Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ Right before Guerilla Toss was set to play at Underground Arts last night, I took a seat on the floor in front of the stage with my camera. The floor just happened to be the spot from which I could get a decent photo and still revel in wallflower-y seclusion. There, I could avoid contact with anyone remotely interested in talking with me and consequently figuring out my affinity for what some call “art rock” and what I’d rather not be troubled with giving a name to. Truthfully, I’m a sucker for deeply collaged sounds […]

Photo by DYLAN LONG If the excitement for an evening with thrash metal behemoth Megadeth wasn’t enough for the 2000 strong at the Electric Factory last night, the newest addition to the Suicidal Tendencies live act most definitely tipped the scales. Dave Lombardo, the epic maestro of thrash metal drummers and former member of Slayer, recently joined Suicidal Tendencies as their official drummer on tour. Back in 2013, after being stiffed with barely any payment after a year of touring and a gag order against him, Lombardo was cut from Slayer after speaking up about the increasing deductions from Slayer’s […]

Photo by DYLAN LONG The sold out crowd at the Fillmore Sunday night for retro-nouveau soul sensation Leon Bridges’ eagerly-awaited return to Philadelphia was 85% caucasian. Bridges is used to this. Back in June of 2015 Leon told The Guardian, “I have a song called “Brown Skinned Girl,” and I ask ‘Where my brown-skinned girls at?’ And there’s maybe one or two in the crowd. It’s a little awkward sometimes.” At 9:15 sharp, Bridges shimmied out on stage, snapping his fingers to the beginning of “Smooth Sailin’” amidst deafening cheers. Leon’s voice and energy were equally extravagant, not to mention […]

?Photo by DYLAN LONG I walked into The Fire on 4th & Girard through the narrow all-ages entrance, and upon stepping into the room I found myself immediately at the front of the stage, squeezed between a wall and two girls, legs pressed up against the roughly thigh-high stage. I looked around at the sizeable crowd that filled the room up, and accepted the spot I was standing in as my fate for the evening. A tight squeeze, but a sweet up-and-close view of the bands nevertheless. The Frights took the stage soon after the wrapping up of Lancaster locals, […]

Photo by TOM BECK The first time I saw Wolfmother was in 2006, and boy have times changed. What was a rowdy, teenager-infused rock and roll mosh show at the Electric Factory has turned into a stagnant Ed Hardy t-shirt-infused sausage fest full of old-but-wanna-be-young stoner metalheads at the much smaller Trocadero. Back then, voice-beaming front man Andrew Stockdale was joined by Chris Ross and Myles Heskett onstage. Since that time, the band’s gone through a number of different lineup changes, having as many as four members in the band. As evidenced last night at The Troc, the band has […]

Photo by Mary Lynn Dominguez Early Friday morning, I took the blow of a complicated, dramatic break-up. It was another one of those “It’s not you, it’s me,” “No, wait, it’s you, you are afraid of being alone,” “It’s just bad timing,” “I need space”— You know, a gross concoction of blame and excuses to address that it’s just not working out. Later that afternoon, half in preparation for the show and half as a remedy for being dumped, I put on Julia Holter’s 2015 full-length Have You In My Wilderness and took a walk around my neighborhood. Temperatures were […]

Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ I arrived at Johnny Brenda’s to meet my blind date — the three-band triumvirate of Jack White’s ‘Third Man’ record label’s Audio Social Dissent Tour. I guess all I had to go on as far as looks and personality is that Jack White is all about and a promise of ‘revolutionary punk rock.’ ??It sort of made sense to me when the first band, Regression 696 took the stage. A dudely duo took the stage behind a guitar and a music stand fitted with a board of switches, and a harmonica. The harmonica was a […]

Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ When I climbed into the Uber that would take me to the Fillmore to see Fetty Wap, I had two realistic expectations in mind: getting ‘too turnt,’ and as a result, risking ‘alcohol-exposed’ pregnancy as advised against by the CDC. Ouseman, the Uber driver, had been busy driving degenerates like myself to the sold-out Fillmore all night. He attempted to casually switch his preferred jazz station to a hip hop one that I guess seemed more appropriate for a young trap queen like he assumed I was. Meek Mill began to blare, nearly making us […]