Rock Town Hall was founded to carry on and expand late-night turntable debates on self-important issues in rock. In 2002, we convened as a private discussion list among a baker’s dozen of opinionated, music-loving friends. In time we grew to a virtual Who the Hell Does He Think He Is? among rock musicians, journalists, DJs, record collectors, and assorted rock nerds. Although we continue to possess little power to influence the state of rock ?n roll, we delight in the battle and seek the cultivation of occasionally novel perspectives on the genre. Now we’re throwing the doors of Rock Town […]
THE PAVEMENT: Angels Wanna Wear My Pink Shoes
PHOTO AND TEXT BY EVA LIAO WHEN: Saturday Night WHERE: 18th and Spruce (outside of Great Scot Supermarket) WHY: If David Bowie and Tom Waits had sex — but in a shoe. Thank you God for giving this boy the eyes to spot these cool-as-shit kicks on the rack, the means to buy them and the balls to rock them.
MILESTONE: Academy of Music Turns 150, Considering Chin Tuck And Getting Eyes ‘Done’
The academy had a grand ball on January 26th, 1857, and after America’s first opera house premiered Verdi’s ?Il Trovatore? that same year, it has been in continuous use ever since.The “open horseshoe” shape design has offered more visibility than most opera houses to the audience seated on both sides of the balconies, surrounding a 5,000 pound crystal chandelier, which was loaded with gas burners, until it was electrified in 1900. Legendary singers have performed there from Maria Callas to Enrico Caruso. The world renowned Philadelphia Orchestra spent more than 100 seasons in the academy, until it moved down the […]
ALL THE LEAVES ARE BROWN: Denny Doherty, Last Papa Of The MAMAS AND PAPAS, Dead At 66
They were the first pop group, after The Beatles and the so-called British invasion, to include women (and a Canadian) as equal partners and to showcase tuneful and harmoniously sophisticated songs. As a group, they produced five albums and sold an estimated 20 million records. Behind the scenes, though, the group was wasting its talent and its energy because they were all — especially Mr. Doherty — in thrall to sex, drugs and alcohol. One of five children of a hard-drinking Halifax pipe fitter, Mr. Doherty began his singing career there with a local rock band, The Hepsters, while working […]
PHAWKER RADIO: The Transfiguration Of Vincent
BY JONATHAN VALANIA First, a word about his sponsor: While I can’t ever foresee the need to hear a new Superchunk album in this lifetime, the label those folks have set up, Merge, so consistently releases product of uncommon purity and indispensability that it should make the likes of Matador, Touch and Go, Sub Pop and Drag City glow with the red-blush shame of the recently spanked. I tip my hat to them. Folk music gets a bad rap, having long ago been relegated to the leafy retreats of crunchy granola ninnies in white socks and Birkenstocks, where its rough-hewn […]
ROCKSNOB: Beware Of Aging Rock Critics With Candy
BY ED KING There’s no need to lecture me on the deceptively breezy charms of the music of this month’s wondergirl, sassy British upstart Lily Allen. As any gimmick-hungry yob who’s ever hoped to dig gold from rock ‘n roll will tell you, writing and selling a catchy little pop song is a bitch. I’d been hearing so much about this Lily Allen, seemingly out of the blue, for the last month that I feared I’d fallen a few more steps out of touch with Today’s Happening People. It wasn’t as bad as I’d feared: last week I learned from […]
ROCKIST FROM THE CRYPT: JOHN REIS On Da Iggles, R.O.C.K. In The 215 And Killing HOT SNAKES Dead
BY DAVID R. STAMPONE WEST COAST CORRESPONDENT Many folks here in the 215 have closely followed the career of one John Reis, even if said guy is as essentially San Diegan as voted-in-Tuesday Baseball Hall of Famer Tony “Mr. Padre” Gwynn. His groups have always been well-received in the Delaware Valley (as is his weekly free-form radio show “The Swami Sound System,” heard online at www.fm949sd.com starting 1 am every Sunday). And, actually, two of his biggest bands each had a Philadelphia story. NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO! Hot Snakes began as an SD/Philly two-dudes-in-two-cities project, with Reis rocking guitar/bass […]
TO ROCOCO ROT: Telema
ON PHAWKER RADIO: Staubgold, amazing German electronica comp.