Englert Theatre
Posted inArts & Entertainment

Outside the box: An interview with Will Shortz

by Courtenay Bouvier

If the clue were, “America’s most acclaimed contemporary crossword puzzle master,” the answer would be, unquestionably, “Will Shortz.” In addition to holding the world’s only college degree in enigmatology, the art and science of puzzle-making, Shortz has been the puzzle master for NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday since the program’s start in 1987 and crossword puzzle editor of The New York Times since 1993; additionally, he was the editor of the legendary Games magazine for 15 years, and he is the founder of both the

Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop

Prairie Pop: Mobb Deep’s past, present and future

by Kembrew McLeod

“I got you stuck off the realness / we be the infamous”—Prodigy rapped in the opening verse of “Shook Ones, Part II,” Mobb Deep’s classic 1995 single—“you heard of us / official Queensbridge murderers / the Mobb comes equipped with warfare, beware.” Grimy, blood-soaked and unrelentingly bleak, Mobb Deep’s albums were filled with first-person tales delivered over menacing beats and minor key samples. Prodigy and his partner-in-musical-crime Havoc sounded like they had roamed the mean streets of New York since they were old enough to lift a banana clip. The reality, however, was a little more mundane.

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