The Covers

City Paper's 30 Years of Music

	print	email	reply

Published: Mar 2, 2011

April 4, 1996

Tales of the Chickenbutt Bandit: The saga of the drugged-out guitarist who pulled 16 Center City armed robberies. By Howard Altman and Neil Gladstone

Then: Gary Kozlowski's on-again, off-again punk band, Chickenbutt, was a fixture on the Philly punk scene in the '80s and '90s — until he was arrested after holding up a head shop at 20th and Walnut. This story recounted the reputedly gifted guitarist's battles with heroin addiction and desperate crime spree across Center City with a semi-automatic pellet gun. "I was a gentleman bandit," Kozlowski said in a jailhouse interview. "I was always very nice to these people. And the pellet gun was unloaded, except for the day I got caught." Now: In prison since 1996, Kozlowski will be released to a halfway house March 22 and is hoping to make music again, according to a Facebook fan page.

Sept. 5, 1996

True To Their Roots: With a new album and bigger beats, can The Roots combine hip-hop ingenuity with mainstream success? By Neil Gladstone

Then: "The driving, trip-hop of Illadelph Halflife is such a far cry from the live interplay of Do You Want More?!!!??, critics will be forced either to praise The Roots for their inventiveness or admonish the album as an attempt at more mainstream rap." This was the first of five-and-counting City Paper cover appearances by Philly's flagship hip-hop band. Now: No one knows what became of this little novelty act.

Dec. 19, 2002

The Voices In His Head: Philly's top indie-rock producer Brian McTear meets yet another challenge — his first solo album. By Brian Howard

Then: At the time, McTear was a lauded producer (having recorded albums by Matt Pond PA, Mazarin, The Capitol Years, The Burning Brides, etc., at his Miner Street Studios), but his career as a singer and songwriter was just getting started, with the release of the Bitter Bitter Weeks' eponymous debut album. Now: The last BBW album came out in '07, but McTear says he's writing songs for the new one ("look out for it in 2015!"). In the meantime, he's still producing, and running Weathervane, his nonprofit music org.

Nov. 11, 2004

Blood Brothers: The Dead Milkmen return to pay tribute to the late Dave Schulthise. By Patrick Rapa

Then: Following the suicide of bassist Dave Blood, Philly's esteemed punk jesters reunited for two sold-out nights of rocking and remembering at the Troc. Now: It took a little while, but these tribute shows planted the seed for a full-scale Dead Milkmen comeback, with multiple shows and an album of new music, The King in Yellow, due out in the spring. Meanwhile, singer-keyboardist Rodney Anonymous writes Aid or Invade, a monthly music/humor column in City Paper.

For a Limited Time Only
Forever is Not So Long
La Sera
Dum Dum Girls
Sic Alps
Critical Error
The Critics
Carolina Chocolate Drops