We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It

Twilight’s Last Gleaming: Broken Social Scene, Electric Factory, November 9th, 2006 [Flickr] EVA SAYS: Canadians are nice people. Nice people with good bacon, good whiskey, and yes, even better bands. Which is how I’d describe a Broken Social Scene show: nice n’ good, but no more and no less. Like Canada, their songs are pleasant and familiar enough, but live, they lack anything particularly unique. Sure, Kevin Drew was nice, endlessly thanking Philadelphia as if he truly believed we were largely responsible for the band’s success. He then graciously thanked the sound guy, all nine of the other band members, […]

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NOW PLAYING: The NEW IMPROVED Phawker Radio Winter Folk Companion, Scarf Still Not Included, But Now With Even MORE, um, Folkiness! Yum-Yum!

Finally got our folk music editor off his lazy frog ass and made him do some work. His full name is Arlo Richelieu Prick, he’s French of course, but we don’t hold it against him. Besides he knows wine and how not to look like a complete ass in a beret. Says things like: If it’s not folk it’s, howyousay, SHEEEEET! And we’re like yeah, you tell ’em Pepe Le Pew, but what are you gonna do about it? Eat quiche? You know, between you and the rock critic we just hired who only writes in Italian, we are really […]

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NOW IT CAN BE TOLD: Valania Column Killed By PW For Too Much ‘Old’ Valania And Not Enough ‘New’ Valania; Runs BREAKING News On Azusa Plane Instead

HEAR NO EVIL Sweetheart Of The Rodeo The best album of the ’90s has just been reissued with a live-in-Philly bonus disc. By Jonathan Valania Five years ago, this very paper PW ran the following breathless gush of superlatives from a handsome young go-getter: Lucinda Williams is the beloved revolutionary sweetheart of the alt-country rodeo. All of us literate roots-rock boys daydream about her the same way we used to daydream about Liz Phair. We know all about her because we read The New Yorker. We know about her father’s literary standing and her mother’s madness; we know about her […]

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LOCAL BOY MAKES GOOD: Music Man Hal Wilner Phones Home, DeLuca Accepts The Charges

On this Saturday afternoon, Willner, the record producer renowned for daring multi-artist albums such as his new The Harry Smith Project: Anthology of American Folk Music Revisited, is wearing his hat as music director of Saturday Night Live. On his desk at 30 Rock, there are Cecil Taylor and Jelly Roll Morton CDs, and across his T-shirt Chuck Berry is doing the duck walk as Willner goes about the nerve-wracking task of scoring a live television show that is being rewritten as the day goes on. […] His far-ranging musical sensibility makes Willner, 49, the perfect man for this job […]

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FIGHT CLUB: Beanie Strong Like Bull, Takes A VIP Lickin’ And Keeps On Motherf*ckin’ Tickin’

BEANIE SIGEL caught a beatdown from fellow rapper Mike Knox at a party at the First District Plaza (3801 Market) the weekend before last, sources say. Although the Powerhouse concert at the Wachovia Center — which had Allen Iverson and our girl Lil’ Kim among a capacity crowd – was thrown by Power 99, it was rival station 100.3 The Beat that threw an afterparty. Beanie, aka Dwight Grant, of South Philly, was in the VIP area and when Knox entered, Beanie, we’re told, began talking trash to Knox, who lives in Logan. Eventually, Beanie threw a punch, and Knox […]

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I LUV LUDI: Ludacris To Star In The New Black ‘Fame’ Set At High School For The Creative and Performing Arts

MTV’s nighttime network The N has signed a development deal with actor, rap artist and producer Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges as he takes his first step into the television production industry. The N, MTV Networks’ programming arm available in 52 million households, has tapped the star for its new drama Halls of Fame, on which he will serve as executive producer as well as starring in it and producing the original music. Driven by today’s most popular music, the drama features multi-talented students at the Philadelphia High School of Performing Arts, focusing on two sisters: 21-year-old singing phenomenon Starla and 15-year-old […]

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We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It

I WAS MEANT FOR THE STAGE: The Decemberists, Electric Factory, November 1, 2006 Colin Meloy On How Democracy Is A Great Place To Live But A Bad Way To Make An Album: “I was listening mostly to British folk revival stuff from the seventies; I was listening to a lot of Pentangle and Shirley Collins and Fairport Convention. I think that really is what drove me in this direction. But Jenny is a huge Jethro Tull and ELP fan, so I think she was really excited to go crazy all over the album. This record, more than any other, has […]

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RADIO DAZE: WXPN To Hang The DJ? Also, Hear That Crunchin’? That’s The Sound Of Car Wheels On A Gravel Road At Appel Farms

All you Volvo-clad latte-sippers in yer North Face fleeces who hung in there through the homestretch of the 885 Artists Countdown may have heard an advert for an open on-air position at the station, which made us wonder — is someone leaving? Negatory, says ‘XPN program director Bruce Warren, which comes as no small relief to us because really, we can hardly get out of bed these days without Michaela Majoun hoggin’ all the covers. Sike! No, this is one of those rarest of creatures in these belt-tightening days: A brand spankin’ new position! So take note, all you would-be […]

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