The Psychic Soviet
The Psychic Soviet Publishing House: Drag City Rated: NONE WorkNameSort: Psychic Soviet, The If you own any Nation of Ulysses or Make-Up albums ‘ both bands previously fronted by D.C.-area hipster/Weird War singer Ian Svenonius ‘ then you know there’s nothing the man loves more than cooking up a propagandizing manifesto to slip into the…
TURN ON, ‘TOON OUT
Linklater’s paint-boxed paranoia doesn’t come to much
LOST BOY
The Pee-wee Herman Show Studio: Image Entertainment WorkNameSort: Pee-wee Herman Show, The ‘Dear Pee-wee, Remember me? Lou from prison. Your letters have really helped me pass the time. In fact, some of the guys joke with me that you are my girlfriend.â?� This transgressive missive is read aloud in The Pee-wee Herman Show, a 1981…
SOUL STANDARD UPSIZED
Johnson’s new digs signal the unstoppable change in Parramore
Surrounded
Surrounded Label: Rhino Length: LP Rated: NONE Media: CD Format: BoxSet WorkNameSort: Surrounded In years past, it was albums like Dark Side of the Moon that were used to pimp out new sonic technologies. Whether it was quadraphonic vinyl or 24-karat gold’plated CDs, certain albums ‘ almost all of which could easily be classified as…
In the Maybe World
In the Maybe World Label: Young God Length: LP Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: In the Maybe World Lisa Germano’s albums are the aural equivalent of the subterranean rock club. As a woman who’s shared the recording studio and stage with John Mellencamp, David Bowie and Wendy and Lisa, she’s headed underground strictly on purpose.…
Cold as the Clay
Cold as the Clay Label: Epitaph Length: LP Rated: NONE Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Cold as the Clay Experimentation outside melodic hardcore’s boundaries hasn’t been Greg Graffin’s strong suit, but that hasn’t kept him from poking at the envelope of his reputation. Bad Religion’s second album, 1983’s Into the Unknown, introduced steamrolling synthesizers, and…
City Heat: Stories and Poems
City Heat: Stories and Poems Publishing House: Park-Art Publishing WorkNameSort: City Heat: Stories and Poems Self-published collections of ‘stories and poemsâ?� are the bane of many a book critic. With so many ready-to-exploit ‘publishersâ?� out there with no standards beyond ‘Did the check clear?â?�, the number of unbelievably awful books crossing the transom has increased…
The End of California
The End of California Publishing House: Knopf Rated: NONE WorkNameSort: End of California, The In his first book, a story collection called Family Men, Steve Yarbrough drew a portrait of Indianola, Miss., as the kind of town where men worry that their wives are having affairs with country music singers and where football scholarships mean…
PANHANDLE WITH CARE
You can learn a lot from morning TV, even during the commercials. I’m thinking specifically of a promo I saw last Friday for an upcoming news exposé on WFTV Channel 9. Here’s the gist: You know those panhandlers we all encounter downtown from time to time, pleading shamelessly for our hard-earned money? Well, brace yourself…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
ARIES Yawning often occurs during the time we’re moving from a passive state to an active one, like when we’re waking up in the morning or when we’ve decided to get up off the couch and head out for a jog. Professor Robert Provine, an expert on the subject, says that concert pianists and Olympic…
SAVAGE LOVE
I am a woman in my 20s and will soon be marrying my boyfriend of four years. While most things are great between us, we have one issue: group sex. He wants it, I don’t. After we met, my fiance brought up the idea of group sex, and when I agreed to see what it…
BLISTER
;I oughta be in pictures. I’m wonderful to see.; ;But, seeing as on this particular drizzly Thursday evening my hair has lost both its height and its resemblance to hair at all, it’s probably better that I’m not.; ;Anyway, Alan and I have bellied our way up to some sort of VIP celebration for the…
NOTABLE NOISE
Now I know how it feels to be in a band. Well, sort of. I at least know how it feels to be assured by your friends and colleagues that they will most certainly be in attendance at a very important gig and see only a fraction of them actually show up. I also know…
I LOVE TELEVISION
Note to “world”: I no longer require your services. Why? Because I have a “computer” that fulfills my every need. In fact, this “computer” fulfills needs I never knew I had — like “porn needs.” Frankly, world, you suck at fulfilling my “porn needs.” And what about my “watching funny videos of people attempting unsuccessful…
HAPPYTOWN
We’ve been wondering when Mayor Buddy Dyer would finally get around to stumping for his billion-dollar trifecta of public works projects For most of this year, pitches for a new arena, a new performing arts center and a renovated Citrus Bowl seemed imminent. But now we know: In August, according to a city release, hizzoner…
POLICE BEAT
June 30, 5:47 p.m.: Sometimes it just isn’t prudent to come home from work. A 51-year-old victim entered her garage after a long day and heard glass breaking from within her house. She immediately left and called police; officer Bracero was dispatched to the 4000 block of Benedictine Circle to investigate. It appears the suspect(s)…
LETTERS
Super, man Thanks for the positive review of the movie Superman Returns `Film, June 29`. You are absolutely correct in stating that many of the critics were going to pan the movie and pick out its bad qualities. Superman, with Christopher Reeves, was a masterpiece and great fun to watch, near perfection in casting, humor…
SELECTIONS
;Thursday•13 ;;Goapele For a genre which yearns so transparently for the purer side of music, where artists are judged not by the units they move but by the content of their funkiness, neo-soul has proved to be this decade’s second-most explosively debated genre (sorry, but “emo” takes first prize). The moment a black, conscious, slightly…
FELA’S CHILDREN
; ;In a current TV ad campaign promoting downloadable music for your cell phone, regular folks cut impromptu rugs to the latest pop hits. In one spot, a doughy middle manager frantically emulates the fluid hips of Colombian pop sensation Shakira, broken out of his workaday spell by the hitching rhythms of her hit duet…
REQUIEM FOR A STRIP CLUB
Michael Pinter Jr. emerges, beaming, from a white stretch limousine, August 1994 Penthouse Pet Alex Taylor at his side. Pinter works his way down the line of guests massed outside Club Juana, the Casselberry strip club that has been his family’s business for 43 years. The crowd winds around the building; this is the final…
DEGREE PROGRAM
;Let’s face it: Summer days ;in Orlando suck. For nearly one-third of the year, we locals spend the daylight hours scurrying from one air-conditioned hurricane shelter to another, dodging brush fires and tourists as we go. But, oh, those summer nights. Starry skies, balmy breezes — and, best of all, extended hours at the theme…
