45 REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE: DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist, Fillmore, Last Night 5 Things You Should Know About ‘The Hard Sell’ 1. The rules are: two scratch DJs (Shadow and Cut Chemist), using eight turntables, playing nothing but 45s like they were musical instruments. Everything’s live, all the scratching and looping are done in real time. The only effects allowed is a single echo peddle and a guitar peddle for capturing the infinitely repeating loops. 2. You would not think that a sold out crowd could stand and watch two DJs for more than an hour without dancing, but you […]
EARLY WORD: Pennsyltucky Indie Boys Make Good
THE SHACKELTONS GET 4/5 STARS IN A REVIEW IN THE FEBRUARY EDITION OF SPIN “Scruffy, emotional indie boys you can actually believe in. Palpable desperation is one of rock -n- rolls most valuable commodities, because it’s impossible to fake. What makes bands like Pixies, Fugazi, and Les Savy Fav so exciting — and what makes the Shackeltons, from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, similarly thrilling — is a breathlessness, a creeping sense that crouched behind the towering melodies and heard-‘em before razor guitars (think Television, in addition to the aforementioned bands), there’s complete breakdown. A half-dozen times on their debut, the Shackeltons sound […]
REVEALED: The Babyface Of Evil?
OK, if you haven’t been following this story, start here: Philadelphia police continue to look for two men (in surveillance footage above and below) accused of attacking a Geno’s Steaks employee. The owner of the business is offering a reward. Police say it was around 6:30am December 27th when two males started to argue with a female employee at Geno’s Steaks about the now notorious sign there “this is America, when ordering please speak English”. A male employee, Tony Chestnut, was power-washing the sidewalk when he went to his co-workers aide. Chestnut, who is recovering at his south Philadelphia home, […]
IT’S A GIRL: New York Times Endorses Hillary
NEW YORK TIMES: This generally is the stage of a campaign when Democrats have to work hard to get excited about whichever candidate seems most likely to outlast an uninspiring pack. That is not remotely the case this year. The early primaries produced two powerful main contenders: Hillary Clinton, the brilliant if at times harsh-sounding senator from New York; and Barack Obama, the incandescent if still undefined senator from Illinois. The remaining long shot, John Edwards, has enlivened the race with his own brand of raw populism. As Democrats look ahead to the primaries in the biggest states on Feb. […]
THIS JUST IN: New Arcade Fire Video Is The Greatest Thing To Happen To Humanity Since The Segway!
This just came in over the transom, don’t know anything about it except that this is without a doubt THE GREATEST MUSIC VIDEO WE HAVE EVER SEEN that didn’t have big butts in it. If you like the Arcade Fire or would like to, CLICK HERE NOW! [Photo by EVA LIAO]
MAILBAG: Obama, Can You Hear Me Now?
Earlier today the call went out in the blogosphere to urge John Edwards to call for Hillary and Obama to return to Washington to do their sworn duty to uphold the Constitution and join Chris Todd in his quest to deny immunity to telecoms caught illegally spying on Americans. And he just did. Kinda. Dear jonathan, When it comes to protecting the rule of law, words are not enough. We need action. It’s wrong for your government to spy on you. That’s why I’m asking you to join me today in calling on Senate Democrats to filibuster revisions to the […]
THIS JUST IN: Frankly Scarlett, We Give A Damn
LOS ANGELES — Scarlett Johansson will release her debut album, Anywhere I Lay My Head, on Atco Records, an imprint of Warner Music Group’s Rhino Entertainment, on May 20. The inspired album features 10 Tom Waits songs and includes one original track. Collaborating with TV on the Radio producer David Sitek, Johansson is also joined by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zimmer, Sean Antanaitis from Celebration, as well as others. Johansson spent five weeks last spring recording in Louisiana at Dockside Studios. ALSO: Kucinich Calls It Quits
NEWS CLUES: ‘So Local It Hurts’ Edition
A WHITER SHADE OF TRASH: Judge Rules Family Not Safe On At Any Speed A judge in Camden County said yesterday that the 5-week-old baby abandoned last weekend in Cherry Hill could not be returned to her family. The baby’s mother, Felicia Mikels, 17, was beaten to death Friday night and dumped into Pennsauken Creek, authorities said. Prosecutors have charged two men in the teenager’s death — her uncle, Christopher Mikels, 26, and Douglas Mandichak, 25. Christopher Mikels told police he may also be the father of Felicia’s baby, Miciana Ramos. Both lived in Pennsauken, in a home shared by […]
PAPERBOY: ‘Take This Job & Love It’ Edition
BY AMY Z. QUINN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week, PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and […]
THE EARLY WORD: Pour Some Sugar On Me
EDITOR’S NOTE: Girlz On Bikes have canceled, they got a flat or something like that.
WORTH REPEATING: Senator, Please Phone Home
Dear Jonathan, John Edwards should challenge his rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to go back to Washington, DC and fight against retroactive immunity for the telecoms. The Republicans are not going to let Harry Reid punt and extend the Protect America Act for another 18 months so it looks like the FISA bill is going to come back up again on Monday. Chris Dodd’s objection to Unanimous Consent still stands, so they will pick up in the middle of the Motion to Proceed debate. Without the help of the presidential candidates, we are doomed to lose this fight. And all […]
DAN DEACON: Crystal Cat
Wow! This rocks harder than any man in Sally Jesse Raphael glasses has a right to. He’ll be at First Unitarian Feb. 3rd. You lucky ducks!
HOT DOCUMENT: There Will Be Blood
The following is a union memo to the Inquirer & Daily News staff in the wake of yesterday’s meeting with Philadelphia Media Holdings CEO Brian Tierney: Tierney: We Face A Dire Situation The company held a meeting this morning with representatives of all the unions at which publisher Brian Tierney described a grim financial picture for Philadelphia Newspapers. Citing the struggling economy and PN problems meeting debt requirements, Tierney predicted “a dire situation” by summer or fall if the company cannot find ways to cut costs by 10 percent. Company executives intend to meet one-on-one with each union to discuss […]