NEW YORK TIMES: “Life” has already attracted undue attention for a schoolyard-sounding anatomical swipe at Mr. Jagger. But this is a book that pulls no punches, and most of its disses are more serious than that. “Cold-blooded” and “vicious” are only two of the more printable words he uses to describe Brian Jones. Allen Ginsberg was an “old gasbag.” Mick Taylor, the former Rolling Stone, “didn’t do anything” after he left the band, and Donald Cammell, the film director (“Performance,” starring Mr. Jagger and Anita Pallenberg, Mr. Richards’s longtime lover and partner in crime), couldn’t commit suicide quickly enough to […]
C’MON GET HAPPY: Today Is ‘Eddie Lang Day’
DAN DELUCA: From Django Reinhardt to Jimi Hendrix, the names that commonly appear on argument-starting lists of the greatest and most influential guitarists of the 20th century are familiar. But there’s one flat-picking virtuoso from South Philadelphia typically left out of the conversation, whose music has receded into obscurity despite a trailblazing career cut short by his tragic death in 1933: Eddie Lang. That’s an injustice an aggregation of local musicians and Lang enthusiasts are doing their best to redress, starting with a multi-act show that will bring Lang’s music to life at Chris’ Jazz Cafe in Center City on […]
KANYE WEST: Runaway
24-BIT: The best way, perhaps, to preview Kanye West’s forthcoming album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, would be to check out tonight’s premiere of Runaway, a short film shot in Prague and written by Hype Williams, starring Yeezy himself with model Selita Ebanks as the phoenix and Nicki Minaj narrating. While the film does feature the latest single of the same name, there are a slew of other new (and generally excellent) cuts on the soundtrack. MORE
STILL: It Was A Very Good Year
“‘TIS BETTER TO HAVE LOVED AND LOST, THAN NEVER TO HAVE LOVED AT ALL.” –Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1850 RELATED: Not to kick Phillies fans while they are down or anything, but shortly after last night’s season-ending loss to the Giants, Jon Heyman of SI.com tweeted that teammates don’t expect Jayson Werth to return next season. Of course, this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Werth is poised to make big money in free agency, especially after hiring Scott Boras as his agent earlier this year. By the way, Boras has already likened his new client to Matt Holliday, another one […]
SAY IT AIN’T MO: Velvet Underground Drummer Explains Why She Joined The Tea Party
RIVERFRONT TIMES: In April 2009, WALB-TV aired a story about a Tea Party rally in nearby Tifton, Georgia. About two-and-a-half minutes into the feature, one “Maureen Tucker, Tea Party Supporter” was quoted as saying, “I’m furious about the way we’re being led toward socialism. I’m furious about the incredible waste of money, when things that we really need and are important get dropped, because there’s no money left.” Eighteen months later, the news story somehow ended up posted on YouTube, and the blogosphere started buzzing. Could this actually be Moe Tucker [pictured, bottom left], former drummer for the Velvet Underground, […]
CINEMA: Heart Of Stone
STONE (2010, directed by John Curran, 105 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC What would it take to rouse Robert DeNiro out of his deep slumber? When did we see last him conscious, maybe the sullen ex-con in 1997’s Jackie Brown, maybe the heist mastermind in 1998’s Ronin? In this past decade it seems that the man who was once America’s most respected actor is most engaged when chasing Ben Stiller around the suburbs in the Meet The Parents franchise. A melancholy autumn of a career indeed. Stone might have perked him up. It’s a chamber piece, […]
REVIEW: Cut Chemist The Sound Of The Police
BY MATTHEW HENGEVELD Making music with turntables quite honestly scares the shit out of me. I understand MPC drum programming, vinyl scratching, chopping loops and synth programming. However, mixing a live performance in front of an audience, regardless how rehearsed it may be, is an impossibly difficult task. One small slip-up can ruin an entire set; it’s not like missing a snare drum or hitting the wrong note on the tuba. Musicians with turntable expertise are like circus performers— stellar freaks of nature that leave us staring agape at their wacky hijinks. One such freak of nature is Cut Chemist, […]
IMMIGRANT SONG: From Russia With Love
BY ARTHUR SHKOLNIK My father works harder than anyone else I know. He immigrated to America from Moldova while he was still in his early thirties. He came to this country with nothing more than the clothes on his back, the brain in his head, and the lint in his pockets. His propensity for math and science took him down the career path of an engineer; however the company paying his way through school went belly-up. He never finished his degree, but continued with his craft and became a private contractor and electrician. He never had the option to finish […]
THIS JUST IN: New Kid On The Block Blog
We are very proud to offer a shameless plug for Philly Broadcaster, the new metroblog helmed by former Phawker intern-turned-gay affairs columnist-turned-theater critic-turned-memoirist Aaron Stella. Good luck, kid. It’s a dog eat dog Internet out there!
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN 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 steer […]
FINALLY: NPR Cans Faux-Liberal Bot Juan Williams
ASSOCIATED PRESS: NPR has fired longtime news analyst Juan Williams, also a commentator on the Fox News Channel, after he told Bill O’Reilly that he gets nervous when he sees people in Muslim garb on an airplane. In a statement late Wednesday, National Public Radio said it was terminating Williams’ contract as a senior news analyst over his comments on Fox’s “The O’Reilly Factor.” NPR executives had previously complained about his remarks on Fox, including saying first lady Michelle Obama could be a liability for her husband shortly after his inauguration. The latest comments came Monday, when O’Reilly brought […]
LIFE LESSIONS: With Your Life Coach, AP Ticker
A.P.’s acceptance speech from the 75th Annual Handsome Man Awards.
RIP: Bob Guccione, Lord Of The Soft Focus, Dead At 79
NEW YORK TIMES: Bob Guccione, who founded Penthouse magazine in the 1960s and built a pornographic media empire that broke taboos, outraged the guardians of taste and made billions before drowning in a slough of bad investments and Internet competition, died Wednesday in Plano, Tex., The Associated Press reported. He was 79. A statement issued by the Guccione family said he died at Plano Specialty Hospital after a long battle with cancer, The A.P. said. His empire began in London in 1965 with a bank loan, an idea and an accident. The loan was for $1,170. The idea was a […]