Archive for the Features Category

Bad Penny of the Year: Nicolas Cage

Posted in Essays, Features with tags on 12/17/2022 by Kurt Orzeck

If you check out this website, you probably know it’s almost exclusively focused on music. But we’re making an exception here, because Nicolas Cage is about as rock and roll as they come. (And, for the record, his characters actually do sing sometimes, too.)

When Cage legendarily shelled out millions, as if he were allergic to money, he bought dinosaur skulls, a two-headed snake, a haunted house and shrunken pygmy heads.

That’s pretty metal, in our book. Plus, if Cage can be a presenter at Revolver‘s Golden God Awards, he’s allowed to be part of the Bad Penny family.

Continue reading →

Top 10 Songs With the Same Titles as Great Novels

Posted in Lists, What You Readin' For? with tags , , , , , , , , , on 07/07/2022 by Kurt Orzeck

1. “1984” by David Bowie (book by George Orwell)

2. “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Metallica (book by Ernest Hemingway)

3. “The Right Stuff” by New Kids on the Block (book by Tom Wolfe)

Continue reading →

Memento: A Spellbinding Set List From Bewitcher

Posted in Concert Reviews, Features, Mementos, Reviews with tags , , , , , on 07/04/2022 by Kurt Orzeck
Bewitcher’s frontman, Unholy Weaver of Shadows & Incantations

Bewitcher, Portland’s most scintillating speed-metal band since Toxic Holocaust, blew the garage doors off the Shredder in Boise once again on Friday night. It was an exhilarating set played by the band that played the same venue with Nile in mid-April, and with Exhumed and Creeping Death in November 2021.

The 50-or-so attendees danced and rubbed knocked elbows during each song, before and after which Bewitcher’s gracious frontman — who goes by the tough-to-memorize moniker Unholy Weaver of Shadows & Incantations — frequently expressed his appreciation for the crowd.

Continue reading →

Bob Odenkirk’s New Memoir: 20 Key Takeaways

Posted in Comedy, Lists, Reviews, What You Readin' For? with tags , , on 05/03/2022 by Kurt Orzeck
Bob Odenkirk’s Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama: A Memoir

Thanks to his breakthrough role as Saul Goodman a.k.a Jimmy McGill in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, Bob Odenkirk finally got his due in mainstream culture starting in 2009. Landing the part was a game-changer for the actor/writer/director/sketch-comedy icon who had spent more than a decade toiling on dozens of projects that never saw the light of day.

Continue reading →

Cover Story: Lord Huron

Posted in Features, Interviews on 07/15/2018 by Kurt Orzeck

Lord Huron screen shot

I recently interviewed Ben Schneider about his rock band Lord Huron for the July cover of Music Connection. Check out the full article here.

Cover Story: Thirty Seconds To Mars

Posted in Features, Interviews, Sound Off with tags , on 06/11/2018 by Kurt Orzeck

Jared Leto cover story

I recently interviewed Jared Leto about his rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars for the April cover of Music Connection. Check out the full article here.

Woods Of Ypres’ David Gold And Crash Test Dummies’ Brad Roberts: Doppelgängers

Posted in Doppelgängers, Features with tags , , , on 03/21/2012 by Kurt Orzeck

Since David Gold is no longer alive, we’ll never get to hear him sing Crash Test Dummies’ “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm.”

But that shouldn’t stop Brad Roberts of fellow Canadians CTD from tackling Woods of Ypres at some point.

Long live the bass-baritone.

My City Rules: Exray’s On San Francisco

Posted in Features, Interviews, MP3s, My City Rules with tags , , , on 10/27/2010 by Kurt Orzeck

You say your band has a big following on Facebook? Well, San Francisco’s Exray’s can do you one better: One of their songs is featured in David Fincher’s related movie “The Social Network,” which appears well on its way to a Best Picture nomination. The experimental lo-fi group just released its debut EP; here’s a downloadable song from it – along with one of the bandmembers’ contribution to “My City Rules,” a new Bad Penny series. Continue reading →

Revising History: Wooden Wand On Guided By Voices, Black Flag, Rolling Stones, More

Posted in Features, Interviews, Revising History with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 10/27/2010 by Kurt Orzeck

Over the years, James Jackson Toth has quietly proven himself to be one of the more undervalued American songwriters out there. Calling to mind a broad array of characters from the canon of great music – Captain Beefheart, Willie Nelson, Sun Ra and more – the man better known as Wooden Wand has been making a case that, perhaps, eventually, he should stack right up there with those legends. For the most poetic edition yet in the Bad Penny’s “Revising History” series, Toth touched on the Rolling Stones’ “Coming Down Again,” Guided by Voices’ “Chicken Blows,” Black Flag’s “Three Nights” and other songs he wishes he had made. Continue reading →

Cover Me: Dearling Physique’s Deadeye Dealer

Posted in Cover Me, Features, Interviews, MP3s with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 10/27/2010 by Kurt Orzeck

Minneapolis’ R&B-ish electro-pop squad Dearling Physique recently released a new single. Which artists would they most like to hear cover it? For that matter, which artists would they most like to hear cover every song on their forthcoming new record? Two members of the band chimed in for the latest installment in the Bad Penny’s “Cover Me” series. Continue reading →