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Review: Luck

HBO goes to the races
You get the feeling that Milch and Mann just want to show off what they know about horse racing. When one of Marcus's crew keeps screaming out during the big Pick Six race, "What's going on!?," he speaking for the audience.
By JON GARELICK | January 24, 2012

The Big Hurt: Smash Mouth chicken out

Scrambling
In the end, some eggs were eaten and a bunch of money was raised to help sick kids, which is great. But did Steve Harwell truly meet the egg challenge? No!
By DAVID THORPE | October 19, 2011

Review: Littlerock

Altogether original
Two young Japanese tourists, siblings Rintaro (Rintaro Sawamoto) and Atsuko (Atsuko Okatsuka), get stranded when their car breaks down in the California backwater of the title.
By PETER KEOUGH | October 05, 2011

Review: Bellflower

Petal to the metal
In addition to the flamethrower, they've also rigged up a whiskey-dispensing car dashboard, and as a piece de resistance have created the Road Warrior–inspired "Medusa," a 1972 Buick Skylark souped up to breathe fire.
By PETER KEOUGH | September 06, 2011

On the road with the director of Bellflower

Big wheels
If you didn't think it was possible to get some stares from jaded onlookers here in the streets of Boston, you haven't been strapped into Medusa, a heavily modified '72 Buick Skylark equipped with a massive silver engine sprouting through its hood, a PA system, external surveillance cameras and, oh, twin exhaust pipes that shoot diesel-burning flame 30 feet into the air.
By BRETT MICHEL | September 06, 2011

Review: Café Zelda

A truly memorable experience
Café Zelda is one of those places that feels elegant but homey; luxurious but not pretentious.
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | August 09, 2011

Mornin' Old Sport launch our pop-up video series with jazz-inspired '20s country

Sound on the streets
Allston's Mornin' Old Sport play jazz-inspired country songs, brimming with three-part harmonies and a rare chemistry amongst the group's four members.
By LIZ PELLY | August 10, 2011

From the bedroom to beyond with Craft Spells

Temple of gloom
There's been an enormous wave of musicians gaining notoriety for creating work where they sleep, and subsequently seeing their star rise as blogs have picked up on the results.
By REYAN ALI | July 28, 2011

Ash Borer | Ash Borer

Flenser (2011)
NorCal black-metal trio Ash Borer's debut full-length is as diminutive as their namesake (limited to a 150-cassette run) but no less destructive or striking as they hurtle through three tracks in 40 minutes.
By JANSSEN McCORMICK | July 12, 2011

Strange bedfellows

Grossman conspires with wingnuts
It doesn't get weirder than this. A liberal Democrat from California wants to help conservative Republicans in Maine find somebody to run against moderate GOP US Senator Olympia Snowe.
By AL DIAMON | June 01, 2011

Coachella builds a sweaty buzz over three days in the California desert

Tough acts to follow
Coachella builds a sweaty buzz over three days in the California desert
By MICHAEL MAROTTA | April 19, 2011

Not tough enough?

While governors nationwide slash their way out of crisis, Chafee plays Mr. Nice Guy
Amid massive deficits and escalating pension problems, a certain tough guy chic has taken hold in State Houses across the country.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | April 13, 2011

Photos: Cold War Kids at House of Blues

Cold War Kids | House of Blues | March 22, 2011
Cold War Kids perform live at the House of Blues on March 22, 2011.
By ANDREW MCFARLAND | March 28, 2011

Portlander to cover 3000+ miles in five months on foot

Ultra-distance running
On January 8, Portland native Zoe Romano will set off for a morning run in Huntington Beach, California. Make no mistake: this isn't a begrudging follow-through on a New Year's resolution, or a jog around the block. Try more than 140 not-quite-marathons, back-to-back.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | January 04, 2011

Does the local food movement really work?

Action Speaks!
Providence cultural center AS220's panel discussion series Action Speaks! continues with a look at the "local food" movement.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | October 06, 2010

Higher yearning: Best Coast

'60s garage sound gone to pot
The day after a Best Coast gig in Minneapolis last week, a reviewer for the City Pages alt-weekly bemoaned the fact that the Los Angeles trio took a whole two hours — two hours! — to hit the stage after doors opened.
By MICHAEL MAROTTA | September 21, 2010

Where to put the pot?

Scouting locations for Cumberland County's first medical-marijuana dispensary
With last week's decision that Northeast Patients Group, based in Augusta, has been chosen by state health officials to open the first medical-marijuana dispensary in Cumberland County, we have moved just a tad closer to having an actual functioning medicinal-pot system in Maine.
By KEGAN ZEMA | July 14, 2010

Maximum pleasure

Ann Beattie hasn’t been sleeping
Ann Beattie emerged in the 1970s in the pages of the New Yorker with a cast of post-grad characters who smoked pot, bummed around, fell in and out of relationships, and faced the world with a shrug and the latest rock and roll on the stereo.
By JON GARELICK | July 05, 2010

Going hyperlocal: AOL sets its sights on Aquidneck Island

Media
Rhode Island's increasingly crowded media landscape may have a new player soon: AOL is recruiting journalists to run hyperlocal news web sites in Newport, Portsmouth, and Middletown.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | June 30, 2010

The Devil makes them do it

Digging deep with the Benedictions
"Americana, on the rocks" is the official tagline for the Benedictions, steady cooking since forming just 16 months ago (more on that in a minute), led by a familiar name on the folk circuit in G.W. Mercure.
By CHRIS CONTI | June 24, 2010

Holy war

How an unholy alliance of Catholics, Mormons, and evangelicals seeks to control our lives
And so it came to pass, Roman Catholics, Mormons, and evangelical Protestants have banded together to battle, well, the rest of us — the heathens, the godless liberals, the Hitchens-reading progressives.
By JEFF INGLIS | June 28, 2010

As Fast As at the Empire, Grand Hotel's new album, and more

Sibilance
AS FAST AS are playing a reunion show of sorts July 3 at the Empire.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | June 24, 2010

Crossword: ''Rumble in the Bowl''

Part of this unbalanced breakfast.
Part of this unbalanced breakfast.
By MATT JONES | July 03, 2010

The keys to Heaven can make for good fundraising

By JEFF INGLIS | June 23, 2010

Viral bloodsuckers for the summer

Could The Passage be the best vampire novel?
It might require you to buy a bigger beach tote, but there's no doubt that summer's must-read is Justin Cronin's The Passage , a hulking 766-page epic that traces the genesis and fallout of apocalyptic viral vampirism.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 16, 2010

As the World Cup kicks off, Guinness and panic at Ri Ra

Goooooooool!
World Cup fever has not, exactly, gripped Providence.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | June 16, 2010

Stark reality

Your indispensable World Cup update
Steven Stark is known to Phoenix readers for his "Presidential Tote Board" odds-making feature, but it turns out that he and his son, Harrison, are also soccer aficionados, having become fans of London side Fulham FC during stays in the British capital.
By JEFFREY GANTZ | June 14, 2010

Sunglasses: Rating the Shades

The brands Boston shops are pushing this summer
Summer used to be simple: fun in the sun.
By LAMAR B. GRAHAM | June 14, 2010

Fighting back

Two cases in federal court here in Massachusetts could help turn the national tide against DOMA
Thanks to a federal law that codifies discrimination against same-sex couples, more than 15,000 legally married couples (and an untold number of children) are being denied basic benefits, such as the right to file their taxes jointly, or Social Security payments and health-insurance subsidies.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 04, 2010

Review: The Boat House

Interesting seafood and inspiring sunsets
Ah, feel that. Maybe this time it’s a spring breeze for real and won’t soon turn into a winter zephyr. Let’s celebrate, go out and grab a nice meal. Where to? Well, one recent answer to the question that didn’t disappoint was the Boat House restaurant in Tiverton.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | May 25, 2010