Death Becomes Them

Ella Taylor
SONATINE Written and directed by TAKESHI KITANO Produced by MASAYUKI MORI HISAO NABESHIMA and TAKEO YOSHIDA Starring KITANO AYA KOKUMAI TETSU WATANABE and MASANOBU KATSUMURA Released by Miramax Rolling Thunder At Laemmle’s Sunset 5 CITY OF ANGELS Directed by BRAD SILBERLING Written by DANA STEVENS Based on the film Wings......
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This Week Sucked

Jonny Whiteside
VARIOUS ARTISTS Live at Raji’s 1987 (TON) Musty, dark, smoky, with an inescapable stench of stale beer, sweat and passion, Hollywood Boulevard rock pit Raji’s was, for mid-’80s postpunk music fans and rock & roll aspirants alike, the ultimate home away from home. Manager-booker Dobbs, doorman Bernie and beertender Autumn......
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Music Reviews – Apr 8, 1998

LA Weekly
JOHN SCOFIELD A Go Go (Verve) John Scofield might have laughed if you told him his project with groovemen Medeski, Martin & Wood was going to be his best album ever. The jazz-guitar generalissimo probably figured he’d double-park outside the studio, blow through a few tunes to show the kids......
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English Frank, 1945–1998

Scott Morrow
English Frank was a true friend, and one of the most misunderstood people I’ve ever known. Those close to him, however, knew how thoughtful and considerate he really was. Maybe because he was adopted and an only child, he never took friendship for granted. Born Francis Reginald Kennington in Ealing,......
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Rozz Williams, 1963-1998

Ron Athey
Though it would make it easier for me, I won’t try to glamorize his death into an art statement. Rozz Williams hanged himself in his West Hollywood apartment on April Fools’ Day. Best known as the founder and front man of seminal goth band Christian Death, Williams played and recorded......
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'Da Noise

Howard Blume
Like most in the audience, I rose to my feet to applaud the virtuoso cast of Bring In ’Da Noise, Bring In ’Da Funk. But I also was struck by a question: Just how new was this much-touted reinvention of tap dancing? The answer: not as much as advertised, though......
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'Da Funk

Erin J. Aubrey
Watching Bring In ’Da Noise, Bring In ’Da Funk, I was not so much watching after a while as remembering, in my body, what drew me to tap as a kid. It was less a dance to me than a declaration of spirit (I tap, therefore I am), and so......
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The Titanic Transcripts

Greg Goldin
Buried in this abridged pocket-dictionary-size edition of the official transcripts of the 1912 Senate investigation into the Titanic disaster is as clear-headed an account of history’s greatest catastrophe at sea as there is. Although it is at times repetitive, the firsthand evidence, side by side with contemporaneous expert testimony, provides......
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The Drawing Group at Loyola Marymount

Carmine Iannaccone
THE DRAWING GROUP At the LABAND ART GALLERY Loyola Marymount University 7900 Loyola Blvd., Westchester Through April 18 The 13 artists in "The Drawing Group" put a lot of faith in appearances. Not that they presume a thing can be known by its looks, but they do presume that something......
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Betye Saar at the California African-American Museum

Lisa Anne Auerbach
"Ritual & Remembrance/Personal Icons" provides an introduction to the work of as semblage artist Betye Saar. Saar, who watched Watts Towers being built when she was a child growing up locally, finds most of her materials at flea markets, at antique stores and in the garbage. She combines junk, castoffs......