BY JAMES M. DAVIS If you wanna play art rock and be the cool guitarist guy the first thing you need is a Fender Jaguar and a bunch of pedals. The second thing you have to do is decide which Fender Jaguar/Jazzmaster art-rock icon it is that you want to imitate. Most people go for J. Mascis or Thurston Moore. Who are we kidding, you’ll probably wind up doing Thurston Moore. However, I would only ask you to take a moment, look around you, and listen for a single word, breathed under one’s breath: americana. There is a confusing […]
BOB DYLAN: Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright
To mark the Bard’s 75th birthday, we bring you this drop-dead gorgeous remix of Bobby Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” by Animal Collective. Enjoy. PREVIOUSLY: The Academy of Music opera house in Philadelphia opened in 1857, which, if memory serves, is where and when Bob Dylan first went electric — much to the consternation of the stovepipe-hatted folkies, who felt he was selling out the purity of good ol’ steam-powered protest anthems. It is said that Stephen A. Douglas was so incensed he attempted to chop the cable supplying power to the Academy stage with an axe and had […]
ALL SHOOK DOWN: Meet Beach Slang’s James Alex
Photos by ELENA VILAIN BY JOSH PELTA-HELLER Beach Slang’s James Alex has promised that the acclaimed Philly rockers are hard at work on a second LP, a following up their debut record released last Fall. No doubt this news will offer some relief to legions of fans of Beach Slang, especially in light of the breakup rumors that circulated earlier this month following a show in Utah that Alex suggested might be their last. He’s since walked that back, conceding to fans in a statement that he was “gigantically sorry” for the comments: “if you’re still in, we are.” To […]
WORTH REPEATING: Dear Taliban, Eat My F*ck
“Equality” by NIKKUMAN EDITOR’S NOTE: Earlier today the White House confirmed the death Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, the result of a U.S. airstrike. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. We don’t make it a habit of cheering the death of others, but for the Taliban, we will make an exception. To mark this auspicious occasion, we are re-running our 2012 open letter to the Taliban in the wake of their failed attempt to kill Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai when she was all of 12. Back then, we predicted this day would […]
INCOMING: Q&A With Beach Slang
Illustration by CRAIG HORKY Josh Pelta-Heller talks new album, break-up rumors and Weston (Yo Lehigh Valley, represent) with Bleach Slang’s James Alex. Look for it tomorrow on a Phawker near you!
Media Continues To Ignore The Fact That Bernie Sanders Is Far & Away The Most Popular Candidate Running For POTUS And Has Been For Months
ABC NEWS: A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows a close contest in presidential election preferences, with Republicans lining up behind Donald Trump as their party’s presumptive nominee while the continued Democratic race is keeping Hillary Clinton’s side more unsettled. Greater voter registration among Republicans is one factor: Clinton’s 6-point lead among all adults, 48-42 percent in a general election matchup, switches to essentially a dead heat among registered voters, 46 percent for Trump, 44 percent for Clinton. Regardless, the contest has tightened considerably since March, when Clinton led among registered voters by 9 points. […] Remarkably, Clinton is […]
CINEMA: Downton Gabby
LOVE & FRIENDSHIP (2016, directed by Whit Stillman, 92 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Whit Stillman’s world of arch comic verbosity has always had the stiff air of ingrained upper crust manners, so the idea of Stillman doing a period Jane Austin adaptation seemed perhaps a bit too spot-on. Instead, it’s a match made in heaven. Far livelier then your typical velvety old British romance, Love and Friendship finds Stillman snapping into great mid-career form as he propels Kate Beckinsale gliding through stately manors and defying the patriarchy by steadily willing her own destiny. Set adrift since […]
BOOKS: The Greatest Story Ever Told
My grandfather was born in 1900 and his life followed the historic trajectories and sociocultural contours of America in the 20th century — he weathered two world wars and the Great Depression and lived to tell. He was educated and well-read, a cement company executive who traveled widely on company business, clapping the backs of power in foreign lands — the Shah of Iran gave him an incredible wall-sized Persian rug, the ambassador of Mexico gave my grandmother a sterling silver tea set, etc. He taught Sunday School. Always voted Republican and subscribed to the National Review. He was […]
Win Tix To See Rufus Wainright @ The Foundry
Rufus is for lovers: Boys who like boys, girls who like girls, boys who like girls and girls who like boys. Young, old, everyone in between. These are his people. Basically anyone who’s ever had a heart break apart in their hands and learned the hard way that you can jigsaw back together, with patience and the glue of time, but it will never be the same again. It’s like bypass surgery or Cupid’s arrow — it may not kill you, it might even make you stronger, but it still hurts when you lay the wrong way. By rights, […]
THE BIRD IS THE WORD: Portlandia Feels The Bern; Clinton Wins Kentucky By Just 1,900 Votes
NEW YORK TIMES: Senator Bernie Sanders prevailed over Hillary Clinton on Tuesday in the Oregon primary, according to The Associated Press, while Mrs. Clinton claimed victory in a tight race in Kentucky, the day’s other contest. Mrs. Clinton raced around Kentucky in the two days before the primary, hoping to fend off Mr. Sanders in a state that she won easily in 2008. In unofficial results late Tuesday night, Mrs. Clinton edged Mr. Sanders by about 1,900 votes, or less than half a percentage point, with all counties reporting. The Associated Press had not declared a winner by midnight. […]
THE LIFE OF BRIAN: Hello Surfing, Goodbye God
EDITOR’S NOTE: It was 50 years ago yesterday that The Beach Boys released Pet Sounds. To mark this auspicious occasion we are posting this teaser of the greatest story ever written about Brian Wilson during that period. Enjoy. CHEETAH MAGAZINE, 1967: It was just another day of greatness at Gold Star Recording Studios on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. In the morning four long-haired kids had knocked out two hours of sound for a record plugger who was trying to curry favor with a disk jockey friend of theirs in San Jose. Nobody knew it at the moment, but […]
Q&A w/ Andy Moholt Of Laser Background
BY MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ Andy Moholt does a good job of bringing all of the good weirdness Philly has to offer to light. Once a Philly suburbanite intended to become a violin-playing child prodigy, Moholt is now the brains behind Laser Background, which was only made possible by strapping those snobby child prodigy brains to a rocket and sending them into oblivion. These days, Moholt spends his time honing in on his unique brand of psychedelic pop music, crediting early Pink Floyd for sonic inspiration and probably for making attending laser light shows something that’s socially acceptable. At some […]
CINEMA: Make Captain America Great Again
BY JAMES M. DAVIS “Enhanced Individuals,” we hear in a newscast at the beginning of Captain America: Civil War, need to be brought into check. At first glance this phrase does what is intended, it deprives superheroes of being both “super” and “heroes.” This is a world where masked super-people have (accidentally) killed innocent people in operations unapproved by any governmental body. Through this phrase we are brought into a world where the Avengers are being asked to sign an accord with the UN which would essentially turn them into a peacekeeping force at the beck and call of […]