Music, listings, beer, bikes, politics and more; straight outta Philly
Austin Texas’ White Denim and Brazos are coming to Kung Fu Necktie this Friday the 13th.
Off their new LP Fits
White Denim- Mirrored and Reverse
Brazos will be supporting a new LP as well.
Brazos- Day Glo from Phosphorescent Blues
Here’s a good review of their recent Chicago show. It’s gonna be a hootenany!
Good stuff.
Ellie Goulding’s original:
Slightly better dubstep remix:
Ellie Goulding- Starry Eyed (Jakwob Remix)
From Australia:
A Dead Forest Index- Sleep From Eyes (c/o WavesAtNight)
Also from Australia, The Temper Trap:
The Temper Trap- Sweet Disposition
I’m not posting this because the band is from Philly. This is straight up punk rock and it stands on it’s own. I only found out they’re local after the fact. They’re playing West Philly on Nov. 14:
Amazing/Wow- We Don’t Need Anything (c/o PrettyMuchAmazing)
Freelance Whales from NY, @ Johnny Brenda’s Dec. 10. The entire album is great:
Freelance Whales- Hannah (also from PMA)
Here’s Surfer Blood, some new stuff from Florida, coming to the North Star Bar on the 12th of Nov:
I guess its true- shoegazing is making a comeback:
Classixx:
Stephanie Mills is known more for starring in the movie The Wiz, and the single from 1980 I Never Knew Love Like This Before was a bigger hit, but this lesser known 12″ from 1983 tops that one:
Stephanie Mills- You Can’t Hide
I took some decent pictures of the Thao Nguyen show at the church but I can’t get them off the camera. Oh well.
This relatively new seasonal beer style is becoming one of my favorites. These hop harvest or “wet hopped” ales are basically medium octane IPA with a huge, fresh hop aroma and taste. Apparently the hops are thrown directly into the kettle fresh off the vine so oils and resins are still still intact.
It is important to drink these ales fresh. I’ve noticed that once they are stored a few months, the hop aroma wears off quickly, so drink that sixpack as soon as you get it!
One of the originators of the style is Sierra Nevada. I was fortunate enough to pick up a case of their Harvest Ale last year.
Since the harvest season is upon us I picked up a couple new bottles this weekend- Weyerbacher Harvest Ale from Easton, and Founders Harvest Ale from Michigan. How’d they compare? It wasn’t even close. The Founders completely blew away the Weyerbacher. I don’t know if i got an old bottle (I doubt it) but the Weyerbacher was bland- not much flavor and only slight hop nose. The Founders on the other hand was magnificent.
I visited the South Philly Taproom last night and the barkeep informed me that they had it on TAP last week and she said it was wonderful. I had to settle for the bottle.
If you’re interested in this style then definitely check out Johnny Brendas NEXT Saturday, November 14 for their first (annual?) Wet Hop Rodeo. The Beer Lass has the mostly local lineup.
I’ll see you there.
My large friend Corey went to this Ted Leo show at Kung Fu Necktie on Halloween. I shoulda joined him.
My favorite Misfits song:
This is Philly, yo. Dude’s still around, trying to hit it big again.
One of my all time favorites.
I first heard this song from a cassette given to me by my childhood friend Andrew Pattison. He lived in Mt. Morris, MI which was more urban than where I grew up. He’s basically the dude who saved me from album-oriented arena rock, ala Styx/Journey/Boston/Supertramp which was played on the radio ad-nauseum in 1980.
I’m still looking for a similar song that was on that same cassette. Been looking for 20 years cuz I can’t remember one single lyric. I’ll know it when I hear it though.
More early hip hop ala 1980:
This is considered by many to be the first hip hop song. 1979, The Fatback Band:
I need sleep. I have kids who’ve literally been waking me up at the crack of dawn for over 5 years now (except school days, of course). They’re FINALLY getting old enough to the point where they’re sleeping in until 7:15.
Just in time for the squirrels to move in.
Now, at exactly 6 am every morning these rodents start running around in the ceiling right above my bed. I spent hours upon hours and two entire Saturdays sealing every possible entry point in my eves that the criminally poor builders left wide-open to the elements, and they’re still finding a way in.
Since they’re only active in the morning I actually had to take a vacation day last week just to hunt the bastards. [By the way-save the hate mail- I recieved a bunch of it the last time I posted my hunting excursion]. keep in mind that I really am a pacifist or whatever- I don’t enjoy killing. But these varmints are really asking for it.
For some reason, even after tuning in the sites on my trusty Daisy pellet gun i still couldn’t manage to hit one of the bastards even at point blank range, so I borrowed my buddy’s high powered air rifle with a scope. I finally nailed the two culprits as they tore apart the large pumpkin in my back yard. Yes, it was sad, but it had to be done. The war is finally over.
Coincidentally enough, my old high school friend in Cleveland was going through the very same problem at the very same time, but his situation was worse: He was dealing with raccoons. Squirrels running around the drywall are LOUD. I can’t imagine how much louder a 10 pound carnivore would be.
I just happened to get this email today. I realize he sounds like some lunatic redneck madman. That’s because he is: he’s a brilliant, bragadocious, gun-loving ex-Army Ranger who daylights as a banker. Here’s his account, including pictures. His last sentence had me laughing till milk squirted out my nose:
From: Stacey, xxxxx
Subject: Stacey 2, Raccoon 0
Sunday morning 0700 HRS. Broad daylight.
My son is eating breakfast at the kitchen table and sees another Tango
making his way across the back yard to gain access to the roof and
ultimately the attic of our house. He bangs on the window and the Tango
gets distracted and actually climbs up the wrong trunk of the Magnolia
tree next to the house, which he (and his prior teammate, RIP) has been
using as a means of egress to the top of the house.
Fatal error.
I have him literally “treed” right next to the house at the top of the
tree.
Let’s back up a bit. From the below-listed incident from May, I learned
that firing a 12 gauge shotgun with 00 buckshot at night can be…an
item of concern with the neighbors….so I purchased and installed a 22
LR sub-cal kit into my Wilson Combat match-grade AR-15. This basically
turns a world-class assault rifle into a relatively quiet varmint
plinker. It’s like installing a pellet gun into the barrel of an
artillery piece, enabling a very fearsome-appearing weapon to shoot very
tiny bullets.
I grabbed the AR with the sub-cal device installed and went outside to
stalk and eliminate the Tango.
Then the wife starts yelling at me: “WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING? You’re outside with a MACHINE GUN! The NEIGHBORS! It’s Sunday morning! What’s WRONG with you?”
To quell her, I made sure the raccoon wasn’t going anywhere and went
back in the house, removed the screen from the kitchen window, then laid
down on my back on the kitchen floor where I had a clean shot of maybe
~50 feet.
Picked him off, he fell and gave two pretty loud screams before dying.
While not as majestic as a one-armed shot at ~140 feet in the pitch
black of night like the first one, the triumph of defeating these little
striped rats is still satisfying enough to share…
—–Original Message—–
From: Stacey, xxxxx
Subject: Stacey 1, Raccoon 0
Most of you know that we have had a raccoon in our attic, terrorizing
our house since last October. It has caused a ton of damage to our
house including prying up an exhaust flange on the water heater piping
and causing water damage by allowing rainwater to destroy the drywall
over the master bedroom. We have made numerous attempts to trap it
and/or drive it out, including hiring two different professional
trappers that have attempted, charged me for trapping “non target”
animals such as squirrels, and then given up when the little bastard
outcrafted them by stealing the bait and leaving the trap still set.
You have no idea how maddening this has been. We could hear it every
night, brazenly stomping around in the attic right over our heads. It
has been nothing short of a nightmare.
The saga is now over.
Tonight I armed myself and waited in the darkness of my neighbor’s yard
until I saw a shadow on the roof.
This was a truly amazing shot, if I do say so myself. One shot, one
kill. 12 gauge shotgun with 00 buckshot, fired with one hand,
insupporting hand holding a 5-cell Maglite from about 140 feet. I
picked him right off the roof, about 20 feet off the ground, as be
peaked over the edge of the roofline on the second story.
Yes, that is a center-mass shot AT NIGHT with a shotgun, with ONE HAND
with target acquisition in the split second of clicking the flashlight
on with the free hand. It would have been impossible save the fact that
my shotgun is a police model with a pistol grip which allowed me to
fashion a one-handed assault.
The cops never showed up, and yes, I blew one of my gutters apart.
Totally worth it.
Dr. Dog sold out back to back nights at the Fillmore TLA this past weekend. I attended the Friday show and to tell the truth, almost bailed on it since I’d seen them so often and I haven’t been listening to them much lately. Well as soon as they came on stage they blew me away and I can’t believe I almost didn’t go. They had the packed house singing to every tune and the set was amazing- something out of a dreamscape. They played almost 2 straight hours.
Apparently Saturday night’s show topped Friday’s as the band ordered pizzas for the entire audience. I forgot my camera that night so I don’t have any pictures of my own and so far I can’t find any online. However, I did find a video of the pizza party:
Here are a few pictures from earlier in the tour but the set isn’t quite as elaborate as the Philly shows. I’ll keep an eye out for pictures of this magic night.
I wish I could find the original track sampled here…
MP3: Ghostface Killah- Stay (c/o fluxblog)
When I know that you with him, you ain’t calling me back
It be that thing down there that got me way off track
From Ghostface’s EXCELLENT new LP Ghostdini-Wizard Of Poetry In Emerald City
I love October. There’s about 102 thing to do this weekend and next.
Dr. Dog tonight with Jeffrey Lewis, then my youngest turns five on Sunday.
MP3: Dr. Dog- Ain’t it Strange
No Kids are playing three shows in the Philly area starting this Sunday. One of them will be held at my place of employment, Swarthmore College next Friday Oct. 30 w/ Mount Eerie.
I love this No Kids tune- its mellow indie with a dash of dubstep:
MP3: No Kids- The Beaches All Closed
More goods:
Post disco boogie TSOP from 1980:
MP3: Sugar Bear Johnson- When Your Jones Comes Down (re-edit)
MP3: Big Boi- Shine Blockas (c/o fluxblog)
