Leissner’s patrol car raced down the Navy Yard’s desolate main road and stopped at Building 79 – a brick warehouse surrounded by silence. The 17-year military veteran, who had served in Kuwait and is a firearms instructor for the Air Force Reserve, could not have known he was seconds away from stepping into the scene of the city’s biggest mass murder in more than six years. Three businessmen had been shot dead inside a second-floor conference room. An accountant fought off the pain of bullet wounds to the stomach and managed to dial 911, alerting Leissner and other cops to […]
THE EARLY WORD: Return Of The Secret Cinema
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TRIBUTE: BYE BYE MISS AMERICAN SUGAR PIE
BY AMY Z. QUINN This being Valentine’s Day, the Holiday That Launched a Thousand Mixtapes, I wanted to talk about Rock and Roll Broads — Lady Rockers — and what they taught me about love and sex. The lessons are many and definitely worth sharing, but that will have to wait for another time. Because today, despite the fact that it makes me vaguely nauseous and sad, I have to talk about Anna Nicole Smith — so let’s just get it all out there and off our chests so we can go back to our lives, shall we? On one […]
GAYBO: LOVE IS ALL AROUND, IF YOU WANT IT
THE ORDINARY BOYS: I Luv You? [With OXOXOXOs from TOMMY CUPID ZANE]
GOD BLESS AMERICA: Dems Introduce Bill To Restore Constitution, Halt Construction Of Naked Men Pyramids
WASHINGTON POST — A group of Senate Democrats introduced legislation yesterday that would restore habeas corpus rights to all detainees in U.S. custody and would narrowly define what it means to be an “enemy combatant” against the United States, a measure designed to challenge laws ushered in by the Republican-controlled Congress last year. The bill, titled the “Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007,” strikes at the core of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 by giving detainees access to U.S. courts. It was introduced by Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.), a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. The bill would […]
LINDA RONSTADT: Lovesick Blues
Appears to be a typical night in 1970 at Hef’s place. [Hat tip to Citizen Mom]
Introducing POP IN TAPE: HIP-HOP IN THE 215
SOMEBODY’S ON THE CASE — THEY BETTER GET ON THE JOB BY MICHAEL FICHMAN It’s not easy for a scene to stay relevant in the era of the 24-hour news cycle and the iPod attention span. Trends eat their tails so fast these days. Underground rap went from “knowledge equality” to rapping about rapping and bitching about shiny suit syndrome. It faded into obscurity. Furthermore, bloggers and barflies want to be the first to dig up a fad and then be the first to put it down as plebian and overwrought. Rick Ross rose and fell before summer 2006 had […]
THIS JUST IN: Arcade Fire At The Tower On May 5th
Tix expected to go on sale next week. [Photo by Robert Spychala’s Snaplog]
NPR For The Deaf: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR ON WHYY Underground comic book artist Robert Crumb created ZAP COMIX and is the artist behind such 1960s and 1970s icons as Mr. Natural, Fritz the Cat, and Keep-on-Truckin. His wife, Aline Kominsky Crumb, was one of the earliest underground female cartoonists. Her new book, Need More Love: A Graphic Memoir, chronicles her life and career. Robert’s new book is The Sweeter Side of R. Crumb. PLUS, The famous, or perhaps notorious model Anna Nicole Smith died last week, prompting a tsunami of media coverage. Here’s a look at the reasons for all the hoopla. One shouldn’t be […]
WE KNOW IT’S ONLY ROCK N’ ROLL BUT WE LIKE IT
GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN: Lily Allen, Theater Of Arts, Last Night [FLICKR] BY AMY Z. QUINN I was beginning to worry about this whole Lily Allen thing. Yeah, the songs are catchy and definitely danceable. And in videos, she sparkles, a cutie-pie in a prom dress and matching sneakers. But the few times I saw her singing live on TV, she just kind of stood there, all dressed up and doing not much more than a Dusty Springfield midriff-twist thing. And maybe it was the threat of cabin fever from the looming snowstorm, but the crowd at the sold-out […]
GUNCRAZY: MASSACRE AT THE SHIPYARD, 4 DEAD
ASSOCIATED PRESS — PHILADELPHIA A gunman fatally shot three people [NOT pictured] at a business meeting before turning the gun on himself Monday night in an office building at the old Philadelphia Navy Yard, police said. The gunman appeared to get upset at a board of directors meeting for a company that might have been an investment firm, Deputy Commissioner Richard Ross said. The gunman also died, police Capt. Benjamin Naish said. Another person was critically injured. Another two people were present but not shot, police said. The shooting took place in a conference room in a business at the […]
UPDATE: Massacre Spurred By Board Room Dispute
[Zigzag press release announces move to Philly.] Police said the shootings occurred about 8:30 p.m. at 5131 S. 11th St. in a structure known as Building 79, a former Navy procurement office that, like many of the warehouse-type buildings at the former Navy base and shipyard, is now home to private businesses. At the scene last night, Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Ross said the gunman opened fire during a regularly scheduled meeting on the second floor. Police believe the gunman was a participant in the meeting, Ross said. Police did not disclose the relationship between the shooter and the victims, […]