Rock Town Hall was founded to carry on and expand late-night turntable debates on self-important issues in rock. In 2002, we convened as a private discussion list among a baker’s dozen of opinionated, music-loving friends. In time we grew to a virtual Who the Hell Does He Think He Is? among rock musicians, journalists, DJs, record collectors, and assorted rock nerds. Although we continue to possess little power to influence the state of rock ?n roll, we delight in the battle and seek the cultivation of occasionally novel perspectives on the genre. Now we’re throwing the doors of Rock Town […]
THE PAVEMENT: Angels Wanna Wear My Pink Shoes
PHOTO AND TEXT BY EVA LIAO WHEN: Saturday Night WHERE: 18th and Spruce (outside of Great Scot Supermarket) WHY: If David Bowie and Tom Waits had sex — but in a shoe. Thank you God for giving this boy the eyes to spot these cool-as-shit kicks on the rack, the means to buy them and the balls to rock them.
HIZZONER ’07: Rain Or Shine, BIG BOB Is In To Win
MEDIA ADVISORY BOB BRADY TO ANNOUNCE CANDIDACY FOR MAYOR Monday, January 22, 2007 (PHILADELPHIA) – Congressman Bob Brady will announce his candidacy for Philadelphia mayor on Thursday, laying out a comprehensive agenda for making the community safer, improving public schools, strengthening the economy, and lowering the tax burden for small businesses and families. The announcement is scheduled for: 5:00 PM Thursday, January 25 Philadelphia Convention Center Room 204 UPDATE: Johnny Doc Will NOT Run, Coincidence? We Think Not?
ANAL Not Just For Establishing The Pecking Order Amongst Correctional Facility Inmates Anymore
Every couple of years, another once-scandalous sex taboo starts making its way toward the commonplace. A decade ago, blow jobs were what people whispered about; then three-ways became the naughty bedroom act. Now, it’s anal sex — but according to the Centers for Disease Control’s National Survey of Family Growth, it’s rapidly becoming a regular feature of hetero couples’ horizontal activities. The survey, released last year, showed that 38.2 percent of men between 20 and 39 and 32.6 percent of women ages 18 to 44 engage in heterosexual anal sex. Compare that with the CDC’s 1992 National Health and Social […]
Some Ass Clown Punks Da Mayor On Wikipedia
According to the online encyclopedia – which has a well-earned checkered reputation as both an everyman’s Britannica and a site where bias, slander and outright untruths reign – Mayor Street once played Bozo the Clown. Wikipedia’s bio on the mayor included: “At the same time that Street practiced law, he also began a media career in Philadelphia. Street worked for television station WPSG-TV and, for a four-year period, he played the character Bozo the Clown on Philadelphia’s Bozo the Clown children’s television show. When Street ran for Philadelphia City Council, he ceased his media career.” “I’m sure that isn’t true,” […]
THE NEW PANIC: Toe Sucker Strikes Again
In just about every case, the attacker ordered his victims to remove their shoes. He then checked for hidden money and groped or sucked their feet. He also fondled the genitals of one victim and penetrated another woman’s rectal area with his finger, another officer said. In the latest incident, the woman was on Aspen Street, near 25th Street, where a taxi had dropped her off, when the man approached her and held a gun to her head, police said. She screamed, and he ordered her to keep quiet and walk three blocks with him to a small park off […]
URBAN LIVING: Following Partridge Family’s Lead, More Families Forming Pop Groups And Moving To The Big City In Search Of Fame And Beater Houses To Flip
They are part – a surprising part – of Center City’s future: young, well-educated, affluent, eager participants in a renaissance that has swelled the downtown population 11 percent – to 88,000 – in just seven years. They also represent one of the biggest challenges facing Philadelphia’s next mayor and City Council: Will they stay, or will they vote with their feet if the city cannot maintain momentum in revitalizing Center City and improving schools? […] Philadelphia has historically been behind New York and Chicago among large cities with large residential populations. In Philadelphia’s case, however, statistical evidence is unclear about […]
MILESTONE: Academy of Music Turns 150, Considering Chin Tuck And Getting Eyes ‘Done’
The academy had a grand ball on January 26th, 1857, and after America’s first opera house premiered Verdi’s ?Il Trovatore? that same year, it has been in continuous use ever since.The “open horseshoe” shape design has offered more visibility than most opera houses to the audience seated on both sides of the balconies, surrounding a 5,000 pound crystal chandelier, which was loaded with gas burners, until it was electrified in 1900. Legendary singers have performed there from Maria Callas to Enrico Caruso. The world renowned Philadelphia Orchestra spent more than 100 seasons in the academy, until it moved down the […]
CODE BLUE: Baby, It’s Cold Outside
(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA The latest winter chill to hit the region moves into dangerous territory, as temperatures continue to drop. It is brisk Sunday morning. There are reports of occasional black ice. Before first light, the Walgreen’s monitor registered at 24 degrees another one down the block registered at 19 degrees in South Philadelphia. Either way it is cold. It is good idea to be prepared by bundling up. “I have on triple layers of everything,” said one woman. “It’s cold, very cold this morning,” said one man. KYW: Colder Than A Witch’s Tit
ALL THE LEAVES ARE BROWN: Denny Doherty, Last Papa Of The MAMAS AND PAPAS, Dead At 66
They were the first pop group, after The Beatles and the so-called British invasion, to include women (and a Canadian) as equal partners and to showcase tuneful and harmoniously sophisticated songs. As a group, they produced five albums and sold an estimated 20 million records. Behind the scenes, though, the group was wasting its talent and its energy because they were all — especially Mr. Doherty — in thrall to sex, drugs and alcohol. One of five children of a hard-drinking Halifax pipe fitter, Mr. Doherty began his singing career there with a local rock band, The Hepsters, while working […]
SORE LOSER: CITY PAPER Protests Judge’s Call In This Week’s COVER WARS, Cites PW’s Blatant ‘Visual Plagiarism’ — Is That Even A Thing?
You be the judge. UPDATE: Turns out there is such a thing as ‘visual plagiarism’ — in Richmond, Virginia. And ONLY in Richmond, Virginia, it would seem (read this, this is an assinine firing by piss-poor managment, it’s an INTERN for Chrissakes, you fire them for blowing the President not for hitting a foul ball on the job). Frankly, we’re more interested in talking about why these kids’ legs are blown off instead of who wins the race to get a photogenic Iraq vet double amputee on the cover. Don’t hate the messenger, hate the message.
EARLY WORD: SUGAR, SUGAR
Phawker headquarters itself in a secure undisclosed location on the mean cobblestoned streets of the O.C. and not a day goes by on the nearby stretch of North Third when we don’t find ourselves accosted, albeit pleasantly so, by a pack of suburban Jersey coeds, dressed to the nines in their best approximation of season four Sex In The City. Usually, they are being skippered by a hip mom in a furry bucket hat and she’s the one that usually asks, “excuse me can you tell me where…” and we always finish their sentences for them: “Let me guess, […]