Fringe… we got more Fringe…
Here are a few more Fringe reviews that didn’t fit in the print edition: My Pal Bette (Randy Productions) Pubescent putz Tommy Klein (writer John Ryan) is an OCD mess, thanks to his wailing yenta of a mom (Janine Klein). The Powers That Be in Diva Heaven take pity and send him some assertiveness training…
Five Dollar Dress
Five Dollar Dress Label: Wildflower Rated: NONE Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Five Dollar Dress New York singer-songwriter Heather Greene initially comes across as yet another pretty practitioner of sepia-toned candlelight pop, a convergence of Carole King and Diana Krall that screams, ‘Just like Norah Jones, but not really!â?� From the first notes of Five…
Si, Para Usted: The Funky Beats of Revolutionary Cuba
Si, Para Usted: The Funky Beats of Revolutionary Cuba Label: Waxing Deep Rated: NONE Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Si, Para Usted: The Funky Beats of Revolutionary Cuba Salvaged from Cuban funk vinyl, these beautifully remastered singles from original sessions offer a glimpse into Havana’s fuzzed-out fusion scene of the ’70s and ’80s, when Afro-Cuban…
Hip-Hop Lives
Hip-Hop Lives Label: Koch Rated: NONE Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Hip-Hop Lives The Teacha and Marl, enemies in the ’80s but both now over 40, sound energized by their first buzz-heavy project in decades. Ready to bury hatchets and inspire a new generation, they kick it off in style with the title song, ‘Hip…
Boogy Bytes, Vol. 3
Boogy Bytes, Vol. 3 Label: BPitch Control Rated: NONE Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Boogy Bytes, Vol. 3 Some time ago, Berlin birthed a production/DJ duo called Modeselektor, whose prime concern on Boogy Bytes Vol. 03 is to cram as many records as possible, at any cost, into a neat 65-minute package. The first official…
TO SING OR NOT TO SING
Welcome to the Voice Label: Deutsche Gramophon Rated: NONE Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Welcome to the Voice At age 28 Billy Joel sang, ‘Only the good die young,â?� an assertion that, three decades later, carries negative implications about the still-living singer’s quality. Even Joel’s harshest critics and most disillusioned former fans probably don’t fantasize…
TO SING OR NOT TO SING?
Hudson River Wind Meditations Label: Sounds True Rated: NONE Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Hudson River Wind Meditations At age 28 Billy Joel sang, ‘Only the good die young,â?� an assertion that, three decades later, carries negative implications about the still-living singer’s quality. Even Joel’s harshest critics and most disillusioned former fans probably don’t fantasize…
Bug
Bug Length: EP Studio: Lions Gate Rated: R Website: http://www.bugthemovie.com/ Release Date: 2007-05-25 Cast: Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon Director: William Friedkin WorkNameSort: Bug Our Rating: 2.50 William Friedkin hasn’t directed a movie worth remembering since The French Connection and The Exorcist back in the ’70s, which is probably why Bug ‘ an above-average but not…
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End Length: EP Studio: Buena Vista Pictures Rated: PG-13 Website: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/pirates/atworldsend Release Date: 2007-05-25 Cast: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom Director: Gore Verbinski WorkNameSort: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End Our Rating: 3.50 The diminished expectations raised by the first two of this summer’s big three ‘No. 3â?� films…
Vanishing Point
Vanishing Point Length: EP Studio: 20th Century Fox Rated: R Cast: Barry Newman, Cleavon Little Director: Richard C. Sarafian WorkNameSort: Vanishing Point The Enzian’s being pretty blatant about the reason they booked this fantabulous muscle-car movie for one night: The last quarter of Grindhouse was little more than a love note to this flick’s towering…
Waitress
Waitress Length: EP Studio: Fox Searchlight Rated: PG-13 Website: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/waitress Release Date: 2007-05-24 Cast: Keri Russell, Jeremy Sisto Director: Adrienne Shelly WorkNameSort: Waitress Our Rating: 2.50 A pregnant waitress and expert pie artist (Keri Russell) at a local dessert shop fantasizes about future pie concoctions while fleeing her repulsive husband (a terrific Jeremy Sisto), having…
The War Tapes
The War Tapes Studio: SenArt Films Rated: NONE WorkNameSort: War Tapes, The Information sharing, citizen journalism, social networking, 24-hour globalism ‘ none of those effects of the digital revolution are as impressive as a GI in the middle of a war, armed with a palm-sized digicam. The War Tapes distills 800 hours of footage captured…
Caffeine
Caffeine Rated: NOT RATED WorkNameSort: Caffeine As if working at a café weren’t boring enough, Caffeine goes out of its way to bring that same dreary experience home to you. A simply uninteresting romp, this low-budget film pits a handful of American actors using hokey British accents against a plotless laughless comedy. In dialogue unfit…
Suddenly
Suddenly Rated: NOT RATED WorkNameSort: Suddenly Critics have compared Diego Lerman’s Suddenly to the work of Jim Jarmusch, and like Stranger Than Paradise, it’s a road movie involving a distant relative. It’s also shot in grainy black-and-white and is so funny you forget to laugh. The humor here is dry as a desert, and the…
Don’t Fool With Love
Don’t Fool With Love Rated: NONE WorkNameSort: Don’t Fool With Love Gabriel GarcÃa Marquez’s literary works frequently have been referred to as ‘unfilmable,â?� due to the author’s easy drift between nostalgia, fantasy and languid drama. Márquez himself has mostly refused to allow his works to be filmed, fearing their essence and integrity will be irreparably…
Boxer
Boxer Label: Beggars Banquet Rated: NONE Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Boxer These working-class Cincinnati friends formed the National in the late ’90s, when they discovered they had all relocated to Brooklyn. Things were relatively affordable then, and the gap between the haves and have-nots was less pronounced. To date, they have recorded five albums.…
BYGONES BEGONE
For many touring bands, one bad show is just that, and redemption is a van drive and a soundcheck away. In the summer of 2004, one bad show spelled the end of My Hotel Year. The Orlando-based quartet was, as usual, far from home, delivering their roaring brand of emotionally charged, dynamic punk rock to…
BEER DRINKER’S GUIDE TO THE FRINGE
If rain means good luck, as Fringe board president Barry Miller insisted at last Thursday night’s opening ceremonies, then this Fringe is destined to be the most fortunate in the festival’s 16-year history. The ceremonial parade of artists was a washout, leaving producer Beth Marshall (and the white horse she rode in on) stranded in…
NO HURRY
John P. Ellis II was 8 when his father brought a young, bright-eyed girl to the family’s Orlando home and informed him she was his new adopted sister. The girl’s name was Evelyn Ellis, and she was wise beyond her years. Evelyn advanced quickly in school, moving up grade after grade. By age 12 she…
NEEDED: DIGITAL POPCORN
If you’re one of the 6 million or so people who subscribe to Netflix, you may have noticed something new on their site lately. Between January and March, Netflix gradually rolled out a new feature they call “instant viewing,” and it’s now available to all subscribers. It’s a way of streaming movies directly to your…
BREACH OF SECURITY
Add one more complaint to a growing list of problems at Orlando International Airport. Screeners there have repeatedly groused about low morale, favoritism and discrimination `”Up in the air,” March 27`. They’ve also gone on record with accusations of poor management and cronyism `”Why the OIA screeners hate their jobs,” Sept. 21, 2006`. So the…
BLISTER
Perhaps because it’s Thursday, or more likely because I always am, tonight I’m swimming around in a cauldron of narcotic metaphor that if properly stewed could result in a celebrity-style relapse. Yay! Even the sizzle-clank-scream of Michael Jackson’s “Dirty Diana,” as interpreted by my front right car speaker, has me digging for a deeper meaning…
SAVAGE LOVE
I’m an early-20s gay guy turned on by hypnosis. During my adolescent explorations of the Internet, I found a site with stories about “mind control,” usually involving the seduction of straight men. I was hooked. I’m not beating myself up for being a “bad person,” because my desire to try this in real life is…
ROB BREZSNY’S FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
;ARIES (March 21-April 19) Chameleons use their stupendously strong tongues to reach out and capture their prey, which can be up to one-sixth their size. The equivalent for you would be if you could snag a big chicken with the muscular organ in your mouth. I’m not predicting you’ll develop that skill in the coming…
THIS LITTLE UNDERGROUND
Welp, another edition of the Florida Music Festival is in the books. Another three-night bender filled with bands … wait, that’s like every one of my weekends. But this one had a few more bands than normal. So let’s review this bad boy before we put it on the shelf. The pros Like Jason Ferguson…
SHAKE (OR STIR) THIS MONEYMAKER
Fancy yourself a martini connoisseur? Well, here’s your chance to put your money where your pretty mouth is. Through June 30, the Capital Grille steakhouse is pouring $1,000 martinis with 100 percent of the profits being donated to Share Our Strength, a charity aiming to quash childhood hunger in America. Ten Benjis will get you…
HAPPYTOWN
It’s getting cheaper to support the Buddy Dyer for mayor campaign, and paradoxically, a hell of a lot more fun. Two weeks ago a spot at one of big Buddy’s fetes would have set you back $250. On May 16, you could get in on the action for $25 at Urban Think. Of course we…
COUNCIL WATCH
This time it was personal as the concerned masses scurried toward the glass doors of City Hall. The usual sense of ruled-by-Roberts was, for a moment, replaced by a chin-up, camera-ready beam reserved for real-estate closings and ribbon-cuttings. There was magic in the air, to be sure.; ; And there was Magic in the elevator,…
POLICE BEAT
MAY 7, 7:14 A.M.: We start the week off with a favorite of O-Town miscreants: booze. An unidentified perp or perps on the prowl hit the Orange County Parks and Recreation Warehouse and Sports Facility in the 1600 block of North Orange Blossom Trail. There, a lone train boxcar parked on the railroad tracks behind…
MAIL SACK
Kubersky’s heart of stone; ;I am the producer and director of The Yellow Boat at this year’s Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival. I am writing to you to express my displeasure with the artistic license that Seth Kubersky took with the description of the show [“Fringe Festival survival guide,” May 17].; ;I understand that theater…
TO SING OR NOT TO SING?
At age 28 Billy Joel sang, “Only the good die young,” an assertion that, three decades later, carries negative implications about the still-living singer’s quality. Even Joel’s harshest critics and most disillusioned former fans probably don’t fantasize about his making that proclamation prophetic, but they might wish he’d disappeared into J.D. Salinger—style hermitage before morphing…
PARTY TILL YOU PUKE, PUNK
“I know I’m going to lose money, but this will be the biggest party this town has ever seen.” ; ;So says Rich Evans via e-mail about his Memorial Day bacchanal: The Floridas Dying organizer has strung together five shows in four locations over three days involving 23 punk bands. With many of the bands…
