R.C. Baker

In their latest piece for the Village Voice, R.C. Baker discusses the newest published works of Neil McGinness. His new book, Pulp Power: The Shadow, Doc Savage, and the Art of the Street & Smith Universe, takes a deeper look into the artful creation of The Shadow and Doc Savage, as well as the marketing behind them. 

Writes Baker: “‘Walter Gibson believed in hard work,’ notes Neil McGinness in his new book, Pulp Power: The Shadow, Doc Savage, and the Art of the Street & Smith Universe. Indeed, writing under the pen name Maxwell Grant, Gibson cranked out 300 Shadow novels for pulp magazines in just 18 years; in one 10-month stretch, during the 1930s, he banged out 1,440,000 words on his trusty Smith Corona—a feat that resulted in life-size advertising placards of the pulp wordsmith with the tool of his trade being displayed in shop windows all over New York City. McGinness writes that Gibson’s process was ‘similar to a powerful train with his authorial hand on the throttle. Once he had constructed a background, an outline, and a chapter synopsis, his train could leave the station as he then focused on ‘watching the signals flash in sight, so you could stay on the track until the run was finished.’”

Read the full article on the Village Voice here.

In her latest piece for LA Weekly, Culture Editor Lina Lecaro reviews Moonage Daydream, a documentary by Brett Morgen, described as “vividly immersive.” While there are many documentaries about the musical legend already on film, Moonage Daydream seeks to provide new perspective and offer viewers a Bowie experience like never before. As Lecaro says, “it’s the film hardcore Bowie fans have been waiting for. And it’s the film David Bowie deserves.”

“A collage of imagery, ideas, music and emotion, Daydream is presented in an intentionally loose, nearly nonlinear way, eschewing Behind the Music biography tropes for something experiential, kaleidoscopic and concert-like,” writes Lecaro. “Throwing out traditional setups, like talking heads and rigid chronology, yields one of the most insightful portraits we’ve seen about a music artist, maybe ever. Of course, the sole narrator is Bowie himself, and that makes all the difference. As your senses are seduced by eclectic edits and alluring imagery (both Bowie-created and pop culture related), your mind is enveloped by the subject’s sensitive and insightful words, which create a decidedly un-hazy cosmic connection spanning its two-hour plus runtime. It’s a long movie, but never feels laborious, and it’s consistently enlightening.”

Read the full article on LA Weekly here.

Moonage Daydream Takes an Immersive Approach to Documenting David Bowie

In her latest piece for LA Weekly, Art Editor Shana Nys Dambrot reviews artist Rabi’s show at Nomad Gallery. The show, Rabi’s first since his tenure in street art collective Cyrcle, is the inaugural event at the gallery, which is LA’s newest hybrid newest contemporary art house. Titled  _gen+esc, Dambrot describes her time taking in Rabi’s work.

“In the early months of the pandemic, Rabi noticed, as we all did, that it was more than external circumstances and the familiar rhythms of life that were changing – artists especially, but truthfully all humans, found themselves questioning the very foundations of their identity, inspirations and purpose,” writes Dambrot. “And he decided to make some films about it. Episodic and infinitely expandable, the shorts in _gen+esc (generation+escape) are based on interviews with a range of cultural figures – mostly artists, but also chefs, prize-fighters, and others – in which the subjects speak candidly about the real-time wrestling with big questions like who am I and what am I doing here, and the various ways in which they doggedly pursue the answers.”

Read the full article on LA Weekly here.

Rabi Remixes Reality at Nomad Gallery

In his latest piece for LA Weekly, film critic Nathaniel Bell reviews House Of Darkness, a film by Sundance darling Neil LaBute in collaboration with Saban Films. Starring Justin Long and Kate Bosworth, Bell describes the film as “an initially engaging but eventually eye-rolling spectacle showcasing [LaBute’s] unique brand of sexual anxiety.”

“LaBute, having spent the last several years scribing a TV series about the descendent of Abraham Van Helsing, presumably still needs to get Bram Stoker out of his system. The slow, suspenseful first half and gory climax are nasty and daring in a way that network television isn’t allowed to be. A playwright first and foremost, LaBute seems to relish the opportunity to sharpen his verbal knives, and the restricted setting and Mamet-like cadence of the dialogue are for the most part deftly handled. Unfortunately, Darkness turns out to be one of those torture porn revenge movies in which a creep gets his violent comeuppance for being a creep, and the agents of vengeance are just as ignoble as their victim.”

Read the full article on LA Weekly here.

House of Darkness Sinks its Teeth into Male Weakness

In her latest piece for LA Weekly, Food Editor Michele Stueven visits farmers markets in anticipation of the produce the fall season will provide. Highlighting some of the best vegetable categories to explore as the season approaches, she includes a beloved recipe that is sure to delight every guest at your autumn table.

“While root vegetables are available at the farmers market all year round, the fall season through spring produces especially juicy options with deeper and sweeter flavors,” writes Stueven. “Right now red daikon radishes, red and white turnips and fresh ginger are at their peak at the farmers market.”

Read the full article on LA Weekly here.

Irvine Weekly writer Evan J. Lancaster reports that the first annual Irvine Grand Prix of Cycling, hosted by California Bike Racing, will take place on Sunday, august 28. 

“Sponsored by the Irvine-based technology company Masimo, Kris Prinz co-founder of California Bike Racing said organizers expect the cycling event to bring between 500 – 700 of the top athletes from all over the state of California to Irvine this weekend,” writes Lancaster. “The race will start and finish on Discovery, continue on  Irvine Center Drive, down Laguna Canyon Road and onto Waterworks Way.”

Read more on Irvine Weekly here. 

Irvine Weekly writer Evan J. Lancaster reports that actor Paul Reiser (Mad About You, Stranger Things) will be returning to comedy beginning with a return to stand-up at the Irvine Improv on Thursday, Aug. 25. 

“There’s no way to get better at it quickly. There’s no app, no program, no shortcut. You just have to do it, night after night after night. Old school elbow grease,” Reiser said. “The experience of performing in front of a live audience is a thrill and your reward is instantaneous. People laugh, and you’ve won.”

Read more on Irvine Weekly here. 

Professor Oleg Rubel sends the Village Voice eyewitness reports on conditions as he sees them in Ukraine, as Russian forces continue attacking civilian and military targets. Rubel reports that thousands in Ukraine are lacking access to adequate water resources, causing many to go without this crucial resource. Some are collecting rainwater and resorting to other similar measures to make up for the loss caused by Russia’s ongoing attack on the country. 

“Among the countries of Europe, Ukraine is one of the least endowed with water resources—even in the best years, when approximately 1,000 cubic meters of water are available to the average Ukrainian, it is still almost 500 cubic meters under what the UN European Economic Commission recommends to avoid water insecurity,” writes Rubel. “Additionally, only  25% of settlements are provided with a centralized water supply. About 11 million citizens of Ukraine use water from wells, but, according to official Ukrainian data, 15% of those wells are contaminated.”

Read more on Village Voice here. 

Village Voice writer Kirill Frolov reports on nonprofit ENGin teaching English to displaced Ukrainians by connecting volunteers to students online, providing one-on-one tutoring no matter where students are. Founded in early 2020 by Katerina Manoff, a Ukrainian American education entrepreneur in New York, the ENGin project now involves approximately 9,700 students from Ukraine and nearly 8,900 English-speaking volunteers.

“I just wanted to help somehow, and one day I discovered that in most Ukrainian schools, English is taught like it was back in the Soviet times,” writes Frolov. “Students are just taught grammar rules and new words, but they hardly get a chance to communicate,” Manoff, now ENGin’s CEO, recollects in an interview via WhatsApp.”

Read more on Village Voice here. 

Village Voice writer T.J. English regales us with a tale of jazz and mystery, centered around a man that’s been a main character in the NYC Village scene, harry Whitaker. He sets the scene at a well-known jazz club on West 10th Street in Greenwich Village, Smalls. You see, beginning in the late 1990s, Harry was a regular performer at Smalls, a piano player of prodigious talents if you will.

“. I never met Harry, but I saw him play a few times at the club. I was stunned by his facility on the piano and wondered why I was unaware of this artist, who was maybe the best pianist I ever heard perform live,” writes English. “By then, Harry was in his 60s, heavy-set, like a big African American buddha. His hair was gray, and he had a pronounced lower lip that seemed to protrude as he got into a groove on the piano. He often slumped on the piano bench when he played, as if he were under hypnosis, eyes closed, his mind and spirit in some other place, but his artistry present in ways that tended to hush an audience into awe.”

Read more on Village Voice here.