Artsweek

“Pirates” Is Captivating ****

November 19, 2009 by


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Betties Battle It Out

November 12, 2009 by

I found out about last Saturday's season-closing bout between the Mission City Brawlin' Betties and the West Coast Derby Knockouts entirely by chance. At dinner with a VP at Citrix, she casually menti...
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Pixies at the Palladium

November 12, 2009 by

Pixies, widely held to be grunge's progenitors as well as early '90s alt-rock darlings, kicked off its Doolittle tour in rollicking style last Wednesday at the Hollywood Palladium. The band's members ...
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Ordinary “Men” ** (and 1/2)

November 12, 2009 by

Maybe it's the way the author of the novel, Jon Ronson, wanted it. Maybe it's the all-star cast with the less-than-stellar script from screenwriter Peter Straughan. Either way, Grant Heslov's "The Men...
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Mickey Avalon Really Is Mr. Right

November 12, 2009 by

When Mickey Avalon took the stage Sunday at Velvet Jones co-eds started making out, tattooed women began to dance on their beau's shoulders and spastic groupies began to writhe and grind up against an...
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This Echo Is Faint **

November 12, 2009 by

After making a splash stateside last year with "Bleeding Love," UK superstar Leona Lewis hopes her sophomore album, Echo, will duplicate the success of its predecessor. The new 13-track LP finds Lewis...
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(“Untitled”) Review ***

November 12, 2009 by

"(Untitled)," the latest effort by "Bartleby" director Jonathon Parker, stars Adam Goldberg as an avant-garde composer whose atonal, anti-melodic music satirizes the bohemian Chelsea art scene.
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INTERVIEW: Exene Cervenka

November 5, 2009 by

"No one is ever going to pay you, and if you do get paid for stuff, that's good," Exene Cervenka told me the other day over the phone. "I don't even care, as long as they listen to my music. In fact, ...
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“This Is It” Is a Fitting Farewell

November 5, 2009 by

Simply put, Michael Jackson's "This Is It" is extraordinary. If there existed any skepticism before about whether or not Michael Jackson would have been unable to complete his massive tour, this film ...
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A Look at What’s To Come in Local Theater and Dance

November 5, 2009 by

November is a busy month for many students as midterms give way to term papers, and vacations wait on the horizon. However, the coming cold means much more than that for UCSB's own Dept. of Theater & ...
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News You Can Use ****

November 5, 2009 by

In a technological world with so many outlets for transmitting information and where reporting has been reduced to a synthesis of secondary sources, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times colu...
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Fall Sounds ***

November 5, 2009 by

Ola Podrida, a.k.a. musician David Wingo, makes music that fits perfectly into the mold cast for the indie-folk sound: While his latest album, Belly of the Lion, may not be incredibly original or grou...
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Britney’s Back, Bitches! ****

November 5, 2009 by

To celebrate her decade of contribution to the pop music scene, superstar (turned hot mess) Britney Spears is releasing The Singles Collection. For fans and those discovering Britney alike, The Single...
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Crappy Halloween!

October 29, 2009 by

Halloween is all about guilty pleasures, especially here in Isla Vista, which is already the year-round guilty pleasures capital of the universe.
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Hacky “Saw” Flicks Mature ***

October 29, 2009 by

"Saw" was never designed to become a franchise. The first film made a point of killing off all its main characters, save for one who was already dying of an inoperable brain tumor. But when a movie gr...
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