January 8-14, 2004

cover story

Rock/pop

by Patrick Rapa

The Creatures of the Golden Dawn

Jan. 23, with The A-Sides, Headquarters and The Swims, Doc Watson's, 216 S. 11th St., 215-922-3427. Brother JT and his revived band of Bethlehem rockers stand up and do psychedelic rock freakouts on demand. Always a good time.

The Jabbers

Jan. 24, with Antiseen, The Bad Vibes and The Dead Kings, The Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888. Do you remember when punk was dangerous? G.G. Allin's old bandmates do. That's why they've enlisted Wimpy (of hardcore idiots The Queers) to sing lead for them in this sort-of reunion tour. Let's see what goes down when the shit hits the fans.

The Unicorns

Jan. 29, The Pontiac, 304 South St., 215-925-4053. The Pontiac took longer to refurbish than Pompeii, but hey, they got it done. See how clean it is when indie fruitcakes The Unicorns show up with their funny little songs about cougars, cancer and cuteness.

Adam Green

Jan. 30, with Rifle Choir, The Khyber. The guy from Moldy Peaches. You should hear his song that's sort of about how Jessica Simpson should love him but how she's maybe incapable of love. It's funny, but also it's like so weird that how could she love a man like him?

The Superbowl of Acapella

Jan. 31, with The Encounters, Reunion and Rick & the Masters (with Dennis Gullien), The TLA, 334 South St., 215-922-1011. These are the rebels of the unaccompanied world. See how they mistype "super bowl" and "a capella." They don't give a shit about you, proper spelling or instruments. Yeah!

Suicide Girls Live Burlesque Tour

Feb. 4, Trocadero, 1003 Arch St., 215-922-LIVE. Just for a night, the Troc returns to its burlesque roots with real live girls with boobs who show off their boobs because boobs are so great. There will be live music by somebody. Nipples.

Nerissa and Katryna Nields

Feb. 6, with Common Rotation, The Point, 880 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr, 610-527-0988. These sisters may have shed their backing band, but they still rock when they wanna. It's all sweet melodies, acoustic maneuvering and smirking lyrics about speed bumps on the road to perfection.

Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players

Feb. 6, The North Star, 27th and Poplar sts., 215-684-0808. You know the drill: Dad sings and plays keyboards. Daughter plays drums. Mom works the slide projector. It's funny.

Paul Green School of Rock

Feb. 7, Trocadero. Philadelphia's largest manufacturer of Pink Floyd cover bands hosts a fundraiser with a set list spanning the season's repertoire: Bowie, Hendrix, Beatles, prog rock and more.

MxPx and A Simple Plan

Feb. 9, with Sugarcult and Motion City Soundtrack, Electric Factory, Seventh and Willow sts., 215-336-2000. This should be one of those narc-core punk shows where everybody looks like a skater but nobody actually skates. That's fine with me -- real sk8er bois are scary.

Marc Spitz

Feb. 13, with Dresden Dolls and Love Love Love, Doc Watson's. Technically, Spin music critic/playwright Spitz will be reading, not rocking. But it's possible he'll be reading about rock. He shares Plain Parade's Anti-Valentine's Day bill with Boston's Dresden Dolls and Love Love Love, which features booker Maria Tessa Sciarrino on vocals and This Radiant Boy's Bucky Lang on drums.

Bridget St. John

Feb. 14, with Damon and Naomi and Espers, The Pontiac. St. John was some kinda big deal British folk-rocker (if you can imagine such a thing) back in the '70s. Now she's returned with her acoustic guitar, her soft voice and her old favorites.

Bright Eyes

Feb. 23, with Jim James and M. Ward, Trocadero. First M. Ward plays solo. Then Jimmy James (of My Morning Jacket) plays solo. After that, a small band version of Bright Eyes will perform. At the end everybody will be up onstage doing Bright Eyes songs and My Morning Jacket songs. All the while, emo chicks will swoon.

Sting

March 12, Tower Theater, 69th and Ludlow sts., Upper Darby, 215-336-2000. This show is sold out, so I'm guessing everybody already knows about Sting. But did you know that "All This Time" is his best post-Police song? It's true.

The Get Up Kids

March 13, with Recover, The TLA. Aw, remember them? I'll never forget the tiny emo Altamont at the Church all those summers ago. It was hot and violent and The Get Up Kids were afraid to play fast songs because then the punching would start up again.

David Bowie

March 29, Wachovia Center, 3601 S. Broad St., 215-336-2000. I'm afraid of Americans too.