God bless the Internet. Thanks to digital immortality, all the things we call “content” never fully disappear. It’s possible now to discover new programs that are in fact quite old — or on indeterminate hiatus. Our current favorite podcast extant is “Overview, with Rick Overton,” an hour-long conversation between the legendary improviser-comic-actor-writer Rick Overton and one...
The brilliant comic and impressionist James Adomian, known by many as “George W. Bush” in the Harold & Kumar Guantanomo movie, has a new character in his astonishing repertoire: Senator Bernie Sanders, candidate for President. As with all of Adomian’s creations (Alan Rickman as the Sherriff of Nottingham, Orson Welles, Tom Leykis), the vocal resemblance...
The new recording from KAZE, a Japanese-French quartet — drums, piano, two trumpets — reminds us that all music is noise. Some noise, it seems, sounds better than others. On Uminari (a low frequency hum rising from the sea), the usual hallmarks of through-composed music (meter, melody, harmony) aren’t exactly absent, they’re just not terribly important....
Marina Abramovic is one of the most powerful artists of our time. Her medium is performance, the human body as a maker and object of art. In the arresting and illuminating documentary “Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present,” about her landmark 2012 exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art — entitled “The Artist is...
Reedman, composer, Bang-on-a-Can-All-Star and Gutbucket alum Ken Thomson leads his Slow/Fast Quintet — Russ Johnson, trumpet; Nir Felder, guitar; Adam Armstrong, bass; Fred Kennedy, drums — through a universe of musical possibilities on the group’s September, 2014 release “Settle.” Everyone here is a virtuoso, which helps with music as technically demanding and intricate as Thomson’s, but that’s...
The Los Angeles-based Filipino-American singer-songwriter Kira Hooks has a beautiful life ahead of her. Based on her debut recording, “Elephant Heart,” twelve well-produced original songs that defy strict genre categorization — think “jazz and soul-inflected pop” — almost anything’s possible for this extravagantly talented musician. Hooks is a good writer, and a good instrumentalist. But...
Discouraged by some sniffy reviews from folks we trust, we missed Wes Anderson’s film “The Grand Budapest Hotel” during its theatrical release. A long international flight rescued us from our apathy. Now, we’re certain we’ll be watching TGBH again. It’s a masterpiece. Set in the early 20th Century in a fictionalized region of Europe, the...
It seems impossible today. But from 1973-1977, before corporate control of America became nearly absolute, the Portland Mavericks, a Class A minor league baseball franchise, played independently, without any Major League Baseball affiliation. Competing against future Yankees and Dodgers (and the giant organizations that bankroll them), the Mavs improbably ruled the competitive Pacific League, fielding...
When you’re thousands of miles away from the civilization to which you’re accustomed, a 3-star lodge in the middle of the jungle can feel like 13-stars — especially when your bungalow is tucked into the forest, where howling Indri-Indri lemurs issue “wake up calls” at dawn. The Andasibe Hotel, about four hours by car from Antananarivo,...
The world music collective Grand Fatilla consists of Club d’Elf bassist Mike Rivard, electric mandolinist Matt Glover, accordionist Roberto Cassan, and percussionist-singer Fabio Pirozzolo. We mention this because the astonishing breadth of the group’s repertoire sounds like there are about 14 virtuoso musicians at work. Grand Fatilla specializes in nothing — except consistent excellence. On their debut recording,...
An Open Letter to Councilmember Hugo Soto-MartinezDear Councilmember Soto-Martinez,
The man you replaced, Mitch O’Farrell, was perceived by many as a cynical politician who placed the desires of wealthy real-estate developers over the concerns of the people he was supposed to represent. Sensitive to any perception of impropriety, you’ve made it a point to not accept…
The “letter” in question was written as a heartfelt Christmas greeting nearly 600 years ago by the early-Renaissance painter Fra Angelico. Inspired by this ancient missive, the French drummer Raphael Pannier has composed a suite of thoroughly modern music exploring the themes of universal brotherhood and divinity. He’s joined on the recording by, among others,...
