BUST has returned from its pilgrimage to ATP’s I’ll be Your Mirror Festival and our ears are still (gloriously) ringing from the brain-rattling sounds of some of renegade music culture’s best in show. Similar to the original venue for this ATP festival (Pontin’s Holiday Camp in the U.K.), Asbury Park is a once prosperous seashore vacation capital turned economically (but photogenically!) desolate (perfect scenery for ... Read More

Tomorrow, BUST is making a pilgrimage to Mr. Bruce Springsteen's hometown--to check out a music and arts festival that's curated by a great, media-shy British band, and named for a Velvet Underground B-side.  Sweet Jane!  What a weekend! Starting at around mid-afternoon tomorrow, Asbury Park, birthplace of the Boss, will host three days of music (first and foremost), plus comedy, film, and even some literature.  It's the ... Read More

          Margaret Cho is very, very funny.  She is not, however, all that funny on the phone.  At least not with me, when she calls from Atlanta one weekday afternoon.  She's thoughtful, and sort of calm, and very polite.  So naturally I think, oh God, it's me.  I'm killing Margaret Cho's sense of humor.  But then I remember that part of what people love about Cho, aside from her ... Read More

  "One person alone cannot push an elephant." Tune in to PBS tonight at 10 pm for the broadcast premiere of "Pushing the Elephant," a powerful new documentary about Rose Mapendo, a Congolese Tutsi, a mother of ten, a victim of genocidal violence and an activist for peace and reconciliation.   Ten years ago, Rose Mapendo, her husband, and her children were arrested by the Congolese government and held in a death camp, as the ... Read More

         Remember that moment in your Facebook life when Dad joined up? (I know you’re on there, Frank Magee, but I’m not ready to talk about it.)  What about your 14-year-old cousin (when did she start wearing eyeliner??)   While an older generation’s foray into social networking has spawned public jokes and private nervousness, it’s a younger generation’s participation ... Read More