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Fourth-estate follies, 2009 edition

The Phoenix's second annual year in media malfeasance
Between the rise of the Web, the ADD-addling of America, the fragmentation of any national political consensus, and the devastated economy, working in the press can feel a bit like manning the Titanic — and this year, the entire industry seemed to teeter on the edge of oblivion.
By ADAM REILLY | December 28, 2009

Greg Epstein, Atheist Superstar

Can Harvard's humanist chaplain save nonbelief from itself?
Once an intellectual taboo, atheism has become one of the great growth industries of the third millennium.
By ADAM REILLY | November 24, 2009

Soul training

Suddenly, Mayer Hawthorne is running retro-pop
Mayer Hawthorne rose to instant retro-pop acclaim the same way that everyone from Al Green to Michael Jackson moved on up — work and luck.
By CHRIS FARAONE | September 22, 2009

Gods of rock

Let the Black Light, White Lines wash over you
SPACE Gallery will be awfully loud Thursday, with the CD release of Sun Gods in Exile's Black Light, White Lines, supported by Ogre and the debut of Murcielago. Last Friday's L'Animaux Tryst showcase and this show are sonic polar opposites on the SPACE spectrum, but good for them for giving some boot-stomping guitar-rock a chance.
By SAM PFEIFLE | June 24, 2009

Good dirt

Davy Rothbart of Found magazine reads from Requiem on Saturday night at Precinct in Union Square
"Part of the mystery, when you find a love letter that was torn into bits: was it torn up by the person who received it, or did the person that wrote it tear it up before they even gave it to them?"
By MIKE MILIARD | May 06, 2009

Bad girls

Mary Gaitskill carries on
People tend to make much of what they think of as Mary Gaitskill's fictional realm, a place of sexual transgression, of violence, violation, rape, and sado-masochism, and her female characters, the violated, the used, the users.
By DANA KLETTER | April 28, 2009

First cut

Buyouts shrink the Globe newsroom — but not enough
To state the obvious, this isn't a great time to be out of a job.
By ADAM REILLY | March 25, 2009

RIP: Ron Asheton (1948-2009)

Death trip
Ron Asheton's off-and-on relationship with James "Iggy Pop" Osterberg Jr. was both a blessing and a curse.
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | January 19, 2009

Feel the music

We may be the last generation to give tangible tunes for Christmas
I personally find it comforting that the current number-one single in the country has a chorus that goes "I'll gas up the jet for you tonight, and baby we can go wherever you like."
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | December 11, 2008

The son also sets

Sports Blotter
Most crime stories involving ex-athletes pushing 50 have the same plot: an end-of-the-line washout case, six weeks behind on his final car payment, and literally fleeing on foot from an army of outraged creditors and/or junk dealers punches out his wife/best friend/total stranger in an Ann Arbor pool hall in a dispute over an autographed merchandise sale gone bad.
By MATT TAIBBI | October 27, 2008

Offa my couch, Larroquette

Foos fight McCain, Madonna pans Palin, Heart hearts Barack
In a video posted to his Web site, former Rolling Stone Ringo Starr has lovingly warned his fans to stop sending him fan mail.
By DAVID THORPE | October 24, 2008

Fair game

Boston Phoenix Letters: May 9, 2008
There is a big difference between games that are consciously edgy or controversial, such as Postal or Super Columbine Massacre, and games that are intended as nothing but exploitive pornography, such as Custer’s Revenge.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | May 07, 2008

Mission completed

The break-up of Mission of Burma
This article originally appeared in the January 18, 1983 issue of the Boston Phoenix.
By DOUG SIMMONS | January 17, 2008

20 to Life: The Life and Times of John Sinclair

MVD
John Sinclair was the poster boy for the radicalization of American youth in the ’60s.
By JEFF TAMARKIN | October 01, 2011

Choose your own adventure

Pencils, books, and peg legs? A new writing center is coming to town, and it’s calling your inner child.
This fall, Boston is slated to become the seventh chapter of the youth writing organization founded by Dave Eggers in 2002.
By NINA MACLAUGHLIN | March 15, 2007

House call

Matt Dear comes spinning to town
Matthew Dear is the golden child of US techno.
By DAVID DAY | March 14, 2007

Prometheus’s fire

Iggy and the Stooges bring it again
One year younger than Dolly Parton, Iggy is an indestructible trouper whose communion with his audience is vulgar, essential, perennial.
By JAMES PARKER | March 06, 2007

Wired for sound

Paul Dailey nationwide; Jimmy Van M at ID
In the hideyholes and squares all around our expansive city, pockets of electronic-music action can be found churning and yearning. Paul Dailey, "Live in Portland" (mp3)
By DAVID DAY | December 06, 2006

Boys club for men

Jack White’s Raconteurs roadtrip
This is one side project that's for real.
By MATT ASHARE | September 28, 2006

Top-cop shopping

Has Menino already decided on the next police commissioner? And if so, why won’t he name him or her till November?
It’s been three months since former commissioner Kathleen O’Toole announced she was leaving the Boston Police Department, and only one bit of information has been confirmed: Mayor Thomas Menino isn’t making the mistake of rushing to name her replacement.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | August 15, 2006

Twice in a Lifetime

The godfathers of Long Island post-hardcore set the record straight
Since their breakup in 1997, Lifetime have been credited with creating the sound that made Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, and Saves The Day famous. Just don’t call them the Pixies of emo.
By JULIA KAGANSKIY | July 05, 2006

Menino: Get help!

Why you must get Boston a top cop from the outside world
Tom: take a deep breath. Count to ten. Think serene thoughts.
By DAVID BERNSTEIN | May 17, 2006

Steering off course

Some classes sound like so much fun they might as well be extracurricular
We recommend the course taught by the indie filmmaker, the course inspired by a Daily Show regular, and the course considered “experimental.”
By ELLEE DEAN | May 08, 2006