BY DANIEL RUBIN The ride, waiting outside Manhattan’s Pennsylvania Station, was a nice touch. “It can’t be the limo,” guitarist/songwriter Paul Keen recalls thinking. They’d been looking for a van. The Philadelphia roots rockers had arrived.
This was last week — hours before they were to meet with the YouTube people, who were flying in from L.A. Awaiting them was a night on the town, new equipment from Gibson, and – too bright and early on Wednesday — a date with Diane Sawyer on “Good Morning America.” She was to present them with a Golden Mouse award for having the best live performance video on the user-generated Web site.
The Pawnshop Roses did what any self-respecting guys who play real rock `n’ roll with a country twang would do. They bought a case of beer — OK, Coronas — and started working on them in their room. The contest people had put them up in the W Hotel on Times Square.
POP MATTERS: The New ‘Kids’ In Philly BLOWIN UP, Yo!