Jenny Lewis bought a house in LA’s Laurel Canyon and with her boyfriend, Johnathan Rice, helped resurrect the storied singer-songwriter scene Joni Mitchell smoked her way through in the ’60s. I’m Having Fun Now is reminiscent of that sound, with its warm, laidback acoustic vibe and dreamy girl-boy harmonies. As with Rilo Kiley, Jenny and […]
Tara Thorne
Posted inArts + Music
The Big C
Cable TV has been a great refuge not just for women over 40 (Damages, In Plain Sight, Weeds, Nurse Jackie), but a refuge for great women—both characters and the actors who play them. Following the lead of Glenn Close, Mary McCormack, Mary-Louise Parker and Edie Falco is Laura Linney, who’s created a unique, awards-laden career […]
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Canadian Slang
A flight debacle on Saturday meant I didn’t arrive in Montreal until Day 1 of the Osheaga Festival was almost over, meaning the closest I got to Parc Jean-Drapeau was texts from my Coast cohort Holly (summary: THE NATIONAL!). The festival is easily accessible by subway, and if you can make it through the pre-gate […]
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Ryan MacGrath’s moment
Ryan MacGrath is sick. You can see it before you’re even close enough to say hi, as he makes his way up the moderate incline of Blowers Street, offering a restrained wave. “My bones hurt,” he says, with a hint of real worry in his voice—that voice—as he settles into a chair overlooking a Grafton […]
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Toy Story 3‘s your friend to the end
Leave it to Pixar to subvert the Hollywood rule of sequels, which states that each subsequent film must have eyes full of dollar signs at the expense of quality. (See: Shrek, all horror and action franchises.) Maybe 11 years and a few delays is all every sequel needs, because Toy Story 3 is just as […]
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No handouts necessary for Please Give
The most underrated American director this side of Richard Linklater, Nicole Holofcener, continues to be a master of The Moment: a tiny but meaningful exchange or look or gesture that conveys more emotion than any awards-bait monologue could. Her muse, Catherine Keener—this is their fourth film—owns a New York antique shop supplied by the possessions […]
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Wintersleep inherits your ears
After a triumphant New Inheritors release show at the Paragon last month—that started at NINE FRICKIN’ THIRTY, can this please be a trend?—Wintersleep returns on November 4 with The Besnard Lakes in tow. (We saw the Lakes a million years ago at the Khyber, when it was still a bar, which is not to say […]
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Against Me!
“I was a teenage anarchist/but then the scene got too rigid,” announces Tom Gabel on his band’s latest single (to the dismay of your emotionally stunted older brother, already in heavy rotation on Much), which culminates in his realization that “The revolution was a lie!” (which, a-doye). Against Me! took a swing at the big […]
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Free Dave Bidini show today at 2:30pm
In town for a two-night stand at The Carleton with Bidiniband and Colleen and Paul, the former Rheo and notable author performs an acoustic solo set.
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It Kills resurrects rowboats, sort of
photo Mat Dunlap One of the saddest days in recent scene (and Scene) history was the dissolution of the majestic, peerless i see rowboats. Most of that band has returned in the form of It Kills (formerly Library). After a generally revered set at Long Live the Queen last month, the band will release its […]
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Venomous encounters
Snakes? Oh, I knew Snakes. He was real intense, on account of how he always looked you in the eyes. He knew the score, Snakes, and he knew you knew, too—a single twitch and you’d be worm food, right there. The feds got wise, someone rolled and they shut him down for a little while; […]
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Oceans opens our eyes to the deep blue sea
Disney’s newish nature arm—oh African Cats, we can’t wait to roar for you—re-releases this multi-country co-pro in honour of Earth Day. Narrated by Pierce Brosnan, Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud’s Oceans traverses the normal Lorne Greene territory of baby turtles crawling out of the sand, cavorting dolphins, lounging (and hilarious) sea lions. And then the […]