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Ex-Go-Betweens’ Forster Pays Tribute to Musical Partner

Written by Adam Rathe on . Posted in Music, Posts

Released this past spring, The Evangelist is the first solo album in over a decade for singer-songwriter Robert Forster, though it could be, in some ways, the latest work by his former band the Go-Betweens. Instead, had it not been for an unforeseen circumstance, it might have been the tenth studio release by the critically acclaimed pop group from Brisbane, Australia.

The unforeseen circumstance was the sudden death of Forster’s other Go-Betweens songwriting partner, Grant McLennan, from a heart attack in 2006. He was only 48 years old. At the time both McLennan and Forster were writing songs and planning to work on the follow-up to their previous album, 2005’s Oceans Apart. The group, which began in 1977, effectively ended with McLennan’s death.

When Forster and McLennan got together as university students, they formed what was arguably one of music’s greatest songwriting partnerships. Over the course of nine studio albums, Forster and McLennan wrote some of the most refreshingly intelligent and heartfelt melodic songs in pop music. Their sound and ambitions contrasted with the flavors-of-the-month bands that ruled the ‘80s. They never achieved commercial success or gained the acceptance of a larger mainstream audience, but the Go-Betweens were admired by loyal fans for works such as “Spring Rain,” “Head Full of Steam” and “Streets of Your Town.” After a hiatus in the ‘90s, Forster and McLennan reformed the Go-Betweens and made three more albums between 2000 and 2005.

Forster headlined two shows at Joe’s Pub last night, marking a return to performing in New York City since the Go-Betweens’ shows there three years ago. He had said that he was not even certain about recording again after his friend’s devastating passing. “What remained were shockwaves of grief and days on my veranda,” he wrote in the British newspaper The Sunday Times, “trying to make sense of it all, and of what I was going to do next.”

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Beyond the Palin

Written by Adam Rathe on . Posted in Arts & Film, Posts

There were two mentions of Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin in the press today that got us thinking. The first was Cintra Wilson's evisceration of the Alaskan governor, which called her a "Republican blowup doll," and the second was in Simon Doonan's Fashion Week column, where he explained that he "expected to see hordes of women snapping up those smart-lady Tina Fey glasses, the very same ones that had endowed Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for vice president of the United States, with such an air of faux gravitas the night before."

The combination of the two stories put a scary image into our heads....

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Go Forth and Thrash!

Written by Adam Rathe on . Posted in Arts & Film, Posts

The Year Punk Broke, the seminal rock movie featuring live and behind-the-scenes footage of the most important bands of the day—Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Babes in Toyland and Dinosaur, Jr., among others. Since its 1991 release, though, the movie has only been available on VHS and Laserdisc. Earlier today, I came across a MySpace page dedicated
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