July 2006

Event Reviews

Buzzcocks

Little Steven's Underground Garage-A-Go-Go's 4th of July event at Tampa's Hard Rock Casino featured Buzzcocks, The Chesterfield Kings, The Gore Gore Girls, Fortune & Maltese, and The Unrequited Loves. It wasn't a tour, it wasn't a private event, it was free, and Jen Cray was there.

Eames Era

While throngs of music lovers converged on Tampa's Ybor City for the 25th edition of WMNF's Tropical Heatwave, a little known band from Baton Rouge proved to be one of the highlights of the night. The Eames Era come to Tampa virtually unknown and left with a cadre of converts. Bob Pomeroy was one of them.

Ministry

The MasterbaTour is the Al Jourgensen show. Headlined by Ministry and also featuring Jourgensen's longtime side project, Revolting Cocks, it's an evening of industrial, experimental metal, and mayhem. Jen Cray finds herself front and center.

Panic! At The Disco

Just in time for Brittany Sturges' 4th of July activities, Panic! at the Disco stopped in to Philly for a bit of action and to shake things up.

Summerbirds In The Cellar

Summerbirds In The Cellar represent the best of the blossoming Orlando music scene. A band that defies strict categorization, flocks of Central Florida's music connoisseurs, including Jen Cray, crammed into Will's Pub to celebrate the release of the limited edition vinyl release of their debut album.

The Dirty Three

"If you want to dance, go on and fucking dance!" How could Heather Lorusso resist such an entreaty from Warren Ellis and the Dirty Three?

Theo & the Skyscrapers

It's a cross breed of new wave and metal fronted by a badass former Lunachick. Theo & the Skyscrapers make a Sunday night in Orlando an event for Jen Cray and the rest of the audience.

Warped Tour

The Warped Tour brings its annual circus of misfits and mayhem to Orlando. Jen Cray experiences the overindulgence of noise, colors, crowds, heat... and torrential rain.

Interviews

IKE

They may not be on a soap opera, but their music was! Brittany Sturges and IKE's lead singer, John Faye, dish the dirt on what 's next for the band.

Josephine Sincere

Teen stars come and go; there has been so many of them throughout the decades that the novelty has long since rubbed off. But R&B singer Josephine Sincere is different. Kyrby Raine finds out how.

Shaun Kama

Shaun Kama has set aside his aggressive punk rock side and picked up an acoustic guitar to allow his songwriting soul to be the focus of his new project with The Kings of the Wild Frontier. Jen Cray phones him up for a chat.

The Lovemakers

Frontman/shirtless sex symbol/small-town boy Scott Blonde discusses the Bay Area band's scandalous past -- and future -- in a candid interview with Steve Stav.

Music Reviews

Music A

Altamont

The Monkees� Uncle (AntAcidAudio). Review by Matthew Moyer.

American Royal

Transcontinental (Foreverything). Review by Andrew Ellis.

As Fast As

Open Letter To The Damned (Octone). Review by Andrew Ellis.

Ben Averch

Washington State (Automatic Earth Recordings). Review by Kyrby Raine.

Music B

Becky

Take It On The Chin. Review by Kyrby Raine.

Tim Bowen & the Crystal Ball Breakers

Issues. Review by Kyrby Raine.

Peter Bradley Adams

Gather Up (Mouse In The Moon/Big Helium). Review by Andrew Ellis.

Michael Brook

RockPaperScissors (Big Helium). Review by Andrew Ellis.

Music C

Chatham County Line

Route 23 (Yep Roc). Review by Tim Wardyn.

Carrie Cheron

One More Autumn. Review by Andrew Ellis.

Confessor

Sour Times MCD (Seasons of Mist). Review by Matthew Moyer.

The Coral

Invisible Invasion (Deltasonic/Columbia Records). Review by Jen Cray.

Music D

Dropping Daylight

Brace Yourself (Octone). Review by Andrew Ellis.

Music E

Electric Doormat

Evil Genius. Review by Kyrby Raine.

Music I

Isobella

Surrogate Emotions of the Silver Screen (New Granada). Review by Matthew Moyer.

Music L

The Longshadows

Simple Minded Way (Uranus). Review by Andrew Ellis.

Music M

Mad Buffalo

Fool Stand. Review by Kyrby Raine.

Music P

Peter Murphy

Unshattered (Viastar). Review by Matthew Damascus.

Joe Patrick

All the Walls (Crazy River Records). Review by Tim Wardyn.

Music R

The Remote

Too Low to Miss (Global Underground). Review by Kiran Aditham.

Music S

2ND

Directly in the Path of Organized Ignorance. Review by Kyrby Raine.

Darrell Scott

Invisible Man (Full Light). Review by David Whited.

Print Reviews

A Journey into the Transcendentalists' New England

Carl F Gauze heartily recommends this specialized travel book about the Transcendentalist movement and the Boston area. He doesn't mention, though, if they've set up a breakfast nook in Thoreau's old jail cell from Civil Disobedience.

The Night Buffalo

Despite a fantastic premise, Linda Tate isn't fully convinced by Guillermo "21 Grams" Arriaga's new novel, The Night Buffalo. But the real question is, will she check out the upcoming movie adaptation?

Born on the Fourth of July

Perhaps the most tragic part about our wars du jour is their mind-numbing reiteration of the same old costly lessons. A new edition of Ron Kovic�s Born on the Fourth of July pulls Tom "Tearaway" Schulte down the Jacob�s ladder of war�s human impact . . . again.

Dictator Style

Champagne wishes and totalitarian dreams! Your host, James Mann, plays voyeur into the lifestyles of the rich and the insane via Dictator Style.

Fictional History of the United States With Huge Chunks Missing

Akashic offers up a new (and fictional) taste of history, but don't go throwing out those old textbooks yet. A Fictional History of the United States With Huge Chunks Missing teaches Brittany Sturges that perhaps we should applaud our monotone high school teachers for not trying to amuse us.

Go Ask Ogre

Hey, Heartland America! Where�s the heart? In Go Ask Ogre, Jolene Siana welds a Skinny Puppy obsession into her painful Middle American adolescence. But Tom "Tearaway" Schulte assures us happy valleys await on the other side of the early '90s, Midwest goth scene.

Green Day: American Idiots and the New Punk Explosion

Andrew Ellis is left puzzled by Ben Myers' attempts to overstate and overthink the cultural impact of Green Day in his new biography of the California punk rockers.

Iron Balloons

Can't get away for that foreign vacation this summer? Pick up a book by an author from another land. Bob Pomeroy tours the Caribbean with the authors from Jamaica's Calabash Writer's Workshop.

Small Town Odds

The protagonist of Small Town Odds is stuck in rural West Virginia, his dreams of college faded, working two jobs, caring for his daughter, drinking too much, and of course, dealing with the prospects of romance. For readers like Joe Frietze who�ve paid their dues to Small Town America, Jason Headley's debut novel will strike more than one familiar chord.

The Original Million Dollar Mermaid

Carl F Gauze puts on a swimming cap, goggles, and sensible swimwear (no exposed ankles!) and immerses himself in the biography of Australian bombshell swimming sensation Annette Kellerman.

Welcome To Yesterday

John Hood adjusts his fedora and dives headfirst into Ian Spiegelman's neo-noir portrait of a city where loose lips do much more damage than just sinking ships.

Screen Reviews

A Prairie Home Companion

Though you usually should be worried about a review that starts with, "I am SO glad this movie didn't suck," Carl F Gauze is actually quite taken with this big screen version of Garrison Keillor's timeless radio show.

An Inconvenient Truth

Al Gore gets hot and bothered about global warming! Rob Levy thinks you should hear the man out.

Miami Vice

Fast boats, Ferraris and 3-day stubble. Yes, Crockett and Tubbs are back -- but the new Miami Vice draws surprisingly few comparisons to the iconic TV series. Our man in the Keys, Steve Stav, delivers a hard-boiled report on Michael Mann's latest crime drama.