Photo by RORY MCGLASSON Less than hours 24 hours after wowing fans at the WXPN-hosted Non-Commvention at World Cafe Live on Thursday night, Sir Tom Jones was at back behind the mic for a sold out “Evening With Tom Jones” show at the TLA. The 72-year-old legend, with the one-of-a-king baritone voice, treated Philadelphians to an intimate set of deep-cut covers — John Lee Hooker, Bob Dylan, Jerry Lee Lewis — from his last two records: 2010’s Praise And Blame and the just-released Spirit In The Room. The new album is a Johnny Cash/Rick Rubin-style cover album collaboration with Kings of […]
CINEMA: Remain In The Light
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (2013, directed by J.J. Abrams, 132 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC The sequel to the J.J. Abrams 2009 Star Trek movie is not lacking in entertainment value. It’s as spectacular on screen as only a couple hundred million dollars can be but sad to say, it isn’t much of a movie. Never being more than a casual fan of the ubiquitous 2009 Paramount reboot, it is not quite sacrilege I feel regarding Abrams re-imagining of Roddenberry’s original series. Instead, it is disappointment at the Abrams’ Trek being so undistinguished on its own, its power […]
BEING THERE: Josh Ritter @ The Troc
Photo by RORY MCGLASSON The light turned from red to a deep blue when Josh Ritter took the stage and walked up to the mic. Supple, genuine and totally alone, he almost stuttered his first words to Philadelphians: “We’re gonna’ leave it all here.” Philadelphia was not Josh Ritter& the Royal City Band’s last tour city, but it was the city where Ritter’s parents fell in love. Undoubtedly, the talented singer/songwriter is looking back in admiration on his parents’ marriage, which represents a longer-lasting union the one he and his ex-wife, singer/songwriter Dawn Landes, shared. That was just two years […]
TONITE: Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat I Love You
Tom Jones plays the TLA tonight. Tom Jones is an icon. He has lungs of fine Corinthian leather. He’s been bringing sexy back since BEFORE your parents were born. And he still is. Respect must be paid. Pass the Asti Spumante and bring some throwing panties.
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Q&A With Foxygen, The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic
Photo by PETE TROSHAK Let’s not kid ourselves, Foxygen‘s irresistible We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace And Magic — think The Royal Tenenbaums as a twee, technicolor indie-rock album — is hands down the catchiest album of 2013 thus far. No one else need apply. In fact, nobody needs to release another album this year. Not even kidding. When I listen to it, I feel like one of the Magi following the star that will lead us all to the manger. Go tell it on the mountain. Bring frankincense and myrrh. They play at World Cafe Live tonight […]
CONTEST: Win Tix To See Josh Ritter @ The Troc
We have a pair of tix to see Josh Ritter, aka Americana’s James Taylor/Paul Simon, and his Royal City Band at the Troc on Thursday to some lucky Phawker reader. Why? Because we’re trippin’ balls right now and just realized that Bill Hicks was totally right when he said “all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.” So why pay for Josh Ritter tickets if you don’t have to? […]
SIDEWALKING: Puff Daddy
Edgar Campbell III and Edgar Campbell Jr. outside Sheet Metal Local 19 Union Hall, Monday, by RORY MCGLASSON
BACON NATION: Mysterious Pig Shit Explosions Blowing Up Hog Farms In The Midwest
Photo by JEFF FUSCO MOTHER JONES: Starting in about 2009, in the pits that capture manure under factory-scale hog farms, a gray, bubbly substance began appearing at the surface of the fecal soup. The problem is menacing: As manure breaks down, it emits toxic gases like hydrogen sulfide and flammable ones like methane, and trapping these noxious fumes under a layer of foam can lead to sudden, disastrous releases and even explosions. According to a 2012 report from the University of Minnesota, by September 2011, the foam had “caused about a half-dozen explosions in the upper Midwest…one explosion destroyed a […]
Last Call For The Greatest Surrealist Artifact Since Salvador Dali Melted Time & Covered It In Ants
Photo by JEFF FUSCO ASSOCIATED PRESS: This time next week, perhaps the most famous symbol of Superstorm Sandy’s devastation at the Jersey shore will be gone. Demolition work is to start Tuesday on the remnants of the Jet Star, the roller coaster that plunged off an amusement pier in Seaside Heights during the Oct. 29 storm. Images of the coaster in the water have appeared hundreds of times in the media and been used to help sell memorabilia to raise money for storm victims. It also continues to draw large crowds to the Seaside Heights boardwalk, which remains under reconstruction. […]
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” — BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
THE ATLANTIC: The bombshell disclosure that the Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of Associated Press reporters and editors could be dramatic enough to move even the phlegmatic Obama administration to action. Three concurrent scandals or controversies are just too many. Could that mean we will be bidding farewell soon to Attorney General Eric Holder? MORE THE HILL: As someone who has spent much of his adult life in politics and journalism, I find the action by the Department of Justice in targeting The Associated Press and its reporters as utterly reprehensible and crying out for […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR In the film Frances Ha, Greta Gerwig stars as the title character, a 27-year-old living a good but not particularly successful post-college life in New York City. Frances becomes unmoored, though, when her best friend decides to move out of the apartment they share and move on with her own independent life. It’s a turning point Gerwig says is a common experience for many young people who’ve struggled in the years after college, when adolescence is lingering and adulthood has yet to fully coalesce. That period, however, must end — and it’s that transition the movie explores. “There’s […]
TEASER: Soderbergh’s Behind The Candelabra
This is looking like the gay Boogie Nights.
City Settles With Woman Punched Out By Cop For $75K AND The Cop Will Likely Get His Job Back
NEWSWORKS: The City of Philadelphia has settled a civil suit brought by a woman who was struck by a Philadelphia police officer after last year’s Puerto Rican Day Parade. In what became a viral video, Lt. Jonathan Josey is seen striking Aida Guzman during a street party in North Philadelphia. Guzman filed the civil suit against the city after Josey, a veteran officer, was acquitted on simple assault charges. The city agreed to a $75,000 settlement on Friday. John McGrody, vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said the union is not talking either. Following Josey’s acquittal, McGrody called […]