I shuffled past the television this morning—March 11, the six-month anniversary of the shots heard round the world—in time to see Lisa Beamer on the Today Show, weeping at the behest of Katie Couric. (At 45, the terminally pert Couric is still the cutest succubus on television.) My first thought, I’m ashamed to say, was … Read more
It’s easier than ever to love movies, yet harder than ever to prove yourself a bona fide movie-lover. When home theaters have displaced pool tables as the most prevalent rec-room fixture, and the guys on KFAN are just as likely to jaw about box office figures as T-wolves stats, it takes a certain amount of … Read more
The folks at Island Records assured us we’d be on the guest list for last month’s Ryan Adams show at the Orpheum. We weren’t. Bent on revenge (we paid for parking and everything!), we threw a dart at the label’s spring release calendar and vowed to publish a ruthless slag of whichever forthcoming album met … Read more
We can’t speak to the current whereabouts of Bubbles the Chimpanzee, but among the rest of Michael Jackson’s former sidekicks, Sheryl Crow (an ex-backup singer for his freaky pop Highness) seems to enjoy the most far-reaching success. The sunny pop-rock of her long—awaited new record may not rewrite the rule book on Top 40 escapism, … Read more
In the rock world, cover bands are too often dismissed as cop-outs who either can’t or won’t be bothered to come up with their own original repertoire. There’s more tolerance for such cribbing in the jazz realm, where so much of the genre’s best music still cries out for spontaneous reworking. Still, it’s a rare … Read more
Everyday is both the title of DMB’s most recent blockbuster disc and the frequency with which you’re likely to hear the band’s music, regardless of whether you actually want to. Let’s be honest, though. There’s lots to cherish about Matthews and his groove-heavy, love-hungry pop. Die-hard fans tend to get hung up on a recent … Read more
Since entering into a hellish and utterly surreal divorce almost two years ago (for starters, think accusations of adultery and public humiliation, job threats, slashed tires, rumor-mongering, a bitter and protracted custody dispute, an order for protection when things got really scary, $40,000 in legal fees on a teaching salary of $30,000, and a small, … Read more
Unless you take a somewhat scholarly shine to period Parisian architecture or 19th century European etchings, don’t kick yourself for not knowing much about the French printmaker Charles Meryon. Viewed from a distance, his short life (1821-1868) bears all the marks of a tortured artist: troubled childhood, lingering depression, persistent poverty, time served in a … Read more
Chank has a dream. Minneapolis fontographer, painter, and illustrator Chank Diesel is attempting to beat Picasso’s Guiness world record for producing more than a million pieces of work in his lifetime (he’s at 8,985 and counting). We at The Rake, however, value quality over quantity, and Chank indeed seems to have both. While the limousine … Read more
After nine novels (and 13 plays) in his native Britain, Frayn finally garnered an American cult with Headlong, an engaging meditation on art, ambition, and the value of things cast in the form of a screwball caper story worthy of Charles Portis. His new novel, Spies, goes to quieter places. As an old man Stephen … Read more