SMASH YR. HEAD ON THE INDIE-ROCK: Sebadoh Reunion, North Star, Last Night BY SIMONE SECCI FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT I’m not going to hide my excitement about seeing live one of my favorite band since I was 14, that implicates I guess that I can’t be totally neutral in judging their show and also that my expectations about it were pretty big. First band I found in front of me when I got to the North Star bar is Bent Moustache from Holland. They are, I have to say, a very powerful and unstoppable noisemaking machine, growling and sharp bass and guitar […]
COMING SOON: DEVOlution For Dummies
An in-depth Phawker Q&A with Mark Mothersbaugh, founder of DEVO, scorer of just about every movie you have ever seen, and acclaimed visual artist. Look for it Friday!
All Of This Happened While You Were Sleeping
THIN WHITE DUKE OF THE STRATOSPHERE: Sonic Boom, JB’s, Last Night [FLICKR]
TONY CONRAD: Ten Years Alive On An Infinite Plain
WIKIPEDIA: Tony Conrad (born Anthony S. Conrad in 1940 in Concord, New Hampshire) is an American avant-garde video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician/composer, sound artist, teacher and writer. His father was Arthur Conrad, who worked with Everett Warner during World War II in designing dazzle camouflage for the US Navy. Conrad’s most famous film, The Flicker (1966), is considered a key early work of the structural film movement. The film consists of only completely black and completely white images, which, as the title suggests, produces a flicker when projected. When the film was first screened several viewers in the audience became […]
MAILBAG: ‘Not if they were giving out free cocaine and BJs’
The following was forwarded to us by a reader, along with the quote above: Dear [Redacted], I received your complaint this morning about our decision to convert the TLA into The Fillmore Philadelphia. Being a huge live music fan myself I can understand your attachment to the TLA name. All I can ask is that you give us a chance. This is not just a name change. We are putting hardwood floors in the club, changing the decor to reflect rock and roll history — and Philadelphia rock history specifically. We are bringing chandeliers into the venue. After select shows […]
HEAR YE: Amy Winehouse/BACK TO BLACK
“What kind of fuckery is this/You made me miss the Slick Rick gig” — Amy Winehouse, “Me & Mr. Jones” [NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO]
LIVE REVIEW: Toots & The Maytals, Sweet & Dandy
BY S. FITZGERALD LODWICK In 1962, Toots Hibbert moved to Kingston, Jamaica and formed the original incarnation of The Maytals. Last night — some 45 years later– the TLA was graced with appearance by the godfather of reggae and the show he put on would shame men half his age. This diminutive, aging Rastafarian played one of the most dynamic two and a half hour sets I’ve ever had the pleasure to witness, and whaled with a voice that sounded like it could easily last another hundred years. As those of royalty often do, Toots showed us, with mellow aplomb, […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
SNAKE EYES: Slo-Mo‘s Mic Wrecka, Johnny Brenda’s, March 29 [FLICKR] CITIZEN MOM REPORTS: A funny thing happens when Yr Mom and Boss Phawker go out to review a show together. There’s a foot-plus height differential at work, making it possible for us to stand three feet apart in front of the same stage and see two very different shows. For example, Thursday night at JB’s, the Boss’s elevation gave him a view of Mic Wrecka’s uh, mic wreckin’ and Sue Rosetti’s abdomen, while I got an eyeful of Mike Brenner, specifically, his feet. It’s actually a pretty groovy vantage point, […]
BADMOTORFINGER: The Stooges’ Ron Asheton
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] BY JONATHAN VALANIA Ron Asheton, the original guitarist for the Stooges, is widely regarded as one of the Top 20 guitarists of all time by the people that make such subjective decisions. Recently, Phawker called up Ron and talked about both the ancient and modern history of the Stooges, the needle and the damage done, the stylish evil of Nazi uniforms, how to evade the Vietnam draft, who gave Iggy the peanut butter and what it feels like to be choked by Bam Margera‘s Uncle Vito. The Stooges have reunited — with Mike Watt filling […]
LIVE REVIEW: ‘You Got Out Alive From The Eighties’
Afterhours, Khyber Pass, Philadelphia, March 28th, 2007* BY SIMONE SECCI FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT First thing to say, the Afterhours that I know and I saw playing live in Italy a couple of times, look very different from the band I saw tonight at the Khyber. For obvious reasons, because the crowd and the hype around them here are of very different proportions and also because their sound and live show was really different. Maybe cause of the influence of Twilight Singers leader’s Greg Dulli, maybe because of a new direction of the band, but tonight they rocked. Hard and loud and […]