|
|
|
Permanent Wave Philly — West Philly's feminist arts/music/activism collective — continues the Create Chaos! multimedia art and performance series with a full evening of lady performers. I'm just getting into grungey drone-gazer Avataria, but you should do some clicking and see who you wanna see:
Featured performers:
Tonight, Fri., Feb. 15, 7:30 p.m., Eris Temple Arts, 602 S. 52nd St., more info here.
K. Ross Hoffman had some long sentences to say about the band formerly known as Reading Rainbow in today's paper:
Two minutes into the gently epic opening cut of Yeah Right (Kanine) — album number three from the local fuzz-pop lovelies formerly known as Reading Rainbow — the drums kick in, the pace ratchets up a few notches and there’s a shift from warm organ-drone and sweetly harmonized boy-girl vocals to a growling, pummeling guitar-smear evoking a certain other noise-obsessed band with a blood-related (and seasonally appropriate) moniker who, hey hey, also happened to release their third album last week! That feels like the moment, symbolically, when the band becomes Bleeding Rainbow, transforming from a vaguely cuddly neighborhood duo named for a PBS show to a sharp, aspirational four-piece with an unmitigated allegiance to the turn-of-the-’90s shoegaze-to-grunge continuum. From there on out, it’s a hearty, good-natured assault playing both sides of the noise/pop dichotomy, with Sarah Everton’s charmingly plain-Jane vocals channeling indie everywomen from Bilinda Butcher to Georgia Hubley to Frankie Rose.
But to complete your mental picture, you really gotta watch the video and hear the song at the top of this post. "Waking Dream" is a damn fine rock song. Play it for someone you like.
Bleeding Rainbow plays tonight, Thu., Feb. 14, 9 p.m., $10, with Pet Milk and Ghost Light, Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 215-739-9684, johnnybrendas.com.
Valentine’s Day is for lovers, I get that. Still, if you adore fashion and you dig doing good perhaps you can merge all that l’amour into one outing. You could do that tonight, Feb. 14, as fashion designer/Project Runway All Stars winner and AIDS advocate Mondo Guerra hits up 17th Street’s Hotel Palomar to benefit ActionAIDS’ Dining Out for Life program with a Fashion in Action event featuring t-shirts of his design and nibbles from Square 1682.
Guerra — who goes mostly by his first name, “Mondo” — has spent time in Philly before. He did the AIDS Walk here two years ago, loves the city’s sense of history and winding streets (“they’re so narrow,” he says) and appreciates the buzz he gets here after living in New York City for so long. Most crucially, he’s impressed by this city’s dedication to AIDS/HIV education and activism. “We are all activists. Philly’s big on that. Anyone can get involved from any community that you are a part of. I get asked that all the time. It’s easier than you think.”
Yesterday I posted a letter we got about City Paper's use/misuse of the word "punk." Among the allegations: That we don't know/cover West Philly rock 'n' roll trio Bucket Flush. Guilty as charged. So here's a really well-made documentary on the band uploaded to YouTube in December, 2011. Parts of this might gross some people out, but I have a feeling the Bucket Flush guys will charm you. (And please watch the whole thing before alleging that we're endangering their squatters' lifestyle by posting it.)
To start, there are several stories from Icepack in Print that need immediate follow-up. To go with the fact that Stateside, a.kitchen and Le Bec Fin all lost its chefs one after another in the last several days comes swift news that one has already found its newest kitchen heads. Le Bec promoted its sous chef Steven Eckerd to the exec-chef position with Abigail Dahan as the new pastry chef. Voila.
Then there’s my Michael Singer Rum Bar rumor. Things moved fast from the rumors I heard: the space extensions, the notion that landlord Singer might run his own bar, that several different potential renters from the Mac’s Tavern crew to Jon Myerow would take over the Walnut Street hot spot. Singer found his Rum Bar winner in Myerow, one of his best tenants (Singer owns the 18th Street space that Myerow’s Tria Rittenhouse opened in 2004). The up-n-coming space, Tria Taproom, will serve and lot of pizza and a lot of beer. Myerow’s already got all that cheese at Tria’s other outposts. Might as well bake it up.
Meanwhile, up north in a part of the Piazza at Schmidt’s we believe Bart Blatstein still owns, Brian Nagele’s King’s Oak has a brand new neighbor; Brian Nagel’s Pizza Bar. If only he made pizza bagels. OK you see where this is going.
View galleryLast Thursday we ran a cover story on local band Pissed Jeans by Elliott Sharp. Yesterday we got a letter objecting to our use of the word "punk." Presented without comment. Click here for a larger version.
Local sketch group The Stonewall Players are performing at Philly Improv Theater tonight at 7pm. They've recently released a pay-what-you-want comedy album called "Pretty Goddamn Good." (If you want, you can pay nothing. On behalf of creative people everywhere, I'll go out on a limb and say--if you have a few bucks they'd appreciate it, but if not, they'd still rather you check it out and get a few laughs.) The Stonewall Players consist of Matt Schmitt (writer for PHIT house sketch-group Flat Earth), Andrew Cramcsak, and Joe Pantalone. You can check out an interview with Matt Schmitt over at WitOut.net
Also performing at the show is fellow Flat Earth writer Vincent DiCostazo, known for being auteur of the hilarious, now defunct Philly sketch group The Gentlemen's Rotary Auxiliary. Also a Flat Earth writer, DiCostanzo will be performing his (mostly) one man sketch set "The Clay and Calhoun Sketch Comedierie," which debuted at this year's Philly Sketch Fest. I asked the 35 year old Rutgers History/Film major how he describes his style of sketch-writing. "I generally think in terms of scenarios rather than characters," he admits. "So I'm more likely to put a normal person in a bizarre situation than a bizarre person in a normal situation." Incorporating multi-media, and a hand from Secret Pants' Paul Triggiani, DiCostanzo is ambitious for basically taking the role straight-man in a one-man-style show.
For tickets, visit Philly Improv Theater.
You've seen artist Steve "ESPO" Powers' giant love letters around town, and you saw him on the cover of City Paper just last month. And you know Kurt Vile, Philly's constant rock hitmaker and no stranger to our cover, either. Well, as you might have heard, the former did the cover of the latter's latest record. On a wall. This is Matador Records' promo video for all that.
Here’s a little known fact regarding the murder of famed Navy SEAL, sniper and author Chris Kyle. The U.S. military’s notably most lethal sniper, 38, was killed last Saturday in Texas by a fellow soldier and supposed friend Eddie Ray Routh. Police are still looking at the troubled suspect and his reasons for the slaughter. Lost in the tragedy is the fact that Kyle’s best-selling autobiography, American Sniper, was purchased last year for Bradley Cooper to star in, the first project for Cooper’s Warner Bros.-based production company, 22nd & Indiana. Authors Jason Dean Hall are writing the script with producers Andrew Lazar and Peter Morgan behind Cooper. No word as to whether anything has changed in the wake of the shooting, save — quite sadly — for the ending.
Michael’s Saloon at 12th and Mifflin is white trash. Proudly, I might add. The South Philly dive bar is hosting “White Trash Weekends” with a sonic mix of country & western music and punk rock to go with its $2 brews. Oi.
Monopoly’s newest gamers are obviously pussies. After a month long “Save Your Token” contest thrown by its distribution company Hasbro Gaming, a cat got nominated as the newest Monopoly game piece over the iron. I loved the iron, you fuckers.
I have to stop getting surprised by bands with warm, pastoral three-part harmonies and deliriously catchy guitar hooks being from Philadelphia. I’m not in Kansas anymore (or ever), but instead in an East Coast city with enough Americana heart in its native musicians to make Kansas City (yeah, I know, not actually Kansas) tip-toe home with its tail between its legs. Nobody at The Great Unknown’s vinyl release show on Saturday at Johnny Brenda’s, myself included, will ever forget that again.
- Activism
- Arts
- Arts Events
- Books
- Dance
- First Person Fest
- Last Chance
- Museum
- On the Fringe
- Philly Artists
- The Curator
- Theater
- Visual Art
- Arts News
- Artist Profile
- Arts Preview
- Street Art
- Been There, Done That
- Big Ups
- Comedy
- LOL With It
- Stand-up
- Critical Mass
- DVD
- Events
- Friday Fill-in
- Ice Cubes
- In Memoriam
- Interview
- Just Do It
- Just Opened
- Kaleidoscopic
- LGBTQ
- Art Phag
- Mailbag
- Movies
- Film Fest
- Movie Review
- On set
- Scenester
- screening
- trailer!
- Music
- 10 Track Mind
- Album
- Album Review
- Concert Review
- DJs
- Local Support
- Now Hear This
- One Track Mind
- Philly Bands
- Show
- Somebody Else Was There
- Song
- The Showdown
- concert photos
- jazz
- DJ Nights Blogged
- Night Watch
- Now See This
- Poetic License
- Printed Matter
- Radio
- Shopping
- Coveted
- Fashion
- What We Heart
- TV
- 24
- Idol Hands
- Mad Men
- ProjRun
- True Blood
- Useless Lost Recaps
- Couch Potato
- Shore Trash
- Turned ONN
- TopMod
- Video Games
- Free Online Game
- PSP
- PlayStation 2
- The 1-Upper
- Wii
- Web Junk
- CAGE MATCH
- Free Online Toy
- Weekend Omnibus
- Win
