The story of Digable Planets begins during the late 1980’s in the culturally rich City of Brotherly Love. Ishmael ‘Butterfly’ Butler was based in Seattle, interning at Arthur Russell’s Sleeping Bag Records in New York, and intermittently visiting his grandmother and father in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, studying at the prestigious HBCU Howard University in Philadelphia, Craig …
“There were times when being together was fun. And there were times when being apart was even more fun. And there was times when there was nothing but time. And that was no fun”. Interesting lyric? Lee Hazlewood isn’t for everyone. The above verse from If It’s Monday Morning may be a good litmus test …
Middle school was a torment for me, and don’t try to tell me that middle school wasn’t a torment for you because I know you’re lying. For all, to a greater or lesser extent, middle school was a time of physical and emotional transformation. “Welcome to the Dollhouse”, directed by Todd Solondz, is the story …
March 24 is the birthday of two of the most legendary bassists in music history: Carol Kaye and Holger Czukay. Carol Kaye was a rarity in the male-dominated Hollywood industry of the 1960s- a female musician who could outperform most of her male counterparts. She was the go-to bassist for Los Angeles studio sessions and …
#4 Mickey Rourke & Lisa Bonet Never before has a film captivated me as much as Angel Heart. At an early age I started a polygamous relationship with it, marrying three of my favorite things: Mickey Rourke, the Occult and Chicken. My relationship with the latter is really quite simple, each Sunday a chicken is …
“He’s such a polite young man. And handsome, too”, said Mrs. Riley as she looked at her granddaughter Carrie. What she really meant was that Jordon Richman was wealthy. True enough. In fact, the young Richman was probably the most polite (and wealthiest) businessman in the Parish. Everyone liked him. From a respected old New Orlean family. The Richman’s gave …
Not much is known about Canada. It lies to the north of the USA, shrouded in forests and sparsely populated. Its primary export is logs. Its people keep themselves to themselves, stoically going about their business in a quiet, undemonstrative way; paying their taxes ungrudgingly, and voting for moderate political parties. It would be mysterious …
“Synecdoche, New York”, is an amazing and challenging film by director Charlie Kaufman. It is a film full of uncomfortable and courageous truths about human beings, which we constantly try to ignore through illusions and stimulating beliefs of transcendence. The theater director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman), is a depressed man, whose life fades quickly. …
#3 Adèle Exarchopoulos & Léa Seydoux ‘I miss you. I miss not touching each other. Not seeing each other, not breathing in each other. I want you. All the time. No one else.’ This quote sets the scene in ‘Blue is the Warmest Color’. A vivid and beautiful story about young love which is both …
I’m Your Man’s cover shows Leonard Cohen, 53 years old, decked out in shades and a suit, eating a banana. Well, it’s more complicated than that. It shows a man who had been at the precipice of collapse, plagued by depression so debilitating he couldn’t even get out of bed. It shows a man who …
