Today, the legendary Roots crew announced their annual ROOTS PICNIC is returning to Philadelphia’s Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing on Saturday, June 1st. The festival is celebrating its sixth year with an eclectic lineup over two stages that Roots Picnic fans have come to expect – boasting performances by: Gary Clark Jr., Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and a show-stopping set with Naughty By Nature backed by The Roots. Gary Clark Jr. has swagger. The guitar virtuoso, whose roots run deep in blues, jazz, soul, country and hip-hop influences, has taken 2012 by storm and continues to amaze in 2013. […]
BEING THERE: Soundgarden @ The Tower
Chris Cornell, Tower Theater, last night by HOWARD GAINES BY JOE PAONE The Tower Theater’s iconic marquee read “SOUNDGARDEN SOLD OUT.” The WMMR Fun Times Party Van was out front. Shiny tractor trailers stretched as far as the eye could see. Middle-aged superfan rock dudes excitedly chattered about the latest projects from people like “Tom” (Morello). Silver-haired middle managers and salespeople roamed the venue with their uncomfortable-looking wives. Some people looked like they hadn’t been to a rock show since Eric Lindros captained the Flyers. And then there were the kids who weren’t even born during the height of grunge, […]
THIS IS OUR MUSIC: Our Favorite Albums Of 2012
Artwork by SHEPARD FAIREY REDD KROSS Researching The Blues (Merge) You were born in an age of mockery, which would be followed by a decade of irony. You were 11 years old when you played your first gig, opening for Black Flag. Your bass was bigger than you. You named your band after the crucifix masturbation scene in The Exorcist. Early on you were fascinated by pop culture gone horribly wrong, you wrote punky odes to Linda Blair, MacKenzie Phillips and Frosted Flakes. You covered Charlie Manson. “No metal sluts or punk rock ruts” was your motto.You recorded six albums […]
REWIND 2012: The Year In Phawker Interviews
Talk is cheap, especially on the Internet, but at Phawker it’s totally free, baby — at least for you, dear reader. Trolling through the vast and dusty Phawker archives, we have dug up fat sack of conversations from the past year that are worth re-visiting: Dick Dale, King Of The Surf Guitar; graphic novelist Charles Burns, the Edgar Allan Poe of right now; photographer Joe Kazcmarek, who tirelessly chronicles the murder-scarred backstreets of North and West Philly; Jim Reid, lead singer of The Jesus And Mary Chain; Anton Newcombe, cult leader of The Brian Jonestown Massacre; Hardball host Chris Matthews; […]
THE SOPRANO: Q&A With Writer/Director David Chase
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Last week we sat down with Sopranos creator David Chase to talk about his new movie, Not Fade Away, a weedy coming-of-age dramedy about being young, horny and trying to be the Rolling Stones in the teenage wasteland of suburban New Jersey in the mid-’60s. There’s sex. There’s drugs. There’s rock n’ roll, in the form of an impeccably-curated soundtrack and convincing scenes of the band trying to kick out the jams in garages and basements. There’s James Gandolfini as the hey-you-kids-get-off-of-my-lawn father, shaking his fist at the longhairs from the wrong side of the generation […]
THE AP TICKER TRIO: Winter Wonderland
Season’s greetings from The Least Trusted Name In News. And a Happy New Year!
PISSED JEANS: False Jesii Part 2
Punk friggin’ rock. Allentown represent!
RANDY NEWMAN: Sail Away
RELATED: Known for such hits as “Real Emotional Girl,” singer-songwriter, composer, arranger and pianist Randy Newman is on his way to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Newman, a 40-year veteran of the music business, talked to Fresh Air in 1998 and 2004 about his life and work. MORE
KIM WYLDE: Kids In America
This one goes out to the kids in America. RELATED: Kim Wilde and Ricky Wilde serenade passengers on the train home after the MagicFM Christmas Party. After a truly rubbish day, I got on the train home and couldn’t get a seat, a man pulled out his guitar “Oh here we go!” I thought. Then a drunken woman starts singing. Hang on a minute, I know that voice?! It really was KIM WILDE! This totally made my day. Thank you.
TONIGHT: I’ll Take You There
Illustration by BRENT AFFRUNTI Stephen Colbert is set to join Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, Mavis Staples and Sean Lennon in a performance of the John Lennon holiday song “Happy Christmas (War Is Over) on The Colbert Report TONIGHT. The performance is part of the show’s “Christmas Carol Week” and will air Thursday December 13th on Comedy Central at 11:30pm and repeats at 1:30 am the same night as well as 10:00 am and 6:30 pm the following day. All times ET/PT. Full episodes are posted the following day HERE. Jeff Tweedy and Mavis Staples are currently in the studio working […]
CONTEST: Win Tix To See Polyphonic Spree @ The Troc
Like Santa Claus, The Polyphonic Spree is coming to town — to the Troc tomorrow night to be exact — in support of the new HolidayDream: Sounds of the Holidays Vol. One. Eyewitnesses breathlessly describe the band’s live shows as bliss rallies, as sonic Ecstasy hits, the antidote to Seasonal Affect Disorder, all indie/rock/orchestral/Tabernacle choir sunshine and goodwill and tidings of comfort and joy. ‘Tis the season, right? We have two pairs of tickets to give away because we heard you were bummed and figured the Spree would help turn that frown upside down. To qualify all you have to […]
RIP: Ravi Shankar, Sitar Master, Godfather Of ‘World Music’ And Norah Jones’ Father, Dead At 92
NEW YORK TIMES: Mr. Shankar, a soft-spoken, eloquent man whose performance style embodied a virtuosity that transcended musical languages, was trained in both Eastern and Western musical traditions. Although Western audiences were often mystified by the odd sounds and shapes of the instruments when he began touring in Europe and the United States in the early 1950s, Mr. Shankar and his ensemble gradually built a large following for Indian music. His instrument, the sitar, has a small rounded body and a long neck with a resonating gourd at the top. It has 6 melody strings and 25 sympathetic strings […]