All vivacious jangle, thigh-slapping stomp, and grinning, good-ol'-boy charm, North Mississippi All Stars are the band Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer would've started if they knew where to get an electric guitar. Not to say that NMA's fourth effort is at all rustic or simple: On the contrary, its compact,...
"Wake up, Mr. West!" Bernie Mac yells to open Late Registration, and the command is fitting -- this album is an awakening. More raw than College Dropout, Kanye West's sophomore release puts his vocals on center stage and further develops his identity as a socially aware MC. Sure, he's still...
Her name is Domino Harvey, and she is a bounty hunter. If you've seen even one TV spot or theatrical trailer for Domino, you've heard that message ground into your brain like an annoying jingle. What you may not know is that Domino Harvey was a real person, daughter of...
Summer used to be the birthright of American kids. Remember? It was the slow, loopy season, when there was time on your hands and thrilling new ideas, unimpeded by rigid schedules, seemed to come sailing in out of nowhere. You decided to read 100 Years of Solitude in a day,...
The Mosaic Theatre's Richard Jay Simon is one of the most talented theater directors in South Florida. He's also one of the most versatile. His emotionally detailed hostage drama, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, grabbed my attention in Mosaic's first season, when the company was playing to audiences of three...
As its moniker implies, Twin Cinema essentially doubles the theatricality of previous Pornographers efforts. While the title track constitutes hooky indie pop, the album as a whole conjures images of a Rent-like musical, with most numbers custom-made for cast members to belt toward the balcony. The shifting ensemble assembled by...
Ah, Wallace and Gromit. Who doesn't get a little lift at the sound of those names? Who doesn't feel the edges of her mouth begin to tickle toward a smile, her heart grow warmer with images of the love between a (plasticine) man and his (plasticine) dog? Perhaps you're not...
Don't confuse Scream Tour with Scream Fest: This isn't a convention of B-movie horror stars and starlets. What we have on hand is hunky handfuls of heartthrobs and teenage titillation taking over the Miami Arena, promising to get the young ones hollerin'. Bow Wow (no more "Lil'"; this dog is...
It happened almost with the first step off the airplane at the Toronto airport last month. Someone, a friend or merely a concerned stranger, would stop to warn you of impending peril. They would plead with you to avoid the danger ahead in Elizabethtown, the Cameron Crowe film that screened...
After learning that the Coral Springs Museum of Art was hosting its third Clyde Butcher exhibition, I wondered what was left to say about the "Ansel Adams of the Everglades." After all, it was only eight months ago that ArtServe served up a retrospective of the photographer's four-decade career. And...
They're Dropping Like Flies Call it a good idea for all the wrong reasons. The Broward County court system has set up a misdemeanor drug court for low-level drug users. Now, hapless pot smokers who get snagged by county law enforcement with less than 20 grams of the stuff can...
The Story That Won't Die Some day, presidential historians will study George Bush's 2004 election victory the way they now delve into other secrets and scandals, like Jefferson's slave children, FDR's mistress, and that suspicious last-minute flood of Democratic votes from Chicago that gave Kennedy the presidency in 1960. But...
When Outtakes heard the exciting news that the New York Dolls were playing Fort Lauderdale, we decided to dig up the proto-punk glam-band's local history. After all, this is the group, led by David Johansen (a.k.a. Buster Poindexter, he of "Hot Hot Hot" infamy) that helped usher in the punk...
About once a year -- twice, if we're lucky -- a first-time director shows up with something original, electrifying, and humane, a film that shows us a new way to see, that presents complex and memorable people in whom we recognize ourselves. Last year, it was Joshua Marston and Maria...
In 2001, Jonathan Safran Foer made an astounding literary debut. "A Very Rigid Search," published by the New Yorker, was his hilarious, heartbreaking account of an attempt by a young American man (named, cheekily, Jonathan Safran Foer) to find a Ukrainian woman who had saved his grandfather from the Nazis...
There aren't enough good Indian restaurants in South Florida to satisfy anybody with a passion for the complex, hearty cuisine of the land of the tiger. So when I got word that a tiny café serving aloo, paneer, pakoras, and real tandoori-baked breads had opened in Boca, I made the...
Are you ready for some football? SAT 9/10 After an offseason with more drama than a VMA afterparty, the Miami Dolphins finally kick off the 2005 season Saturday, September 10, at Dolphins Stadium (2269 NW 199th St., Miami) against the Denver Broncos. With coaching changes, new personnel, and uncertainty at...
Neo-prog shores up at Dada SUN 10/9 A million years ago (OK, so maybe more like 30), ambient instrumental rock was poised to take over the world (OK, maybe just the record stores). Tangerine Dream, Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, and even Pink Floyd were using emerging technologies to weave electronic...
If The Memory of a Killer were not mostly in Flemish, it would be easy to mistake for a Hollywood movie. The story of a hit man with a conscience and the cop who's always a step or two behind him as they pursue the same villains, it's full of...
After founding member and lead guitarist Mikey Houser succumbed to cancer in the summer of 2002, many a Widespread Panic fan (call 'em Spreadheads) figured the ride was over. But the hard-touring, hard-rocking Georgia six-piece brought in a new axman and followed Houser's directive to keep going without him. Earlier...
History dictates that once a rock band conquers the world -- like Nirvana did in the early '90s -- it's all downhill from there for individual band members; splinter groups formed after the band's demise are doomed to forever stand in its shadow. For the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, the...
This is the first of two parts. It should have been his last job. Richard "Dickie" Robertson was getting out, going straight. On April 1, 1983, Robertson had orchestrated a deal to sell 20 kilos of cocaine, worth roughly $300,000. And the timing couldn't have been better. He'd just purchased...
