Friday, June 29, 2007
Memphis: Harmony and Dissension in the Capital of Soul
 | >>This is an excerpt from the latest issue of Rolling When the Southern kids returned home, they discovered the psychedelic haze that was sweeping the nation was slowly drifting into Memphis, swelling the number of hippies who congregated around the art academy and sandal shop off Beale Street. Drawn by bands like the Insect Trust or Funky Down Home and the Electric Blue Watermelon, the newcomers transformed what was a quiet freak scene into something colorful... |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
New York: The Gritty Radicalism of 1967
 | >>This is an excerpt from the latest issue of Rolling If New York did not have as well-defined a scene as Summer of Love hot spots such as San Francisco and London, it had a great deal more going for it. One factor was the avant-garde movement that centered on Andy Warhol and his studio, the Factory. Warhol became a vortex around which hustlers, glamorous society girls and artistic subversives like the Velvet Underground all spun. A conceptual genius, Warhol... |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Los Angeles: High Times In Laurel Canyon And On The Sunset Strip
 | >>This is an excerpt from the latest issue of Rolling When John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas sang the August |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Baron Wolman: An Interview with Rolling Stone's First Chief Photographer
 | >>View classic Baron Wolman photographs In early 1967, Baron Wolman was a freelance photographer living in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, a few doors down from Janis Joplin and just around the corner from the Grateful Dead. Wolman was passionate about rock and roll � just like a young journalist and Berkeley dropout named Jann Wenner, whom Wolman met in April, 1967 at a Rock and Roll symposium at Mills College. "After the conference, Jann told me his idea for a magazine.... |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Exclusive Audio: Jann Wenner's 1968 Interview with Pete Townshend
 | In honor of Rolling Stone's 40th Anniversary we're posting audio from a couple of classic interviews: Here's an excerpt from Pete Townshend's famous 1968 sit-down with RS founder Jann Wenner in which he first laid out his ideas for what would become the rock opera Tommy. But first, here's Wenner's original introduction to the The who are the best-known and most brilliant expression of |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
La Vie en Rose (La Mome)
 | Starring: Marion Cotillard, G�rard Depardieu, Sylvie Testud, Clotilde Coura... Review: The troubled life of French songbird Edith Piaf, who died in 1963 at forty-eight, had enough drama to fill a dozen movies. Her upbringing in a brothel, followed by bruising encounters with sex, booze and drugs, created a voice that touched the world with hits such as "La Vie en Rose," "Milord" and "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien." Somehow Olivier Dahan's impressionistic heartbreaker of a movie gets it all in. And Marion Cotillard, lip-syncing Piaf's songs and digging into her soul with gale-force urgency, gives a performance for the ages. Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Evan Almighty
 | Starring: Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman, Lauren Graham, John Goodman, John M... Review: It's too lame to be mighty, except in budget that is. At a reported $175 million, the shamelessly juvenile, pseudo-religious, mock-sincere Evan Almighty -- an update on Noah's Ark for Christian-conservative families everywhere -- is the most expensive Hollywood comedy ever made. Problem? It's not that funny. I compute that every laugh cost about $20 million. And most of those of are poop jokes. Let me back up a bit. In 2003, Jim Carrey hit paydirt with Bruce Almighty, playing a TV reporter who cursed God. The deity appeared to him in the imposing form of Morgan Freeman and told him to try playing God for a while. Lesson learned. A sequel didn't interest Carrey (wise man), so Steve Carell, who costarred in Bruce as another TV airhead, was coaxed into duty. What luck since The... Rating: 1 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
1408
 | Starring: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Jasmine Jessica Anthony, Christop... Review: John Cusack checks into Room 1408 at Manhattan's posh Dolphin Hotel and finds that the joint is jumpin' with ghosts who will do their damnedest to make sure the dude will not get out alive. It's a hellish premise, just the wicked mastery you expect from Stephen King, whose short story gives this mindbender its spine. King's recent work has been royally botched onscreen (hello, Secret Window, Needful Things and Dreamcatcher). Not this time. For that all praise to Cusack, who brings his welcome smartass savvy to the role of Mike Enslin, the author of bestsellers that debunk the idea of things that go bump in the night. Mike has his own demons, notably the death of his daughter (Jasmine Jessica Anthony), a tragic event that shattered his marriage to Lily (Mary McCormack). He makes... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Ratatouille
 | Starring: Patton Oswalt, Brian Dennehy, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, Ian... Review: Thanks to this new miracle in animation from Pixar, the next time you see a rat scurry across a restaurant floor you?ll end up smiling appreciatively instead of screaming for the Board of Health. I?m only half kidding. Remy (voiced by comedian Patton Oswalt) is a French rat with a dream to become a master chef. And by the time Remy follows his dream to Paris, captured by the animators with a swoony loveliness that makes you want to dive into the screen, you?ll be rooting for Remy. Look, Mickey did OK for a mouse. Why not screen immortality for a rat? The folks at Disney who are releasing this unique and unmissable film would like you to pronounce the title the more rodent-centric rat-a-too-ee instead of the traditional ra-ta-touille, which is merely a peasant stew of eggplant, tomatoes, g... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Live Free or Die Hard
 | Starring: Bruce Willis, Justin Long, Maggie Q, Yancey Arias, Yorgo Constant... Review: It's easy to joke about Bruce Willis, now past fifty, returning for a fourth chapter in the Die Hard series. It's been a dozen years since the last one. Shouldn't Willis be winded by now or prepping for AARP meetings? Even his former wife Demi Moore married a younger man. OK, I said the jokes were easy. Know what? Willis gets the last laugh. Live Free or Die Hard may not be much a movie -- it's a series of increasingly nutty stunts clumsily strung together -- but Brucie boy is truly an analog hero in a digital age. The role of no-frills New York police detective John McClane still fits him like a glove and he looks as fit as a guy half his age. What's your secret, dude? There's no secret about the movie. It's another techno-thriller with Die Hard slapped across the... Rating: 2 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Fast Food Nation
 | Starring: Wilmer Valderrama, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Greg Kinnear, Luis Gu... Review: This fictionalized adaptation of the best-selling book is an uneven affair. But when it works, it's a brilliant expos� of the horrors of industrialized food in America. The undeniably gross message is delivered by Bruce Willis, who explains that "there's always been a little shit in the meat." And by saving the slaughterhouse crucible for last, the filmmakers ensure the squeamish won't leave before a character must sort the kidney out of a cow's guts. Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Curse of the Golden Flower
 | Starring: Chow Yun Fat, Gong Li Review: There's a Chinese proverb that sums up director Yimou Zhang's visual masterpiece: gold and jade on the outside, rot and decay within. That's life in China's Forbiden city for the royal family; a place where the emperor (Chow Yun Fat) and his empress, Phoenix (Gong Li) intrigue against one another, in a bloody family feud. There's terrible secrets, scheming princes and some of the epic battles. The set is so damn spectacular and the supersaturated colors so vibrant that you'll wish these characte... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
The Good Shepherd
 | Starring: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie Review: Robert De Niro's second stint sitting in a director's chair is an overly ambitious tale of the first decades of the CIA, told through the eyes of fictional agent Edward Wilson (Matt Damon). De Niro's a skilled director, and as in a Bronx Tale, he shows a particular sesnitivity for father/son, mentor/student relationships. There is much to praise in Shepherd: the acting is excellent, particularly Damon's iceman of a spy and the cinematography amazing but the non-sequential narrative gets way too... Rating: 2 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Blood Diamond
 | Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou Review: "In America it's bling bling, but out here it's bling bang," says Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) in this action-packed flick about Africa's corrupt diamond trade. Archer goes on the search for a priceless stone with an escaped miner (Djimon Hounsou) who only wants to find his missing son. While DiCaprio's Afrikaaner accent is uneven, it is Hounsou's performance that's unforgettable. Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Volver
 | Starring: Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura Review: Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar's latest ode to women-in-peril is as clever as anything he's done. Penelope Cruz shines as the heroine confronted with an abusive husband, the madness of a patricidal daughter , the death of a senile aunt, and the return of Cruz' mother from the "grave." But Almodovar leavens all this drama with his own quirky humor. Hate chick flicks? Volver will change your mind. Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Children of Men
 | Starring: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore Review: Just in case you're one of the deprived who let Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men slip by at the multiplex, grab this DVD and hold on for rock-the-house image and sound. It's a ride, but not quite what you expect. This tale of a futuristic dystopia is the anti-Blade Runner. The focus isn't in the action up front, it's there in the background where the film's themes take root. Cuaron, filling every frame with his passion and intellect, takes on a 1992 novel by P.D. James set in 2027 in... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Beastie Boys - The Mix Up
 | Artist: Beastie Boys Review: Ten years ago, when the Beastie Boys ruled the world, they let Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
 | Artist: Sonic Youth Review: Loosed on the world in 1988, Daydream Nation made Rating: 5 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
The Traveling Wilburys - Traveling Wilburys - Vol. 1
 | Artist: The Traveling Wilburys Review: Two of the original five Wilburys have moseyed on, Rating: 2 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Ben Sidran - Talking Jazz
 | Artist: Ben Sidran Review: Featuring in-depth interviews conducted by musician-journalist Rating: 3.5 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Nick Drake - Family Tree
 | Artist: Nick Drake Review: The three LPs Nick Drake had completed by the time of his 1974 Rating: 2 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
I'd Like To - Corinne Bailey Rae
 | Artist: Corinne Bailey Rae Song: I'd Like To Album: Corinne Bailey Rae |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem
 | Artist: LCD Soundsystem Song: All My Friends Album: Sound Of Silver |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Burn My Shadow - U.N.K.L.E.
 | Artist: U.N.K.L.E. Song: Burn My Shadow Album: Smile, It's The End Of The World |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Zero - Hawk Nelson
 | Artist: Hawk Nelson Song: Zero Album: Smile, It's The End Of The World |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Sugar And Spring - Ediblered
| Artist: Ediblered Song: Sugar And Spring Album: Welcome To My Bad Behavior |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Memphis: Harmony and Dissension in the Capital of Soul
| >>This is an excerpt from the latest issue of Rolling When the Southern kids returned home, they discovered the psychedelic haze that was sweeping the nation was slowly drifting into Memphis, swelling the number of hippies who congregated around the art academy and sandal shop off Beale Street. Drawn by bands like the Insect Trust or Funky Down Home and the Electric Blue Watermelon, the newcomers transformed what was a quiet freak scene into something colorful... |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
New York: The Gritty Radicalism of 1967
| >>This is an excerpt from the latest issue of Rolling If New York did not have as well-defined a scene as Summer of Love hot spots such as San Francisco and London, it had a great deal more going for it. One factor was the avant-garde movement that centered on Andy Warhol and his studio, the Factory. Warhol became a vortex around which hustlers, glamorous society girls and artistic subversives like the Velvet Underground all spun. A conceptual genius, Warhol... |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Los Angeles: High Times In Laurel Canyon And On The Sunset Strip
| >>This is an excerpt from the latest issue of Rolling When John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas sang the August |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Baron Wolman: An Interview with Rolling Stone's First Chief Photographer
| >>View classic Baron Wolman photographs In early 1967, Baron Wolman was a freelance photographer living in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, a few doors down from Janis Joplin and just around the corner from the Grateful Dead. Wolman was passionate about rock and roll � just like a young journalist and Berkeley dropout named Jann Wenner, whom Wolman met in April, 1967 at a Rock and Roll symposium at Mills College. "After the conference, Jann told me his idea for a magazine.... |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Exclusive Audio: Jann Wenner's 1968 Interview with Pete Townshend
| In honor of Rolling Stone's 40th Anniversary we're posting audio from a couple of classic interviews: Here's an excerpt from Pete Townshend's famous 1968 sit-down with RS founder Jann Wenner in which he first laid out his ideas for what would become the rock opera Tommy. But first, here's Wenner's original introduction to the The who are the best-known and most brilliant expression of |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Mr. Brooks
 | Starring: Kevin Costner, Demi Moore, Dane Cook, William Hurt, Marg Helgenbe... Review: Listen to me: trash can surprise you. So don't get all elitist about the so-called cheap thrills in Mr. Brooks. The film, directed by Bruce A. Evans, who co-wrote the screenplay for Stand by Me, is out to trigger shocks of recognition. Kevin Costner is off the hook as Earl Brooks -- by day a devoted husband, father and businessman, by night a serial killer with a taste for kink. Costner's career is enjoying a second wind that started with 2005's Upside of Anger. Age (he's fifty-two) has opened him up more to risk. Not since 1993, when director Clint Eastwood brought out his dark side in A Perfect World, has Costner veered so far from the straight and narrow. Depravity becomes him. You don't expect raw brutality from a man who prides himself on his corporate face. Or, as this movie wittily... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
La Vie en Rose (La Mome)
| Starring: Marion Cotillard, G�rard Depardieu, Sylvie Testud, Clotilde Coura... Review: The troubled life of French songbird Edith Piaf, who died in 1963 at forty-eight, had enough drama to fill a dozen movies. Her upbringing in a brothel, followed by bruising encounters with sex, booze and drugs, created a voice that touched the world with hits such as "La Vie en Rose," "Milord" and "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien." Somehow Olivier Dahan's impressionistic heartbreaker of a movie gets it all in. And Marion Cotillard, lip-syncing Piaf's songs and digging into her soul with gale-force urgency, gives a performance for the ages. Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Evan Almighty
| Starring: Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman, Lauren Graham, John Goodman, John M... Review: It's too lame to be mighty, except in budget that is. At a reported $175 million, the shamelessly juvenile, pseudo-religious, mock-sincere Evan Almighty -- an update on Noah's Ark for Christian-conservative families everywhere -- is the most expensive Hollywood comedy ever made. Problem? It's not that funny. I compute that every laugh cost about $20 million. And most of those of are poop jokes. Let me back up a bit. In 2003, Jim Carrey hit paydirt with Bruce Almighty, playing a TV reporter who cursed God. The deity appeared to him in the imposing form of Morgan Freeman and told him to try playing God for a while. Lesson learned. A sequel didn't interest Carrey (wise man), so Steve Carell, who costarred in Bruce as another TV airhead, was coaxed into duty. What luck since The... Rating: 1 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
1408
| Starring: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Jasmine Jessica Anthony, Christop... Review: John Cusack checks into Room 1408 at Manhattan's posh Dolphin Hotel and finds that the joint is jumpin' with ghosts who will do their damnedest to make sure the dude will not get out alive. It's a hellish premise, just the wicked mastery you expect from Stephen King, whose short story gives this mindbender its spine. King's recent work has been royally botched onscreen (hello, Secret Window, Needful Things and Dreamcatcher). Not this time. For that all praise to Cusack, who brings his welcome smartass savvy to the role of Mike Enslin, the author of bestsellers that debunk the idea of things that go bump in the night. Mike has his own demons, notably the death of his daughter (Jasmine Jessica Anthony), a tragic event that shattered his marriage to Lily (Mary McCormack). He makes... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Ratatouille
| Starring: Patton Oswalt, Brian Dennehy, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, Ian... Review: Thanks to this new miracle in animation from Pixar, the next time you see a rat scurry across a restaurant floor you?ll end up smiling appreciatively instead of screaming for the Board of Health. I?m only half kidding. Remy (voiced by comedian Patton Oswalt) is a French rat with a dream to become a master chef. And by the time Remy follows his dream to Paris, captured by the animators with a swoony loveliness that makes you want to dive into the screen, you?ll be rooting for Remy. Look, Mickey did OK for a mouse. Why not screen immortality for a rat? The folks at Disney who are releasing this unique and unmissable film would like you to pronounce the title the more rodent-centric rat-a-too-ee instead of the traditional ra-ta-touille, which is merely a peasant stew of eggplant, tomatoes, g... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Live Free or Die Hard
| Starring: Bruce Willis, Justin Long, Maggie Q, Yancey Arias, Yorgo Constant... Review: It's easy to joke about Bruce Willis, now past fifty, returning for a fourth chapter in the Die Hard series. It's been a dozen years since the last one. Shouldn't Willis be winded by now or prepping for AARP meetings? Even his former wife Demi Moore married a younger man. OK, I said the jokes were easy. Know what? Willis gets the last laugh. Live Free or Die Hard may not be much a movie -- it's a series of increasingly nutty stunts clumsily strung together -- but Brucie boy is truly an analog hero in a digital age. The role of no-frills New York police detective John McClane still fits him like a glove and he looks as fit as a guy half his age. What's your secret, dude? There's no secret about the movie. It's another techno-thriller with Die Hard slapped across the... Rating: 2 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Fast Food Nation
| Starring: Wilmer Valderrama, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Greg Kinnear, Luis Gu... Review: This fictionalized adaptation of the best-selling book is an uneven affair. But when it works, it's a brilliant expos� of the horrors of industrialized food in America. The undeniably gross message is delivered by Bruce Willis, who explains that "there's always been a little shit in the meat." And by saving the slaughterhouse crucible for last, the filmmakers ensure the squeamish won't leave before a character must sort the kidney out of a cow's guts. Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Curse of the Golden Flower
| Starring: Chow Yun Fat, Gong Li Review: There's a Chinese proverb that sums up director Yimou Zhang's visual masterpiece: gold and jade on the outside, rot and decay within. That's life in China's Forbiden city for the royal family; a place where the emperor (Chow Yun Fat) and his empress, Phoenix (Gong Li) intrigue against one another, in a bloody family feud. There's terrible secrets, scheming princes and some of the epic battles. The set is so damn spectacular and the supersaturated colors so vibrant that you'll wish these characte... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
The Good Shepherd
| Starring: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie Review: Robert De Niro's second stint sitting in a director's chair is an overly ambitious tale of the first decades of the CIA, told through the eyes of fictional agent Edward Wilson (Matt Damon). De Niro's a skilled director, and as in a Bronx Tale, he shows a particular sesnitivity for father/son, mentor/student relationships. There is much to praise in Shepherd: the acting is excellent, particularly Damon's iceman of a spy and the cinematography amazing but the non-sequential narrative gets way too... Rating: 2 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Blood Diamond
| Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou Review: "In America it's bling bling, but out here it's bling bang," says Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) in this action-packed flick about Africa's corrupt diamond trade. Archer goes on the search for a priceless stone with an escaped miner (Djimon Hounsou) who only wants to find his missing son. While DiCaprio's Afrikaaner accent is uneven, it is Hounsou's performance that's unforgettable. Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Volver
| Starring: Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura Review: Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar's latest ode to women-in-peril is as clever as anything he's done. Penelope Cruz shines as the heroine confronted with an abusive husband, the madness of a patricidal daughter , the death of a senile aunt, and the return of Cruz' mother from the "grave." But Almodovar leavens all this drama with his own quirky humor. Hate chick flicks? Volver will change your mind. Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Children of Men
| Starring: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore Review: Just in case you're one of the deprived who let Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men slip by at the multiplex, grab this DVD and hold on for rock-the-house image and sound. It's a ride, but not quite what you expect. This tale of a futuristic dystopia is the anti-Blade Runner. The focus isn't in the action up front, it's there in the background where the film's themes take root. Cuaron, filling every frame with his passion and intellect, takes on a 1992 novel by P.D. James set in 2027 in... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Beastie Boys - The Mix Up
 | Artist: Beastie Boys Review: Ten years ago, when the Beastie Boys ruled the world, they let Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
| Artist: Sonic Youth Review: Loosed on the world in 1988, Daydream Nation made Rating: 5 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
The Traveling Wilburys - Traveling Wilburys - Vol. 1
| Artist: The Traveling Wilburys Review: Two of the original five Wilburys have moseyed on, Rating: 2 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Ben Sidran - Talking Jazz
| Artist: Ben Sidran Review: Featuring in-depth interviews conducted by musician-journalist Rating: 3.5 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Nick Drake - Family Tree
 | Artist: Nick Drake Review: The three LPs Nick Drake had completed by the time of his 1974 Rating: 2 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
The Prize - Joanna Cotten
 | Artist: Joanna Cotten Song: The Prize Album: Hate Writes Better Than Love |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Fall (Acoustic) - Philpot
 | Artist: Philpot Song: Fall (Acoustic) Album: Hate Writes Better Than Love |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
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