-
Remember the delightful power pop of Rooney? Oh, wait, they’re actually still around. Some may find it sad to exist in a time when musical attention spans rarely last for more than a song and fans have little interest in the legacies of a five-piece rock outfit beyond said...
-
Do what you normally do when your friends are talking to you and pretend you're on a yacht with rich, intelligent, sexy people who actually respect you....
-
Summer’s almost gone. Last week I met my new batch of students at Temple and this coming Monday people around the country are going to celebrate Labor Day by barbequing with family, taking a dip in an above-ground pool, and all kinds of other things that are lame as...
-
So everyone knows that I rarely see daylight. I tend to keep my waking hours to those when everyone else is asleep. However, last semester, upon joining Temple University’s Intellectual Heritage department, I was assigned a class that met at 9am three times a week. This semester, I have...
-
I recently found myself hanging backstage at the Tin Angel… likely the least cool backstage in Philthy (Not because it isn’t cushy, but because the stain on the floor is more likely from Brooke Fraser spilling her holy water than from some descendent of Johnny Thunders deciding to forgo...
-
Like all great works of prose, this article began with my mother’s acupuncturist. She mentioned that I had recently begun writing about cinema and he asked for some recommendations. As my mother, friends, and readers know, my taste in film tends toward the kinds of things that maybe you...
-
Someone was smiling upon Philadelphia. The Phillies were winning, the Eagles were signing, the Sixers weren’t playing… all was right. All was calm. Then, that smile became a murderous frown. Yesterday afternoon, the world grew weary of Philadelphia’s success and began it’s natural rejection of happiness in the Delware...
-
I love the heat and hate the cold. I’m also a little drastic when it comes to exercise, and doctors have told me that my pain tolerance is superhuman. So this past winter, when it was freezing and snowing, and I did everything I could think of to stay...
-
Aaliyah once said “Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number.” I would tend to agree… well, at least for horizontal relationships. Fandom, however, is an entirely different animal. There’s just something creepy about the notion of heroicising people who are younger than me. I mean, aren’t you creeped out by...
-
Last week I went to see KMFDM at the TLA. I realize that anyone who doesn’t regularly frequent Digital Ferret is probably asking “Are they still around?” Yes, they are. “With En Esch?” No, he hasn’t been in the band for a dozen years now. Since then (more or...
-
Special thanks to our friends from Matchstick and Jeep. Last week I got the chance to test drive a Jeep Compass 2011. I don’t really know that much about cars but overall, the Compass was a smooth and impeccably enjoyable car to drive. The interior had full hook-ups with...
-
Dan Carcillo, best known for missing body parts and kind of looking like Mandy Patinkin, has just become the second ex-Philadelphia athlete to teach us all a thing or two from several hundred miles away. ...
-
When regarding violence, the question is never really whether or not the actual act of violence is justified, but how completely different those involved will become. Violence in and of itself is never what is feared or mourned over—it is the intensity of the effect that determines the caliber...
-
It’s not, really. I’ve just been hot and pissed off all day thinking about this fucking debt ceiling / S&P downgrade and all this weather that can’t decide whether or not it wants to rain or dry out like the desert. Either way, it’s August and instead of continuing...
-
My vote for the summer’s best festival isn’t technically a festival at all. However, this Saturday (August 6th) Northern Liberties will host four great bands on two stages (I guess you could say a main stage and a side stage) with agreeable set times and a walking distance that...
-
You probably don’t know what’s going on behind-the-scenes of your favorite restaurant, and as long as that tuna is delivered to the table medium-rare and tastes delicious, you might not care; but if you’ve never worked in some facet of the restaurant industry, consider yourself among the minority. Some...
-
I don’t have an air conditioner, I never have and I’ve survived every hot and muggy Philly summer so far. This summer is the toughest. Of course I could easily run out to Target and pick up a window unit of cold air heaven, but at this point...
-
But if you are offended by Kevin's words, just remember that he has a dumb mustache and probably won't amount to anything....
-
I’m sure you’ve realized that in recent years Brooklyn has become a veritable clown car of lovely and amazing singer/songwriters. And this week Kickstarter (a phenomena which I’ve been tripping over in every conversation I’ve had with a musician since I first reported on it in my profile of...
-
Smoke Fairies should win the World’s Best Interface Award in the category of “band names.” It’s hard to think of a phrase more evocative of their hazy, erotically haunting blending of American blues and British folk. Listening to their music, I imagine staring into the wooded wilderness and considering...
-
Are you an artist without a home? Like a complete unknown? This coming Saturday, July 30th, Project Twenty1 is hosting a launch event for artists of all sorts who would like the opportunity to contribute to the creation of a short film over the period of 21 days. If...
-
Anyone who knows me knows that my list of crushes is incredibly refined. You must meet a mile-long list of criteria before my heart (or…) have any interest in you. Those who do manage to gain my affection are the kind of girl that is fit for royalty: Courtney...
-
“As the great Brian Friel said, ‘Philadelphia, here I come!’” says Irish Rockabilly chanteuse Imelda May (Admit it, you don’t even know who Brian Friel is.) This coming Thursday, July 28th, Imelda will be in town for the summer’s most exciting double-headlining bill. The Trocadero Theatre will be hosting...
-
To celebrate its 35th anniversary, a new 35 mm print of Nicholas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell To Earth is doing a Summer/Fall tour. Starting today that print will spend a week at Ritz at the Bourse. Of all of David Bowie’s film roles, this sci-fi tale of an...
-
I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but for the remainder of the month all Criterion releases purchased at Barnes & Noble or barnesandnoble.com are 50% off. This is not a prank. All Criterion releases purchased at Barnes & Noble or barnesandnoble.com are 50% off through the end...
-
Out this Tuesday is Belle & Sebastian’s “Come on Sister” 12” on Matador, i.e. their 18th single. I will admit that, despite pretentious critical praise, I’m not the biggest fan of B&S’s latest LP (Belle and Sebastian Write About Love). It’s not that I think I’m going to get...
-
Mean Creek and myself would like to thank all of you who read the article I posted about the Boston band and planned to come see them this Wednesday at the North Star. Unfortunately, I talked to Chris Keene (vocalist/guitarist) a few hours ago and he’s suffering from strep...
-
My favorite people in music are three guys and a girl from Boston. They’re in a band called Mean Creek. I met them during the snow storm of 2010. They played a show at the Khyber and I’m pretty sure the five of us and tour mates Destry were...
-
Although you’re probably not familiar with David Nock’s name, I’m sure you’re familiar with his work. He has engineered, mixed, programmed, and drummed for the likes of Client, The Cult, The Futureheads, and The Orb. One of his current projects, Erland & The Carnival, has him teaming up with...
-
He is baseball at its Hawaiianest. And he deserves your love....
-
Next week Tom Tykwer’s (Run Lola Run, The Princess and the Warrior, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer) latest, Three, will be screening as part of Q Fest (Friday, July 8 at 5:00 at Ritz East 1 and Sunday, July 10 at 7:15 and Ritz at the Bourse). Three...
-
I first met the ineffably lovely Charlene Kaye this May at The Fire. Since then, the singer/songwriter has continued to tour the country, continued to be name-dropped by (and seen alongside) one of cable TV’s biggest musical heartthrobs, and, most impressively, (in the span of five days) convinced her...
-
Trollhunter by Andre Ovredal opens tomorrow at the Ritz at the Bourse. I normally wouldn’t have much of an inclination to see a mockumentary monster movie, but the fact that its US premiere engagement prompted Chris Columbus’ company to acquire the rights for an English-language remake (and no one...
-
There are still faces on the franchise, despite two of them being ripped off; better, uglier faces....
-
“…and this duct tape has opened my schedule,” is likely what Casey Anthony was thinking three years ago. (Okay, maybe just the second portion. I’m pretty sure that people who enter “hot body contests” don’t listen to The Smiths.) And as of today we are officially one month (the...
-
Last week Elizabeth (of the Philthy staff) and I attended Those Darlins’ gig at Johnny Brenda’s. About mid way through their set of the most beautifully sleazy garage country on the planet (or maybe the most beautifully sleazy “anything” on the planet) I asked her who she thought was...
-
Philadelphia POPPED! Festival lineup has been released and tickets are officially on sale (for an arm and a leg, if you can afford it!). Headliners for both days are in the company of The Shins, Cage the Elephant, Panda Bear, Pretty Lights, Girl Talk + plenty other saucy humans....
-
If the name Tami Hart isn’t immediately familiar, there’s still a chance you’ve come across the work of this PostR.Grrrl. After recording two solo albums for Mr. Lady a decade ago, Hart went on to play in Gangway, Winning Looks, and, most recently, MEN, JD Samson’s latest musical project...
-
Some kind of universal shift happens in my diet every summer. Despite the climbing degrees and hot afternoons spent trying to figure out exactly where I could actually fit a baby pool in my apartment and other hoodland activities, I start pouring hot sauce over everything. Everything. I can’t...
-
I can only remember one time that the Joker served me cheesesteaks with extra stink clouds at Geno’s. But that is totally unfair to portray it like something that happens even when the patrons aren’t on shrooms. Philebrity posted this morning a video from Taiwan that indicates the nation’s disdain for...
-
We can all agree that Crystal Castles and Sleigh Bells rock. However, how many (let’s just be honest) teeny-bopping scenesters actually know the roots of noisy, electronic political anthems? Well, hopefully that will change shortly. The founders of digital hardcore, Atari Teenage Riot, are back with their first album...
-
IF WE CAN'T MOVE SOCIETY FORWARD BY LOOKING AT EACH OTHER'S HATS, THEN WE ARE DOOMED....
-
Nothing makes me smile more than poignant piano pop from a postmodern princess. And somehow the two most poignant of said princesses have found themselves on a 9-date jaunt through the Northeast this June. This jaunt includes a stop this Saturday, June 11th at the North Star Bar, which...
-
Feel like getting a bit class for a change? Zoë Keating, avant cellist, will be in town this Wednesday, 6/8, at World Café Live with her one-woman string-quartet. Ms. Keating is a classically-trained cellist and composer who, along with a foot-controlled laptop for looping, is the star (and solitary...
-
Le Tigre was the first band to ever make me resent being straight. I mean, I’d hated sports and cargo shorts for years, but the first time I ever saw Le Tigre was the first time I was ever like, “Shit, why can’t I just like cock? Or, ya...
-
My apologies for the recent lack in music postings. I have been finishing up my last term of college and working on my senior project, an event that I am hoping some of you will be able to attend. This Friday, June 3, I will be holding a concert...
-
For me, summer isn’t a good enough reason for a trip, although the 20th anniversary of Screamadelica certainly is. The UK went all out this March to celebrate Primal Scream’s third LP and what was, earlier this year, ranked as the “Druggiest Album Ever” by NME, with not only...
-
Stephen Hill thinks like an artist and acts like a businessman. The former promoter and Philly native has been dipping in and out of the city’s music scene for years now. Once upon a time, he was the go-to guy for connects; from DJ’s to videographer’s to sound and...
-
This month at the Sande Webster Gallery on 20th and Walnut, features two prominent Philadelphia native artists and sculptors John McDaniel and Kathleen Spicer. Passage Marking: Vista and Fusion (respectively). What’s most interesting about seeing these two exhibits together is the difference in both physical and artistic voice—while both...
-
I can tell you with eerie certainty that he has never looked better. Nor has his wife and dog. In fact, everybody in the Utley household is at the top of their game....
Remember the delightful power pop of Rooney? Oh, wait, they’re actually still around. Some may find it sad to exist in a time when musical attention spans rarely last for more than a song and fans have little interest in the legacies of a five-piece rock outfit beyond said...
Do what you normally do when your friends are talking to you and pretend you're on a yacht with rich, intelligent, sexy people who actually respect you....
