TUNE-YARDS TACKLES THE ODDITIES OF EXISTENCE
By Emily Votaw Merrill Garbus has made a lot of odd records that somehow manage to mesh the ever-important aspects of catchiness and playful weirdness into something that is incredibly gratifying and...
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JOAN OSBORNE’S SIMPLE AND DIRECT KIRBY CENTER OUTING
By Michael Lello Photos by Jesse Faatz WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- Just a day after the release of her ninth album, “Love and Hate,” musical chameleon Joan Osborne continued the FM Kirby Center’s “Live f...
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THE HOLD STEADY’S ‘MASSIVE NIGHT’ IN ITHACA
By Michael Lello ITHACA, N.Y. – At first glance, it seemed like a glorified dive bar where your elbows stick to the tables and the décor includes a Jagermeister banner and dartboard might not befit...
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THE HOLD STEADY DELIVERS ANOTHER KNOCKOUT PUNCH
By Michael Lello There was never any question about the quality of The Hold Steady’s swaggering brand of beer commercial guitar riffs and barstool sermons. But it never seemed like an aesthetic that...
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WES ANDERSON’S “HOTEL” A LOVE LETTER TO LOST TIMES
By Greg Popil Has there ever been a writer/director whose films bridge a wider gulf between what should not work and what does work than Wes Anderson? In the years since his 1998 breakthrough master...
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KELLER WILLIAMS ENLIVENS SOLD-OUT JIM THORPE CROWD
By Michael Lester Photos by Jesse Faatz Keller Williams literally does it all musically on stage. Plays guitar, bass, drums and keyboards. Unlike most performers, he also takes requests during h...
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“SLAVE” RIPS OPEN AMERICA’S FESTERING WOUNDS
By Greg Popil Referring to the nearly 400-year era in which America allowed an entire race of human beings to be subjugated to enslavement as an “injustice” can seem pathetically quaint. Indeed, all ...
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“POMPEII” PROVIDES MINOR B-MOVIE PLEASURES
By Greg Popil In 79 A.D., the small Italian villa of Pompeii was completely and utterly obliterated by the eruption of Vesuvius, a massive volcano that buried the town beneath 20 feet of ash and lava....
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“INSIDE” THE COEN BROTHERS’ LATEST TOUR DE FORCE
By Greg Popil The movie starts, after a brief title card explaining that we are in Greenwich Village in 1961 on a stark shot of an old-fashioned microphone in a black background. The anticipation of ...
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