R Is for ReviewsH Is for Hellgate, Come for the Peaks, Stay for the Val-leys, self-released [12/2/08] It’s a hex, at best, that I’ll never rest / and I don’t have time forsuch a pretty, pretty princess.-- "Pretty, Pretty Princess"If Laura Veirs were to crank the volume up—way up—she might morph into a parallel-world version of H Is for Hellgate, i.e. front woman Jamie Henkensiefken and band. Before listeningto their second full-length, their publicist informed me thatthey put a feminist spin on math-rock (the band's bio contri-butes the descriptor "indie-prog"), which sounds about right. And when Henkensiefken talk-sings, they're at their best (the br

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Reelin' in the Years: Part Five Chapter Two: It's All Relative More snaps of the family (click here for Chapter One) ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** Above: Dad and Granddad; between high schooland college. In purely cinematic terms, Dad servedin the Army post-M*A*S*H, pre-Apocalypse Now. Grandma Fennessy. After her death in 1969, mygrandfather moved back to Ireland, never to return.Momwash-ing thedishes.There'ssome-thinguninten-tionallynoirishaboutthisphoto. Mom strikes a pose.Mom and Dad in the Mad Men years. Mom, me, and a bear. Mom, me, and some chickens. ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****Endnote: Clic

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Cigarettes and Coffee, Cigars and CognacBlackmarket, The Elephant in the Room, No Office Records [11/11/08]Lake Havisu's Blackmarket have produced a perfectly serviceable, but unremarkable debut. I don't doubt their sincerity, but feel like I've heard this CD before, and would argue that working with producers like Sean Slade (Radio-head) and Matthew Ellard (Weezer) wasn't to their benefit. A few unruly idiosyncrasies would be preferable to such a safe sound.Click here for my review of their self-titled EP.The Coral Sea, Firelight, self-released [10/7/08]Your soul is your true self and cannot be wounded.-- From their MySpace PageLike Jeff Hanson, Rey

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Reelin' in the Years: Part FiveChapter One: It's All Relative Snaps of the family. My favorite soap opera.***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****Above: My grandfather, Edmund Francis Fennessy, in the Irish Guards, circa 1918. A lifelong member of the IRA, he was the ultimate badass. That said, I can't quite make him out; possibly the guy in the back, to the far right. My grand-mother, Marguerite "Rita" Mitchard, and her sister, Elizabeth "Bet" Mitchard, just off the boatfrom Liverpool. Note the golf clubs. Grandma Ransom (née Scav-etta, later Kiley) and Mom. Mom sings a tune.Dad as a teen. After his stint in the Army (workingunderground)

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Perfect PairingThe Aug-ust issueof Sight & Sound, the world's finest film magazine, featured a cover story called "The Lost World of the Double Bill." Of the "50 per-fect pairings" chosen by their panel of experts, here's my favorite:CHRIS DARKE (Critic, UK)__________________Radio OnChris Petit (1979) __________________Withnail & I Bruce Robinson (1986)A pair of DVDs drops through the letterbox. But which towatch first, Petit's morose monochrome masterpiece orRobinson's paean to binge-drunk backchat? Downer first,then the upper; one film bleeds into the other, both of themroad movies. Radio On is a long and winding cul-de-sac,Withnail a pissed

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Flower Power Once upon a time, in another life, I created art. I wasn't an artist, per se, as I've always found that term pretentious (and I feel the same way about the word writer). For the most part, I sketched and I drew. My working-class weapons of choice included lead and colored pencils, ballpoint and felt-tip pens, charcoal, oil pastels, and correction fluid.I won a fewprizes alongthe way, whichwas rewarding,but the real sat-isfaction was inthe doing, whichI found meditat-ive and emot-ionally fulfil-ling. Once penhit paper, theoutside worldmelted away.All that mat-tered was thework and thedesire tocomplete it.In high school and college, I turne

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Dia de los Muertes These are the reviewsand other assignmentsI'm working on this month.Amazon DVDs: This Am-erican Life - Season One, Sergei Bodrov's Mongol -The Rise of Ghengis Khan (with Tadanobu Asano),David Mackenzie's MisterFoe (with Jamie Bell and Sophia Myles), Tommy O' Haver's An American Crime (with Catherine Keener and Ellen Page), Orson Welles' Touch of Evil - 50th Anniversary Ed-ition (special features review comparing and contrasting thethree versions), Michael Moore's Slacker Uprising, Kenji Miz-oguchi's Fallen Women (Eclipse box set with Osaka Elegy, Sis-ters of the Gion, Women of the Night, and Street of Shame),and Sold Out - A Threeve

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