Crazy From the Heat

Seven Psychopaths is an insane blast.

Movie Reviews & Stories In 2008, playwright-turned-filmmaker Martin McDonagh pulled off a nifty directorial trick: He made a crime comedy with soul. There aren’t too many of those around—not in the post-Pulp...   More

 

Wednesday, October 10, 2012 MATTHEW SINGER

Primer: Billy Joe Shaver

Music Stories Born: 1939 in Corsicana, Texas. Sounds like: Everything that’s grizzled and red-blooded—and, conversely, good and Christian—about country music, condensed into the body and voice of a man w   More

 

Wednesday, October 10, 2012 MATTHEW SINGER

Brownish Black: Friday, Oct. 12

A Detroit native finds his soul in the heart of the Rose City.

Music Stories [GARAGE SOUL] Soul doesn’t come naturally to the lily-white Northwest. In the case of Brownish Black’s M.D. Sharbatz, though, it wasn’t until he moved to Portland, oddly enough, that the s   More

 

Wednesday, October 10, 2012 MATTHEW SINGER

Frankenweenie

Tim Burton reanimated.

Movie Reviews & Stories “Based on an original idea by Tim Burton,” it says in the credits. It’s hard to read that phrase and not snicker a little. In recent years, the popular knock on Burton is that he doesn’t h   More

 

Wednesday, October 3, 2012 MATTHEW SINGER

Stripes vs. Soul Patches

Comparing the careers of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame’s marquee inductees.

Music Stories YEARS ACTIVE U-Krew: 1984-1993 Everclear: 1992-“present” SOUND U-Krew: An early hybrid of R&B and hip-hop...   More

 

Wednesday, October 3, 2012 MATTHEW SINGER

Album Review: Colossal Yes

Loosen the Lead and Spoil the Dogs (Jackpot)

Album Reviews [NEW CLASSIC ROCK] Utrillo Kushner is at his best when he’s hung-over. Loosen the Lead and Spoil the Dogs, the Comets on Fire drummer’s third more-or-less solo album under the name Colossal Ye   More

 

Wednesday, October 3, 2012 MATTHEW SINGER

Brew Views: Army of Darkness

Here comes the boomstick.

Brew Views Horror buffs will argue that the moment Bruce Campbell became Bruce Fucking Campbell happened when he fought his own severed, possessed hand in 1987’s Evil Dead II. But the Campbell persona that   More

 

Wednesday, October 3, 2012 MATTHEW SINGER

Cut of the Day: "Bones," Sam Cooper

Music Coming from a member of gentle Portland folkies Horse Feathers, it should be pretty easy to predict the sound of Sam Cooper's Long Lost Love. Your guess would probably be right: impeccably warm arrangements of acoustic guitar, fiddle, banjo, piano and mandolin; earnest, hear...   More

 

Thursday, September 27, 2012 by MATTHEW SINGER

The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best

Whining the night away.

Movie Reviews & Stories Guys like Ryan O’Nan give struggling artists a bad name. In The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best, O’Nan plays Alex, a going-nowhere musician and miserable piece of shit. A scruffily bearded whi   More

 

Wednesday, September 26, 2012 MATTHEW SINGER

W XYZ: Carry On

Bar Reviews No self-respecting Portlander should step foot inside W XYZ (9920 NE Cascades Parkway, 200-5678, wxyzportland.com). Located adjacent to the airport in the lobby of the tacky Aloft Hotel, it’s a    More

 

Wednesday, September 26, 2012 MATTHEW SINGER