The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 

chris faraone

Chris_Faraone_bio_100 

A new addition to the Phoenix staff, I grew up in Queens. I attended Hobart College in upstate New York, until I eventually graduated and moved to South Florida where I worked as a dorm-to-dorm vacation cruise salesmen and moonlighted as a stand-up comic. To sharpen my writing and further delay life, I enrolled at New School University’s Graduate Faculty, where I was the biggest dope in the program. No regrets though; it was there that I daydreamed up the counter-intellectual philosophy – which I dubbed roastmodernism© . Following some foreplay on New York’s then-burgeoning on-line literary scene, I enrolled at Boston University’s College of Communication in 2004 and I’ve been here in Boston ever since. I’ve had been published by the Boston Herald, Boston’s Weekly Dig, and Boston Magazine, Elemental, Spin, and Columbia Journalism Review, and still regularly write for The Source, Antenna, and Yellow Rat Bastard (YRB).

Latest Articles

0911_wale-listt

Wale | Attention Deficit

Interscope (2009)
It turns out there is merit behind the billion-dollar hype machine that’s been propelling Wale since he surfaced on the face of URB two years ago.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  November 24, 2009
0911_lemma_listt

Tale of the tapes

Pacey Foster tells the story of Boston hip-hop
Soon after music-minded UMass-Boston management professor Pacey Foster signed on to write a Boston chapter for the most comprehensive hip-hop tome ever compiled, his mission brought him to rural Maine, where it has long been speculated that the Hub rhyme scene's Holy Grail is safely stored.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  November 24, 2009
0911_swollenmember_list

Swollen Members | Armed to the Teeth

Battle Axe (2009)
I’m not completely sure why the mere mention of Swollen Members rubs so many underground rap snobs the wrong way.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  November 18, 2009
0911_madeen_loist

Allah people in the house

Blak Madeen stay true on Sacred Defense
“Muslim hip-hop is not like Christian rock,” says Yusuf, the Merrimack Valley half of the Allah-inspired Boston-Lowell tag team Blak Madeen.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  November 11, 2009
0911_letters-list3

Letter Rip

The Phoenix discovers secret messages in Hollywood-connected political correspondence
Hollywood celebrities who fancy themselves pols and pundits don’t just bring impassioned everyman views to the legislative banquet.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  November 12, 2009
0911_van_list2

Dudley no longer square

House Party
Virtually desolate Dudley Square needed dining alternatives to deep-fried heart attacks, so in 2005, organizers with Haley House — the 43-year-old South End–based charity foundation — opened the Corner Shop Bakery Café.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  November 11, 2009
0911_edan_lsot

Edan | Echo Party

Five Day Weekend (2009)
There are two ways to get intimate with Berklee-schooled track surgeon Edan’s latest throwback symphony.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  November 10, 2009
0911_rats_list

Boston rat rampage

Thanks to the global economic collapse, which has stalled initiated construction projects, Boston’s rat population is surging
Residents say that if you jam a leaf blower in the earth virtually anywhere in Allston, furry bottom feeders will be blown out of every crack and hole in sight and rain down like unsavory screeching meatballs. North Enders joke that something similar would happen if you detonate a Parmesan wheel in an alleyway off Hanover Street.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  November 09, 2009
0911_ali_list

Blind ambition

Brother Ali is more than just albino
The only thing less common than Brother Ali–caliber MCs are profiles that don’t credit dude as “blind” and “albino” in the first graf.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  November 05, 2009
09810_horros_list

Hip-hop is dead

. . . or undead, rather — just ask Zombie Death Squad
Depraved hip-hop is the biggest thing to hit trailer-trash America since sliced meds — and not just in redneck pockets, where rap music hardly reached before, but in suburban enclaves where acts like Twiztid and Tech N9ne sell out shows with ease.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  October 30, 2009
0910_candidating_list

Event puts the 'dates' in 'candidates'

Kiss and Sell Dept.
In their quest to land one of Boston’s four at-large City Council seats, the eight remaining candidates have shaken more hands and kissed more behinds than anyone probably should in swine-flu season.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  October 28, 2009

The battle for our city schools

Boston Phoenix letters, October 23, 2009
In your recent story “ Boston Public-School Apartheid? ”, charter public schools are faulted for taking disadvantaged Boston students and sending them on to excellent high schools and, eventually, college. Why shouldn’t low-income students of color have access to such life-changing opportunities?
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS  |  October 21, 2009
0910_selkoe_list

Knight of night life

Taking on Boston’s biggest bully
The most feared man in Boston isn’t a crazy-eyed killer or a brutal street thug — he’s an elected official. Evidence? When was the last time you heard a disgruntled Boston businessperson publicly criticize Mayor Tom Menino?
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  October 26, 2009
0910_edo_list

Grown man rap

Masta Ace and Edo G pair up to tear down
Del the Funky Homosapien and Tame One. Canibus and Keith Murray. AG and OC. Buckshot and KRS. Masta Ace and Edo G. These aren’t comments on a Facebook thread asking for hip-hop dream duos. They’re real pairs of united legends who are giving disenchanted heads unprecedented reasons to put aside the throwbacks and enjoy music recorded this millennium.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  October 13, 2009
0910_charter_list

Boston public-school apartheid?

Think busing was a problem in this town? Some are labeling charter schools as Boston's newest educational battleground
At the Edward W. Brooke School in Roslindale — a kindergarten-to-eighth-grade public charter school — the push to advance graduates to elite secondary programs begins in fifth grade.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  October 15, 2009
0910_brandeis_list23

Brandeis President Jehuda Reinharz steps down

Pricked by a Rose?
Fallout from Bernie Madoff's titanic scheme is still unfolding, as was made clear on this week's 60 Minutes report about the search for billions bilked by the New York Ponzi king.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  September 30, 2009
0909_pop_lits

Fantastic damage

Anti-Pop Consortium’s unfinished business
Unlike hip-hop acts that deny bucking convention for the sake of eccentricity, Anti-Pop Consortium were as clear on day zero as they will certainly be at Great Scott next Thursday about their maverick intentions.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  September 28, 2009
0909_mayer_list

Soul training

Suddenly, Mayer Hawthorne is running retro-pop
Mayer Hawthorne rose to instant retro-pop acclaim the same way that everyone from Al Green to Michael Jackson moved on up — work and luck.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  September 22, 2009
0909_cann_list

MassCan's 20th Freedom Rally relatively free from arrests

Peace Pipe Dept.
Assuming that, at MassCann's 20th annual Freedom Rally on Boston Common this past Saturday, all 30,000 attendees got stoned, smokers had less than a half-percent chance of getting busted.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  September 23, 2009
0909_charlestown_list

A Tale of Two Towns

Renowned for its roguish history, Charlestown is finally getting Hollywood's attention
Charlestown was baptized in bloodshed. Yet this unique, fertile turf has been generally overlooked by Hollywood, which has preferred instead its old rival South Boston, the primary backdrop for Oscar winners Good Will Hunting and The Departed .
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  September 29, 2009

$@&! the word police

Letters to the Boston editor, September 18, 2009
I like to think of myself as a progressive and far from a prude.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS  |  September 16, 2009
0909_smell_list

Willy Wonka in Smellovision

Scent of the Times
If you'll imagine the New England Confectionary Company in Revere to be Willy Wonka's magical estate, then Union Square would be the analogous working-class outskirt from where Charlie Bucket hails.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  September 09, 2009
0909_foleys-List

Where everybody knows its name

J.J. Foley's Celebrates its 100th
In describing the changes that have shaped the South End since Jeremiah J. Foley poured his first glass of whiskey there one century ago this month, one need not look far for metaphors.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  September 09, 2009
099_peary_list

Love letter

Gerald Peary's ode to the film critic
Rock critics rarely cut gold records. Likewise, few football reporters go on to quarterback Super Bowl winners.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  September 03, 2009
0909_schiff-list

The hub of film criticism?

A peek into the  Phoenix archives
In his deep survey, Gerald Peary hardly conceals his opinion that Boston is the epicenter of film criticism.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  September 02, 2009
0908_print_lkist

Avoiding a border war

Rape in Brookline
It's a matter of moments before the likes of Lou Dobbs and Bill O'Reilly scapegoat the believed-to-be-illegal-immigrant suspects in last week's Brookline rape case for every problem in America.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  August 26, 2009
0908_sound_list

Community: served

Solillaquists of Sound spread some Orlando magic
Without Solillaquists of Sound and the holistic hip-hop hamlet that its members cultivate within Orlando, their city would be home to little more than methadone retreats and plastic rodent ears.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  August 26, 2009
0908_nh_list

The Granite State Gang

New Hampshire transplants live free — or die trying
Big bucks couldn't buy the viral awe and ire that the Free State Project (FSP) scored on August 11, when New Hampshire resident William Kostric arrived outside President Barack Obama's Portsmouth Town Hall meeting with a handgun on his right thigh — "open carrying" is quite legal in the Granite State — and a sign declaring IT IS TIME TO WATER THE TREE OF LIBERTY!
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  August 26, 2009
090913_council_list

Preliminary findings

Handicapping the 15-headed horse race that is Boston's at-large City Council election
Even knowledgeable City Hall insiders know they're better off scratching lotto tickets than wagering on Boston politics.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  August 12, 2009
0980_yys_list

Melody makers

So you started a band — now what? Berklee and Topspin are here to help.
If you’re an up-and-popping band or artist, you first need to find fans, friends, and fiends on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and, of course, in real life. But where do you go from there?
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  August 13, 2009

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group