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I keep struggling to make time in the day to review new (or recent) records that I like. But like everything else I do, I labor over reviews like I’m giving birth and writing the constitution for a new nation at the same time. Henceforth, I will recommend CDs that …

I am not particularly a fan of Pink Floyd’s The Wall – I see it as a rather tuneless and humorless exercise in introspective self-pity by Roger Waters that destroyed the band. It does, however, work rather better as a stage production. The ’90 Berlin performance is spectacular and the …

(In which our intrepid manga explorer is driven into momentarily reminiscing about Julie Newmar.)

Charlie Daniels has been among the more vocal pro-war musicians since 9/11: Why you bunch of pitiful, hypocritical, idiotic, spoiled mugwumps. Get your head out of the sand and smell the Trade Towers burning. Do you think that a trip to Iraq by Sean Penn did anything but encourage a …

Filming is already underway on the fourth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Ralph Fiennes has been cast as the dreaded Lord Voldemort, Potter’s lethal nemesis: In the first three films, only Voldemort’s spirit has been visible, but he returns in the flesh for the …

In comparison to the often bizarre noises emanating from the heyday of SST by the likes of the Minutemen, Black Flag, Meat Puppets, and to a lesser extent Husker Du, the Descendents were a user friendly, girls-and-growing-up punk band, writing short, playful, tight numbers from the perspective of the eternally …

Dave Chappelle, 30, snags a two-year deal with Comedy Central that could be worth $50m: The new contract is believed to mark not only a steep increase for Chappelle as star, writer, co-executive producer and co-creator of “Chappelle’s Show,” but more significantly, reward him with a hefty chunk of the …

Looking at it from the meta position, I think it’s fascinating how politicized the nation, and in particular pop culture has become over the last year-and-a-half (since the Iraq war), which is exactly the opposite end of the spectrum from the unity brought about by the terrors of 9/11 (which …

It’s too bad the atmosphere of repression in the United States is preventing musicians from speaking out on matters political: In an unprecedented series of concerts in nine swing states, more than 20 musical acts — including Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam and the Dixie Chicks — will perform fund-raising concerts …

American Idol’s first mass audition of the new season is going on as we speak at Browns Stadium in Cleveland. They began lining up yesterday at 6am, 26 hours before the auditions were to begin today at 8am. Police estimated the hot, sweaty, musical crowd of hopefuls lined up around …