Via her publicist: World renowned and 6 time Grammy nominee Amy Winehouse will perform via satellite link-up to the 50th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 10. Broadcast live from a London studio, Amy will make her hugely anticipated return to the stage. Amy is nominated for an amazing 6 Grammy Awards at Sunday’s ceremony, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Female Performance for ‘Rehab’, Album of the Year, Best New Artist, and Best Pop Vocal Album for Back to Black. This is unrivalled for a female British artist. While she had hoped to join […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
OXFORD COLLAR: Vampire Weekend, First Unitarian, Last Night [Photo by MICHAEL DONOVAN]
THIS U MUST SEE: The Matrix Of Dance Offs
[Hat tip to EVA LIAO] VIDEO: My Wonderful Life: pwning posers.
MEDIA: Dumb & Dumber
BY AMY Z. QUINN For reasons that continue to elude us — newsroom cutbacks, perhaps — The Ottawa Herald, in the great state of Kansas, invited one of their pressmen (the guys that actually operate the giant presses that print the paper) to write a guest Op-Ed about Barack Obama. In the process, all involved manage to perpetuate every bullshit scary Obama The Islamo-Fascist Manchurian Candidate Internet meme in one giant, paranoid, journalistically-retarded swoop. From Wonkette: Well, now comes another bad idea … maybe even worse. The Democratic Party actually intends to put a Muslim fundamentalist in the White House. […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR In 1966, Romanian dictator Nicolai Ceausescu sought to boost his nation’s population by criminalizing abortion, declaring, “The fetus is the property of the entire society… anyone who avoids having children is a deserter who abandons the laws of national continuity.” 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, a new film by director Cristian Mungiu, explores the ramifications of Ceausescu’s ban two decades later; it’s 1987 and two college women negotiate Bucharest’s gloomy, paranoid black market in an effort to secure an abortion. New York Times critic Manohla Dargis calls the film, which won the top prize at this […]
MAILBAG: Question The Parking Authority
DEAR PHAWKER, I just received a parking ticket from Philly [even thought I have] never been there. I live in Fayette County PA. The ticket I received [says that] I never replied to the first one so the fine nearly tripled. I took it to my local state rep. He said he is over run with bogus philly tickets and will do his best to help. After asking around, I have come across several people with the same complaint. [Seems] like Philly is being run by Boss Hog and Rosco. Rich From Pennsyltucky
TONITE: Vampire Can Mating Oven
NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO! WHY? BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU! BY ED KING ROCK EXPERT Vampire Weekend play a sold out show at First Unitarian Church tonight. If you can’t get in you’re not alone. Your parents were probably shut out too. The band’s debut album and style of music, which they cheekily refer to as “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,” “Upper West Side Soweto,” “Campus,” and “Oxford Comma Riddim,” goes down easy, so easy that I’m sometimes reminded of “Escape (The Piña Colada Song).” I’m sure they get more questions about raiding their parents’ Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel record […]
BREAKING: Romney Folds Tent, Goes Home
WASHINGTON POST: Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney will suspend his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, according to sources within his inner circle. A number of those sources said the decision would be announced in his speech to the Conservative Political Action Committee conference this afternoon in Washington, D.C. “I must now stand aside, for our party and our country,” Romney said in remarks prepared for his appearance and released by his campaign. “If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely […]
RAW FOOTAGE: Warping Hearts & Minds
BAGHDAD, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Al Qaeda videos seized by U.S. forces show Iraqi children younger than 11 carrying out mock kidnappings and attacks, the U.S. military and Iraqi officials said on Wednesday. Videos played to media showed about 20 boys, mostly under 11, wearing balaclavas and brandishing AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers almost as big as themselves. MORE
THIS JUST IN: We Are The Decider Now
POLITICO: Hillary Clinton survived a Super Tuesday scare. But there are five big reasons the former first lady should be spooked by the current trajectory of the campaign. Although the friends did not have details, they believe she may go ahead with the campaign shake-up she had been planning just before her surprise victory in New Hampshire. Her team is girding for trench warfare, telling reporters that the nomination will not be decided until at least the Pennsylvania primary on April 22, if then. MORE
CYCLONE RANGER: Tornadoes Kill 50 Over 5 States
ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS: Killing The Blues BLOOMBERG NEWS: The deadliest tornado outbreak in almost a decade tore across the southern U.S. late yesterday, killing at least 50 people, sparking a pipeline explosion in Tennessee and destroying homes from Alabama to Kentucky. The “extremely dangerous” tornadoes, spawned by unseasonably warm temperatures, prompted the first high-risk weather alert issued in February in 10 years, AccuWeather.com said. Heavy rain, winds and hail are possible from the Carolinas to southern New Jersey, forecasters said. The 24-hour toll makes it the deadliest day of tornadoes since May 3, 1999, when 46 people died […]
THE EARLY WORD: Here Comes The Goon Squad
Before Monty Python invaded television, The Goon Show – famed not only for its surreal humor, puns, and catchphrases but also for its groundbreaking sound effects – made an entire nation laugh week after week. The Goons met in the 1940s, and like many of the post war entertainers, they all began performing while serving in World War II. Running from 1951 – 1960, the show changed the face of British comedy and greatly influenced Python, the Beatles, and many others. Monty Python star Michael Palin has said, “For me, the Goons were to comedy what Elvis was to music.” […]
NEWS CLUES: It’s Like Adderall For Your Eyeballs
HOLD THE PHONE: Obama Claims Delegate Lead Over Clinton In a surprise twist after a chaotic Super Tuesday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) passed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) in network tallies of the number of delegates the candidates racked up last night. The Obama camp now projects topping Clinton by 13 delegates, 847 to 834. NBC News, which is projecting delegates based on the Democratic Party’s complex formula, figures Obama will wind up with 840 to 849 delegates, versus 829 to 838 for Clinton. Clinton was portrayed in many news accounts as the night’s big winner, but Obama’s campaign says […]