Darko Rundek & Cargo Orkestar
In the video clip for “Ista Slika” that accompanies the CD Ruke, a sad, bearded man appears — in a Paris subway, an Eastern European village, a medieval market town — only to encounter the same characters, occurrences, and inevitable blood-stained stigmata. All the while, we hear “Ista Slika” (“The Same Image,” we’re told) in…
Junior Boys
The Junior Boys must have some serious mixed feelings about the 21st century. On the one hand, DSL modems and cheap bandwidth are the primary tools in the Boys’ success story: When little indie KIN heard the duo’s demo recordings online, the label begged to release whatever Canadian Jeremy Greenspan and his partner (first Johnny…
Little Wings
In the two decades since K Records’ inception, initially as a platform to promote founder Calvin Johnson’s group Beat Happening, the label has amassed a catalog that serves as a scrapbook of Johnson’s personal whims. Beat Happening’s affected naiveté and primitive sound cemented K as a premier “twee” label; by the mid-1990s, scores of fey…
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
In opening shots literally spun out of digital magic, a zeppelin floats into New York City during a snowstorm and berths alongside the Empire State Building. It’s a wordless and beautiful bit of retro-futurism with a slightly ominous air that one hopes signals a fantastic and moody thriller. Fresh out of…
Bright Young Things
Stephen Fry introduces us to the young London bohemians of Bright Young Things, his adaptation of the Evelyn Waugh novel Vile Bodies, at a swirling soirée lit in scandalous red and scored with exotic drumbeat and horns. They’re living it up, as usual, only this time, a proto-paparazzo has snuck into their midst.…
When Joshua Lost His Words
Joshua has lost his cookie picture. That’s a problem. He loves his special wheat-free, milk-free cookies, and since he doesn’t speak these days, his usual means of asking for them is by holding out a small, laminated photo. It’s gone, and he’s not happy. As he approaches his fifth birthday, Joshua has never said cookie.…
Stander
Chances are you’ve never heard of South African Andre Stander, but his story is a cracker. In the late 1970s, Stander robbed 46 banks in the Johannesburg area — 26 of them while a police captain. His crime spree was so brazen — he once robbed the same bank twice in one day…
The Flyer Next Time
Why do airlines always seat first-class passengers first? Is it really that great to sit on an airplane for 20 minutes longer than everyone else? Wouldn’t the ultimate luxury be getting on last? Maybe it’s not to benefit the first-class passengers, but to punish everyone else. We shuffle past and admire the elite in…
Various
One by one, they approach the microphone to testify: the anti-war parents of U.S. soldiers addressing Congress earlier this year, when a mere 519 Americans had died in the invasion and occupation of Iraq. They express feeling betrayed by the Bush administration. “Stop this madness,” says one parent. “Bring the troops home now!”…
Is it true that the well-known “Mr. Yuk” sticker was created right here in Pittsburgh?
If you’ve ever wondered why people seem so hesitant about visiting Pittsburgh, consider this: One of the city’s most prominent ambassadors to the world has been the puke-green squinting face of Mr. Yuk. Another is Mister Rogers, which — let’s face it — sends a somewhat mixed message about how we feel about kids. …
Crunch Time
Hang onto your hats, baby, ’cause it’s nut-crunchin’ time, and we’re at ground zero. Mixed metaphors aside, you, dear reader, actually matter in the next election. The New York Times quotes an unnamed political operative as saying not only might this election come down to Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania — it’s so tight it…
Collected Poems
Thanks to the influence of Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton and Robert Lowell, modern poets often approach the writing desk as if it were a confession vestibule. For Donald Justice, it was more like a garage where he went to tinker. The Miami-born Pulitzer Prize-winner was the gearhead of contemporary poetry. He’d take an…
Post-er Positions
Matt Toups, a Carnegie Mellon University undergraduate, was set to drive on Aug. 25 from Pittsburgh to New York City a few days before the protests leading up to the Republican National Convention. For more than two years he’s been involved with Pittsburgh’s Indymedia site (www.indypgh.org), open to anyone wanting to publish news and commentary,…
A conversation with Mark Anthony Neal
Culture critic Mark Anthony Neal, who speaks at Carnegie Mellon University on Sept. 23, dares to do for hip hop what some say has killed jazz: make space for it in academia. Neal argues that hip hop, like jazz, is so much bigger than its musical and aesthetic elements denying it scholarly examination…
Bush League
“Bushspeak.” Misunderestimate George W. Bush at your peril, writes Philip Gourevitch. The man’s no Einstein, but he’s a genius on the campaign trail, largely because of his deceptively simple way of talkin’. But while giving Bush his due, Gourevitch’s analysis in The New Yorker (Sept. 13) throws in loads of don’ts. Such as how Bush’s…
Bidding Bush Farewell
Pittsburgh architect Jason Vrabel was unhappy with what he labels the “radical Bush regime” and its “circus of freaks.” He wrote a nice little manifesto and sent it off to 60 of his closest friends: “Many of us are good at signing petitions! We can also write a rippin’ good letter and fire…
Press release of the week
Less than two weeks after a highly successful launch, www.ChiliCheese.org unveiled a service today that allows site visitors to find Taco Bell locations that serve the highly popular Chili Cheese Burrito. A Taco Bell delicacy for years, the Chili Cheese Burrito has recently fallen out of favor by many Taco Bell franchisees. With the support…
A Conversation with Jon Towers
Jon Towers was in the Army when he created comics character Jonny Axx, a hell-raiser loosely based on himself. After graduating from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Towers then became Johnny Axx, at least part time, as a professional wrestler. Now Jonny Axx is back in ink, as the anti-hero of The Heart of…
