Dan Lacey isn’t the typical image of the starving artist. Until recently, the small businessman, freelancer and illustrator of the cult hit Faithmouse comics labored in obscurity. But since his “Victory Unicorn” painting of Barack Obama has hit the web, he has been courting controversy- not to mention eyeballs. I sat down with Lacey, and talked about politics, faith, and the role of art in the 21st Century.
Racket John: When did you decide to do the “Victory Unicorn” painting?
Dan Lacey: I did it on the same day as …

Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
Grove Press, New York
9/10
This book is a fantastic read. It tells the story of the forefathers, birth and downfall of the first wave (and probably the only pure wave) of punk in the form of a nearly chronological collection of interviews from the people who made the scene themselves. The Tale begins with Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground and moves right through Detroit with Iggy and Wayne Kramer, New York’s scene surrounding Max’s Kansas City and …

It’s only a small pink container of gum, nothing more, and nothing less. It’s got none of the snarky comics or hidden fortunes associated with other seasoned brands. Yet for a brief period in time, Bubble Tape held sway over millions of teens and pre-teens.
Case in point: William Lutz. Though he’s a grown man with a wife and kids, as a young teen during the early 90s the Pennsylvania resident became fascinated with the Bubble Tape commercials that were airing at the time. The ads, which featured campy caricatures of …

Chris Robley
Movie Theatre Haiku
Cutthroat Records
8/10
Chris Robley isn’t a cookie-cutter musician. Much of his recordings, from his 2005 debut album onward, have been difficult to categorize. Some tracks can be described as a sort-of techno-rock, others are more sparse and instrumental in nature. Nearly all of them are weird- like Tim Burton weird- and Movie Theatre Haiku is no exception. What makes this one different from the others is its scale- Robley reportedly brought in an orchestra to record a few of the tracks. Yet despite the rich layering …

Pop Evil
Lipstick on the Mirror
Pazzo Music
1/10
There is this music festival called Rock on the Range that takes place at Crew Stadium right here in Columbus, Ohio every year. Go to http://www.rockontherange.com/ to check it out for yourself. The first year the festival was thrown a good friend of mine and I used to joke about different ways we could wreak terror at the festival, systematically destroying everything that is wrong with Ohio (and the rest of Middle America) in one fell swoop.
You see, the festival features all of the worst …

JOETOWN
Pills and Ammo
JOETOWN Records
2/10*
Please refer to “Pop Evil” review, but add in commentary about Rob Zombie obsession.
-Luke Toney
*JOETOWN gets a bonus point because his CD looks like a vinyl album.

Trapt
Only Through the Pain
5/10
Okay, I thought that name sounded familiar. These are those guys who wrote “Headstrong,” a #1 hit some years back prominently featured in military advertisements. I don’t have much to say about this. It sounds exactly like their other material. No growth, no maturity. Perfect for Rock on the Range 2009. GO ARMY! [Emperor’s Note: you don’t have to go Army. You can also go navy or, if you’re not a pussy, the Marines. Myself, I’m a pussy so I went to college.]
-Luke Toney

Robbet Bobbert and the Bubble Machine
Self Titled
Little Monster Records
10/10
These days it’s not unheard of for underground punk artists to switch gears and aim their talent at a younger generation. Recently we’ve seen Greg Atonitto of the Bouncing Souls working on a children’s book and an accompanying musical side project; Aquabats landing their own children’s TV show; and Ian MacKaye and Amy MacKaye of The Evens appearing for that awesome alphabet song on “Yo Gabba Gabba.” Well, Robert Schneider of the poppy indie outfit Apples in Stereo was among the first …

Ahhhhh, NAMM. It’s a glorious time. For any musician, regardless of style, genre, race, religious views, THIS is 100% AWESOME. Think every holiday ever rolled into one and dumped in the Anaheim convention center. We’re here to tell you about some of the exceptional new products that are on display. From black-light sensitive drum sticks (HitSticks.com) to Blue Microphone’s Mikey: a microphone with three gain settings that sticks right into your iPod. See what I’m talking about? I’ve mention TWO things, and I know you’re excited.
Racket Patrick and I …

My Bloody Valentine 3D
Gimmick Hack-and-Slash is heavy on the “Hack”LionsGate Films
A horror movie with 3D in the title implies an unspoken promise that if you come you can expect at least one head/eyeball/limb to fly at you, massive 3D boobs, and a barrage of other unlikely objects thrust at you at every opportunity. I was hoping that maybe the filmmakers would choose to embrace the opportunity to make something fun and unabashedly gimmicky that had a campy, clumsy self-aware charm. Instead, they just made a bad movie.
Honestly, they didn’t …

Unearth. Or is it UnEarth? Whatever. So, I find out I get to talk to a metal band again and the obvious course of action is to pound a pitcher of Newcastle no less than ten minutes before I meet up with them. Most metal bands can tell if you’re sober, and if you are, you’re probably a downer. Well, I’m no downer! So I get wasted, take a leak and sit in a dark alley with Buz (center) and Ken (left of center) of Unearth. It was…interesting. Mom, again, …

God, why does good fashion have to fall under the trap of bad branding? Tattooed Steel makes lazer-etched art on steel jewelry, including money clips, dog tags and bracelets. Featuring art from a variety of artists, Tattooed Steel has everything from Joe Strummer etched on a bracelet to naked hula chicks on dog tags. Honestly, a lot of the art is really badass, though I have problems wearing something called Tattooed Steel. It sounds like a UFC fight presented by Affliction Clothing. Oh, and that is not a good thing. …

Evan Mandery is dreaming no more. The CUNY professor and poker aficionado’s debut novel Dreaming of Gwen Stefani is receiving rave reviews for its depiction of celebrity culture and obsessive behavior. Now the author is raising the stakes with a new novel due out later this year. Racket Magazine caught up with the 41 year-old whiz kid and chatted about life, celebrities, and the prospects of going pro (in poker, that is).
John Winn: When did you become a writer?
Evan Mandery: Writing has always been a part of …

Valkyrie
United Artists Studios
6/10
Valkyrie stars Tom Cruise as a Nazi. Which is not all that unpredictable. Cruise’s character, Claus Von Stauffenberg, is a one-eyed, pissed off Nazi, who along with other high-ranking military officials, are some of the only Nazis with the balls to try to off Hitler and initiate a coup. I’ll give you three guesses on how it ends, but I bet you’ll only need one. The worst part is that even with the knowledge that no matter how suspenseful the climax is, you know the ending. This …

Racket was given an excellent opportunity to test a new personal pocket recorder released this year by Olympus. I didn’t know what areas our readers would best apply such a device to, but I put it through a series of painful and difficult tests (basically, I just fucked with it for a month).
I was amazed at some of the results I was able to obtain and the versatility of this thing. The recorder was great at large and small room recording as well as having some …