*** REAL ESTATE: South St. Not Just For Drunken Fat Tuesday Titty Shows Anymore [Photo by NDBUTTER] ASSOCIATED PRESS: A touristy shopping strip is battling the economic crunch by turning over vacant storefronts to artists, hoping the creative community will again breathe new life into a neighborhood it brought back from the brink in the 1970s. The plan is to establish a “creative incubator” on the South Street corridor by giving artists nearly free rehearsal or work space (they pay utilities but no rent) in a high-traffic area they couldn’t otherwise afford — giving their endeavors a wider audience while […]
HEAR YE: U2 No Line On The Horizon
Select tracks now playing on PHAWKER RADIO! NEW YORK TIMES: “People don’t know what’s going to happen next,” Bono said. “Our fans are not sure. Could we embarrass them? Maybe. Could we inspire them? Maybe. They don’t know. That’s very important, because when you become a comfortable, reliable friend, I’m not sure that’s the place for rock ’n’ roll.” Bono added: “It’s very hard to be relevant, so there’s a lot of stake for us on this album. I know the quality of the work is there, but will it be taken? I really don’t know. I’m genuinely curious. I […]
FORECAST: Fantastic Blog-Reading Weather!
[First Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914. SOURCE: The Mitchell Library] ACCUWEATHER: During the day Monday, the heaviest snow will spread throughout New England. At the same time, storm will wind down over the mid-Atlantic. Disruptive snowfall will reach 3-6 inches along a narrow band through the Carolinas to Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and southeastern Pennsylvania. Travel will be difficult Sunday night into the Monday morning rush. Northeastward from New Jersey, including greater Philadelphia and New York City, snowfall will reach at least 6 inches in a swath that will broaden over most of New England. MORE KYW: What’s Closed, Canceled Or Delayed […]
Everytime U Download Illegal Music A President Dies
MSNBC: A company that monitors peer-to-peer file-sharing networks has discovered a potentially serious security breach involving President Barack Obama’s helicopter, NBC affiliate WPXI in Pittsburgh reported Saturday. Employees of Tiversa, a Cranberry Township, Pa.-based security company that specializes in peer-to-peer technology, reportedly found engineering and communications information about Marine One at an IP address in Tehran, Iran. Bob Boback, CEO of Tiversa, told WPXI-TV: “We found a file containing entire blueprints and avionics package for Marine One, which is the president’s helicopter.” The company was able to trace the file back to its original source. “What appears to be a […]
Top Five Things You Should Know About Thievery Corporation At The Electric Factory Last Night
1. As much as Thievery Corporation come across as a DJ duo on CD, they don’t really live it out live. In addition to incorporating organic instruments and lead singers that take the stage as performers, they tend to just play songs straight. They didn’t leave any room for improvisation or even a short showcase resembling a DJ set. Kind of earns them the label “studio DJs.” 2. When a live band gets mixed with DJs and they’re playing groove-centric songs to the T, things are rarely unexpected, or exciting. Save a couple percussion solos, someone with sitar skills, hearing […]
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Good News Flower Hour
The Good News Flower Hour #11 The week that was in just five minutes, told by a stoned daisy with the obligatory voice of God. [cough, cough] Would’ve had this up sooner, but these suckers take five people 20 hours to make. Oy, is my Google tired!
MODERN DRUMMER: Q&A w/ Wilco’s Glenn Kotche
[Photo by MICHAEL WILSON] BY DAVE ALLEN Like many of rock’s greatest drummers, Glenn Kotche does more than keep a beat. His playing with Wilco is earthy and grounded, but still with an experimental aura about it (see “I am Trying to Break Your Heart” from YHF for a prime example). In his other ventures as a soloist and member of the wild-and-woolly groups On Fillmore and Loose Fur, he shows a different side, frequently making listeners question what four limbs are capable of doing. One of his newest partnerships, with the New York-based composers collective Bang on a Can, […]
STEVIE WONDER: Drum Solo That Must Be Seen
[Video posted by naufalwaffle: Stevie Wonder Drum Solo] REUTERS: President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle honored Stevie Wonder with an award and a White House concert on Wednesday, crediting the Motown legend’s music for helping to bring them together. The multi-Grammy winning soul singer was presented the Library of Congress’ second annual Gershwin Prize for Popular Song at the White House event in recognition of his music’s effect on culture and its ability to unite people. “We honor a man whose music and lyrics I fell in love with when I was a little girl,” Michelle Obama said. “The […]
RAWK TALK: Q&A w/ The Badmaster Records Dudes
BY TIFFANY YOON West Philly-based Badmaster Records‘ roster spans a spectrum of genres, from Tickley Feather’s bedroom drones to the danceable disco beats of Le Tigre-like Pony Pants to the experimental noise of Drums Like Machine Guns. The common link amongst all the Badmaster bands is their capacity to try something different and new, maintaining the DIY and anti-Establishment ethics of punk, but not necessarily sounding like punk music. Amongst the slew of independent Philadelphia record labels like High Two and Park the Van, Badmaster has survived the Bush Administration and is still staying afloat in Apocalypse Now of America […]
HEAR YE: Condo F*cks F*ckbook
AKA The new Yo La Tengo album. Now playing on Phawker Radio!
TONITE: Burn The Witch
BY DAVID STAMPONE Witch? Yeah, that’s the heavy (“doom-“/”stoner-“) rock group from Western Mass., the one with a key member arguably more famous for his association with a legendary band from back in the late 80s/early 90s. That would be Witch drummer J. Mascis: he of few words and much shred, forever to be recognized as a hazily crooning indie-rock guitar god from the mid ’80s on, primarily as leader of Dinosaur Jr. (who reformed a few years ago and are due for a second post-reunion album this summer; just signed to Indiana label Jagjaguwar, FYI). In Witch, Mascis stows […]
THE INQUISITION: Doctors Examining British Gitmo Detainee Cite Signs Of Multiple Severe Beatings
THE GUARDIAN: Former British resident Binyam Mohamed arrives back in Britain tomorrow after his release from Guantanamo Bay. British and US lawyers claim that sustained beatings — which have only recently stopped — have left him with severe psychological and physical problems. Binyam Mohamed will return to Britain suffering from a huge range of injuries after being beaten by US guards right up to the point of his departure from Guantánamo Bay, according to the first detailed accounts of his treatment inside the camp. During medical examinations last week, doctors discovered injuries and ailments resulting from apparently brutal treatment in […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
HAIL, HAIL ROCK N’ ROLL: M. Ward, Trocadero, Friday [Photo: TIFFANY YOON] BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER The first time M. Ward performed at the Trocadero, back in 2004, he was low man on the totem pole of an inspired three-headed bill that included Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James. Three acclaimed solo albums of languid torch-folk later, an opening slot at the Tower with Norah Jones, not to mention a turn through town with She & Him (Ward’s endearing duet act with Zooey Deschanel), he’s selling out the Troc all by his lonesome. Such […]