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From the Shadows

Glen Hirschberg
JOY DIVISIONHeart and Souls (London) The least funny great band in the history of rock music, Joy Division formed in the industrial gloom of late-1970s Manchester, England. By the time lead singer Ian Curtis hung himself on the eve of the group's first U.S. tour in 1980, they had produced......
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Keep It Comin'

Carlos Nino
Contrary to prevailing wisdom, the vinyl recording is far from dead. Though it's unusual to walk into a "record" store and see 7-, 10- and 12-inch plates in the bins, it's not likely that modern indie and major labels will completely discontinue the format. As long as vinyl is being......
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Tight Bites

Johnny Angel
Damn, I miss Raji's. Not just the seedy locale it once occupied on Hollywood Boulevard, but the whole ethos of that lovable dump - inspired and inspiring amateurism that joyously mooned the Sunset Strip glam scene and its attendant major-label ass-kissing, plus an anything-goes attitude long absent in these increasingly......
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Version Therapy

Greg Burk
How does it feel to be remixed? At the weird and exciting frontiers of technology, the identities of just about everything including yourself are up for remix. William Gaddis hit a cultural vein when he made art forgery the center of his first epic work, The Recognitions, in the '50s:......
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Light & Shadows

David Steinberg
Last week, a grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama, indicted Barnes & Noble on charges of disseminating "obscene material containing visual reproduction of persons under 17 years of age involved in obscene acts." The materials in question were two photography books, Radiant Identities by Jock Sturges, and another by David Hamilton......

Feeding Frenzy

Howard Blume
On one point, there has never been disagreement. The kids who live in the Echo Park and Temple-Beaudry areas near downtown L.A. need a school. Overcrowded, undersized Belmont High can barely accommodate its 5,000 students. Many teachers don't even have regular classrooms, moving throughout the day from one briefly available......

Love Among the Ruins

Ella Taylor
LOVE AND DEATH ON LONG ISLANDWritten and directed by RICHARD KWIETNIOWSKIAdapted from the novel byGILBERT ADAIRProduced bySTEVE CLARK-HALL and CHRISTOPHER ZIMMERStarringJOHN HURTJASON PRIESTLEYand FIONA LOEWIReleased byLion's Gate FilmsAt the Sunset 5 and Monica 4-PlexTWILIGHTDirected byROBERT BENTONWritten byBENTON and RICHARD RUSSOProduced byARLENE DONOVAN and SCOTT RUDINStarringPAUL NEWMANSUSAN SARANDONGENE HACKMANSTOCKARD CHANNINGand JAMES......

The Brothers Freak

Manohla Dargis
THE BIG LEBOWSKI Directed and written by JOEL COEN Produced and written by ETHAN COEN StarringJEFF BRIDGESJOHN GOODMANJULIANNE MOORESTEVE BUSCEMIDAVID HUDDLESTON and PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN Released by Gramercy Pictures At selected theaters The Big Lebowski is an amiable mess about L.A. and the importance of being nobody - an agreeably......
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Mikhail Solo

Sasha Anawalt
When Mikhail Baryshnikov dances alone, light and music consume him in a way they don't when he is with somebody else. Solo, he is the maker of his own tradition. The revelations of his dancing are arguably deeper and greater than when he is in a group, or paired. I......
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Portrait of the Critic As a Cool Guy

Robert Lloyd
Pity the critic, if you will, if you can, who must spend his days thinking long and hard on other people's real work. Unlike the artist's celebrated life of garrets and galas, there is nothing glamorous or romantic about his sublunary vocation: Hollywood has yet to produce a film in......