FRESH AIR A man who needs no last name, Willie is to Country what Neil is to rock: the Buddha, bestowing laid-back grace on all those who bask in his benevolent THC-tinged glow. Born April 30, 1933, in Abbott, Texas, Nelson begins writing songs at age seven. After serving briefly in the Air Force during the Korean War and studying agriculture at Baylor University, Nelson moves through a series of luckless, low-paying career changes–disc jockey; door-to-door vacuum and encyclopedia salesman. By 1958, in dire financial straits and married with children, Nelson is forced to sell his songs for cheap […]
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS: Here Be Monsters
NEW YORK TIMES: The police stormed the northern Paris suburb of St.-Denis before dawn Wednesday morning in a raid aimed at capturing at least two fugitives suspected in the terrorist attacks that killed 129 people in Paris on Friday. A woman who was holed up in the apartment activated a suicide vest at the beginning of the raid and has died, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Three men who were in the apartment were “extracted” by police forces and have been arrested. Their identities are not known at this time.The prosecutor’s office said the target of the raids was […]
ARCHIVE: The 1976 David Bowie Playboy Interview
PLAYBOY: He was once a scruffy, honey-haired folk singer. Then an adamantly bisexual balladeer. Then a spacey, cropped-red-haired androgynous guitarist backed by a band called the Spiders from Mars. Then a soul singer. Then a movie actor … and finally, a smartly conservative, entertainer. David Bowie, it’s safe to say, would do anything to make it. And how that he has made it, he’ll do anything to stay there. At 29, David Bowie is far more than another rock star. He is a self-designed media manipulator who knows neither tact nor intimidation. There is but one objective to his […]
Anonymous Declares War On ISIS, Threatens Major Cyber Attacks; ISIS Calls Anonymous ‘Idiots’
NEWSWEEK: Anonymous’s two-minute video threatening ISIS has amassed more than five millions views since it launched on Saturday. “War is declared. Get prepared,” a masked figure warned the group in the video. “The French people are stronger than you and will come out of this atrocity even stronger,” the figure added. “Anonymous from all over the world will hunt you down. You should know that we will find you and we will not let you go.” The hacker said that the infamous group will use its cyber skills to “unite humanity” and said that terrorists should “expect massive cyber attacks.” […]
BEING THERE: Nobunny @ Johnny Brenda’s
Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ According to a recent unscientific survey I conducted out of sheer boredom while waiting for the show to begin, there were 85% more people rocking denim jackets, punk rock pins and Doc Martens at Johnny Brenda’s last night than then there usually are. Why? Best I can tell it was because Nobunny — a super-catchy, freaky-but-loveable Tuscon collective of garage-rockers who perform in thrift store bunny costumes — was headlining. You see, Nobunny mainman Justin Champlin is known to rock the denim-jacket-with-punk-rock-pins-and-no-pants look. It probably would have bothered me less if the only person from the […]
JOHN OLIVER WATCH: The House Always Wins
“The most addictive thing you can do on your phone except perhaps cocaine,” said John Oliver by way of introducing last night’s target du jour: bazillion-dollar fantasy sports betting sites like Fan Duel and Draft Kings that prey on gullible woulbe jock couch potatoes. You know, those sites with the ever-present commercials chock-full of sports-lovin’, nacho-pounding high-fivin’ white guys (and one token black guy) bragging about the insane winnings they pocketed betting for or against their favorite athletes. According to WIRED, Fan Duel and Draft Kings combined outspent the ENTIRE BEER INDUSTRY ad spend for a month. For the three […]
JAIL BREAK: 2 Circus Zebras Escape The Circus, Lead Police On Two Mile Chase Through West Philly
NBC10: Two zebras escaped from a circus in West Philadelphia on Sunday, leading police on a wild chase for miles through the city. The zebras, according to witness accounts, somehow got loose from the UniverSoul Circus outside the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, near 52nd Street and Parkside Avenue in Fairmount Park and ran out of the front gate. Police Radio confirmed about 2 p.m. that zebras were loose in West Philadelphia and officers were trying to catch them. MORE PETA: Yet again, animals have escaped a circus and been chased through a city they never should have […]
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Advantage Hillary
Artwork by SARAH FERGUSON BY BEN LEHMAN After a summer plagued by an email scandal and declining favorability, Hillary Clinton has lately been surging in the polls and reestablishing herself as the Democratic frontrunner for the nomination. Her strong performance in the first debate and a successful Benghazi hearing combined to form a powerful resurgence, thus putting pressure on her opponents to defeat her in Saturday’s debate in Iowa. However, Clinton once again demonstrated her formidable political skills and emerged from the debate unscathed. Topics of the debate ranged from the minimum wage to gun control to healthcare. However, because […]
NICO & LOU REED & JOHN CALE: FEMME FATALE
Live @ Le Bataclan, Paris 1972. #JeSuisParis
CINEMA: In The Name Of The Father
SPOTLIGHT (2015, directed by Tom McCarthy, 128 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Since 2003, writer/director Tom McCarthy has directed a steady handful of compact little character-driven indie features (The Station Agent, The Visitor, Win/Win) that have been among the most resonant U.S. films of our era. With Spotlight, his sprawling look at the Boston Globe‘s investigation of the Catholic clergy’s sex crimes, McCarthy gives the impression of a talent in full bloom. In his largest scale film yet, Spotlight takes us down the wormhole of abuse, lies and church power without losing us in the labyrinth or forgetting […]
ELECTRIC POWOW: Q&A With Neon Indian
BY DYLAN LONG Alan Palomo, AKA Neon Indian, has spent the last six years making music that sounds like an ’80s dance party taking place inside of a lava lamp, so it’s no wonder why the Flaming Lips collaborated with him for 2011’s The Flaming Lips With Neon Indian EP. VEGA INTL. Night School, his latest LP, is a kaleidoscopic blend of gooey synths and funky rhythms backed by Palomo’s ’80s-esque high-octave vocals. The Monterrey, Mexico-born 27-year-old is currently in the midst of tour in support of Night School which stops at Union Transfer on Sunday. Last week we […]
BEING THERE: Odesza @ Union Transfer
Photo by DYLAN LONG Odesza is the Seattle-based duo of Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight, who make lush, downtempo EDM. They are also wildly popular, selling out not just one but two shows at Union Transfer last night, where they appeared in support of their latest release, In Return Deluxe, an extended version of 2014’s In Return that includes three live tracks and a new song called “Light (feat. Little Dragon).” After East Coast cats Louis Futon and Jai Wolf warmed up the crowd with stellar beats infused with futuristic synths, wild tempo fluctuations and even some recent hits like […]