Beatles, we were all pretty excited, needless to say.  However, this new album, American Slang, is just…well… average. I mean, as always, the band weaves their eau-de-Americana lyrics with a sparkling lead guitar and passionate singing from Brian Fallon.  This is a man whose voice is so good he covered “I Do Not Hook Up” by a certain Kelly Clarkson, and actually made it sound good.  And they are the real deal, lest we forget.  Unlike Mr. Strummer, these guys really did pull themselves out of the working class, making it out of working dead end jobs in some shithole in New Jersey to conquer the world.  But even so, the songs just aren’t quite as sad, and the choruses aren’t quite as triumphant as before, it’s like listening to a slightly faded carbon copy of the previous, genius album The ’59 Sound.  All the same bits are there, in similar placement and order, just not quite as good.  However, I don’t want you all to get the wrong idea here.  If this was their debut album, and we had nothing to compare it to, I would undoubtedly be sitting here with nothing to say besides the highest praise.  This is a good album, by a very good band, it’s just not as good as we have seen them be.  In fact, if you’ve never heard the band before, I would encourage you to get this album first so that you can love it for what it is, and then move on to having your skull shattered by ’59 Sound.  Either way, enjoy the band, see them live, enjoy the album, but if you want to hear this band at their best, this is not the first place you should look. — JAMIE DAVIS

PREVIOUSLY: Brian Fallon At First Unitarian

ME AND ORSON WELLES (2008, directed by Richard Linklater, 114 minutes, U.S./U.K.)

BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC

Feeling more like a “hit” than any film the towering director was ever part of, Me And Orson Welles is a breezy nostalgia piece that never feels slight, thanks to the genius of Welles that hangs over the film with a weighty spirit. Brought to life by little-known actor Christian McKay, the film captures Welles at an early career highpoint, bringing a controversial 1937 Shakespeare production to Broadway. This is Welles before headline-grabbing War of the Worlds broadcast and the convention-shattering Citizen Kane; he was young, bursting with talent and ready to shock the world. Director Richard Linklater captures the buoyant optimism of a country and a young man on the upswing with a giddy atmosphere that sets his film radically apart from the heavy doom and gloom that infests movie screens everywhere these days.

From his low-tech beginnings with Slacker, Linklater has quietly developed into a versatile observer of oddball characters. He’s finished ten features this decade and from Jack Black’s best vehicle School of Rock to the surprisingly moving sequel Before Sunset and his hallucinogenic philosophy lesson Waking Life, Linklater fills his films with chatty, unsatisfied eccentrics chasing a dream. Welles fits into this perfectly, here seen through the eyes of Richard (High School Musical star Zac Efron), a high school actor who bluffs his way into a small role in Welles’ legendary 1937 adaptation of Julius Caesar. A daring production that used modern dress to evoke the rising fascism of Mussolini’s Italy, we watch as the rehearsals survive flood, bankruptcy and the inevitable clash of egos before making Broadway history. Efron doesn’t make much of his role, like a young Dean Jones he gets by on that slick Disney geniality (even the short bit of singing he does sounds Boy Band-y) but the film is more about what Richard witnesses than who he is.

Much of the action is drawn from the typical cliches of backstage dramas (nerve-struck actors, dressing room Lotharios) yet Linklater  has assembled a cast, mostly drawn from the British stage, who breathe life into the lean, smart script (penned by Vincent and Holly Palmo and based on the young adult novel by Robert Kaplow). Claire Danes plays Sonja, Richard’s knowing older lover (it’s nice to see her shaking that colt-ishness and finally looking womanly) and Zoe Kazan oozes a pleasant sweetness as his budding writer friend but it is this British actors who really get across the snappy rhythmic patter we come to expect from people of the era.  For Welles’ buffs, there’s added fun that it is future Citizen Kane stars Joseph Cotten (a suave James Tupper) and George Coulouris (Ben Chaplin) swept up in the hi-jinks as the ramshackle production lurches towards it’s premiere, opening in the shadow of a much-stodgier Shakespearean production, Anthony and Cleopatra with Tallulah Bankhead (which famously received the review “Tallulah Bankhead barged down the Nile last night as Cleopatra—and sank.”).

Linklater has become surprisingly adept at zippy mainstream comedies and the film would succeed as a sweet lark if it weren’t for the giant standing at its center. Christian McKay does the near-impossible task of embodying Welles, capturing not just his voice and cadences but putting together the contradictory facets of the man, the pomposity and the humility, and assembling something that resembles a real person. Richard rides sidecar while Welles recites passages from Booth Tarkington’s Magnificent Ambersons, breezes through his radio performance of The Shadow and cajoles the actors with good advice, magic tricks and wonderfully eloquent bluster. And when it is time to get onstage to perform as Brutus, McKay makes you feel like you’re in the presence of greatness. McKay’s full-bodied portrayal alone makes Me and Orson Welles a must-see for film buffs, it’s almost like stealing Welles’ ghost for one last show. With McKay’s performance being such a marvel one last fact stayed with me: it takes the thirty-five year old McKay to command the authority that Welles once wielded as Brutus when he was the tender age of twenty-two. Same age as Zac Efron is now, which might be an unfair comparison but could any actor today under twenty-five play Charles Foster Kane convincingly, let alone direct the damn thing?

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

WIKIPEDIA: George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985), best known as Orson Welles was an American film director, writer, actor and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television, and radio. Welles was also an accomplished magician, starring in troop variety spectacles in the war years. Noted for his innovative dramatic productions as well as his distinctive voice and personality, Welles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the 20th century. His first two films with RKO: Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons, are widely considered two of the greatest films ever made. His other films, including Touch of Evil and Chimes at Midnight, are also considered masterpieces.^[1][2] He was also well-known for a radio adaptation of H. G. Wells‘ novel The War of the Worlds which, performed in the style of a news broadcast, caused widespread panic when listeners thought that an actual extraterrestrial invasion was in progress. In 2002 he was voted the greatest film director of all time in the British Film Institute‘s poll of Top Ten Directors. MORE

BY ADAM BONANNI Well the Xbox is finally out from under of the shadow of Halo with the the latest Call of Duty 4 — or Modern Warfare 2, or whatever the hell this franchise is supposed to be called — which may well qualify as with the most hyped new title launch ever. It’s coming in hot with first day sales of $310 million in the U.S.A. and U.K. vs Halo 3 $170 million, dethroning previous record holder Grand Theft Auto 4’s estimated $310 million across more territories, so saying “huge anticipation” only does this launch “huge injustice.” Kotaku offers an awesome little breakdown of developer Infinity Ward’s claims that Modern Warfare 2 was the most successful launch in the history of entertainment media, and damn is it impressive. Of course, it probably helps that the games come in a few flavors of price tag: $60 for the standard, $70, if you want to splurge for the “collectors edition” that will probably outnumber the standard or $150 if you want to go “prestige edition” if you want some questionably functioning night vision goggles and about 38DVD’s of behind the scenes material I’ve played the first Modern Warfare (actually Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, hence my earlier confusion of how to refer to the series after its decision to spin off its numerical installments), and it was an absolute stunner. It was fun and fast paced (if a little unbelievable at times) and generated a tense and dangerous atmosphere.

Call of Duty 1-3, as well as 5 all took place in a WWII setting, and playing through Modern Warfare just felt so new and contemporary, and actually scary in some parts, as if developer Infinity Ward saw that we might be heading for World War III and decided to incorporate their view of how real modern warfare could play out. Retooling the setting actually went farther to advance the series than building ongameplay mechanics, and I can think of almost no other games where this would apply. Other gamers clearly felt reinvigorated as well, and while the Call of Duty series has never been one to slouch on popularity, Modern Warfare held a commanding spot at the top of most playedmultiplayer game on Xbox Live, as well as performing extremely well in PC and Playstation 3 sales and multiplayer scenes. While any Call of Duty multiplayer always felt a little bland to me, the experience is much more tactical and teamwork oriented than most of what’s out there.

So what to do for the sequel? I haven’t played the game, but it seems like a revolutionary conception such as their original idea to bring the franchise into modern times eluded their grasp, so everything is bigger this time around. I’m talking Michael Bay meets “24” bigger, because the end of the world could always use more explosions. Really, every time I see a video of this game there’s a car chase or something followed by a series of explosions which are followed by more explosions, so yeah, it’s big. Unfortunately bigger doesn’t equate to longer, and its disappointing to hear that the story only clocks in at around four to five hours. New mode Spec-Ops also caught my eye as a series of short self-contained co-op missions with an emphasis on a tight, cinematic experience. This was an idea hinted at in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and I ‘m pleased to learn it’s been fleshed out.

Turn away now if you’re allergic to spoilers, but a certain scene that everyone’s probably seen by now a hundred times over on FOX News is worth a mention. I’m talking about the infamous airport scene where you control a federal agent disguised as a terrorist, and in order to keep your cover, you have to act as an accomplice while they mow down thousands of civilians waiting to board their flights. It’s the only mission I’ve seen of the game in its entirety, and it’s pretty gut wrenching to watch as a man drags an injured woman to cover only for them to both be murdered by your or your leader’s hand. The official explanation for this scene is “to evoke the horrors and tragedies of terrorism”, and it’s chillingly effective. So chillingly effective that there is a disclaimer that allows the player to skip the scene if they are offended, or choose to not fire a single shot if they want to brave it, although sadly neither option makes a difference in the context of the game. It’s a horrible thing to watch and I’ve had friends say it made them not want to finish the game, but just as we want to watch films like Passion of the Christ or Schindler’s List, it brings an emotion out in the player, and getting back to why the first Modern Warfare was so great, its a terrifying glimpse into what could happen at any given moment today. So video games having a more stellar launch than the biggest of the blockbusters? Pretty exciting time to be a gamer, and boy oh boy, we haven’t even seen what the holiday sales will be like.

BY ADAM BONANNI Easy to pick-up but tough to master, puzzle games straddle the line between casual and hardcore games, and have a kind of universal appeal — because, hey, who doesn’t love a good brain-teaser? I, GAMER’s target in the cross-hair this week is World of Goo, an independently-developed puzzle game by San Francisco-based studio 2D Boy. World of Goo has an extremely tight focus on what makes this type of game so alluring. It’s full of memorable set pieces, a perfect learning curve, and really well-designed puzzles that strike a balance between skill and logic in order to complete. The stars in World of Goo are the goo balls, those jiggly inhabitants of the titular world.

The backstory goes something like this: The goo balls woke up one day, noticed pipes had sprouted up all over the land, and the curious little buggers decided it was in their best interest to figure out where these pipes led. Turns out they end up at the faceless World of Goo corporation, which turns the goo balls into an exploitable product. There is a bit of a disconnect between the gameplay and story, which details the World of Goo Corporation’s rise to prominence over the years, and the questionable ethical decisions it has made in the interest of expanding the corporate product line. These highly-malleable goo balls can be stretched and/or connected together to construct bridges, towers, or basically any structure that can extend to one of the aforementioned pipes, where the excess balls are sucked away.

World of Goo is broken up into four levels: Spring, summer, fall, and winter; and each level contains roughly 15 stages.  The gameplay has you constructing bridges to get the goo balls into the pipes, so it’s easy to get the feeling you aren’t contributing much to the advancement of the game’s story through gameplay, but that quickly passes. Some levels break from the formula of reaching the pipe to solve a puzzle that furthers the story, but these usually appear at the end of a level, so their presence is rare. A certain number of balls must be sucked away for the player to progress to the next level, so the challenge is to create a structurally sound edifice that can reach a pipe. You could be forgiven for thinking that does not sound like much fun on paper, but you would be wrong.

IMPRESSIONS
2D Boy is a very appropriate name for the San Francisco studio. Not only are they reviving fun, simple two-dimensional gameplay akin to what flourished in the early- to mid-90’s, but the staff consists of only two very talented individuals; their studio being, in their words, whichever free wi-fi coffee shop they wander into on a given day.” It’s almost embarrassing that the level of polish and finesse in World of Goo rivals most larger studios’ offerings.  Truly, 2D Boy didn’t just make a bunch of puzzles; they made a strong title with a focus on puzzles. The physics system in particular deserves praise for its wholly natural integration into the game. Figuring out how to reach the pipe is only part of the point; the other part is building an extension that won’t collapse under its own weight. The goo balls aren’t entirely rigid, so as more are added to the structure, parts that haven’t been reinforced may buckle or fold. It’s important to think smart when deciding how to build. Speaking of the goo balls, there are alot of them; approximately 15 different types, all with different abilities. New goo balls are introduced up to the very last stages of the game, and this goes a long way towards keeping the gameplay interesting the entire way through.  Some levels will have you destroy structures instead of building, using the flammable goo balls to set off bombs while others have you using the slingshot goo to jump across stages toward your goal.

CONTROLS
Controls are super straightforward for this one — your computer keyboard and mouse. The mouse is used to click and drag goo balls where a white outline will appear showing you how the goo will situate itself on the structure once you release it.  Everything works well, and the responsiveness of the mouse control allows for some quick and precise building

GRAPHICS/SOUND
World of Goo has a distinctly charming graphical style. Everything onscreen — from backgrounds and foregrounds to the characters themselves — is richly detailed and animated with wonderful fluidity. Graphics-wise, it’s faultless. Some may be put off by the flat design of the world and its inhabitants, but most scenes look like they jumped out of a highly-imaginative child’s picture book. The style changes with each season, or level, the game passes through, establishing a unique visual theme for each of the four level’s corresponding climate changes. The soundtrack is also high quality. This isn’t some forgettable game soundtrack; there are recurring motifs and variants on themes that establish continuity. The soundtrack is extremely well thought out, and best of all, it can be grabbed for free right here. Beautiful, haunting, and kinda fun in some places, the tunes fit the game like hand-in-glove.

DIFFICULTY
I’m not much of a puzzle gamer, admittedly, due to the difficulty and complexity of the genre.  The most basic crossword puzzle or sudoku triggers rage and frustration. That being said, I had an absolute blast with World of Goo.  One of the reasons is your objective is clear, and most importantly, fun.  Sometimes its simply a matter of of trial and error gameplay. A helpful and ever-present sign painter with a great sense of humor gives you basic clues on how to complete a level from time to time, but for the most part you’re on your own (unless you take the easy way out and look at a strategy guide, but where’s the fun in that). No puzzle in this game is a real mind-melter, which allows the player to have a great sense of accomplishment when they complete each stage. The one catch in the difficulty of the game is OCD mode.  On top of meeting the basic criteria for completing a stage, OCD mode is an optional challenge that necessitates collecting more goo balls or completing a stage in a certain amount of time or moves. There is no room for error, and getting almost any of the bonus OCD flags is a true test of skill.  Coming back after beating the game and trying OCD mode is like playing an entirely new game due to the extra planning required to meet the game’s criteria.  It’s a great little addition, but thankfully, it’s optional

SEX/VIOLENCE
None.  Nada.  Zip.  This is as pure and wholesome as games get.  The ESRB has rated World of Goo “E” for Everyone for Comic Mischief.

GRADE: A+ 

World of Goo retails for $19.99 for the PC/Mac/Linux version, available for digital download on 2D Boy’s website and $14.99 for the Wii version sold through WiiWare.  The free PC/Mac/Linux demo is available here so give it a shot.

MYSPACE: Who Is Singer?

http://www.timeout.com/chicago/articles/music/26680/singer
http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/sharpdarts/080221/
http://www.spin.com/reviews/singer-unhistories-drag–city
http://www.junkmedia.org/index.php?i=2342
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4183
http://austinist.com/2008/03/25/new_release_tue_29.php
http://www.exclaim.ca/musicreviews/latestsub.aspx?csid1=120&csid2=870&fid1=30429
http://crawdaddy.wolfgangsvault.com/Article.aspx?id=6320
http://www.xlr8r.com/reviews/singer/unhistories

…is written on Dave Grohl’s face. [via THE SUN]

RUNNER UP: The Wall Street Journal

Set List:

Good Times, Bad Times
Ramble On
Black Dog
In My Time of Dying
For Your Life (first time ever played live)
Trampled Under Foot
Nobody’s Fault but Mine
No Quarter
Since I’ve Been Loving You
Dazed and Confused
Stairway to Heaven
The Song Remains the Same
Misty Mountain Hop
Kashmir

Encore
Whole Lotta Love
Rock and Roll