Hard Working Americans is a crunchy, mellow yellow, supercalifragilistic supergroup for the Jam Band Nation, featuring bassist Dave Schools from Widespread Panic, Neal Casal of Chris Robinson Brotherhood on guitar and vocals, Chad Staehly of Great American Taxi on keyboards and Duane Trucks, younger brother to Derek on drums, plus Todd Snider on lead vocals. Their self-titled debut includes covers of Randy Newman and Drivin’ N Cryin’, and it should come as no real surprise that Blues Traveler’s John Popper makes a cameo. They play the TLA tomorrow night and we have a coupla pairs of tix to giveaway […]
BEING THERE: Stromae @ The Trocadero
Photo by DAN LONG The name Stromae is put in front of you the morning of his show at the Trocadero last night, and you’ve never heard of the guy in my entire life. But typing his name into Google and you find out that this man is an eye-opening French pop star whose You Tubed singles draw hundreds of millions of views. His tunes range from poppy songs that make it impossible for you to sit still to ballads that make you cry to without even knowing what he’s saying. Google further reveals a fascinating pedigree. He identifies as […]
ARIEL PINK: Put Your Number In My Phone
From the new album, Pom Pom, due out November 17th.
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When U Can’t
Artwork by JUSTIN LAWRENCE DEVINE FRESH AIR When The Mountain Goats’ founder John Darnielle was a teenager, he went through a self-destructive phase. “Your intelligence doesn’t override your desire to destroy yourself,” Darnielle tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross. “I really, really did not want to be in my own skin. I really wanted to get high and stay high.” The singer-songwriter’s parents divorced when he was 5 years old, and he was abused by his stepfather. Darnielle says he had the feeling of “being uprooted a lot and not being able to make friends and keep them.” “It was a […]
REFERENDUM ON SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE: Careful What You Wish For Lads And Lasses
BY RORY MCGLASSON If you haven’t heard, Scotland, that wee country off the northern edge of the United Kingdom – about the size of Jersey – will decide if they want to become an independent state on Thursday. Scottish referendum day will decide whether the Scots stay Unitedish with England, Wales and Northern Ireland (UK) or, if they vote for Independence. The bottom line is simple: If the Scots vote “Aye” on Thursday, it will end Scotland’s 300-year union with the UK. That’s a-bigger-than-your-Ray Rice-beats-his-girlfriend-NFL-player-slaps-his-kids-around-a-bit kind-of news story. LISTEN UP! You have the Scottish Nationalists – led by party […]
Those Who Never Bother To Learn History Are Doomed To Wear It As Faux-Hipster Tchotchkes
NEW YORK MAGAZINE: Urban Outfitters, the official clothing store of Outrage Twitter, reached a new low yesterday when shoppers noticed that the site was selling a “vintage” Kent State sweatshirt, complete with blood spatter. The Ohio university was the site of the 1970 Kent State shooting, when the Ohio National Guard killed four students during a peace protest. Urban was selling the sweatshirt for the low, low price of $129 (after all, it’s one of a kind). But after the sweatshirt hit BuzzFeed, someone quickly scooped it up. Now, of course, it’s for sale on eBay. The starting bid […]
STOP N’ RISK: What Exactly Determines Whether You Get A Ticket Or Go To Jail After Pot Decrim?
VICE MAGAZINE: Though marijuana advocates and civil rights advocates consider Philadelphia’s decriminalization ordinance a victory, concerns still remain, including a fear that the city’s police force won’t embrace the measure. Philly cops still use the controversial “stop and frisk” tactic, which ostensibly strives to reduce crime by eliminating vandalism and other petty crimes that proponents say are correlated with more violent and destructive acts. “In particular, we have seen striking racial disparity in arrests for small amounts of marijuana,” Messing said. “We’re hoping new legislation reduces or eliminates that disparity.” Black and Latino suspects account for 83 percent of the 4,000 […]
BEING THERE: Dr. Dog @ The Mann
Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ When Dr. Dog appeared on the Skyline Stage of the Mann Center last night, the band was clearly dreaming of greener, and presumably drier, pastures — unlike the rain-soaked mud pit we were standing in. With jungle-esque sound effects, fog machines and green backlighting, the band members took their places onstage among various potted houseplants. It looked like the wilderness that could be found within a Home Depot gardening section (Welcome to the Home Depot, baby! You’re gonna diiiiiiiiiieeee!), or a medical marijuana dispensary grow room. All of the band members came dressed in their […]
SPORTO: It Would Be Funny If It Weren’t So True
[VIA NFL MEMES] WASHINGTON POST: Larry Wansley convinced himself long ago that three hours’ sleep is plenty. His thoughts kept him up anyway, but even if he did drift off, the chances were good that the phone — always next to his ear, whether at home or in a hotel room — would ring. Sometimes it would be a contact in the Dallas Police Department; other times there’d be a nightclub owner on the other line. So rather than close his eyes and take his chances, the Dallas Cowboys’ longtime security director learned to stay up and wait. “All my […]
Hands Up, Who Wants Two Tix To See Dr. Dog @ Skyline Stage Of The Mann On Saturday Night?
We have a pair of tix to see Dr. Dog at the Mann’s Skyline Stage tomorrow night to give away to some lucky Phawker reader. All you have to do to qualify win is follow us on Twitter and send us an email saying you have done so (or already do follow us) to FEED@PHAWKER.COM with your full name and mobile number for confirmation. Put the magic words NOW I WANNA BE YOUR DOG in the subject line — 54th person to email us wins. Good luck and godspeed! RELATED: Phawker’s Q&A with Dr. Dog’s Toby Leaman DR. DOG […]
ART FIGHT: David Lynch Calls The Mural Arts Program’s Plans For Philly Railways A ‘Travesty’
Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA From an interview with Art In America at PAFA on Wednesday, during the press preview for DAVID LYNCH:THE UNIFIED FIELD: ART IN AMERICA: Philadelphia’s Mural Arts program just completed a project in which they invited Berlin artist Katharina Grosse to spray paint the wayside of the rail line through Philadelphia. LYNCH: A travesty in my book. Unreal. The walls on railroad lines, they were built so beautifully. They say that style follows function—every detail of how they put one thing together with another: the electric wires, the stonework, the plaster work, the metal of the windows, […]
DOOBIE BROTHERS: Nutter & Kenney Pass The Peace Pipe; ‘Not Necessarily Stoned But Beautiful’
INQUIRER: It was hardly a lovefest, but Mayor Nutter [PICTURED ABOVE, LEFT] and City Councilman James Kenney [PICTURED ABOVE, RIGHT] made public peace Wednesday over the fractious run-up to their compromise this week on decriminalizing possession of small amounts of pot. “I want to apologize,” Kenney said at a news conference with the mayor, whom he had unmercifully hectored during the summer for his delay in signing the councilman’s marijuana bill. “I sometimes get a little impatient when I feel strongly about something. I can get a little angry, a little red in the face.” Nutter was gracious in […]
ABOUT A GIRL: The Complete Magnet Magazine Q&A With Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace
EDITOR’S NOTE: I interviewed Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace for the cover story of issue 106 of MAGNET MAGAZINE. Because of space restrictions, more than 2000 words had to be cut from the Q&A. In advance of Against Me!’s performance at The Mann Center’s Skyline Stage tomorrow night, as well as the welcome news that Laura Jane Grace will be getting her own reality show, we are running the complete Q&A. All 7,200 words. Enjoy. BY JONATHAN VALANIA In 2012, Tom Gabel, the 33-year-old year old frontman of Florida-based million-dollar major label punk band Against Me!, announced to the […]