Artsweek

May 6, 2004

Van Helsing | Monster Mash

By Aaron Vaccaro

Upon entering a screening of "Van Helsing," I can honestly say that I had never been as excited to see a movie with Dracula, Wolfman and Frankenstein since the 1987 film classic "The Monster Squad."

May 6, 2004

Huge in Japan

By Jessica Jardine

There are bands that claim Santa Barbara as their home turf and end up making it big that you'd rather not hear a great deal from - ahem, Trapt - and then there are bands like Sugarcult who've found international and com...

May 6, 2004

David Cross | It’s Not Funny | Sub Pop

By Alex Scordelis

I'm not sure if any official declaration has been made, but I am pretty sure that there is a war being waged among our nation's comedians.

May 6, 2004

The Magnetic Fields | i | Nonesuch

By Colin Marshall

After 69 Love Songs, the Magnetic Fields' three-disc 1999 epic, fans of singer/songwriter/instrumentalist/band mastermind Stephin Merritt could only have had one question floating in their minds: "Where," one might well ...

May 6, 2004

Patti Smith | Trampin’ | Columbia

By Jory Dominguez

Poet-cum-rocker Patti Smith has produced another brilliant album. The tracks on Trampin' cohere with a finesse that comes from 30 years of creating both art and music and maintaining their points of intersection.

May 6, 2004

KCSB Top Ten

By system

April 29, 2004

The great BIG LIST issue!!

By system

You can call it laziness if you like, but it came time for Artsweek to recognize the almighty power of the Top 10 List. The Top 10 List has become a distinguishing feature of a generation in love with pop culture but ent...

April 29, 2004

Office Supplies Laughs

By Shade Remelin

In between campaigning for a pre-posthumous beatifying for Posh and Becks and secretly hoping for Prince William to slip and sprain his knee, the Brits managed to produce "The Office," an unassuming name for a television...

April 29, 2004

Walken on the Wild Side

By Glenn Heath

Is it crazy to think Tony Scott may be one of the most underrated Hollywood directors of the past 20 years? His brother Ridley Scott ("Gladiator") gets all the acclaim, but Artsweek prefers Tony, who undeniably has the g...

April 29, 2004

Alkaline Trio and One Man Army | BYO Split Series: Volume V | BYO

By Brenna Boyce

Melodrama is a tactic used best by those with the artistic ability to direct such feelings in a productive way, creating work that is either tongue-in-cheek hilarious or deliciously depressing.

April 29, 2004

The Catheters | Howling… It Grows and Grows!!! | Sub Pop

By Jory Dominguez

The Catheters are an underrated, four-member Seattle, Wash., outfit currently touring in support of this, their second - and second horribly titled - album to be released on Sub Pop Records.

April 29, 2004

Loretta Lynn | Van Lear Rose | Interscope

By Alex Scordelis

Let's face it: The Nashville country music industry is one of the most despicable operations in show business today. While Nashville force-feeds America the glitz of Shania Twain and the grunt of Toby Keith, authentic co...

April 22, 2004

I’ll Take a Vowell, Please

By Jessica Jardine

Being on the phone with best-selling author and radio goddess Sarah Vowell is an experience akin to talking to that girl who sometimes sits by you in section and always seems to be so particularly fascinating that you ju...

April 22, 2004

Battle over Spilled Blood

By Drew Mackie

Tokyo, Japan: Uma Thurman slices through throngs of Yakuza, severing heads and literally painting the room red. Jerusalem, about 2,000 years earlier: Jesus Christ shakes in agony as Roman soldiers pound those infamous ni...

April 22, 2004

Bowie Brings a Breath of Fresh Air

By Colin Marshall

In today's troubled musical climate, one wonders how to escape the choking morass of teenage weltschmerz, slipshod technical ability and half-baked political dissent so prevalent in live shows.

April 22, 2004

Living Legends | Creative Differences | Legendary Music

By Christopher Flora-Tostado

On their new album, the Living Legends eight-member crew, whose home turf includes the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Europe and even Japan, manage to live up to their rather lofty name.