VICE: Many, many people believe that the Recording Industry Association of America is a giant hairy tumor on the neck of the music business. Many people further feel that this disgusting malignancy has slowly spread its cancerous wrath across the public domain in recent years. Over the past decade, the RIAA has sued the following individuals for allegedly using illegal means to download music: a 66-year-old grandmother from Boston who was accused of nabbing thousands of rap songs even though her computer wasn’t capable of running the software she was supposedly using, a 12-year-old honors student in NYC who lived […]
RAWK TAWK: Q&A With Richard Thompson
BY ARTHUR SHKOLNIK Quintessential Englishman Richard Thompson has been pushing the boundaries of finger-style guitar since the mid-sixties, when he founded Fairport Convention as a teenager. Five decades and over 40 albums later, Thompson has proven himself a force not to be folked and he is consistently ranked as one of the top five living guitarists and one of the greatest songwriters in recent memory. His newest album, Dream Attic, is a collection of 13 new tracks recorded in real time during a series of West Coast shows. The music continues to emulate life through introspective lyrics and incandescent guitar […]
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH: Exhuming The Old-Timey Mass Murder Mystery At Duffy’s Cut
[Illustration by TIM DURNING] “The past is never dead. It isn’t even past.” —William Faulkner BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY There is an old saying: Under every mile of railroad track is a dead Irishman. Locally speaking, this is almost literally true. Back in the 19th century, the Main Line, not to mention large stretches of the railroads in this part of the country, were built on the blood, sweat and tears of Irish Catholic immigrants, who back then commanded about as much respect as Mexican immigrant workers command today. Out near Malvern, under mile 59 of what […]
EARLY WORD: Dean Wareham Does Galaxie 500
EDITOR’S NOTE: Galaxie 500 remains very near and dear to our hearts. They made the late 80s sound like a passing sad daydream, which was pretty much how it felt at the time. Luna was fine, and sometimes great, but you you never forget your first love. We have interviewed Dean Wareham on numerous occasions over the years and always concluded the conversations with the eternal question: When is Galaxie 500 getting back together? He would sigh and respond with some slightly more polite and elegant variation of ‘don’t hold your breath.’ Friday night at the Troc he’s doing the […]
COMING ATTRACTION: Q&A With Will Oldham
He plays the Philadelphia Folk Festival on Friday under the nom de rock Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. He HATES doing press, but we managed to get him on the horn and ask him, among other things, to confirm or deny that he does in fact sing the line “the smell of your box on my mustache” in the song “That’s What Our Love Is” from the recently-released The Wonder Show Of The World. (TMI alert!) He was just to the sort of thoughtful prickly pear everyone who has ever interviewed him says he is. Look for it Friday on a Phawker […]
REALITY CHECK: The ‘Ground Zero Mosque’
WILL BUNCH: This much is clear in the great national debate that continues to smolder in lower Manhattan: Never before has there been such a controversy over what to do with a former Burlington Coat Factory. But in 21st century America, few things are easy – not when the Islamic faith, memories of the 9/11 terror attacks or sound-bite politics are involved. And so, the once obscure proposal by a Muslim group called Cordoba House to build a community center, including a prayer space, at a site roughly two blocks from a corner of the former World Trade Center has […]
CORRUPT AND CONTENTED: Feds Raid Offices Of State Rep And Traffic Court Judge In South Philly
INQUIRER: FBI and IRS agents descended on the South Philadelphia office of State Rep. William F. Keller (D.-Phila.) and the home of Philadelphia Traffic Court Judge Robert Mulgrew this morning. FBI Special Agent J.J. Klaver confirmed agents from the two law enforcement organizations were at both locations, but declined to provide other details. He would not say if the agents were executing a search warrant. They were accompanied by uniformed Philadelphia police. Agents were also at Keller’s sporting goods store, K O Sporting Goods, at 2001 East Moyamensing Ave. where they were removing boxes of files and computers with tags […]
COMING ATTRACTION: Q&A With Richard Thompson
In honor of the mighty Richard Thompson playing the Philadelphia Folk Festival this weekend, we got the man on the horn to talk about Fairport Convention, reuniting onstage with his ex-wife/partner Linda Thompson, his new album and why he won’t be playing “Calvary Cross” at the Folk Fest. Look for it this week. Here’s a taste… PHAWKER: And you mentioned your ex-wife slash musical partner Linda Thompson. RICHARD THOMPSON: Yep. PHAWKER: You had recently performed together for the first time in 30 years; can you tell me a little bit about that experience and how it came about in the […]
Is This The End Of The Line For American Apparel?
LOS ANGELES TIMES: The change of accountants “was definitely not anything sinister,” Schey said in an interview. “It has nothing to do with them coming across evidence of fraud or anything of that nature.” American Apparel disclosed July 28 that Deloitte had resigned as the company’s accountant. The apparel firm noted that Deloitte had reported previously that the company had weaknesses in its internal financial reporting controls. The clothing firm also said Deloitte had told it that further investigations might affect the reliability of its previous audit reports and the underlying financial statements for 2009. Word of the subpoena came […]
CONTEST: Win Tix To See Jeff Tweedy
We have a pair of tickets to give away for Saturday at Philadelphia Folk Festival featuring a solo acoustic set by Jeff Tweedy. We just saw him solo at the Solid Sound Festival and boy are you in for a treat! These days we are digging Tweedy solo/acoustic even more than Wilco proper. Because we like you, we are gonna make this ridiculously easy. First reader to email us at FEED@PHAWKER.COM with the correct answer to the following question wins: What gospel legend just released a solo record produced by Mr. Tweedy? Include a cell phone number for confirmation. Good […]
SIDEWALKING: A Pile Of Barbies
Window display, Trocadero, 10th and Arch, 12:07 PM by JEFF FUSCO
ALBUM REVIEW: Slum Village’s Villa Manifesto
BY MATTHEW HENGEVELD Any hip-hop head will tell you: Slum Village ain’t no joke. The group launched the solo career of J Dilla, one of the greatest hip-hop producers of all time. It also spurned the growth of Elzhi, one of Detroit’s finest emcees. But if Slum Village isn’t a joke, why are people laughing at Villa Manifesto, the group’s latest effort? Well, let’s just say that Slum Village is cursed. Here’s a recap: When J Dilla left Slum Village after Fan-Tas-Tic Vol. 2, the group seemed destined to fail without its producer. However, the addition of Elzhi revamped the […]