Metro, 9/8/06

In today's Metro weekend: The Valerie Project, Greg Weeks of Espers' newly-composed live score to the Czech surrealist fairy tale Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (page 18); my surrealist fairy tale of an interview with Kool Keith aka Dr. Octagon (page 22); a severely truncated version of my interview with Peter Tork - yes, I talked witha Monkee (page 22); and a profile of World Party's sardonic and now aneurysm-free Karl Wallinger (page 23). Interviews with MSTRKRFT and Joan of Arc (which would have run yesterday) and a profile of Bruce Walsh, Metro staffer and Fringe fest playwright, all got axed into the ether. I may post some portions of them and more of the Tork interview soon.

Citypaper, 9/7/06

A slew of film reviews in (and out) of this week's Citypaper: Paper Dolls, a rather aimless doc on Filipino transvestite caregivers in Israel; The Protector, an absurdly relentless distillation of Tony Jaa's Tom Yong Goong; and a Cold Open on Crank, another hilariously dopey, breathless actioner with a jolt of lunk-headed wit. And my review of Toby Keith in Broken Bridges didn't run thanks to its apparent lack of a run in the city, so here it is:

Broken Bridges
CMT Films' first production goes right ahead and reinforces plenty of
stereotypes, though nothing backwoods enough to provide much fodder
for the pansy tree-huggin' types in the liberal media. Toby Keith
stars as a country star fallen on hard times, fond of drink and
writing gloomy ballads rather than singing the "old hits" called for
by the owner of the nightclub where he's holed up. Keith is
surprisingly neutered – no "boot in yer ass" rants and only one brief
beatdown. This is a Hallmark Hall of Fame TV-movie for good ol' boys,
stocked with rednecks who jeer at hippies and Ram Dass but still
advise their beer-swilling buddies not to keep their sadness balled up
inside. Kelly Preston is the small-town girl turned big-city
journalist who heads back home when her soldier brother is killed in a
plane crash. In tow is her cynical teenage daughter, who learns how
much nicer schlocky new-country ballads are than angry punk rock. And
Preston, by virtue of renewing ties with her family and a pat on the
ass from Keith, dumps her career, puts on a cowboy hat, and reunites
with the baby's daddy who ditched her16 years and finally gets to
enjoy some family values.

Metro, 9/1/06

The sole story in this weekend's Metro (after a series of rejected or ignored interview requests and a close call with Shellac) profiles Philly classical/electronica/video arts hybrid org Arts In Motion, prior to a show at the Art Museum. (Page 19)

Daily News, 9/1/06

Today's Daily News ran my interview with Welsh chanteuse Judith Owen, who I discovered backing Richard Thompson on his fantastic "1,000 Years of Popular Music" tour. When I discovered she was also married to Harry Shearer, I figured the woman must have good taste and explored further.

Citypaper, 8/31/06

The lone piece in this week's Citypaper is a short feature story on Joel Harrison, a genre-blending jazz guitarist set to premiere his new hour-long suite, Vox Americana. Harrison mixes American roots music as well as traditional music of India and Africa into his takes on folk, blues, country, and on his last CD, the George Harrison songbook.