US – Thursday, March 18
The Grid
The week's releases
Metro staff reviews the latest CDs, DVDs and books for your reading pleasure.
 
Music
‘The age of the freak is almost here’
For the past few years the tourist shops near where the SXSW Music Conference takes place have been selling goods emblazoned with the axiom “Keep Austin Weird.” And if the first night of live music was any indication, visitors, revelers and performers are taking the sentiment to heart. Here are a few of the highlights from Wednesday
 
Music
‘A fun night of music, a little shindig’ with STP
For the first time in nearly a decade, Stone Temple Pilots will be premiering material from a new album, kicking off a tour with a show tonight at the 3,000-capacity Austin Music Hall at the SXSW Music Conference in Texas. But as guitarist Dean DeLeo says, size doesn’t matter.
 
Music
‘The age of the freak is almost here’
For the past few years the tourist shops near where the SXSW Music Conference takes place have been selling goods emblazoned with the axiom “Keep Austin Weird.” And if the first night of live music was any indication, visitors, revelers and performers are taking the sentiment to heart. Here are a few of the highlights from Wednesday
 
Philly Arts
Dreaming up life in a ‘Future City’
Gene Coleman has a recurring dream in which he finds himself in a strange city. “I don’t know where this place is, and I don’t think it’s any place that actually exists,” he says. “But it has these fantastic, almost surrealistic architectural qualities to it.”
 

Philly Arts
Dreaming up life in a ‘Future City’
Gene Coleman has a recurring dream in which he finds himself in a strange city. “I don’t know where this place is, and I don’t think it’s any place that actually exists,” he says. “But it has these fantastic, almost surrealistic architectural qualities to it.”
 
Boston Arts
Two tickets to ‘Paradise Lost’
“Paradise Lost” is a Depression-era drama rife with parallels to the current economic and political climate. In the wrong hands, a predictable production of Clifford Odets’ period piece could bore an entire audience into a coma.
Arts
‘I’ll be your mama’
Sandra Shipley says she wants a lot of people to come see her in “Entertaining Mr. Sloane,” but there’s one person she’s a little nervous about.
 

Photo: CAROL ROSEGG
New York Arts
Valerie Harper gets ‘Looped,’ dahling
Tallulah Bankhead was as much of a character as she was an actress. Although she set the screen on fire in such films as Alfred Hitchcock’s “Lifeboat” and garnered rave reviews on Broadway, her scandalous personal life — and her witty take on her indiscretions — made her a legend. Valerie Harper takes on Bankhead in her twilight years in the new Broadway production of “Looped.”
 

Boston Arts
A ‘Fly’ new play at the Huntington
The magic of live theater has never been more evident than in the Huntington’s production of “Stick Fly.” In lesser hands, playwright Lydia Diamond’s tale of familial dysfunction could easily be pedestrian, but director Kenny Leon finds everything that’s good about it and encourages his talented cast to run with it.
 
Boston Arts
Going in for some ‘Light’ comedy
Physics meets chick flicks in “Legacy of Light,” the latest production of the Lyric Stage Co.
New York Arts
The mistrial minstrel show fails to balance
Clearly John Kander and the late Fred Ebb, creators of musical classics such as “Cabaret” and “Chicago,” knew how to spin cynicism into theatrical gold. And that talent is very much in evidence in “The Scottsboro Boys” at the Vineyard Theatre, which combines hard-boiled skepticism with tuneful razzle-dazzle to often entertaining effect.  Yet despite its clever story-telling, “Scottsboro” fails to find its balance. It should take your breath away but barely elicits a sigh.
 
 
 
New York Arts
Pop culture meets experimental nature
More than 2 million people have watched, on YouTube, a drunken David Hasselhoff attempt to eat a hamburger. Another thousand or so will see David Neumann’s Advanced Beginner Group recreate the grim scene — several times over — during “Big Eater,” Neumann’s latest work at the Kitchen.
New York Arts
The right cast helps to cut the clutter
Kate Whoriskey’s production of William Gibson’s 1959 drama, “The Miracle Worker,” is nothing if not sturdy. Anchored by strong performances from its two exceptional leading ladies, it charts just-out-of-school teacher Annie Sullivan’s struggle to get through to blind and deaf young student Helen Keller and counteract the influence of Helen’s overindulgent family. Abigail Breslin is smug and ferocious as Helen, while Alison Pill is a study in single-mindedness as Annie, determined to open up Helen’s world through language.
 

Photo: DAVID BURNETT
My Books
When war is your canvas
For a man who writes so much about death in his skillful and heartbreaking new novel, “The Surrendered,” author Chang-rae Lee is surprisingly good-humored. Still, he’s first to admit that his latest effort, which follows three characters ravaged by the Korean War, took him to task.
 
Arts
Clawing your way through spring arts
When the lights go out
Beyond superheroes: First Person Arts explores the graphic novel as memoir
Dancing with a deadline at Miro
Get ready for an Armory art attack
Adorable meets intelligent
Mapping changes in classical music
Paul Taylor is dance stripped to its essentials
The writing on the new walls of the Barnes
Shipwrecked shenanigans
Arts
Shipwreck shenanigans
The life behind the party
Rocking the art world
When gossip became news
Comical Catholicism
Going through the motions in a whole new way
‘Tea’ time for Philadelphia
You’ll be screaming ‘Let’s go to Tahiti!’
What the ‘HONK!’ are you gonna do with your kids?
Lion’s share of the work
 
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Music
MMMpod
The March MMMpod features conversation and music from Surfer Blood and The Allman Brothers Band (There's a double-bill you're not too likely to see. However, Gregg Allman does mention Hannah Montana!). We also speak with Vampire Weekend and the Dropkick Murphys.
 
 
 
Metro Life Panel
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