“Lamentations Of A Jersey Prince” by AUGIE PAGAN BY JONATHAN VALANIA In advance of his show at the Keswick tomorrow night and in the wake of the The Great ESPN-Twitter Reverse Mandingo Masturbation Fantasy Fiasco, we got badboy fatass funnyman Artie Lange on the horn. DISCUSSED: The Eagles, The Fightins, Riley Cooper, Woody Allen, robbing banks, opiate addiction, the ESPN-TWITTER fiasco, why he’s not backing down, why he shouldn’t, the struggle to stay sober in a business full of “hot babes with blow,” falling off the wagon, John Candy, Chris Farley, his work with Wounded Warriors, the double standard of […]
BEING THERE: Animal Collective DJs @ The Dolphin
Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ Last night I set out to accomplish three things: 1.) See 75 percent of Animal Collective play some tunes 2.) Milk them for any AC-related news, and 3.) Make it in and out of the Dolphin alive and not incarcerated. We started off the night with an Uber driver named Festus, who drove us through the unwelcome November snow showers, and shared with us his grievances about the whole Uber vs. PPA deal. Something, something, current events, the PPA ruled against something and he’s pissed. I tried to follow, but his angry Jamaican accent made […]
CINEMA: Black Hole Son
INTERSTELLAR (2014, directed Christopher Nolan, 169 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC No hyperbole has been spared on the arrival of writer/director Christopher Nolan’s new sci-fi epic Interstellar. Like all of Nolan’s recent films, Interstellar triggers an intimidating sense of immense scale, and once again Nolan has delivered a film whose captivating performances and clever design are offset by hose-blasts of sentimentality, self-important bloat and a disagreeable undercurrent of Ayn Rand-ian self-pity. Plus, wise-cracking robots! The dystopic near-future America of the film’s opening is certainly thought-provoking. From the vantage point of the Cooper family’s rural farm we see a […]
Win Tix To See Ira Glass @ The Merriam Saturday!
A long time ago in a public radio galaxy far, far away called 1995, the median listener age was 87, nobody ever said um or like on the air, all stories ran just one way — front to back — and were narrated with the plummy-voiced elocution of the Founding Fathers, and semiotics was just one more thing Medicare refused to cover. Nineteen years, five Peabody Awards and 500-plus episodes of This American Life later, all that has changed, thanks to the post-post-modern vision, wry melancholia and casually precise broadcasting style of the show’s host/founder, who, back when he […]
THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST: Talking Dope, Arson And Iron Maiden With JJL’s Jay Joseph Laughlin
L-R: Derek Ziglenski, Jay Laughlin, Pete Girgenti/Photo by CHUCKLES BY JONATHAN VALANIA Jay Laughlin has been a fixture of the Greater Philadelphia music scene since the late ’80s, beginning with the posthumously beloved straight edge hardcore band Turning Point, which morphed into beloved pedal-hopping dream-pop merchants Lenola, which eventually morphed into the electro-psych-pop of Like A Fox. Laughlin’s new band, JJL, marks a return to the devil-horned heaviosity of his gloriously misspent south Jersey youth. JJL will celebrate the release of The Tiger, their debut EP, with a record release show at Johnny Brenda’s tomorrow night. Recently, we sat down […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
Illustration by CHARLES WALTMIRE FRESH AIR When asked about how he reacted to learning that one of his Daily Show satires was used as evidence to torture a journalist in Iran, Jon Stewart says, “I might have uttered the phrase: ‘Are you — with some profane adjective — are you kidding me?’ ” “It’s so surreal and it’s so absurd that it’s hard to imagine it as not farce,” Stewart tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross. That discovery led to Stewart making his first film, Rosewater, adapted from a memoir by journalist Maziar Bahari. Bahari was born and raised in Iran. […]
FUNNY PAPERS: Fashion Cat In “Wayne Coyne”
By ALEX SCHUBERT via VICE
Q&A: Ira Glass, Host Of This American Life
Photo by STUART MULLENBERG BY JONATHAN VALANIA A long time ago in a public radio galaxy far, far away called 1995, the median listener age was 87, nobody ever said um or like on the air, all stories ran just one way — front to back — and were narrated with the plummy-voiced elocution of the Founding Fathers, and semiotics was just one more thing Medicare refused to cover. Nineteen years, five Peabody Awards and 500-plus episodes of This American Life later, all that has changed, thanks to the post-post-modern vision, wry melancholia and casually precise broadcasting style of the […]
DEERHOOF: Exit Only
The song is, frankly, unremarkable — sounds like an edgier Veruca Salt — but actor Michael Shannon‘s remarkable dual performance as both the interrogator and the interrogated is must-see stuff. PREVIOUSLY: BEING THERE: Deerhoof @ Union Transfer
Mormon Church Elders Acknowledge For The First Time That Founder Joseph Smith Had 40 Wives
This easily the biggest Mormon news since God changed his mind about black people 1978! NEW YORK TIMES: Mormon leaders have acknowledged for the first time that the church’s founder and prophet, Joseph Smith, portrayed in church materials as a loyal partner to his loving spouse Emma, took as many as 40 wives, some already married and one only 14 years old. The church’s disclosures, in a series of essays online, are part of an effort to be transparent about its history at a time when church members are increasingly encountering disturbing claims about the faith on the Internet. […]
Help Bette Midler Plant A Tree On The Moon!
Just one tree, and it will only cost $174 million (includes hair and make-up). A moon forest used to be the stuff of science fiction but thanks to the self-absorbed folly of one bold and somewhat misinformed woman with show biz connections, it could one day become science FACT! For a donation of $100,000 she will moon you — yes, just you — from the moon! Obviously there’s a lot of dreams potentially coming true here, so check it out. She plays the Wells Fargo Center on 6/16/15, tix go on sale Monday November 17th @ 10 AM.
EXCERPT: Sarah Silverman Got Me High
EDITOR’S NOTE: There is more to Sarah Silverman than just ‘fake-racist meta-jokes’ and fucking Matt Damon. There is also doody jokes. But seriously folks, after 34 episodes of The Sarah Silverman Show, 30 movies, two Emmys, and one memoir, she’s just getting started. On the doody jokes. Just kidding. You’ll see. The following is an exclusive excerpt from my 6,300 word MAGNET cover story. Enjoy. ________ When I meet Sarah Silverman for the first time she is coming out of the bathroom. It seems somehow fitting. Her sets are rife with grimy bathroom humor, ‘doody’ is her favorite word […]
BEING THERE: Deerhoof @ Union Transfer
Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ At first blush, nothing about Deerhoof’s set at Union Transfer last night screamed ‘critically acclaimed band in their 20th year of music making.’ The awkwardness was tangible, from Satomi Matsuzaki’s adult-sized denim jumper and blue-dyed side ponytail, to drummer Greg Saunier’s haywire mop top and lanky boyishness. Opening with “Mirror Monster,” one of their more comparatively reserved tracks from the new La Isla Bonita, Deerhoof appeared to be holding back for bigger and better things, which soon proved true. The ensuing 16-song set was infectious and kinetic, drawing deep cuts from the full range of […]