Johnny Carson

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Richard Lewis gets serious

Straight talk
Neurotic humor is Richard Lewis's style, as the series Anything But Love and Curb Your Enthusiasm, his many late-night-TV appearances, film roles, and cable specials, and his book, The Other Great Depression, all attest.
By RICHARD ANTONE | February 18, 2011

Golden memories of the diamond

Big baseball anniversaries; not-so-E-Z pass; remebering Jimbo
We know the vast majority of Cool, Cool World readers do not have a personal memory of life on the planet earth, circa 1960, as they were not yet born.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | September 29, 2010

Peter Max's pop life

The artist on fame, Andy Warhol, and the 'complete freedom' of his expression
Peter Max rocketed to fame as one of the iconic psychedelic artists of the late '60s.
By GREG COOK | August 18, 2010

Puppet pageants

The influential art of Jim Henson and Peter Schumann
In the beginning, there was Kermit. Not Kermit the Frog — not just yet. That would come nearly 15 years later.
By GREG COOK | May 07, 2010

Stuck in his Throat

Suburban, family-oriented David Bertolino has a dream: to stage a play about Deep Throat , one of the most controversial films of all time
Growing up in Sudbury, David Bertolino’s upbringing was strictly G-rated.
By JON HART | October 28, 2009

The Funn(k)y Drummer

What's the connection between comedy and percussion?
Johnny Carson was revered for his impeccable comic timing. It was "so precise," wrote one newspaper in his obituary, "that we wouldn't be surprised to find buried in his skull a quartz crystal." And why might that be? Perhaps because Johnny Carson was a drummer. In drumming, after all, timing is everything.
By MIKE MILIARD | August 13, 2009

Gubernatorial agonistes

Caprio makes a big move. Plus, reasons to block the LNG terminal
On Tuesday, WRNI political reporter and former Phoenix news editor and master of the Casa Diablo elbow bend, Ian Donnis, broke the news that veteran political communications specialist, Bill Fischer, head ramrod at True North Communications, had signed on as spokesman for the State Treasurer Frank Caprio's gubernatorial campaign committee.
By PHILLIPE & JORGE | August 05, 2009

The odd couple

Jesse Gallagher meets Biff Rose
Apollo Sunshine's Jesse Gallagher recently announced that Biff Rose would be traveling from the Big Easy for a rare, one-night-only show this Wednesday at the cozy Lily Pad.
By MATT PARISH | July 10, 2009

Museum pieces and other pieces

Jazz Week returns, the Jazz Hall of Fame inducts, Ron Gill says bye
It's Jazz Week time again — that time when the Boston jazz community looks to expand its minority-appeal music to a larger public.
By JON GARELICK | April 21, 2009

Review: The Great Buck Howard

Forgoes ambiguities in favor of schmaltz
The Great Buck Howard, a "mentalist" whose "effects" include guessing numbers and putting people to sleep, played The Tonight Show , but these days he's lucky if he gets a gig in Bakersfield.
By PETER KEOUGH | March 18, 2009

War stories

Mailer on the ’68 conventions
“We will be fighting for forty years.” Reading those words at the end of Norman Mailer’s 1968 Miami and the Siege of Chicago , you can’t help but feel a chill.
By CHARLES TAYLOR | August 19, 2008

Funny business

As the AltCom Festival arrives at the Somerville Theatre, we look at the roots of the indie comedy boom.
“Ashlee Simpson’s new album sold so poorly,” snorted the headline on Yahoo! this past week, that “it was beaten by a comedy album.”
By MIKE MILIARD | May 08, 2008

Democratic pig pile

Hillary’s victimization rap is Clintonian politics at its best and worst
Oh, are the other Democratic candidates “piling on” poor little Hillary Clinton?
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | November 07, 2007

Linc sets himself free

Disaffiliation puts the independent where he belongs
We offer our kudos and congrats to former senator Linc Chafee.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | September 19, 2007

'Please kill me'

The open-casket look vs. plastic punk
This article originally appeared in the August 16, 1977 issue of the Boston Phoenix.
By D.C. DENISON | August 20, 2007

Law and order in Nawt Prov

Woman’s leg used as a wishbone during IWW protest
Nice work by the carabiniere in Nawt Prov, who broke the leg of a young woman who was taking part in a protest .
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | August 15, 2007

Alice Neel

An unexpectedly complex documentary
The true artist, so goes the myth, labors in bohemian obscurity in search of truth and beauty.
By PETER KEOUGH | August 15, 2007

Gay old time

Ten moments when the mainstream assimilated gay culture and made it its own
Many people take for granted that the divide between gay culture and mainstream culture is as thin as the latex of an expensive condom.
By MICHAEL BRONSKI | May 30, 2007

All the Wright moves

The deadpan master is still happy not to laugh
“I was born. When I was 23 I started telling jokes. Then I started going on television and doing films. That’s still what I am doing. The end.”
By TED DROZDOWSKI | April 23, 2007

The Mauss that roared

Meet the man who could put Boston’s comedy scene back on the map
A month ago, Boston comedian Shane Mauss could barely get local comedy clubs to return his calls.
By SEAN L. MCCARTHY | March 30, 2007

Sleight of hand

Ricky Jay releases an album
Ricky Jay laughs when I tell him he reminds me of Fred Astaire.
By TED DROZDOWSKI | February 20, 2007

Hanging ten or hanging on?

Brian Wilson: Dead on survival
This article originally appeared in the April 26, 1977 issue of the Boston Phoenix.
By GREIL MARCUS | November 14, 2006

Flashbacks: June 9, 2006

The Boston Phoenix has been covering the trends and events that shape our times since 1966.
These selections, culled from our back files, were compiled by Chris Brook and Sam MacLaughlin.
By EDITORIAL | June 07, 2006

Attack of the 50-foot Oprah

Why America’s most powerful celebrity should be more feared than loved
David Letterman is by no means the first one to realize that the road to success — or forgiveness — entails planting a kiss somewhere on Oprah’s oft-fluctuating anatomy.
By MARK JURKOWITZ | February 09, 2006

From the archives

The Boston Phoenix has been covering the trends and events that shape our times since 1966. These selections, culled from our back files, were compiled by Eleanor Mary Boudreau.
The Boston Phoenix has been covering the trends and events that shape our times since 1966. These selections, culled from our back files, were compiled by Eleanor Mary Boudreau.
By | January 04, 2006