When the ShillelaghMeets the HoodPart Three: Shamrocks & ShenanigansBy the time LA's House of Pain entered the hip-hop fray in the 1990s, the idea of a white hip-hop group wasn't as much of an oxymoron as it would've been a decade before. Since then, the Beastie Boys and Third Bass, on the East Coast, had paved the way for this pasty crew of miscreants. On the West Coast, the multi-racial Cypress Hill had followed suit. And no, I'm not about to mention Vanilla Ice... (Whoops!) In any case, despite some surface similarities, none of these outfits were flying the orange and the green.Enter Erik Schrody, better known as Everlast, who was born on Long

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That Girl in a Cole Porter Song and Other Gems From the Screenwriter's PenA work in progress, these are some of my favorite movie quotes. Where possible, I've tried to avoid the obvious. Consequently, you won't find "I coulda been a contender" or "You lookin' at me?" here (although I couldn't resist a quote from Taxi Driver). That said, I do love Budd Schulberg and Paul Schrader's iconic takes on wounded masculinity--especially in context. For those lines to really work their magic, you don't just need to conjure up the indelible images of Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro in your mind (or on the screen), you need to hear the rest of their dialogue in

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List: Dap Dippin' With Sharon Jones and the Top 20"If you can't feel the music on this album, then you must be a dead ass!"-- Sharon Jones, "Soul Sister #1," on NaturallyWithout any further ado, here are my top 20 albums for 2005. It should go without saying, but just in case it doesn't: Down with major labels, down with over-production, down with music by committee! And while I'm at it, down with stylists! Any artist who can't dress themselves has no place on a list of mine. (No doubt Ms. Jones selected those five-inch glitter heels all by her lonesome--and more power to her!) So here's to the artists who write and perform their own material or, as i

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When the ShillelaghMeets the HoodPart Two: I See Irish People As I've mentioned elsewhere on this site--man, I hate that word "blog"--lately I've been working on a paper about the influence of black culture on Irish music (and by extension, film). The following are a list of quotes I hope to integrate into the piece. If you know of any good ones you don't see here, please feel free to contact me directly or leave a comment. Also, if you can recommend any good reading materials, please give a shout. I'm just about to get started on Noel Ignatiev's How the Irish Became White.*****“Before our merciful intervention, the Irish nation were a wretched, indol

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Here's the BeefDVD Review: Peter Spirer, Beef, QD3/Image EntertainmentGot a beef? Well, you've come to the right place! Somewhat misshapen, but inherently compelling, Beef could as easily have been titled The Battle. Released in 2003, the dramatic doc offers a lively look at great rap battles throughout hip-hop history, starting with Kool Moe Dee vs. Busy Bee and ending with 50 Cent vs. Ja Rule. Directed by Peter Spirer (Rhyme and Reason) and produced by Quincy Jones III (QD3), Beef is endorsed by his famous father, whose plea for peace concludes the film. Other participants include Big Daddy Kane, Ice-T, Common, and Treach (Naughty by Nature).The fir

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When the ShillelaghMeets the HoodPart One: Green-Eyed SoulA self-described "little guy" (1967's "The Story of Them"), Northern Irish singer/songwriter George Ivan "Van" Morrison was born in Belfast in 1945. His Scottish father was a dock worker who played music on the side, his Irish mother was a jazz singer, and their home was filled with blues recordings. As Morrison once quipped (Mark Prendergast, Isle of Noises, 1989), "Some people are brought up on jam, I was brought up on Leadbelly and heads like that." (He wasn't, incidentally, raised as a Catholic or a Protestant, but rather a Jehovah's Witness.) Morrison began his music career by playing in s

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Reviews for DecemberHere's a list of the reviews I worked on this month. More than usual, although most exclusively for Amazon.Amazon: The Hives - Tussles in Brussels (concert film plusshort documentary, videos,and TV appearances), Rock Star - INXS: The DVD (musical performances from the realityTV series), Black Girl / Borom Sarret (feature plus short from Senegal's Ousmane Sembene; I also reviewed Mandabi and Xala), Sandra Bernhard - Without You I'm Nothing, The Cutting Edge - Going for the Gold (remake of the Moira Kelly/D.B. Sweeney ice skating opus), Their Eyes Were Watching God (Oprah-produced TV adaptation of the Zora Neale Hurston novel with Ha

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