BY JONATHAN VALANIA In the beginning, before there was Spiritualized or Spectrum, there was Spacemen 3. If you came of age in 80s, in the dreary grey flannel age of Reagan/Thatcher, when drug war hysteria was reaching a feverish pitch, Spacemen 3 was hands down the most persuasive and rewarding argument for the ingestion of mind-expanding substances since Pink met Floyd. In August of 1984, Jason Pierce (a.k.a. Jason Spaceman) received a government grant to attend Rugby Art College — which he promptly misused to purchase an electric guitar and amplifier. It was at Rugby Art College that Pierce […]
CONTEST: Win Tix To See GBV At Penn’s Landing
Guided By Voices perform Friday June 17th at Penns Landing w/ Wavves. Tickets go sale Saturday (April 16th) at noon. We have a pair of tickets to give away to the first Phawker reader that can answer the following trivia question: In the mid-90s, Guided By Voices played a secret show Khyber Pass under what name? Email your answer to FEED@PHAWKER.COM with the phrase ‘GB Fucking V’ in subject line. Please include a day time phone number for confirmation. Good luck and Godspeed! UPDATE: We have a winner! Thanks all for playing and stay tuned for more groovy concert ticket […]
TONITE: Dead Men DO Tell Tales
Phawker Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Valania will be on News Radio 77WABC in NYC tonight from 9 PM — 11 PM to discuss his Duffy’s Cut PW cover story with host John Batchelor. UPDATE: The interview was recorded moments ago, but will not air until Friday, some time between 9 PM — 11 PM. We will add a download link to this post as soon as it becomes available. THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH: Exhuming The Old-Timey Mass Murder Mystery At Duffy’s Cut “The past is never dead. It isn’t even past.” —William Faulkner BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE PHILADELPHIA […]
RAWK TAWK: Q&A With Smithereens Drum Major & Pop Historian Extraordinaire Dennis Diken
BY JONATHAN VALANIA For going on 35 years, Dennis Diken has been pounding the skins for The Smithereens, arguably one of the finest bar bands to crawl out of the teenage jungleland of nowhere New Jersey. All the Smithereens’ best songs carried a hint of desperation: the unspoken understanding that these Jersey sons were always one bar gig away from the factory grind that claimed the hope of their fathers. They were literally playing rock ‘n’ roll as if their lives depended on it. The new Smithereens 2011 finds the band in fine form all these years later, still bashing […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
[Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA] DEAD MAN TALKING: Steve Earle, Johnny Brendas, last night. BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER Steve Earle would be the first to admit he’s no saint, but by my tally he’s been going to bat for the angels ever since he tamed his demons – a nasty drug habit that ended in a prison sentence – nearly 20 years ago. Earle is just old-fashioned enough to think that folk songs can make a difference and protest singers should put their money (and their downtime) where their mouth is. Case in point, Earle performed Sunday night at […]
CONTEST: Win Tix To See The Low Anthem
Perhaps best known for “Oh My God, Charlie Darwin”, their Simon & Garfunkel-esque affirmation of faith in the power of reason to deliver us from the evil of superstitious irrationality, the Low Anthem are back with a gorgeous new album — full of pristine harmonies, infinite reverb, luminous melodies and prayerful silences — called Smart Flesh. They fit somewhat neatly in the Americana box, but unlike say, the Avett Brothers, they don’t so much channel The Band as swim in the same still waters. And as the saying goes, those still waters run deep. River deep and, for that matter, […]
TONITE: We Travel The Spaceways
ARS NOVA WORKSHOP PRESENTS THE CELESTIAL SEPTET (NELS CLINE SINGERS & ROVA SAXAPHONE QUARTET) 8 PM TONIGHT AT INTERNATIONAL HOUSE ARS NOVA: On Tuesday, February 22, Ars Nova Workshop presents the Celestial Septet, an extraordinary union of the Nels Cline Singers and the ROVA Saxophone Quartet. Hitting the road for only 5 concerts, this first date of the tour marks the septet’s Philadelphia debut. Given the significance of this epic collaboration, ANW and local webcast production team web.illish.us will be offering a free live webcast of the concert to audiences outside Philadelphia. Please follow this link to register for the […]
All-Star Cast To Perform Big Star’s Sister Lovers Live
Big Star’s third album, Third/Sister Lovers, has long been revered by artists and critics as one of the most influential albums ever produced. Written and recorded when the legendary 70s band was primarily a studio project consisting of Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens, the third album was never been performed in public with the original string and wind orchestrations. That changed in December 2010, when an all-star band unearthed the original scores, assembled an orchestra and performed Big Star’s Third at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, NC. Performers that night included Jody Stephens (Big Star), Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Mitch Easter (Let’s […]
REVIEW: Theophilus London’s A Lover’s Holiday
BY MATTHEW HENGEVELD Rather than glamorizing a past-life of blood-drenched mobster-isms or a history entrenched with money counting machines, Theophilus London boasts a Wildean lifestyle with a confidence akin to Prince in the mid-‘80s. He talks about chic German-built cars, rendezvous with unnamed women at lavish hotel rooms and having casual meetings with music elites, such as Mark Ronson and Damon Albarn— two of his benefactors. His fashion style is enigmatic, donning a thick-rimmed pair of expensive plastic shades and a baseball cap that looks fresh outta ’92. His personality and style seem to shoot directly into the already-dug-out vein […]
WORTH REPEATING: Ain’t Love Grand?
[Berretta 76, Tritone, undated by Jonathan Valania] INQUIRER: For the next year or so, Pete and Camille were best friends — but strictly that. “People would say, ‘You should go out, you’d be such a great couple!’ And I’d say, ‘Him? We fight too much! We would kill each other.’” Pete was having similar conversations. But while working on their first album, Black Beauty, romance slipped in. Camille and Pete both felt it, and both resisted. Camille told him it was hard enough being a female rock singer without people whispering that her success was in some way tied to […]
SCRAPPLE TV NEWS: With Your Host AP Ticker
This week, AP discusses explains how West Philly High School student Brandon Ford got invited to sit with the First Lady for the State of The Union address, the Gosnell abortion horror show, and the Onion coming to town. Also, he explains why the U.S. will not be able to indict or extradite Wikileaks’ Julian Assange and pays tribute to his old pal Don Kirshner of Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert fame.
ALBUM REVIEW: Deerhoof vs. Evil
First, the album cover: a mushroom cloud partially eclipsed by a black heart. The band wasn’t fucking around when they titled the album Deerhoof vs. Evil—they are taking on the heart of darkness with Catalan lyrics, kittenish mischief and bird-like coos in this rampantly eclectic, almost entirely self-recorded album. This is the eleventh full-length release from these seasoned demigods of art-pop-noise, and—though membership has shifted somewhat over the years — it marks the bands sixteenth year of existence. The songs on Deerhoof vs. Evil ecstatically juxtapose disparate — sometimes even disagreeable — sounds and genres with schizophrenic enthusiasm; the result […]
LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER: Bigger Lovers Reunite, Re-Issue Their Debut, Play Rilly Big Show
EDITOR’S NOTE: Pat Berkery was Phawker’s first sports columnist. PATRICK BERKERY: Hey, Patrick Berkery here, drummer for The Bigger Lovers. Five seasons and change after closing up shop, The Bigger Lovers are reuniting to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our instantly out-of-print 2001 debut, “How I Learned to Stop Worrying” (originally issued on Black Dog Records on March 13, 2001) with a remastered vinyl and digital reissue coming March 8, 2011 on our own Miles Above imprint. It’s the first time the album has appeared in either format. The reissue – which includes two bonus tracks (available digitally) recorded during […]