1 Year Ago This Man Slaughtered 6 People, Maimed 13 And Killed Sarah Palin’s Presidential Dreams

[Illustration by ALEX FINE] ABC NEWS: In the stunned aftermath of the Tucson massacre, Sarah Palin has found herself in the crosshairs of the ensuing political debate with opponents suggesting she may have fueled the gunman’s rage and her supporters saying it is “grotesque” to blame her and to politicize the tragedy. Crosshairs is a political phrase that emerged from Palin’s political action committee SarahPac that targeted congressional districts for the Tea Party campaign in the last election, including the district of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Although Palin later denied she meant the graphic over the districts to look like a […]

GAYDAR: Jingle Bells, Batman Smells

[Photos by THOMAS SHEEDER] BY AARON STELLA Some people just get more Christmas than others this year. While the Scrooges of Wall Street help themselves to the bailout buffet, us Cratchets must fight to make ends meat, much less a “Merry Christmas” (and it’s ‘Happy Holidays’ now, by the way). Even the shrewd, business-savvy Jews are barely scraping by; at least that’s the case in the Dumpsta Players’ destitute portrait of the Lipshitz family. This year for Christmas, trash-glitz drag troupe the Dumpsta Players showed their sympathy to the millions going without this Christmas in “A Very Lipshitz Christmas” on December 18th […]

GAYDAR EXTRA: A Very Dumpsta Christmas

JINGLE BELLS, BATMAN SMELLS: Sara Sherr and Jimmy Divine get their Dumpsta on. BY AARON STELLA Christmas is here. Yeah, the economy sucks, and you’ve pawned your whole re-gift stash. Well, at least you can treat yourself to a little Christmas cheer. For only $1.99, you can revel in some holiday havoc with one of Philly’s premier trash-glitz drag troupes: you guessed it, the one and only Dumpsta Players are showcasing their Christmas extravaganza “A Very Lipshitz Christmas.” The Lipshitz’s, an orthodox Jewish family, find themselves flat broke (thanks to the Wall Street meltdown) this Christmas, a tragedy which eventually brings […]

THE GIRL CAN’T HELP IT: Q&A with Palmyra Delran

BY TIFFANY YOON LIVING ARTS EDITOR Every scene is forever trapped in a cyclical process of being loved, hated after going mainstream, and then, with the passage of time, finding its niche again amongst the ever-stubborn contrarians of the new age. These trends are inevitable, what is cool now will be deemed uncool given enough time and will eventually resurface again amongst a new generation to be heralded as cooler than ever. Garage rock, coupled with ’60s pop and surf have been going in and out of style since, well, the ’60s. The Friggs, who ruled the local garage-rock roost […]

CABARET REVIEW: Dumpster Playin’

[Photos by THOMAS SHEEDER] BY AARON STELLA GAYDAR EDITOR The Dumpsta Players have done it again; this time, with their teaser-Halloween extravaganza. And how utterly timely of them to provide such gritty, yet sophisticated follow-up to an explosive night in Philly: Obama trouncing McCain once again, and the Phillies making a glorious comeback, rousing the city to pitched fever. I just clicked off the final presidential debates myself: McCain, looking like a rotten turnip with passion fruit plumper smeared across his lips, and anthropomorphizing into Darth Sidious whenever he flashed a smile; and Obama, thankfully, remained classy and unflappable to […]

GIRL GERMS: Letter From Rock Camp

Editor’s Note: This week, on the campus of Girard College, Girls Rock Philly! is holding their summer Rock Camp for girls ages 9-17. The campers get their choice of concentrations in guitar, bass, drums, vocals, keyboard and DJ’ing. Our beloved neophyte rock diva, 14-year-old Jenn W. (Roxborough represent!), is on the scene and will be sending us dispatches from Rock Camp all week. Wednesday, Aug. 6 DEAR PHAWKER, Ahhh . . . another rockin’ day a Girls Rock Philly. Wednesday, hump day of the week, was sure a busy one. Nevertheless, a very crucial part of the week. It was […]

HEAR YE: Now Playing On Phawker Radio!

BY SARA SHERR The Breeders are my favorite band of the ’90s, back when cheerleading tomboys from Ohio roamed the Earth like alt-rock glamazons in flannel. Kim Deal’s terminal coolness is as undeniable as it is Midwestern friendly and gum-crackingly accessible. Everyone feels like they could pull it off. Together with her equally gum-crackingly cool sister Kelley and a revolving cast of band members that once included Throwing Muses/Belly’s Tanya Donnelly, their harmonies were tighter than your tightest black jeans, and their weird, wonderful guitar sounds made left-field hits that worked both as stoner jams and shimmying pop songs. The […]

INSTA-REVIEW: The Breeders Mountain Battles

NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO! WHY? BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU! BY SARA SHERR The Breeders are my favorite band of the ’90s, back when cheerleading tomboys from Ohio roamed the Earth like alt-rock glamazons in flannel. Kim Deal’s terminal coolness is as undeniable as it is Midwestern friendly and gum-crackingly accessible. Everyone feels like they could pull it off. Together with her equally gum-crackingly cool sister Kelley and a revolving cast of band members that once included Throwing Muses/Belly’s Tanya Donnelly, their harmonies were tighter than your tightest black jeans, and their weird, wonderful guitar sounds made left-field hits that […]

THESE ARE A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS 2007

PUNK ROCK MOMENT OF THE YEAR The Monks Of Burma Rise Up * ALBUMS WE LOVED Radiohead In Rainbows As fine a Radiohead album as I have ever heard. The devoted will be immensely gratified, and new converts will be drawn in by all the buzz and what proves to be bewitchingly ethereal, yet altogether visceral, rock music. The 10-song In Rainbows collapses into one tidy package all the Radioheads we have come to know: folk-rock Radiohead, electronica Radiohead, alt-rock Radiohead, prog-rock Radiohead. Not only does the band seem to nail the shifting ways those genres contribute to each song, […]

GAYBO: I Am Melting!…Melting!…Oh What A World!

BY TOMMY ZANE GAYDAR EDITOR OK, I’m not sure if my Ramon rollercoaster has finally reached its zenith, or if turning 39 last week triggered some sort of desperate mid-life crisis, but I totally earned my Oscar nomination this week, complete with hyperventilating, a crying jag, and other assorted acts of anxiety. It all started at my family’s birthday party, replete with yelling and arguing between my sister and her husband. My niece dropped her cell phone in a booth at an Appleby’s and World War III erupted. Of course, the LAST place I want to eat on my birthday […]

TONIGHT: Live & Direct From The Rock Snobitorium

BY JONATHAN VALANIA Be honest, does anybody really know what ‘twee’ means? What does ‘plaintive’ actually sound like? Can you draw me a picture of what ‘angular’ looks like? Didn’t think so. Check in with Phawker later tonight and you just might find out. We’ll be blogging live from the WXPN’s 885 Town Hall Meeting at the Annenberg Center starting around 8 PM. Bruce Warren will moderate a panel of 215 rock snobs including David Dye, Tom Moon and our own Sara Sherr. *** OK, we are live. And away we go…Bruce Warren has breaking news: Phil Spector jury is […]

INSTA-REVIEW: M.I.A. Kala

NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO. WHY? BECAUSE WE LIKE YOU! BY SARA SHERR As you’ve no doubt read in a million and one places already, M.I.A. was set to make her sophomore effort, Kala, with Timbaland, but then visa troubles (her father being a Tamil Tiger can’t help) kept her from working in the U.S. So she traveled the world, collecting beats, textures, and sounds. Unlike most of the acts that garner a lot of blogger hype and print-crit “me too”-ing, M.I.A. is truly worthy of your time and effort. No other record that comes out this year will sound […]