HAIL, HAIL ROCK N’ ROLL: The Hold Steady at The Fillmore, last night. 1. Eddie Argos reminds me of a guy I once dated, whose nickname was Eddie the Fish Man. (He ran a fish store in the long-gone Manayunk Farmer’s Market. Of course.) And speaking of fish, there was definitely something “off” about the fish taco I ate before the show, which explains why this review wasn’t written directly after. Retch! 2. Argos’ hyper-articulate English frat boy thing usually gets all the attention — and not without reason, ’cause dude’s a party mammal, whether he’s onstage baring his beer […]

Tune in late-night tonight for INSTA-REVIEW: Five Things You Should Know About Art Brut vs. The Hold Steady @ The Fillmore/TLA, plus pics.

HEAR YE: NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO! Fiesta: aka Herb Albert & His Tijuana Grass Play Cheez Whiz and Other Delights Blue Balloon: Take the Cyrkle’s “Red Rubber Ball” fill with nitrous oxide, huff liberally. Friends: Sounds like the theme song for some really grating ’80s sitcom where the entire cast wears too much mousse in their hair and many wind up with felony records after cancellation.* Object: Possibly their prettiest song and cruelest lyric. Learnin’ To Love: Corn pone singalong wherein, for reasons of which I remain blissfully unaware, the Solid Gold dancers show up in the middle eight […]

THE ONE: Ne-Yo all up in the matrix, Powerhouse 2007, Wachovia Center. BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER ‘Nothing succeeds like success’ may well be a cliche but that doesn’t make it any less true, especially in the hip-hop world where sales is artistry. And that’s pretty much how things went down Friday night at the Wachovia Center when radio station Power 99 hosted Powerhouse 2007, a nearly six-hour revue-style parade of major hip-hop artists — some on their way up, others on their way back down. Kanye West, currently the king of the hip-hop hill, headlined with great artistic […]

Roc-A-Fella Records’ CEO and Def Jam President Jay-Z will leave the office in November to embark on the “American Gangster Live” tour, a five-date outing in support of his upcoming album, American Gangster. Jay-Z will treat fans to exclusive shows in mid-sized, intimate venues in Los Angeles, Chicago, Baltimore, New York and Philadelphia, where he will perform songs from his American Gangster album, which is the rapper’s interpretation of the upcoming American Gangster movie. The rapper will kick off the tour at the House of Blues in Los Angeles on November 6, the same day the American Gangster album lands […]

1. They start off mellow, measured and, frankly, boring-as-hell. Half the crowd is asleep by the third song. Please oh please, Britt! Break out some of them catchy tunes. You know, like that “Camera” song. Yeah, that one! Okay, that’s more like it. Hips are moving. People are grooving. Now the pace is set for the rest of the night. 2. “The Ghost of You Lingers” is meant to be heard live. The bassist and guitarists are banging, banging, banging on the keyboards. Britt’s tremulous voice lingers and echoes as if he were singing into a vast subterranean cavern. It’s […]

SUB PRIME LENDER: 50 Cent showed up unannounced at Powerhouse 2007 last night at the Wachovia Center, grabbed his dick and left. Plus, some other stuff happened. [Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA]

Spoon plays the Electric Factory Friday, with The Ponys and DJ Dave P.

Hello – Last week there was an unfortunate incident outside of The Starlight Ballroom during a private birthday party (not an R5 event). After a group of people left the venue once it was closed — two individuals began to fight over a woman. The argument escalated and security directed the two men to leave the block. Once they were across the street and down the block (away from security and a stationed police officer) — an individual produced a handgun and shot at the man who he was arguing with. Sgt Wilkins from the Philadelphia Police department has made […]