BY DIANCA POTTS Analog-synth psych-poppers Black Moth Super Rainbow hail from the hinterlands of Western Pennsylvania. Their music, spanning the course of four albums, has been described thusly: “Sometimes the songs feel like pagan rituals in a sugarcoated fairyland. Other times they’re like sad thoughts on the happiest days. All played and lovingly assembled by real people with real hands. BMSR lives and makes music in their own lollipop neon folktale world.” Notoriously camera-shy, Black Moth’s members prefer to hide behind aliases — there is vocalist Tobacco, who does most of the writing and production; Power Pill Fist on bass […]
THIS JUST IN: Monsters Of Folk To Stomp On (Albeit Gently And Responsibly) The Academy Of Music
An Evening With Mike Mogis, Conor Oberst, M. Ward, and Yim Yames ACADEMY OF MUSIC MON., NOV. 9, 8 PM On sale Friday, July 31 at 10 am! FREE DOWNLOAD: “Say Please” [Mp3] JAY-Z TIX GIVEWAY UPDATE: We have a winner! Skye Ruozzi responded first (at the ungodly hour of 5:20 AM) with the correct answer to our trivia question (“Blue Magic”). Skye and her best PLUS ONE will be going to Day One of the All Points West courtesy of Phawker.com. Stay tuned we will be giving away a pair of tix for Day Two and Day Three of […]
CONTEST: Win Two Tix To See Jay-Z At All Points West
HOVA: Jay-Z at the TLA, November 12th 2007. [Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA] Late last night, All Points West Festival organizers announced that Jay-Z will be replacing the Beastie Boys, who were forced to cancel their Day One headlining slot in the wake of Adam Yauch’s throat cancer diagnosis. As promised, we will be running contests to give away a pair of tix for each day of APW. The first Phawker reader that tell us what song the line “Blame Reagan for making me to into a monster, blame Oliver North and Iran-Contra, I ran contraband that they sponsored, before this […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Writer and director Judd Apatow first became known for the cult TV series Freaks and Geeks, which gained a cult following when it aired on NBC from 1999 to 2000. Since then, the former stand-up comic has turned his attention to the big screen, directing Knocked Up and The 40-Year Old Virgin. Apatow’s latest film, Funny People, stars his former roommate Adam Sandler as a stand-up comedian with an incurable blood disorder. With one foot in the grave, Sandler’s character decides to mentor and befriend an amateur comic and deli employee played by Seth Rogen — a relationship […]
HALLELUJAH: Leonard Cohen Returns
Leonard Cohen, Academy of Music, May 12th [Photo by MICHAEL T. REGAN] To the delight of his legions of fans, Leonard Cohen will once again return to the U.S. this fall for the final leg of his critically acclaimed 2009 World Tour. Since taking the stage earlier this year at New York’s Beacon Theatre — his first stateside performance in more than fifteen years — Mr. Cohen has enchanted audiences, earning rave reviews and sold-out concerts across the globe. While the acclaimed singer/songwriter/poet is currently dazzling crowds across Europe, his fall return to the U.S. will mark the final engagements […]
COMING ATTRACTION: This Could Be You
All this week we will be giving away pairs of tickets for all three days of All Points West. Sadly, the Beastie Boys have canceled their Day One headlining slot in the wake of Adam Yauch’s cancer diagnosis. A suitable replacement is expected to be announced soon. In the meantime, godspeed to Mr. Yauch.
BREAKING: Beastie Boy Adam Yauch Has Cancer
NEW YORK TIMES: Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys announced Monday, by way of a homemade video placed without fanfare on the band’s Web site, that he would be receiving treatment for cancer and that as a result the group would cancel some future shows and push back the release of a new album. He did not give specifics of the veteran hip-hop group’s plans in the 3 minute 23 second video. Its next scheduled appearance is at the All Points West Festival in Jersey City on July 31. MORE EDITOR’S NOTE: The following ran last summer on Phawker… ILL […]
RECONSIDER THIS: Please Kill Me
BY SYDNEY SCOTT So, there I am. It’s 2004, sophomore year of high school, and I’m wearing my black and pink Hot Topic t-shirt, studded belt, and ripped jeans. My favorite bands were Avenged Sevenfold and Good Charlotte and I was trying my best to appear all angst ridden and mad at the world. I pretended to like the Sex Pistols even though I couldn’t really get into them and feigned disinterest in school when in reality I enjoyed it. This is what punk is in the suburbs these days. Imagine how my whole world changed when I picked up […]
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Too White Crue
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR ROLLING STONE As the health care debate rages in Washington, Motley Crue weighed in with a loud-and-lewd vision of health care reform in Camden, New Jersey Sunday night when they kicked off the opening night of Crue Fest 2 with a start-to-finish run thru Dr. Feelgood to mark the six-million-selling album’s 20th anniversary. The stage design was no doubt intended to mirror the album’s underlining theme of waking up from a nightmarish sickness (remember, Dr. Feelgood was the notoriously hard-partying Crue’s post-rehab album), it also served as a not so subtle reminder that we are all […]
THE EARLY WORD: Dots & Loops
[Click image to activate Internets] PINK SKULL: If You Like Can, Then I Guess You Know Music
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR The New Republic senior editor Jonathan Cohn discusses power players of health care reform, including the insurance lobby, the pharmaceutical lobby, the American Medical Association and Congress. Cohn is the author of Sick: The Untold Story of America’s Health Care Crisis — and the People Who Pay the Price, in which he makes a case for universal health care coverage through a government-regulated, single-payer system. He writes about health care for The New Republic’s blog The Treatment. RADIO TIMES Hour One A behind the scenes look at how the case against Former State Senator Vince Fumo was built […]
Dad Says Michael Jackson Was Not Beaten As A Child, He Was Whipped; Mom Says He Was Not Gay
JOE JACKSON: “I never beat him,” Joe is quoted as saying. “I whipped him with a stick and a belt. I never beat him. You beat someone with a stick.” MORE JOE JACKSON: “I thought [Michael] was a great father.” MORE JOE JACKSON:“The kids want to be with [Katherine and I] over here,” Jackson told Connelly about Prince Michael, Paris and Prince Michael II (Blanket). “Yes, there’s no else who can do what we can do for them.” MORE JOE JACKSON: “I don’t know — I keep watching Paris,” he said, referring to Jackson’s middle child, who spoke memorably at […]