Archive: July, 2010

JUST DO IT: Jerry Garcia's B-day party

POSTED: Friday, July 30, 2010, 10:17 PM

Filed Under: Just Do It | Music

Jerry Garcia's 68^th birthday is this Sunday, and North Star Bar is celebrating the late musician with a performance by country-tinged rock band Jemimah Puddleluck, a group fronted by Mark Karan, who used to play with The Other Ones, a band comprised of former Grateful Dead members, with Karan filling in the role of Garcia. While the band's performance is a perfect way for Dead Heads to celebrate Garcia's birthday, Andrew Miller from the North Star says the band's touring schedule was more a serendipitous little surprise for Philly, rather than a pre-planned birthday party. "The stars happened to align and they were available," Miller says. The concert will also feature a performance by local jam band Psychadelphia. "It's more of a show ... that happens to be on Jerry Garcia's birthday, just to get people in the spirit of the Dead," Miller says. "You can call it a party if you want, you can call it a rock show."
Sun., Aug. 1, 8 p.m. $15-18, North Star, 2639 Poplar St., 215-787-0488.

Posted by Marielle Mondon @ 10:17 PM Permalink | Post a comment

CONCERT REVIEW: Lilith Fair @ Susquehanna Bank Center, 7/28

POSTED: Friday, July 30, 2010, 6:05 PM

Filed Under: Music | Concert Review concert photos

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

After an 11-year hiatus, the commemoration of women in music returns and breaks genre barriers with its most diverse line-up of artists ever. "This tour is about feeding your sou," geadliner and co-founder Sarah McLachlan said during a press conference. "And I'm not a religious person but doing this show is the closest thing I call to church." Despite struggling ticket sales and slim crowds, the women of Lilith Fair still rock out and pour out their souls on stage, with the Philadelphia show at Susquehanna Bank Center being no exception. Susquehanna Bank was one of the luckier venues on the jaunt, having been chosen as one of the six venues to get an exclusive Lilipad bathroom, complete with attendants, lots of girly dÃ©cor and a shitload of freebies that made us all proud to have our period. There was also the air conditioned Lilipad Lounge equipped with a cooling towel bar, a free photo booth, mini SELF magazines, and more goodies for Auntie Flow. During the run of the 8-hour festival, concertgoers enjoyed music from four stages spread out across the outdoor venue and withstood the heat as dedicated fans do until things moved over to the main stage in the evening. The vivacious Anjulie was a definite breath of fresh air for Lilith fans both new and old as she performed unreleased material and tracks from her 2009 self-titled debut, including the hit "Boom." With stage presence out of this world and undeniable chemistry with her two-piece band, the Canadian-born Guyanesian's innovative performance brought the ABC stage to life and kept everyone dazed as they grooved along with her. As a newbie to a female-dominated lineup, Anjulie later siad, "The best thing about Lilith is the bathrooms are cleaner, the food is better and people smell better." YouTube success story Zee Avi, who says she was "a singing chin" since she never showed her face in her videos, mellowed things out with light-hearted, acoustic tunes from last year's self-titled release in an unfortunately short set. But fans can see Zee again when she hits the road with Jack Johnson this fall. As dusk set in, Serena Ryder took center stage with her guitar in hand, performing hits like "Little Bit of Red" and got the crowd going with immense energy and deep, heavy strings as fans sang along and yelled out song requests from their seats. Australian pop-phenom, Missy Higgins followed, putting on an intimate set with a vibe of serenity that warmed you from the inside out. Both women were great to watch and listen in on with distinctive styles and commanding stage presence. RELATED >> NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH: Lilith Fair edition

Posted by Nyidera Edwards @ 6:05 PM Permalink | Post a comment

THE CRITICAL MASS WEEKEND OMNIBUS: Throwback Weekend

POSTED: Friday, July 30, 2010, 5:15 PM

Filed Under: Weekend Omnibus

Friday: PHillyImc reminds us that the days of parodying our oh-so-articulate former president are far from over. The organization, which campaigned against Bush in the 2000 election, hosts an anniversary party tonight at the Puppet Warehouse. Later, hit up Life During Wartime, a Vintage Muse party. But hike up your hemlines and pull out your fedoras — this party is '30s/'40s-themed. Saturday: Caught with a bad case of dance fever? Philadelphia Dance Day offers seven free dance workshops. Later, check out Shakespeare in Clark Park. The show? A Midsummer's Night Dream — biker style. Then check out the Black Women's Art Festival — complete with massages, comedians, motivational speakers and book swaps. Sunday: Travel south for the DooWop Car Show and Street Festival before heading over to the 2nd Street Festival. Free food, beer and people selling stuff. Need we say more?

Posted by Katy Bergen @ 5:15 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Philly comics artists begin web miniseries Carnivale De Robotique

POSTED: Friday, July 30, 2010, 4:30 PM

Philly natives Tony Trov and Johnny Zito have been pumping out fiercely imaginative webcomics for a couple years now, including the widely acclaimed Black Cherry Bombshells and La Morte Sisters. Last week, they added to that ambitious collection Carnvale De Robotique. Released via Comixology, this punchily written strip--with brilliantly fanciful watercolors by Mark Fionda--follows the misadventures of a nanny droid named Wendy, who runs away to a robot circus. Once there, she finds herself unwittingly inserted into a love triangle between a lovable clown named Pagliacci and a despotic artificial strong man named Baal. The first issue is free, while subsequent issues will cost 99 cents. Drawn in widescreen to emphasize Comixology's cinematically-shaped view, Trov describes the strip as a "four-color fairy tale in the vein of Chuck Jones and Nick 'Toons." Zito adds that each robot is "an homage of an '80s android from TV or film." Though the pair drew influences specifically from the Old City Side Show's bizarre performances, they maintain that the abiding underdog nature of the protagonists is something with which every Philadelphian is born. Trov and Zito see themselves as "children of the digital revolution," and prefer to write web comics for their ease of access and unbridled freedom. According to Trov, "Print is cool but slow and cumbersome. Your form is limited by costs, ad sales and print sizes. With digital; we're playing with all those conventions." Carnivale De Robotique is available now at comixology.com and can be read on your desktop, iPhone, iPad, PS3 and PSP. To see more of Mark Fionda's works, you can visit his website, markfiondajr.com. For more of Trov and Zito's comics, visit southfellini.com, where, I'm sure, the La Strada reference has not gone unnoticed. RELATED >> Local comic artists bring vampires to South Philadelphia

Tony Trov

Posted 2010-07-30 12:53:21

Whoa. Why do all the best artist go uncredited? Amazing water colors by Mr Mark Fionda. 

http://www.markfiondajr.com/

Eric Henney

Posted 2010-07-30 13:43:15

You're totally right, Tony--sorry for the oversight. 
Fixed.

Posted by Eric Henney @ 4:30 PM Permalink | Post a comment

MUSIC MADNESS: Win tickets to see Rufus Wainwright on Wednesday -- WE HAVE OUR WINNER

POSTED: Friday, July 30, 2010, 3:35 PM

Filed Under: Music

Son of folk royalty and star in his own right Rufus Wainwright hits up the Mann Center on Wed., Aug. 4 in support of his recent album All Days are Nights: Songs for Lulu. We want you to catch the fabulous crooner in the flesh! All you have to do to win two tickets to see Rufus is e-mail the answer to the following question to molly [dot] eichel [at] citypaper [dot] net: Congrat to Melissa F.!

Where did Rufus get the inspiration for the title All Days are Nights?

Shakespeare's Sonnet 43: "All days are nights to see until I see thee..."

Rufus Wainwright, Wed., Aug. 4, 8 p.m., $34.50-56, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, 52nd St. and Parkside Ave.

Posted by Molly Eichel @ 3:35 PM Permalink | Post a comment

NOW SEE THIS: Dancing Pigeons, "Ritalin"

POSTED: Friday, July 30, 2010, 3:00 PM

Filed Under: Music | Now See This

Posted by Patrick Rapa @ 3:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

POETIC LICENSE: Horoscopes, July 30-Aug. 5

POSTED: Friday, July 30, 2010, 2:00 PM

Filed Under: Poetic License

Critical Mass welcomes devoted poet/avid concert-goer/nerd-grrrl extraordinaire Jane Cassady to the fold; her weekly horoscopes will run in this space every Friday morning. Writing Games (Note: Your horoscopist moonlights as Philadelphia's Slam Mistress. This week's horoscope will appear in The Fuze Anthology: The Phenomena of Temporary, which contains many local and national poetry favorites and benefits the Philly Slam Team's trip to nationals. Come out and celebrate with us at The Fuze tonight, July 30, at 7:30 p.m., InFusion Coffee and Tea, 7133 Germantown Ave. For more info, contact turtleinkpress@gmail.com.) Leo (July 24-Aug. 23): Listen to the Redwalls song "Thank You" and any other gratitude-themed songs you can think of. (Send me your list!) While you're listening, draw a picture of someone you're really, really grateful to. Make a detailed list of why, and give it to the person ASAP. Virgo (Aug. 24-Sept. 23): Take out a copy of Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience. Look up "The Tyger" and read it aloud. Draw a picture of your favorite animal. Paste it to a piece of construction paper. Beneath that, write all the things your animal could say, if it could speak. Libra(Sept. 24-Oct. 21): Find yourself a shaman, or hope that one finds you. He or she will instruct you on how to visit the underworld and will probably drum while doing so. Find your power animal. Ask him or her what to write about. Scorpio (Oct. 22-Nov. 22): (Props to Lynda Barry on this one!) Draw a diagram of the exact moment your heart was broken. Put yourself at the center of the page, draw/list what is above you, below you, etc. Sleep with this diagram under your pillow. Your dreams will digest it into a poem. Sagittarius (Nov. 23-Dec. 22): Write down everything you overhear in the next 24 hours, paying special attention to the children on the bus. Their questions are your new gurus. Write religious texts on their behalf. Now print up tracts and stand on street corners circulating them. Capricorn (Dec. 23-Jan. 20): Learn the names of 20 new butterflies. Write them little plays. Is the Blue Morpho hooked on the nectar again? What's her relationship to the Tiger Mimic-Queen? Do they go out with Malachite for rotting fruit? What's going on with Mexican Sister? (I could do this all day.) Aquarius (Jan. 21-Feb. 19): Those love letters you keep getting? Print them out and cut them up lovingly, preferably with patterned craft shears. Rearrange them like refrigerator poetry. Glue up sheets of them so that passers-by will feel adored but also confused. As always, bonus points for glitter. Pisces (Feb. 20-March 20): Find an Office Max or similar store that's going out of business. Buy up all the red pens at a steep discount. Use these to begin listing your gentlest memories, in order of their similarity to rose petals. Make these into origami roses to hand out to everyone you'd like to meet. Aries (March 21-April 18): Get a small notebook like comedians carry. Start collecting jokes, one-liners, funny status updates, etc. After you've been collecting them for a while, print them out on little slips. Sneak them into fortune cookies when nobody's looking. Invite your true love out for Chinese food. Taurus (April 19-May 18): Begin by making a list of all the friends you regret losing. Now make each one a mix tape whose songs explicitly express that regret. Mail out the mixes if you can stand to, wrapped in collages from back issues of Real Simple magazine. Translate your ex-friends' responses into new poems. Gemini (May 19-June 21): Set your timer for 10 minutes. Make a list of all your lost loves. Doesn't have to just be people. What about lost jobs, CDs, hats you lost in the mosh pits of your wayward youth. Go into detail about every facet and sting. You'll feel better. Cancer (June 22-July 23): What's that thing that's been pissing you off? Google "pantoum" and write about that pesky obsession — the rhythmic repetition gives you the go ahead to ruminate ruminate, ruminate! What a relief!

Posted by Jane Cassady @ 2:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

FREEBIE ALERT: Get ex-Dr. Dog-er's Juston Stens new EP for free

POSTED: Thursday, July 29, 2010, 8:53 PM

Filed Under: Music Philly Bands

Erstwhile Dr. Dog member Juston Stens is offering his debut EP with the Get Real Gang for free over at Park the Van. Just enter your e-mail address and voila! Free tunes. Stens may have bailed on Philly to go on a magical musical exploration tour, but he's back and playing two shows here in the oh-so-new future: Aug. 4 @ Penn Treaty Park (Philebrity Rock 'n' Roll BBQ) Aug. 24 @ North Star Bar w/TV Torso

phans

Posted 2010-07-29 17:10:04

the songs are great. went to see them and the band is really good.. and are brothers, cousin, and friends of Juston's.

luckyduck

Posted 2010-07-30 22:06:14

They are like VanHalen mixed with the BeeGees.

Posted by Molly Eichel @ 8:53 PM Permalink | Post a comment

La Roux postoned until November; have a dance party anyway

POSTED: Thursday, July 29, 2010, 8:21 PM

Filed Under: Music

Get well soon Elly!

So La Roux's show at the Troc scheduled for tonight was postponed until way out in November 9 due to singer Elly Jackson's illness. Bummer. But the party ain't over. Why don't you listen to "Bulletproof," which K. Ross Hoffman write about in this week's issue:

La Roux sure do lead a thrilling, treacherous life. Or so the titles of their singles would have you believe: The well-coiffed dance-pop duo debuted with "Quicksand" and assailed the U.K. charts with the ferocious "In for the Kill." Even if it's all metaphorical (yeah, they're pretty much just love songs), there's enough real menace and fierceness in their tracks for the violent conceits to hit home. Nowhere is that more true than on "Bulletproof," their finest achievement and the most urgent, insistent, utterly invincible sliver of synth-pop from the past decade of unabashed retro-wonkery. Call it an '80s-retread if you must; you can't shoot it down. Ben Langmaid's gritty keyboards pierce like tiny neon shards, and Elly Jackson's spitfire vocal delivery (she of the Tilda Swinton-esque androgyny and opinionated, dubiously reasoned public statements) offer nothing but glisteningly sharp edges. That is, until the song's gleaming chorus — the sort that's simply one line repeated four times, because that's all it needs to be. "This time I'll be bulletproof," Jackson wails, betraying the slightest hint of vulnerability. More likely, we're the ones who need protection.

Or download the Major Lazer/La Roux mixtape that we've been rocking out to for sometime.

Posted by Molly Eichel @ 8:21 PM Permalink | Post a comment

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH: Lilith Fair edition

POSTED: Thursday, July 29, 2010, 7:00 PM

Neighborhood Watch finds most fashionable. This week: Lilith Fair

Nyidera Edwards

Anjulie (left)

Spirited and unique singer/songwriter Anjulie, hailing from Oaksville, Ontario, not only rocked the crowd on Lilith Fair's ABC Stage but also her blinged-out black ensemble. Everything from her blindingly-studded bra to velvet hot pants were A+. Anjulie's studded shades and single dangling earring were the perfect playful accent to her look, as was her black-pink-blonde tresses. Even Anjulie's sheer, oversized top added flair, though it wasn't on for long. Sorry, "all-black-everything" just won't fly in this heat, Shawn Carter.

Heather B. (23) loves to nurture that urge for change. "I love eclectic and comfortable pieces so I can play up any different genre of fashion," she says. The Mt. Holly, NJ native says her pretty plaid dress is one of her favorites. "I've seen a big theme with plaid going on so I threw it on," she says. "Plus it's comfortable, flowy and I love pockets!" Heather picked up her dress at TJ Maxx and her Buddha's Hand necklace is from a small boutique in New York. "I'm pretty thrifty," the social worker adds, "I love Christian Siriano's new line at Payless." Heather was most pumped to see Sarah MacLachlin. She says, "I've loved her since forever."

Nyidera Edwards

Patterns and bold solids are what fashion lives for and Melissa McClelland (31) pairs the two beautifully. As a guitarist for Sarah McLachlan and solo performer on Lilith 2010, the musician says she always performs in vintage dresses. This particular bright red and tiny-checkered piece was purchased at a shop in Austin, TX. Melissa says her favorite shop is Cabaret in Toronto. "They have beautiful selection of handpicked vintage pieces," she says. "I even bought my wedding dress there." She adds that what she loves most about Lilith is "the sense of community. After shows we like to hang out and play music together."

Lilith headliner Jill Hennessy (who you may also know from Crossing Jordan and Law & Order) kept it simple and sexy with a solid white tank, neutral aviators and dark wash, cuffed shorts. Her huge, beautifully-studded bangles could be spotted miles away. I also loved her black strappy sandals and complementing dark polish. "I grabbed these things at Ibiza in LA," she says. With a physique like hers, Jill's own husband couldn't keep his hands off her as he jokingly asked, "Hey baby, could you come home with me? You are smokin'!" I'd like to have seen her reaction if it had been anyone else!

Nyidera Edwards

Lancaster girl, Erin V. (26) was comfy and cute in her blue, cinched waist dress, which she bought at dogfunk. "I bought it to wear as a beach cover-up but I grew to like it so much more," she says. "It's comfortable and cool and I love pockets on dresses." She says her favorite commercial designer is BCBG, whom she has always loved for their "asymmetry in dresses." Erin was all about see Sara Bareilles.

Posted by Nyidera Edwards @ 7:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | NEXT »

Q&A with SHARI SOLANIS: "The goal isn't pornography"
SEXY TIME Q&A: I've never had an orgasm during sex with a man — and I'm 30!
NOW SEE THIS: Transit cop arrests marijuana activist for alleged disorderly conduct.
CONCERT REVIEW: Primus (3D & quadraphonic sound) @ The Tower 10/17
What we're trying to do this weekend
Q&A with Tony Goldwyn: "Life is gray, and relationships are, too"
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Indian fare rules, Dunder Mifflin lives on, Tom Jones is a god
Bradley Cooper promises he's not an asshole
Q&A with Goon’s Seann William Scott
CITY PAPER WRITING CONTEST 2013: Send stories! Send poetry!

About this blog

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.

Follow Critical Mass editors Patrick Rapa and Emily Guendelsberger on Twitter:

@mission2denmark | @emilygee

Search this blog:

Topics:

Blog archives:

May
April
March

February
January

Past Archives: