Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Jonathan Richman’s shows are a meandering montage from start to finish, what might at first seem like an ill-advised marriage of classical guitar noodling, musings in various languages, vaudevillian song and dance, psychedelic storytelling and outright highly stylized stand-up comedy, with and without musical accompaniment. There’s no opener, and no encore. His show is short — just over an hour — and performed casually, intimately by Richman and his longtime drummer Tommy Larkins, before the rapt attention of a room of devoted followers. Where many performers seem to struggle to preserve audience attention or to outplay […]
BEING THERE: Berniedelphia
Bernie Sanders speaks to 10,200 @ Liacouras Center by DYLAN LONG It’s a chilly Monday afternoon and I’m sitting in my dorm at Temple University dicking around, and I get a text from one of my closest friends. It reads, “Bernie Rally Wednesday night??” I ask her what she’s talking about, assuming it’s some locally sponsored rally for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders that’ll draw maybe a thousand people in support. She sends me a link to Bernie’s website that has the official event at the Liacouras Center listed in full detail, telling me that Bernie Sanders is coming to speak […]
RIP: Merle Haggard, American Badass, Dead @ 79
NEW YORK TIMES: Few country artists have been as popular and widely admired as Mr. Haggard. Thirty-eight of his singles, including “Workin’ Man Blues” and the 1973 recession-era lament “If We Make It Through December,” reached No. 1 on the Billboard country chart from 1966 to 1987. He released 71 Top 10 country hits in all, 34 in a row from 1967 to 1977. Seven of his singles crossed over to the pop charts. Mr. Haggard had an immense influence on other performers — not just other country singers but also ’60s rock bands like the Byrds and the […]
FICTION: The Conformist
By Blaze Archer The air in the basement stank of sweat. The bodies were pressed against each other in a circle, their clothes in a pile by the door. The skin against skin caused a static electricity to charge the room. In the center of the circle two boys fought. The one light bulb illuminated the shining curves of their backs as they grappled with each other, punched, bit, grabbed. The small wiry kid who had taken off his glasses for the fight was swinging, dodging, winning. He reminded you of those scrawny kids at dodge ball, but he was […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR: Forget “enhanced interrogation techniques” — Eric Fair says what he did as an interrogator in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq was torture. “The idea that there’s interrogation, and then enhanced interrogation, and then torture — there is no middle ground,” he tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross. “Torture is an enhanced interrogation.” The techniques Fair used were considered legal by the U.S. government, but what he did still weighs on his conscience. Though he says he didn’t practice any of the worst abuses, he used stress positions and sleep deprivation, and he now deeply regrets it. He describes […]
Mark Ruffalo Discusses Bernie With Beard-y Man
NEW YORK TIMES: [Sanders] is poised to beat her in Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary while giving the former secretary of state and New York senator a run for her money in what for Clinton is must-win contest in her adopted home state. So why would the Democratic Socialist Vermont senator, his wife Jane, and key strategists of his presidential juggernaut have cooperated with a front-page New York Times post-mortem that suggests the race for the Democratic nomination is all but over? “This one was bewildering,” former Obama strategist David Axelrod told The Daily Beast as the media-political complex greeted the Times […]
BEING THERE: Rihanna @ The Wells Fargo Center
Artwork by ITSMCFLYY Admittedly, I haven’t always believed in the political power of Rihanna. That might be partially due to my inability to think philosophically while a preteen who was forced to run laps in gym class to “Pon De Replay,” and who went through awkward lessons in dancehall etiquette to “Umbrella” in my middle school’s cafeteria, and by that I mean my first introduction to what my peers called ‘dancing,’ which in reality was just grinding your ass into some dweebish 12-year-old boy’s lap under a strobe light that someone’s mom rented, while wearing an unfittingly preppy, mall-branded polo. […]
The Answer My Friend Is Balling In The Win
Artwork by NEO INNOV FOX SPORTS: Iverson’s career was controversial, transcendent and breathtaking. On the court, he was a fearless jackrabbit, an untraceable switchblade who danced around defenders with an unprecedented combination of creativity and toughness. The four-time scoring champ provided countless memories, too. If you saw him do something meaningful on a basketball court, there’s a good chance you still remember exactly where you were and who you saw it with. Iverson had a way of stitching himself in your memory; he was a true entertainer. In his honor, here’s a ranking of the top five on-court moments from […]
Win Tix To See Andrew Bird @ E-Factory Tonight!
Artwork by ANGELA RIZZA Folks, we are pleased to announce this last minute offer of a pair of tickets to see critically-acclaimed Wonka-esque indie-folker Andrew Bird at the Electric Factory tonight. What’s that you say? You don’t know what an Andrew Bird is? Hey, there is is no such thing as a stupid question. Although ‘who is Andrew Bird?’ comes close. Let’s ask around and study it out. Quoth Salon: Despite going through conservatory and getting a degree in violin performance, Andrew Bird has always felt like an outsider in the world of classical music. Yet, as alternative acts were […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: The Dark Side Of Patty Duke
FRESH AIR: Patty Duke, the Oscar-winning actress who grew up in the public eye as a child star, died Tuesday in a hospital near her home in Idaho. She was 69. At the age of 12, she won over Broadway audiences as Helen Keller in “The Miracle Worker.” Three years later, she played Keller in the screen adaptation and became the youngest actor at the time ever to win an Academy Award. Then she got her own TV sitcom, “The Patty Duke Show,” and became one of TVs most celebrated teens. Here’s a scene from 1965. Patty’s at the […]
Win Tix For A Conversation w/ ‘Making A Murderer’ Defense Dream Team Dean Strang & Jerry Buting
Dean Strang and Jerry Buting, defense attorneys for Steven Avery in the Netflix documentary series Making A Murderer — aka The Bert & Ernie Of American Jurisprudence –– have commenced a nationwide speaking tour called A Conversation on Justice Tour which stops at the Keswick tomorrow night and, due to overwhelming popular demand, again on Sunday. Philly’s Tara Murtha will moderate a discussion with Strang and Buting about the Steven Avery case and its broader implications, as well as a discussion on the larger topic of the American criminal justice system. Each night will also feature a Q&A portion […]
HELLO KENOSHA: The Bird Is The Word
UNCUT: A new Wisconsin poll shows Bernie Sanders widening his lead over Hillary Clinton ahead of the state’s April 5 primary. The poll, conducted by Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee, is seen as the gold standard of polls in the Badger State. Today’s poll results show Sanders is ahead of Clinton by 4.3 points (49.2-44.9), with less than a week to go before Wisconsin voters cast their ballots. MORE NEW YORK TIMES: Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont spent Wednesday crisscrossing Wisconsin, hosting events in three cities and arguing that his stances on trade deals, campaign finance and foreign policy […]