"The main casualties of the fire were memorabilia and merchandise to be sold in the PIR retail store on the ground floor of the building where Chubby Checker recorded "The Twist," when it housed the Cameo Parkway record label. That was before Gamble, Huff, and Bell bought the building in 1970. The building suffered structural and water damage, and about 40 gold records were harmed, as were irreplaceable photos, said Gamble's nephew Chuck Gamble, PIR's executive vice president, who estimated the damage "in the millions."" [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Liam Wilson playing w/ Frodus @ DBA (more by Ryan Muir)


we asked lots of people to make lists. this is what Liam sent in...

Liam Wilson's Favorite Things About Philly
1. All things Macabre at the Mutter Museum
2. The Mint and Cucumber soup at Horizons
3. Weekend Brunch at Mi Lah
4. Fairmount Park
5. The Smoked Coconut at Memphis Tap Room
6. Yoga at the Bikram College Of India
7. Jazz at Ortleibs
8. Iced Coffee from Ray's in China Town
9. Hot Pretzels from the Pretzel Factory at Midnight
10. The Wannamaker Organ at Macy's Department Store

---

Dillinger Escape Plan open for Gogol Bordello at Webster Hall tonight (12/29), and then play with Glassjaw & Thursday at Starland Ballroom on Wednesday (12/30).

They debuted a new song on Sirius-XM on Christmas Eve. Listen below...

Continue reading "new Dillinger Escape Plan song streaming, Liam Wilson lists his favorite things about Philadelphia"

photos by Tim Griffin

Happy Holidays! I take on more than I can handle. That results in a lot of unposted content. In the name of catching up, while also taking it easy during this final week of the year, here's some of that lost material.

TV on the Radio played the 2009 Roots Picnic in Philly in June Pictures from their set are continued below...

Continue reading "TV on the Radio @ the 2009 Roots Picnic in Philly - pics "

Chicago's nu romantics KILL HANNAH woke up on the eve of wrapping their fall tour with Jet, Papa Roach and Morningwood to a find their 15-passenger van and 14-foot trailer stolen. Taken between 4am and 11am today, Wednesday, November 11 from the front of the Holiday Inn on 900 Packer Ave, Philadelphia, PA-the same location that rock trio Mae had their van stolen from just a week earlier-the band lost over $120,000 in gear and merchandise, including one-of-a-kind vintage custom guitars and vintage custom effects. The theft comes just over a year after a devastating fire in Europe destroyed everything on the band's bus.

Lead singer Mat Devine says, "We're devastated and speechless. We've been touring so hard around the world for the past seven years and this is the most evil thing we've witnessed. Special Crimes say this was a coordinated heist."

The band regretfully has to cancel their remaining tour dates, scheduled for the Electric Factory in Philadelphia [Wednesday] and the Nokia Theatre in New York City [tonight]. Their seventh annual "New Heart For Xmas" weekend of shows and events are still scheduled in Chicago on December 18 at Reggie's Rock House and December 19 at Metro.

Continue reading "another band's van was stolen in Philly (same spot as Mae) (band cancels dates on best tour ever)"

Kurt Vile on WFMU @ UCB - Oct 7, 2009 (notladj)

"Kurt opened the night with two solo numbers that haven't appeared on any record, to my knowledge. I recognized "Peeping Tomboy" from one of the Ray Concepcion videos from Kurt Vile's last Silent Barn show, which I've posted below. If I had any doubt that Kurt Vile has any more good material left in him after this new album, "Peeping Tomboy" puts my worries to rest. With the October 6th release of Childish Prodigy, it was no surprise that Kurt Vile and the Violators mostly performed songs from that album. However, he performed a couple of songs off Constant Hitmaker, and they were given the Violators treatment. Of course, KV and the Violators tackled "Freeway," the song that Kurt once referred to as their Billboard chart hit, "right above 'Like a Rolling Stone.'" By far, the live version of "Freeway" is my favorite, mostly due to J Turbo's added harmonica part. No "My Sympathy" this night, but Kurt said he would definitely play it at his next NYC show. I will be there." [LAMIMAB]

Kurt Vile and the Violators are now on tour, but they'll be back soon. They were just added as opener on the November 18th Big Star show at Brooklyn Masonic Temple. Some tickets are still available.

A bunch of videos below...

Continue reading "Kurt Vile played UCB & Mercury Lounge, opening for Big Star"

photos by Greg Cristman

"What do you get when you take one very influential German band, about 60 people, three amps, half a drum set, two Fender guitars, a small accordion, an upright vacuum, a ukulele, trumpets, trombones, a full size synthesizer, tambourines and chairs? It's not the easiest thing to put your finger on, but the Faust workshop [the other] night at the International House wasn't your average musical performance" [Phrequency]

The Brooklyn show was also the first night of the three-day WFMU festival that continues tonight (10/2) with Pissed Jeans, TV Ghost, VeeDee, and Guinea Worms. Saturday is Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Sightings, Drunkdriver, and Talk Normal.

More pictures from the Philly workshop below...

Continue reading "Faust played Brooklyn & Philly (pics) -- WFMU Fest continues "

"The management of the Flying W have decided that our radness is just too much for their family establishment..."

members of !!! take a dip...

!!! embark today (September 3rd) on a short East Coast tour, dates below. The band will stop this Friday at Terminal 5 for the first night of Warp20 with Battles, Flying Lotus and Pivot. Tickets are still on sale.

Two days later, on September 6th, !!! will play Jersey/Philly's final Making Time Pool Party of the summer (remember, the Dan Deacon/No Age/Deerhunter pool party with an actual pool?). Plans for the Making Time party have been shuffled a bit after the Flying W Pool and Resort dropped out as the venue. The September 6th show will be happening, but not there - not even in Jersey. Instead, Bamboo Bar in Philadelphia (which has a pool of its own) will host the event. Also in house will be resident DJs Dave P, Mike Z and many others.

Check out a video put together for the event, the flyer, the story behind the gig and all !!! tour dates, below...

Continue reading "!!! on tour (dates) --- Terminal 5 Friday (Warp20NYC), Making Time Pool Party Sunday (but not @ the Flying W anymore) "

Joe Jack Talcum

Dead Milkmen guitarist Joe Jack Talcum sets off today (9/1) on a two week solo tour. The tour visits NYC this Friday, September 4th for a show at Cake Shop with Samuel Locke-Ward vs. Darren Brown and The Bassturd.

On September 2nd, Joe shares a bill with another punk rocker turned solo artist, Kevin Seconds, at Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park, NJ (tix). That show is just one date on Kevin's own tour that he's been on since his band 7 Seconds played a couple of shows with the Bouncing Souls at Webster Hall and The Troc. Kevin plays Union Hall in Brooklyn on September 3rd (tix).

Speaking of The Troc, Joe Talcum will also be playing with the Dead Milkmen this fall for a limited set of shows. They play two nights at Riot Fest in Chicago on October 9th and 10th, and then a special hometown show at The Troc in Philly on October 31st. Tickets for the Halloween gig are on sale now.

Speaking of Riot Fest, 7 Seconds (and some other bands) have been added to the previously announced bill (which already included Dead Milkmen). Full lineup and schedule HERE.

Dead Milkmen played Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin in 2008. 7 Seconds are playing that fest in 2009.

Videos of Joe Jack with the Brooklyn What at Fontana's earlier this year, with all of his tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Dead Milkmen playing Philly on Halloween, Joe Jack Talcum touring, playing Asbury Lanes (w/ Kevin Seconds), Cake Shop"

photos by Tim Griffin

Dr. Dog has signed to Anti-Records (home of Os Mutantes), which will release the band's fifth record in early 2010. What does Dr. Dog guitarist-vocalist Scott McMicken have to say about that?

"Each album we've made was the best one we could have made at the time and I don't have any regrets," McMicken says. "But something has changed. We've never really recorded as a band before. We started as a recording project but over the years we've become a real band. We tour all the time and we have this certain place we fall into. And I think we're ready to use that as a reference point now"

Bethlehem Musikfest is a music festival that runs from July 31st to August 9th and consists of more than 300 performances, most of which are free (Dr. Dog on August 3rd included). Pay shows at the fest include a stop on the Pat Benatar/Blondie/The Donnas tour (which has a free Coney Island show on August 13th) and a show with the B-52s (also playing NYC) and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts.

Dr. Dog's last NYC show was also a free one. It took place at the Prospect Park Bandshell in Brooklyn. We already posted a set of pictures from it. Now here's another one, along with the full lineup for the Bethlehem Musikfest and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Dr. Dog sign to Anti, playing Bethlehem Musikfest (lineup) & other places - 2009 tour dates & more Prospect Park pics "

Flying W Airport & Pool in Medford, NJ

We previously mentioned the two "pool party" stops on the upcoming No Age/Dan Deacon/Deerhunter tour. One will be at the Williamsburg Waterfront on August 2nd. The second will be in Medford, NJ, at a place called the Flying W Airport & Resort on August 1st. Tickets for that show are on sale.

Unlike the "pool parties" last summer at McCarren, or the ones this summer at the Williamsburg Waterfront, it looks like the Flying W party, located not far from Philadelphia (R5 is co-promoting), will actually involve a pool (that has water in it) (and that is shaped like an airplane) (see above).

And that's not the only "Flying W Pool Party" at the resort this summer. The spot is also hosting at least three more events, the first of which is an edition of Making Time with a whole host of DJs including Dave P, listed below. That'll happen this Saturday, June 27th. Tickets are on sale. The other two currently scheduled gigs at Flying W are another Making Time on September 5th, and "TBA" on September 19th.

Full lineup for the June event, with a flyer and more details, below...

Continue reading "Flying W Pool Parties in Medford, NJ - Making Time Saturday"

photos by Tim Griffin

Philadelphia's City Hall just announced that the Roots are playing the Fourth of July! The hometown band has been added to the bill with Sheryl Crow for the city's massive free concert on the Ben Franklin Parkway, Saturday, July 4th, beginning 8:30 p.m. It's the largest free concert in the country. The Roots play first; then Sheryl Crow for Philadelphia's "Life, Liberty & You" concert. A huge fireworks show will follow the concert.

The Roots opened the entire concert with a mini-set. How sick are these dudes that they even open up for... THEMSELVES?!?

The Roots picnic is a tremendous bellwether for so many things. Asher Roth, Kid Cudi, and Santigold are that next-next shit. I think all three of them will be in the business of making music for a good long time.

The Roots picnic also gave me a chance to see Philadelphia again in a new and different light. That city is once again rebuilding itself with a signature sound played by musicians who have dedicated their lives to their craft. [XXL]

More pictures from the Roots Picnic & all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "The Roots - free 4th of July show in Philly, more Highline shows, Rock the Bells (all dates) & the Roots Picnic (pics) "

photos by Tim Griffin

"The marquee event [at this year's Roots Picnic - June 6, 2009 in Philly] was Public Enemy's performance of their epochal 1988 album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, performed for only the third - and, they have said, the last - time on American soil, and the first time with a band.

Public Enemy's Chuck D famously called rap music African Americans' CNN, an analogy that bodes ill for the exhumation of a 20-year-old album. But fueled by an expanded Roots lineup that included a horn section from the Brooklyn-based Afrobeat orchestra Antibalas, Nation sounded like anything but old news. Chuck D's stentorian voice has lost none of its power to command, and Flavor Flav washed away years of reality-TV embarrassment, seeming more like a sharp-witted jester than a fool.

Rather than approximating Nation's sonic thicket, the Roots added melody and depth. The prison-riot saga "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" gained a funk guitar riff and blaring horns, with ?uestlove's snare hits ringing out like rifle shots.
[Philadelpha Inquirer]

Continue reading "Public Enemy performed 'It Takes a Million' w/ Antibalas & The Roots @ the Roots Picnic in Philly - pics"

The previously mentioned Bouncing Souls / 7 Seconds shows have officially appeared and also include Lifetime, Tim Barry (of Avail), and None More Black (ex-Kid Dynamite) and are now (mostly) on band pre-sale. The lineups look like this:

8/20 - The Bouncing Souls, Lifetime & None More Black @ Webster Hall
8/21 - The Bouncing Souls, 7Seconds & Tim Barry @ Webster Hall
8/22 - The Bouncing Souls, 7Seconds, None More Black @ The Trocadero
8/23 - The Bouncing Souls, Lifetime, Tim Barry @ the Trocadero

Tickets for both NYC shows go on AmEx presale on Wednesday at noon. Tickets for all four shows go on regular sale Friday at noon. More Bouncing Souls dates HERE.

Continue reading "Bouncing Souls, 7 Seconds, Lifetime, Tim Barry & None More Black - 2 shows in NYC & 2 in Philly (presale now) "

by Black Bubblegum

Thank god for wireless! Ben Weinman of DEP in the Photo Pit (more by Lori Baily)

The Dillinger Escape Plan have added a show at The Barbary in Philadelphia, a venue that holds "less than 100 people". Why you ask? Presumably to work out the kinks with their new drummer Billy Rymer. Here are the deets for all the Philly headz:

HOLY SMALL INTIMATE SHOW!... these guys will debut their new drummer as well as some new songs.
The smallest Dillinger show ever in Philly (even those Stalag shows were bigger than this). So get your ticket like right this second cause it's going to be sold out in like 3 hours.

The Dillinger Escape Plan are working on new material to follow up the critically acclaimed Ire Works. They have "loosely set aside" June & July for recording.

Brian Posehn performs four shows at Comix in NYC Friday and Saturday night.

Dave Hill leaves NYC to make a couple of rare appearances in Philly - also Friday and Saturday.

Don't worry Dave won't be gone long though. He is scheduled to appear Monday at Knitting Factory with David Cross who will also be at the Union Hall holiday comedy show on Sunday.

The above picture has nothing to do with anything else in this post. It is courtesy of VICE.

Dave Hill will also be at UCB on Decemmber 18th, and you can see him getting wasted in the video (of his trip to the New York Bar show at the Javits Center) below...

Continue reading "Brian Posehn is in NYC, Dave Hill is in Philly & other comedy "

On a stage outside a North Philadelphia theater where some of the greatest R&B artists once performed, Jay-Z and other members of the hip-hop elite exhorted 10,000 young people yesterday to become part of history by voting for Sen. Barack Obama.

A throng of energized young people, many of them Temple University students, gathered in front of the historic Uptown Theater on Broad Street about 1 p.m. to hear rappers Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs and singer Mary J. Blige urge them to cast ballots for the senator from Illinois.

"I need y'all to be really, really quiet for this. I need you to really understand what I'm telling you," Jay-Z said. "Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk. Martin Luther King walked so Obama could run. Obama's running so we all can fly." [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Beyonce and Russell Simmons were at yesterday's event too. More pictures at Barack Obama's Flickr account.

In semi-related news, Jay-Z's successor at Def Jam commited suicide over the weekend.

Tickets are on sale (password=scrapple) for an August 8th Bob Dylan show at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia. The show is "to commemorate the legendary venue's 40th Anniversary". The Brooklyn show is August 12th. Asbury Park is the 13th. (thx Hiro)

A fierce battle has broken out among top executives at Live Nation Inc. over the concert-promotion company's ambitious strategy to reshape the struggling music industry by making wide-ranging but expensive deals with artists such as Madonna and Jay-Z.

The battle is over the limits of that strategy, in which Live Nation has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to a handful of performers in return for exclusive rights to release their recordings, promote their concert tours and sell T-shirts and other merchandise bearing their images.

Having laid out so much cash -- an estimated $120 million for Madonna and $150 million for Jay-Z alone -- Live Nation Chief Executive Michael Rapino has sought to slow the pace of deal making so he can ascertain that deals already struck are working before entering new ones. But the company's chairman, concert promoter Michael Cohl, wants to quickly strike deals with as many as 15 more artists. [Wall Street Journal] (thx adam)

As previously announced, Erykah Badu is going on tour and playing Radio City Music Hall. Also playing that show and many others with her: the Roots. Tickets are on sale. The Roots are also playing All Points West in Jersey City, and have announced the details of their June 7th "Roots Picnic" festival in Philly...

Grammy award-winning, hip-hop trailblazers The Roots are offering their hometown fans in Philadelphia a day of music featuring some of the industry's hottest acts. On June 7th, an eclectic group of artists will descend upon Festival Pier for the city's most exciting concert lineup of the year. As curators of the event, The Roots sought a diverse roster from their circle of peers- artists they have known since their youth and past & present collaborators.

Joining The Roots are Gnarls Barkley, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Santogold, Deerhoof, J*Davey, Diplo, Esperanza and The Cool Kids. Gates open at noon, and the show starts at 2:00PM. General admission tickets are $49.50 and can be purchased now at all Ticketmaster locations.

Continue reading "the ROOTS on the Colbert Report smashing guitars (video), Picnic festival, 2008 Tour Dates & a new album"

by Nick Masi

No Age - a week or two ago (NOTGL)

Saturday night's Liars and No Age show at Warsaw did not disappoint (Feb 9, 2008). No Age opened the show and set the tone. They played a mix of songs from their ep's, Weirdo Rippers and tracks from their forthecoming album on Sub-Pop called Nouns. Jumping off of speakers and playing in the crowd, No Age set the bar high. The place was packed, and when Liars came out, they fed off all the energy in the room. Due to his back injury, Angus remained seated for a lot of the night, but he did occasionally stand, jump, and wave the Polish flag. The crowd was attentive.

At 6-foot-somethingorother, Liars front man Angus Andrew is a magnetic, kind of menacing presence. Even in a raspberry colored suit. While sitting down. [Sound Bites]

The new Liars material rocked live! And luckily (like the rest of the tour up until then), the New York show went off without a hitch. Philadelphia was not as lucky though. Angus declared during their set Saturday night, "We're canceling tomorrow," and then Liars sent out this bulletin on Sunday...

Continue reading "No Age & Liars played Brooklyn, but not Philly sort of"

"The 2008 POPPED! Music Festival pops off at Philadelphia's Drexel University June 20-22, and based on the first act alone, we can tell you this thing will be a doozy.

Not only will Philly's favorite sons the Roots curate the first night of next year's fest, they will also perform catalog hallmark Things Fall Apart in its entirety, Don't Look Back-stylee. Hot dang." [Pitchfork]

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band in Philly, Oct 6, 2007 (CRED)

"This would mark Springsteen's third No. 1 on The Billboard 200 among his last four studio albums." [Billboard]. AOL is still streaming the album for free.

Bruce's Saturday night Philly setlist below....

Continue reading "Springsteen scores another number one album"

Philadelphia - Sept 4, 2007 (CRED)

Do you recognize any of the extras in this new National video?

Continue reading "VIDEO: The National - Apartment Story (+ special bonus)"