BY JAMIE DAVIS Julian Casablancas must be feeling good considering all the end-of-decade praise his band The Strokes are getting for their debut album, the generation-defining Is This It. He certainly looked like he felt good on Saturday night at the Trocadero, giving us the good old rockstar poses he perfected years ago. And really, this is part of what makes him unique, that he is willing to act like a genuine rockstar, throwing his drinks at the lights with nothing more than a sarcastic “oops.” For the last song before the encore he even climbed up on the stack […]
HEAR YE: Vampire Weekend Contra
Out today on XL Recordings. Now playing on Phawker Radio! SIMON REYNOLDS: Already I hear the naysayers bleating, “Something New?! But they’re so derivative!” (This, from Deerhunter fans.) No new instruments have been invented, it’s true, and here and there on Vampire Weekend, you’ll pick up a faint scent of things you might have heard before: a bounce of Beat in “A-Punk,” Orange Juice’s just-brushed sheen, Monochrome Set’s suave wit. The most common reference point (apart from Graceland, which seemingly crops up because it’s the sole example of African-influenced rock most people know) is early Talking Heads. And that’s a […]
SPORTO: Iggles Post-Mortem
BY MIKE WOLVERTON SPORTS GUY Overmatched. Outschemed. Outmuscled. Outcoached. Outplayed. Outclassed. It seemed like the Eagles never had a chance. They did have a chance, early on, if they could have moved the ball. But apparently this offense, which set a team record for points scored, was only built to run up big numbers against crappy teams. Against the Cowboys, Donovan had no time. He was frequently able to buy time, but when he did, he would invariably let loose with an off-balance bullet that failed to hit the target. The Cowboys were carving up the Eagles’ defense, but sacks […]
TONITE: Get Violated
R5 Presents: Kurt Vile Strapping Fieldhands, Home Blitz Johnny Brenda’s Fri, January 8, 2010 Doors: 8:00 PM / Show: 9:00 PM $10.00 Sold Out
EARLY WORD: Requiem For A Kensington Bluesman
[Click to enlarge] PREVIOUSLY: Jack Rose, Kensington Bluesman, Dead At 38 *
CONTEST: Win 2 Tix 4 Wilco At The Electric Factory
That’s right folks, we have two tickets to give away for Wilco at the Electric Factory on April 10th and an itchy giveaway trigger finger. Instead of the usual first-emailer-with-correct-answer-to-such-and-such-trivia question, we are gonna give you a chance to flex your creative writing skills — after all, Wilco is for lovers English majors. So send an email to feed@phawker.com with your best why-I-simply-can’t-live-without-those-Wilco-tickets sob story — make us laugh, make us cry, make us laugh AND cry — and we just might have mercy on your soul. Go ahead, try and break our heart. PREVIOUSLY: Phawker Names Yankee Hotel Foxtrot […]
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
EXIT INTERVIEW: Dave Davies, A Reporter’s Reporter
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] BY JONATHAN VALANIA Intentionally confusing Daily News journalist extraordinaire Dave Davies with Kinks guitarist extraordinaire Dave Davies is, admittedly, a weak stab at humor but we’ve been doing it for years and it’s too late to stop now. Just to be clear for those too young or gullible to know better, the Dave Davies in question is NOT the former guitarist of the Kinks, rather he is one of the best journalists this town has ever had and after nearly 20 years Daily News he is moving on to what comes next — specifically he will […]
MEDIA: Philly.com’s Chris Krewson Named Editor Of Variety.com; Our Boy Mike Newall Hired On by Inky
VARIETY: Chris Krewson has been tapped editor of Variety.com, overseeing all editorial content for the website and contributing to its vision and content strategy. Krewson, currently executive online editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer, will report to Variety group editor Tim Gray. “We considered a lot of great people, but Chris was everybody’s favorite. With his innovative ideas, as well as his people skills, Chris will be a major asset as our website expands and improves. And since readers have indicated they want information in both print and online, Chris will be able to help us coordinate and differentiate the two […]
ARTSY: Judith Schaechter’s ‘Cold Genius’
[Click to enlarge] JUDITH SCHAECTER’S LATE BREAKING NOOSE: So to recap: first I made the head. Ahhh…and what a head!!! I don’t think I have attained such spot-on idealness before. Definitely my best head to date. Of course I desired a body and context that would do this face justice. Yikes…never ever wish this….because this set into motion a series of impossible to meet standards, goals ratcheted to unattainable levels, yadda yadda yadda blah blah blah. So I had this face. Made in glass and at some point shortly after its birth, I saw this YouTube video by Klaus Nomi. […]
DOUBLE STANDARD: Outgoing D.A. Lynne ‘Tough Cookie’ Abraham Was Not So Tough On Rogue Cops
Outgoing District Attorney Lynne Abraham, who has often been accused of being soft on cop crime, declined to press criminal charges against Philadelphia Police Officer Frank Tepper who was fired this week for shooting to death William “Billy” Panas Jr. in Port Richmond on Nov. 21. The victim was unarmed. Eyewitnesses claimed an irate and intoxicated Tepper shot the unarmed Panas Jr. in the chest when the two men exchanged words after a neighborhood brawl. A grand jury is currently investigating. In her final act as D.A. Abraham also declined to press charges in the death of Lawrence Allen who died […]
REPORT: Homicides Down 22%, All Crime Down 10%
INQUIRER: Philadelphia saw across-the-board decreases in major crimes over the last two years, authorities announced yesterday, including a 22 percent drop in homicides. Overall crime is down 10 percent from 2007, the year before Police Commissioner Ramsey took over. Violent crime is down 10.8 percent from 2007; property crime, 9.7 percent. Many major crimes decreased from 2007 to 2008, though there were spikes in burglaries and rapes. In 2009, the numbers of all major crimes fell below 2007 levels, authorities said yesterday. The city had 305 homicides last year, down from 333 in 2008 and 392 in 2007. Robberies were […]
DO THE MATH: One Billion In 215-Targeted Stimulus Dollars Has Created Just 3,500 Jobs In Philadelphia
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] DAILY NEWS: Federal records show that more than a billion dollars from President Obama’s $787 billion economic-stimulus program has been targeted for Philadelphia. But the typical job created here is just as likely to require a lab coat as a hard hat, as much of the money has gone for university research projects. Meanwhile, city government, which has been financially ravaged by the recession, has gotten relatively little help from the stimulus program, and then mostly in indirect ways, like payments to citizens that bump tax revenues, or money to accelerate already-planned capital projects. In the […]