Yes, that’s right we have a pair of tix to give away for the second show of Portlandia The Tour at the Troc on Sunday. Why? Because we love you! How to win them? Easy, just send the correct answer to this question — What is the name of the Chicago-based indie-rock band Fred Armisen played drums for back in the 90s? — to FEED@PHAWKER.COM with the phrase PHAWKER IS SO MUCH FUNNIER THAN PORTLANDIA in the subject line. Include your mobile number for confirmation. Good luck and Godspeed! Look for our our interview with the Mayor of Portland later […]
EARLY WORD: The Mystery Tramp
Sharon Van Etten’s voice is front and center on new record Tramp, as well it should be. It’s an amazing instrument, strong and rich, yet her delivery is straight-forward, simple, and not ostentatious at all. She may be shy, but there aren’t many voices in rock that can carry a record so totally and effectively as Van Etten’s. The arrangements on Tramp are more varied and ambitious than on her previous releases, with as many rock songs as acoustic numbers. There are quite a few electric guitars on Tramp, which is somewhat new for Van Etten, but just as many […]
RAWK TAWK: Q&A With Dr. Dog’s Eric Slick
BY TONY ABRAHAM Today marks the release of Be The Void, Dr. Dog’s sixth, and arguably best, album. Last week, Phawker got new Dr. Dog drummer Eric Slick to talk about the new album as he zig-zagged his way across the city, barely avoiding getting hit by passing vehicles and trying to keep a straight face while discussing the band’s on-tour farting prowess. Having joined up with Dr. Dog two years ago after the band parted ways with drummer Juston Stens, Slick brings a new energy to Dr. Dog, upping the tempo on those classic upbeat, yet slightly dissonant Dr. […]
SPORTO: The Tao Of DeSean
BY MIKE WALSH One complaint about Andy Reid and the Eagles during the Donovan McNabb era was that Reid never provided McNabb with the quality wide receivers needed to win a Super Bowl. That’s a legitimate complaint as Eagles fans and McNabb suffered through season after season with sub par receivers like Charles Johnson, Torrance Small, Todd Pinkston, James Thrash, Greg Lewis, L J Smith, Kevin Curtis, Freddie Mitchell, and Reggie Brown. Of course, 2004 was the exception when the Eagles signed Terrell Owens. Owens went on to have one of the best years for a wide receiver in Eagles […]
ARTSY: The Great Beyond
You might not know it from the recent media focus, but there are photographers living and working in South Philadelphia not named Zoe Strauss. One of them is Ted Adams, who just unveiled an overview of his work stretching back to the 80s at the Robin Rice Gallery in the West Village. The small exhibit is an overview of Adam’s photography, some pieces dating back to the 90s. These’s nothing digital in this exhibit. Adams shoots with a vintage Leica and Kodak Tri-X film. He also processes his own film and prints in the darkroom at his house. In fact, […]
KILLADELPHIA: Same As It Ever Was
DAILY BEAST: Thirty-two murders that have taken place in Philadelphia since the start of 2012. This recent rash of homicides comes quickly on the heels of a year when Mayor Michael Nutter and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey were touting a steep reduction in violent crime, with homicides down 22 percent, robberies down 23 percent, and overall violent crime down 16 percent in 2011 from their 2007 highs. The Mayor blames the homicide spike on a steady flow of illegal handguns into the city as groups like the NRA stymie his attempts to pass local gun-control laws. Richard Berk, a statistician […]
JAZZER: Meet Nate Wooley
[Photo by Jim Newberry] BY ZIVIT SHLANK Trumpter and composer Nate Wooley has maintained a relatively humble profile on the scene while simultaneously creating a new harmonic language with his musical innovations. He’s played in a variety of settings: solo, duet, quartet and quintet. With each new context, Wooley strives to make us hear the trumpet in a whole new way and as such he has become one of the most mesmerizing figures on the ‘out’ jazz scene. His latest released, (Put Your) Hands Together, dropped last year and featured some of Brooklyn’s finest jazz and experimental players. Thanks once […]
DEENEY: On Race, Sobriety And The Good Lord
BY JEFF DEENEY: Susan was a crack addict and prostitute whose life was saved by Jesus Christ. That’s what she would say when you met her; she had no compunction about sharing details of her sordid past because the Lord cleansed those sins from her. Christ may have removed the sins but he left much of Susan otherwise unchanged after she got clean; at 35, she looked at least a decade older, her graying hair matched by a haggard expression—all testimony to her many years on the Philadelphia streets. She still had a hot temper and a foul mouth lacing sentences with […]
KILLADELPHIA: Brutes Bash Temple Grad’s Brains Out On The Steps Of The Second Bank Of America
INQUIRER: Just before 2:25 a.m. Saturday, Kless and two female friends were walking on Chestnut Street near Fourth Street when he tried to hail a cab. The bars had just let out, and the three had just left Lucy’s Hat Shop Restaurant & Lounge a few blocks away. The cab’s rooftop lights were on, signaling it was available, but there were passengers inside, and the taxi didn’t stop. Police said Kless yelled, “Turn off your f-ing lights. A maroon Mazda with four men inside drove up behind the cab as traffic likely slowed briefly. The people in the Mazda may […]
EARLY WORD: Wowie Zoe
South Philly photographer Zoe Strauss has come a long way since she received a camera as a gift in 2000–so far, in fact, that an exhibition of 150 of Strauss’s photos (titled Zoe Strauss Ten Years) opens at the Philadelphia Museum of Art this Saturday night. Despite the amazing achievement of a museum show for Strauss, she also convinced the museum and Clear Channel to finance the placement of 54 of her photos around Philly on billboards, substituting the unreal optics of advertising with the real thing. PMA managed to bring her inside, but in the process, Zoe managed to […]
Flyers Fans Brutalize Purple Heart Medalist For Wearing Rangers Jersey In Line At Genos
INQUIRER: Wearing a No. 24 Ryan Callahan Rangers jersey, Neal Auricchio [NOT pictured, above, that’s Bobby Clark in the 70s] stands surrounded by Flyers fans. He appears as a small man with his hands out, as if trying to play peacemaker. A man who looks to have about a one-foot height advantage on him removes his dark coat with white fur trim, uncovering his No. 28 Claude Giroux Flyers jersey. He shoves Auricchio, who still has his hands out, and then throws a punch. Auricchio throws back, punching up, but is quickly overwhelmed when a man in a No. 68 […]
REWIND 2011: BEST OF Q&A: The Year In Questions And Answers
THE TESTIFIER [Illustrations by ALEX FINE] BY JONATHAN VALANIA In advance of her recent reading at the Free Library to promote her new book Reimagining Equality: Stories Of Race, Gender And Finding A Home, we present a conversation with Anita Hill, professor of social policy, law, and women’s studies at Brandeis University. Discussed: The fantasia of a Post-Racial America; the mendacity, narcissism and hypocrisy of Clarence Thomas and Herman Cain; the right wing’s racializing the blame for the 2008 financial crisis; how she passed the lie detector test Clarence Thomas refused to take; the emancipation of her grandfather from slavery; […]
WORTH REPEATING: Blowback’s A ‘Bitch’
[Artwork by BIGBOITHOMAS84] Pitchfork: What kind of reactions have you received since? ?uestlove: I’ve seen some really colorful epithets in the past four days, but “nigger fuckhead ghetto stick” is probably the one that takes the cake. I’m still trying to get my head around that one. Blocking 3,500 tea party extremists [on Twitter] in a three day period is no fun, especially when you’re a drummer dangerously close to carpal tunnel. In the end, was it worth it? Absolutely not. Pitchfork: Was there a moment when you were scared that you might get fired? ?uestlove: Yeah, last Wednesday, the […]