If Eraserhead was an old timey sea chantey. Coming October 18th from Robert Eggers, the director of The Witch. Starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattison.
How Jefferson University’s Chance To Be A World Leader In Marijuana Research Went Up In Smoke
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: When Charles Pollack created a marijuana research center in 2016 at Thomas Jefferson University, his idea was considered visionary. It was a chance to fashion Philadelphia into a global hub for marijuana education and innovation, and would help drive Pennsylvania’s ambitions to become the “Silicon Valley” of cannabis research. Three years later, the center is in shambles. Pollack, the founder, was forced to resign in April after he self-reported that he had sexually harassed a female subordinate. He had sent her amorous emails and slipped notes under her door, overwhelming her with unwanted attention, according to documents […]
VIAGRA BOYS: Sports
You don’t need to have erectile dysfunction or a crippling amphetamine addiction to loathe the oppressive and oversaturated infatuation with all things sports-related in pop culture today. Luckily, the Swedish post-punk outfit aptly named Viagra Boys has already done it with their summer 2018 single “Sports.” What’s lost in the depths of flaccidity and pill-popping is recovered as a concoction of equal parts cocaine and malt liquor; a hungover voice for absurdity and postmodernism. What may very well be the ramblings of a stimhead 36 hours deep into a binge as he attempts to achieve sleep via blackout could just […]
CINEMA: Always Is Always Forever
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read this until after you see the film if you are one of those people who likes to go in with a blank slate. The following is the full monty. BY DAN TABOR AND JONATHAN VALANIA Once Upon A Time In Hollywood , Quentin Tarantino’s Manson-adjacent Hollywood hippie fantasia, is a fuckin’ hoot — let’s just make that clear up front. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton, who is kind of an amalgam of Tab Hunter, Fabian, Ty Harden and James Garner. You know, basically your typical ‘50s handsome leading he-man with a big […]
BEING THERE: The Rolling Stones @ The Linc
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Getting old is not for pussies. But let us not kid ourselves, there is no shame in living a long life, especially if you are a man of wealth and taste. By design, you don’t realize this until you get there but growing old is the best revenge. It gives you the license to finally admit to yourself just how silly and absurd you have been lo these many years. And that, my friends, is freedom. The Rolling Stones are as old as the devil — maybe older. They’ve been around for a long long year […]
CINEMA: Paint It Black
EDITOR’S NOTE: To mark the eighth anniversary of Amy Winehouse’s criminally premature passing on July 23rd, 2011, we’re reposting our review of Asif Kapadia’s heartbreaking 2015 documentary, Amy. AMY (2015, directed by Asif Kapadia, 128 minutes, USA) BY JONATHAN VALANIA The fallen jazz singer Amy Winehouse was a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. The new documentary Amy, which maps with the clarity of hindsight Winehouse’s fairly meteoric rise and precipitous demise, is not far behind. Directed by Asif Kapadia (Senna), Amy arrives barely four years after her ridiculously premature death at the age of 27 from a combination of […]
Q&A: Colonel Buzz Aldrin, The Man On The Moon
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following Q&A with astronaut Buzz Aldrin originally published on April 7th, 2016. We are reprising it today commemorate the 50th anniversary of humankind walking on the moon. BY JONATHAN VALANIA How many people get to meet their childhood heroes? Not many. But journalists, if they play their cards right, get to do it all the time. At least I have: Tom Waits, John Cale, Shatner, Brian Wilson, Captain Kangaroo. Add to the list Apollo 11 astronaut/boyhood hero Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon (and the first to take a pee on it). […]
BEING THERE: Mountain Goats @ Union Transfer
by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Woe betide the naysaying snickerer that mistakes indie legends The Mountain Goats for folky meanderers. Live, John Darnielle and co. invest their goat music with a visceral immediacy and all-in emotionalism that, even in its moments of accidental grace and pin-drop quietude, utterly commands the collective attention of the room, which was pretty packed Friday night at Union Transfer for the first of a two-night stand. Touring the new album In League With Dragons (2019), Darnielle curated a set list that featured new songs, a solo section with deep cuts from Nothing For Juice (1996), and crowd […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: The Imperial Wizard Prez
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY The Feces in Chief hosts a gathering of some 200 social media bigots at the nation’s house and America’s so-called “news” disseminators barely raise a whimper! Why? Because they’re too goddamn busy filling their headlines and newscasts with House Dem internecine warfare, divisions and discontent, mostly centered around Nancy Pelosi and the belligerence of a few fellow House members. You know what? I’ve changed my mind. I no longer give a shit–or even a teeny weeny iota–who the Democrats choose as their standard bearers. I’ll support financially and physically whoever they select so long as […]
BUTTHOLE SURFERS WEEK: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Motherf*cking Butthole Surfers But Weren’t Sure It Was Even Legal To Ask
EDITOR’S NOTE: To mark the auspicious occasion of infamous Butthole Surfers frontman Gibby Haynes performing choice selections from the Surfers skidmarked back catalog with the kids from The Paul Green Rock Academy at Connie’s Ric Rac on Friday and Saturday (July 19th and 20th), we are officially declaring this Butthole Surfers Week here at Phawker industries. We will be re-posting choice nuggets of Butthole Surfers jetsam and effluvia that has run on the site over the years, culminating with our brand spanking new no-holes-barred Q&A with Gibby on Thursday. Look for it on a Phawker near you. In the […]
INCOMING: The Locust Abortion Technician Live
At Connie’s Ric Rac this Friday and Saturday!
INCOMING: Destroy Your Safe And Happy Lives!
Legendary British punk/country/folk/post-whatever vets The Mekons, in the midst of a rare full-band tour, play Johnny Brenda’s on Thursday July 18th in support of their fresh-from-the-oven new album, Deserted. Mekons mainman/cult leader/lovable madman (and visionary painter) Jon Langford said of the album’s inspirations: “The idea was to go to a brand new studio our bassist the Baron had set up just outside the Joshua Tree national park in Yucca Valley CA and see what happened – we were in the middle of a hectic tour and had been attempting to write material first by email and then in the […]
TONITE: Orchestral Manuevers In The Dark
EDITOR’S NOTE: I wrote this after seeing ELO at the Wells Fargo Center last summer. They return to the Wells Fargo Center on tonight, with George Harrison’s son Dhani in tow. The year is 1977. Eleven-year-old me is sitting on my best friend’s bunk bed listening to his older brother’s copy of Electric Light Orchestra’s Out Of The Blue on the Hi-Fi, staring at the neon starburst-colored spaceship on the gatefold sleeve which, he informed me, was used to clean your weed on. Being 11 I had no earthly idea why somebody would collect weeds nor why they would […]