Some people simply should never, ever trip. Syd Barrett, the former singer/guitarist/central songwriter for Pink Floyd, was one of those people. The van Gogh of early rock music, Barrett cut off his mind to spite his face, still swallowing acid by the handful even as his increasingly deranged behavior dislocated him from his bandmates and, for that matter, everybody else back on planet Earth. Tragically, most of his genius escaped recording, though it did beam directly into the illuminated skulls of the Britpop vanguard, frugging stoned and immaculate at London underground clubs like the UFO where Barrett worked out […]
CONTEST: Win Tix To See Americana Icon Kris Kristofferson At The Keswick Tomorrow Night
This picture was taken back during the Carter Administration when America was still shirt-optional, everyone drove 18-wheelers, women rode around on men knapsack-style, and there was always an explosion in the distance. Always. Kris Kristofferson is older than dirt now, but back in the day, as my mom used to say, he got more ass than the men’s room hopper seat at Howard Johnsons. For all I know, he still does. But back then he forged a career as a badass beardo sex symbol in instantly forgettable movies like Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia, Vigilante Force and […]
Win Tix To See Amanda Palmer @ Temple University Performing Arts Center Tomorrow Night!
Amanda Palmer is a singer, writer, pianist, activist and blogger who simultaneously embraces and explodes traditional frameworks of music, theatre, community and art. She first came to prominence as one half of the Boston-based punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls, earning global applause for their wide-ranging theatricality and inventive songcraft. Her solo career has proven equally brave and boundless, including such groundbreaking works as the fan-funded THEATRE IS EVIL, which made a top 10 debut on the SoundScan/Billboard 200 upon its 2012 release and remains the top-funded music project on Kickstarter. In 2013 she presented The Art of Asking at the […]
Q&A w/ Nick Lowe, Elder Statesman Of Pure Pop
Photo by Dan Burn-Forti EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview originally published on April 28th, 2012. To mark the auspicious occasion of Nick Lowe, backed by Los Straight Jackets, playing a SOLD OUT show at Ardmore Music Hall on Tuesday April 9th, we reprising it here. Enjoy. BY ED KING ROCK EXPERT Nick Lowe’s nearly-half-century-long career as a singer-songwriter, record producer, and all-around musical instigator is a one-man Village Green Preservation Society, to quote the Kinks’ 1968 mission statement. After brief spell in a Cream-influenced psychedelic rock band, Kippington Lodge, Lowe and his fellow UK mates, including future standouts in the late-’70s […]
BEING THERE: Avey Tare @ PhilaMOCA
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER David Portner – a.k.a. Avey Tare – is best known for being one of the founding members of freak folk/noise rock/experimental pop outfit Animal Collective. He met his Animal brethren in high school, and has since laid down some of the most otherworldly recordings this side of the Milky Way – although, to be honest, I have my suspicions that they may have come from someplace much farther out. And while his music takes on such extraterrestrial qualities in both his contributions to Animal Collective and in his eponymous solo project, his diverse instrumentation and melodies […]
BEING THERE: Bon Iver @ The Met
Photo by STEVE GARFINKEL I am old enough to remember when Bon Iver was just a weird-beard folkie lumberjack with a broken heart and a bad liver haunting the woods of Wisconsin, cranking out subterranean heartsick blues in his dad’s hunting cabin like the Unabomber of Love. This was back before he went prog-rock at Newport and started a riot — that was way cray. I remember Father John Misty threatening to cut the power with an axe and the guys from Mumford & Sons had to wrestle him to the ground. Despite the confusion of the moment, when the […]
BEING THERE: Lucy Dacus @ Union Transfer
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER “I should start by saying that I’ve opened for a lot of bands on this stage before, so to be the main act here tonight is just – it’s really wild,” were the first words out of Lucy Dacus’s mouth last night at Union Transfer. Taking shelter from the pouring rain, a near sold-out crowd of hipsters just old enough to understand some of the darkness embedded in Dacus’ lyrics gathered to witness her energy firsthand in what was the penultimate stop of her recent tour. Though her latest record Historian came out a little over […]
Q&A w/ Daily Show Correspondent Roy Wood Jr.
BY SEAN HECK Well-rounded comedic powerhouse Roy Wood Jr. has garnered laughs throughout his career, initially gaining traction in radio as the head writer and producer for the Buckwilde Morning Show based in his home town of Birmingham, Alabama and Jamie Foxx’s The Foxxhole show on Sirius XM Radio. He was a top three finalist on NBC’s Last Comic Standing, which garnered mainstream attention and established the by-then well-known comic as a household name. He made his scripted television debut on TBS’s Sullivan and Sons. He joined The Best Fucking News Team in 2015 as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s […]
BEING THERE: Meek Mill @ The Met Philly
Photo by DYLAN LONG Meek Mill is for the people. This should come as no surprise if you’re even vaguely familiar with the rapper-turned philanthropist and criminal justice reform leader. His ethos is speaking truth to power – on and offstage, in and out of the studio. Hell, City Council just named this weekend “Meek Mill Weekend” to honor his dedicated efforts to use his platform to incite positive change within his community and beyond. This formal recognition of Meek as the king of Philly coincided with his two-night stand at The Met Philly. And what a homecoming it was. […]
INCOMING: The Horror, The Horror
Cinepunx, the Philadelphia cinema podcast collective, whose love of film is rivaled only by their love of hardcore music, will be screening Starfish March 18th at 7:30pm at The Rotunda. The feature-length debut by director Al White, who is probably best known for being the front man for the UK band Ghostlight, will also be in town for a post screening Q&A. Starfish world premiered at Fantastic Fest, where I caught it back in September and genuinely dug it. The film is a thought provoking look at grief and loss as a young woman, Aubrey (Virginia Gardner), loses her best […]
DON’T KVETCH WITH TEXAS: A Q&A With Kinky Friedman, The Last Of The Jewish Cowboys
EDITOR’S NOTE: This rollicking interview was originally published on June 12th, 2012. We are reprising it here in advance of Kinky Friedman and Dale Watson performing at the Locks At Sona on Monday March 18th. Enjoy! BY JONATHAN VALANIA Kinky Friedman has worn a lot of hats over the years, both literally and figuratively: Satirical cowboy singer-songwriter (“They Ain’t Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore” and “Get Your Biscuits In The Oven And Your Buns In The Bed”); serial detective fiction novelist; friend to animals; scourge of the phony, the corrupt and the ignorant; purveyor of fine tequila/salsa/cigars, and failed gubernatorial […]
BEING THERE: Bob Weir & Wolf Bros @ The Met
Bob Weir & Wolf Bros @ Met Philly Friday night. Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Though lift off initially felt a little wobbly, when Bob Weir and Wolf Bros finally noodled their way out of a nebulous aural haze and into a discernible set opener Friday night at Philly’s Met, the Grateful Dead founder, fronting a stripped down trio of legendary producer Don Was on upright bass and Primus alumnus Jay Lane on drums, still managed to elevate the sold-out crowd to stratospheric highs with new interpretations of some old tunes and debuting some unexpected new ones. The opener, Weir’s 80s-era […]