ARTS Pick: Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)

In Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), literature scholar and self-described old maid Constance Ledbelly has reason to believe that two of Shakespeare’s iconic tragedies, Othello and Romeo and Juliet, were not originally written as tragedies at all. Too timid to show her skeptical boss her findings, Constance withdraws into her subconscious mind and the two […]

ARTS Pick: Charlie Mars

Some scour the beach for shells, Charlie Mars went looking for songs. Called to the ocean on his latest album, Beach Town, Mars takes inspiration from the Gulf Coast in depicting salty characters, lost lovers and a search for redemption along the sandy fringes of our Southern border. His songwriting carries such vivid themes that the […]

ARTS Pick: [title of show]

With an open script and generic name, [title of show], the “musical about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical,” by Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell, has become a work-in-progress with each production crew adding updates and changes based on its experience. The one-act play takes a comical look at the […]

Movie review: “Snatched” gets all dressed up but goes nowhere

Be wary of any comedy with such a conspicuous amount of talented performers as Snatched. Maybe it’ll be the star-studded movie event of the decade, but more than likely it’ll be an exercise in coasting, with a few laughs here and there but occupying much of the running time with mugging and lesser gags hogging […]

Takin’ care of backstage business at area music venues

If Gary Green does his job well at the Paramount Theater, nobody will know. As the theater’s audio production manager, he analyzes how sound waves produced by artists will be affected by rising temperature and humidity as audience members fill the space. He knows how voices sound in each microphone, and where the Paramount’s resonance […]

Animal Collective is ‘Kinda Bonkers’ in the best way

As one-fourth of experimental pop band Animal Collective and a solo artist in his own right, Noah Lennox (who creates under the moniker Panda Bear) has been making music professionally for nearly 20 years. Along with Dave Portner (Avey Tare), Brian Weitz (Geologist) and Josh Dibb (Deakin), Lennox and the Collective made their mainstream crossover […]

Devon Sproule shares her songwriting process

While singer-songwriter Devon Sproule’s sound has evolved over time, she continues to write thoughtful and compelling lyrics. This month her eighth album, The Gold String, will be released. The record is themed on the idea of an invisible string connecting all things, and the possibility of finding “spiritual togetherness in everyday life,” Sproule says. For […]

ARTS Pick: The Mavericks

Raul Malo, the Grammy Award-winning leader of The Mavericks, loves to joke about his human compassion and self-proclaimed “hippie speak.” The Cuban immigrant wants his band’s eclectic blend of classic country, cow-punk and standards to unify audiences.“Maybe it’s the hopeless romantic in me, but I’d like to make a place where all people can come […]