I have come here today to hand out lollipops and tickets to see Father John Misty perform solo and acoustic at Union Transfer tonight, and I’m all out of lollipops. To qualify, all you have to do is sign up for our mailing list (see right, below the masthead). Trust us, this is something you want to do. In addition to breaking news alerts and Phawker updates, you also get advanced warning about groovy concert ticket giveaways and other free swag opportunities like this one! After signing up, send us an email at FEED@PHAWKER.COM telling us a much, with […]
TEN YEARS AFTER: All Things Must Pass
Photo by AUTUMN DE WILDE EDITOR’S NOTE: Elliott Smith died 10 years ago today. In remembrance, we are re-running this piece that was originally published in the pages of MAGNET MAGAZINE back in 2004. BY JONATHAN VALANIA Something terrible happened on the night of Oct. 21, 2003, in the cozy, box-like bungalow at 1857 1/2 Lemoyne Street in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles where Elliott Smith lived with girlfriend Jennifer Chiba. In Chiba’s version of events, the couple had an argument that grew so heated she locked herself in the bathroom. At some point, she heard Smith scream […]
Win Tix To See F*ck Buttons @ Making Time
I have come here today to hand out lollipops and tickets to see Fuck Buttons @ Making Time on Saturday, and I’m all out of lollipops. To qualify, all you have to do is sign up for our mailing list (see right, below the masthead). Trust us, this is something you want to do. In addition to breaking news alerts and Phawker updates, you also get advanced warning about groovy concert ticket giveaways and other free swag opportunities like this one! After signing up, send us an email at FEED@PHAWKER.COM telling us a much, with the words BUCK FUTTONS […]
Win Tix To See Franz Ferdinand @ The Tower
I have come here today to hand out lollipops and tickets to see Franz Ferdinand Tower Theater on Saturday October 19th, and I’m all out of lollipops. To qualify, all you have to do is sign up for our mailing list (see right, below the masthead). Trust us, this is something you want to do. In addition to breaking news alerts and Phawker updates, you also get advanced warning about groovy concert ticket giveaways and other free swag opportunities like this one! After signing up, send us an email at FEED@PHAWKER.COM telling us a much, with the words TAKE […]
BEING THERE: Mark Lanegan @ Underground Arts
Photo by STEVE GULLICK The first time I met Mark Lanegan was in the men’s room of the now-defunct Maxwell’s in Hoboken. Google reminds me that it was Novermber 4th 1989. Actually, ‘met’ is probably too strong a word for it. I was standing at the urinal, using it as God intended, when suddenly Lanegan burst through the door, ran up to the sink and proceeded to projectile vomit. Prolifically. Then he looked up in the mirror, wiped his mouth with the back of his had, turned on his heel, exited just as abruptly as he entered, and then climbed […]
Win Tix To See Brian Wilson @ The Tower
To celebrate Brian Wilson coming to town like Santa Claus bringing tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy, to the Tower on Sunday (along with tourmate Jeff Beck, formerly of the Yardbirds), we’re going to be posting all things Brian the next coupla days. Tomorrow we’ll be posting the Q&A we did with him last week. We’ll also be re-running our interview with Mike Love that first ran last summer on the occasion of the Beach Boys 50th Anniversary. We’ll have a long-form, essay-style review of The Smile Sessions box set, plus some other surprises. But right now, […]
Win Tix To See The Muscle Shoals Documentary
MUSCLE SHOALS is a documentary about a place filled with magic and music, legend and folklore, where the river is inhabited by a Native American spirit who has lured some of the greatest Rock and Roll and Soul legends of all time, and drawn from them some of the most uplifting, defiant, and important music ever created. In Muscle Shoals, Alabama, music runs through the hills, the river, and the spirit of the people. It is a place where, even before the Civil Rights Movement really took shape, the color of your skin didn’t matter inside the studio. At […]
Win Tix To See Unknown Mortal Orchestra
We have a a pair of tix to see mesmerizing indie sensations Unknown Mortal Orchestra at First Unitarian Church on Wednesday for the 14th lucky Phawker reader to email us. To qualify, all you have to do is sign up for our mailing list (see right, below the masthead). Trust us, this is something you want to do. In addition to breaking news alerts and Phawker updates, you also get advanced warning about groovy concert ticket giveaways and other free swag opportunities like this one! After signing up, send us an email at FEED@PHAWKER.COM telling us a much, with […]
BEING THERE: The Flaming Lips @ Festival Pier
Photos by DEREK BRAD Last night the Flaming Lips unveiled the more-awesome-than-you-could-possibly-imagine reboot of their stage show, which replaces the happy-happy-joy-joy bliss rallies they’ve been staging for the past decade. Gone are the balloons and blood and bubble-walking and the dancing Santa Clauses and the big hands that shoot lasers. In its place — well, fact is it defies words, you really had to be there — but calling it H.R. Giger meets Hanna-Barbera on the dark side of the moonhenge isn’t that far from accurate. Frizzy-brained frontman Wayne Coyne conducted the proceedings from high atop a lumpy mound-like perch […]
Win Tix To See Lupe Fiasco @ The Electric Factory
We’ve been down with Lupe since the Gas, Food, Liquor days, saw his first Philly show at the Troc, was close enough to see the little Andy Warhol button pinned to the belt of his low-slung skinny jeans — back in 2006, yo, when most hip-hoppers were still members of the Big Pants Nation. It’s been a bit of a bumpy road for Lupe since then, but we are glad to see him overcome. This new “Peace Of Paper Cup Of Jayzus” track re-affirms Lupe’s status as a master class word playa with mad skills, etc. He’s playing the […]
BEING THERE: Two Door Cinema Club @ The Tower
Photo by ALEXANDER BISIGNARO I’m never sure what to expect at a show when the band performing is still in its proverbial “early years.” Are they only going to play material from their successful debut album? Will the venue be crowded or awkwardly empty? How many songs am I going to actually recognize? These are the questions I was asking myself as I walked through the doors of Tower Theatre last night to see Two Door Cinema Club kick start their latest U.S. tour. After releasing Tourist History in 2010 and following it up with Beacon in 2012, Two Door […]
Win Tix To See The Flaming Lips & Tame Impala!
We are off to see the wizard tomorrow night at the Festival Pier, the wonderful Wizard of Odd, or, if you prefer, the Wizard of OK, aka Wayne Coyne, frizzy-brained mainman of the Flaming Lips, The P.T. Barnum Of The Stoned, aka The Man Who Had A Headache And Accidentally Saved The World. Why? Because, because, because of the wonderful things he does, of course. The balloons. The confetti. The blood. The boobies. The strobes and the smoke and the bunny costumes and the dancing Santas. The blood. The crowd-surfing bubblewalking. The giant hands that shoot laser beams. The […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When U Can’t
FRESH AIR Before Chris Matthews grilled politicians and their surrogates on his MSNBC show Hardball, he was a top aide to House Speaker Tip O’Neill, advising him on how to deal with the press. Now Matthews has written a new book drawing on those experiences, called Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked. It’s a look at how Speaker O’Neill and President Reagan managed to work together and reach compromise in spite of the fact that they disagreed not only on policy, but also on the role of government. Matthews compares that to the current era — a moment defined […]