INQUIRER: “This will be the final year of the Spectrum,” Comcast-Spectacor chairman Ed Snider announced this morning. “This has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” he said. “The Spectrum is my baby. It’s one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me, but after a lot of thinking and discussions, we all feel it is in our best interest to close the Spectrum at the conclusion of the upcoming 2008-09 Philadelphia Phantoms and Kixx seasons.” That means the last game could come next spring. In its place Comcast-Spectactor is expected to build a […]
HEAR YE: Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago
Now playing on Phawker Radio! Because the dude abides. PREVIOUSLY: Creature Fears
N.E.R.D.: Everyone Nose
Talk about cocainesexjams. Damn. [Hat tip to EVA LIAO]
All This Happened While You Were Sleeping
MCs Dozia & Red Richards + DJs Jafar Barron & mikefivedeuce, Patou, Last Night [Photos by ROZA FRYKOWSKA]
HEAR YE: Al Green Lay It Down
BY ED KING Almost forget about your anniversary and need to get your woman something fast? You won’t go wrong with this album. You know what they say about all the great singers: “So-and-so could sing the phone book and make it sound good!” On Lay It Down, Al Green’s continued return to secular recording, the reverend has ?uestlove and James Poyser behind the board and in the band — and it’s not exactly the phone book that he sings with such mastery but Hallmark-worthy inspirational platitudes. Be that as it may, the considerable strengths of this collection, which also […]
EARLY WORD: The Past Isn’t Dead, It Isn’t Even Past
When the smoke cleared after the hardcore punk wars of the ’80s — fought fiercely in the all-ages basements of West Philly and the early ’90s Jäger-fueled grunge matches at the Khyber — for a brief and shining moment Caterpillar had its turn in the sun. Consisting of three natty indie types and a gray-haired dude, the band rocked quite righteously — not quite punk, not quite grunge, but born of both — in a way that can only be described as Delawarean. Standing in the center of a local rock moment is a fleeting thing, of course, and in […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
THE SUMMER OF SHOVE: No Age, First Unitarian, Last Night PHOTO & TEXT BY TIFFANY YOON A young, near-capacity crowd squeezed into the church basement like it was a pair of skinny jeans that no longer fit comfortably, it was sweatbox-hot, and nearly everyone was drunk and hormonal. In other words, I haven’t had this much fun at a show in a long time. Sadly, I missed Abe Vigoda open the show, but I did catch some of High Places set, but found it somewhat disappointing. They just weren’t very exciting to watch. Danceable music, definitely, but I just wanted […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR Zooey Deschanel has always been an anachronistic sort of gal. At age 8, when she wrote her first song, she was “really into the early 1900s.” “I think it was called ‘I’m Having Fun at the Fair,’” she tells NPR’s Alex Cohen, her big blue eyes peering out beneath bangs that have inspired fashion columns. “Did it have words?” asks the other half of She & Him. M. (short for Matt) Ward is sitting next to her at the Vista theater in Hollywood, where they’ll perform that night. “Yeah, it was very ‘Meet Me in St. Louis,’” she […]
WACKO JACKO: We Are Family
DAILY MAIL: Pictured on a visit to a toy and book shop near his current home in Las Vegas, the singer was slumped in a wheelchair wearing pyjamas, a dreadlocked wig, a surgeon’s mask, a baseball cap and sunglasses. Such theatre was presumably designed to prevent shoppers from discovering his true identity. The irony is of course that Jackson is now better known for wearing such ludicrous disguises than not. Indeed he would have stood a much better chance of not being noticed had he strode into the shop without any disguise — and had not pulled up in four […]
ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS: Killing The Blues
Officially OUR FAVORITE SONG OF 2007. Written by Rowland Salley, this version from Raising Sand just fucking slays us every time. And speaking as former teenage Zepheads, it does our heart good to hear Robert Plant doing something we can both be proud of at our advanced age. Seriously, this is as timelessly classic as anything Led Zepellin ever did. And Alison Krauss is a force of nature. Mark Ribot’s guitar sounds like underwater moonlight piercing the spectral murk of T-Bone Burnett’s elegantly antiqued production. Like butter, it is. Because there was no official video for this song, we went […]
WORTH REPEATING: Songs Of The Summer Wind
BY DAN DELUCA OF THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Everybody’s got a personal playlist of summer songs. It might have Frank Sinatra’s “Summer Wind,” or Sly and the Family Stone’s “Hot Fun in the Summertime.” The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Summer in the City,” or maybe Regina Spektor’s song of the same name. Seals and Croft’s “Summer Breeze” might make you feel fine, though I’m betting the Isley Brothers’ version would make you feel finer. The 21 picks assembled here — on a playlist that can be burned onto one CD — are contenders for the songs of summer ’08, tunes that may worm […]
NPR 4 THE DOPE: This Is Your Public Radio On Drugs
RADIO TIMES Hour 1 A conversation about politics and the Olympics with speed skating gold medallist JOEY CHEEK, co-founder of Team Darfur, a coalition of athletes trying to raise awareness about the Darfur crisis. Also, 45-year-old Olympic swimming hopeful W. HODDING CARTER talks about chasing his dream and his new book, Off the Deep End. Listen to this show via Real Audio | mp3 Hour 2 Alex Gibney’s new film Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson opened this weekend. He was the winner of the 2008 Academy Award for best documentary for Taxi to the Dark […]
All This Happened While You Were Sleeping
HOLIDAY IN CAMBODIA: Dengue Fever, Johnny Brendas, Last Night TEXT & PHOTOS BY TIFFANY YOON The sold out show was sardine-packed with super fans that kept the energy and spirits high at Johnny Brenda’s, despite the sauna-like conditions. (During Chicha Libre’s set, a woman fainted from the heat and had to be taken away by an ambulance, but is said to be in good condition.) The off-the-boat Cambodian superfans in the crowd bought the band Hennessy shots throughout the night. Cambodian pride spread through the room. One of these fans, sporting braces, repeatedly screamed out “sixteen! sixteen!” Begging for a […]