Sonny Rollins has been playing jazz in front of audiences since 1941, when he was 11, and “Saxophone Colossus,” his nom du jazz, is well earned to say the least. At 79, when many of the players he came up with are either dead or dying, Rollins, not unlike Bob Dylan, remains a true road [...]

Even the most casual reader of this site might have picked up over the years that, well, we love Jerry Blavat aka The Geator With The Heater, The Boss With The Sauce, My Man Pots And Pans. We love him like he was our own blood. We love the way he talks all over the [...]

Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden met on a student film shoot at NYU. Their first feature film, Half Nelson, for which rising star Ryan Gosling received his first Oscar nomination, was made for just $800,000 and put the pair on the Hollywood map as the next great writing/directing duo. Their follow-up film, Sugar, is about [...]

Peter Kember aka Sonic Boom has been making totally far out head music since 1985, first as half of the legendary group Spacemen 3, and then as Spectrum. And there has never been a time when the music he has made has not been relevant. Kember’s droning guitars, trance figures and blissed-out vibe have an [...]

It’d be an understatement to say that Matthew Ray has had his work cut out for him these last few weeks. As the PR flack for the TLA Video side of the Philadelphia Film Festival — which had long been a partnership between TLA, headed by Ray Murray, and the Philadelphia Film Society — Matthew [...]

Hands down, Steve Volk is one of the best investigative reporters this city has — he’s got old-school chops but (and this is key) has his eyes wide open. Now, for our money, since Volk moved to Philadelphia Magazine, there just hasn’t been as much Volk going around, and that’s a damn shame; when he [...]

Don’t say you don’t know Rhys Darby: He’s Murray, the band manager from Flight Of The Conchords. But, yes, previous to this interview, that was where our knowledge of Darby ended as well. Turns out, he’s quite a guy. Darby has a standup gig at the Trocadero this Sunday night, and after the jump, he [...]

Since it debuted back in 1997, Nick Stuccio (pictured) has been the mindcog at the center of the spinnin’ wheel that is the Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe. Over the years, the festival has morphed and shaped not just with the changing times, but also in an effort to balance its ego — the [...]

Lately, we’ve been thinking about this whole Larry Mendte/Alycia Lane thing. Well, not so much about the various controversies themselves, but the way they’ve played out in the local media. Not to get too heady about it, but suffice to say that watching Larrygate play out has represented not just the spiritual nadir of our [...]

Ron Crawford is the sneaker store UBIQ’s “Mr. Everything” here in Philly. So by that extension, to a certain strata of Sneaker People, he is the Everything of Everything. Ron does the buying for the store, along with the marketing and general day-to-day operations of the store on 1509 Walnut St. But he’s also an [...]

Ride The Ducks: Perhaps there is nothing in this city that unites us more than our hatred of the foul duck boats that populate the well-trodden tourist attractions of this great city. And while many have complained, and even more have given the finger to these nuisances (which truly do represent everything Philadelphians hate about [...]

When it rains, it pours, and right now, PhillyMag would seem to be in the throes of a major personality crisis. And if it’s not pondering what God hath wrought when the pubeless are getting waxed, it is that other Job-like trial the magazine has been enduring for a while now: The web. But for [...]

Tonight, the 6th Annual Backseat Film Festival gets underway in Northern Liberties. For the unfamiliar, the Backseat fest is pretty much the antidote for every stuffy film fest you’ve ever been to: Here, the trashy, the low-budget and the simply whacked-out are celebrated in much the same way other film fests celebrate things like, oh [...]

We first met Daniel Ralston during the first year of Philebrity, when we bought a used digital camera from him off Craigslist. Back then, he was very active in the Kensington South CDC and its accompanying short-lived music venue, the Kensington South Forum. In the last year or two, though, Ralston has been focusing on [...]

If you haven’t seen it by now, it’s probably only a matter of time before one of your stoner friends sends you the link for the NBC10 piece “4:20 Is A Dangerous Time For Kids,” accompanied by a hearty “LOL OMFG” and so on. (You’re well advised to click and watch before you read this.) [...]

You may not know the name Paul F. Tompkins, but if you’re a fan of alt-comedy (a dreadful term, yes, but it gets the job done), you’ve definitely seen him around. And maybe just not on Mr. Show, The Daily Show, Real Time With Bill Maher, Tenacious D and so on; Tomkins hails from Philly, [...]

Regular readers of this site will, of course, be familiar with our own Kelly White. Kelly’s words have been gracing this index for well over a year now; she has pretty much been our best intern ever. So we’re giving her a job. As of today, Ms. White is officially no longer an intern and [...]

Ben Daniels has been present and accounted for in Philly’s indie pop scene for, gosh, about a decade now. First in Lainmeyers, and then Persons, Daniels has finally come into his own with A Sunny Day In Glasgow. Fronted by his twin sisters Lauren and Robin, ASDIG released their debut late last year to heavy [...]

Local promoter Sean Agnew finds himself in a funny position this week: The man behind R5 Productions (est. 1996) is at the beginning of what could turn out to be a lifelong confusion of his own professional life with that of Russ Solomon, former owner of the Tower Records chain. How, you ask? Well, after [...]

Haile Johnston is one of a clutch of progressives running for City Council in the May primary — candidates who very much have banded together to create a “New Philadelphia” platform. In large part, these are candidates who actively seek to make Philly politics no longer an oozing wound of shame, especially in City Council, [...]