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Tilda Swinton's mixed metamorphoses

Indie-cinema luminary gets retrospective in P-Town
Most people know Tilda Swinton either from her role as the White Witch in the Narnia movies or as the striking-looking woman who in her speech accepting the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in Michael Clayton said she was going to give the trophy to her agent. Or perhaps as the actress whom Conan O'Brian said he would like to portray him if there's ever an HBO movie made about his life.
By PETER KEOUGH | June 21, 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

Brown-nosing and flip-flopping

Scott Brown heeds his boss’s orders; Charlie Baker sides with homophobic party base
Two months ago, when Senator Scott Brown crossed party lines to help pass a jobs bill, the Phoenix noted the political convenience of that supposed show of independence — since other Republican senators were also voting with Democrats, Brown’s vote was unnecessary.
By EDITORIAL | April 23, 2010

A music producer eyes a revival

The Gator
It was 2006 and music producer Jo Jo Gator, a couple of decades removed from the glory days, needed to get back on the radar screen.
By ABIGAIL CROCKER | April 14, 2010

Ex–porn star blogs her way sober

Jennie Does Harvard
This past week at the Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS), Jennie Ketcham taught her first class about something besides, er, “dick-sucking.”
By CHRIS FARAONE | April 05, 2010

Workin' man blues

Blue-collar luxury resorts, and other GOP oxymorons
Election years are always times of high anxiety for politicians. That may explain why they say and do so many stupid things.
By AL DIAMON | March 08, 2010

The Big Ligotti

Like his homeboy Scott Brown, Boston's elephant in the room is poised to make noise beyond Massachusetts
Like his homeboy Scott Brown, Boston's elephant in the room is poised to make noise beyond Massachusetts
By CHRIS FARAONE | March 03, 2010

Interview: Andy Richter

He's no fuddy-duddy
We have a chub for Andy Barker, P.I. (just released out on DVD), because we have a major chub for the show’s star, Andy Richter. Richter plays an accountant who is mistaken for a detective-for-hire and decides to just roll with it.
By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN | November 25, 2009

Vegas and Jungleland

Paul Shaffer and the Big Man tell all
Paul Shaffer is a happenin’ cat. Pick an It Moment from pop culture over the past 30 years and Shaffer was there. He was an original band member on Saturday Night Live . He played hapless promo guy Artie Fufkin in This Is Spinal Tap . Disco? He co-wrote “It’s Raining Men.” And he helped David Letterman break ground as his glittery, ironic bandleader/sidekick.
By JOYCE MILLMAN | November 24, 2009

Fallon Upward

Local Laughs
Boston is thoroughly dominating NBC's fall line-up.
By MIKE MILIARD | September 16, 2009

Review: Whitney Houston | I Look to You

Arista (2009)
It's tempting to wonder whether super-producer Clive Davis, in another of his music-biz machinations, arranged for Whitney Houston to whiff last week on Good Morning America , which is reported to have altered Houston's vocals for broadcast after she sounded hoarse during her Central Park mini-concert.
By MIKAEL WOOD | September 09, 2009

Female Trouble

A shocking dearth of Republican female pols should have the party in a panic. So why doesn't it care?
Conventional political wisdom says that for a party to oppose a woman — or a women's issue — it's best to send out a female spokesperson.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | June 03, 2009

World gone Wong

Chinese-born biochemical-engineer-turned-comic Joe Wong has conquered Letterman. You're next.
"I'm an immigrant," says Joe Wong. "And I used to drive this used car with a lot of bumper stickers that are impossible to peel off. One of them said, 'If you don't speak English, go home.' And I didn't notice it for two years."
By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN | April 29, 2009

Interview: Jonathan Katz

Katz brings his show One Man, Many Games to ImprovBoston
The moment I step into the Newton home / sound studio of comedian Jonathan Katz, he warns me that he's a show-off and invites me to admire his kitchen.
By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN | April 15, 2009

89. Greg Behrendt

HORSEFACE KILLAH
We’re just not that into you, either. And not just because this unfunny self-help writer belittles desperate women, or because he looks like the offspring of Dane Cook and an old banana. This so-called author/comedian is one of those one-hit wonders who can’t accept his destiny, but who for some reason will have opportunities to produce a new failed talk show on E! every few years.
By Boston Phoenix Staff | March 25, 2009

Interview: Louis CK

Boston's contribution to Conan, Letterman, and Chris Rock returns with a comedy special and a role in This Side of the Truth
"Boston is a great town to grow up in, but I really wanted to get out of there," says comedian Louis CK.
By MIKE MILIARD | March 12, 2009

Broadcast dues

Wally Sparks cracks local rap with Heir 2 tha $treetz
Saturday night at Good Life, veteran hip-hop scenester Ricky Powell blessed a roomful of wide-eyes with his world-famous slide show, in which he flashed and joked about his pics of celebs ranging from Jam Master Jay to John Lee Hooker.
By CHRIS FARAONE | December 16, 2008

House rules have changed

Diverse city
President-elect Barack Obama's appearance on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday struck a chord with me about how much more diverse — and inclusive — the upcoming administration may be.
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | December 10, 2008

The Fireman | Electric Arguments

MPL/ATO (2008)
This peculiar collaboration between Paul McCartney and electronic producer Youth has now lasted some five years longer than his decade each with the Beatles and Wings.
By GUSTAVO TURNER | November 24, 2008

Is he being served?

Tony Millionaire's still best on the page
In the first animated adaptation of Tony Millionaire's sumptuously debauched comic strip Maakies , the soused Drinky Crow was voiced by erstwhile Conan O'Brien sidekick Andy Richter.
By MIKE MILIARD | November 18, 2008

Wacko patrol: America's 25 scariest conservatives

The Phoenix ranks the individuals who will hold the most sway over the right-wing message machine in 2009, and beyond.
Imagine what will happen once the relatively sane folks now running the White House and the Republican National Committee pack up and go home?
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | November 03, 2008

Interview: John Hodgman

One man's operating system
Long before John Hodgman became universally recognized as the systems-challenged PC in Apple’s ads, he was writing fake trivia for such publications as McSweeney’s and the New York Times Magazine.
By CLEA SIMON | November 21, 2008

Catch a rising star

Local standup talents to watch
Boston is lousy with talented stand-ups — the following performers just happen to be a few jokes closer than the rest to the top of Comedy Mountain.
By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN | September 17, 2008

Dawg days

The 2008 campaign is turning out to be our first-ever American Idol election
Despite gains by blogs, podcasts, and social-networking Web sites, television is still our dominant mass medium.
By STEVEN STARK | September 03, 2008

Pillow talk

Digging into the Education Partnership-Achorn connection
Phillipe + Jorge were shocked to learn via Buddy Cianci’s WPRO radio show that Valerie Forti, head of the financially troubled Education Partnership, is married to Eddie Achorn, editorial page editor of the Urinal.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | July 02, 2008

Silence of the lambs

Smith Hill takes the budget blues out on the vulnerable
In case you are late to the game, boys and girls, five people control what goes on at the State House, although Governor Carcieri is occasionally allowed to offer his two cents.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | June 25, 2008