Most Popular
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The Talk of the Green Iguana
Will American voters elect the first gay vice president in November?
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The She-Zebra
Will Erin Meehan be the first female ref in the NFL?
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Are We There Yet?
Jeez, can we just embrace the electric car already?
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Guitar Zero
Maybe the next generation won't even play instruments. Clapton and Hendrix? So passé.
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Accidental Hit Man
Sure, Paul Brandreth talks like a wiseguy. But is he a cold-blooded killer?
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Your Mom Thinks He’s Hot (6)
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Man-Child in the Promised Land (5)
Pop star Sean Kingston hopes the party's just begun
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The Talk of the Green Iguana (3)
Will American voters elect the first gay vice president in November?
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Guitar Zero (2)
Maybe the next generation won't even play instruments. Clapton and Hendrix? So passé.
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Shooting the Moon (2)
Aim high or aim low, you're bound to hit something, even if it's the sleep button
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Cheat Sheet to Langerado
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Licensed to Chill
How the Beasties went from hip-hop pranksters to musical renaissance men
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Paul Potts
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Not Your Father's N Word
Eight months after its "burial," the world's most dangerous epithet is more popular than ever in hip-hop
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Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
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Owen Wilson And His Hat Visit FTL
09:18AM 03/08/08 -
Pruitt Egged By CNBC's Cramer
02:57PM 03/07/08 -
Palm Beach Post Publisher Giuffrida Stepping Down
10:18AM 03/07/08 -
G. Love and Special Sauce Hit Langerado
07:45PM 03/09/08 -
Langerado Last Night: Matt Pond PA and the Walkmen
04:56PM 03/08/08 -
Langerado: No Vampire! Denied!
04:45PM 03/08/08
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Recent Articles By Ray Cummings
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Radioinactive
Soundtrack to a Book (Strangertouch)
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Islands
Return to the Sea (Equator)
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Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth EP (DGC/Universal)
National Features
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Houston Press
"It Was Like an Armageddon Movie"
For days after Hurricane Rita, a Texas prison was hell on earth.
By Chris Vogel -
SF Weekly
The Candidate
Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.
By Matt Smith -
The Pitch
How Not To Be a Rap Star
First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.
By Nadia Pflaum -
Village Voice
Project Runaway
What becomes a gossip columnist most?
By Michael Musto
Subject(s): Regina Spektor
Regina Spektor's tricky tongue and fading Russian accent separate her from the ever-expanding crowd of Tori Amos/Fiona Apple wannabes who sport "funky" hats and own well-worn piano stools. Begin to Hope might be less histrionic than 2004's Soviet Kitsch, but it's still great fun to bear witness to this New York City songbird's post-hip-hop, piano pop, and quirky balladry. "Better" is the widest-screen song she's ever penned, a populist anthem strengthened by the steady hand of Strokes guitarist Nick Valenti. "20 Years of Snow" finds Spektor alternating unpredictably between a Björk-like mix of spoken/sung impressionism and agitated rapping to the ADD rhythms of scattered piano and sprinkled strings. The album's pick to click, "That Time," falls more into a rock vein, with gully-scraping guitars buttressing a litany of chatty reminiscences about old times good, bad, and all-out horrific, as she slurs, yelps, and riffs her lyrics.
