NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO! BY ED KING ROCK EXPERT I’ve been looking forward to this one for a couple of years, since a friend turned me onto Malkmus’ last album, Face the Truth. I haven’t anticipated an artist’s next release like this one for some time. My hope and optimism are bound to let me down. Here goes! “Dragonfly Pie”: I’m digging the rumbling fuzz guitars and the overall sinister vibe as this one gets underway. Wait a second! It’s getting light and airy, with falsetto singing and a cheap electric piano sound. Ah, back to the distorted, double-stop […]
TODAY I SAW…
BY JEFF DEENEY Today I saw a confused young man having a meltdown behind the counter of the McDonald’s on 52nd and Chestnut Street. His uniform was oversized and he had a dark, long-sleeved shirt on under his uniform that looked unwashed. His grease-stained visor’s brim was pulled down low to obscure his eyes. He rang my order up wrong, so I repeated it slowly, thinking maybe he misheard me. It was crowded and loud, and I figured my order was drowned out by the noise. I tilted my head a bit to see if he was listening, but he […]
FORBES: We’re Number One!
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] Bill Giles, The P.T. Barnum Of The Phillies, And The Creature He Brought To Life INQUIRER: The Phillie Phanatic is the top mascot in sports, according to a market research group whose findings were reported today on Forbes.com.The Phanatic — which edged out the pioneer mascot the San Diego Chicken for No. 1 on The Marketing Arm’s Davie-Brown Index — “became an instant smash when it debuted for the Phillies in 1978. Leading fans from the top of the dugout, riding around on a motorbike and heckling opposing players was all new at the time, offering […]
ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS: Killing The Blues
This is now officially OUR FAVORITE SONG OF 2007. Written by Rowland Salley, this version from Raising Sand just fucking slays us every time. And speaking as former teenage Zepheads, it does our heart good to hear Robert Plant doing something we can both be proud of at our advanced age. Seriously, this is as timelessly classic as anything Led Zeppelin ever did. And Alison Krauss is a force of nature. Mark Ribot’s guitar sounds like underwater moonlight piercing the spectral murk of T-Bone Burnett’s elegantly antiqued production. Like butter, it is. Because there was no official video for this […]
NEW RULE: Middle-Aged Dudes Wearing Sunglasses At Night Are Not Allowed To Call 16-Year-Old Girls ‘Slut’ UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES
From today’s Howard Gensler column: WAITING IN the Wegman’s checkout line yesterday, Tattle read that Britney Spears was insane, she’s threatened to kill her children, what sent her over the edge was meth and her slutty younger sister has been dumped by her impregnator. [Note to angry readers: Tattle is not calling Jamie Lynn Spears a slut, although if she quacks like a duck . . . but in using slutty as an adjective we are saying her behavior was slutty. Teen or not, when your mother allows your (now ex-)boyfriend to live with you, and your older sister is as […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR David Kirkpatrick is a correspondent in the Washington bureau for The New York Times. He covered the politics of the conservative Christian movement in the 2004 election, and has been following the presidential campaign of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. ALSO, Julia Preston, national immigration correspondent for The New York Times, discusses the unintended consequences of the U.S. border crackdown — and how the battle over immigration is affecting communities across the country. RADIO TIMES Hour 1 (Rebroadcast tonight at 11) Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and author ANTHONY LEWIS’ new book is titled “Freedom for the Thought That We […]
THIS JUST IN: New Hampshire Agrees To Recount
HUFFINGTON POST: By Wednesday morning, stories were flying all around the Internet–have you looked closely at the results of the primary? There was something strange about the votes, they said, about the difference between municipalities that hand-counted votes and those that used optical scanners. The chatter increased, and by Friday, the New Hampshire Department of State issued a press release announcing that two candidates, Democrat Dennis Kucinich and Republican Albert Howard had requested and been granted a recount, …The recounts will begin on January 16, at a time and location to be announced after the state has completed an estimate […]
NY TIMES: Has Gawker Jumped The Snark Shark?
NEW YORK TIMES: Is it so? There are certainly signs that Gawker, delivering a daily dose of gossip and commentary about the news business and selected celebrities since 2002, is in the midst of a particularly intense period of turmoil, which has led to a slide in its once-hypnotic influence on the news media world. Before the wave of staff departures at Gawker, New York magazine published an article in October ascribing the site’s popularity to the resentment of the city’s “creative underclass,” and asked whether pandering to the nasty impulses of those who covet an increasingly rare slot among […]
THIS JUST IN: New York Dolls Are For Lovers
Legendary punk rockers the NEW YORK DOLLS will be back on the road for a late winter tour to support their first album in over 30 years, One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This and put the “fun” back in “election year.” Don’t miss this rare Valentine’s Day occasion to catch the NEW YORK DOLLS in concert Thursday, Feb. 14 at the New Alhambra Arena, 7 Ritner St., in Philadelphia. Showtime is 9 p.m.
TONIGHT: Freedom of Speech Is Not Free
The National Constitution Center, in partnership with the Freedom to Read Foundation, welcomes two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Lewis, one of the country’s most esteemed experts on the First Amendment and the author of the classic, Gideon’s Trumpet, to share his latest work, Freedom for the Thought That We Hate, on the importance of freedom of expression. Lewis’s new book tells the story of how the right of free expression evolved along with our nation and makes a compelling case for the adaptability of our Constitution. Lewis will discuss how our First Amendment rights were created and reveal a story […]
KILLADELPHIA: Meet The New Sheriff
INQUIRER: Most of the initial changes in the department’s operations last week were largely cosmetic: Mayor Nutter declared a symbolic “crime emergency” after he was sworn in Monday, and the commissioner vowed to increase the department’s visibility by wearing a uniform and driving a marked squad car himself. But behind the scenes, the former Washington police chief is sending signals that big changes are in store.The coming weeks are likely to include many long workdays for Ramsey’s command staff: In addition to the morning meetings, the commissioner has scheduled six nightly meetings across the city to gather public comment before […]
KILLADELPHIA: One More Dead Since U Went To Bed
INQUIRER: An unidentified man was found with a gunshot wound to the head shortly before 12:30 a.m. today at 22nd and Thompson Streets, police said. The victim, in his 40s, was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:46 a.m. Police are continuing their investigation. They have made no arrests and have no motive for the shooting.