St. Vincent, Susquehanna Bank Center last night by PETE TROSHAK WXPN’s XPoNential Festival is one of the yearly highlights of the Philly summer concert calendar, and the 2015 edition was no exception. The festival draws over 25,000 fans, spans three days and this year included over 30 performances. If you were only going to make it to one day of the festival this year Saturday was the one to choose with a stellar lineup of fiercely talented lesser known musicians on outdoor stages during the day and the dynamic one-two punch of St. Vincent and My Morning Jacket closing the […]
50 YEARS AGO TONIGHT: Bob Dylan Goes Electric
Bob Dylan – Maggie s Farm Live at the Newport Folk Festival '63 '65 Full from kostas palaiokostas on Vimeo. NEW YORK TIMES: Tonight is the 50th anniversary of Dylanageddon: the night Bob Dylan savaged the Newport Folk Festival by making loud, electrified noise at a sanctuary that had never been thus sullied. The story of his 1965 assault on Newport is very well known. Its effects have been contemplated ad nauseam. Its details show up in every Dylan biography. It’s so essential to the Dylan story that it may even have engendered folk songs of its own. So the […]
CINEMA: Tangerine Dreams
TANGERINE (2015, directed by Sean S. Baker, 88 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Tangerine is a breezy joyride of a summer movie, like American Graffiti if Dreyfuss and Ron Howard were transgender streetwalkers. Or maybe the B-action film from 1982, Vice Squad, which also featured a prostitute on violent journey through the seedy side of L.A. Both these films share a delirious momentum with Tangerine, as their protagonists cruise through the night intersecting with crazy characters and mayhem. Director Sean S. Baker’s new film taps into all that nighttime energy but its most modern edge is the respect […]
THE OHIO PLAYER: A Q&A With Kelley Deal
Photo by CHRIS GLASS BY JONATHAN VALANIA A word of warning: This intro is gonna be one of those pieces where I go on and on about my little monkey shines with famous alt-rock personalities. Millions of people love it when I do that, but others seem to get very, very angry about it, stomp their feet and write mean letters that hurt my feelings. If that sounds like you, stop reading right now. I’m serious. I don’t want to even see you in the second paragraph. The year is 1994. The Breeders had just broken huge, and somebody had […]
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN: A Q&A With Hop Along’s Frances Quinlan, AKA The Best Voice In Indie-Rock
Photo by JONATHAN MINTO BY TOM BECK Right now, the Philadelphia indie rock scene is a gigantic freight train plowing down the Belt Line Railroad, whizzing by the ancient history of Philly rock’s past, leaving Hall and Oats, Bill Haley and the Comets, and The Hooters in the dust. There’s a boatload of bands on board, but without doubt, Hop Along are the crew members, and Frances Quinlan the engineer. The group’s latest release, Painted Shut, got bad reviews from pretty much nobody, leaving even Rolling Stone asking “What’s up with Philly lately?” There’s a certain unorthodoxy to their success; […]
KURT VILE: Pretty Pimpin’
New album b’lieve i’m goin down… out September 26th.
Win Tix To See The End Of The Tour @ The Prince
Time is short, so I will cut to the chase: we have a handful of tix to see a special VIP screening of THE END OF THE TOUR, starring Jason Segel as novelist David Foster Wallace and Jesse Eisenberg as the magazine writer guy that followed him around on the book tour for Infinite Jest for an article that never published and then turned it into a book/movie after the author’s suicide in 2008 and thereby incurred the wrath of DFW disciples from here to Pluto. The screening is at 7:30 Wednesday night at The Prince Theater. To qualify […]
JOHN OLIVER WATCH: How Food Gets Wasted
Last night, John Oliver took that bull we have been starving in the basement by the horns and dragged it into the light. That proverbial bull? Food Waste. Every year Americans waste enough food to fill 730 stadiums up to the brim. The segment was like a parade of sorts, one that got steadily more depressing as it went on. Oliver started off this parade of sad with a slew of the ridiculous and nauseating restaurants that are literally clogging the heart of America. IHop, Golden Corral, Red Lobster and Applebee’s were paraded across the screen to be summed up […]
WORTH REPEATING: The End Of Capitalism
Click to enlarge THE GUARDIAN: Capitalism, it turns out, will not be abolished by forced-march techniques. It will be abolished by creating something more dynamic that exists, at first, almost unseen within the old system, but which will break through, reshaping the economy around new values and behaviours. I call this postcapitalism. As with the end of feudalism 500 years ago, capitalism’s replacement by postcapitalism will be accelerated by external shocks and shaped by the emergence of a new kind of human being. And it has started. Postcapitalism is possible because of three major changes information technology has brought about […]
CINEMA: Truly, Madly Amy
FRESH AIR Comedian Amy Schumer is — by her own admission — an oversharer. Whether she’s talking about one-night stands or drinking habits, she has a tendency to bare all. In 2011, Schumer’s blend of honesty and humor caught the attention of director Judd Apatow, who heard her being interviewed on the radio by Howard Stern. “She was telling stories about her relationships and also stories about her dad, who has multiple sclerosis … and the stories were very dark and sad, but … they were really funny and warm at the same time,” Apatow tells Fresh Air’s Terry […]
FREE WILCO: Let Wild Dad-Rock Rumpus Begin!
A.V. CLUB: Demonstrating that just because it was around in the ’90s doesn’t mean it doesn’t understand the internet, Wilco just became the latest band to release a free surprise album on its website. Called Star Wars and adorned with a painting of a cat—because, again, Wilco knows what the people like—the album consists of 11 original songs and is available as a free download on the Wilco website. Just enter your email, follow the link, download the .zip file, and boom. New Wilco album. MORE
TONIGHT: The Monsanto Years Of Our Lives
TOM MOON: A few songs into the latest set of ready-to-wear rants from Neil Young, there’s a moment when the rock star shares a bit of the advice he gets as he goes about his daily life — from fans, possibly, or a manager, or maybe the barista in his coffee shop. The song’s called “People Want To Hear About Love,” and in its verses, Young rattles off things people don’t necessarily like to confront when they kick back and listen to music. The list of must-avoid topics includes the “Chevron millions going to the pipeline politicians,” and “all […]