THE WOLF SURVIVES: Los Lobos/Taj Mahal, The Keswick, Thur. Night [FLICKR] BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER Taj Mahal doesn’t work too hard these days. Perched beneath a big ol’ floppy straw hat and a generously-sized Hawaiian shirt, he sits down when he plays guitar and lets a chorus pedal do all the heavy lifting. These days his voice sounds like he swallowed an alligator and washed it down with gasoline. Which was just fine with the capacity crowd of middle-aged Boomers who have turned to his music as soulful comfort food ever since his incendiary performance on the Rolling […]
LIVE AID: These Are The CAPITOL YEARS Of Our Lives
BY AMY Z. QUINN You could call the Capitol Years’ show tomorrow at Johnny Brenda’s a comeback, as they haven’t played in town since November. You could call it the kickoff to the Philly contingent’s triumphant march toward Austin and next week’s South By Southwest Music Conference. “Or you could call it our fund raiser to pay for the trip to SXSW and back,” frontman Shai “Son of Eli” Halperin told me. The band’s most recent album, Dance Away the Terror [NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO] is only a few months old, its first single “Mirage People” — inspired by […]
NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO
BY JONATHAN VALANIA God, it was almost 17 years ago that I first met her. It was at an art opening at Tyler — the exact who and the why of the occasion are both long lost but I distinctly remember hearing her laugh before I even saw her: It sounded like something that had long ago gone out of style. She laughed like a woman from an earlier time, dare I say it, her laugh sounded positively antebellum. Frankly Scarlett, I was giving a damn. And then the crowd parted and there she was: radiant, coquettish, from Texas. I […]
POP IN TAPE: Hot Wax In The 215
I OWN GROUND HOG DAY BY MICHAEL FICHMAN I have a sort of musical synesthesia — all the great albums I have enjoyed in the past are locked into my memory as the soundtrack to a particular time and place in my life. These associations transcend rhetorical constructions: Midnight Marauders is endless hours in the back of the family car on an epic roadtrip. Devin the Dude’s Just Tryin’ ta Live is the summer I drove a construction truck up and down the hills of Pittsburgh. Neil Armstrong’s epic Originals mixtapes are 2003’s kabob and box wine barbeques. And goddamn […]
THE RONETTES: Be My Baby
Phil Spector has criticises The Ronettes’ induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame which will take place on March 12. Ronettes singer and ex-wife of the producer, Ronnie Spector, has said that Phil has attempted to play down the band’s contribution to music. Ronnie Spector said the producer sent a letter, obtained by her lawyers two years ago, addressed to the Rock Hall‘s nominating committee, dated July 11, 1994 detailing why The Ronettes are unworthy of induction. It says: “My first objection to The Ronettes is that they did not record! Of all the recordings they made, only the […]
EARLY WORD: We Gotta Get Outta This Place!
ERIC BURDON & THE ANIMALS Special Guest TOMMY CONWELL & THE LITTLE KINGS Friday, March 23 Showtime 8 p.m./ Tickets $43 & $33 Visit ERIC BURDON & THE ANIMALS at www.ericburdon.com
We Know It’s Only Disco, But Babies Like It, Like It
DON’T EAT THE RED BALLOONS: Baby Loves Disco, Shampoo, Yesterday CITIZEN MOM REPORTS: Ever seen that Reese Witherspoon movie Sweet Home Alabama, where she goes back to her redneck hometown and runs into an old pal in a saloon? “Look at you, you’ve got a baby . . . in a bar!” I had a moment like that yesterday at Baby Loves Disco, the monthly dj dance party that gives over Shampoo to the area’s funkinest munchkins and their adult handlers. Over on the dance floor, you had DJ KTell and Chatty Cathy getting the Pampers workin’ right along with […]
TOM WAITS For No Man
An animated film starring Tom Waits. Performed for us live (at the La Brea stage in Hollywood, 1978), and rotoscoped — a process that traces back the live action frame by frame and turns it into animation. The original live action was shot with 5 cameras — 2 high, 2 low and one hand held. The music from “The One That Got Away” blared in the background as Tom sang karaoke style different lyrics on each take. Two strippers, 6 takes and 13 hours of video footage were edited to make a 5 1/2 minute live action short which we […]