Community Arts

Here's to Fu: Fighters for the rock ethos

By -Val Tsoutsouris and Val Tsoutouris · Wednesday, July 30,2003 7:59 p.m.

Fu Manchu is one of those bands that has no real songs, just a sound. Songs begin with nuclear, lysergic, instantly familiar, epic, bong-fueled, puppy-neutering guitar riffs.

Sad demise marks Hearts' pop

By Jessica Halverson · Wednesday, July 30,2003 7:58 p.m.

So, it's hard to write a review of a band that just passed away. Heading out to tour following their first LP release, the Exploding Hearts lost three members (Matt Fitzgerald, bass and vocals, Adam Cox, guitar and lead vocals, and Jeremy Gage, drums) to an automobile accident on the way home from a show in San Francisco. Surviving are Terry Six, guitar, and Rachelle Ramos, manager.

This one has few 'Cheap Thrills'

By -Val Tsoutsouris and Val Tsoutouris · Wednesday, July 30,2003 7:57 p.m.

It's hard to root against Cheap Trick. It recorded one of rock's all-time great live albums, 1979's Live at Budokan.

The Kills have no fills, no frills

By -Val Tsoutsouris and Val Tsoutouris · Wednesday, July 30,2003 7:56 p.m.

The Kills might be like The White Stripes, but a big difference is that The White Stripes are famous and The Kills are still obscure. The Kills have an outlaw personality, which might make them less viable commercially. In fact, their song "Jewel Thief" is what Bonnie and Clyde might sound like if they could rock.

Cycling and techno mingle in 'France'

Wednesday, July 30,2003 7:55 p.m.

The Kraftwerk single and its latest album's title track, "Tour de France 03," is a Tour de Fun. The song follows in the tradition of Kraftwerk's minimal beat style, however it has been updated to fit with the times. Kraftwerk seems to have been influenced by current trends in electronic music, even though it helped pioneer the genre in the early '70s.

Disco for the youth

By Jessica Halverson · Wednesday, July 30,2003 7:54 p.m.

Consisting of two tracks, "Me and Giuliani Down by the Schoolyard (A True Story)" and "Intensifieder (Sunracapellectrohshit mix 03)" !!! (pronounced "chk chk chk")'s new EP runs a pleased with itself 18-minutes long.

Dylan is battered and covered

By Michael Tapscott · Wednesday, July 30,2003 7:53 p.m.

Masked and Anonymous is the soundtrack to a film directed by former sitcom writer Larry Charles. Bob Dylan stars in the film as (what else) a former guiding light, singer-songwriter in a Civil War-torn, ambiguously diverse, future America.

Girl Power that lives up to its name

By -Paul Straw · Wednesday, July 30,2003 7:51 p.m.

There is a lot of crap packaged as chick flicks. Forget "Charlie's Angels" and "Legally Blonde 2," "Whale Rider" beats them both. Don't even lump this into the same genre. Despite its girl power themes, "Whale Rider" is so much more than that.

The subversive little world of 'Spy Kids'

By Michael Tapscott · Wednesday, July 30,2003 7:50 p.m.

Let's get it out of the way that "Spy Kids 3-D" is a terrible movie. Writer, director and 3-D artiste Richard Rodriguez phoned the third film of the series in, creating a movie that is visually nauseating and completely lacking in anything even a child would consider a plot.

Jolie makes a bad career move

By Jake Bilinski · Wednesday, July 30,2003 7:49 p.m.

Someone please tell me why it is that video game to film adaptations always seem to suck. The latest installment of the "Tomb Raider" series manages to fall infinitely short of its predecessor, which was in itself easily forgettable if not mildly entertaining.

'Seabiscuit:' Yet another reason to read

By -Alec Toombs · Wednesday, July 30,2003 7:48 p.m.

Three men suffering through the hardships of the Great Depression find solace in a common good. Strangely, the lynchpin that holds these downtrodden figures together happens to be of the equine variety.

'Not Everybody Loves Raymond'

By C. Warner Sills and Brian Elliott · Wednesday, July 30,2003 7:37 p.m.

Movies and television are big parts of my life. Certainly not the most important part, but I love seeing weekly episodes of "The Sopranos" and despite my problems with the ticket prices and commercials at the beginning of movies, I still think of going to the theater as a special treat.

Fighting King George

By Jessica Halverson · Wednesday, July 30,2003 7:35 p.m.

It wasn't as smoky as I thought it would be in the small backroom at Bear's Place last Wednesday for the return of the Booze.

Don't mess with Texas

By -Paul Straw · Wednesday, July 30,2003 7:34 p.m.

Kevin Spacey is a great actor who has made his mark in many great movies such as "The Usual Suspects," "Seven," "L.A. Confidential" and "American Beauty" to name a few. In fact, he's carved out such a niche for himself that by simply being in a movie it will have a twist ending. "The Life of David Gale" is no exception, as Spacey plays the titular character, a man sentenced to be executed, who may or may not be guilty of murder.

Censorship sinks drug-fueled flick

By by Isaac Edwards and Isaac Edwards · Wednesday, July 30,2003 7:33 p.m.

The directorial debut of Jonas Åkerlund, "Spun" is based on the true epic meth binge of its screenwriter, Will De Los Santos. Åkerlund has managed to capture one of the most repulsively kitschy cool atmospheres since Harmony Korine demonized Mulberry in "Gummo."

'Phantom Power' falters

By Seth Forster · Wednesday, July 30,2003 7:27 p.m.

The Super Furry Animals are another one of those bands who receive quite a lot of critical praise for what's in its record collection and what elements of that collection show up on their records.

Not so addictive anymore

By Seth Forster · Wednesday, July 30,2003 7:26 p.m.

It's been quite a long vacation for Jane's Addiction. If you don't remember the Jane's, after all it's been about 12 years, think Red Hot Chili Peppers with more hair, musically that is, and less funk.

'Murder, Mayhem and Madness' is riveting

Monday, July 28,2003 5:23 p.m.

The Bloomington Playrights Project's newest ensemble of four plays, all united under the theme "Murder, Mayhem and Madness," is for fans of bloodcurdling scenes, twisted plots and macabre endings. The location itself of the BPP reminded me of some sort of underground club, as you are led from a bright, well-lit front room into a dark, dusty, semi-creepy stage area filled with murmuring patrons.

U.S. troops come close to catching top Saddam bodyguard; marine killed

By D’arcy Doran · Sunday, July 27,2003 10:10 p.m.

TIKRIT, Iraq -- U.S. soldiers said they missed catching Saddam Hussein's security chief -- and possibly the former Iraqi president himself -- by a mere 24 hours early Sunday, while a U.S. Marine was killed in a grenade attack south of Baghdad. Troops stormed three farms in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, in simultaneous pre-dawn raids after receiving a tip that Saddam's new security chief was staying at one of the farm houses, said Lt. Col. Steve Russell, who led the operation by the of the 4th Infantry.

Suicide bomber detonates explosives

By Sergei Venyavsky · Sunday, July 27,2003 10:09 p.m.

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia -- A female suicide bomber blew herself up Sunday near a base of a security force commanded by a son of Chechnya's Kremlin-appointed administration chief, wounding a woman who was nearby, officials said. The attack, which occurred southeast of the provincial capital of Grozny, appeared aimed at the administration chief Akhmad Kadyrov's son, Ramzan, Chechnya's Emergency Situations Minister Ruslan Avtayev said.