This isn’t a country — this is America, and America is a business.” Jackie Cogan confidently says these words in a run-down bar in the heart of a post-Katrina New Orleans as a TV in the background shows Barack Obama delivering a campaign speech during the 2008 presidential race. Taking Read More…
This year marks the 100th birthday of America’s traveling troubadour, a man literally born from dust and shaped by the land — a man named Woody Guthrie. In timely fashion, UC Berkeley’s Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies premiered “Woody Guthrie’s American Song” this past Friday in what was Read More…
Only a few years after being released from a contract with Atlantic Records that held him in a state of creative imprisonment, New York rapper Saigon has released his sophomore album, The Greatest Story Never Told Chapter 2: Bread and Circuses. In an apparent effort to blitz the hip-hop world, Read More…
The term “up-and- coming” is often thrown around to describe Kendrick Lamar. With the release of his first major label studio album good kid m.A.A.d city, it’s safe to say that the Compton rapper has arrived. Lamar follows his critically acclaimed Section.80 with a head-bobbing emotional expose that masterfully walks Read More…
The xx What does it mean to be the closing act at a major festival? It means you’re the shit. The xx came on stage Sunday night to the festivals largest crowd. When the trio took their positions, a giant illuminated plexiglass “X” towered behind them; in front of them Read More…
The SF International South Asian Film Festival runs Sept. 19-23 and 30. Here is a selection of films being shown. Jagte Raho When: Sept. 23, 12:15 pm, Where: Little Roxie Theater “Jagte Raho” is a 1956 film directed by Amit Maitra and Sombhu Mitra. The film stars “The Showman,” also known as the great Read More…
Four years after the largely disappointing “Miracle at St. Anna,” director Spike Lee has returned with a film resembling many of his past classics. “Red Hook Summer” embodies Lee’s legendary ability to make a small film seem larger than life. A plunge into the rough and tumble Brooklyn neighborhood of Read More…
Almost exactly a year ago, the remaining members of Sublime, Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh, rose from a perpetual sleep and released an album entitled Yours Truly. The band featured 24-year-old Rome Ramirez as lead singer, an unofficial heir to the throne once occupied by the late Bradley Nowell. A Read More…
Every artist dreams of creating an album with no expiration date, to compose something that holds as much relevance 20 years in the future as it does now. In his latest album, Fortune, Chris Brown manages to do everything possible to make sure that the shelf life for his product Read More…
Men, women and children parade through the streets of a swampy neighborhood, and homemade alcoholic beverages are consumed in unmarked bottles, the children burn Roman candles as they run. This community is called the Bathtub, and life is different here. First-time director Benh Zeitlin creates an expressive and signature film Read More…
