Published July 22nd, 2009 in My Old Kentucky Blog
Allow me to forge a fair warning: The Antlers’ Hospice is not an easy record to sit through. With the right focus, in the right mindset, this album is as powerful on the soul as climbing a mountain is on the body. This album will crush you if you don’t know what to expect.
Hospice is at once the simplest and most immense album of the year.
Published July 18th, 2009 in The Indianapolis Star
For Alphonso Wright, Christmas really does come in July.
The longtime owner of Player’s Modern Clothing, an upscale Northeastside Indianapolis men’s fashion boutique, said that in the weeks leading up to Indiana Black Expo, he sells more merchandise than during any other season — including Christmas. Even as the recession thins many Americans’ wallets, Wright’s business has increased nearly 35 percent, he said.
With finances tighter than in previous years, shoppers and businesses alike are still bracing for a big week of spending, albeit less than years before, some predict.
Published July 15th, 2009 in Metromix Indianapolis
Neko Case leads a truly exciting life.
When not on the road touring solo or with The New Pornographers, the Canadian chanteuse spends her time drinking. Drinking tea, that is.
Recently, she’s been working on a quilt for a friend’s newborn baby, and after she sorts her mail — recycling the unnecessary paper, of course — she hangs out with her favorite crew, which includes Liza, Travis, Lonny, Guy, Ira and Rhoda.
These are Neko Case’s cats and dogs.
“I know, my life is wild,” she said. “I’m sorry if I’m blowing your mind right now.”
Published June 10th, 2009 in Metromix Indianapolis
Though only the four members of psychedelic rock group Grizzly Bear took the stage June 9 in Bloomington’s Buskirk-Chumley Theater, they sounded like an army.
The Brooklyn band’s buzz has severely snowballed since its latest album, Veckatimest, was released last month, and its set proved the hype worthwhile.
Published March 25th, 2009 in The Pitt News
A&E Editor Justin Jacobs traveled to Guatemala during Spring Break, volunteering with 10 other Pitt students to help build a reservoir in an impoverished town. These three columns ran in The Pitt News on March 25-27, 2009.
Published November 4th, 2008 in The Pitt News
Pitt sophomore Rose Kalgren and senior Yanni Hronas are bobbing in the deep end of the Trees Hall pool waiting patiently for Intermediate Swimming class to end. Four minutes left. The rest of the class has already quit treading — the final exercise of the day — and hangs, near-silently, onto the side.
“Trickle down economics is the only plan that’s ever worked in this country,” says Hronas, his right arm coming out of the water to emphasize his point.
“But the wealthy can afford a few thousand more in taxes that are going to be cut from the middle class,” retorts Kalgren. “They need that extra money so much more.”
The discussion escalates, but only a bit; it’s hard to carry on a full economic debate while treading water.
Published July 10th, 2008 in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Depending on who you ask, Jerry Garcia, like Elvis Presley before him, is not really dead.
And if you ask any of the scores of music fans who’ll descend on Marvin’s Mountaintop in Masontown, W.Va., this weekend for the 12th annual All Good Music Festival, you’ll find out that he’s not only alive, but he’s still kicking out the jams — in the form of the 30 or so bands who’ve taken a page from Garcia’s legendary Grateful Dead to create a music scene just as vibrant as the late 1960s.