Once the largest concert venue in the world, the Philadelphia Opera House was built a century ago in 1908 by Oscar Hammerstein and attracted some of the greatest entertainers of the 20th Century. But for that last 20 years it has stood silent and boarded up at the intersection of Poplar and North Broad, awaiting a seemingly-imminent demolition that mercifully never came. Thanks to a $56 million renovation project underwritten by a partnership between Live Nation and real estate developer Eric Blumenfeld, the long dormant venue will come alive with the sound of music in December.“This music venue will help […]
BEING THERE: Philly Naked Bike Ride 2018
Photos by JOSH PELTA-HELLER/click HERE to see the album When I arrived at Fairmount Park’s Glendinning Rock Garden, the starting point for Philly’s Naked Bike Ride, it looked like it was going to rain but despite that grim fact hundreds of people were still gathering— and stripping down. Heretofore, I had never seen so many breasts and flaccid dicks in my life at once. Photographers meandered around, drones hovered above, and passersby stopped to gawk. As I descended down the hill into the crowd, I saw two men who could have been brothers lying down on a mat in the […]
INCOMING: Vengance Is Mine
RELATED: The ’90s were a helluva drug. You really had to be there, kid, but suffice it to say it was 10 years of unprecedented peace and prosperity, a pot in every chicken, 2.5 SUVs in every garage, a Clinton was president and Donald Trump ran beauty contests instead of the free world. In the ’90s, the Internet went public and we all become tech stock billionaires overnight — all of us — selling dog bones over the World Wide Web, which was what we called the Interwebs back then, as was the style of the day. Good. Times. Music […]
Win Tix 2 See Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ 215 Block Party!
Illustration by PAR4NOID Hey boys and girls, we have a couple pairs of tickets to giveaway to see reactivated neo-post-punk-no-wave-trash-rock nogoodniks The Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ the Goose Island Beer Company’s 215 Block Party outdoors at the Electric Factory on Saturday! To qualify to win, all you have to do is say nice things about us. Just kidding! That was just a sly Catch 22 allusion, which should go without saying to a hep cat such as yourself. No, you are going to have to do a little work to earn those Yeah Yeah Yeahs tickets, i.e. send us an […]
BEING THERE: Mac DeMarco @ The Skyline Stage
Photo by MATT SHAVER Last night, every long-haired pothead in Philadelphia gathered at the Skyline Stage of the Mann Center to worship their ultimate idol. True to its name, the magnificent city skyline was visible from the top of the hill as the setting sun glittered against the metal skyscrapers in a golden wave. Millennial hippies in flowy maxi-skirts and Baja hoodies swayed to the soothingly unadorned acoustic soft rock of Uruguayan opener Juan Wauters. A Mac DeMarco concert is half music and half stoner stage antics. Living up to his reputation as indie rock’s goofball slacker, he paused between […]
BEING THERE: Made In America
Photo by DYLAN LONG Philadelphia’s annual Made in America festival made its return to the Ben Franklin Parkway this past weekend. Many in Philadelphia and beyond were well aware that going into Labor Day weekend, the major event was on the tail end of a rather contentious few weeks in the press recently. A public spat between event founder Jay-Z and Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney erupted in mid-July over the future of Made in America, an incident which was quickly mitigated by a promise from Kenney to keep Made in America on the parkway for years to come. In what […]
Win Tix To See Mac DeMarco @ The Skyline Stage
Photo by DANNY COHEN Wise men say only fools rush in where angels fear to tread. But apparently nobody told pepperoni playboy Mac DeMarco and Indieland is all the better for it. Still, all things must pass, and somewhere around 2014’s Salad Days, DeMarco took a giant step forward in his ongoing transition from “wacky indie guitar boy” to “actual person with feelings and shit.” Going forward, there were less gimmicks and more self-reflection as DeMarco flirted with adulthood, which admittedly was a ballsy move for a songwriter beloved for cigarette anthems, stoner odes, and chorus pedal abuse. But despite […]
DIY IRL: Q&A W/ David Commins & Rachel Pfeffer, Publishers Of The Philadelphia Secret Admirer Zine
BY MARIAH HALL A zine is a self-published, limited circulation and often hand-distributed work, often featuring art, photography, poetry, and prose. Zine culture is rooted in the social and political activism of the ’60s and ’70s, and later became associated with the underground music scene. In a reflection of D.I.Y. values, zines are more focused on expressing particular views rather than gaining profits, and they act as a mode of communication and a platform for those not typically granted a voice. The last decade has witnessed a resurgence of zine culture, a revival of print media in a paperless age. […]
Win Tix To See Asleep At The Wheel, The Texas Kings Of Western Swing, At Ardmore Music Hall!
What’s that you say? ‘What is Asleep At The Wheel?’ Oh brother, where art thou? Where have thou been? OK, let’s start with the beginnings, as per All Music Guid: Since the early ’70s, Asleep at the Wheel have been the most important force in keeping the sound of Western swing alive. In reviving the freewheeling, eclectic sensibility of Western swing godfather Bob Wills, the Wheel have earned enthusiastic critical praise throughout their lengthy career; they have not only preserved classic sounds that had all but disappeared from country music, but have also been able to update the music, […]
BEING THERE: Jeff Lynne’s ELO @ Wells Fargo Ctr
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER The year is 1977. Eleven-year-old me is sitting on my best friend’s bunk bed listening to his older brother’s copy of Electric Light Orchestra’s Out Of The Blue on the Hi-Fi, staring at the neon starburst-colored spaceship on the gatefold sleeve which, he informed me, was used to clean your weed on. Being 11 I had no earthly idea why somebody would collect weeds nor why they would want to clean them, and said as much. My best friend didn’t seem to really know either, but said he had it on good authority, i.e. his older […]
BEING THERE: Interpol @ Union Transfer
Interpol by JOSH PELTA-HELLER If it’s intimidating to open a sold out show for a band as influential as Interpol, any trepidation was well-hidden by Brooklyn punk outfit Honduras. They banged through a set that seemed like a Joy Division impression, conjuring images of studded leather jackets and quadruple-pierced earlobes. This may explain why they were tapped for this tour, satiating nostalgic cravings for 80’s post-punk revival. Interpol drew a diverse crowd— I was squeezed between someone’s mom squinting through horn rimmed glasses and a scraggly-bearded barista in denim. Interpol emerged in somber funeral attire, shadows stalking across the stage, […]
INCOMING: Cinephilia
RELATED: The 27th Philadelphia Philm Phestival
KURT VILE: Loading Zones
New video by producers James Doolittle and Laris Kreslins, makes Kenzo look like Do The Right Thing. Note cameo by Pissed Jeans frontman Matt Korvette as a PPA stooge. Nice.