|
|
|
Archive: February, 2013
Last 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.
View gallery
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.
Since I'm basically under quarantine right now, doing a z-pak, sipping some juice and googling the symptoms for MacGregor's Syndrome, I've decided to put together a list of some of the web's least timeless single-question-based web sites. Or whatever. I'm sick.
- Is the new My Blood Valentine album out yet?
- Is Shea Weber a Flyer Yet?
- Is the Internet down?
- Is Obama President?
- Is Mitt Romney President?
- Is Rush Limbaugh dead yet?
- Did the world end?
- Is the new Gold Panda album out yet?
- Is Flash dead yet?
- Is Margaret Thatcher Dead yet?
- Is WebOS dead yet?
- Is Friend Feed dead yet?
- Have we found the Higgs Boson yet?
- Are we slim yet?
- Are we fast yet?
Hosted by Hillary Rea and Larry Napolitano, the Veggie Wing Bowl was Sat., Feb. 2 at Adobe Cafe.
Said to be a traditional band from Puglia, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino certainly builds upon the old styles. Pulsing compositions use the traditional instruments in arrangements rather than the jam style, with layers of voices entering and exiting. The official video of “Nu Te Fermare” gives us a clue of what to expect. We see a decrepit building, a handsome young man resting amid the refuse pondering. Cue the music, follow it around the corridor to an arts be-in complete with sculpting and painting on canvas and faces, juggling and of course, dancing -trad and trance- to the sound of the tartantella. It could be two separate songs alternating within one, the parts contrast so strongly, both supported by accordion, bouzouki, violin and bass over ceaseless frame drumming. Your people don’t have to be from the boot of Italy for this to grip your imagination; anybody who loves new acoustic music will get this.
Sun., Feb. 3, 8 p.m., $10, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400, worldcafelive.com.
The Ramones piling out of Doc Brown’s Delorean to play the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance — that’s a pretty good visual representation of The Vaccines’ sophomore release, Come of Age. Fizzy guitars, ’50s doo-wop pop hooks and Justin Young’s woe-is-me croon attest to the West London’s Ethan Johns-produced record as a root beer float toast to the birth of American rock ’n’ roll and all its drive-in movie romantic imagery. But Young’s a loner, Dottie, a rebel, promising us he’s “not magnetic and mythical / I’m suburban and typical” on the jangly “Teenage Icon.” Closing track “Lonely World,” with its soaring guitar solos and shuffling tempo, basically invites a slow dance. Just try not to screw it up, McFly.
Sat., Feb. 2, 8:30 p.m., $20, with San Cisco, Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St., 215-232-2100, utphilly.com.
We suspected as much when there was a mysterious lack of picketers outside Suzanne Roberts Theater at Broad and Lombard last night for the first time since The Mountaintop opened two weeks ago, but it's now official: All the drama is finally over. From a PTC press release:
Philadelphia Theatre Company is pleased to announce that an agreement has been reached with IATSE Local 8, the union representing the stagehand employees. The agreement needs to be ratified by the union leadership and the Philadelphia Theatre Company board of directors.
“During several lengthy meetings all afternoon and last evening, the union made significant movement to come closer to the terms which, although consistent with what PTC had originally proposed, had previously been rejected by the union,” said PTC’s Producing Artistic Director Sara Garonzik. “We have negotiated a settlement that is reasonable for PTC and appropriate to our size. We want to express our appreciation to our audiences, subscribers and artists for their wonderful support and patience during this challenging period. We are pleased that we can now focus on our mission of producing great theater.”
And now the drama can finally resume. Or, at least, resume in full — up until last night, at least, the MLK-centered play The Mountaintop was been being performed by two costumed actors under a static lighting situation, with a third person person seated on a chair at the side of the stage occasionally piping up with dramatic readings of the stage directions that weren't occurring, like "Blackout!" and "THUNDER ROLLS!"
Keep an eye out next Thursday for a more in-depth piece on the strike.
- 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
