Tag Archives: concerts

WPRB Presents the Silver Jews & Monotonix on 9/9

WPRB & R5 Productions are proud to present an evening with Drag City recording artists the Silver Jews (pictured) and Monotonix on Tuesday, September 9th at the First Unitarian Church (2125 Chestnut St.) in Philadelphia. Doors are at 8PM and the show’s all-ages.

Stay tuned to WPRB — you can win tickets to this show! Visit the WPRB table at the show to say hi and pick up free swag!

Um, what can we say about the Silver Jews (or its mastermind, DC Berman) that won’t make us sound like sycophantic fangeeks? Here goes: From 1990′s Dime Map of the Reef 7″ and onwards, Berman & co. have merged Americana and poetry into a constantly compelling package. (And oh, the Pavement connection never hurt, too.) The band is currently on tour in support of its sixth album, Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea.

Israeli garage-punkers Monotonix open up this show and if you haven’t caught their live show yet, you’re missing out. It’s a sweaty mess of fun that hearkens back to the days of when stoner rock and maximum riffage were pretty edgy. I mean, look at that guy in the photo to the right — he’s drinking beer out of an smelly old Adidas and he’s not even a contestant on Fear Factor!

» Add this event on Facebook | Last.fm | Upcoming | Yelp

Party On: Upcoming WPRB Sponsored Events Sneak Peek

CaUSE Co-MOTION! at the WPRB-sponsored show on August 16th.

This past Saturday’s sponsored show was such a blast that we thought now’s a good time to give you a sneak peek at upcoming WPRB events. We’ll be writing more about these bands and adding some extra shows as time goes on, so stay tuned to this spot.

We hope you’ll consider attending one (or more!) of these! Meet WPRB DJs and staff, get some free WPRB swag, and of course, watch some amazing bands. Last but not least, we’ll be giving away tickets to all of these shows on WPRB!

WPRB FALL 2008 EVENTS
Schedule subject to change.

MON 08-25
Philadelphia Fringe Festival Preview
At Plays & Players Theater (1714 Delancey Place, Philadelphia, PA)

SAT 09-06
Hotrod Hoedown
At the United German Hungarian Club (4666 Bristol Road, Oakford, PA)

TUE 09-09
Silver Jews, Monotonix
At the First Unitarian Church (2125 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA)

FRI 10-10
Wire
At Johnny Brenda’s (1201 N. Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA)

SUN 10-12
Jonathan Richman (of the Modern Lovers)
At the Sanctuary at First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA

Interviews & Live Reports From Free Yr Radio!

Though we have official staff recaps coming at you shortly, have a listen to interviews we taped with some of the audience at last night’s Free Yr Radio event.

» Listen

Not only did we tape interviews, we reported live from the event on WPRB! Julia from x Clean Yr Room x chatted quickly with DJ KPC at 6PM ET.

» Listen

Photos From WPRB's Free Yr Radio Event!

Photos from last night’s Free Yr Radio bash at Urban Outfitters in Philadelphia! Special thanks goes out to Jon & Maria T for taking these snaps.

Did you take any photos last night? If so, feel free to add them to the WPRB group on Flickr!

Thanks to everyone who came out. WPRB appreciates your support!

The WPRB sign Urban Outfitters made/displayed behind the stage.

Two WPRB staff members catch their breath before the madness begins.

Ice Cream Man gave away free ice cream. So much free ice cream.

They’ll hold your place in line.

The sweet Ice Cream Man customized Yaris.

Good Magazine was also giving away swag and had a photo booth in the back of their Yaris.

A gaggle of WPRB staff members sign release forms so they can get their pictures taken in said photo booth (photos hopefully coming soon).

People lined up early to get in to see Secret Machines and Dave P.

WPRB staff interview some of the people waiting on line.

Open Season: Free Yr Radio Ticketing Is Up!

As previously mentioned, WPRB & Free Yr Radio have teamed up to host a concert featuring Secret Machines and DJ Dave P on August 12th at the University City Urban Outfitters. We’re happy to announce that tickets are available, so visit Free Yr Radio’s website to get yours!

Click here to get your ticket! »

Tues 8/12: WPRB & Free Yr Radio present Secret Machines and DJ Dave P

WPRB and Free Yr Radio are proud to present the Secret Machines and DJ Dave P on Tuesday, August 12th, 7:00 p.m. at Urban Outfitters (110 S. 36th St.) in Philadelphia, PA.

This is a free, all-ages event! Visit FreeYrRadio.com to get your ticket to the show! You won’t want to miss this!

What is Free Yr Radio? It’s a joint effort between Toyota and Urban Outfitters to generate awareness and support for independent radio stations they’ve partnered with. This year, WPRB was selected as a program partner, and we’re honored. They’ve graciously organized this concert, as well as a benefit compilation, to introduce this year’s selected stations to new audiences.

And for a bit of some really amazing news: Free Yr Radio has donated a brand new Toyota Yaris for this year’s Membership Drive! Between October 1st and 8th 2008, one lucky WPRB listener will actually get to win this. More details to follow very, very soon.

And now, more about who’s performing!

WPRB and Secret Machines go back quite a-ways, at least to the age of Web 1.0, before MySpace and Facebook, in those heady days when Google stock was worth just as much as Station Manager Cody’s old 1984 Toyota Corolla SR5 (exactly $0, since he gave it to the Salvation Army).

Anyway, unlike that car the Secret Machines are as valuable as ever. Texan transplants to New York City, the Secret Machines are currently on tour, and we’re thrilled they’ve decided to visit Philadelphia! Since September 000 (Ace Fu, 2002) to their last record for Reprise Records, Ten Silver Drops (2006), WPRB DJs have been charmed by the group’s early-era Flaming Lips approach to “pop [choruses] with demented twists.” In a live setting, they’re just as compelling; after their set opening up for Blonde Redhead, another DJ remarked, “They played their entire set as if it was a continuous post-rock opera.” The band plans to self-release their forthcoming next album through the World’s Fair group.

Opening up our event is local DJ and nightlife wünderkind, Dave P. Since the mid-90′s, Dave P and his crew have hosted Making Time, Philly’s premier dance party featuring live music from The Next Big Things and more. Every time we give away tickets to it on WPRB, the phone’s are ringing off the hook. So yeah, we’re really psyched to have Dave — on his birthday! — take some time out for us.

Sub Pop Eels Eat The Space Needle

WPRB extends a heartfelt “Happy Birthday!” to Sub Pop Records, who celebrate 20 years in the business this week. We’re longtime fans of the label and its storied roster, and it kills us (well, maybe just yours truly) that we can’t be in Sub Pop Rock City USA to celebrate with them — though we are sponsoring a concert with one of the newest additions to their label this coming Thursday.

(If anyone’s heading out to Seattle for this, please send us a picture of you in a WPRB t-shirt standing outside the Sub Pop-adorned Space Needle. PLEASE.)

That said, there’s a really fantastic interview with label founders Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman up on Pitchfork today. Yeah yeah, Pitchfork blah blah whatever; it’s a fantastic read worthy of your time. Poneman and Pavitt offer up a lot of insight with regards to the economic realities of the music industry.

Anyway, to finish out this post here’s a tune we’ve all come to love:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mji1o3RhUsY&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00]

2 Awesome Post-Popped! Activities

Here are two awesome events happening after the Saturday edition of Popped! we at WPRB are pretty psyched about.

9PM: England Belongs to Twee! at the Khyber (52 S. 2nd Street)
OppositeLand comes to life! Nerdy twee kids meet, dance, and drink it up with big ol’ skinheads and oi punkers. Easily one of the best DJ nights in Philly. This month, Herbie from Brown Recluse Sings is their special guest! (You might remember Herbie from when I covered Jon Solomon’s show a couple weeks back.) This is a 21+ event, sorry!

12AM: “Nadastrom” at Pilam (3914 Spruce Street)
Baltimore club DJ/genius Dave Nada joins forces with Matt Nordstrom. We have seen Dave lay waste to entire dancefloors. This might be a FREE event. This is an ALL-AGES event, yay!

Stay up until sunrise! Sunday’s Popped! show doesn’t begin until 3PM — that’s plenty of time to catch some ZZZ’s.

THIS WEEKEND: WPRB AT POPPED! SAY HI!

WPRB’s hitting up the Popped! Music Festival in Philadelphia this weekend. Please stop by our booth and say hello!

Congrats to all of those who won tickets & passes on our station!

We hear that 3-day passes are SOLD OUT but you can still pick up tickets for the individual events. Avoid ticket surcharges — here’s a list of the box office locations & set times:

FRI 06-20: Kick-off Party
Tix still available at: The Trocadero (1003 Arch Street)

SAT 06-21: Outdoor Show @ Drexel University
Tix still available at: The POPPED! Box Office (33rd & Market Streets)

01:00 The Ting Tings
01:50 Hoots & Hellmouth
02:40 Mr. Lif
03:30 Dan Deacon
04:10 Gogol Bordello
05:40 Crystal Castles
06:45 Mates of State
08:00 Vampire Weekend

SUN 06-22: World Café Live
Tix still available at: The World Café Live (3025 Walnut Street)

Upstairs at World Café Live

04:00 Cheers Elephant
05:00 The Vandelles
06:00 The Swimmers
07:00 Takka Takka
08:00 Sam Champion
09:00 Project Jenny/Project Jan

Downstairs at World Café Live

05:15 Gildon Works
06:15 PWRFL Power
07:15 Tickley Feather
08:15 O’Death
09:45 The Capitol Years
10:15 Daniel Johnston

Weekend Concert Picks

The weather reports are calling for rain or extreme heat this weekend. Whatever Mother Nature throws at us, here’s a couple of shows that are worth braving the temperatures for.

For more listings, visit WPRB’s Concert Calendar online!

Friday 6/6: M83 at the First Unitarian Church (Philadelphia, PA)
I dug M83 in their “tribute to Vangelis” phase, but their recent twist towards airy 80s new wave is a welcome treat. If you haven’t checked out Saturdays=Youth (Mute) yet, Friday night would be a great way to play catch up. As an added bonus, this show’s being held in the drop-dead gorgeous sanctuary space of the FUC. According to the R5 website, tickets are way sold out, but if you’re patient enough someone will be lurking around outside with an spare to sell.

Saturday 6/7: 2PM: Lucky Dragons, John Weise, Lexie Mountain Boys, Soiled Mattress & the Springs, Animental at the East River Ampitheater (FDR Drive & Cherry Street, NYC)
The East River Music Project (ERMP) is one of my favorite NYC cultural organizations. (Of course, I am biased, since my pal Toby is one of its organizers.) Similar to Fort Reno and Flywheel in nature, ERMP’s goal is to put on free outdoor concerts at the East River Amphitheater in Manhattan. What makes ERMP so great is that they have other cultural organizations or musicians curate their lineups, so it’s always a different point of view each time around. This month, the Lucky Dragons have put together a pretty great experimental bill. Rain or shine, make sure to bring your sunscreen!

Sunday 6/8: The Breeders at the Theater of Living Arts (Philadelphia, PA)
Simply put, I worship at the altar of the Deal sisters. Their new album, Mountain Battles (4AD), jumps around stylistically without sounding creatively bankrupt. In a live setting, they’re eight gajillion times better, which is to say, absolutely freaking godhead.