Features - December 2006
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PopMatters Picks: The Best Music of 2006
Series edited and produced by Zeth Lundy, Robert Wheaton and Sarah Zupko.
[23.Dec.06] :. PopMatters presents the best music of 2006 in a two-week series that began last week and has included the best 60 records of 2006, the best 20 reissues and numerous genre top 10s.
On tap today: the best and worst musical events of the year.
Theater
Rock of Stages: Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Lust
By Nina Shen Rastogi
[22.Dec.06] :. Can Duncan Sheik -- assisted by a fleet of 100-year-old horny German teens -- save the rock musical from itself?
Film
A Guide to the Lesser Woody Allen Films
By Michael Buening
[21.Dec.06] :. The Film Forum has programmed a full-scale Woody Allen retrospective titled "Essentially Woody" featuring all the movies you've already seen. So, Buening provides a brief guide to all the Woody Allen films you didn't know existed.
Film
Legendary Weapons of Hong Kong
By Michael Buening
[19.Dec.06] :. Roaming North America like David Carradine, delivering kung fu and gravity-resistant swordfights, UCLA's second entry in its outstanding "Shaw Brothers' Heroic Grace" series brought its Iron Fist technique to New York's BAMcinématek.
Music
Surround Sound #9: Hodgepodge
By Kevin Jagernauth
[18.Dec.06] :. The latest Surround Sound installment tackles a hodgepodge of kids movies, TV shows, indie flicks, and more.
Music
Kill the House Lights: An Interview With Britt Daniel
By Eddie Ciminelli
[17.Dec.06] :. Spoon's frontman explains his involvement with the new film Stranger Than Fiction and his love for an unlikely soundtrack.
TV
The Lonely Tree: The Story of A Charlie Brown Christmas
By Brian Heater
[14.Dec.06] :. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Woodstock each did their stint as a lonely Mexican cowboy, it seems. These and other things you didn't know about A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Music
A Different Symphony Every Day: An Interview with Juana Molina
By Scott Wright
[13.Dec.06] :. Argentine Juana Molina has made the rare transition from sitcom star to one-woman experimental band.
Music
Roll Over, Courtesy of Beethoven
By Tony Sclafani
[12.Dec.06] :. Bedtime Beats is a mega-mellow classical music CD designed to put listeners to sleep. Sound boring? Well, that’s the point. Here, a look at the science behind soporific sounds.
Culture
A Freight Train of Hate
By Katherine Goktepe
[8.Dec.06] :. Michael Richards's racist outburst made him a scapegoat, but not in the way those who regard him as the "real victim" think.
Film
Bringing Short Films to a Mailbox Near You: An Interview with Karl Mechem
By Shaun Huston
[8.Dec.06] :. Does the short film have a reputable future beyond stupid human tricks on YouTube?
Music
Red Wine and a Frozen Hand: An Interview with Emily Haines
By Ryan S. Henriquez
[7.Dec.06] :. Emily Haines goes solo, but she doesn't leave her friends behind. It seems like she likes people.
Music
Concept Albums Are Once Again in Vogue in the Digital Age
By Ben Wener
[7.Dec.06] :. At a time when we're led to believe iTunes and file swapping will eventually bring about the death of the album, why is it that more and more artists seem to be bucking that system by releasing lengthy works that demand prolonged attention?
Music
Shoebox Electronics
By Sarah Feldman
[6.Dec.06] :. Eschewing gentle, ambient electronics for disruptive, non-musical noise, these albums turn the intimacy of bedroom folk against itself.
DVDs
Won’t Somebody Please Think of the Children?
By Roger Holland
[6.Dec.06] :. As our inner Helen Lovejoy knows full well, Christmas Is For Thee Children. So what on earth can we pick up for our kids from Wal-Mart that'll fit into an SUV laden with goodies from the Pottery Barn and beyond? Well, DVDs. Obv. And why not start with the Christmas Classics?
Music
King of Techno: An Interview with Laurent Garnier
By Liz Ohanesian
[5.Dec.06] :. The DJ understands the need for telling a story and making a statement. With his live sets, a new release, a radio station, and a book, he's finding plenty of opportunity to do so.
Music
Harold Bloom and Hardcore
By Kenneth Smallwood
[4.Dec.06] :. Hardcore punk has sought to reject inevitable impact of influence, regarding it as sellout conformity. But anxiety over influence conforms with a longstanding poetic tradition of rejecting artistic heritage.
Music
Music lovers mourn ‘whole universe’ of jazz history destroyed in Katrina
By Howard Reich
[4.Dec.06] :. As New Orleans struggles to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, one of the great casualties of the storm is starting to emerge: the loss of the documents and ephemera that chronicled New Orleans' distinctive musical life.
Music
This is the Radio’s Clash - The Singles Box Set
By Bill Gibron
[1.Dec.06] :. Audacious, angry and all-encompassing, the music of The Clash transcended categorization to represent the best of British punk. But they were much more than some simple, three chord thrash, as a new box set focusing exclusively on their 45rpm single output proves.
TV
Sing Along with Buffy
By Anthony Letizia
[1.Dec.06] :. How exactly did a cheerleading assassin of the undead become a Rocky Horror cult musical hit?

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