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08.17.07 by Rob Levy @ 3:44 am These days there's more to Brighton than the Domesday Book and scenic oceanic views. This resort town, nestled in the south of England has become in the vernacular of those in the know, an "It Spot" and "Scene." But despite the heaps of praise there is no denying that there is a buzz of musical and autistic creativity happening there.  Musically Brighton was put on the map over a decade ago by Fatboy Slim and The Levellers. Now a whole new breed of talented and diverse musicians are cutting a swathe across the city and making people take notice. One would be hard pressed to call Electrelane "veterans," but that is the case for the all girl kraut rock jamsters who have finished a short US tour including dates with Arcade Fire. They will be Stateside again in the fall to support their most prolific release to date, No Shouts, No Calls. The Kooks followed their auspicious debut, Inside In/Inside Out with massive hype in the UK and a sold out string of US dates. For almost a year the band was everywhere in the UK press who touted them as the next Oasis. Although the always fickle ears of the UK music press will undoubtedly turn on them eventually they clearly have a future ahead of them. The Kooks are a band on the make who will lay waste to anyone who gets in their way. Categorized as: Columns
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04.05.07 by Widge @ 2:57 am  Well, I'm not here to give you a rundown on the latest Previews. Chris over at the Invincible Super-Blog does that much better than I could hope to. I'm here because I still get Previews even though I can't remember the last time I found something while flipping through it that I decided I positively had to special order. And while flipping through, I noticed something. On pages 64-66 of the April Previews, you had one, two, three covers with blood on them. Batman #667 has a nice helping of blood and Robin #163 does as well. In fact, the Robin cover makes it look like Robin is in pain. Since we already know that DC Comics writers are not only passing off bad fanfic as writing but also are closet sadomasochists (since they never seem to lose an opportunity to inflict pain or rape or both upon their heroes--their heroes, mind you), I started to wonder: if I looked at all the DC covers, what would I find? Categorized as: Columns and Comics and Rants
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03.05.07 by Rob Levy @ 11:53 pm Thanks to all of you for taking time away from the silly Anna Nicole Smith news and Arena Football League season to read my column. It is much appreciated.  The Grammys were mighty boring. I don't really care two cents about them. They are decided on by people whose musical tastes have no bearing on mine whatsoever. Plus any excuse to not see Don Henley is fine by me. I don't really care about The Dixie Chicks but I don't think they deserved to win every single award, especially when Gnarls Barkley clearly had the Single of the Year. The Single of the Year should go to the song that crosses over and impacts the most people that year. "Crazy" clearly did this. It was on rock, urban and contemporary hit radio stations. It was played in The Gap, hotel lobbies, sports highlight clips, Starbucks and every car driving down the street. During the spring and summer months you could not escape it. Magically, despite the overkill, "Crazy" never wore out its welcome. It never made you throw your hands up in exasperation and scream "Enough already!" This is the trademark of a great pop single and Gnarls Barkley clearly deserved to win this. Categorized as: Books and Columns and Music
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12.23.06 by Rob Levy @ 5:25 am As we slam the door on 2006 we look at 2007 with the usually end of the year suspicion. After all popular culture really floods the market right after the holidays In order to meet that first quarter profit margin. It's a dangerous time: books, films, comics and music are loaded with good things, bad things disguised as good things and completely useless crap completely undisguised. With that in mind caveat emptor! Upon deep reflection, the greatest Christmas song of all time is "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues. It took nearly two years to write and forced Shane MacGowan to "raise his game" in order to match the perfect vocals of Kirsty MacColl. Their duet about a drunk who won at horses and a terribly disenfranchised and pissed off lover somehow manages to snarl, scream and punch itself into a "aw shucks it's Christmas so let's figure all this out later" ending. It is powerful, poignant and ripped full of anger and rage. It's like a fistfight with a nice kiss at the end. Remaking "The Year Without A Santa Claus" is the dumbest idea since having a trilogy of Christmas movies with Tim Allen. The new version was pure excrement. There was something oddly fun about the Twisted Sister Christmas album. I am so glad their Xmas gift to the world was quitting. Categorized as: Books and Columns and Music
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11.11.06 by Rob Levy @ 6:14 am I love the autumn. It's cold but not too cold, the air is cool and sometimes misty and foggy. Plus you can wear black all the time without getting hassled like you do in the summer. But in the autumn you can accessorize your leather jackets and boots with all sorts of cool clothes, scarves, etc…There is something great about a cool night with a crisp air that really gets you going. Plus you get all the fun of Halloween and Guy Fawkes Day thrown in as well! Yes indeedee the fall is pretty kicks ass! The downside to all of this though is that the dark, sinister crappy selling season of Christmas is just around the corner. Are you tired of the midterm elections yet? My heavens, it was too much overload. I love politics and think everyone should be informed and discuss issues, but I resent getting two zillion calls on my answering machine and hundred of flyers and postcards in the mail. It pisses me off that we waste energy and trees on a lot of stuff that we can decide on for ourselves by thinking and being a well read society without the propaganda. Please spread all the political feces you want, just find a way to do it that doesn't diminish the rainforests or clutter my mailbox or waste my time. The Earth is dying, folks--can we think about that before we make thousands of stupid postcards that are just going to get thrown out? Speaking of politics, I urge all of you to write your leaders urging them to find a way to keep Tim Allen from making any more movies. Categorized as: Books and Columns and Music
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