RECORD REVIEW: Slaves To The Grind

BY ED KING ROCK CONNOISSEUR I’ve spent a lot of time with two would-be badass albums over the last month: Grinderman, the boys’ night out Stooge-fest by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and the Heartless Bastards’ sophomore album, All This Time. Both come out of the gates looking for a rumble, which is fine by me in these days of 8-piece grad-school folkie orchestras and glossy-but-anemic 80s dance-punk replicants. “Gray” kicks off the Heartless Bastards album, throwing down a two-chord gauntlet and making full use of the throaty, 4 Non Blondes chick-like lead vocals of dynamo Erika Wennerstrom. The […]

JUSTICE: Raping Rohypnotist To Face Extradition?

Marsalis, a former Sun Valley Co. employee, is accused in Blaine County of drugging and raping a co-worker at his Atelier condominium in Sun Valley in October 2005. Blaine County authorities plan to try to extradite Marsalis to face a rape charge here at the conclusion of court proceedings against him in Philadelphia. IDAHO MOUNTAIN EXPRESS: It’s Almost Like There Is A Pattern Here, What With The Drugging And The Raping And The Lying Over And Over And Over Again

TOLDJA: Wouldbe Columbine Copycat Charged

Authorities in Montgomery County, Pa. have now filed charges against a former student at Upper Merion High School who they say sent threatening Internet messages to students and then showed up at the school last week (see related story). The charges against 19-year-old Thomas Musetti include making terroristic threats and reckless endangerment. Court papers reveal that Musetti sent instant messages saying he was seeking revenge against everyone and was trying to get a gun. “He was operating under a screen name, ‘Icecoldveins4u.’ He made threatening references involving other people, involving Graduation Day, and referencing some very horrifying events we are […]

NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t

FRESH AIR Josh Rushing was a Marine Corps media liaison at Central Command, or Centcom, in the early days of the Iraq war. His job was to represent the Marines to the worldwide media covering the war in Iraq, including the Arab TV network Al-Jazeera, and he was featured in the documentary Control Room. After retiring from the Marines he took a job as a correspondent with Al-Jazeera, reporting from Washington D.C. His new memoir is Mission Al Jazeera: Build a Bridge, Seek the Truth, Change the World. RADIO TIMES Hour 1 Three former peace negotiators lay out a plan […]

CINEMA: She’s Gotta Have It

Scarlet Diva (2000, directed by Asia Argento, 91 minutes, Italy) Rape (1969, directed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 79 minutes, U.K.) Blonde Ice (1948. directed by Jack Bernhard, 74 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Expanding the definition of what makes a “chick flick,” Andrew’s Video Vault brings to the big screen of The Rotunda a trio of women who are profane, murderous and just plain creepy. First up is Asia Argento’s directorial debut, 2000’s Scarlet Diva. A guaranteed audience divider (its Rotten Tomatoes rating currently at an even 50%) the actress/director stars in a thinly-veiled autobiographical opus […]

Mr. Richard Smoker Meets Hammer Head

An “active user” of a homosexual phone-hookup line made a bad connection when he invited a caller to his Wallingford condominium and was beaten while performing oral sex on a new acquaintance, according to Nether Providence Township Police.”The suspect sits down and the victim provides him with oral sex, but it wasn’t completed before everything stopped when the suspect hit him,” Irey said. “The victim goes down to the ground and looks up and this guy has a hammer.” Afterward, the victim was forced to drive to two ATMs and the assailant was able to remove $200 from the victim’s […]

Fed Judge Dismisses Muslim Cop’s Head Scarf Suit

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge ruled that the city’s police department did not violate the civil rights of a Muslim officer when it forbade her from wearing a head scarf on the job. Kimberlie Webb, 44, who has been on the force more than 10 years, filed a discrimination lawsuit in October 2005 after the department said she could not wear a khimar at work because the religious symbol violated uniform regulations. U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III on Tuesday sided with the city and dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that the police department did not discriminate or retaliate against Webb. […]

Nanny-Basher To Stand Trial For Bashing Nanny

BY KATHY BOCCELLA OF THE INQUIRER Susan Tabas Tepper, [NOT pictured] the Main Line millionaire accused of attacking her nanny in a rage over unfinished chores last month, waived a hearing on simple assault and harassment charges today and will face trial on Aug. 8 in Montgomery County Court.The Villanova banking and hotel heiress smiled as she arrived at the District Justice office in Narberth in handcuffs. She is currently in Montgomery County prison, where she has been held since May 23 on charges she violated her probation stemming from a Feb. 26 assault conviction. Tepper, 44, looked pale and […]

BOOKS: Q&A With Ant Farmer Simon Rich

BY MAVIS LINNEMANN BOOK CRITIC All too often reviewers say a book is “laugh-out-loud funny,” but when you finally read it, it’s about as funny as child abuse. That’s not the case with Simon Rich‘s Ant Farm: And Other Desperate Situations. The book’s super-short vignettes and mini-dialogues had me howling in my subway seat, much to the consternation of the other morning commuters. Only 22-years-old and freshly graduated from Harvard, Rich (son of New York Times columnist Frank Rich) will no doubt be tickling the short-attention span funny bones of Generations Y & Z for years to come. Recently he […]