Tag Archive

Janelle Monae

By Akie Bermiss

Eric: I did not sign up for this topic because I had something coherent to say about Janelle Monae. Rather, it was blind and overwhelming enthusiasm.

AKIE BERMISS: Well, on the one hand, I too and writing from sheer, unbridled fandom. I think I heard a snippet of Monae’s “Tightrope” a few months back and I thought it sounded pretty funky. In fact, it led me to look up her bio and read reviews of her previous record — the self-produced Metropolis EP. And, as a geek and funkster, I have weakness for all things alien, cyborg, and futuristic. Funk is, after all, that futuristic music. Its the blues for robots. And, if you’ve ever read any Isaac Asimov you’ll know, when robots get the blues its heavy.

SNL: Charles Barkley/Alicia Keys

By Steve Murphy

ZOË RICE: I expected little from Charles Barkley’s monologue, and so it surpassed my slim expectations. I give him a B; it picked up with “Pretty, in a kinda Jewish way” but of course then took a dip again with Kenan Thompson (although I like “Well, some of it’s great. And some of it we’re gonna do anyway.”) And it’s true, SNL, where are the black hosts? And also more talented black sketch comics?

STEVE MURPHY: I also loved the “pretty, in a kinda Jewish way” joke, but the rest of this suffered from Barkley’s signature speech impediment. It’s like he’s trying to talk with a mouthful of marbles. But agreed, they need some more diversity in this cast. Let’s get rid of Kenan and replace him with someone funny. Wait, did that make sense? Regardless, let’s replace Kenan.

HOWARD MEGDAL: It was really amusing at the end when Kenan Thompson did that voice that sounds like Kenan Thompson.

Alicia Keys

By Stephon Johnson

AKIE BERMISS: When I say Alicia Key’s new The Element Of Freedom album is un-listenable, I am NOT exaggerating. The album is an unmitigated disaster of musical mediocrity. Its not that the songs themselves are horrible, per se. Each one is a nice, bland, soft-rock-pop single on its own. Each could be the end-credits music for an early-90s action-romance (read: Speed). But put them all back-to-back and they amount to some of the most uninteresting, soporific music I have heard all year.

STEPHON JOHNSON: I agree that Alicia Keys’ new album is dull, conservative and safe. But we’ve known that about Keys for a while now. The Element of Freedom doesn’t have the element of surprise. Clive Davis probably likes it that way.