Leonardo DiCaprio wants you to know that we are in serious trouble. No amount of artful chin stubble, it seems, will reverse the depletion of fossil fuels or help to slow population growth. Not even three Oscar nominations will save you; without an actual statuette, there’s nothing to wedge under…
1. Balls of Fury is a movie about: A) A former table-tennis prodigy (Dan Fogler as Randy Daytona) enlisted by the FBI to infiltrate the underground Ping-Pong tournament of a legendary Chinese criminal (Christopher Walken). B) Suppository jokes. C) Little worth discussing and even less worth seeing. D) All of…
As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one truly great cheeseburger in the area, and that’s the double served at Bud’s Bar in Sedalia. Bud’s has done everything possible to make me dislike the place — from overcharging me to refusing takeout orders to being too full for me to…
As I walked toward Sengers on the Fax, a homeless person who’d strategically placed himself near the entrance asked if I could “help out.” After living in New York for years and finally figuring out that “help out” means “give me money for drugs and booze,” I came up with…
We almost take the scooter from my place to Highland. But then Sean has last-minute reservations about riding without a helmet, and regardless of how engaged-to-a-beautiful-girl he is and how comfortable and happy I am with my hetero relationship, there’s still a certain amount of awkwardness when two dudes share…
Buffalo, New York, sometime in the mid-’90s. I was briefly between jobs — having just told one owner (of a ginormous Irish restaurant/pub/banquet hall/ hotel operation) that he could go fuck himself and his nine dollars an hour if he thought I was going to run his entire floundering food…
I love cheeseburgers. Seriously, madly, deeply. I love foie gras, too. I love maguro sushi. I love whole fish with their eyes rolled back, seared crisp and served under a blanket of dark, thick oyster sauce, and I love bacalao and blood sausage and agnolotti with sage and butternut squash…
Andy C. has been a pioneer of the jungle/drum-and-bass sound since the beginning of its evolution from the early-’90s hardcore techno/breaks scene in his native U.K. As a teenager, he co-founded Ram Records in 1992 with Ant Miles and released a series of influential cuts, including the mega-anthem “Valley of…
In the hierarchy of fabled Denver bands, Christie Front Drive ranks near the top. During its brief tenure, the act delivered some of the most compelling and influential music to ever come out of this town. Helmed by singer-guitarist Eric Richter, Christie Front Drive anchored the nascent early-’90s emo scene…
Frank Schultz is bullish on the Ballpark neighborhood — and no one is more surprised by that than him. In 1997, two years after Coors Field opened, Schultz invested big in the area by opening the Soiled Dove at 1949 Market Street, but by 2005, he realized that with all…
Mr. DeLuca, performing with the Last Goodnight and the Midway State, knows plenty about burdens — like, for instance, the one he’s carried since 24 star Kiefer Sutherland adopted his musical career. Having such a powerful patron has paid dividends: Sutherland made DeLuca’s 2006 long-player, I Trust You to Kill…
How the hell did Placebo wind up on the high-profile Projekt Revolution tour alongside Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, HIM, Madina Lake, Saosin, Styles of Beyond, Taking Back Sunday and the Bled? The answer most likely involves word of mouth from the right boosters at the right time. The British…
The Tennessee Three backed Johnny Cash. Elvis had the Jordanaires. And the late, great GG Allin had the Murder Junkies, a crew who saw more of his backside, front side and underside than Allin’s seventeen-year-old girlfriend. Allin died in 1993, wearing feces and a mini-skirt, his face in a bag…
When you pull up the home page of Taylor Eigsti’s website, there’s a photo of the 22-year-old pianist wearing a leather jacket with a hoodie underneath. Hate to say it, but the guy looks like more like a Backstreet Boy than a jazz pianist who’s been nominated for two Grammys…
Parents, the members of Tub Ring are poster children for not giving your ADD-addled children their meds. Otherwise, they might never grow up to be endearingly spastic kings of pop like these guys, who can open a tune with pseudo-classical strings before veering effortlessly into bouncy punk interspersed with searing…
Hannah Fury, Through the Gash (MellowTraumatic Recordings). Hannah Fury’s last full-length effort was a musical adaptation of Wicked that was way ahead of the Broadway musical. On this long-awaited followup, her wispy, spooky songs of love, life and loss play like Gothic ghost tales from another time. The lush, dense…
Few young acts have their own sound from the get-go — and right now, the Platte River Killers are in the imitation stage. Their hard-rocking work is generally effective, but they’ll have to go beyond mimicry if they want to be remembered for themselves and not just for the bands…
A Shoreline Dream’s debut full-length, Avoiding the Consequences, showcased a band exploring the breadth of dream pop with an immediately compelling sound. On Coastal, its latest effort, the act builds upon Avoiding’s ideas with noisier backdrops and less floating-in-the-ether-style digital delay. The disc also exhibits a greater sense of urgency…
“Infectious” is too mild a word for viral tunes like “Hip Hopallula” and “Hello,” which both owe a sizable debt to old-school Grandmaster Flash and Whodini. In fact, odds are good that Junior Senior’s brain trusts, Danes Jeppe Laurson and Jesper Mortensen, are likely be quarantined in the National Jewish…
Jenny Lewis may like the critical cred that came with recording for indies such as Saddle Creek, but the former child actress (she survived Camp Beverly Hills) clearly wants some adult stardom to pair with the kiddie kind. Blacklight, Rilo Kiley’s first official CD for Warner Bros., is a blatantly…
Rob Zombie made the leap from stage to screen in 2003 with his surreal debut House of 1,000 Corpses. Two years later, he released a sequel to that film called The Devil’s Rejects. And this week, his lifelong passion for horror movies culminates in a remake of the 1978 classic…
Sorry, Mr. Smith, but there’s no radio that likes to play the songs of your lover’s sorrow/Just sing us a jingle, and we’ll float you some bread/And all it will cost you is your heart and your head.” In the opening lines of his song “Artists and Repertoire,” Richard Swift…
