We don't buy any of the insane, tin foil hat, 9-11 conspiracies, but we must admit, the collapse of Building No. 7 still has a lot of unanswered questions. The official explanation is that the building collapsed due to a fire caused by falling debris. Still, the head of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the group that led a three-year, $24-million investigation into the structural failure of the building has this to say about its collapse: [From New York]

"We are studying the horizontal movement east to west, internal to the structure, on the fifth to seventh floors." Then Dr. Sunder paused. “But truthfully, I don't really know. We’ve had trouble getting a handle on building No. 7."

Adding to the mystery, the BBC reported on the collapse of Building No. 7 before it even happened. This week, they finally posted an explanation, albeit a half-ass one, on their blog. Turns out, they "no longer have the original tapes of our 9/11 coverage." Read the whole response here. Prison Planet has some interesting commentary here and images here as well.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 09:52 AM | Permalink

Watch the video here. [Via ThinkProgress]

Meanwhile, in reality, here's the true story of our "progress":

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:06 AM | Permalink

Seymour Hersh

From ThinkProgress:

Appearing on CNN’s Late Edition to discuss his new article, “The Redirection,” Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh warned that the Bush administration is “very far along” in its plans for a war with Iran.

Among the other highlights from the interview:

-- Hersh said U.S. special forces and intelligence operatives have been conducting a lot of “very aggressive” activities inside Iran on the border of Iraq.

-- Inside the military, they are planning “a 24 hour package” -- that is, a plan to operationalize a strike on Iran within 24 hours of Bush’s order.

-- Noting Bush’s steadfast refusal to talk with Iran, Hersh said, “Maybe we just have to really listen to what he is saying. And I don’t know what can stop him because he is president.”

Watch the video here. And don't miss Hersh 's essential New Yorker article, The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefitting our enemies in the war on terrorism?

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 09:52 AM | Permalink

Evan Dando was quite possibly the most disappointing interview of my career as a music writer thus far. I was a huge Lemonheads fan back in the day, and when he did a solo show in Portland a few years back, I jumped at the chance to see and talk to him. Unfortunately, he seemed lost on stage, the crowd was beyond annoying (most of them sat, Indian-style, for the entire performance, and my friend and I were yelled at by some lazy woman for standing), and the interview was a disaster. Dando smoked pot throughout, and when asked questions like “So, Evan, when is your next record coming out?” he responded, “Um….uh, like, the record….(big weed inhale)…it’s, uh…what was the question?”

I’ve heard from other sources that Dando has since become more lucid and the Lemonheads are putting on a pretty good live show these days. I’m still not convinced enough to get tickets, but if someone does go, tell me what you thought. Fadar faves Vietnam open.

The show is happening tonight at Southpaw in Park Slope. Tickets are $20 and doors are at 8pm.

-Cortney Harding

Posted by Cortney Harding at 08:01 AM | Permalink

French Kicks

Not much editorializing here, just a honkin’ huge list of excellent event, brought to you by the good folks at BAM. There are some safe bets (the French Kicks are generally solid, as are the Double and O’Death), but there are also plenty of unknown groups and sounds to explore. The overall line-up serves as a nice reminder that Brooklyn music is about more than stylish indie bands; I’m particularly excited to check out the Haitian Rara music happening at fivemyles.

Full list under the cut.

-Cortney Harding

Barbes
FEB 22
OPERA ON TAP 7pm
MAKANDAL 10pm
FEB 23
ETHAN LIPTON & HIS ORCHESTRA 7pm
THE MANDINGO AMBASSADORS 9pm
FEB 24
THE FOUR BAGS 8pm
LAS RUBIAS DEL NORTE 10pm

Le Dakar Cafe
FEB 22
SOURCE 8 & 10PM
FEB 23
EMILE AND THE MANDINGO KINGS 8 &10PM
FEB 24
KAKANDE 8:30 & 11PM

fivemyles
FEB 22
GREAT PERFORMANCES 7PM
FEB 23
AFRICAN MUSIC, DANCE, AND SONGS 7PM
FEB 24
HAITIAN RARA MUSIC, DANCE, AND PERFORMANCES 7PM

Frank's Cocktail Lounge
FEB 22
KOKOH 8PM
FEB 24
ANGELA JOHNSON 8PM

Galapagos Art Space
FEB 22
ADIRA AMRAM 7:30PM
STICKERBOOK 8PM
THE FABULOUS ENTOURAGE 8:30PM
FEB 23
PAL SECAM 7:30PM
R.U.O.K. 8:30PM
FEB 24
CIRCUS THE PARTY PRESENTS MADISON
STRAYS, VALEZE, LOCKSKEY, AND MORE 9PM

The Hook
FEB 22
RATS WITH WINGS 9PM
SUSU 9:30PM
PROTON PROTON 10:30PM
FRESHKILLS 11:30PM
FEB 23
JOLLYSHIP THE WHIZBANG 9PM
THE BRIAN WILSON SHOCK TREATMENT 9:30PM
BLING KONG 10:30PM
LES SANS CULOTTES 11:30PM
FLAMING FIRE 12:30AM

Issue Project Room
FEB 22
ALAN LICHT 9PM
FEB 23
ANGELA JAEGER AND BYRON COLEY:
NOUVELLE VAGUE...JAMAIS! 8PM
FEB 24
ISSUE PROJECT ROOM’S
THEREMIN SOCIETY 8PM

Monkey Town
FEB 22
JESSICA LEE 7:30 & 10PM
FEB 23
THE DOUBLE 7:30 & 10PM
FEB 24
EXCEPTER 7:30 & 10PM

Pete's Candy Store
FEB 22
SHE KEEPS BEES 9PM
HULA 10:30PM
FEB 23
JAYMAY 9PM
O’DEATH 10:30PM
FEB 24
MATTY CHARLES 9PM
GERARD SMITH 10:30PM

Puppet's Jazz Bar
FEB 22
JAIME AFF TRIO 9:15PM
ARTURO O’FARILL QUARTET 11PM & 12:30AM
FEB 23
RANDY JOHNSTON TRIO 9:15PM
DEAN BOWMAN QUARTET 11PM & 12:30AM
FEB 24
BILL WARE’S PUP’S VIBES 9:15 & 11PM
JAIME AFF & THE SMOOTH PLAYERS 12:30AM

Southpaw
FEB 22
TAKKA TAKKA, THE FORMS, OTHER
PASSENGERS AND CHARLES BISSELL (OF THE WRENS) 8PM
FEB 24
BROOKLYN COUNTRY MUSIC PRESENTS:
THE JOHNNY CASH 75TH BIRTHDAY BASH 8PM

Sputnik
FEB 22
PAGODA 10PM
DJ PREMIER 11PM
FEB 23
DJ RICH MEDINA/DJ CATO (AKA CONGRI)/NAPPY G/DANCE WARRIOR PROJECT 10PM
FEB 24
TIOMBE LOCKHART/DJ EVIL DEE/DJ CHRIS ANNIBEL 10PM

Union Hall
FEB 22
THE LADYBUG TRANSISTOR 9:30PM
CASSETTES WON’T LISTEN 10:30PM
FEB 23
WHITE RABBITS 9PM
FRENCH KICKS 10PM
FEB 24
MOORE & SONS 8:15PM
THE LAST TOWN CHORUS 9:15PM
THE OLD CEREMONY WITH DJANGO HASKINS 10:15 PM

Zebulon
FEB 22
HIMALAYAS AND GUESTS 9PM
FEB 23
CAVEMAN 9PM
EDOM 11PM
FEB 24
BAYE KOUYATE 9PM
AMAYO’S FU-ARKIST-RA 11PM

Posted by Cortney Harding at 11:04 AM | Permalink

In case you missed this story yesterday. [From the Washington Post]:

So this is truth: About eight nanoseconds ago Williamsburg was the national-magazine-certified coolest hood in America, with more vaguely employed white hipsters per square inch than anywhere on the continent. There are 22 clubs and 61 art galleries and enough pubs pouring fine Belgian beers to pitch any 22-year-old into a state of bleary-eyed ecstasy.

Makis Antzoulatos was fine with all that.

But something nagged. As the neighborhood went hyper-hip and rents spiked, where would all the Puerto Ricans go? Or the old Poles who run the delis, and the Italians in East Williamsburg, where you can wander into a pasta joint at 11 p.m. and get a plate of scungilli and okay-but-slightly-headache-inducing Chianti?

Antzoulatos gathered pierced hipsters on the bare floor of his tenement living room and founded Gentrifiers Against Gentrification. They vowed to make common cause with Puerto Rican teachers and Italian bus drivers -- who, not incidentally, gave Williamsburg the working-class edge that made it hip in the first place -- and repulse the moneyed waves.

Whatever. Condos kept flipping. Antzoulatos dialed for a moving van.

"I realized the struggle was about negotiating the terms of departure," says Antzoulatos, 28, who now lives in a working-class precinct of slightly less rapidly gentrifying Boston.

Much has been written about gentrification and its discontents, but in few places has the speed and finality of that transformation been more startling than in Williamsburg, a formerly working-class Brooklyn neighborhood of 180,000 people along the East River. A wall of luxury glass towers is rising for 25 blocks along the "East River Riviera." Wander inland and check out the needle condo towers with three-bedroom places retailing at $1,135,000.

Overnight, another preserve of working-class American culture is rendered unaffordable to thousands of families -- and to the hipsters themselves. Want to know the next move? Toll Brothers, the nation's preeminent McMansion builder, has built a new luxe waterfront condo. Its ad features a preppy and distinctly unpierced blonde and the line: "Williamsburg, All Grown Up." READ IT ALL

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:05 AM | Permalink

Ira Glass

As much as we like the popular NPR show, we're not sure how we feel about this. After all, part of the show's appeal is the very fact that it's a radio show. Still, we're willing to give it a chance. It will premiere March 21 on Showtime. You can watch the trailer here. [Hat tip audihertz]

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 09:53 AM | Permalink

Fall Out Boy, “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race”

Weezer, “Buddy Holly”

Ultragrrl got in big trouble last year for calling My Chemical Romance this generation’s Nirvana, and I’m sure I’m going to make some enemies by declaring that Fall Out Boy are Weezer for today’s teenagers. Both bands embody the teenage girl crush aesthetic of the time: in my day, girls liked brainy indie nerds, and teenage girls nowadays apparently like assholes with ridiculous haircuts. Visuals aside, both bands are so incredibly, painfully catchy that it almost hurts to listen to them. Rivers Cuomo from Weezer once told an interviewer he was trying to come up with a formula for the perfect pop song, and then Pete Wentz beat him to the punch.

-Cortney Harding

Posted by Cortney Harding at 05:17 PM | Permalink

From Lullabyes

Playing to a packed house, Kevin played a full 10 song set that included Of Montreal favorites, a brand-new song "Something To Be Laughed At" and various covers. Be sure to check out his interpration of The Beatles "I Will" and the beautiful, heart-breaking rendition of Neil Youngs "Harvest Moon"

Download the whole thing here

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:57 AM | Permalink

The Sea and Cake's follow-up to 2003's One Bedroom is slotted for an April release and what we've heard thus far sounds great. Obscure Sound has a few samples.

The Sea and Cake - Crossing Line; from Obscure Sound
The Sea and Cake - Introducing; from Obscure Sound
The Sea and Cake - Exact to Me; from Obscure Sound

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 09:54 AM | Permalink

...is on Sunday and it's the year of the golden pig. Cakehead has some great suggestions on how to celebrate.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:25 AM | Permalink

USAisaMonster play post-apocalyptic noise-prog that will probably serve as the soundtrack when Bush decides to invade Iran and we all get nuked. Unlike their 2005 70-minute rock opera, “Wohaw,” their latest, “Sunset at the End of the Industrial Age,” comes in at a mere three quarters of an hour and features a few tracks that tread close to indie-rock song structure. If you like Hella, USAisaMonster might just become your second-favorite earsplitting two-piece.

MP3s: http://www.myspace.com/usaisamonster

Tonight's show is at 8pm with Arbouretum and BLUES CONTROL. Cover is $6 and directions to Uncle Paulie's are here: http://myspace.com/unclepauliesnyc

-Cortney Harding

Posted by Cortney Harding at 08:32 AM | Permalink

From Obscure Sound

On May 1st, Ejstes will release Dungen’s fifth album Tio Bitar. Translated to “Ten Pieces”, that is exactly what it is: ten new excellent pieces of music from the mastermind of Gustav Ejstes. While he still plays the majority of instruments like past releases, Ejstes actually enlisted some outsider help for the recording of Tio Bitar. While Ejstes is still the main force, he brought in a few friends to aid with backing vocals, along with a Turkish string musician. Ejstes can still be found on guitar, bass, organs, flute, and strings. Tio Bitar is Dungen’s most expansive album yet,

Download 3 New Dungen MP3's here

We've also been enjoying The Postmarks. Fans of Belle & Sebastian, Stars, Camera Obcura, amd mopey twee won't be disappointed:

MP3: The Postmarks - Goodbye [from Fabulist]
MP3: The Postmarks - Let Go [From BonTon]
MP3: The Postmarks - Weather the Weather [From BonTon]

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:18 AM | Permalink

I recently had the unfun experience of having to review Rob Sheffield’s sweet ode to his late wife, “Love is a Mix Tape,” the same weekend I got totally super-dumped. But the experience did get me back on the mix kick, and thus I present my Valentine’s Day 2007 playlist. I’ll get all Casey Kasem style and send this out to the fish, with the following note: pay attention to the order of the songs and the lyrics.

Twilight Singers, “I’m Ready”

Jennifer O’Connor, “Today”

Velocity Girl, “My Forgotten Favorite”

Wilco, “Reservations”

PJ Harvey, “You Said Something”

Elliott Smith, “Amity”

Carla Bozulich, “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain”

Snuggle-Ups , “Ferris Wheel”

The Blow, “The Long List of Girls”

Neil Young, “Only Love Can Break Your Heart”

Liz Phair, “Divorce Song”

Ian Moore, “April”

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, “Graceland”

The Submarines, “Peace and Hate”

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Maps”

Bob Dylan, “Just Like a Woman”

-Cortney Harding

Posted by Cortney Harding at 06:40 PM | Permalink

Both cross the nine-minute mark. Both feature female starlets linked the singers. Both are about love gone wrong, and end with the female starlet dying (sorry for the spoiler, and also, since when did Houellebecq influence rock videos?).

So which one wins:

Guns N' Roses, "November Rain"

or

Justin Timberlake, "What Goes Around Comes Around"

-Cortney Harding

Posted by Cortney Harding at 01:54 PM | Permalink

See the full gallery here.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:36 AM | Permalink

This was created by Billy F Gibbons’ of ZZ Top. He also created the iconic Eliminator Coupe. Check out more pictures of the Bus Ball here.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 04:17 PM | Permalink

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 04:15 PM | Permalink

Awesome Color get compared to early Sonic Youth quite a bit, but that shouldn’t come as much of a shock, seeing as Thurston Moore has acted as their producer. Their live show is very high energy, and occasionally a bit violent, as lead singer Derek Stanton has been known to smash the occasional guitar on-stage. The Bushwick-by-way-of-Michigan trio also manages to work in some nifty Southern rock elements, which makes the classic rock nerd in me love them.

Mp3s: http://www.myspace.com/awesomecolor

Glasslands is at 289 Kent Avenue. Doors are at 9pm and An Alien Heat, and RJCC (from Sightings) also play.

-Cortney Harding

Posted by Cortney Harding at 07:40 AM | Permalink

Meanwhile, CNN is reporting o Anna Nicole, astronauts who wear diapers, and skateboarding dogs. From WaPo

Intelligence provided by former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith to buttress the White House case for invading Iraq included "reporting of dubious quality or reliability" that supported the political views of senior administration officials rather than the conclusions of the intelligence community, according to a report by the Pentagon's inspector general.

Feith's office "was predisposed to finding a significant relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda," according to portions of the report, released yesterday by Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.). The inspector general described Feith's activities as "an alternative intelligence assessment process."

An unclassified summary of the full document is scheduled for release today in a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which Levin chairs. In that summary, a copy of which was obtained from another source by The Washington Post, the inspector general concluded that Feith's assessment in 2002 that Iraq and al-Qaeda had a "mature symbiotic relationship" was not fully supported by available intelligence but was nonetheless used by policymakers.

At the time of Feith's reporting, the CIA had concluded only that there was an "evolving" association, "based on sources of varying reliability."

In a telephone interview yesterday, Feith emphasized the inspector general's conclusion that his actions, described in the report as "inappropriate," were not unlawful. "This was not 'alternative intelligence assessment,' " he said. "It was from the start a criticism of the consensus of the intelligence community, and in presenting it I was not endorsing its substance."

Feith, who was defense policy chief before leaving the government in 2005, was one of the key contributors to the administration's rationale for war. His intelligence activities, authorized by then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul D. Wolfowitz, and coordinated with Vice President Cheney's office, stemmed from an administration belief that the CIA was underplaying evidence of then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's ties with al-Qaeda.

In interviews with Pentagon investigators, the summary document said, Feith insisted that his activities did not constitute intelligence and that "even if they were, [they] would be appropriate given that they were responding to direction from the Deputy Secretary of Defense."

The report was requested in fall 2005 by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), then chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Although the committee and a number of official inquiries had criticized the administration's prewar intelligence, Democratic senators, led by Levin, demanded further investigation of Feith's operation.

"The bottom line is that intelligence relating to the Iraq-al-Qaeda relationship was manipulated by high-ranking officials in the Department of Defense to support the administration's decision to invade Iraq," Levin said yesterday. "The inspector general's report is a devastating condemnation of inappropriate activities in the DOD policy office that helped take this nation to war." READ IT ALL

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 03:34 PM | Permalink

The massive hype about Girl Talk just flat out baffles me. When I saw him at the Spin holiday party a few months ago, his act consisted of dressing like he was about to be photographed by the Cobrasnake, hitting “play” on his iTunes, and spitting glitter at the audience while hopping around. People have since pointed out to me that he actually “mixes,” or something, but really, it’s mostly just a cult of personality and pure spectacle.

If Girl Talk is all hype and no substance, Parts and Labor are total professionals with no pretension. Anchored by the monster drumming skills of Chris Weingarten, Dan Friel and BJ Warshaw layer walls of distorted sound upon wailing vocals, resulting in furious, manic noise. The press loved on their last record, the brilliant, paranoia-driven “Stay Afraid”, and the word on the street is that their upcoming album, “Mapmaker” will be even better.

Parts and Labor mp3s: http://www.partsandlabor.net/av.html
Girl Talk mp3s: http://www.myspace.com/girltalkmusic

Studio B is at 259 Banker St in Greenpoint. Doors are at 9pm, Parts and Labor are at 11pm, and Girl Talk is on at midnight. Cover is $15.

-Cortney Harding

Posted by Cortney Harding at 08:28 PM | Permalink

We're lukewarm on the new Shins record, Wincing The Night Away. We like it, but it just doesn't compare to Oh, Inverted World or Chutes Too Narrow. On the other hand, the tracks on this Bluegrass Tribute to the Shins are blowing us away. Care of [Underrated Blog]

The Shins Bluegrass Tribute - Know Your Onion!
The Shins Bluegrass Tribute - Kissing The Lipless

On an unrelated note, Aries Spears is the shiznit:

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:19 AM | Permalink

We love you M.I.A.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 09:24 PM | Permalink

And given journalistic trainwrecks like Judith Miller, Arthur Sulzberger's apathy shows: [From haaretz via Gawker]

Arthur Sulzberger - Given the constant erosion of the printed press, do you see the New York Times still being printed in five years?

"I really don't know whether we'll be printing the Times in five years, and you know what? I don't care, either," he says. He's looking at how best to manage the transition from print to Internet.

[...]

The New York Times is on a journey, Sulzberger says, and its end will be the day the company decides to stop printing the paper. That will be the end of the transition. It's a long journey, and there will be bumps in the road, says the man at the driving wheel: but he doesn't see a black void ahead.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 01:25 PM | Permalink

Alice Lee’s sweet little EP, “The Art of Forgetting,” is totally the cure for burnout-induced cynicism. She has a lovely, airy voice that she layers over mellow beats that somehow never descend into the annoying techno realm. She’s doing the Dido thing, only without all the big slick production, and the results are sweet and sincere. She also has a cute, effusive website that includes a diary she’s been keeping for the past five years, with random musings on music, politics, and life as a Brooklyn artist.

Mp3s at: http://www.myspace.com/justalice
Blog at: http://alicelee.com

Alice plays tonight at Pete’s Candy Store, 709 Lorimer Street. She’ll be on at 11pm. Admission is free.

-Cortney Harding

Posted by Cortney Harding at 09:20 AM | Permalink

A Non-Review by J. Stefan-Cole

Sigrid Nunez's fifth novel, The Last of Her Kind, reissued 2007, Picador, is the story of two women colliding in the culture wars of the nineteen sixties and seventies. George-short for Georgette-is a Barnard freshman in 1968, the year of the Tet offensive that unraveled LBJ's Vietnam War, and saw Martin Luther King assassinated in April, followed by Robert Kennedy in June. Throw in pot, acid, hippies, race riots and the feminist movement and you have the cauldron George steps into when she arrives at New York City's Port Authority Bus Terminal. Five minutes later she is robbed by a guy who offered to help. Then she meets her roommate.

Dooley Drayton, known as Ann, is a rich kid from Connecticut who'd asked to be paired in the dorm with a person of color, but got George, white-trash breakout from upstate New York, instead. The Dooleys had been Southern slave owners. Ann dropped her given name to atone, longing to prostrate herself before the underprivileged. She assumes George comes pre-packaged with outrage. She's wrong, and never figures out there are no necessary heroics to being poor or black or female.

Ann mercilessly berates her parents for the crimes of being moneyed and oblivious. In a deliciously awkward scene, Ann drags George to a posh restaurant she would never dream of entering on her own. There, a wide-eyed and hungry George meets the Drayton parents. After tossing a handful of verbal grenades at Mom and Dad, Ann refuses to eat, which precludes George from eating. Livid, Ann drags George back outside, only to leave her on the sidewalk confused as to what just happened. George's mother, abandoned by George's father, with three kids to feed on a school cafeteria worker's pay, is hellish. Mrs. Drayton is benign royalty by comparison. The contrast eludes Ann, unacquainted as she is with complex emotional textures and firsthand hardship.

In a memoir she never intends anyone to read, Georgette explains Ann: "She believed that some of the chains in which men everywhere found themselves were those emotional ones that prevented them from giving voice to their suffering and letting others know what they needed. This was a favorite theme, a cornerstone of Ann's philosophy of life, and I could never hear it without thinking, Don't let the pack know you're wounded, which was a kind of motto where I came from." Their clashes-bystander and activist thrown together-become a microcosm of the clashes taking place in America. Ann turns politically hardcore, an amalgam of a Kathy Boudin, Patricia Hearst and 'Squeekie' Fromme. Her dream of bringing justice to America's sprawling underclass twists inevitably out of shape because, good as some of her intentions are, she lacks the compassion of a Rosa Parks or Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King.

George admires Ann but grows increasingly bewildered and uncomfortable and drops out of school. When she takes a job with a fashion magazine, Ann's disdain is palpable. Surrounded by the swirl of events, George remains remarkably untouched. Childhood blunted her. When she is raped and given a dose of heroin by one of Ann's radical cohorts, encouraged to pass out rather than think, she goes along. The rapist was black after all, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, partly her own fault; what the whites have done to blacks and so on. The sexual revolution cancelled some of the usual strictures and Nunez brings this hidden side of liberation strikingly to light. Years later, explaining the rape in a discussion with her daughter's friends, George is told she's in denial, rape is rape. She says it happened in a different time, but the gen Xers don't buy it.

Impossible too to comprehend the violence that lands Ann in prison. She was among the last of a radical kind—until the current breed of terrorist arrived—to sanction any means necessary to achieve an end. It took a recession, Ronald Regan and the reactionary rise of the right to fizzle the American cultural revolution—the one that would not be televised. Nunez's book illustrates a culture that became anathema to Evangelical Christians. If the portrait is dark, it is also of a time that addressed racial and gender inequality, took sex out of the closet, and put hypocrisy on the front page. Some of the then-forming leaders of today wished the era had never happened. Freedom had become a little too free: women burning bras, abortion legalized, pothead flower power and the politics of socialism, corporations become a dirty word. (The good old days.)

If the revolution was doomed, its demise came in part from within. Scenes like the LSD trip George takes with her unbalanced, hippie sister Solange zoom in on some counter unreality: "Everyone always said the same things. Oh, the colors, the colors, and it was like you were seeing everything for the first time, and if you didn't fight it, you would lose your ego and find bliss." Can't have that in the most powerful nation in the history of the world; psychedelic soul searching out, aggression in.

George's passivity ultimately leads her to motherhood and the bland middle class. Her memoir captures a past she barely lived while living through it. Ann burns out never realizing the harm she's done in the name of social justice. Sigrid Nunez has understood a critical American moment, and she brings the counterculture back to us in full, living color; an era that was the last of its kind. If you missed it, here is your chance to take the trip.

©2007 J. Stefan-Cole

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:00 AM | Permalink

Tonight marks the beginning of Katie Eastburn’s month-long Monday night residency at Monkeytown. Eastburn is best known as the lead singer of the psychedelic indie rock outfit Young People, and her voice has been compared to everyone from Bjork to Cat Power. She’ll also have super secret special guests joining her for each performance, and will even try to learn requested cover songs.

Mp3s: http://www.myspace.com/flockingassociates

Monday, February 5, 12, 19, 26
Admission: Free, $10 minimum
Showtime: 9pm
Reservations are recommended
Monkeytown is at 58 N. 3rd St

-Cortney Harding

Posted by Cortney Harding at 08:31 AM | Permalink

Mike Wexler does the standard freak folk/ psychfolk thing, but what really sets him apart from everyone else in the scene is his amazing finger picking guitar work. His voice is lovely, in the way that Joanna Newsom and Tom Waits’ voices are lovely; if you dig it, you’ll be in heaven, and if you don’t, it’ll sound like fingernails on a chalkboard. He’s been MIA recently, but is returning with several shows in February and March. If you like M. Ward and Doveman, Wexler is definitely worth checking out.

The show is tonight at Uncle Paulies, 8pm, $8, with MV & EE with the Bummer Road, Stars Like Fleas, and Theo Angell. Directions at http://myspace.com/unclepauliesnyc.

Mp3s: http://www.ierecs.com/mike_wexler/

-Cortney Harding

Posted by Cortney Harding at 09:50 AM | Permalink

by Dave Thomas

Factory Girl

By the looks of things, February is going to be a great month to catch up on new episodes of Lost, Heroes and 24.

February 2

THE MESSENGERS

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Kind of like The Grudge except, um...okay, it pretty much looks like The Grudge.

WILL IT SUCK?
Directed by the guys who did The Eye, but there's no evidence that that's going to help. But, hey, Cancer Man's up in here.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Will be wiped out by Hannibal the following week. $16mil.

-------------------------------------

BECAUSE I SAID SO

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
The synopsis says it's about trying to set up Mandy Moore's character with a beau, but the trailer makes it look like it's all about setting up the mom (Diane Keaton) with that guy from 7th Heaven.

WILL IT SUCK?
It's been 20 years since Heathers, and we're still no closer to director Michael Lehman repeating that glory (in spite of best. film. ever. Hudson Hawk). I don't think the writers of Stepmom are going to help much. But hey, anything that gives Tony Hale work.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Catch and Release's underwhelming opening means it won't be in Because's way. $31mil.

-------------------------------------

FACTORY GIRL

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
The story of Andy Warhol's muse, Edie Sedgwick (Sienna Miller).

WILL IT SUCK?
Guy Pearce plays Warhol and Hayden Christensen plays, um, some other guy. This is from documentarian George "Hearts of Darkness" Hickenlooper, so it'll be interesting to see what he does with a bio-pic. One of the screenwriters is a bio-pic vet, having written Wonderland. Unfortunately, like Wonderland, early buzz is not good.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
A delayed release distancing it from the Awards-heavy December indie scene might help a little, but bad reviews might take all that advantage away. $2mil.

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AN UNREASONABLE MAN

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
An Inconvenient Nader

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is impressive, especially given the two-and-a-half-hour run time.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
The film's biggest hurdle is anti-Nader sentiment or, worse, disinterest. $500,000.

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February 9
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HANNIBAL RISING

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Hannibal Begins

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is good, and I'll admit that I actually liked Hannibal. However, the novel has been pretty derided and Thomas Harris is writing the screenplay as well.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
No real competition, but can a Hannibal film work without a name cast? $40mil.

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NORBIT

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Eddie Murphy dresses up in a lot of funny costumes.

WILL IT SUCK?
The world really needed someone to team the director of Good Burger with the writing team behind I Spy, National Security and Serving Sara.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Tyler Perry will bring a little bit of game the following week, but not nearly enough. $76mil.

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BREAKING AND ENTERING

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Young Muslim breaks into Jude Law's office. Class/family/romantic drama ensues.

WILL IT SUCK?
Even the positive buzz about this one is tainted. This does not surprise me. Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain) is one of those writer/directors for whom I'll see anything even though I really only liked one of his films (Ripley, if you're counting). But even the stuff I don't like I find compelling. Take Cold Mountain, for example. Lop off the last twenty minutes and you have one of the best Civil War films ever made. Overall, the buzz on this one is not good.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
If Jude Law were still hot, much better. The delayed (and downgraded from wide) release from December will not help. $8mil.

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THE LIVES OF OTHERS

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
German The Conversation

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is extreeemely good. Nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar which, if it wins, can go on the shelf with, like, thirty other awards it's already won.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
If it wins the Oscar, that will help. But that's a long shot. $6mil.

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February 16
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GHOST RIDER

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Bitchinest tattoo ever becomes a superhero.

WILL IT SUCK?
Did you like Daredevil? Same writer/director.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Fanboys will not be denied. $93mil.

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BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
The Chronicles of Terabithia

WILL IT SUCK?
Here's the best bit of Terabithia trivia. The director (Gabor Csupo) was apparently the inspiration for the look and voice of Dr. Nick Riviera on The Simpsons, for which he was a writer at the time. Anyhoo, this is based on a Newberry Award-winning book and one of the screenwriters worked on The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys so I'd say this has a shot at not sucking, in spite of smacking of Narnia-baiting.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
No real competition, but Walden/Disney needs to dial up the ad campaign if they want to turn this into a blockbuster. $71mil.

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BREACH

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
The Robert Hanssen story.

WILL IT SUCK?
This is from Shattered Glass writer/director Billy Ray, who should be familiar with profiles in duplicity. Casting is excellent, with Chris Cooper as Hanssen and Ryan Phillipe as the agent tasked with bringing him down. Dennis Haysbert, Laura Linney and Gary Cole are thrown in for good measure. As if that weren't enough, Tak Fujimoto (everything from Sixth Sense to Ferris Bueller's Day Off) is doing the cinematography.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
It's a crowded field, and this is being advertised about as well as Shattered Glass was. $11mil.

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TYLER PERRY'S DADDY'S LITTLE GIRLS

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
A Tyler Perry flick without all the cross-dressing.

WILL IT SUCK?
If you like the Tyler Perry, this looks to be right in line with his other work, although this is the first of his films that didn't start out as a play.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Norbit's a bit of an issue, but there's no reason to believe this won't do just as well as any other Perry flick. $64mil.

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MUSIC & LYRICS

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore try to write a hit and break the one rule of songwriting - don't fall in love. Or, don't write death metal in a major key. One of those.

WILL IT SUCK?
Am I the only one who thought Music and Lyrics by... was a better title? Anyhoo, this is from the writer/director of Two Weeks Notice (which should be Two Weeks' Notice, dammit!), who also wrote the Miss Congeneality movies and Forces of Nature, so I'm going to try to not let the funny trailer get my hopes up.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Surprisingly, this doesn't seem to be getting much awareness in spite of heavy marketing. Still, the Valentine's Day opening should help. $43mil.

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DAYS OF GLORY

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Basically one long guilt trip for the French. North Africans help liberate the French during WWII and then proceed to be shat upon by the country they just liberated. Oh, those wacky French!

WILL IT SUCK?
What is it with movies about injustices in the French army and "..of Glory"? Follows Paths of Glory and precedes Ungrateful French Bastards of Glory, one imagines. Early buzz is great. Again, a contender for Best Foreign. Also won an acting ensemble award at Cannes.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
The Lives of Others has the better shot at an Oscar, but both will probably lose to Pan's Labyrinth. Either way, not much to pump up receipts. $1mil.

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CLOSE TO HOME

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Two female Israeli soldiers befriend each other.

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is good. Did well on the festival circuit.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Not a good time of year to be a foreign film without an Oscar nod. $100,000.

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THE LAST SIN EATER

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Appalachian community in the 1850's gets saved.

WILL IT SUCK?
Don't usually go in for these Christian-themed flicks (this comes from the new Fox/Faith studio brand), which is strange since I'm, you know, Christian. This is directed by Michale Landon's son, who's been making Christian films for a while now, and stars Henry Thomas and Louise "Where's she been since Cuckoo's Nest?" Fletcher.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
At this point, the Christian film industry has developed tiers. I'm guessing this will fall into the "will do better on DVD" tier. $1mil.

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February 23
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THE NUMBER 23

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Jim Carrey gets obsessed with the number 23. Goes nuts.

WILL IT SUCK?
Carrey's pretty versatile, so I feel he can pull off a thriller, no prob. Joel Schumacher, on the other hand, makes about one good film a decade, and he's already done his for the 2000's (Tigerland). Danny Huston and Virginia Madsen should make for a good supporting cast, at least.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Zodiac will be a bit of an issue the following week, but this won't lack for revenue. Besides, it's coming out on February 23rd. Who can resist that synergy? $47mil.

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RENO 911!: MIAMI

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Title pretty much says it all.

WILL IT SUCK?
Never seen Reno 911!, but I hear good things. That having been said, the TV writers behind the show have shown some general suck when writing movies (The Pacifier, Night at the Museum, Herbie: Fully Loaded).

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Show has a decent enough following. $20mil.

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BLACK SNAKE MOAN

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Sam Jackson chains up Christina Ricci in his shack. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. About fucking time.

WILL IT SUCK?
It's kind of hard to tell just how seriously writer/director Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow) wants us to take his latest opus. There's the over-the-top grindhouse style posters, the tounge-in-cheek trailer, the fact that the Web site is a MySpace page (a tactic usually reserved for a teen-friendly Step Up or Turistas) oh, and it's about a guy who chains up a woman to cure her of her nymphomania/drug addiction (and, to play the race card, a black man chaining up a white woman in...wait for it...the deep South).

That having been said, the early buzz is mixed, with critics suggesting that if you can get past the premise, it's quite entertaining (which, arguably, could be said of Hustle & Flow).

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Not exactly a date movie. $23mil.

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THE ASTRONAUT FARMER

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Farmer decides to build a manned rocket in his backyard.

WILL IT SUCK?
In spite of a silly title and even sillier poster, the early buzz is good and why not, you've got the Polish brothers writing and directing, a solid cast with Billy Bob Thornton, Virginia Madsen and J.K. Simmons and a premise that worked well for October Sky.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Crowded weekend. $18mil.

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THE ABANDONNED

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Woman travels to a remote village and unlocks deadly secrets from her past blah, blah, blah. No more evil ghosts! I mean it. Just a one month hiatus is all I ask.

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is mixed. One of the writers directed and co-wrote the cult classic Hardware.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
I think folks are going to be all horror'd out. $2mil.

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AMAZING GRACE

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Story of the abolition movement in England.

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is mixed with audiences more on board than critics. Michael Apted stays busy, directing what is, on IMDB at least, his best film other than his 7 Up series while Dirty Pretty Things scribe Steven Knight contributes the screenplay. Supporting cast is solid, with Albert Finney as the man who actually wrote "Amazing Grace" and Michael Gambon and Ciaran Hinds as your requisite bad guys. Also along for the ride is Youssou N'Dour, whom you may remember from such Peter Gabriel albums as So or from, you know, his massively successful recording career in Africa.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Walden Media knows what it's doing. $8mil.

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GLASTONBURY

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Doc about the most famous music festival you've never heard of.

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is pretty good, and you could do worse than to have David Bowie, James Brown, Bjork and Joe Strummer on the ticket. Directed by music video helmer Julien Temple, who also has Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten coming out this year.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Even if people in the States had heard of this festival, music docs are a hard sell. $500,000.

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GRAY MATTERS

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Brother and sister fall for the same woman.

WILL IT SUCK?
Halfway-decent cast (Heather Graham and Tom Cavanaugh are the brother and sister, Bridget Moynahan is the love interest and Alan Cumming and Molly Shannon are the wacky best friends), interesting premise and sucky, sucky trailer. Early buzz is actually pretty good, though.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
I would have actually gone with a wide release on this one. This low under the radar, it doesn't stand a chance. $1mil.

Next Month: It'll be time to go back to the movies again with the return of David Fincher, the movie behind the best trailer of the year and the best horror film of last year.

—Dave Thomas

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