Artwork by WRIGHT SENARES BY CHRIS MCCARRY With a field of candidates seeking to succeed a term-limited mayor, the Democratic National Convention on it’s way here in 2016, and the ongoing slugfest over our city’s school system, political reporters are going to be wind-sprinting from river to river to cover it all—and Phawker’s throwing its hat into the ring as well. For the next three months we’ll be covering what is sure to be the most entertaining City Council race of the year: the 2nd District contest between incumbent Kenyatta Johnson and real-estate developer Ori Feibush. We’ll start today with […]
BEING THERE: Sleater-Kinney @ Union Transfer
Photo by PETE TROSHAK Last nght, Sleater-Kinney — not seen in these parts since July 31st, 2006 — staged a triumphant return to Philadelphia with a way-sold out show at Union Transfer in support of their wonderful new album, No Cities to Love. Minneapolis hip hop artist Lizzo jolted the crowd awake during a lengthy opening set, at one point throwing bags of cookies out in the crowd while performing her song “Batches and Cookies.” Sleater-Kinney hit the stage shortly after 10pm, opening with raucous renditions of “Price Tag” and “Fangless”, the two opening tracks off of No Cities to […]
COMMENTARY: Un-American Exceptionalism
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Dear Kyle Smith: I just finished reading your recent mocking (or was it simply racist) article detailing the President’s and your, shall we say, “competing” concepts of American “exceptionalism.” Anyway, Kyle, let’s get going and see what we can do about “leveling the playing field” a bit by way of a little mockery from the “port” side of America’s great racialism divide, if you get my drift. For openers, I feel compelled to inform you that in addition to reading your article, I also boned up on your schooling, and right off the bat I’m very concerned […]
WORTH REPEATING: Let Us Now Praise Tusk
NEW YORK TIMES: Everything about the album is ridiculous, from its length (20 songs, 72 minutes) to its sleeve art (a visual distillation of the precise moment at which the 1970s turned into the 1980s) to its title (the word “tusk,” among the band’s male members, was slang for the male member; when Stevie Nicks heard that this would be the album’s title, she threatened to quit the band). The hero (or villain) of “Tusk,” the organizing intelligence behind everything, was Lindsey Buckingham. He was less the band’s guitarist than a one-man band whose instruments happened to include all […]
MUST SEE TV: Dad, It’s Just ISIS
SLATE: The [Fifty Shades Of Grey] actress put that faux-innocent persona to good use while hosting SNL this week, especially in a short, controversial sketch that saw her play the departing daughter of Taran Killam. The bit starts as a saccharine spoof of a Toyota Camry commercial, but it becomes clear that Johnson isn’t leaving for college, or the U.S. army, when a truck pulls up mounted with machine guns and a militant Kyle Mooney. But don’t worry! As Johnson notes, “it’s just ISIS.” MORE
BEING THERE: Moosh & Twist @ The TLA
Photo by DYLAN LONG Hometown heroes DeQuincy Coleman McRae (Moosh, right) and Oliver Feighan (Twist, left) have gone from local rappers/Friends Select alums to globe-trotting recording artists who collaborate with the likes of Hoodie Allen. Friday night at the TLA kicked off with South-Philly up-and-comer Major Van Winkle and the Philly-bred live hip-hop act Ground Up, who recently sold out the Union Transfer with their vibrant-yet-dirty bars & heavy hitting drums. At half past 10, OCD: Moosh & Twist took the stage and unleashed their heavy and intricate bars, mixing in oldies — “Hold It Down,” “Take Me Back” and […]
RIP: Leonard Nimoy, Socratic Logician, Dead @ 83
Artwork by JADAMFOX NEW YORK TIMES: Leonard Nimoy, the sonorous, gaunt-faced actor who won a worshipful global following as Mr. Spock, the resolutely logical human-alien first officer of the Starship Enterprise in the television and movie juggernaut “Star Trek,” died on Friday morning at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He was 83. His artistic pursuits — poetry, photography and music in addition to acting — ranged far beyond the United Federation of Planets, but it was as Mr. Spock that Mr. Nimoy became a folk hero, bringing to life one of the most indelible characters […]
BEING THERE: Ariel Pink @ Union Transfer
Photo by MARY LYNN DOMGINUEZ Tuesday night at Union Transfer, concertgoers in tacky plastic sunglasses and obnoxiously puffy fur coats awaited sunny pop salvation from their favorite wacky-rock idol. Though temperatures were below freezing outside, there was a hellish rise in temperature, glitter and lipstick graffiti when Ariel Pink and his ragtag five-piece band of sinners took the stage. You never quite know what you are going to get at an Ariel Pink concert. Typical sour antics at Ariel Pink concerts include: moody mid-show breakdowns, lost heads, and merciless 300-year sentences to the deepest, darkest dungeons doled out to naysayers […]
ON ASSIGNMENT: In The Lonesome Crowded West
Photo by PAT GRAHAM Heading out to Portlandia to talk to this guy for these guys. Then up to Seattle to talk to these guys for these guys. It’s a lot of guys. And a LOT of running around the Pac Northwest. As such, the pace of our updates schedule will slow for the time being. I’ll be back in the office March 1. Behave. RELATED: More than any other band, Modest Mouse represented the ascendency of indie rock at the turn of the millennium. True dyed-in-the-wool independent musicians, after years of touring and recording, in 2004, these indie darlings […]
THE SONICS: Bad Betty
The Sonics, Tacoma, WA garage-rock legends, will release their first studio album since 1967 on March 31st and will back it up with a proper tour. They play the TLA on April 12th (complete listing of tour dates after the jump). Recorded in “earth-shaking mono” by noted producer Jim Diamond of Ghetto Recorders at Soundhouse Studios in Seattle, “This Is The Sonics” reunites original members Jerry Roslie on keyboards and vocals, Larry Parypa on guitar and vocals and Rob Lind on sax, harmonica and vocals. They are backed by a powerhouse rhythm section, bassist Freddie Dennis (the Kingsmen, the Liverpool […]
What’s Funny About Police, Love & Understanding?
Illustration by ALEX FINE JEFF DEENEY FOR THE MARSHALL PROJECT: As a social worker, I’ve always been conflicted about the fact that I work in a law enforcement setting. My desk is situated among probation officers (POs), typically in baby blue polo style shirts with “PROBATION” written across the back. Officers from the court system’s warrant squad come and go, dressed in black commando gear, pants tucked into their boots so they don’t trip when they run (they’re basically always running after people.) I see guns in the office, all the time. It’s a controlled environment; people are searched on […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When U Can’t
FRESH AIR When David Remnick took the job as editor of The New Yorker in 1998, he learned quickly to make firm decisions about contentious stories. Just a few months into the position, Remnick called Si Newhouse, the magazine’s owner, to tell him about a piece he was running that was accusing “all kinds of high-level chicanery.” “I knew that there was this thing at the Washington Post called ‘the no surprises rule,’ which was that [editor] Ben [Bradlee] knew that he should call [publisher] Katharine Graham when there was something really major so she wasn’t surprised when she […]
NY TIMES: How One Stupid Tweet F*cked My Life
NEW YORK TIMES: As she made the long journey from New York to South Africa, to visit family during the holidays in 2013, Justine Sacco, 30 years old and the senior director of corporate communications at IAC, began tweeting acerbic little jokes about the indignities of travel. There was one about a fellow passenger on the flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport: “?‘Weird German Dude: You’re in First Class. It’s 2014. Get some deodorant.’ — Inner monologue as I inhale BO. Thank God for pharmaceuticals.” Then, during her layover at Heathrow: “Chilly — cucumber sandwiches — bad teeth. […]