Photo by ANGELO KOURI WARNING: Strong language & adult situations BY JONATHAN VALANIA It was a day that would live in infamy. September 9th, 2006, was an unseasonably hot day in Philly and the crowd at the Susquehanna Center had been drinking for hours in the sun. The natives were restless. This was not good. The crowd vibed a little bar fight/date-rapey to begin with, lots of buzz-cut hammerheads in Eagles jerseys and jorts and calf tats and the ladies who like that kind of thing. There was a low hum of menace in the air, like things could go […]
SHANNON & THE CLAMS: Rip Van Winkle
Don’t know what I love more, the band name, this kooky video or the magic slice of retro-trash tomfoolery it reps. Hmmm, I’m gonna go with all the above. Let the wild rumpus begin!
THEATER REVIEW: Disgraced
BY ELIZABETH WIEST The Philadelphia Theatre Company kicked off their fall season with a stellar rendition of Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer Prize winning drama Disgraced the Suzanne Roberts Theater. The play explores the issues of race and religious identity through the struggles of a high-powered Manhattan lawyer named Amir Kapoor (played with remarkable range by Pej Vahdat) as he searches for the truth of his identity amongst the constantly clashing Eurocentric and Islamic ideologies that cloud his judgment and, by the end, tears his job, marriage and lifestyle apart. What was intended to be a civil dinner party amongst four […]
JOHN OLIVER WATCH: Fall Into The Medicaid Gap
Last night, John Oliver broke down how Obamacare was supposed to work and, five years after its passage, how how it actually works. While Obamacare was an undeniable victory for the left, it hasn’t been the Ryan Gosling marriage proposal dream-turned-reality we had been hoping for. In 2012, after multiple right wing legal challenges, the Supreme Court upheld “nearly all” of the Affordable Care Act, except for the provision that enabled the federal government to expand Medicaid to cover their low income uninsured — AND the federal government would cover 100% of the cost for the first 10 years and […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Actress Illeana Douglas recounts a life lived in and out of movies. The actress, who appeared in Six Feet Under and Cape Fear, discusses growing up on a commune, working with (and dating) Martin Scorsese and her various acting gigs. Douglas’ memoir is I Blame Dennis Hopper.
ADVERTISING: Wouldn’t Don Draper Be Proud
This ad is, in our humble estimation, brilliant for at least four reasons. 1. The sly meta narrative — all the world is an ultravivid post-apocalyptic first person shooter simulacrum and we are all merely players — meta-narrated with unshakeable savoir faire by Michael B. Jordan, despite shit blowing up all around him. “What, y’all don’t know about Kevin?” he asks, like we didn’t just show up. Kevin is the doughy ginger manboy robot-slayer fucking shit up real good in the commercial. He is a stand-in for you and me or anyone else who will play the game. 2. The […]
LISTEN: Steve Albini Vs. Marc Maron
Photo by BOB BERT WTF: Steve Albini had his hands and fingers on the mixing board for some of the greatest albums ever, like Nirvana’s In Utero and the Pixies’ Surfer Rosa. But don’t call Steve a producer. He hates that. As Steve tells Marc, he sees himself as an audio engineer and a musician with his own bands, not as someone who should take credit for other people’s albums. MORE PHAWKER: The best part is when Maron has to pause the interview to go outside and ask his neighbor to stop using his leaf blower.
THE BEATLES: A Day In The Life
Proto-rock video from 1967, filmed largely at Abbey Road while recording a somewhat befuddled orchestra going supernova. Cameos by Jagger, Richards, Marianne Faithfull and Donovan. Everyone looks high.
CONTEST: Win Tix To See Joshua Radin
Joshua Radin is to folk what John Mayer is to blues: virtuosity forever in search of authenticity. His music is Zach Braff-approved Lexapro for the ears and it’s been all over TV for the last near-decade: Scrubs, Grey’s Anatomy, Brothers and Sisters, American Idol, Cougar Town, One Tree Hill, House M.D. And no wonder. His early albums sound like a one-man Simon & Garfunkel, the more recent albums sound like Joshua Radin. He’s the go-to guy when you can’t afford “Time Of Your Life” for your Big Feels this-means-time-has-passed montage, filmed in bittersweet slow motion. I mean, he sang […]
Q&A With Jill Marie Jones, Star Of Ash Vs. Evil Dead
BY SHARNITA MIDGETT Evil Dead fans rejoice because more of the beloved horror-comedy franchise’s patented zany gorefests is coming to a small screen near you on October 31st when a new sitcom created (along with Bruce Campbell) directed by Sam Raimi called Ash Vs Evil Dead premiers on Starz. The show features Bruce Campbell reprising his role as Ash Williams, the goofy anti-hero/chief zombie-slayer of the Evil Dead series as a war vet suffering PTSD and survivor’s guilt who gets sucked back into the war against Evil. Thank god he still has his chainsaw arm, and a new sidekick […]
LIZZO: Ain’t I
THE FADER: Detroit-born and Minneapolis-based artist Lizzo has been making waves locally for years, but in the past year the self-described “wanton rapper” has broken onto the national stage. Her upcoming album Big GRRRL Small World will take on racism, feminism, and body image. And with with features from Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Doomtree’s Lazerbeak, we can be sure that the project will have a unique flavor. Today she premieres “Ain’t I,” the second single off the album. MORE ________________ G JONES & BLEEP BLOOP: Mind (Lunice Remix) Referred to by Zane Lowe as simply “MAD,” the Lunice remix […]
HUNGER GAMES: A Q&A With Carrie Brownstein
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Some say Sleater-Kinney is/was the Nirvana of Riot Grrl, that early ‘90s punk-rawk insurrection of punk poetesses and feminist studies majors storming the ramparts of indie-rock armed with little more than jagged guitars, spastic rhythms, thrift store chic, and the radical notion that feminism means women are people, too. And that goes double for rock n’ roll. Carrie Brownstein would probably just say that Sleater-Kinney was the Sleater-Kinney of Riot Grrl, which is more or less the takeaway from Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl, her fascinating and revealing new memoir about the chaos and confusion of […]