Maximum-R&B-garage-punk-shake-bamalama from this tender-aged (15-17) Irish four piece will remind you why you still love rock n’ roll. Their debut EP our January 21st on Photo Finish Records. The kids are alright. The kids are definitely alright. MORE
WORD UP: It Takes A Village To Raze A Drug Dealer
INQUIRER: The young men had been summoned to the ornate room in City Hall because police had determined that they were the ones most likely to shoot or be shot. After months of intelligence huddles, police and prosecutors had identified the 45 South Philadelphia corner boys who shuffled into the courtroom that spring morning as “impact players” – possible triggermen – in violent street crews. Flanking the lectern were neighbors, outreach workers, and city and federal law enforcement officials, including Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey and District Attorney Seth Williams. They had rehearsed their message as part of a […]
BECK: Devil’s Haircut
Because you need a trim.
CHEYNEYCARE: Task Force Report Condemns Routine Doctor Participation In CIA Torture & Abuse
THE GUARDIAN: Doctors and psychologists working for the US military violated the ethical codes of their profession under instruction from the defence department and the CIA to become involved in the torture and degrading treatment of suspected terrorists, an investigation has concluded. The report of the Taskforce on Preserving Medical Professionalism in National Security Detention Centres concludes that after 9/11, health professionals working with the military and intelligence services “designed and participated in cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment and torture of detainees”. Medical professionals were in effect told that their ethical mantra “first do no harm” did not apply, […]
CINEMA: Day Of The Dead
BY HERB GREENE HORTICULTURE EDITOR Oregon was weird long before the Grateful Dead trucked up there in August of ’72 to play it’s legendary concert at the Old Renaissance Faire Grounds near Eugene. It was that same freak-nurturing frontier where a young Ken Kesey roamed and grazed before going on to write One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and later, as head administrator of the Acid Tests, foment the cultural upheaval that defined the era that Time-Warner has branded and sold as “The Sixties” a million times over. The concert, widely-regarded by most fans as the band’s greatest ever, […]
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Built To Spill @ UT
“Spill it”, screamed the extremely-inebriated-backwards-Phillies-cap-wearing young man standing next to me, while he and his buddies danced along like swerving drunk-driven cars to the music of one Built to Spill, still one of the finest beard-rock bands to crawl out of the lonesome crowded west. I always thought they were the best-named band in indie-rock — because if nothing else, Doug Martsch and co. were built to spill their guts in a blaze of six string glory. Last night, after 20 years of fandom, I finally got to see them live. These 40something dudes had more energy than most […]
PUDDLES THE CLOWN: Royals
Puddles, everyone’s favorite 7 ft. clown with the Tom Jones pipes, covering Lourde’s “Royals.”
CINEMA: Emancipation Proclamation
12 YEARS A SLAVE (2013, directed by Steve McQueen, 134 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Just the mention of the title 12 Years A Slave has elicited groans when brought up in conversation; either the concept is too weighty, people feel the subject has been covered or they just can’t deal with the reality of American chattel slavery. Beyond the historical guilt and other political ramifications, British director Steve McQueen’s unforgettable exploration of the plantation life is one hell of a character study and a once in a lifetime role for one of our era’s most gifted […]
KURT VILE & SORE EROS: Jamaica Plane
This is the title track from Kurt Vile and Sore Eros’ forthcoming EP Jamaica Plane. Kurt Vile and Robert Robinson were introduced to each other back in 2001 by a mutual friend because they were born on the same day (January 3,1980), and by the following year they had begun recording these recently unearthed and previously unreleased tracks. As one of the most celebrated American songwriters of today, now on his fifth studio album recently released to widespread international acclaim, Kurt Vile really needs no introduction (well he does have his own day in Philadelphia). Collaborator and long-time friend […]
THE GREATEST WES ANDERSON SATIRE EVER MADE: The Midnight Coterie Of Sinister Intruders
Fucking GENIUS! Anyone who thinks SNL isn’t funnier now than it ever was — yes even funnier than the vanuted The Golden Age of SNL, much funnier — isn’t actually watching it. PREVIOUSLY: The Hotel Wes Anderson
STORYCORPS: You Will Laugh, You Will Cry & In The End You Will Remember Why You Are Alive
God bless, StoryCorp and all who sail on her. It’s like a wedding I can’t stop going to and crying at. Sometimes it’s happy, sometimes it sad. Often it’s both. So much media content these days seems designed to strip away our humanity. StoryCorp is about re-connecting us to it. May it live long and prosper.
WORTH REPEATING: DDOSing Is Free Speech
THE GUARDIAN: There is no weapon on the planet more powerful than speech. In recent years, the digital revolution has led to new and unique ways for people to express themselves, and speech has flourished around the world, bringing it closer together. As a lawyer and as someone who promotes the advancement of individual liberties, I was fascinated by the advent of online speech, which was quickly followed by the advent of online protest. While affixing your e-signature to an online petition is a new and somewhat direct way to “petition your government for a redress of grievances”, I […]
VELVET UNDERGROUND: Sunday Morning
The sound of redemption, and Sunday morning coming down. Part of what made VU so great is that they could do heaven and hell as good, if not better, than anyone who specialized in one or the other. As Walt Whitman so famously said of the Velvet Underground, “They contain multitudes.”