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Thursday, March 28th, 2024  
Nils Frahm

Nov 24, 2014 Nils Frahm

These days, the piano probably serves as an inspirational springboard for German musician/composer Nils Frahm as much as it does as a primary instrument in his work. Spaces, his 2013 live album recorded in multiple venues over the course of two years, offers a full range of Frahm’s directions, from minimalist exercises to classically-influenced passages and lushly beautiful pieces. More

Florian Habicht, director of ‘Pulp: a Film About Life, Death, & Supermarkets’

Nov 21, 2014 Florian Habicht

Pulp: a Film About Life, Death, & Supermarkets was a collaboration between Jarvis Cocker, Pulp, and filmmaker Florian Habicht. The director approached it as a documentary that would be as much about the city of Sheffield and its inhabitants as it is about the famous band that hailed from there. Yes, Pulp are interviewed—but so are a local fish monger, a newspaper salesman, and fans waiting outside the arena. The resulting film captures a city and its people at a very specific time, and actually helps us understand the band far better than a more traditional rockumentary ever could have hoped to. More

Mia Maestro - The Actress/Singer on “The Strain” and Her Debut Album

Nov 19, 2014 Mia Maestro

Mia Maestro began acting in 1998 in the dance drama Tango and she hasn’t stopped since, continuing with a recurring role on Alias and a part in the final two Twilight movies, among others. The actress, whose latest role is the vampire slaying Centers for Disease Control worker Dr. Nora Martinez in the FX series, The Strain, has another passion, though: singing. More

Pleased to Meet You Spotlight: Dinner

Nov 19, 2014 Dinner

“When I was 14, I just wanted to play stuff like AC/DC,” Dinner says. “I even wrote AC/DC with an ink marker on my cheap guitar and it rubbed off on my arm. I just imagined that when I started playing guitar I would wind up in a scenario pretty close to the ‘Thunderstruck’ video … You have scaffolding in an arena, and kids are hanging out there being cool and headbanging, with AC/DC playing in the middle. I imagined that six months after picking up my guitar, that’s what my life would be like. But I’m not at that point yet, unfortunately. I just need to keep at it.” More

Karin Park

Nov 18, 2014 Karin Park

As a child, Swedish singer-songwriter Karin Park made herself a promise — to never take a “normal” job. Having used music as a way to cope while adjusting to a move back home after living in Japan for three years, Park says the idea of doing anything else with her life never occurred to her. More

Track-by-Track: Johnny Marr on “Playland”

Nov 17, 2014 Web Exclusive

It is after midnight and Johnny Marr has come off the stage at De La Warr in Bexhill, U.K. This is the third date of the legendary guitarist’s tour in support of his second solo album, Playland, the rapid follow-up to 2013’sThe Messenger. More

Chris Moukarbel, Director of ‘Banksy Does New York’

Nov 17, 2014 Chris Moukarbel

In October 2013, the anonymous British street artist known as Banksy announced a month-long New York residency named “Better Out Than In.” For 31 days, Banksy unveiled one new work per day spread out across the city’s five boroughs. Little advance notice was given about any individual piece; instead, Banksy offered hints at each work’s location through social media outlets. This resulted in a month-long, city-spanning scavenger hunt, where fans and followers rushed madly to see the pieces before they were defaced by rival graffiti taggers, painted over by unhappy business owners, or outright stolen by thieves looking to cash in for a big payday. More

Jon Stewart on His Directorial Debut, ‘Rosewater’

Nov 14, 2014 Web Exclusive

Rosewater might surprise fans of Jon Stewart, who probably won’t expect a film of such serious tones to mark his directorial debut. The Daily Show host has been long cemented as one of America’s great satirists, and a film that tackles politics through humor—like Dr. Strangelove or Wag the Dog—might seem more likely. For Stewart, he doesn’t retain a sense of humor despite all the wrongs in the world, but because of it. As he puts it, “[Comedy] is the enzyme that I use to process these events.” More

Alex Essoe

Nov 14, 2014 Alex Essoe

Alex Essoe uses the word ravenous to describe how much she wanted the part of Sarah Walker, the lead character of Starry Eyes, a horror film from co-writers/directors Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer that magnifies the dark side of the movie industry. Essoe knew that the role would allow her to employ a wide array of tools learned while training to be an actor. More