SARA SHERR REPORTS: We got the news on that fateful Friday, but that was only the half of it. Most of us went home thinking we were going to be working for mall record store behemoth Trans World Entertainment, and inexplicably, one of the last music retailers standing. Would we still have a good selection? Would we have to wear those dreadful polos? About an hour or two later, the Internet would reveal that Trans World would lose the auction by $500,000 to liquidator Great American, and we’d be out of work sometime in December. Ironically, the latest news is […]

THE WORKING GIRLS ARE FINE: The Pernice Brothers, Johnny Brenda’s, December 7th EVA SAYS: Once again I am the youngest person in the crowd, but like with the Bob Pollard or Randy Newman concerts, I take it as a sign of good things come to those who grow old. And Johnny Brenda’s has already won me over as a patron, so all odds are working in favor of the Pernice Brothers. In fact, it seems almost automatic- when Joe Pernice opens the set with his wonderful whine, I sway and shuffle in sync with each song like every one is […]

PEACE BE UPON YOU: Lupe Fiasco, Trocadero, December 7th, 2006 [FLICKR] EVA SAYS: The boss saw great talent and predicted that with this great talent will come great success, but I was skeptical of all the hype surrounding Lupe Fiasco. The New Kanye, he said. It only goes to show why he is master and I am young grasshoppa. (Laying it on a little thick, don’t you think?–Ed.) As per the Power 99 DJs hosting the show, Lupe Fiasco was just nominated for three Grammys, including Best Rap album for Food & Liquor. He had the crowd from the get-go […]

NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO: Windows by The Lucky Dragons To be honest, we don’t know shit about these guys. Walk into AKA Music the other day and these sounds — sounds we had never heard before — are quietly fragmenting and recombining into new fractals in the background. It seems to be annoying most people in the store but we like it. A lot. What is this? we ask the clerk sitting at the register, poring over his Nancy comic. Without looking up, he just grunts something that later we figured out to be: “It’s Windows, the new album […]

THE WOOK REPORTS: In the annals of hip-hop conspiracy theories, I guarantee this brush with def will force The Coup and Fishtown’s Mr. Lif to check themselves twice before they wiggity-wreck themselves for reals. I also theorize that this was due to interference from The Man, i.e. the same dark forces that found Robert Van Winkle, killed Tupac, and made Flavor Flav a reality television star. From CMJ: About an hour after their departure from San Diego, the tour bus carrying Mr. Lif, the Coup, DJ Big Wiz, Metro and friends tumbled across the highway and burst into flames. According […]

ARSNOVA PRESENTS: THE GOLBERG VARIATIONS Ben Goldberg, clarinet* Rob Sudduth, tenor saxophone Carla Kihlstedt, violin Trevor Dunn, bass Ches Smith, drums Wednesday, December 6 | 8pm Community Education Center 3500 Lancaster Avenue $12 General Admission *Clarinetist Ben Goldberg was a pupil of Steve Lacy‘s, and has performed with Andrew Hill, John Zorn and Roswell Rudd. He is featured on Wilco guitarist Nels Cline‘s latest recording, “New Monastary, A View into the Music of Andrew Hill.”

Jersey band 25G richer Congrats to South Jersey punks Fell Far Behind, who won $25,000 from GarageBand.com in a contest sponsored by Cingular and Capitol Records. Unsigned bands from across the country competed in an online poll. Fell Far Behind opted to take the cash and turned down a chance at a possible recording contract with Capitol. DAN GROSS: RUN, BOY, RUN! GARAGEBAND.COM: Yada, Yada MYSPACE: Fell Far Behind