Hopefully you’ve heard mentions of the LIBOR scandal – the biggest banking scandal in years. I need to tell you two things about it. 1) It’s not as complicated as it sounds. 2) It does not stand for “Ladies Intimately Bending Over, Rearview.” If it did, you would see a lot more coverage of it on the mainstream media.
– Lee Camp, July 2012
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Lee Camp is a stand-up comedian, writer, and activist. He’s a contributor to The Onion and has performed stand-up comedy at events featuring Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Al Gore. He was recently on Showtime’s series The Green Room with Paul Provenza. He’s done comedic commentary on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, BBC’s Newsnight, PBS, E! network, SpikeTV, MTV, and ABC’s Good Morning America. He’s featured in the new bestseller Satiristas! with the likes of George Carlin, Bill Maher, and Stephen Colbert. Lee also provided a catharsis for millions of people when he went live on Fox News and called the network a “parade of propaganda and a festival of ignorance.” His first album, Chaos for the Weary, was listed as one of the Top 5 stand-up comedy albums of 2011. His new book, Moment of Clarity, and album, Pepper Spray The Tears Away, are in stores now. Lee will be bringing his comedy show West to the Fake Gallery in Los Angeles this Saturday, July 14. For tickets click HERE. For more information visit LeeCamp.net.
[Above: “White Noise” from the album Good Morning, Magpie]
I was lucky enough to stumble across the music of Bloomington, Indiana’s Murder By Death almost 10 years ago and since then they’ve grown to be my absolute favorite band of all time. I’ve logged countless hours falling into their heavily visual and moody music. With every album comes new concepts and sounds. Spanning genres from post rock to alternative Americana with strong elements of story, Murder By Death possesses the ability to attract listeners from all ends of the musical spectrum.
After five full length albums, many EPs and splits, and even a soundtrack to sci-fi novel Finch by Jeff Vandermeer, Murder By Death has announced the release of Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon on September 25th via Bloodshot Records. Recorded and mixed by Grammy-nominated producer John Congleton (Explosions In The Sky, Modest Mouse, Amanda Palmer), this album is much-anticipated, and follows their 2010 release, Good Morning, Magpie.
The band are also one of the hardest working bands I’ve ever known. Logging over 1,200 shows in their touring career worldwide, and countless hours traveling, it’s never short of enthralling to see them play live. This summer, they are back on the road, playing not only songs from the new album, but celebrating the 10 year anniversary of their very first album, Like The Exorcist But More Breakdancing, which was released in the summer of 2002.
During their summer tour last year, I spoke with bassist Matt Armstrong about iabout doing an nterview for the site once they announce the new album. Matt has been a member of Suicide Girls since 2007, so he was excited to speak with me.
“Painting has the potential of expressing with a single gesture.”
– Luke Chueh
Luke Chueh studied graphic design and worked as a designer for many years, but he made his name as a painter. Chueh emerged from the Los Angeles art scene as one of the major painters of his generation and a major player in the contemporary lowbrow art movement. His use of simple characters and minimal color schemes may make what he does look easy, but his imagery and the emotions they evoke are incredibly complex. Few artists are able to make something look simple and cute at a distance, but upon closer inspection reveal itself to be a deeply disturbing scenario.
People may know him from the underground art show Cannibal Flower or Gallery 1988 where he’s been a major exhibitor. Chueh’s work has been transformed into vinyl figures and he created the album art for Fall Out Boy’s album Folie à Deux. Chueh also regularly posts his new work on his website lukechueh.com. His newest project is The Art of Luke Chueh, published by Titan Books in association with Gallery 1988. Chueh spoke with SG about his approach, the artwork he loves, and hints at a few possibilities for the future.
“Why are we giving any credence to anybody who says ‘I would like to reduce the number of abortions and the way that I want to do that is to remove all access to birth control.’”
– Lizz Winstead
Lizz Winstead is one of the bravest comedians around today. She talks about abortion with a rare candor, as is a staunch supporter of Planned Parenthood. Her work raising awareness and funds (over a million dollars to date!) for the organization has not surprisingly raised the ire of the religious right, but she stands firm, fighting for women’s reproductive rights at a time when in recent history they’ve never been more in peril.
In her new book, Lizz Free Or Die, she devotes a chapter to her own experience as a frightened and bewildered teenager who discovered she was pregnant, and who was even more frightened and bewildered by the reactions of the adults she trusted to give her honest advice, help, and support.
The book also features essays, which are poignant and hilarious in equal parts, on her upbringing in a conservative Catholic family, her coming of age as a stand up comedian in Minneapolis, the roots of The Daily Show which she co-created, and the rise and fall of Air America which she co-founded.
We caught up with Lizz by phone. Though the native Minnesotan currently calls New York home, she spoke to us from Texas where she’d just done one of her numerous Planned Parenthood stand up fundraising shows. This particular one raised money for a clinic that had recently lost every penny of its state funding for essential community services such as teen pregnancy testing and health care.
My latest Moment of Clarity rant could easily have been entitled “Distractions Will Be The Death Of Us” because we are allowing the distractions to take us away from the important conversations. Some would argue that this is hypocritical of me, since I myself am a comedian. However, I hope my comedy can act as a gateway drug to the important topics. I try to bridge the deadly canyons between distraction and crucial issues…You can decide if I succeed.
– Lee Camp, July 2012
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Lee Camp is a stand-up comedian, writer, and activist. He’s a contributor to The Onion and has performed stand-up comedy at events featuring Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Al Gore. He was recently on Showtime’s series The Green Room with Paul Provenza. He’s done comedic commentary on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, BBC’s Newsnight, PBS, E! network, SpikeTV, MTV, and ABC’s Good Morning America. He’s featured in the new bestseller Satiristas! with the likes of George Carlin, Bill Maher, and Stephen Colbert. Lee also provided a catharsis for millions of people when he went live on Fox News and called the network a “parade of propaganda and a festival of ignorance.” His first album, Chaos for the Weary, was listed as one of the Top 5 stand-up comedy albums of 2011. His new book, Moment of Clarity, and album, Pepper Spray The Tears Away, are in stores now. Lee will be bringing his comedy show West to the Fake Gallery in Los Angeles this Saturday, July 14. For tickets click HERE. For more information visit LeeCamp.net.
“Staying true is way more important than staying current.”
– Patton Oswalt
Patton Oswalt braved a very rough cell phone connection to give a phone interview for his latest film. He stuck to funny one liners to keep it safe when the questions were breaking up, so it was kind of a free 10 minute standup set from a major comedian. Even his polite refusal of a SuicideGirls membership was funny.
There’s only one scene with Patton Oswalt in the movie, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. He plays Roache, a neighbor Dodge (Steve Carell) runs into at an end of the world party. Since an approaching asteroid gives earth only three weeks before destruction, people are living up their last days.
Roache explains to Dodge how he’s been using the end of the world to get laid. It turns out 8s and 10s lower their standards when they don’t have any time to wait for someone better. Oswalt gives a funny monologue in a memorable scene from the movie, and he gave us some time in support of the film.
“They don’t give us any tools in high school or elementary school to think about dying and death.”
– Darren Aronofsky
According to Warner Bros, Darren Aronofsky is the next Stanley Kubrick. It may be hard to believe that any filmmaker can be compared to what many consider the greatest filmmaker of all time. But Aronofskys new movie The Fountain, starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz, may very well prove Warner Bros’ claim correct. The Fountain combines elements of Braveheart, a love story and 2001: A Space Odyssey into one film in which a man discovers the fountain of youth and all throughout history he tries to save the life of the woman he loves.
Visiting the set for The Fountain was so much fun and very exciting. I remember first seeing PI, and while it didnt grab me as much as Requiem for a Dream later did, I knew that Aronofsky was a major talent. Of course Requiem later proved that but everyone wants to know what he could do with a large budget.
Walking into the assuming Montreal building that houses the sets for The Fountain you would never think that genius is afoot in there. After getting settled we were led into a monstrous room that held the last set that has been constructed for the film. It’s a giant spaceship that was built to look like it was made out of a tree. A freshly bald Hugh Jackman says something to Rachel Weisz, and then something else happened that I couldnt see…
