Category: Arts & Culture

  • Comic addicts and signed book junkies

    Comic addicts and signed book junkies

    Photo credit: Wikimedia commons There are people who appear normal in everyday life but who are out there collecting comics, spending hours of their time like dope addicts, working feverishly to complete hard-to-come-by runs of particular issues. For example, #37 of “Swamp Thing” by Alan Moore is the first appearance of John Constantine, who has…

  • ‘Swan Song’ by Robert R. McCammon: A Book Review

    Inside her mind was the beauty of the world—what was left of it, that is. Everything had changed. The giant cornfields broke open, and missiles flew out of the ground. Submarines all over the ocean fired nuclear warheads, and not a country was untouched. Robert R McCammon has achieved his masterpiece in the story of…

  • Insane Clown President: Matt Taibbi on Social Justice in the Age of Donald Trump

    Spare Change News was able to track down busy journalist and author Matt Taibbi to talk about President Trump’s potential impact on social justice, healthcare and homelessness. Taibbi also spoke about his new book, released in January, titled “Insane Clown President: Dispatches from the 2016 Circus”, which gathers his reporting for Rolling Stone during the…

  • Vanna frontman discusses youth homelessness, Hope For The Day and his philanthropic clothing line

    Vanna frontman discusses youth homelessness, Hope For The Day and his philanthropic clothing line

    Photo: Kelsey Lockhart. Positive Metal Attitude runs deep through Davey Muise’s veins. As a young kid in the 90s, he dove into the grunge explosion, listening to bands like Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Live and Pearl Jam. However, it was through a different avenue that the Vanna frontman immersed himself in the hardcore punk and…

  • Waking Gods: A Book Review

    Waking Gods: A Book Review

    Photo courtesy of the author Writing this book review of “Waking Gods,” book two of the trilogy “The Themis Files,” I found myself in a quandary. When I write a review of a wonderful book, I don’t like to insert spoilers. If you, dear reader, haven’t yet read the first book in the series, “Sleeping…

  • Con Brio brings its light to Boston

    Con Brio brings its light to Boston

    Con Brio is touring the country, and will be playing the House of Blues in Boston Thursday, March 9. Photo: Courtesy of Con Brio Con Brio, a California based funk-soul band, will be coming to the House of Blues in Boston on Thursday, March 9, with the New Orleans band Galactic.   The band’s name…

  • A Lot of Work To Do: Brian Marquis Talks the Punk Scene, Homelessness and the Importance of Community

    A Lot of Work To Do: Brian Marquis Talks the Punk Scene, Homelessness and the Importance of Community

    Photo: Dani Fresh. For many music lovers, hardcore has always been just another genre. But for Brian Marquis, it has been so much more than that. It has been his passion and his livelihood, and it has served as a conduit to his social awakening. A native of Litchfield, Connecticut, Marquis immersed himself in the…

  • Review: Run The Jewels at House of Blues

    Review: Run The Jewels at House of Blues

    All photos: Jason Greenough When I first heard that Run The Jewels was going to be visiting Boston, I wasn’t sure what to expect. All I knew was that it would be a good show with a mix of political angst and downright insane hip-hop skills. My expectations were met and exceeded within the first…

  • Davis Square bar’s Mardi Gras concert will benefit local homeless coalition

    Davis Square bar’s Mardi Gras concert will benefit local homeless coalition

    Photo: Sweet Wednesday It will be a sweet Sunday when the band Sweet Wednesday takes the stage on Sunday, February 26 to perform in a Mardi Gras-style concert to benefit the Somerville Homeless Coalition at the Burren. Donations collected at the free event, which will take place from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., will go…

  • Revolutionary Reads: Boston bookstores rally readers with political displays and collections

    Revolutionary Reads: Boston bookstores rally readers with political displays and collections

    Photo: Brookline Booksmith After U.S. Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway referenced the nonexistent “Bowling Green Massacre” in defending President Trump’s executive order banning refugees and immigrants from seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the United States, Harvard Book Store staffers fired back with a cheeky display commemorating the “victims” of the incident. Titles on the…