This is from an Obama campaign press release that went out today: “Senator Clinton recently claimed that she’s ‘the most transparent figure in public life,’ yet she’s dragging her feet in releasing something as basic as her annual tax returns,” said Obama Communications Director Robert Gibbs. “Senator Clinton can’t claim to be vetted until she allows the public the opportunity to see her finances — particularly with respect to any investment in tax shelters.” The Clinton campaign’s vague commitment to release the returns and the Clintons’ known involvement with such investments as Yucaipa raise a number of questions. 1. Yucaipa […]
MAILBAG: The Trouble With Ed King
To the Editors at Phawker, Let me first say, I enjoy many parts of your publication. You do an superb job of blending various elements of news into a Blog format. However, I honestly think you need to replace your “Rock Music” critic, the so-called King Ed. His recent review of the new Raconteurs album was shallow and condescending to say the least. While I realize it was an “insta-review” and he was purely commenting from his first listen; it is evident that he was going to hate the album from the outset. He took a sarcastic tone to the […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR BY ED WARD FRESH AIR MUSIC CRITIC In the past 20 years, Great Britain has produced a huge quantity of popular music that’s gotten very little attention in the U.S. So much, in fact, that it’s practically impossible for American fans to keep up with it. In an attempt at a crash-course, Rhino released a four-disc collection titled The Brit Box late last year. The British music scene is very different from the American one. Britain is, and always has been, the home of pop — music which revolves around the three-minute single, produced by fresh new faces […]
TODAY I SAW: The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death
[Photos by JUSTIN ROMAN] BY JEFF DEENEY The small pile of stuffed animals on Berks Street, north of 31st, looks neglected even though it’s only been there about three weeks. Some of the dolls are scattered, resting in the garbage-strewn grass plot across the street from the tiny Pleasant Oak Missionary Church. It’s impossible to know whether this memorial, marking a murder that happened back in February, was kicked over or was simply blown askew by a strong wind. These dolls aren’t covered in loving messages from friends and family members like I’ve seen at other sites, and there […]
RIP: Puzzles, Beloved Local Giraffe, Dead At 27
BY SAM WOOD OF THE INQUIRER Puzzles, 27, had been suffering from failing health due to her advanced age. The female reticulated giraffe [NOT pictured] was one of the oldest living in the United States. Puzzles was born in 1981 at a Children’s Zoo in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Three years later, she joined the Philadelphia Zoo. She was the mother of seven calves, all of which were adopted by zoos across the country.Puzzles is survived by giraffes Stella, 7, and Twigga, 28, her enclosure mates in the Zoo’s “African Plains” exhibit. Zoo staff have been closely monitoring Twigga, who […]
THE EARLY WORD: Phreaknick
OKAYPLAYER: Another Friday closer to the release of The Roots – Rising Down (April 29th) is here. Keeping with our promise to unleash something new, this week’s entry does not pertain precisely to the album but instead to the Legendary’s first annual Roots Picnic festival in Philadelphia on June 7th. The band has been talking for years of curating their own all day event featuring their friends and favorite groups from across all genres and we are pleased to officially announce the line up of The Roots, Gnarls Barkley, Sharon Jones + The Dap Kings, Deerhoof, Santogold, J*Davey, Diplo, and […]
‘A SOBER MOMENT’: 4,000 U.S. Dead In Iraq
[mosaic by NICO PITNEY/HUFFINGTON POST] INDEPENDENT: The number of US troops who have died in Iraq since the invasion five years ago has hit the 4,000 milestone following a roadside bomb in south Baghdad that killed four American soldiers. US military fatalities are half those suffered by the Iraqi army and police, of whom 8,037 are known to have been killed. American losses are even more limited compared to Iraqi civilian casualties, which are unknown but are likely to total several hundred thousand. But in the US it is the number of American soldiers killed which is politically important because […]
TIBET: Chinese Troops Open Fire On Monks & Nuns
[illustration by ALEX FINE] TIMES OF LONDON: Paramilitary police opened fire on hundreds of monks, nuns and Tibetans who tried to march on a local government office in western China yesterday to demand the return of the Dalai Lama. Residents of Luhuo said that a monk and a farmer appeared to have been killed and about a dozen people wounded in the latest violence in Tibetan areas of China. Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, said that one officer was killed when police confronted a “lawless mob” in Luhuo. The demonstration began at 4pm when about 200 nuns from Woge […]
PUNKED: The Great ‘Lindsay Lohan’ Sextape Farce
GLEAM: Word of a Lindsay Lohan sex tape has been around for a while, but this recent pic (above) is apparently a preview clip of the video that hit the web in the past 24 hours. Gossip Rocks is saying this is the real deal: Apparently Callum sent the video (which was filmed on his cell phone) when the 2 where an item has been sent to some of his friends…which as you may have guessed have been trying to sell the video. Anyway so i have this friend (cant say her name.) who is friends with lindsay lohan. She’s […]
SHILLING: Tom Waits For Purina Butcher’s Blend
UPDATE: Last week we ran this YouTube with question a mark, and endeavored to determine if this was in fact the voice of Tom Waits, or just an incredible simulation. We have just heard back from Mr. Waits’ publicist — the lovely and capable Tresa Redburn — and she confirms that YES that is in fact the voice of Tom. It was done back in 1980-81, and it was the first and last commercial he would ever do. In fact, she says, he spoke disparagingly about the experience and vowed never again in THIS interview. Go figure.
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR “Bush’s War,” a two-part special from the PBS series Frontline, investigates the lead up to — and the justification for — war in Iraq. Journalist and Frontline producer Michael Kirk joins Fresh Air to discuss the program. “Parts of this history have been told before,” Kirk says on the series Web site. “But no one has laid out the entire narrative to reveal in one epic story the scope and detail of how this war began and how it has been fought, both on the ground and deep inside the government.” Kirk has produced over 200 national TV […]
HEAR YE: The Raconteurs Consolers Of The Lonely
Now playing on Phawker Radio! Why? Because we love you! BY ED KING ROCK EXPERT So The Raconteurs are back with a second album. Who woulda thought The Raconteurs would turn out to be a real band and not just a Jack White side project wank-off one-off? Not me, buddy boy. Not me. I tip my tricorn hat to the Raconteurs for kicking it old school, turning this thing around so quickly and releasing it without all the pomp and circumstance that usually precedes White Stripes release. But I just wish this album didn’t suck so bad. To wit: “Consoler […]
What’s Good For The Silly Gooses Of Wall Street Is Good For The Soon-To-Be Foreclosed Ganders Of Main St.
Hillary Clinton delivers economic policy address this morning at Penn [NICK POWELL] BY NICK POWELL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT Flanked by a Pennsylvania Dream Team of Governor Ed Rendell, Mayor Michael Nutter, and Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz, Senator Hillary Clinton attacked the Bush administration, spared Barack Obama, and outlined her new four-point plan to save the country’s reeling economy this morning at the University of Pennsylvania. Clinton began today’s press conference by praising both Rendell and Nutter for their “visionary leadership” and for their efforts to fix “an issue critical not only for Pennsylvania but for our country.” Clinton also made a brief […]