Chicago

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Powering up with the Smith Westerns

Bye-bye lo-fi
Sometimes when we settle into the tattered sofa of lo-fi pop music, it's easy to imagine that the artists intended for it to be made this way.
By JONATHAN DONALDSON | January 25, 2012

Occupy the future

As it evolves, the movement is building on a network laid down in the encampments
After barreling straight ahead for more than three months, Occupy is at its first fundamental turning point.
By CHRIS FARAONE | December 28, 2011

Labseven are re-Formulated

Empires of the Mind
With the little hip-hop renaissance we're having locally, it's only fitting that Labseven, who've been at it longer than most in the city that encourages everyone to rise again, should get back in the action.
By SAM PFEIFLE | November 09, 2011

Is Boardwalk Empire about to enter its golden age?

Easy livin'
Dispel any remaining doubts. The new season (which begins this Sunday at 9 pm on HBO) unfolds with a new leisurely, cinematic grandeur.
By JON GARELICK | September 21, 2011

Trinity Rep’s rip-roaring His Girl Friday

The write stuff
There are theatrical adaptations and then there are magnificent transformations, like His Girl Friday . Multiple-Obie Award-winning playwright John Guare has expanded the furious screwball comedy into a historical/social commentary without our losing out on the knee-slapping.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | September 21, 2011

Review: The Interrupters

Chicago's grisliest streets
Suburban conservatives notwithstanding, there will be tears shed over this deep look at Chicago's grisliest streets and the benevolent soldiers who fight to keep them safe.
By CHRIS FARAONE | September 13, 2011

Review: Colombiana

Balancing absurdity with conviction
Women have saved action movies. Who'd go see one if not for Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft or Salt , or Milla Jovovich in anything, or even Helen Mirren in Red ?
By PETER KEOUGH | August 30, 2011

An aspiring chef searches for her lost sense of smell

Scentless Apprentice
Six years ago, while jogging in Brookline, aspiring chef Molly Birnbaum was struck by an oncoming Ford. The impact broke her pelvis and shattered her skull. But worst of all, it mangled her olfactory nerves, destroying Birnbaum's sense of smell and her ability to taste all but the most overpowering of flavors.
By BY EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | July 20, 2011

Review: Going Crazy for Gershwin

A revised, revamped classical musical hits big
Every summer, the Arundel Barn Playhouse continues the classic tradition of Maine summer stock theater, by bringing their leading performers from out of town — often New York City — to put on a series of shows and live in beautiful rural Arundel for the season.
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | July 06, 2011

Letting our imaginations run wild

Patent pending
There was a priceless article in last week's Portland Press Herald about the "Platter Ensemble," a new "invention" — a slotted plate that fits over a deep-dish platter in order to catch the juices that sometimes squirt out of a freshly cracked lobster.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | May 18, 2011

Bliss of Rapture

Farewell, Christians — don't let the gates of paradise hit you on the ass on your way out
Okay, I'm not happy , exactly, that, as a Jew, I am excluded from Saturday's date with Heaven's eternal rewards, and will instead be left to suffer through great tribulations before perishing, with the rest of the Army of the Antichrist, as a dismembered corpse beneath a waste-deep river of blood.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | May 19, 2011

Review: Verbal Kent | Save Yourself

Rapmechanics (2011)
Whether you adore Kanye West or want to scalp him with a rusty spoon, there's no denying that, for those of us out on the coasts, he overshadows the rest of Chi-Town's rap scene.
By CHRIS FARAONE | January 27, 2011

The Smith Westerns | Dye It Blonde

Fat Possum (2011)
If the Smith Westerns' homonymous 2009 debut perfectly captured the awkward, waning days before high-school graduation, then their sophomore effort is the Chicago indie quartet's college existential-crisis record, more sprawling and a tad wiser while still hitting its target of raw, British Invasion–style psychedelia
By RYAN REED | January 11, 2011

The 1900s | Return of the Century

Parasol (2010)
Parasol (2010)
By BARRY THOMPSON | November 09, 2010

Dinaw Mengestu's subtle take on immigrant blues

White lies
Seriousness sets Dinaw Mengestu's work apart from most novels about the immigrant experience.
By EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | October 19, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

'Sorry' was the wrong word

Diverse-city
I’ve waited a long damn time for this state to become less white. Now, I can see at least a few people of color every day without breaking a sweat, when nearly nine years ago I could go days upon days without seeing a single non-white face.
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | September 16, 2010

Isn't it swell?

MSMT's Chicago is a wry spectacle
The musical satire Chicago first hit the boards in 1975, the same year as A Chorus Line , and you could say that the two shows highlight two sides of the era's ethos: The latter follows dancers through feel-good, encounter-group-style personal affirmations; the former charts a dancer-murderess in her flashy, cynical rise to celebrity queen.
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | August 04, 2010

Unsafe Passage: The dangers of getting to and from the job

Equal Writes
One evening in February, Sara left her State Street office building shortly after six o'clock to walk to her car. As she put the key in the lock of the car door, a man grabbed her from behind and hissed in her ear, "Get in the car."
By SUSAN STOBAUGH | July 13, 2010

Stuff and nonsense

Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle returns
Despite millions in production design, Peter Strietman's splendid photography, and some witty if trance-inducing music by Jonathan Bepler, the six and a half hours of Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle is sheer movie tedium, inert and unmoving, broken up by imagery that's more irritating than fascinating in its self-indulgent preciosity.
By PETER KEOUGH | June 26, 2010

Same Old Faces

It's an outsider's year for candidates, but the consultants are old Beacon Hill mainstays. Plus, who spent what at the conventions, and Baker goes on TV first.
If you're wondering who the geniuses are behind the political campaigns in Massachusetts this year — the strategists, media firms, ad teams, and fundraisers — well, it's a lot of the same folks who have been behind Massachusetts campaigns for a long time. Candidates may win or lose, but consultants are forever.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | June 24, 2010

Riot squads

While Boston chilled, LA burned. What makes fans in some cities go wild — win or lose?
On the morning that the Celtics and the Lakers readied for Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals, framing one of the most storied and intense rivalries in pro sports, the police departments of Boston and Los Angeles geared up for the worst.
By CHRIS FARAONE | June 28, 2010

Mr. Patrick Goes to Franklin Park

'Deval in the 'Hood' Dept.
As Deval Patrick engaged constituents at the third annual 10,000 Strong Boston barbecue in Franklin Park on Father's Day, it was clear that his support from black voters doesn't derive solely from the luster of his climb from Chicago's hardscrabble streets to the top spot on the Beacon Hill food chain.
By CHRIS FARAONE | June 24, 2010

From away, here to stay: Out-of-towners settle down in Maine

Diverse City
I'm becoming a hick. Or so I'm being told more and more lately.
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | June 24, 2010

Light Pollution | Apparitions

Carpark (2010)
Light Pollution unabashedly endorse marijuana use: “How many glass pipes can you find in this picture?” the band ask under a press photo posted on their MySpace.
By CARRIE BATTAN | June 24, 2010

Cinema paradisos

As Hollywood's summer fare goes cold, local film festivals heat up
Here's the dilemma: you love movies, but you also love the idea of taking a vacation to one of the many inviting resorts that New England has to offer — the beaches of Cape Cod or the Islands, picturesque towns in Maine or Rhode Island, or even the cultural and historical enclaves of Boston itself.
By PETER KEOUGH | June 16, 2010

Bust busted

Keith McCants mccan't stay out of trouble; plus, another Clockwork Orange homage
Bring up the topic of biggest NFL draft busts of all time and most people come up with the same short list of notorious names, all of them quarterbacks.
By MATT TAIBBI | June 10, 2010