Illustration by MARIO PIPERNI BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Senator Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz returned to Texas recently to pick up a clean white sheet and rummage for more dry timbers and kerosene. Having been run out of Washington with pointed hat in hand, it must have felt especially good to be welcomed home by some 600 of his crimson-naped faithful all decked out in their finest Sunday-go-to-meeting stars and bars. Okay, I’ll come clean. I detest Ted Cruz, just as I detest all political deceivers, thieves, racists, bigots, hypocrites and phonies. But because Cruz has earned himself such a special […]
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Free Bird
The Adopt a Turkey Project, which gives people the opportunity to sponsor one of the rescued birds who reside at the group’s shelters in New York and California, has provided care for more than 1,000 rescued turkeys over the last 25 years. For a one-time donation of just $30, adopters receive a special adoption certificate complete with color photo and fun details about their new adopted turkey friend. Turkeys are, in fact, intelligent and social animals, who form lifelong bonds and possess unique abilities to communicate with one another. Just as “Free Birds” brings to life the personalities of […]
OPERATION JUST CAUSE: Patti Smith + Weathervane Music = Shaking Through Vol. 5
Artwork by SHEPARD FAIREY BRIAN MCTEAR: It is tough to contain our excitement…. Weathervane Music is honored to have received a generous package of signed items from the legendary punk icon herself, Patti Smith! This singular item is set “FOR REVERSE AUCTION”. Every day between now and when it is claimed, this package will drop by $50! Don’t let it get away from you! This collection includes: 1 signed copy – Patti Smith “Just Kids” Patti’s National Book Award Winning book 1 signed copy – Patti Smith “Complete 1975 – 2006” A complete collection of Patti’s lyrics, reflections and notes […]
Win Tix To See Fred Armisen @ Underground Arts
We have come here today to hand out lollipops and tickets to see Fred Armisen/Ian Rubbish @ Underground Arts on Thursday November 14th — and we’re all out of lollipops. To qualify, all you have to do is sign up for our mailing list (see right, below the masthead). Trust us, this is something you want to do. In addition to breaking news alerts and Phawker updates, you also get advanced warning about groovy concert ticket giveaways and other free swag opportunities like this one! After signing up, send us an email at FEED@PHAWKER.COM telling us a much, with […]
SKYFALL: Scientists Say The Most Powerful Storm On Record Was Aggravated By Global Warming
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Extreme storm events such as super typhoon Haiyan, which wreaked havoc in the Philippines on Friday, are more likely in the future as the build-up of greenhouse gases warms the planet, scientists say. Winds from typhoon Haiyan were estimated to have been 314km/h or higher when the monster storm made landfall on the Philippine island of Samar. That speed, if confirmed, would make it the strongest storm on record, exceeding hurricane Camille, which hit Mississippi in the US in 1969, according to US meteorologist Jeff Masters’ WunderBlog. Australian scientists say gauging the intensity of the storm […]
SIDEWALKING: Vertigo
12th & Chestnut, 12:01 AM Wed. by @DAMONABNORMAL
TONIGHT: The Second Coming Of MBV
PREVIOUSLY: Twenty-two years after the release of Loveless, we’d come to believe Jesus would come back before My Bloody Valentine. Never thought we would occasion to type these words: HERE is the new My Bloody Valentine album. INSTA-REVIEW: Opening trio of wall-of-noise tracks are stunning and deathless (and progress-less, too) but the bottom kinda falls out midway (tracks 4-6) when they peel back the wall of noise to reveal that there ain’t that much there there. But it picks up again with a pretty fucking ass-kicking three-song homestretch. “In Another Way” and especially “Nothing Is” rock harder than should […]
BEING THERE: Paramore & Metric In Camden
Photo by PETE TROSHAK A packed house witnessed an impressive double bill on Friday night in Camden. Metric came first, performing a short laser focused set of their best. Emily Haines alternated between jamming away at a bank of synthesizers and stomping around the stage wailing into a gold mic as the band delivered eight of their best songs. Highlights were a beautiful, ethereal “Breathing Underwater” and a stadium rocking “Gold Guns Girls.” Next came Paramore who are touring in support of their critically and commercially successful self-titled album produced by bad-ass bass player/Beck collaborator Justin Meldal-Johnsen. The band were […]
CINEMA: My Blue Heaven
BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR (2013, Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, 179 minutes, France) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC A bracingly intimate look at the debilitating flames of first love, Blue is the Warmest Color captures the gravitational force of young passion when it becomes all-consuming. At three hours long, the winner of last year’s Palm d’Or immerses us so deeply into the world of the introverted Adele that at film’s end she feels like a person we know rather then a character we merely observed. The performances that Tunisian-French director Abdellatif Kechiche capture from his two female leads exude such […]
TONIGHT: Get Yer Far Out Fangtooth On
MAGNET MAGAZINE presents a free in-store AKA MUSIC with Philly’s Farout Fangtooth — possibly the best named band in rock n’ roll — to celebrate the release of their new album Borrowed Time on Siltbreeze Records. MAGNET editors Eric Miller and Andrew Fonzarelli Bonazelli be handing out free beer and copies of the magazine and manning the dunking booth. Starts at 7:30. FAR-OUT FANGTOOTH – “BEYOND YOUR BONES” (OFFICIAL VIDEO) from Robert Orlowski on Vimeo.
BEING THERE: Kate Nash @ Union Transfer
Photo by PETE TROSHAK In 2011 British singer Kate Nash was dropped by her record label. She then started her own label and changed up her style, ditching her keyboard and melding her cheeky pop confections with a more aggressive almost punk-like musical style. If her impressive show last night at the Union Transfer is any indication, Nash made the right move. She took the stage wearing a white bass with the name of punk band FIDLAR scrawled on it, joined by an all-girl backing band of two guitarists and a drummer. Nash delivered some rumbling bass notes and the […]
BEING THERE: The Black Lips @ First Unitarian
Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ As a Black Lips newbie assigned to review this show, I thought I’d get a crash course to all things Black and Lips by attending the Wednesday night Ritz 5 screening of their Middle East tour documentary Kids Like You And Me. The film documents the bands 2012 tour of places rife with things Americans fear most: radical Islamist protests, the threat of terrorism, and perhaps most frightening of all, People Who Aren’t Americans. The noble purpose of the tour was to find common ground and connect with the youth of places like Egypt. What […]