BY PELLE GUNTHER An ocean away from our dear Lady Gaga and “T-Swift” another pop storm is brewing in the form of England’s Ellie Goulding. She’s a killer combination of cute, charming, and unbelievably talented. Small wonder she won the BBC’s “Breakthrough Act” award as well as “Critics Choice” at the BRIT Awards (a feat only achieved once before — by Adele in 2008.) With two releases to date, Lights and Bright Lights, she has already had several songs in the UK top 40, and just embarked on her first American tour. Upon listening to her albums the pretentious hipster […]
LIFE LESSIONS: With Your Life Coach, AP Ticker
A.P. confesses to some of the humiliating and degrading things he’s had to do to put food on the table for his family. Not for the easily offended or people who don’t like to laugh.
RIP: Gerladine Ferraro, First Woman To Break The Glass Ceiling Of Presidential Politics, Dead At 75
NEW YORK TIMES: “If we can do this, we can do anything,” Ms. Ferraro declared on a July evening to a cheering Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. And for a moment, for the Democratic Party and for an untold number of American women, anything seemed possible: a woman occupying the second-highest office in the land, a derailing of the Republican juggernaut led by President Ronald Reagan, a President Walter F. Mondale. It did not turn out that way — not by a long shot. After the roars in the Moscone Center had subsided and a fitful general election campaign […]
RAWK TAWK: Q&A With Smithereens Drum Major & Pop Historian Extraordinaire Dennis Diken
BY JONATHAN VALANIA For going on 35 years, Dennis Diken has been pounding the skins for The Smithereens, arguably one of the finest bar bands to crawl out of the teenage jungleland of nowhere New Jersey. All the Smithereens’ best songs carried a hint of desperation: the unspoken understanding that these Jersey sons were always one bar gig away from the factory grind that claimed the hope of their fathers. They were literally playing rock ‘n’ roll as if their lives depended on it. The new Smithereens 2011 finds the band in fine form all these years later, still bashing […]
CINEMA: Calling All Monsters
GARGOYLES (1972, directed by Bill L. Norton, 72 minutes, U.S) THE INCUBUS (1982, directed by John Hough, 93 minutes, Canada) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Philly film buffs often note that the most intriguing films only stay in local theaters for a week, but some of the most curious offerings will only play one show. Tonight is likely your only chance to see one of the most daring bookings the Exhumed Films collective has ever presented. Loosely connected by the ancient myth of The Incubus, a demon who rapes humans as they sleep, Exhumed Film will be presenting a double-bill […]
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
PARTS AND LABOR: Our Imperfect Unions
PW: It doesn’t take long fireside chats with local business owners and contractors to hear horror stories about the ramifications of hiring nonunion workers in Philadelphia: picketing campaigns that stretch endlessly through the seasons; physical intimidation; glue finding its way into door locks, electrical wiring neatly uninstalled just in time for opening day. […] Dealing with union aggression has become an occupational hazard of opening up a restaurant in Center City. Off the top, Brauhaus Schmitz, Marc Vetri’s Amis, Devil’s Alley, Smokin’ Betty’s and Barbuzzo are just a few recent examples of restaurants that drew protests for not hiring all […]
CINEMA: Dark Side Of The Sailor Moon
SALON: This movie is going to be vehemently attacked as brain-damaged garbage that exemplifies everything that’s wrong with today’s filmmaking and today’s audiences. It’s also going to be vigorously defended as a subversive action-movie masterpiece that offers a big middle finger to Hollywood convention, audience expectations, and anybody and everybody who would rather watch “The King’s Speech.” People on both sides will be partly right and partly wrong. Here’s where I come down: “Sucker Punch” doesn’t all work by a long shot, but it confirms my sense that Snyder belongs near the top of a very short list of directors […]
Phawker Presents The Ninth Installment Of BLOTTO
BY LANCE DOILY As any driver worth his salt can attest to, there’s a point in your career where you’re going to somehow or another find yourself working under the influence of psychedelic drugs. My dad’s 2-year string in the late 60’s, where he did every delivery under the influence of LSD, is the stuff of legend, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that Royce’s “mushrooms and morphine” phase in the mid 80’s is still spoken of in similarly hushed, reverent tones by all who witnessed it. Although I’ve obviously driven under the influence of psychedelics before, […]
MUST SEE TV: Taking The Cure
An HIV positive woman agreed to be filmed every day for 90 days to show the dramatic impact that access to medication has on reversing the ravages of AIDS. The stop-motion film is edited in reverse, so at the beginning she looks hale and healthy and by the end she is literally wasting away. Powerful stuff and a stirring testament to verity of the notion that access to health care should be a human right for all, not a privilege for the moneyed few.
Before There Was ?uestlove There Was Hal Blaine
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Hal Blaine put his hand on my shoulder. “This is going to break your heart, but much of the music you heard in the ’60s and early ’70s wasn’t recorded by the people you saw on the album covers,” he said. “It was done by me and the musicians you see on these walls.” Talk about a “Wizard of Oz” moment. Last week I traveled to Mr. Blaine’s home here to talk about his prolific career as the Buddy Rich of rock and pop recordings. I also wanted to know more about his role as the ringleader […]
WORTH REPEATING: When Liz Came To Town
INQUIRER: Messing – now 74 and retired, living with his wife in North Wildwood – wasn’t supposed to trail Dame Liz. He initially was hired to serve as extra security detail, despite retiring from the police force a week before, after 23 years on the job. But Taylor’s regular bodyguard was sent off to New York due to a drug problem. The star saw the 6-foot-3 Messing while rehearsing and hired him to protect her during her time in the city. He ended up doing so for six weeks. Messing said that Taylor was afraid of the paparazzi and crazed […]
TECH: Tablets Are The New Microwave Ovens
TECH INCH: In 1967, American consumers were introduced to the new, must have item for their kitchens: the microwave oven. This device, manufactured mainly by defense contractors such as Raytheon due to their expertise with magnetron, the device that generates microwaves in a radar system or microwave oven, was now supposed to be a fixture in every home, restaurant, and more. It could heat food faster, use less energy, and be less likely to burn your house down than a traditional oven. And it cost just under $500. What more could you ask? Actually, there was a lot customers could […]