Year: 2015

Punk pioneer Lenny Kaye reflects back on “the original sin of rock ‘n’ roll”

Punk pioneer Lenny Kaye reflects back on “the original sin of rock ‘n’ roll”

Punk in the Big Apple is a subject that has been exhaustively—and some might say exhaustingly—documented over the years, yet a new reissue by the venerable Chicago crate diggers Numero Group accomplishes the mighty task of finding a fresh angle on the late 1970s scene. The set gathers the entire catalog of the short-lived boutique label Ork Records, founded in 1975 by the Warhol cohort, film buff and would-be impresario Terry Ork. It was primarily a vehicle for a band he was managing called Television, but he soon released foundational punk and postpunk singles by Television, Richard Hell and Alex Chilton with compelling obscurities by the Erasers, the Revelons and Prix. Spread across two CDs or five LPs, this modest catalog totaling 49 songs reveals a scene as it was coalescing and figuring out a new set of rules for rock ‘n’ roll. It’s easily one of the best reissues of 2015. So what is this guy Link Cromwell doing on here? His pair of tunes stands out among the gritty, grotty punk anthems: “Crazy Like …

Feminism is for pigs too: Miss Piggy receives feminist award from Gloria Steinem

Feminism is for pigs too: Miss Piggy receives feminist award from Gloria Steinem

Male chauvinist pig? More like female feminist pig. Miss Piggy was honored with the Sackler Center for Feminist Art’s First Award Wednesday, joining a long list of powerful women like Sandra Day O’Connor, Toni Morrison and Anita Hill. Despite being a puppet, Elizabeth Sackler, the founder-namesake of the awards told MSNBC that Piggy completely fit the bill: “We’re talking about tenacity, strength, intelligence, strategy, a sense of humor… She also believes that who you are is all you need to be and [to] really go for it.” The award, according to the center website, is given to women “who are first in their fields” and was presented to Piggy by Gloria Steinem and Sackler at the Brooklyn Museum. “She has spirit. She has determination. She has grit,” Sackler told USA Today. “She has inspired children to be who you are — and this squares very directly with feminism.” While all of this mat be true, not everyone was super thrilled to see a Jim Henson “Muppet” walk away with the title apparently — particularly, one …

The 7 smartest, classiest porn sites

The 7 smartest, classiest porn sites

According to Rule 34, if it exists, there’s a porn for it. Rule 34 doesn’t, however, guarantee there’s a decent porn for it. What if you want something that’s–I don’t know–classier, I suppose? Smut that’s plenty sexy, but also artistic and intelligent and just less…gross. If you’re looking for some not-so porny porn, start with the seven sites below. Like Swedish art films of yore, these sites occupy a space somewhere between art, erotica and porn. Some are even part sociological study and thought experiment. Or at least that’s what you can tell yourself when you look at them instead of bourgeois ol’ regular porn. 1. Hysterical Literature Hysterical Literature, an art project by Clayton Cubitt, is a collection of stark black-and-white videos, each featuring a woman sitting at a table reading aloud from a book of her choosing. However, under the table, there is an unseen person equipped with a back massager who is assigned to distract the reader as she reads. As the vibrator does what vibrators do so well, the women try to …

The orgy prude: How I finally admitted I don’t like meaningless, porn-star sex

The orgy prude: How I finally admitted I don’t like meaningless, porn-star sex

He wrapped his long, strong arms around my waist and kissed the back of my neck, my shoulder blades, and then interlocked his fingers within mine.  With his warm body nestled behind me, and Bill Maher interviewing Seth Rogen on the TV, I was in ecstasy.  I’d been crushing on a guy I’ll call Adam for a while, and finally, after a few casual hookups, he seemed to actually want to connect with me. Then he said something I wasn’t expecting. “I’d love to see you fuck another dude.” I knew the guy was a tad freaky. The first time we had sex he pounded me so hard I thought my bladder would explode, so I rushed home and took some amoxicillin to ward off a UTI. He also shoved his cock so hard down my throat repeatedly, I practically puked on myself and could barely breathe.  For some reason, I pretended to like it. You may wonder why I remained bewitched by him.  There were the understandable reasons: He was brilliant, educated at a good …