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Archive: December, 2011
Our Top 21 Albums issue comes out Dec. 22, but that doesn’t come close to telling you what 2011 sounded like. To help find the devil in the details, we’ve asked City Paper’s critics, friends and family to name some of their favorite songs — be they secret gems on terrible albums, sleeper tracks you missed, huge pop songs that need defending, or just plain good songs everybody already knows and loves. (Ignore the video, this is about the audio.)
Manchester dudes WU LYF’s album Go Tell Fire to the Mountain was one of my favorite albums of the year, but it was “Spitting Blood” that caught my attention in the first place. It’s a raspy, vulnerable, howl of a man’s discomfort with human excess and a longing for something of a post intellectual innocence. Having taken a page from Arcade Fire’s book in recording the album in an abandoned church, all the cymbal crashes and droplets of guitar ring out organically, giving a sense of thematic logic with the lyrics. What’s great about this song, however, is outside of logic. It’s a pure realization of catharsis drawn together in a disarming balance of grit and delicacy.
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
Tonight, on the second floor of Manayunk's Grape Room, a select group of Philly comics will perform in 
Fighting Burrito Comedy Showcase (named after organizer Nicole Yates' Fantasy Football team). The evening will be headlined by James Hesky, now in his third year as a Philly comedian to be reckoned with. You should check out his podcast, Cheapodcast, co-hosted by fellow Philly joke giant Darry Charles, which soon celebrates its one-year anniversary.
Yates, is hosting the show, and she had a few hilarious things to say about her lineup:
Jim Grammond — “Jim's standup is smart, silly and funny all at once. He gets his ideas when his tattoos whisper to him in his sleep.”
Carolyn Busa — “Carolyn crafts jokes that zig, zag and scratch; that itch you while being awesome and loving owls.”
View galleryUPDATE: Thanks to those who submitted photos. I won't be eating lunch for a week ...
I could only choose one winner, though, and that goes to Rosemarie Fabian, who sent this vile picture of a hairy tongue. Congrats!
I'm also attaching a few more of the nastier submissions. I had to look at them, so you should, too.
Our resident DJ on his most boogie-worthy pick of the week.
WHO: Deejay Ferno, Aiden Scott, DJ Adub
WHAT: DJ Adub presents this really fun interpretation of the classic DJ battle scenerio. Here he takes nods from Iron Chef by giving the competing DJs a theme that they should prepare a set around in an hour. This week is the third round of the event, with finals and a championship. It’s hosted by Dexstacy, there will be party photos by Blake Berry, and if your lucky there just might be some nifty giveaways.
WHEN & WHERE: Sun., Dec. 18, 10 p.m.-2 a.m., $5, Raven Lounge, 1718 Sansom St., 215-840-3577, ravenlounge.com.
WHY: Competitive natures mix with addictive beats and swervy drinks.
Our Top 21 Albums issue comes out Dec. 22, but that doesn’t come close to telling you what 2011 sounded like. To help find the devil in the details, we’ve asked City Paper’s critics, friends and family to name some of their favorite songs — be they secret gems on terrible albums, sleeper tracks you missed, huge pop songs that need defending, or just plain good songs everybody already knows and loves.
Oh geez, I know everybody’s talking about how “indie rock” means “soft rock” these days and I kinda hate that stuff, but I love this song. I mean Belle Brigade is such a no frills name, and they’re a sister-brother duet, and they had something on a Twilight soundtrack. So there’s bland baggage here. But listen to “Losers,” a Simon and Garfunkel folk mission statement about either giving up or being smart. It’s catchy. It’s direct. I’m not sure the message is a “good” one but it hits where it hurts.
Devoted poet/avid concert-goer/nerd-grrrl extraordinaire Jane Cassady's weekly horoscopes run in this space every Friday morning.
Sagittarius (Nov. 23-Dec. 22): Dear mentor and friend, it’s been a long time since I’ve updated you. I hope the heat isn’t too bad where you live, and that you and the dogs are happy. Here, its time for editing, and for a little break from writing paragraphs about all the things I am not doing, at least for a little while.
Capricorn (Dec. 23-Jan. 20): Don’t be surprised if some old friends arrive at your holiday door with ridiculously-decorated cookies and Marcel the Shell’s new book. Here’s to a year of doing whatever Jenny Slate tells us to, to the oversize Christmas lights around your door, to the pretty woods you live in.
First things first: Some recent actions at Canary Promotions (they do lots of arts PR including that for the Live Arts/Fringe, the Wilma and the Rosenbach) leave us bluer-than-blue-sadder-than-sad. Emaleigh Doley just left the Canary nest so to become the marketing and communications manager at the Philly-based TicketLeap. She’ll also spend some time in her home zone and get in involved in neighborhood improvement projects in Germantown with lots planned for Spring ’12 (rocklandstreet.com). Jumping into the Canary fray though — sob — is Carolyn Huckabay, CP’s arts editor/copy chief for the last five years. Yes. She’ll be missed missed missed though surely C-Huck will be pitching me stories about Irish people and Dracula at the Rosenbach in no time in accordance with her new gig as public relations associate. But according to Huckabay’s new Canary bio, it says she “plays the French horn” and “assists in her boyfriend’s home-brewing ventures by taste-testing.” This means she likes to booze it up and get all brassy. The things you find out about co-workers when they’re leaving. Sweet sorrow.
Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, a local org/boutique that encourages originality in a society of continually rehashed ideas, challenges Philadelphians to tap into their inner artist with their Holiday Textile Stocking Workshop being held later tonight.
The workshop, to be jumpstarted with a brief lecture by Philadelphia University’s Sarah Moore about the history of the university’s Design Center, will provide attendees with four screens of archival patterns and various materials to screen fabric into a stocking.
And no worries if you’re the person constantly pricking your fingers in the process of sewing together your masterpieces; newbies to the world of screenprinting and sewing will be aided by Moore as well as Art in the Age staff in the process of creating their customized design and sewing it into the shape of a holiday stocking.
Our Top 21 Albums issue comes out Dec. 22, but that doesn’t come close to telling you what 2011 sounded like. To help find the devil in the details, we’ve asked City Paper’s critics, friends and family to name some of their favorite songs — be they secret gems on terrible albums, sleeper tracks you missed, huge pop songs that need defending, or just plain good songs everybody already knows and loves. (Ignore the video, this is about the audio.)
Before the index finger even leaves the surface of the play button on your stereo, I mean iHome, this one gives a clear indication that it’s going to amount to something much larger than you’re prepared for. It’s an homage to a lady in Ty’s court, and the obvious standout on Goodbye Bread. The prebridge that sludges through unnaturally overdriven bass could not end better than with the line, “You make me so happy,” before bursting into one of the best guitar lines of the year.
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