The Ornithopter by Arthur Radebaugh BY TODD KIMMEL The 90s in Old City were some wild years, but wild like riding a bucking bronco drunk while laughing maniacally and somehow magically staying in the saddle, not wild like driving someone into the Badlands to get straight. It was funny, and central to that neighborhood specific comedy was my company, Mambo Movers. Very Peter Pan and The Lost Boys with skateboards and guitars, directed by Mel Brooks and Wim Wenders. Loft spaces were shockingly cheap, and we had the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors of 312 Market for less than $500 […]
WORTH REPEATING: The Ghost Writer
NEW YORK MAGAZINE: When I was a sophomore in college, I took a creative-nonfiction workshop and met a girl who was everything I wasn’t. The point of the class was to learn to write your own story, but from the moment we met, I focused instead on helping her tell her own, first in notes after workshop, then later editing her Instagram captions and co-writing a book proposal she sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. It seems obvious now, the way the story would end, but when I first met Caroline Calloway, all I saw was the beginning […]
INCOMING: Return Of The Red-Headed Stranger
A man who needs no last name, Willie is to Country what Neil is to rock: the Buddha, bestowing laid-back grace on all those who bask in his benevolent THC-tinged glow. Born April 30, 1933, in Abbott, Texas, Nelson begins writing songs at age seven. After serving briefly in the Air Force during the Korean War and studying agriculture at Baylor University, Nelson moves through a series of luckless, low-paying career changes–disc jockey; door-to-door vacuum and encyclopedia salesman. By 1958, in dire financial straits and married with children, Nelson is forced to sell his songs for cheap (“Night Life,” later […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When U Can’t
FRESH AIR: During the early period of the Cold War, the CIA became convinced that communists had discovered a drug or technique that would allow them to control human minds. In response, the CIA began its own secret program, called MK-ULTRA, to search for a mind-control drug that could be weaponized against enemies. MK-ULTRA, which operated from the 1950s until the early ’60s, was created and run by a chemist named Sidney Gottlieb. Journalist Stephen Kinzer, who spent several years investigating the program, calls the operation the “most sustained search in history for techniques of mind control.” Some of […]
POND: Sixteen Days
Pond — the circa now Australian psych-pranksters whose memberships Venn Diagrams with Tame Impala, NOT the early 90s Portlandian Sub Pop grunge-titan-shoulda-beens, although there is some haircut similarities — raises more questions than it ever answers. Chief among those questions is not ‘Are these guys high?’ instead it’s ‘How goddamn high are these people?’ ‘Is that even safe?’ ‘Should we tell someone?’ and lastly, ‘What about all the chromosonal damage?’ The answer to these questions in order of appearance: Higher than an entire Phish concert parking lotful of nitrous balloon huffers, fuck no, don’t bother everyone already knows, and the […]
Q&A: Tigers Are Not Afraid Director Issa Lopez
Photo by Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times BY DAN TABOR FILM CRITIC Tigers Are Not Afraid, which hits Philadelphia theaters next week, is a stunningly phantasmagorical Mexican horror/fantasy flick about a group of children who create a morose fairytale world to help cope with/explain the murder of their parents at the hands of the bloodthirsty drug cartels. This premise of abandoned Mexican children struggling to find hope in a world without is shockingly more relevant today than it was when I originally got to see it on the festival circuit back in 2017. The highest compliment I can […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When U Can’t
FRESH AIR: Vice President Mike Pence, Attorney General William Barr, Saudi lobbyists, foreign government officials are among the people who have booked rooms or ballrooms at Trump Hotels, raising serious ethical questions. We’re going to talk about Trump family businesses and related questions of conflict of interest with Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold, who has been focusing on those issues. His reporting on Donald Trump’s personal charitable foundation revealed that Trump used the foundation for personal and political profit. That reporting led New York’s attorney general to sue the charity, Trump and his three oldest children, alleging persistent illegal […]
INCOMING: The Importance Of Being Morrissey
For the deeply devoted—and they are legion—there are but two periods in the history of mankind: The time Before Smiths and the time After Smiths. The years B.S. ended in Manchester one May afternoon in 1982, when Johnny Marr—his rockabilly quiff stacked high and retro, Brando-esque Levis cuffed just right—ambled up to 384 Kings Road and knocked on the door. One Steven Patrick Morrissey, unemployable bookworm homebody, who at the ripe old age of 22 was beginning to get the distinct feeling that life had passed him by, answered the door. Marr did not bother with the inane niceties […]
BEING THERE: Vampire Weekend @ The Mann
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Vampire Weekend, what a silly name for a band. Named after a short film Ezra Koenig (lead singer and guitarist) made in college, it took me a while for these guys to grow on me because of their title. New bands, take note- the name of your band is important. Hot off the release of their fourth album Father Of The Bride, Vampire Weekend has made a successful comeback after a six year hiatus and are now embarking on their first tour in about as long. Last night, the crowd braved the threat of hellacious rain […]
THE MIDNIGHT RAMBLERS: Q&A W/ Acclaimed Guitarist Larry Campbell & Singer Teresa Williams
BY JONATHAN VALANIA To the average man (or woman) on the street, the names Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams might not mean much — not yet anyway. But to anyone who keeps an ear to the ground when it comes to American music — alt-country, No Depression, roots-rock, whatever you want to call it — they are something approaching Nashville royalty and widely regarded as The First Couple of Americana. In addition to being one half of the Larry Campbell/Charlie Sexton guitar trust in Bob Dylan’s Neverending Tour band during its 1997-2004 annus mirabilis, Campbell has played on recordings […]
LISTEN LIKE THIEVES: Guerilla Toss “Plants”
What Would The Odd Do? by Guerilla Toss It’s rare for me to find a band that I absolutely adore from the moment I first discover them, but such is the case with Guerilla Toss, a New York-based outfit whose music may be appropriately, though inconclusively, described as art rock. Their tunes find themselves on an acid-soaked spectrum that splices demented moshpit ragers with extraterrestrial funk jams, accounting for everything found in-between and bookending. Their sound advances in prospect and aim with each addition to their already broad discography, though the 2017 record GT Ultra represents a definite shift away […]
TRAILER: The Between Two Ferns Movie
ROLLING STONE: Between Two Ferns: The Movie will feature an exhaustive list of cameos by Peter Dinklage, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Rudd, Tiffany Haddish, Brie Larson, Keanu Reeves, Jon Hamm, David Letterman, Jason Schwartzman, Adam Scott, John Cho, Chance the Rapper, Rashida Jones, Hailee Steinfeld, John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Tessa Thompson and more. The film is directed by Between Two Ferns co-creator Scott Aukerman from a script by Aukerman and Galifianakis. Premiers September 20th on Netflix. MORE
BEING THERE: Made In America 2019
Travis Scott @ Made In America by ALEX PATERSON-JONES Day one began with Philly’s own 99 neighbors. Although everyone comes to Made in America to go crazy, it is not an easy crowd to win over especially if they have never heard of you. 99 neighbors is a four person rap group took on the challenge and had the crowd jumping and singing songs they didn’t know the lyrics to. Grace Carter, an R&B artist from London, followed at Liberty Stage with her debut American festival performance. Shooting the show means you only get to stay for the first three […]