November 19th, 2009

Tonight In Shows

Langhorne Slim
9pm, $12. Johnny Brenda’s.
Folksy, fedora-wearing Langhorne Slim puts a slight twist on the troubadour tradition, mostly sticking to gentle folk picking but occasionally breaking into a reedy, punk-infused shout. Whether that’s enough to set him apart from hoards of Dylan-Guthrie-Seeger wannabes is open to argument. His latest album, Be Set Free, set off a debate in Paste Magazine with one reviewer calling it a modern day Tea for the Tillerman and another “mediocre, and sometimes painfully inept.” This latter gibe, though, is how some people feel about Paste itself, so why not give Slim the benefit of the doubt? (Jennifer Kelly)

Also, Baroness, Earthless, U.S. Christmas, and Black Tusk bring the heavy to First Unitarian Church [8pm/$12]; Skinny Puppy brings its industrial fury and killer multimedia show to the Troc [7:30pm/$24-$26]; and Ryan Cabrera drops by Tin Angel [8:30pm/$15].

November 18th, 2009

Velvet Underground Reunion?

The Velvet Underground is reuniting! Well — sort of. Velvet alums Lou Reed, drummer Maureen “Moe” Tucker, and bassist Doug Yule are getting together at the New York Public Library on December 8th at 7 p.m. to “talk about the band’s history and legacy” with Rolling Stone’s David Fricke. No musical performance is planned. It’s already sold out, but NYPL says that there still may be some tickets available at the door. Could be worth a drive up to Manhattan.

Perhaps this is a precursor to some sort of reunion performances or tour? They’d certainly have to get John Cale involved, and they’d have to find a replacement for guitarist Sterling Morrison, who died in 1995. Maybe Dean Wareham would do it? Stay tuned…

November 18th, 2009

Christmas With The Roots

Roots drummer ?uestlove is already helping usher in Thanksgiving next week along with a gaggle of strippers, as we already reported earlier this month. Now it’s been announced that the entire Roots crew (sans strippers, we’re pretty sure) will join in on welcoming the Christmas season as they participate in NBC’s 12th annual Christmas From Rockefeller Center telecast on December 2nd at 8 p.m. They’ll be joined by Alicia Keys, Barry Manilow, Shakira, Michael Buble, Aretha Franklin, and others to help light the iconic Christmas tree and play “current hits” and “holiday classics,” according to the press release. Actually, we’re hoping for a big group singalong in which Barry Manilow and Black Thought wrap their arms around one another as they romp through “Jingle Bells.” Although after seeing the Roots play with members of New Kids on the Block at this year’s Roots Picnic, and with Christoper Cross on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, I guess a jam with Barry Manilow wouldn’t be all that surreal after all. Oh well…

November 18th, 2009

Two Shows At The Marvelous!

Our pals at the Marvelous! Music in West Philly so infrequently put on shows in the store that their back-to-back showcases tonight and tomorrow night are unheard of and tres exciting! Here’s what’s on tap for tonight:

And for Thursday night (this one also starts at 8:30 p.m.):

Now’s as good a time as any to remind you of some of in-store show-going etiquette, as provided to us by the Marvelous!:

• Bring some cash and buy some records.

• Even attempting to urinate on cars will result in getting slapped around a bit. A good friend of mine did it – on the cars parked right there outside the store. Had to beat him up a little bit.

• You’re going to be standing around aisles in a store with shelves, sandwiched in between there. Don’t break anything. The bands can smash records if they want to, but you can’t.

• In addition to bringing cash to buy records from us, you should bring cash to buy records from the bands directly and give them a few bucks for gas and stuff since we can’t pay them like a normal venue. They’re not getting guarantees from us. We always have touring bands – if there’s something going on here, you can bet that someone’s driving a decent distance and they should definitely get a little help with that.

• You should keep in mind that we’ll be really, really mad if it looks like a mess.

• Have fun! It’s real small, everyone’s on the floor real close to the band. It’s like a very, very nice basement – everything’s clean and you can sit on the ground. So it’s the same kind of vibe as a house show, and there’s more to do for a music lover. Once you’re here it’s not like, “Oh, I guess I’ll go to the bar…” There’s plenty of stuff to look at — records and the instruments and stuff.

• Bottom line: Don’t steal anything, don’t break anything, don’t piss on anything – I’d like to think that those are universal values, but you never know…

November 18th, 2009

Tonight In Shows

Laura Veirs
7:30pm, $18-$25. World Cafe Live.
The natural world is often the star of Pacific Northwest singer-songwriter (and one-time geology major) Laura Veirs’ music—birds and eels and oceans and cliffs and caves and constellations tumble together in surreal lyrics that actually speak to love, loss, and life’s mysteries if you stop to consider them. Veirs’ imagery is as captivating as her husky, cloudy voice and her sophisticated arrangements, which sometimes get alt-folky with acoustic guitar, banjo, piano and violin, and other times go pop in a ’70s Laurel Canyon kinda way while making room for jazz-tinged grooves and dabs of electronics. Veirs and band come to town with a whole new batch of arresting melodies courtesy of her new album July Flame, due in January. (Michael Alan Goldberg)

The Emotron
8pm, $5. Danger Danger.
In his biggest YouTube hit, the Emotron, a.k.a. Jason Kyle Knight, ogles the naked porn girls of 2 Girls 1 Cup, eventually becoming so worked up that he spews Yoo-hoo soda all over the keyboard. (The Yoo-hoo upchuck is apparently a signature move, and figures in several of Emotron’s videos.) His live show—which may include costumes, nakedness, obscenity, sex acts and a variety of body fluids—is similarly bizarre and offputting, drawing as much from Atom & His Package’s synth-punk-comedy as from GG Allin’s shock and eew. Not for the squeamish. (Jennifer Kelly)

Also, the legendary and briefly reunited Jesus Lizard comes to the Starlight Ballroom [8pm/$20]; Bishop Allen, Throw Me the Statue, and Darwin Deez team up for a show at Johnny Brenda’s [9pm/$12]; and erstwhile Dresden Doll Amanda Palmer returns to town for a solo show at the TLA [8pm/$23].

November 17th, 2009

R5 Productions Switching To TicketFly

This just in from independent Philly concert promoter R5 Productions, which is ditching TicketWeb for TicketFly:

We are switching to a fully independent ticket company for our 2010 shows. We dont like the idea of Live Nation possibly owning our current ticketing provider, (Ticketweb) if this pending merger is approved.

Doesn’t really effect you, but we’re excited about it! Lots of new services coming soon including print at home and rewards for posting our shows! More details to come.

November 17th, 2009

DJ AM’s Mother Blames Plane Crash For Overdose Death

In more DJ AM news, his mother, Andrea Gross, has added a wrongful death claim to the $20 million lawsuit first filed by her late son last December against Clay Lacy Aviation, Global Exec Aviation, Inter Travel & Services, Goodyear, Learjet and the estates of the two pilots killed when the jet carrying DJ AM, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, and others crashed in South Carolina last year, killing a total of four people and severely burning both AM and Barker.

According to People, court papers filed by the Goldstein estate state that “The crash ultimately caused Adam Goldstein’s death at a later date.” His mother believes that the medication DJ AM was given in the hospital, coupled with lingering trauma from the crash, is what compelled him to start using drugs again after a decade of sobriety, which led to his overdose death in August.

Learjet has denied all responsibility for the crash. The trial starts in early March.