Book by Judith Jones Knopf The opening scene in Judith Jones’ memoir, The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food, says it all: Her mother was well into her 90s, and she had one question for her daughter. All she needed was an honest answer. Jones braced herself for something heavy-duty. But her mother needed to […]
Music In Review
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Jeanne D’Arc
Game by Level-5 Play Station Portable I had the fortune of winning a PSP in a contest a few weeks ago, and in my hunt for an inaugural game for the system, I spotted Jeanne D’Arc on a shelf in a local toy store. Because the cover sports an awesome girl with a sword and […]
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On the Jimmy Reed Highway
CD by Omar Dykes/Jimmie Vaughan. Ruf Records. Less is more. The space between the notes is at least as important as the notes themselves. That concept has been well enunciated by bluesmen like James Harman, Freddy Below and Jimmie Vaughan. This new release from Kent "Omar" Dykes and Jimmie Vaughan is a great illustration of […]
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Shortcomings
Graphic novel by Adrian Tomine. Drawn & Quarterly. Comic book artist and illustrator Chris Ware says that whenever he hears the term "graphic novel," he thinks of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover. But from the underground comic movement in the 1960s, comic books elevated in form and content, employing novelistic or fictional arcs, creating personal, […]
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Shelter from the Ash
CD by Six Organs of Admittance. Drag City Records. At this point in Ben Chasny’s storied career, it is unfair to continue referring to John Fahey and Robbie Basho in an attempt to situate the Eureka native’s musical orientation. His accomplishments in Six Organs of Admittance, as well as Comets on Fire and various other […]
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Diabolic Inventions and Seduction for Solo Guitar
CD by Al Di Meola. Inakustic. Widely recognized for his technical mastery and Latin flare, guitarist Al Di Meola gained notoriety playing with Chick Corea’s jazz fusion project Return to Forever. Di Meola quickly established a successful solo career and spent the ’70s and ’80s integrating traditional Latin sounds with intricate song structures and his […]
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Smells like Dead Elephants: Dispatches from a Rotting Empire
Book by Matt Taibbi. Published by Black Cat Books. There are only two reasons to read the otherwise decrepit Rolling Stone magazine these days, and neither of them have anything to do with music. One is David Rees’ pissed-off clip art comic strip Get Your War On, and the other is the stiletto sharp journalism […]
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Rooster McClintock
Oct. 27, 2007 Live at the Ocean Grove Crunk music is the notorious southern brand of hip hop — dizzying repetitive beats crafted to make dancers ecstatic, often with the assistance of alcohol and drugs. A pre-Halloween evening with Humboldt honky tonk band Rooster McClintock at Trindad’s Ocean Grove offers an easy comparison: honky crunk. […]
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Why Kerouac Matters
Book by John Leland. Published by Viking. Few literary brands need to be reduced in size and fable more than that of Jack Kerouac. In honor of the 50th anniversary of Kerouac’s On the Road, the hip European clothing shop Hogan debuted its own line of Kerouac-inspired beatnik clothing, including boots starting at $475. Clearly […]
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Help!
Directed by Richard Lester New 2-disk DVD release Apple/EMI Even if there are movies greater than Help! — which recently arrived in a new DVD edition — it’s hard to think of movies more wonderful. The Beatles were great enough without their film work, but the double whammy of Hard Day’s Night and Help! was […]
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The Alchemist
CD by Witchcraft Rise Above Records/Candlelight Records. The reality that any band immersed in a “retro” rock sound faces is that an inability to transcend novelty can result in them becoming a footnote in music history. After two releases of Black Sabbath/Pentagram-worshipping doom, Sweden’s Witchcraft was close to a point of stagnancy that could have […]
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The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps
Published by Black Lizard Over the past 15 years, a steady stream of good, bad and indifferent anthologies has promised to deliver the thrills of pulp fiction. But for all the retro cover art, melodramatic blurb copy and Quentin Tarantino allusions, their contents have been shockingly deficient in what aficionados consider to be the real […]