The Showdown: After the woods have somehow grown into his attic and your grandfather has mysteriously disappeared

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The Showdown: After the woods have somehow grown into his attic and your grandfather has mysteriously disappeared

POSTED: Monday, June 1, 2009, 9:08 PM

Filed Under: Music The Showdown

Monday: See what all the bloggers are raving about at the Barbary tonight. The noisy, freewheeling, garage-psyche of Crystal Antlers is the perfect soundtrack to drunkenly falling down colorful stairs. At the Barbary with My Mind & Best Friends, 7pm, Tickets are $10.

Tuesday: Grizzly Bear is literally blowing people's minds with their latest album, Veckatimest (read the City Paper review). Their sparse, folky, indie-pop music is akin to a sleepy trip through your grandfather's attic in the woods (after the woods have somehow grown into his attic and your grandfather has mysteriously dissapeared). It's also rumored that they put on a great live performance. I'll be there. Will you? At the Trocadero with Here We Go Magic, 8pm, Tickets are $18 - $20.

Wednesday: Aside from having one of the greatest band names in recent memory, Natalie Portman's Shaved Head is also a great electro pop act ' the sonic equivalent to a shiny sexual innuendo. "Do you want to see Shamu with me?" they ask on their single "Sophisticated Sideways Ponytail." Well, don't leave them hanging, go to the North Star Bar and tell them. At the North Star Bar with Gang, 8pm, Tickets are $10.

Thursday: In '77, guitarist Billy Zoom, read a review of the Ramones that claimed the band "played only three chords, and they played 'em too fast." Zoom went to see the Ramones, fell in love, and X was born. Having already rocked through the 80's, X is returning to the stage at the World Cafe. Punk rock never dies. It just plays on XPN. Downstairs at the World Cafe with Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts, 8pm, Tickets are $28 - $38

Friday: There is no denying the fact that David Byrne is a glorious man. From leading the Talking Heads to greatness, to collaborations with Brian Eno, to interviewing himself in a giant suit, he has always done his own thing. Byrne will perform his solo material, songs from his collaborations with Eno and even some old Heads tunes. Plus, hear DeVotchKa play that superb melodramatic ballad "How It Ends" and try to pretend some asshole didn't put in a Gears of War 2 commercial. At the Mann Center for the Performing Arts with DeVotchKa, 8pm, Tickets are $25 - $59

Saturday: Remember when your high school English teacher thought he was really hip and he gave you a copy of the latest Decemberists CD? Well, my socialist uncle saw them live and he won't stop raving about it. Now you can enjoy The Decemberists live in all their folky, yarn-spinning, costumed glory. Plus, lead singer Colin Meloy reminds me of Morrissey if Morrissey was doughy and loved colonial history. At the Tower Theater with Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3, 8pm, Tickets are $29.50 - $32.50.

Or'

The Roots bring it all back home with their annual picnic. Why we're there? Public Enemy performs It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, with our hosts and Antibalas backing them up. At Festival Pier at Penn's Landing, with Santigold, TV on the Radio, Black Keys, Kid Cudi, Busdriver, Dirty Magazine, Asher Roth and more, 2 p.m., Tickets are $47.50-51.

Sunday: Do people still do that devil horns thing with their hands non-ironically? Find out at the Summer Slaughter Tour, featuring only the blackest metal and most grotesquely named bands (Winds of Plague, Suffocation, Dying Fetus). At the TLA with Necrophagist and several others, 2:30pm, Tickets are $20 - $23.

Pietro_F

Posted 2009-06-01 17:05:47

Oh come on! Phish in Camden on Sunday...five years since they last came around!



Who cares about Summer Slaughter?  Ooooh Winds of Plauge [sic], Suffocation, Dying Fetus.  Can't wait for them!

Molly Eichel

Posted 2009-06-01 17:27:21

plague corrected

B.D. Wong

Posted 2009-06-01 17:40:20

If only this blog had some sort of moderation process to make sure people who use patchouli as deodorant aren't allowed to voice their stupid hemp necklace-decorated opinions. Go drop some liquid acid into your eyes and listen to a two-hour song with lots of terrible nature imagery in it. Dying Fetus fucking rules.

BSG

Posted 2009-06-02 01:37:27

POISONED HEART: I MARRIED DEE DEE RAMONE (THE RAMONES YEARS)

by Vera Ramone King



Regarded as the fathers of punk and named one of Rolling Stoneâ  s Top 50 Bands of All Time, The Ramones are nothing short of legendary. Setting the U.S. music scene on fire in the 1970s and â  80s, The Ramones were raw, tragic, and violentâ  especially the bandâ  s most unique personality, Dee Dee. In Poisoned Heart, Vera Ramone King pays tribute to her late husband, revealing what it was like to live with and love a heroin addict and the genius behind The Ramones. For true fans, groupies, and music-lovers everywhere, Poisoned Heart is destined to become as much a classic as the man himself.



About the Author

VERA RAMONE KING was married to the legendary punk rocker and rock â  nâ   roll hall of fame inductee, Dee Dee Ramone of The Ramones, from 1978-1995. Vera toured extensively with The Ramones, living the punk era firsthand. She lives in West Palm Beach, Florida.

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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