Dear Phawker Readers, There’s a war going on in South Philly this Tuesday – it’s Election Day, and the residents of the First District have to find a replacement for Vince Fumo. Hopefully, someone who won’t think stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars is totally kosher. Let’s fight the machine..and have fun! My name is Anne Dicker. I’m a tough broad (but nice, really, I am nice) progressive 34-year-old who lives in Queen Village with my husband. I am the only independent, honest, FBI-free candidate in the race, but I need your help. [EDITOR’S NOTE: As per the request of […]
LIVE & DIRECT: From The 26th Democratic Debate
BY JONATHAN VALANIA They are already calling it The Gotcha Debate. Lucky us! First up, we discuss how Obama is a latte-sipping, Volvo-driving, NPR-listening, America-hatin’ so-and-so and why that is so bad, and don’t you agree Hillary? Stephanopoulos just asked Obama if Reverend Wright loves America as much as he does. What next, loyalty oaths? Dude volunteered to go to Vietnam, George, where were you? * Now for a brief yet pointless detour into vox populi with a coupla questions from embittered Pennsyltuckians. Joe Stupid Sweater from Pittsburgh wants to know why Hillary lied about sniper fire in Bosnia and what […]
LOU REED: Kill Your Sons
Via Italian Television. That’s the mighty Robert Quine in the shades and the baldheaded with the cigarette. Dude was shred incarnate, rest his soul. Lou Fucking Reed. Saturday at the Electric Factory! Woo-hoo!
HOT DOC: Open Letter To The Drive-By Media
[via ATTYOOD] Dear Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, It’s hard to know where to begin with this, less than an hour after you signed off from your Democratic presidential debate here in my hometown of Philadelphia, a televised train wreck that my friend and colleague Greg Mitchell has already called, quite accurately, “a shameful night for the U.S. media.” It’s hard because — like many other Americans — I am still angry at what I just witnessed, so angry that it’s hard to even type accurately because my hands are shaking. Look, I know that “media criticism” — especially when […]
THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW: East Germantown
[Photo by JUSTIN ROMAN] The Valley of the Shadow is an ongoing series documenting how those in Philadelphia’s poorest and most violent neighborhoods publicly mourn and commemorate their dead. Jeff Deeney knows these neighborhoods well from his days as a social worker. The hope is to shine a light on the city’s untouchables, brighten the darkest corners and gather-and-share ultra-vivid and all-too-real stories of loss, grief and remembrance. BY JEFF DEENEY One of the hard things about being a social worker in Philadelphia is seeing your client’s block turn up in newspaper crime reports. Sometimes details about shootings and homicides […]
SCOTUS: Kill Them All, Let God Sort It Out
NEW YORK TIMES: The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Kentucky’s method of putting criminals to death by lethal injection, not only clearing the way for Kentucky to resume executions but ending an unofficial moratorium in the 35 other states that have the death penalty. However, Justice John Paul Stevens, while concurring reluctantly with the judgment of the court, wrote that he now believed capital punishment itself is unconstitutional, and that Wednesday’s ruling might serve to reignite the debate over whether it should exist in the United States. By 7 to 2, the court rejected challenges to the Kentucky execution procedure […]
CONTEST: Do You Cebu?
How does a shot and beer with big Bob Brady sound? We have just been given 10 tickets to giveaway to Phawker readers. Hit us back at FEED@PHAWKER.COM and we will duly deputize you as a member of the pajama-clad media. PROGRAMMING NOTE: We will be live-blogging from inside the belly of the beast tonight. JONATHAN VALANIA will be inside the press room, translating the candidates comments into something closer to the truth and providing an update on the size of Howard Fineman’s ass. He’s bringing his calipers. TIFFANY YOON will be shooting the pageantry and street theater of the […]
U SHOULD READ THIS: Gamblor Is A False Profit
BY CHRISTOPHER CALDWELL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES In March, the Massachusetts House of Representatives rejected a measure that looked unstoppable when it was proposed by Gov. Deval Patrick last September: the authorization of “destination casinos” across the commonwealth. The plan was for Massachusetts to sell three 10-year licenses for at least $200 million apiece and then tax the casinos’ takings at 27 percent, raking in $400 million a year. That, went the reckoning, would cover a $1.3 billion budget shortfall. Patrick was backed by The Boston Globe, big casino corporations and some trade unions. His opponent, the House speaker, […]
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: He Is The One
Dear Friends and Fans: Like most of you, I’ve been following the campaign and I have now seen and heard enough to know where I stand. Senator Obama, in my view, is head and shoulders above the rest. He has the depth, the reflectiveness, and the resilience to be our next President. He speaks to the America I’ve envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that’s interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where “…nobody […]
Frida’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Lose
Miro Dance Theatre invites audiences to a behind-the-scenes look at Self-Portrait, Miro’s newest work which will premiere at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on May 2. Commissioned by Art After 5 in conjunction with the Museum’s Frida Kahlo retrospective, Self-Portrait is a solo dance work celebrating Kahlo’s life and art. The performance, deeply inspired by Kahlo’s paintings and diary, reflects on the artist’s struggles with illness and her penchant for self-expression. Performed by Miro’s Amanda Miller, the multi-dimensional “living performance sculpture” combines dance, live animation, elaborate set design, and video. As part of this Open Studio, guest artist Julia Zagar […]
WORTH REPEATING: God, Guts And Guns
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL: We thought the Republican presidential primaries were over. So we are at a loss to explain why Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have been wandering around Pennsylvania and Indiana and anywhere else they might find a vote or a dollar arguing about which one cares more about guns and religion. Whose brilliant idea was it to leave six weeks open before the Pennsylvania primary? MORE RELATED: I, POLLSTER: Phawker’s Hilariously Un-Scientific Pennsyltucky Primary Keystoned Cell Phone Poll
