MODEST MOUSE: Dramamine
PASTE: The inspiration behind the song “Best Room,” one of the songs off of the long-awaited new Modest Mouse album Strangers to Ourselves, goes back almost two decades to 1997. This was the year that frontman Isaac Brock, on his way to finish mastering their album The Lonesome Crowded West, was one of thousands of people who witnessed the “Phoenix Lights” incident. The “Phoenix Lights” story is one of the most famous UFO sightings in history, in which people saw a V-shaped object flying in the night sky. Brock explains in an interview with Studio 360, that he “was in […]
THE UNIVERSE ACCORDING TO CHARLIE: How I Learned To Stop Worrying & Love The Flower Show
BY CHARLIE C. Flowers are kind of… just flowers. They’re no Disney World. They’re just flowers, and it’s very hard to get excited about flowers, because they just look pretty and smell good, then you’re done. Just smelly green sticks. Or so I used to think. You see, this is the story of how I realized I love the Philadelphia Flower Show. I thought it would be just like flowers on the ground, really. Nothing exciting can really happen with flowers, or so I thought. I now know your first time going you may be unenthusiastic about it, but […]
BEING THERE: Hozier @ The Electric Factory
Photo by DYLAN LONG To say that last night’s sold out performance at the Electric Factory by Irish pop sensation Andrew Hozier-Byrne — known simply as Hozier — was “highly anticipated” by most, if not all, babysitter-aged young ladies in the Tri-State area is an understatement on par with “invading Iraq might have been a bad idea” or “Dallas Cowboys fans are assholes.” Last night, Hozier’s tight brogue and loose man-bun had teenage girls in the front row squealing and swooning as he effortlessly cruised through his set like it was a 90-minute victory lap, taking time between nearly every […]
INCOMING: Brian Wilson + Rodriguez @ The Mann
On April 7th, Brian Wilson will release his 11th solo studio album, No Pier Pressure, having returned to Capitol Records, keepers of The Beach Boys’ golden era. This summer Brian will be touring across the USA with Rodriguez, the subject of the Academy Award-winning documentary Searching For Sugarman. The tour stops at The Mann on June 29th. PREVIOUSLY: Teenage symphonies to God. That’s the phrase Beach Boys auteur Brian Wilson used to describe the a heartbreaking works of staggering genius he was creating in the mid-’60s, when his compositional powers were achieving miraculous states of beauty and innovation even […]
TONIGHT: Investigate The Bureau Of Investigation
On March 8th, 1971, eight ordinary citizens broke into an FBI office in Media, PA. Calling themselves the Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI, they removed every file in the office. Mailed anonymously, the stolen documents started to show up in newsrooms. The heist yielded a trove of damning evidence. The most significant revelation was COINTELPRO, a controversial, secret, illegal surveillance program overseen by lifelong Bureau director J. Edgar Hoover. Despite one of the largest investigations ever conducted, the FBI was unable to catch the burglars. Those responsible have never revealed their identities. Until now. For the first time […]
BOOKS: Infinite Guest
Artwork by TOMMASO PINCIO If David Foster Wallace were alive today, would the famously introverted author be flattered to see himself on the big screen, or horrified at the commodification of his very identity? James Ponsoldt’s new film The End of the Tour recreates five days that the late author David Foster Wallace spent traveling around the Midwest with Rolling Stone Magazine writer David Lipsky around 1996, shortly after Wallace’s critically acclaimed novel Infinite Jest was published. In the film, the two men have a number of philosophical conversations about writing, life, sex, and fame — kind of like if […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR THE STRANGER: The mood of the crowd at the Neptune last night for Kim Gordon‘s conversation with Bruce Pavitt about her book Girl In A Band ranged from slightly confused to completely livid. No one, as far as I could tell, left feeling satisfied. I interviewed folks as they came out, asking them simply what they thought of the night. All their quotes are at the end. But what happened? Many people blamed Pavitt for talking too much about the past—the early Sub Pop days (Sonic Youth’s contribution to the first Sub Pop compilation is how they […]
BEING THERE: Juliana Hatfield @ Boot N’ Saddle
Photo by PETE TROSHAK Twenty-two years after the release of her most famous work — 1993’s Become What You Are, — Juliana Hatfield and a reunited Juliana Hatfield Three are out on the road to celebrate that classic album and the recent release of their second album as a trio, the excellent Whatever My Love. Hatfield along with drummer Todd Phillips and bass player Dean Fisher blazed through Become What You Are beginning to end along with a few new songs and a surprise cover to the delight of a packed house at the first of two sold-out nights at […]
SIDEWALKING: Ding-Dong The Witch Is Dead
The Philadelphia Flower Show, 5:40 pm yesterday, by PETE TROSHAK
P REIGN & MEEK MILL: Realest In The City
RELATED: Nicki Minaj and Meek Mill are doing little to contradict all those romance rumors! MORE PREVIOUSLY: Meek Mill‘s Grammy party guests didn’t trash Justin Bieber‘s famous glass palace — they merely left a few cracks, according to Mill’s attorney … but there’s still a war brewing over his $10K deposit. Mill’s attorney, Richard Joseph, denies leaving the mansion — formerly rented by Bieber — in shambles following the epic bash on Sunday night. He says there was a minor window crack, and a few scuffs on the walls … but nothing that would qualify as “trashing.” Sources with direct […]
THE THRILLA IN SOUTH PHILA: Round One
Artwork by WRIGHT SENARES BY CHRIS MCCARRY With a field of candidates seeking to succeed a term-limited mayor, the Democratic National Convention on it’s way here in 2016, and the ongoing slugfest over our city’s school system, political reporters are going to be wind-sprinting from river to river to cover it all—and Phawker’s throwing its hat into the ring as well. For the next three months we’ll be covering what is sure to be the most entertaining City Council race of the year: the 2nd District contest between incumbent Kenyatta Johnson and real-estate developer Ori Feibush. We’ll start today with […]
BEING THERE: Sleater-Kinney @ Union Transfer
Photo by PETE TROSHAK Last nght, Sleater-Kinney — not seen in these parts since July 31st, 2006 — staged a triumphant return to Philadelphia with a way-sold out show at Union Transfer in support of their wonderful new album, No Cities to Love. Minneapolis hip hop artist Lizzo jolted the crowd awake during a lengthy opening set, at one point throwing bags of cookies out in the crowd while performing her song “Batches and Cookies.” Sleater-Kinney hit the stage shortly after 10pm, opening with raucous renditions of “Price Tag” and “Fangless”, the two opening tracks off of No Cities to […]