At the Troc July 6th. Standby, we’ll be giving away a pair of tickets. PREVIOUSLY: Funny how Gen. X used to mercilessly mock its predecessors for endlessly revisiting the Woodstockian ecstasies of its youth, as if nostalgia was a generational affliction instead of a universal symptom of aging. Now that the gray-bearding of Gen. X has commenced, it has proven no less immune to the impulse to revisit the pleasures of its gloriously misspent youth than the Baby Boomers. Exhibit A is Guided By Voices’ sold out Hallway Of Shatterproof Glass Tour which reunites the so-called classic line-up of the […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Life’s Rich Pageant
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY So the other day I was, for reasons unclear, daydreaming about a Mitt Romney inaugural parade that celebrates the forces stacked against what’s left of the middle-class — or as Mitt might call it, The Envious Class — full-blown flag-waving plutocratic fanfare for the uncommon man complete with flag bearers, floats and a marching band. Actually, it’s not all that imaginary. It’s pretty much already underway. To wit: The Flag Bearers: Here’s a trivia question the answer to which may be one of the most unconscionable statistics ever recorded: What is the amount of money […]
HOPE: Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act
NEW YORK TIMES: The Supreme Court on Thursday largely let stand President Obama’s health care overhaul, in a mixed ruling that court observers were rushing to analyze. The decision was a striking victory for the president and Congressional Democrats, with a majority of the court, including the conservative chief justice, John G. Roberts Jr., affirming the central legislative pillar of Mr. Obama’s term. Many observers called the case the most significant before the court since at least the 2000 Bush v. Gore ruling, which decided a presidential election. In addition to the political reverberations, the case helps set the rules […]
BON IVER: FLUME
@ The Mann September 16th. Complete listing of tour dates after the jump. PREVIOUSLY: At the risk of sounding like the 21st century equivalent of the guy who booed Dylan at Newport for going electric, I should disclose up front that I am not a fan of the super-dense seven-layer cake of sound of Bon Iver’s new self-titled album, though not for lack of trying. For me, the beatific, naked-bulb bedroom folk of 2008?s For Emma, Forever Ago remains definitive proof that less is more. Bon Iver mainman Justin Vernon is in full possession of the most heartbreakingly beautiful falsetto […]
WWJD: Archdiocese To Sell Off $6.2 Million Beach House To Pay Off Child Rape Victims
INQUIRER: “It’s not listed with a broker yet, but will be soon,” archdiocesan spokesman Kenneth Gavin said of the property at 114 S. Princeton, which stretches a full block along the Boardwalk and is assessed at $6.2 million. The retired priests who had planned a stay at Villa St. Joseph by the Sea were recently told that their reservations would be canceled as of Saturday, the end of the archdiocese’s fiscal year. Facing a $17 million operating deficit and a price tag of at least $11.6 million for its response to the 2011 Philadelphia grand jury report on clergy sex […]
TRAGEDY: Lorenzo’s Pizza, Legendary South Street Supplier Of Supper For The Shitfaced, In Flames
Photo by SHARON GEKOSKI-KIMMEL via Philadelphia Inquirer NBC PHILADELPHIA: Flames broke out at Lorenzo’s and Sons Pizza on South Street (near 3rd) Wednesday morning. The one-alarm fire broke out around 10:25 a.m. at the pizza shop known for its mega slices, late-night hours and no nonsense ordering. One firefighter was taken to Hahnemann Hospital in stable condition with a leg injury, firefighters said. No other injuries were reported. Firefighters say it didn’t take long to bring the fire under control but damage was already done. The famous storefront sign had to be cut to allow ventilation. An NBC10 cameraman on […]
When Nora Ephron Interviewed Bob Dylan In 1965
Q: How do you work? A:Most of the time I work at night. I don’t really like to think of it as work. I don’t know how important it is. It’s not important to the average cat who works eight hours a day. What does he care? The world can get along very well without it. I’m hip to that. Q: Sure, but the world can get along without any number of things. A:I’ll give you a comparison. Rudy Vallee. Now that was a lie, that was a downright lie. Rudy Vallee being popular. What kind of people could […]
LISTEN LIKE THIEVES: New Raveonettes
This teaser from their forthcoming Observator album, due out in September, is pretty mind-blowing. They seem to have replaced black-and-white B-movie noir for witchy post-hippie Hotel California noir. It’s only fitting that it was recorded at L.A.’s Sunset Sound, where The Rolling Stones mixed Let It Bleed given that this song has all the satanic majesty of “Gimme Shelter.” It makes the ghost of electricity howl in the bones of your face. You have been warned. DOWLOAD: “Observations” [mp3]
Q&A w/ Jad Abumrad, Co-Host Of WNYC’s Radiolab
BY JONATHAN VALANIA If you are not already down with the broadcast brilliance that is WNYC’s Radiolab you are doing your life wrong. Every week co-hosts Jad Abumrad [pictured, below left] and Robert Krulwich [pictured, below right] create cinema between your ears. Each episode explores a big-picture topic — time, space, sleep, identity — and comes at it from four or five different angles, co-mingling seemingly disconnected sub-narratives into a lattice of cognition, uncannily mirroring the through lines of consciousness itself. It’s a show about understanding, that, when it works, and it pretty much always does, triggers understanding. Which is […]
ALGORITHM & BLUES: Orbitz Gouging Mac Users?
U.S. NEWS WEEKLY: According to the Wall Street Journal, online travelagency Orbitz is experimenting with showing Mac users different, sometimes pricier travel options than PC users based on the search and purchase behaviors of the site’s customers. Back in October, Orbitz found that users accessing the site from a Mac-based browser spent as much as 30 percent more a night on hotel reservations and were 40 percent more likely to book more expensive 4- or 5-star hotels. The company has used that data in conjunction with several other factors to modify the way Mac customers see travel options in order […]
CONTEST: Win Tix For Norah Jones @ The Mann
(We have two pairs of tickets to see Norah Jones at the Mann on Thursday to give away to the first two lucky Phawker readers to email us at FEED@PHAWKER.COM that can tell us the name of her father. Put NORAH in the subject line. Include your name and mobile number for confirmation. Good luck and godspeed!) BY JONATHAN VALANIA It’s another lazy Sunday morning coming down. You are awakened by the sunshine streaming through the open windows and the sound of the Brooklyn streets outside coming alive. Oddly, Danger Mouse is laying next to you, on his […]
SIDEWALKING: Always Keep On The Sunny Side
Outside Paddy’s Pub, Race St., 2:09PM by JONATHAN VALANIA
THE BLACK CROWES: Sometimes Salvation
Last week, when we posted this Hives video we said ‘it literally does not get anymore rock n’ roll than this.’ Turns out we were wrong. This is at least as rock n’ roll, maybe more. And yes, that’s Sofia Coppola as the strung out hipster/model chick Chris Robinson beseeches. Play f*cking loud or don’t play it at all.