READY, STEADY, GO: Craig Finn, The Hold Steady, Xponential Music Festival, Last Night [Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA] *** ZEE AVI: Honey Bee WIKIPEDIA: Zee Avi (born Izyan Alirahman,[1] also known as KokoKaina; b. 1986) is a Malaysian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and ukulele player. She was born in Miri, Sarawak, on the island of Borneo. She moved to Kuala Lumpur when she was 12.[2] She studied fashion design at American InterContinental University in London.[3] Zee originally posted a video of her first song on YouTube because one of her friends had missed her first performance in Kuala Lumpur, so she created a […]
The Five People U Meet When U Die And Go 2 SEPTA
1. The Playa: Age doesn’t matter when it comes to the playa. His age or yours. The playa can be a middle school kid two feet shorter than you whose baggy pants sag to reveal Spongebob boxers asking, “Can I text you tonight?” Or he can be a senior citizen on his way to the community center who thinks making kissy noises on his knuckles will convince you to drop your knickers. Either way, the playa is cool, calm and confident. His favorite technique is to enter a totally empty subway car/bus and sit next to you. If you don’t […]
EARLY WORD: Jingle Bells, Batman Smells
[Click flier to activate Internets] BY TIFFANY YOON Geoff McGovern has become well known in Philly, or at least in some DIY circles, for booking all ages shows in makeshift venues like the Danger Danger Gallery and Pi Lam in West Philadelphia. He’s also booked shows at the Copy Gallery on 11th and Arch and has been known to use other venues to house bands like Ponytail, Growing, Eric Copeland of Black Dice, Teeth Mountain and many other names that are now well-known in the music circuit. He’s not the first to book shows of this caliber in Philadelphia, but […]
I’M WITH STUPID: Cambridge Police Union President Says Obama Owes Cops Everywhere An Apology
CNN: President Obama should apologize to members of the Cambridge Police Department for saying they acted stupidly, the president of the city’s police union said Friday. Dennis O’Connor, president of the Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association, said at a news conference that Obama should not have criticized officers’ actions in last week’s arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. Sgt. James Crowley, the officer who arrested Gates for disorderly conduct, has previously said he was dismayed by the president’s remarks and that Obama had offended police in Cambridge and elsewhere. MORE PHAWKER: So, let us get this straight. The […]
RAWK TAWK: Q&A With Black Moth Super Rainbow
BY DIANCA POTTS Analog-synth psych-poppers Black Moth Super Rainbow hail from the hinterlands of Western Pennsylvania. Their music, spanning the course of four albums, has been described thusly: “Sometimes the songs feel like pagan rituals in a sugarcoated fairyland. Other times they’re like sad thoughts on the happiest days. All played and lovingly assembled by real people with real hands. BMSR lives and makes music in their own lollipop neon folktale world.” Notoriously camera-shy, Black Moth’s members prefer to hide behind aliases — there is vocalist Tobacco, who does most of the writing and production; Power Pill Fist on bass […]
CINEMA: Summer Lovin’
(500) DAYS OF SUMMER (2009, directed by Marc Webb, 95 minutes, U.S.) ORPHAN (2009, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, 123 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Marc Webb’s debut feature (500) Days of Summer is a breezy pop song of a movie. Not a transcendent pop song though; certainly not “There’s A Light That Never Goes Out,” the morbid and infatuated Smiths’ tune that our romantic couple first bond over when the flirty Summer overhears it on Tom’s iPod. No, the pop tune this slightly clever, mildly amusing romantic comedy more closely resembles is the one Tom turns onto a […]
Cops Investigate Domelights Death Threats; Black Officer’s Union Prez Under Police Protection
INQUIRER: Philadelphia police are investigating threats directed toward the president of a black officers league after her organization accused the now-disabled Web site Domelights.com of hosting racist material. After the Guardian Civic League sued Domelights last week in federal court, several postings on the site attacked league president Rochelle Bilal. One said she “deserves to be gang-raped.” Bilal, a sworn officer who works in narcotics intelligence, has been assigned officers from the dignitary protection unit to guard her during the investigation. Two uniformed officers accompanied Bilal Wednesday night at a meeting at Guardian Civic League headquarters. MORE PREVIOUSLY: City Blocks […]
THIS JUST IN: Monsters Of Folk To Stomp On (Albeit Gently And Responsibly) The Academy Of Music
An Evening With Mike Mogis, Conor Oberst, M. Ward, and Yim Yames ACADEMY OF MUSIC MON., NOV. 9, 8 PM On sale Friday, July 31 at 10 am! FREE DOWNLOAD: “Say Please” [Mp3] JAY-Z TIX GIVEWAY UPDATE: We have a winner! Skye Ruozzi responded first (at the ungodly hour of 5:20 AM) with the correct answer to our trivia question (“Blue Magic”). Skye and her best PLUS ONE will be going to Day One of the All Points West courtesy of Phawker.com. Stay tuned we will be giving away a pair of tix for Day Two and Day Three of […]
CAVE IN: Reid Defies Obama On Health Care Vote Deadline, Gives GOP Evildoers What They Want
WASHINGTON POST: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Thursday the full Senate will debate and vote on healthcare overhaul legislation after it returns in September from a monthlong recess. Reid told reporters he expected the Senate Finance Committee would approve its version of the legislation before the Senate starts its recess August 7. MORE RELATED: GOP — Gang Of Obstructionist Pricks RELATED: Why We Can’t Have Nice Things — Meet Dick Scott Health Care Reform’s Public Enemy Number One THE GOOD NEWS FLOWER HOUR: Meet Health Care Reform’s Public Enemy #1
DEEP THOUGHTS: Some People Shouldn’t Twitter
“‘It’s not rape if you get aids. then it’s suicide’ ha. hahaha.” — Porn star and former Philly girl Stoya on Twitter *** Asians Doing Christopher Walken Impressions Sent in by Phawker Tokyo Correspondent Eva Liao. So wrong it’s right.
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
ON THE COVER CP: Rapper Amanda Blank: coquette or queen-bee? A.D. Amorosi would have us believe she’s on the verge of stardom, and people with massive cred — Naeem Juwan of Spank Rock, Santigold, Diplo — are getting behind her upcoming album. The rap game a producer’s art form that needs MCs to keep it in the spotlight, and Blank rhymes over Spank Rock’s beats with impressive fervor. Nerves have gotten the best of her in the past, though; does she have what it takes it to break through? If only she were a little more confident, all this may […]
CONTEST: Win Two Tix To See Jay-Z At All Points West
HOVA: Jay-Z at the TLA, November 12th 2007. [Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA] Late last night, All Points West Festival organizers announced that Jay-Z will be replacing the Beastie Boys, who were forced to cancel their Day One headlining slot in the wake of Adam Yauch’s throat cancer diagnosis. As promised, we will be running contests to give away a pair of tix for each day of APW. The first Phawker reader that tell us what song the line “Blame Reagan for making me to into a monster, blame Oliver North and Iran-Contra, I ran contraband that they sponsored, before this […]