Photo by RON RAFFAELLI THE MANN: 50 years ago, on July 12, 1969, Led Zeppelin played the Spectrum in Philadelphia. 50 years later, on July 12, 2019, Classic Albums Live will be performing at the Mann Center, playing both Led Zeppelin I and Led Zeppelin II albums, back to back, note for note – cut for cut. Performing these albums since 2003, Classic Albums Live focuses entirely on the music. They don’t wear cheesy costumes or do bad impersonations. Their first show at the Mann is going to be an event that brings a sense of nostalgia and community, paying […]
WORTH REPEATING: Did Nazi That Coming
DAILY DOT: Residents in a Philadelphia neighborhood are accusing the far-right, neo-fascist organization the Proud Boys of making armed “house calls” to harass and threaten private citizens. At the center of the reported house calls is community organizer Gwen Snyder, who according to her Patreon page, researches and writes about “radical white supremacy, corporate greed, and other pressing justice issues.” Due to the work she does, Snyder has been on the receiving end of threatening behavior for months, but things appear to have escalated over the weekend of July 1 when she and others detailed late-night visits from armed Proud […]
BEING THERE: Bad Books @ Union Transfer
Photo by DAN LONG Bad Books, the collaborative side project of singer-songwriter Kevin Devine and Manchester Orchestra frontman Andy Hull, has been resurrected after a seven-year hiatus. Their second album, 2012’s II, by far the most popular of their repertoire, weaves fictional narratives that swerve from punchy alt-rock to sentimental folk tunes, each chorus more catchy than the last. Their latest album, III, is as minimal as the title suggests, a bare bones ensemble of acoustic guitars and keys. The lyrics are more solemn, the background noise muted to spotlight each singer’s distinct voice. Onstage at Union Transfer last night, […]
BEING THERE: Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival @ MassMOCA
Photo by JOANN LOVIGLIO EDITOR’S NOTE: Heading up to Solid Sound Festival (aka Wilco-Con) tomorrow — throwing this up to get in the mood. FYI, that immaculate recording of Wilco’s set at 2017’s Solid Sound that I link to below is full-on Band of Tweedy godhead, if you’re into that kind of thing. “A few years ago timed slowed down, we got a diagnosis [wife Sue Miller was diagnosed with Lymphoma] that derailed things so we played songs to each other, me and [my son] Spencer, to speed up the time. Killing time without hurting anyone else. That’s what [the […]
STROKE OF GENIUS: Q&A W/ Scott McCaughey
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Few people in this life have seen Scott McCaughey’s eyes. He’s been wearing black Ray Bans non-stop 24-7 — presumably even when he sleeps and showers — since at least the late ‘80s. Dude’s got a right. If rock n’ roll is 99% sweat equity (and one percent drugs), and it is, Scott’s a rawk star. He’s got about six or seven bands he’s playing in simultaneously at any given point in time — most of them have Peter Buck in them and the ones that don’t have Wilco in them. Paul Westerberg of The Replacements called […]
BEING THERE: Kristin Hersh @ Boot & Saddle
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Kristin Hersh rocked Boot & Saddle so hard on Monday night that you could almost guess the shampoo brand of the short middle-aged woman at the front of the crowd enthusiastically thrashing her stylized white coiffure. Hersh pounded her clenched fist against the body of her green Fender while drummer Rob Ahlers and bassist Fred Abong negotiated an intro, her eyes narrowed in a thousand-yard stare into the abyss at the back of the room as she delivered a verse’s gritty vocals, and then broke for a middle-eight with a chillingly disaffected gaze over her scorching […]
HOWE GELB: The Influence Of Non-Influence
Howe Gelb + ME (Mitch Esperanza) play @ Old Swedes Church Wednesday June 26th. Howe Gelb has released something like 60 albums of gloriously shambling, sunbaked Americana, high desert mysticism and accidental grace. All of them should be heard before you die. His latest is Gathered, which includes collaborations with M. Ward, Anna Karina, and Pieta Brown. From the sound of it, this is his self-penned bio: One takes issuance with band bios. They often read as if the writer is trying to sell you on something. These days, bands are brands and the bio regards them as product instead […]
BEING THERE: Perry Farrell @ World Cafe Live
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Since his days fronting Jane’s Addiction, Perry Farrell has convened several other projects, including alt-rockers Porno For Pyros, concept-electronica crew Satellite Party and, now, his eponymous Kind Heaven Orchestra — a self-proclaimed “solo project” that reads more as supergroup collective. For their debut, Farrell tapped industry heavyweight Tony Visctonti — known for his work with Iggy and Bowie and T. Rex — to produce a record featuring the likes of Matt Chamberlain (of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden), Tommy Lee (of Mötley Crüe, and Pamela Anderson), the Foo Fighter’s Taylor Hawkins, plus George Harrison’s kid, the guitarist […]
I Went To Father John Misty’s House And All I Got Was Stoned…And This 7,156 Word Magnum Opus
Illustration by RACHEL WADA EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second installment of my 2013 MAGNET cover story. Part 1 is HERE. Misty Mountain Hop If Father John Misty’s life was a Hollywood movie, it would be a metaphysical jail-break thriller about a wrongly convicted man escaping the prison of belief thanks to the liberating power of rock ‘n’ roll and psychedelic drugs. MAGNET goes to the mountain to help write the script. BY JONATHAN VALANIA II Joshua Michael Tillman is largely estranged from his family. He has contact with his parents about once a year, if at all, and it’s […]
INCOMING: The Marshall Plan
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following story originally published in the pages of the Philadelphia Weekly back in May of 2002 on the eve of a celebration of Sun Ra Arkestra director Marshall Allen’s 79th birthday at the sadly-now-defunct Tritone nightclub. We are re-posting it here today in advance of the Arkestra’s performance at Union Transfer on Thursday June 13th in celebration of bandleader Marshall Allen’s 95th birthday, presented by Ars Nova Workshop. BY JONATHAN VALANIA When the 15-piece Sun Ra Arkestra takes to the bandstand at [Union Transfer on Thursday] they will be playing in honor of bandleader Marshall Allen’s birth […]
Win Tix 2 Freakonomics Radio Live @ Kimmel Ctr
Photo by AUDREY BERNSTEIN Freakonomics Radio, one of the ten most popular podcasts in the country, is hosting a live show at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia on June 6th and we have a pair of tickets to give away to some lucky Phawker reader. What’s that you say? “What is this *makes sarcastic air quotes* freakin’ nomix thing you speak of?” Oh brother, where art thou?!? Time to get your freak on. Here’s a brief history of time as it applies to Freakonomics from their web site: It began when New York journalist and author Stephen J. Dubner [pictured] […]
Win Tix To See The National + Courtney Barnett
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER If Joy Division had a horn section and beards and grew up in Cincinnati in the ’80s instead of Manchester in the ’70s, they would have been called The National and Ian Curtis would still be dead. Speaking of which, we have a pair of tix to see The National perform on June 11th at the Mann Center with very special guest Courtney Barnett! To qualify to win them, you must be signed up for our mailing list (see right, below the masthead), trust us you want to do this. You get first dibs on concert […]
Win Tix To Attend An Advance Screening Of Dead Don’t Die + A Q&A W/ Director Jim Jarmusch
Director Jim Jarmusch put the dead in deadpan. His films are elegantly cool pregnant pauses broken up with stillborn dialog and opening and closing credits scored with terminally hip soundtracks. His films wear sunglasses after dark, they smoke in places where no smoking is prohibited and they were cool before it was cool to be cool. Heretofore, Jarmusch has filmed the best minds of his generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angel-headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the […]