THE BEST THOUGHTS IN LIFE ARE FREE
So who are the Freethinkers, and why are they causing so much trouble nearly 150 years after their arrival in Texas? According to the accepted history, most of the Freethinkers were German intellectuals who emigrated to Texas after their country’s botched Revolution of 1848. They were drawn to the Hill Country by the promise of…
KILLER COURSE
But several years later, Fitzpatrick, now a telephone repairman in Omaha, Nebraska, found a way to unlock his inner killer. He enrolled in “Basic Counter Sniper,” a five-day course on deadly force offered by the Storm Mountain Training Center. Getting into this Andover for assassins in Elk Garden, West Virginia — just a few hours…
THE FOUR FRESHMEN AND THE SA CONNECTION
As might be expected from the name, the original members of the group met in college, at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana in the summer of 1948. Soon thereafter, bandleader Stan Kenton heard the Freshmen and was so blown away that he helped the Freshmen to a deal with Capitol Records in 1950. Their third…
MÁS MORALES
They have gathered some impressive musicians together for this CD release gig. Of course David Spencer is present. Something would be wrong if he weren’t. Got to have this monster climbing all over anything he can find with strings on it. He starts to work his magic, and Vincente Rodriguez and Roland Sanmiquel set the…
AN ENIGMA UNRAVELLED, UNCONVINCINGLY
So if one were to make a movie about Kahlo starring Salma Hayek, whose physique is anything — everything — but damaged, it would seem wise to hide the actress’ body a bit, or to cloak it in prosthetic pain. The new Frida goes the other direction, having Hayek writhe in seductive dances shortly after…
UNFAMILIAR STREETS
There is no doubt that Original Pirate Material has created a lot of excitement among critics, but also — and more importantly — among listeners. It has gone gold in Europe, and underground club kids jumped the October U.S. release date by downloading it over the Net. Why? Because it sounds fresh, and it is…
NEW REVIEWS
8 Mile “Motor mouth escapes from Motor City” Dir. Curtis Hanson; writ. Scott Silver; feat. Eminem, Kim Basinger, Brittany Murphy, Mekhi Phifer, Eugene Byrd, Omar Benson Miller (R) Despite the hype about changing colors, all M&M’s taste the same. The flavor of the month in contemporary pop is a rapper — Marshall Mathers III —…
ALL EARS
The label boasts an impressive number of firsts, having sponsored many of bebop’s giants for their debut sessions as leaders. The most significant chunk of these is presented on Charlie Parker’s Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes. Parker was the final piece in the bebop puzzle: His alto sax solos — containing so many notes…
Armchair Cinephile
But in practice, the mock-doc is much more accessible than that. There’s an engaging sense of wonder in the voice of Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings director, co-director of this film) and his friends as they talk of the discoveries they’ve made about their subject. It’s as if Orson Welles had made his films…
IN LOVING MEMORY
Before whiteys like Vanilla Ice were saying, “Word to your mutha,” or Eminem was apologizing to his mommy and cleaning out his closet, there was Run-DMC: spittin’ rhymes at sucker MCs. It was a full-functioning rap group, complete with two MCs and one DJ — the way live hip-hop is supposed to be. The pioneering…
JAZZ NOTES
For the past few years, Marsalis has been releasing his long-form, more orchestrally minded works on the Sony Classical label, which seems like a safer course. In a world where serious living classical composers exist on the margins of academia and arts subsidy, and sales vigor is supplied by the Titanic soundtrack and Charlotte Church,…
WASH OUT
Amid a torrential downburst that spawned substantial flooding in early July 2002, the ubiquitous cameras caught yet another pickup. This time, the truck was high and dry, but stranded nonetheless on the far side of a stream whose rampaging force had ripped away a bridge. Its destruction left a neighborhood isolated, and in a plea…
