Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

PURPLE RHINESTONE EAGLE
Purple Rhinestone Eagle have been at it for years now, coming off like early Sleater-Kinney with a jones for stoner rock (which, yes, essentially equals S-K’s final album). But since they’ve been tearing shit up primarily in West Philly, it’s there that their reputation has remained. Maybe that’s why the all-girl trio is moving to Portland, Ore., following a string of local shows. Even if that city’s rich indie ore makes West Philly’s basement scene look like Manayunk, it’s still sad to see the ladies go. There’s a lesson here: If we champion some great bands but ignore others, we could lose Maple Rabbit and Bad News Bats too. (Doug Wallen, PW)

NICKY CLICK (Crunks Not Dead)

Much like Le Tigre or Gravy Train, Nicky melds her politics with energetic electronic dance music. She is also an aspiring hip-hop diva in the Peaches mold. (Church Of Girl Radio)

RED SKATE RED (Last seen opening for The Shondes)
After calling themselves Under Not Over, keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist Stephanie Nelson (The Tunics) and drummer Emil Weintraub (Beat Jamz) decided to revert back to their old band name that they shared with the late activist/performer/force of nature Axi Nueand current Clockcleanerbassist Karen Horner. CP’s Pat Rapa described their music as “intense riffs, dancey grooves and a rebellious attitude.” Bassist Jen Rice (Club Lyfestiles, The Celebs) replaces Horner

SHEPHERDESS (Hilken Mancini of Punk Rock Aerobics, ex-Fuzzy/Come/Operators, Kimchee Recs)
Singer/guitarist/pedal-hopper Hilken Mancini (Fuzzy, Punk Rock Aerobics), violinist/baritone guitarist Emily Arkin (The Operators), bassist Winston Braman (Come, Consonant) and drummer Mike Savage (Count Me Outs, Fudge) describe themselves as Cat Power on speed. Or perhaps Kate Bush fronting The Wipers. Or Captain Beefheart falling, hitting his head, and waking up believing that he is Built to Spill.

DJ BUNNYSTYLE (Make Yr Break)

DJ Bunnystyle is a classically trained musician turned math-rocker turned film student turned DJ. He is always a feminist and always queer and always happy to play music for people to dance to. DJ Bunnystyle and friends have a regular queer dance party called Make Yr Break the first Saturday of every month at Dahlak restaurant in West Philly – 4708 Baltimore Ave.

AND THEN….

TUES 8/28 at Tritone, 1508 South Street, 9PM, $6 21+

STINKMITT(Vancouver, Cochon Records)
Guys, get ready to get all hot and bothered—and uncomfortable. Surrey, B.C.’s Stink Mitt are back to remind you about tampons, menstrual blood and erectile dysfunction, possibly in that order, if you’re extra squeamish. But their lyrics still deal largely in sex, sluts, secrets, stardom and suicide, backed by the undeniable rhyming and vocalizing skills of MCs Jenni Craige and Betti Forde and producer BigStuff. Blending the classic synthpop side of Prince with a few fluid ounces of modern electro, their music will surely put dance in your pants. And what a prescient tribute to Marilyn Monroe, what with another blonde train wreck in the news. (Lorraine Carpenter, Montreal Mirror)

SMALLTOWN DJ‘S (Calgary, AB)
Mike Grimes and Pete Emes are those dudes known as Smalltown DJs. Based in Calgary,they currently (since 1999) run a weekly known as Hai Karate. Hai Karate and the Smalltown DJs were born out of the ashes of old style block parties, punk rock shows at community halls and the early nineties rave scene. Hanging with these dudes on any given night you will hear funk, pop, dancehall, rock, hip hop, house, breaks, club and bmore. The duo has released several mix cds and vinyl 12″s over the past few years – garnering attention and accolades from the far reaches of the globe. Over the past six years the Smalltown Djs have hosted and played alongside such artsits as Afrika Bambaataa, Lateef, Lyrics Born, Dj Assault, Jeru the Damaja, Tommie Sunshine, Chromeo, Mike Relm, Cosmo Baker and Dj Ayres ATrak, Low Budget, Diplo, James Lavelle, Kool Keith, Z-trip and Dj Radar, Fort Knox Five, and Maseo from De la Soul among many others. They also toured with the Steve-O from Jackass to promote his Out on Bail DVD.

DJ’S JUST JESS & KLEMBOTT (Get Some, Fuse, The Dive)

DIAMOND GIRL (Hands & Knees)

Winner of the Golden Unicorn Award for “DJ to Watch” from Philebrity’s Kelly White
Music that she plays:
dancey
housey
funky
electronic
Where You’ve Seen Her:
hands & knees @ the m room
10 year anniversary party @ fluid
memorial day party @ key west
vice party @ key west
bad music for bad people @ sal’s

Dance This Mess Around

BOYSKOUT (NYC, Alive Records)
How can you not love a band that cherry-picks from the best parts of ’80s synth-doom and ’90s K-punk? Boyskout — recently relocated from San Francisco to Brooklyn — twists their queercore in a spooky, sexy, dancy way that hasn’t been heard since CWA dropped “Only Straight Girls Wear Dresses” 11 years ago. (Maura Johnston, CP/Idolator)

UMLAUT (Record Release Party! Mems of The Hessians, Ex Golden Ball, Snow Fairies, and Men in Fur)
Umlaut started in Philadelphia with Andrea, Amy and Reric looking for a keys-heavy musical adventure. Kidnapped by pirates, they were forced to repeatedly play on a cruise ship in international waters where they honed their foreign-language skills. Thus, they are able to craft dancy, synth-poppy crowd pleasers in a myriad of styles and languages. Their creative process involves pizza, bongos, and lots of hairspray. And now, with Jayme and Angela on board, Umlaut is an unstoppable force destined to conquer all seven continents, nineplanets (including Pluto), and beyond!

MAPLE RABBIT
Maple Rabbit is a 3-person, all-keyboard video band that prefers their cuteness with edge, their politics with glitz and stop-motion, and their drum machines with careful harmonies. Expect matching outfits, melodies that will stick with you for days, and lyrics about everything from school picture day to the end of the world. Their performances feature original video projections, making for a unique and unforgettable multi-media experience. PW’s Doug Wallen writes, “Don’t let the bashful harmonies and kindergarten keyboards fool you. As cute as Maple Rabbit are, they’re also plenty pissed. On the West
Philly trio’s endearing six-song Love Love Death Death Fun Fun, their homespun twee packs spiky nods to global warming (“Apocalypse”), soured relationships (“Scarf Song”) and the Bush administration’s bungling in New Orleans (“Boat Song”). All that may sound trite on paper, but on record and live—with a carefully made video playing behind them for each song—such familiar sentiments feel brand-new.”

ILL EASE (NYC, Cochon Records)
Low fidelity and low self-esteem have always gone hand in shaky hand. But Elizabeth Sharp (a.k.a. ill ease) makes the combination arresting again…. She wallows in rhythm as well as rejection, dropping playroom instrumentation on deep, circular grooves like a moldy peach playing patty-cake with can. Bad times never seemed so good. (Spin)

DJ SILVIA LA CHICA YE YE (Secret Cinema)
A favorite spinner at many past sixties-music events in Philly, New York and her native country of Spain, Silvia is sure to have some new surprises and rare sides in the multiplying boxes of discs she keeps bringing over. Silvia moved to in 2004, from her birthplace in the Spanish city of Gijón in the green province of Asturias.

UPCOMING SUGAR TOWNS

SAT 8/25: Purple Rhinestone Eagle, Nicky Click (Crunks Not Dead), Red Skate Red, Sheperdess (Ex Operators, Kimchee Recs), DJ Bunnystyle $7

TUES 8/28: Stinkmitt (Montreal, Cochon Recs) DJ’s Just Jess & Klembott, Diamond Girl (Hands & Knees) $5

SAT 9/29: Bitch (of Bitch & Animal, Kill Rock Stars), Fuse DJ’s $8

MON 10/8: Paradise Island (Jenny Hoysten ex Erase Errata), Gemini Wolf, Red Skate Red

SAT 10/27: Special Halloween Drag Queen/Gay Boy Edition with Helen Back & The Str8 Razors, DJ’s Ricky Paul (Dumpsta Players & Baby Loves Disco) and Ryan Creed (Palare)

Wanna play a Sugar Town? Drop me a line at sarasherrATgmailDOTcom

How Sassy Changed My Life

SUGAR TOWN and MEW GALLERY Present
HOW SASSY CHANGED MY LIFE – A reading by KARA JESELLA and MARISA MELTZER
SAT MAY 5
Mew Gallery
906 Christian Street
6:00
FREE! ALL AGES!
215-625-2424

HOW SASSY CHANGED MY LIFE – A reading by KARA JESELLA and MARISA MELTZER
For a generation of teenage girls, Sassy magazine was nothing short of
revolutionary—so much so that its audience, which stretched from
tweens to twentysomething women, remains obsessed with it to this day
and back issues are sold for hefty sums on the Internet. For its brief
but brilliant run from 1988 to 1994, Sassy was the arbiter of all that
was hip and cool, inspiring a dogged devotion from its readers while
almost single-handedly bringing the idea of girl culture to the
mainstream. In the process, Sassy changed the face of teen magazines
in the United States, paved the way for the unedited voice of blogs,
and influenced the current crop of smart women’s zines, such as Bust
and Bitch, that currently hold sway.

How Sassy Changed My Life will present for the first time the inside
story of the magazine’s rise and fall while celebrating its unique
vision and lasting impact. Through interviews with the staff,
columnists, and favorite personalities we are brought behind the
scenes from its launch to its final issue and witness its unique
fusion of feminism and femininity, its frank commentary on taboo
topics like teen sex and suicide, its battles with advertisers and the
religious right, and the ascension of its writers from anonymous
staffers to celebrities in their own right.

Kara Jesella and Marisa Meltzer are New York–based writers. They have
written and edited for publications such as The New York Times, Teen
Vogue, Elle Girl, Bitch, Jane, Spin, Entertainment Weekly,
Nylon,Nerve, and Elle.

About MEW GALLERY:
Mew Gallery is a boutique nestled in the heart of Philadelphia’s
Italian Market. We offer hand made goods by local artists and
crafters. We’re a gallery, as well, and have rotating exhibits
featuring Philly area artists. Also, in the next few months we’ll be
holding creative workshops for children and adults. With these
workshops, the customer can come in, socialize, have a snack, and get
to work on an art or craft project. Stay tuned for more information on
the class offerings and schedule.

Our mission is to support, nurture, and promote our local creative
community. We aim to provide an independent alternative to commercial
boutiques and inaccessible galleries by providing the public with a
unique alternative to mass-produced, socially irresponsible products.

Puke Rock Anthems and Pop Tatari

Birds of Maya by Valania

My review of the closing night of the Popped! Festival is up on Phawker.

How to Say Goodbye, or a Jager for the Road

Photo by Melissa Zahnweh (Bells Bells Bells, Floozy, Undergirl)

From Paul Dellevigne:

I found out tonight (courtesy of Dave Lorenz) that his name in Polish means “good will”.

How appropriate. He gave me my first bar booking ten years ago, and he and Dave Rogers gave me my first bartending job over five years ago.

And in between he was there for me more times than I can count.

It wasn’t always pretty. More often than not, his advice hurt, hti you right to the core, but it was almost always right, and he always meant what he said.

He would hurt you sometimes, his honesty cutting you to the quick, and in a blink of an eye, he would realize that he hurt you and take you aside to apologize and make sure you understood that he was just exaggerating to make a point. Then, after he calmed you down, he’d sit with his drink and make sure to say, “It’s true, though.”

When my band stopped playing certain songs, he was livid. “You have three absolute fucking hit songs, and you’re too much of a pussy to demand that everyone just shut up and play them!” He was convinced that one day the Sinners would hit it.

Then, when he first heard Dave’s other band, El Dorado, he took me aside and told me, “They’re good. If you want to keep Dave in your band you better step it up.”

I never did.

He shouldered me through every broken relationship and did his damnedest to make sure I never did anything stupid, even when it meant forcing me to crash at his place.

When Tara came with me to TriTone for Skinny Dave’s memorial service just a few weeks ago, he took me aside, hugged me, and said, “It’s about time.”

Goddammit he cared so much that the only time he ever yelled at me and meant it was when I held my problems from him. “Dammit, Paul, how the hell can I help you if you don’t tell me when something’s wrong?”

After Skinny Dave died, another friend, Bruce, died. I talked to Rick about it and told him that our friend Kevin Karg was trying to find out what happened. Rick called Kevin to tell him personally. Kevin then asked how Rick was doing overall.

“I’d be fine,” Rick said, “If only everyone would stop dying.”

He had a heart attack less than a month later.

One more person has died, and I’m not going to be okay with it for a very long time.

In my heart, I want to say so much more about this man, but I truly don’t know what else to say except that he was so strong for so many people I just can’t believe we have to go it without him now.

In the long run, it makes sense that he had a heart attack. He carried so many people in there for so long, I guess something had to give eventually, and he just never stopped caring about the rest of us.

We’re going to bury Rick in the morning. I can’t tell you how much it hurts to say that.

A Month of Sundays

Taken next door to Bob and Barbara’s, Thursday night 4/12. Prettified by Valania.

Plain Parade is honored to reunite on Sunday, April 29 as part of Tritone’s “A Month of Sundays,” a weekly series for the eclectic mix of bands, DJ’s and promoters that received Rick D’s unconditional support. Organized by Bob & Barbara’s/Tritone bartender/waitress Beth Boccassini, “A Month of Sundays” gives us all a chance to say thanks to The Man in the Vest.

Tritone is located at 1508 South Street. 215-545-0475 All events are 21+

SUNDAY 4/22
DJ’s Evile Mlle. Femphis (Tritone bartender Kelly Wolff who also used to do “Songs About Fucking” at Silk City) and Thunderchicken (Tritone’s weekly soul night, “45 Piece”) spin Rick D’s favorite music.

SUNDAY 4/29
8PM FREE
Donations encouraged to Philabundance: http://www.philabundance.org/

Plain Parade presents:

BERETTA 76
Camille Escobedo’s Joan Jett snarl rides atop a bracing Cheap Trick guitar crunch from an amped-up garage band that’s ready for bigger things. (Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer)

THE NOTEKILLERS (Ecstatic Peace)
While the rhythm section churns furiously, David First peels off a series of scrambled guitar lines, precise even when he’s improvising. His diagonal riffs are marvelously untraceable (Surf-rock? New-wave? Heavy metal? Free jazz? Serialism?), and somehow these dense compositions inevitably come out sounding like party music. It’s clear this band ranked with any of New York’s much celebrated no-wave acts.” (Kelefa Sanneh, New York Times)

FOXYCONTIN (Rich Kaufmann from Electric Love Muffin & Rolling Hayseeds)
I don’t want to lie and say I liked his ’80s ensemble, Electric Love Muffin (though 1987’s Playdoh Meathook has its charms). But Rich Kaufmann learned enough about sad-eyed songwriting while teamed with Kevin Karg for the country-fried, tear-soaked Rolling Hayseeds to know how to make noisy, guttural, disillusioned pop-punk with his first band in some time, FoxyContin. Look for ex-Sonny Sixkiller skin man Lance Crow to rage through what Kaufmann promises will be “no sensitive-singer-songwriter-singing-about-the-state-of-parenthood here.” Good. (A.D. Amorosi, CP)

JUST ADDED! PAUL DELLEVIGNE (The Sinners, former Tritone bartender)

AMY DICAMILLO (Undergirl)
Laboring for nine years with little in the way of commercial reward or mainstream attention has gotten Undergirl good and pissed. The group’s second record, the incendiary My Flash on You, seems to vibrate with the anger of the overlooked. Fusing revved-up guitars with Amy DiCamillo’s furious howl, the record cannily evokes the days before punk rock got its fangs filed at the local Hot Topic. DiCamillo’s delivery is more Poly Styrene than Brody Dalle, and the group’s unpretty fuzzed-up chord patterns seem at times like they were nicked from a ruddy British sublet (“Radio Action” even appropriates the outro from “God Save the Queen”). The band approaches its live shows with equal ferocity, making it one of the hardest- working underrated bands around. (J. Edward Keyes, PW)

JUKEBOX ZEROS
To these ears, garage bands succeed when they remember to temper the thrash with tuneful melodies. Philadelphia’s Jukebox Zeros (love the name, guys) rock out plenty on their full-length debut Four On the Floor, but they never let their love of squalling guitars overtake and drown out their catchy songs. The Zeros effortlessly channel ’70s-era punky-power poppers like Iggy Pop (‘Blue screen burn my TV eye,’ yowls frontman Peter Santa Maria on “Ch. 48″) and Stiv Bators (opener “Flophouse” echoes Bators’ snarl, and the band does right by a cover of the Dead Boys’ ‘High Tension Wire’), but they’ve got their own fun identity. ‘Film Noir Love’, appropriately dark and stormy as it sounds, seems to have been created so the band can have a laugh over the double entendre ‘private dick’. And ‘Don’t Tell Me (More Than I Wanna Know)’, aided by a B3 organ which really should appear more on the album, celebrates avoiding dreaded TMI (Too Much Information). And when they’re not being silly, the Zeros have attitude and guitar solos to burn: ‘Why doncha just go away?’ snaps Santa Maria on ‘Fun Suck’; elsewhere, he kicks at the dirt on ‘Cigarettes and Sorrow’. Like their heroes the Dead Boys, the Jukebox Zeros are young, loud and snotty and they’ve got the chops and sense of humor to back it up. (Stephen Haag, PopMatters)

MORE TBA

SUNDAY 5/6
ELLIOT LEVIN organizes a jazz tribute. Bands TBA.

In other news, Scott Parker, a doorman and sound engineer for Upstairs at Nick’s and former Thorazine bassist, wants to put together a not-for-profit memorial CD project together in honor of Rick. If you want to be involved or know anyone who does, you can contact him here: scottparker@comcast.net

Rick D Memorial

From Gringo Motel’s myspace blog 

Hey everyone,

Thanks for all of your kind words regarding Rick D. I was able to get two questions answered, his age and the date of the funeral.

This is from my friend Honey.

Rick was 40, turning 41 on July 4th.

His memorial is:

>

> Thursday, April 12th

> 10-11 Family available

> 11-12 Memorial Service

>

> Freed John R Funeral Home Incorporated

> 124 N Easton Rd

> Glenside, PA 19038

> (215) 884-1900

there will be a more festive event at the Tritone

50,000 Lire For My Thoughts

I woke up this morning with the late, great Kirsty MacColl’s “Innocence” stuck in my head. In the stylee of Comfort in the Sound, I’m gonna post them here, because they’re so bitingly brilliant after all these years, and pretty much everyone knows someone like the subject of this song. It’s like her own “Freed Pig.” I wonder who her J Mascis was?

It wouldn’t take a long time
To explain what lies between us
And it wouldn’t take a genius
To work out what the scene is
It might just take a pilot
To give you a natural high
But you’re sending off those bottle tops
For your free piece of mind
And are you just waving or drowning?
It’s so hard to tell when you’re so far away

Oh innocence has passed you by
A long long time ago
I was the fly upon your wall
And I saw what you know
Your pornographic priestess left you for another guy
You frighten little children and you’ll always wonder why
Always wonder why

The mercury is rising
And it’s not all that surprising
In the land of milk and honey
Where you make big money
And it always keeps the rain off
And it always keeps you dry
But back home the people hate you
And you never did know why
But I think I’m going to tell you
Just give me fifty thousand lire for my thoughts

Oh innocence has passed you by
A long long time ago
I was the fly upon your wall
And I saw what you know
The supermarket checkout girl
Once smacked you in the eye
When you eat noone else does
But you always wonder why
Always wonder why

It would take a gunshot
Just to clear your head awhile
And after all this time
How can you stand there
Look at me and smile?

Now are you just waving or drowning?
It’s so hard to tell with you so far away

Oh innocence has passed you by
A long long time ago
I was the fly upon your wall
And I saw what you know
Degeneration suits you, now I’m going home to cry
You won’t be seeing me again
But you’ll always wonder why
Always wonder why

SEBADOH – “Freed Pig”

You were right
I was battling you, trying to prove myself
I tried to bury you with guilt; I wanted to prove you wrong
I’ve got nothing better to do than pay too much attention to you
It’s sad, but it’s not your fault
Self-righteous and rude
I guess I lost that cool
Tapping, til I drive you insane
I’m self-righteous, but never right
So laid back, but so uptight
Destroying your patience to tolerate me
With all the negative spirit I bring
Right, I was obsessed to bring you down
Watching your every move
Playing a little-boy game
Always with something to prove
Waiting to cut you down, making it hard to live
With only one thing to do
Cut me first, make it easy
Now you will be free
Now that nothing depends on me
Tapping, til I drive you insane
Now you will be free
With no sick people tugging on your sleeve
Your big head has that “more room to grow”
A glory I will never know
A glory I will never know

Bruce Langfeld RIP

Just found out about this a couple of hours ago and I’ve been on the phone about it since then. I haven’t seen Bruce in years. I didn’t know him well, but I knew him through old Tower South Street co-workers, old Welcomat (pre-PW), and music scene friends. He was very smart, talented, with a dry wit on the outside and a sweet core in the inside. I’m very sorry to see him go, especially since the obit says that he was struggling with loneliness and depression. When people leave this Earth not understanding they were truly loved, it’s a very sad thing. My heart goes out to his biological and musical family.

UPDATE: Since the toxicology reports are still coming in, it’s best not to jump to conclusions of suicide. If he was taking a lot of meds for depression, there’s a chance that side effects from a certain combination of meds could have been lethal. The second-to-last line was coming from a person living with depression, when you really don’t feel like you’re worth a damn no matter how many people around you show their love and support. Anyway, I hope this clarifies things.

My Janeane Garofalo Review Is Up

Reviewing comedy shows is hard. I need to learn shorthand. Was I too fawning? Maybe. I just realized that I really missed her or someone like her in the world. Especially today, when it seems like a lifetime ago when someone like J Gee could be a romantic lead or even say the things she says. It’s like the world has gotten stupider and duller since the 90s.

Previous Posts