The Lyric Opera gives an uneven performance with The Damnation of Faust.
Before I attended the Lyric Opera’s production of Hector Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust, my closest association with opera was Elmer Fudd’s rendition of Wagner’s The Ride of the Valkyries (“Kill de wabbit, kill de wabbit ...”).
Josiah Wolf opts for sentimental lyrics and diverse musical combinations in solo venture.
Josiah Wolf, drummer of the indie and alternative hip hop band WHY? released his first solo album, Jet Lag, on March 2.
The Art Institute showcases the South.
William Eggleston’s photographs are simple. They offer a snapshot of the nouns (people, places and things) of the South.
I visited Dixon, Ill., last Friday. It is a sleepy little town, about two hours west of Chicago. People can reach Dixon via the I-88, but I just used Google Maps.
Bridges over troubled Oscars.
Shortly after his performance in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, we lost one of the better actors of our generation, Joaquin Phoenix, to the destructive allure of a music career. Oddly enough, he went into hip hop, of all things. Yet with an album still yet to materialize, I am inclined to believe that Phoenix’s career change was actually a dramatic retirement coup wrapped in a joke. Jeff Bridges, on the other hand, already has an album, 2000’s Be Here Soon, now available on iTunes. He also did one hell of a job on the Crazy Heart soundtrack, which he sang on and helped to write, along with his friend T-Bone Burnett (also one of the film’s producers) and the late Stephen Bruton (music producer, composer and one of the inspirations for the protagonist, Bad Blake). So take that, crazy Joaquin.
Steppenwolf’s A Separate Peace captures the mood of WWII.
Steppenwolf Theatre’s production of A Separate Peace is full of WASPy adolescents, preppy outfits, friendship and betrayal.
Joanna Newsom returns with a massive and masterful triple album.
Though Joanna Newsom’s fans have been waiting for Have One On Me for a few years, they may not have been expecting an album quite like this. Newsom’s latest release, her first since 2006, is a sprawling, ambitious triple album that delves deep into new styles of songwriting and instrumentation.
Have One On Me is enormous. The album is roughly two hours long and contains 18 tracks, most of which fall in the six to nine minute range.
The Quin-pire Strikes Back
The Oscars are arbitrary, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love them. It’s like March Madness for film geeks, but unlike college basketball you can’t rely on any empirical data like stats. It’s all randomness; it’s all an issue of inter-Hollywood politics and posturing. So who has postured best and posed themselves to win big? Certainly, and here I’m not saying anything radical, it’s those two very different films by those two equally overrated former spouses, James Cameron’s Avatar and Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker.
Shout Out Louds get down to business with their newest album.
Shout Out Louds’ latest album Work doesn’t feel overworked at all. Their basic, stripped down sound gives the impression of a bunch of friends just getting together and jamming. Without resorting to gimmicks or high concepts, Shout Out Louds have made an album that is easy to listen to and ultimately enjoyable.
Work represents a new stage in the evolution of their sound. Forming in Stockholm, Sweden in the early aughties, Shout Out Louds first toured with Bud Fox Recordings. The band released their debut album Howl Howl Gaff Gaff in October 2003. The release was only heard in Sweden, but after further recording, the group released a revamped American version of the same album in May 2005.
Rogue Wave’s Permalight capsizes listeners with a tsunami of sound.
When the weather is lousy or you’re generally in a bad disposition, a method of escapism becomes a necessity.
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