Hy Lit and the Beatles, Convention Hall, Philadelphia, 1964 BY JONATHAN VALANIA It is precisely 9:36 p.m. in West Philadelphia on the second splendidly summery September night of 1964, and exactly six minutes ago everything suddenly changed. For teenage Philadelphia, the calendar just flipped, along with everyone’s wig, to a new era. It will be years before anyone fully understands all the far-reaching implications, but this much is indisputably true: The hazy, crazy 1960s have officially begun. OMIGOD, THEY’RE HERE! THEY’RE REALLY REALLY HERE! For months, their songs have blared from the tinny speakers of transistor radios, and they’ve stared […]
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Once Pressed For The Execution Of A Man Just Exonerated By DNA Evidence After 30 Years On Death Row
NEW YORK TIMES: Thirty years after their convictions in the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in rural North Carolina, based on confessions that they quickly repudiated and said were coerced, two mentally disabled half brothers were declared innocent and ordered released Tuesday by a judge here. The case against the men, always weak, fell apart after DNA evidence implicated another man whose possible involvement had been somehow overlooked by the authorities even though he lived only a block from where the victim’s body was found, and he had admitted to committing a similar rape and murder around […]
DAVID LYNCH: Trailer For The Unified Field
Tres Lynch-ian, which is to say deliciously inexplicable. Can’t wait. RELATED: Michael Solomonov, the chef and co-owner of Philadelphia’s Federal Donuts, jumped at the invite to make confections in honor of the first major retrospective of Lynch’s work, at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (where Lynch studied painting in the late ’60s). With names like Blue Velvet and Good Coffee — a “Twin Peaks” reference — Solomonov’s creations are an homage to the master of magical realist cinema. There’s one, though, that won’t see the light of day: the David Lynch. “I would have done a little clove […]
DIPLO Feat. Nicky Da B: Express Yourself
SPIN: New Orleans bounce rapper Nicky Da B, famous for his fiery and genre-bending appearance on Diplo’s “Express Yourself,” has passed away at the age of 24 according to scattered reports. Though details on Nicky’s alleged death are still scarce, bounce pioneer Big Freedia confirmed the news on Twitter a short while ago. MORE
Attend Helium Comedy Club’s Table Read Of Rocky
Artwork by G. LADEIRA We have a pair of FREE tickets to The Helium Comedy Club Table Read: Rocky Screenplay on Wednesday September 3rd at 8 pm. Eat, drink, laugh-until-you-pee-your-pants as eight of Philly’s best comedians add their own spin to one of The Greatest Story Ever Told. During the show, comics will be reading the ’76 film classic, “Rocky”- Think script table read with a whimsical, fun twist. Add beer. Profit. To qualify, all you have to do is A) follow us on TWITTER B) send us an email @ FEED@PHAWKER.COM telling us you have done so or that […]
BEING THERE: Fire On The Mountain
Mount Tavurvur, Papa New Guinea by GREGORY WONG via RADIO AUSTRALIA
BREAKING: Video Emerges Of Michael Sotloff, Kidnapped War Correspondent, Beheaded By ISIS
NEW YORK TIMES: The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has beheaded Steven Joel Sotloff, the second American executed by the Islamic militant group, and posted a video of it on the Internet, the SITE Intelligence Group, a research organization that tracks jihadist web postings, said Tuesday. The execution of Mr. Sotloff, 31, came despite pleas from his mother aimed directly at ISIS’s top leader seeking mercy for her son, a freelance journalist who was captured in northern Syria a year ago. Word of Mr. Sotloff’s beheading came two weeks after James Foley, 45, another American journalist, was beheaded […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
SOUND OPINIONS: Benjamin Booker has caused a stir in the indie rock world by melding the blues, punk and soul with a signature rasp. Fresh off the heels of his national television debut on Late Night with David Letterman, Booker visits the studio to perform songs from his first major label release on ATO records. He also tells Jim and Greg about transitioning from being a barista at Starbucks to touring with Jack White all in one year. He can also count influential label head Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records as a fan. Despite all this, Booker’s parents […]
CONTEST: Win Tix To See The Trip To Italy
Dunno about you but we here at Phawker could watch Steve Coogan and Rob Brydal act like petulant man-babies as they road trip across Europe doing their Michael Caine-offs until the cows come home. If that sounds like a good way to wind up your Labor Day weekend, have we got a deal for you. All you have to do is follow us on Twitter and then drop us a line at FEED@PHAWKER.COM saying you just did so. Or if you already follow us on Twitter, drop us a line saying as much. Make sure you put the magic words […]
CINEMA: This One Goes Out To…
THE ONE I LOVE (2014, directed by Charlie McDowell, 91 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC The One I Love is a fresh little comic fantasy, a Twilight Zone/Curb Your Enthusiasm mix that reminds us that all is not dormant in the U.S. indie film scene. Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss and indie director Mark Duplass play a couple in a romantic rut. While on a rural retreat the couple find their relationship magically challenged by mysterious events they confront while trying to re-light their relationship. Like a lot of comic fantasies, The One I Love can’t quite resolve the […]
NEW POLL: Tom Corbett Is Still Totally F*cked
Graphic courtesy of the MORNING CALL MORNING CALL: Republican Gov. Tom Corbett remains far behind his Democratic rival Tom Wolf despite spending millions of dollars on television commercials this summer, according to a new voter poll.The Franklin & Marshall College Poll, released this morning, is the first survey of Pennsylvania voters since the candidates started airing political commercials shortly after the 4th of July holiday weekend. The results don’t look good for Corbett, who could become the first incumbent governor to lose re-election in the modern era if he does not find a way to connect with voters before the […]
ON ASSIGNMENT: Candy-Yo
Artwork by TWO MONIES Presently on phone with this fellow discussing the making of The Blue Album and other things Weezer as you read this. In the mean time, check this out… From Toronto via Neptune. Self-titled debut, produced by Fucked Up’s Mike Haliechuk, out October 14th on Lefse.
ARTSY: There Goes The Eraserhood
David Lynch and Jack Fisk in Philadelphia 1967 by C.K. WILLIAMS NEW YORK TIMES: Mr. Fisk persuaded his friend to join him at Pennsylvania Academy in January 1966. “At the academy, everybody I met was a serious painter,” Mr. Lynch said. “I was just starting to find something of my own. It was really inspiring.” He lived with Mr. Fisk north of the academy in a desolate, industrial area, where he would watch bodies being carried into the city morgue from a window. “I met the night watchman from the morgue at Pop’s Diner, who invited me over,” Mr. Lynch […]