Virginia Yapp

April 23, 2009

Dazed and Confused in the Desert

By Amy Silverstein, Virginia Yapp, Michael Hafford

By the time Crystal Castles' set in the Sahara tent ended early Friday evening, my muscles were sore, my skin was covered in other people's sweat and one of the lenses from my prescription glasses had gone missing.&...

April 2, 2009

A Little Spring In Your Step

By Virginia Yapp

Artsweek compiles some of the season's choice entertainment for your convenience.

February 5, 2009

The Curious Case of David Fincher

By Virginia Yapp

"You kind of wonder if I should [have] been in therapy more regularly," director David Fincher cracked to an appreciative audience Friday night at the Arlington Theatre after seeing a couple clips from his filmography ru...

November 20, 2008

Art Imitates Life ****

By Virginia Yapp

Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's characters have always been insanely neurotic and self-obsessed, but his directorial debut, "Synecdoche, New York," takes the unrelenting self-examination to new heights.

October 30, 2008

The Boner Killers

By Amy Silverstein, Virginia Yapp, Sara Weitz, Darek Cioch Reporter

More likely than not, your first sex ed lesson didn't come from mommy and daddy or from your wrinkly fourth-grade teacher. Your parents sat you down in front of the boob tube and popped in a VHS while they went out to ha...

October 30, 2008

Back To Basics ***

By Virginia Yapp

Given the fact that it's been nearly a decade since alt-country troubadour Ryan Adams released the Gram Parsons-esque Heartbreaker, it seems somewhat strange that that album remains the impossibly high standard to which ...

October 16, 2008

Jolie Holland, Live at SOhO

By Virginia Yapp

"Give me that old fashioned morphine / It's good enough for me / It was good enough for Billy Burroughs / It's good enough for me," the Texan-born singer warbled with her beautiful, distinctive drawl during the last song...

October 16, 2008

Blast From the Past

By Virginia Yapp

Those attending Max Raabe's concert at downtown SB's Marjorie Luke Theater tomorrow evening may feel like they've stepped into a time warp upon initially viewing the singer and his Palast Orchester. Dressed in an impecca...

September 18, 2008

Surfing the Channel

By Virginia Yapp

To paraphrase TV lawyer Alan Shore of "Boston Legal," the best work on television today is being done on cable.

September 18, 2008

Arts in the Autumn

By Virginia Yapp

A sea of students canvassed a packed Harder Stadium one pleasantly breezy evening in late August, singing along to the summery songs of UCSB alumnus Jack Johnson's catalogue as the sun sank behind the stage. Though there...

August 30, 2008

Monopolizing Your Free Time

By Virginia Yapp

After a couple of fun, but little-remembered, Friday nights spent hovering over the beer pong tables (and, on the flipside, some Saturday mornings hovering over the communal dorm toilet bowls), you might find yourself se...

June 5, 2008

Lost Film Fest Lands at Storke Tower Bearing Radical Message

By Virginia Yapp

Are you mind-controlled? That's the question that Lost Film Fest video-jockey Scott Beibin wants an answer to, at least according to the advertisements for the unique, world-traveling, decidedly liberal show that landed ...

May 22, 2008

Extravaganza 2008

By Artsweek Editor, Virginia Yapp

A thick cloud of smoke hung over Harder Stadium's infield, where a crowd of students, community members and out-of-towners gathered for UCSB's 10th annual Extravaganza music festival.

May 22, 2008

The Lineup

By Virginia Yapp

SCREENING Head to I.V. Theater tonight at 7 to see the SoCal premiere of “Sleeping Nights Awake,” a documentary film about one of the best bands EVER (subjectively speaking, of course), Sonic Youth. The film&...

May 1, 2008

Bragging Rights

By Virginia Yapp

Growing old doesn't mean growing soft, necessarily: Established folk and rock talents like Neil Young and Billy Bragg have more than proved this in recent years, churning out virile political statements that far outstrip...

April 17, 2008

Blast Off

By Virginia Yapp

Maybe Phantom Planet was just biding its time, waiting to release its fourth album, Raise the Dead, until after "The OC" finally got kicked off the air and Seth Cohen faded from pop culture ubiquity. It's now been four y...