BLOOMBERG NEWS: The U.S. House voted to cut food stamps, federal workers’ benefits and other domestic programs to avoid scheduled reductions in defense spending. The chamber today passed, 218-199, a plan to cut about $310 billion in spending to replace automatic defense-spending reductions that lawmakers in both parties agree shouldn’t be allowed to take effect in January. “This plan ensures that we maintain our fiscal discipline and commitment to reducing out-of-control government spending, while making sure our top priority is national security,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican. Democrats lined up against the measure, H.R. 5652, saying […]
EARLY WORD: Return Of The Jedi
In celebration of Adam Yauch and his iconic contributions to life, music, and independent film, The Awesome Fest & Trocadero Theatre are honored to host a screening of the Beastie Boys concert film, AWESOME; I FUCKIN’ SHOT THAT!, on Thursday, May 17th at The Trocadero Theatre. This a Free, 21+ event with a suggested charitable donation of $5 to an as-yet-to-be-determined benefit of the Yauch family’s choosing. Doors open at 7pm, with the film beginning at 8. The event is general admission with limited seating available. In addition to the screening, there will be a DJ spinning old skool […]
WATCH: Terry Gross & Mike Birbiglia Rob A Bank
Explains a lot. As long time Fresh Air listeners we sorta suspected something like this was going on ‘off mic.’ She’s a little too good to be true if you know what we mean. From This American Life LIVE.
CONTEST: Win Tix To See The Wandering
The Wandering gathers five traditionally-minded artists from Memphis and North Mississippi and features the string work of Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars, Black Crowes) and a quartet of distinctive female voices—Shannon McNally, Amy LaVere, Valerie June, and Sharde Thomas, erstwhile leader of the Rising Star Fife and Drum band. A more detailed CV of each member follows below. They perform tomorrow night at The World Cafe. We have a pair of tickets to give away to the first lucky Phawker reader that can tell us what Rolling Stones song Luther Dickinson’s dearly departed father, Jim Dickinson, played piano on. Email […]
BREAKING: New Animal Collective Album Sept. 4th
It’s called Centipede HZ. DEVELOPING… RELATED: At turns disturbing, confusing, disgusting, hilarious, mesmerizing and stone cold beatific, Oddsac is perhaps best explained by clarifying what it is not: it is neither a rock documentary nor a concert film, nor is it the kind of film you would see at the cineplex. There are no stars, no car chases, no dreamy romantic interests who meet cute and live happily ever after. In fact, there is no plot, no linear narrative arc. Instead, there is a series of hallucinatory vignettes: a girl attempting in vain to stanch the flow of black goo […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When U Can’t
FRESH AIR Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Horst Faas, who captured several iconic moments during the Vietnam War, died May 10. He was 79. Haas was the chief of The Associated Press’ Southeast Asia bureau from 1962 to 1974, where he covered the fighting and mentored dozens of young photographers who were sent out across Vietnam to capture images of the war’s terror and inhumanity. “There were no bad photographers around,” Faas told Fresh Air’s Terry Gross in 1997. “There was nobody who was [in a] second category. There’s no room for mediocre talent in situations like this.” Faas’ own images of […]
JUST ANNOUNCED: Jane’s Addiction @ The Mann
August 15th with Die Antwoord. Tickets go on sale Friday.
JAZZER: Congs For Brums
[Photo by PETER GANNUSHKIN] BY ZIVIT SHLANK Percussionist and Composer Ches Smith is a multi-faceted creature of unwavering ambition. Born and raised in Sacramento, Ches’ curiosity with drums began in his teens learning the basics by copying his older brother and neighborhood rockers. His fascination with improvised music, spurred by his exposure to the Sacramento punk scene, led him to the otherworldly innovations of John Coltrane and Albert Ayler. Further inspired by the avant-garde noise of Sonic Youth, Ches immersed himself in punk/improvised music, and absorbed all that he could. He relocated to the Bay area in the mid 90s, […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
M. Ward, Union Transfer, Saturday night by PETE TROSHAK Mysterious troubadour M. Ward brought his dark and dreamy music to Union Transfer in Philadelphia on Saturday night, in support of his excellent new solo album A Wasteland Companion. In contrast to the sunny throwback Cali pop of his She & Him duo with Zooey Deschanel, Ward’s solo work is more rural, more dust and dirt, less sandcastles in the sky, more Leonard Cohen than Brian Wilson. Ward and his band, dressed like old school club musicians in suits and hats, effortlessly shifted through genres: spectral folk, rollicking country, otherworldly pop […]
Jay-Z To Headline/Curate 2-Day Music Festival Over Labor Day Weekend On The Parkway
[Illustration by JAMES GATES] UPDATE: H.O.V.A. says 70% of 28 other acts confirmed. NEW YORK TIMES: On Monday, it is expected to be announced that Jay-Z will be the curator of and headlining performer at the first Budweiser Made in America music festival, a two-day event that will bring as many as 28 musical acts to Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on Sept. 1 and Sept. 2. MORE BILLBOARD: Philly’s Ben Franklin Parkway in Fairmount Park has been named as the venue for “Budweiser Made In America,” which will be held Saturday, Sept. 1 and Sunday, Sept. 2. Nearly 30 acts […]
SIDEWALKING: Ship Happens
On the waterfront, 6:04 PM last night by JEFF FUSCO
TONITE: Remain In The Light
The Battle Of Carnival And Lent by JUDITH SCHAECHTER Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site welcomes Guggenheim Fellow Judith Schaechter’s ambitious new work, The Battle of Carnival and Lent, to its 2012 artist installation program. These 17 stained glass windows are inspired by the prison’s dark history and will be installed in historic skylights throughout Cellblocks 8, 11, and 14 until November 30the. The Battle of Carnival and Lent responds to the penitentiary’s narrow skylights and arched windows. The imagery, which Ms. Schaechter describes as “addressing in a non-religious way the psychological border territory between ‘spiritual aspiration’ and human suffering,” is […]
EARLY WORD: The Devil & M. Ward
[Artwork by JEFF PASSETTI] We’ve all heard the mythic tale of Robert Johnson’s Faustian bargain with the Devil, struck at the crossroads under a Delta moon. Let’s imagine for a moment that it’s a different night at that Mississippi crossroads. On this night, the devil is busy with other things, perhaps plotting the eventual rise of Slayer or meeting with the Republicans. And Johnson, well, he’s long since given the Devil his due, probably having second thoughts as to whether unlimited pussy, corn liquor and a little plantation-rock stardom was worth the eternal damnation as he shovels another load of […]