The Aquarian Weekly » Columns

Rant ‘N’ Roll: Schmekel – Transgender Jewish Punks

Mike Greenblatt — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:49:37 +0000

It’s a safe bet to say that there’s never been a band like Schmekel (Yiddish for small penis). Guitarist Lucian Kahn, keyboardist Ricky Riot, bassist Nogga Schwartz and drummer Simcha Halpert-Hanson are all dudes, they’re all Jewish, and they were all born as girls. Their music is a bastardized combo of punk-rock, Klezmer (Jewish jazz), polka and comedy (Frank Zappa meets Henny Youngman) but much more profane. Influenced as much by early gay punk band Pansy Division as topical folksinger Tom Lehrer, they’ve been together for two years performing at colleges, benefits and local clubs in their Manhattan and…

The Freak Show: Have The Oil Companies Bought The Republicans?

Hal B. Selzer — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:38:41 +0000

Our country is based on a free press. That’s how the public finds out about issues affecting the country, and decides what the best choices are to handle the problems we are faced with. And even what politicians to vote for, based on their opinions on how to handle different issues. At least that’s how it’s supposed to work; in this era of slanted news channels and people who pull the lever based solely on party, it doesn’t seem like we take advantage of our opportunities to govern ourselves.

But at least the free press is available to give us…

Deleted Scenes: Go See Wanda Sykes!

JJ Koczan — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:14:48 +0000

This week, specifically tomorrow, Feb. 9, comedian Wanda Sykes is coming to the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank. She is fucking hilarious. You should go see her.

I interviewed Wanda Sykes by telephone (it’s amazing how old fashioned that word seems; like I had to crank up the phone first) on Thursday, Jan. 19, at 4 p.m., and I know this, because there’s a file on my desktop called, “BURNED-Wanda Sykes Interview 01.19.12.wma.” All my interviews are recorded for later transcription, and the “BURNED“ refers to the fact that I archive them physically, on CD, as well as digitally,…

Deleted Scenes: The Turd Jihad

JJ Koczan — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:02:53 +0000

My wife and I were sitting on the couch this past Sunday afternoon, with not much going on—as we rarely are on weekends these days—and as a way to pass the time, she suggested we watch a half-hour cut of the film The Third Jihad she’d stumbled on while dicking around on her laptop. Given all the controversy around the movie this past week in response to the revelation that the NYPD had shown it to officers as part of their training in counter-terrorism, and New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s brief appearance, I figured it was…

The Freak Show: And The Winner Is…

Hal B. Selzer — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:16:33 +0000

Last week President Obama gave his annual State of the Union address. The State of theUnionused to be the time a President reported on how things stood in the country, and made proposals for Congress to consider. The Constitution lays out the purpose of it, as follows: “He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of theUnionand recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

However, in modern times it has turned into just another game of political gamesmanship. The President gives his speech.…

Reality Check: Joe Cool Carries The Two

James Campion — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:50:38 +0000

For ninety interminably long minutes on 1/24/12, the president of the United States played his hand. All that anyone needs to know about the obligatory laundry list cum base rouser that usually fills a final first-term State of the Union address is that it’s going to be the Summer of Populism for the most pragmatic chief executive of my lifetime. This is how Barack Hussein Obama burst upon his first campaign for the job he eventually won in the autumn of 2008, and the way he has governed since. The White House will play the percentages, weigh the margins, and…

Out Of Bounds: Calling XLVI

Giorgio Mustica — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:10:20 +0000

I guess it’s only fitting that the New York Giants and New England Patriots get to battle it out for supremacy yet again. Super Bowl XLII in 2008 was pretty damn epic and their game in November went down to the last few seconds. But in both of these games, the Giants prevailed, and Eli Manning continues to prove he’s clutch down the stretch. Will the Patriots prevail and assert themselves as one of the best franchises in the league or will the Giants prove that although they made the playoffs on the final day of the…

The Contrarian: Might Miss A Ms.

Veronica Rajadnya — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:18:09 +0000

January wastes no time. It’s 2012, the Republican Primary season is underway, The Obamas by New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor is on the book shelves and ready for pirating on the Internet, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s purported plans post Presidential election are finally being taken seriously enough that the “high wire of American politics” has coined itself in a matter of days. This marks an unusual situation where the public is actually missing a sitting government official before they are gone.

At a town hall meeting last Thursday, State Department officials reckoned with the very real…

Rant ‘N’ Roll: Ned Evett – All In

Mike Greenblatt — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:00:10 +0000

In the popular poker game Texas Hold ‘Em, the concept of going all in is when you put all your cards on the table and offer up your life—win or lose—to the fates. This is exactly what super-duper guitarist Ned Evett did with the Adrian Belew-produced Treehouse. He left his wife, he left his life, he watched Boise, Idaho, disappear in his rear-view window. He went on the road opening for Joe Satriani on a six-month tour. While in Milan, Italy, he met King Crimson guitarist and singer Adrian Belew.

“My marriage of 20 years was dissolving anyway,” he…

Out Of Bounds: The Franchise Vs. The Sanchize

Giorgio Mustica — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:00:59 +0000

The media in the New York City area tends to blow things out of proportion more often than they should in the sports world. It seems like every time a team loses a game or two, the coach gets heavily scrutinized, talks emerge about whether he’s actually the right man for the job, etc. The fans are somewhat the same way in that they are so dedicated to their teams that they won’t put up with losing. But ever since the New York Jets failed to make the playoffs, both the media and the fans are well within their rights…