Life on a major record label was full of high highs and low lows for Oklahoma City singer-songwriter Graham Colton. Forging his own path as an independent artist the past few years has proven to be more his speed. “To be honest, it’s equally liberating and terrifying. When you have a success, there’s nothing like […]
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Tusk’s task
Photo: Geoff L. Johnson Savannah, Ga., has proven to be something of a breeding ground for metal bands, giving rise to Kylesa, Baroness, Black Tusk and others in the past decade or so. You might think something is in the water. It’s actually in the air. “It’s just hot — really, really hot,” guitarist Andrew […]
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Forever at last
Photo: Trevor Henrich Ten years back or so, it was nearly impossible to get away from the pop-punk craze. Just a half-decade later, it was just as hard to find it. Then came along bands like The Wonder Years, The Swellers, Handguns and Forever Came Calling, and a revival was born. “We’ve been touring for […]
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Happy Record Store Day Black Friday!
But they, too, can participate in the nation’s annual orgy of mass consumerism by heading to their local indie record store Friday for extremely exclusive musical goodies that will probably go for three times as much on eBay the next day. An offshoot of the popular Record Store Day event, this Black Friday addendum includes […]
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Frankenstein
And, in the early ’90s, he starred as the mad doctor in Frankenstein … for TNT, not Kenneth Branagh. Provided you missed it on during its CableACE Award-nominated broadcast, the better-than-average production is now alive — alive! — on MOD DVD from Warner Archive. Bergin’s Dr. Frankenstein is even more enterprising than in the Mary Shelley […]
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Magic Mike
To play the titular male stripper nicknamed Magic Mike, Channing Tatum drew upon his own pre-fame experiences as a exotic dancer, and it shows. To put it bluntly, the guy thrusts his pelvis like a pure professional, like a wave lapping the shore. No wonder female audiences ate this movie up. Too bad eye candy […]
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Chud — Chud
Well, it might, actually. But the band’s music sounds as non-damn-giving as can be — in the best way possible. The rising hardcore enthusiasts steadily have ascended the local ladder with their blistering live presence — a barrage of piercing guitar riffs, staccato rhythm section and singer-guitarist Alex Barnard’s slobbery howl. The impression left has […]
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The Outlaw Brothers
Yes, it comes from the Dragon Dynasty line — release No. 57, to be precise — but it’s sillier than the bulk of Dragon Dynasty product, which largely skips this period in favor of old-school Shaw Brothers. But Frankie Chan’s The Outlaw Brothers? It’s as of-the-times as a 1990 flick can be, right down to […]
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Rudyard Kipling’s Mark of the Beast
Not only is the title superimposed over an image from the indie effort, but two clickable options, two URLs and four review blurbs, as if to convince you upfront that you are about to witness brilliance. To further complicate the eyesore, the blurbs are not presented in consistent typeface, color or size. In other words, […]
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The Ghostmaker
A little research reveals it was built by an inventor of torture devices — a man considered “an evil version of Leonardo da Vinci. They called him the Devil’s Craftsman.” The coffin is a “ghost machine” constructed to allow its users to safely experience the sensation of death without actually dying. One goldfish test later, […]