Classic cars, real English ale, opera and cryptic crossword puzzles — probably not the interests of your typical police officer, but whoever said that Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse was typical? Created by writer Colin Dexter, this often sullen-tempered but still likeable and always dependable police officer was the bane of existence of many a criminal in the city of...
Bentley’s Bandstand: The First Half – Favorite Albums of 2013
This week’s column celebrates the second anniversary of Bentley’s Bandstand. It’s still amazing to see how much moving music is being released, in all different kinds of categories. As the record business continues to shift and splinter, it seems like musicians themselves are becoming more and more dedicated to finding a way to share their sounds. The releases featured in...
Yes’s Close to the Edge Gets the Steven Wilson Remix Treatment
The Steven Wilson HQ page on Facebook officially announced that the label responsible for the re-release and distribution of multiple King Crimson remixed classics would be reissuing a remixed version of Close to the Edge, the classic 1972 album from Yes. Close to the Edge followed up the huge success of that band’s 1971 gem, Fragile, and in its own...
Blu-ray Review: Stoker
The creepy thriller Stoker, now on Blu-ray, was the final film produced by the late Tony Scott. It’s also the first English-language production directed by acclaimed South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook. Aside from those two distinctions, the more likely hook for curious potential viewers is the cast, which includes Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska, and Dermot Mulroney. It’s kind of a...
Detective Work: Interview with Motive’s Brendan Penny
There are some people who from childhood know what they want to be when they grow up, while others are what you might call “late bloomers” when it comes to deciding on a career path. Actor Brendan Penny freely admits to being one of the latter. “I didn’t really have any specific aspirations when I was younger. I just enjoyed...
Music DVD Review: Destiny’s Child – The Video Anthology
For whatever reason, Legacy decided to shortchange Destiny’s Child fans with an incomplete collection of music videos on the new DVD The Video Anthology. As it is, there are 15 videos included and eight missing in action. While I love Beyoncé’s voice, as well as the harmonies of the classic lineup that included Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, Destiny’s Child...
Some of Hollywood’s Craziest Celebrity Rider Demands
The more a celebrity rises among the Hollywood ranks, the more demanding he or she tends to become. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that—after all, part of being a star is being able to ask for some extravagance of service now and then. Many stars request things such as having a proper green room backstage, maybe some room temperature water...
Book Review: The Godfather: The Official Motion Picture Archives by Peter Cowie
Anyone with even a passing interest in Francis Ford Coppola’s famed trilogy of Mafia films would do well to check out Peter Cowie’s The Godfather: The Official Motion Picture Archives. Not only does the book detail the making of the films (with a primary focus on the 1972 original) via text and photos, there are several inserts containing removable facsimile...
Blu-ray Review: The Grifters
Twenty-three years after its original theatrical release, Stephen Frears’ The Grifters still holds up as a chilling portrait of utterly unscrupulous characters engaged in the seedy underworld of con artists. Finally available on Blu-ray, the hard-boiled, neo-noir thriller is bolstered by the performances of John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, and Annette Bening. The latter two were both rewarded with Academy Award...
An Insightful Look at Audio Mastering with Steve Hoffman
Rock and roll is a tireless universe. The whole of it is made of so many elements that to begin to catalog them would be an immense undertaking. There are all kinds of music that need to sound their best for an audience. That’s where great engineers separate from the many who call such an undertaking a job. As with...