Articles by Michael Barclay

Bettie Serveert

Attagirl

PUBLISHED Feb 1, 2005

Forget anything you know about the scrappy Dutch band you first heard on Matador ten years ago. These days Bettie Serveert have turned down...

John Cale

Fragments of a Rainy Season

PUBLISHED Dec 1, 2004

You'd have to be a diehard John Cale fan to appreciate this, and really, does such a specimen exist? Sure, it is somewhat refreshing to hea...

Los Lobos

Live at the Fillmore

PUBLISHED Dec 1, 2004

There are many remarkable things about the 30-year career of Los Lobos, but high on the list is the fact that they've never managed to put...

Northern Exposure: Complete Second Season

PUBLISHED Dec 1, 2004

In the early '90s, Northern Exposure was as good as television got for audiences who wanted literate comedy without a laugh track and for t...

David Byrne

Ilé Aiyé (The House Of Life)

PUBLISHED Dec 1, 2004

This is only one of three films directed by Byrne; the other two are the feature True Stories (1986) and his own solo concert film Between...

Carandiru

Hector Babenco

PUBLISHED Nov 1, 2004

Based on a real-life 1992 prison riot in Sao Paulo, Carandiru makes the prison in Oz look like Hotel New Hampshire. Director Hector Babenco...

Calexico

World Drifts In: Live at the Barbican London

PUBLISHED Nov 1, 2004

In one of the documentaries that comprise an hour's worth of bonus material, Calexico drummer John Convertino talks about how the mariachi...

Straw Dogs

Sam Peckinpah

PUBLISHED Nov 1, 2004

This 1971 film is every pacifist's worst nightmare, one that would send Gandhi into a moral quandary. Dustin Hoffman plays a mild-mannered...