BYKO: “WHAT WILL happen to Larry Mendte?” I’ve been asked that a few times, because people know that I covered TV for five years, I know the players and I know the process. I know how the squirrels who run TV stations arrange their nuts. After stitching together what has been reported, what is believed to have happened and what is likely to happen, an Etch-a-Sketch picture emerges. To that grainy image I add what else might happen. Larry Mendte is kaput at CBS 3. Why? Odds are he will cop to electronic snooping. In exchange for saving the government […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Thank You For Smoking
FRESH AIR Whether he’s lancing boils, getting crabs from thrift store pants or sitting in a hospital waiting room dressed only in his underwear, one thing is clear: David Sedaris is not shy about sharing those embarrassing, cringe-worthy incidents that members of the general population tend to save for diaries or therapists. In his sixth collection of essays, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Sedaris continues to bare his body and soul, detailing the aforementioned boils and crabs, as well as an uncomfortable incident in which he accidentally spits a lozenge into the lap of his seatmate on an airplane. […]
LISTEN LIKE THIEVES: Sebadoh’s “Soul And Fire”
Released roughly halfway through their recording career, Bubble & Scrape captured Sebadoh as a band in most profound transition. Since inception, Lou Barlow, Eric Gaffney and Jason Loewenstein had ever been more a wonderfully chaotic collective of individuals following their own erratic, crazy-paved paths than the typical, rigidly-defined group. All three wrote and sang their own songs, while live performances would play host to regular bouts of instrument-swapping, as one member stepped up to the microphone as the previous ‘frontman’ returned to the drumkit — stemming from Barlow’s desire that Sebadoh be an entirely democratic process, in contrast to his […]
MUST-SEE WEB TV: Wasgoinon?
You may remember our pal Kilroy from his days as Phawker TV anchorman, which included this priceless interview with Barack Obama. He’s got his own show, Wasgoinon?, currently in production with our New Media partners in crime Woodshop Films/ScrappleTV, in which he more or less tries to see how much trouble a grown man in knickers and a tricorn hat can get into in this city. Get behind it before it gets in front of you.
HBO: Extremism In The Defense Of Liberty Is No Vice?
STEVEN REA: Yes, Polanski was guilty of having sex with a minor. But after his arrest, after months in the public spotlight, dogged by TV cameras and the press — a press intent on resurrecting the horrid 1969 murder of Sharon Tate, Polanski’s pregnant wife, at the hands of Charles Manson’s homicidal hippie cult — the filmmaker became something of a victim himself. As revealed in Marina Zenovich’s 75-minute film, which premieres on HBO tomorrow night at 9, the Polish-born Polanski was at the mercy of a grandstanding, media-obsessed judge. Laurence Rittenband, a Santa Monica jurist who sought out celebrity […]
KILLADELPHIA: 4 Shot, Including Six-Year-Old
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Three adults and a 6-year-old girl were shot outside a social club that was hosting a barbecue, police said Sunday. Someone fired into a crowd of people from an alley across the street around 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Officer Tanya Little said. All four victims were taken to a hospital in private vehicles. The adults were listed in critical condition with unspecified injuries; the girl was stabilized and transferred to a children’s hospital. The names of the victims were not released. No arrests had been made and authorities said they were still trying to sort out exactly what happened. […]
WORTH REPEATING: The Tenacity Of Nope
NEW YORK TIMES: While she emphasized its trailblazing nature as she exited the race, her campaign also represented a back-to-the-future effort to restore the Democratic dynasty of the 1990s that could never quite escape the past. Although Mrs. Clinton proved a more agile candidate than many had expected, she built a campaign that was suffused in overconfidence, riven by acrimony and weighted by the emotional baggage of a marriage between former and would-be presidents. As she flew from town halls to rallies on the road, she did little to stop the infighting back home among advisers who nursed grudges from […]
I Went To The Roots Picnic & All I Got Was A Good Time
TEXT & PHOTOS BY JONATHAN VALANIA & TIFFANY YOON 1. Quite probably, Ahmir ‘?uestlove’ Thompson is the greatest drummer on Earth. Speaking on behalf of the entire 215…drumroll, please…we could not be more proud or horny. Thank you, try the veal. 2. Black Thought is arguably the baddest MC in the game right now. (Bad meaning good, and also a ‘jive turkey’ is a bad person. Just sayin’.) 3. Not only is guitarist Captain Kirk Douglas a master of Hendrixian six-string psychedelic scribble and Maggot Brain-damaged space-funk, but dude can sing like Smokey Robinson, or close enough for sweaty white […]
CONGRESS: It’s Franken Time!
ASSOCIATED PRESS: ROCHESTER, Minn. — Al Franken won a resounding endorsement for the U.S. Senate on Saturday from Minnesota Democrats, quickly dispatching with concerns about jokes that offended some and promising a tough challenge to Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.”To the people of Minnesota, let me say this: I’m not a perfect person,” said Franken, a former “Saturday Night Live” writer and performer. “I’m not going to pretend to have all the answers. But I’ll tell the truth, I will keep my spine, and I will work for you.” Franken’s only competitor, college professor and peace activist Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, withdrew after […]
EVERY TUESDAY: The Afterlife Of A Statistic
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, the man who brought you Today I Saw, 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. Look for it every Tuesday on Phawker! Why? Because we love you! [Photo by JUSTIN ROMAN]
EARLY WORD: Sharon Jones Has Nice Bones
[Photos by JONATHAN VALANIA] BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER There was a prevailing mood of giddiness in the air at the Fillmore one night back in December, a palpable sense that we were lucky enough to attend a very auspicious occasion, one above and beyond the usual concert experience. A sense that we were all active participants in poetic justice, and by ponying up for a ticket and selling out the joint, a long-neglected talent was finally getting her turn in the sun. As Sharon Jones will be the first to tell you, record executives have long told her […]
MEDIA: Philadelphia Media Holdings Defaults On Loan
BLOOMBERG: Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC lenders blocked a June 1 interest payment after the company, owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer, fell into technical default on loan covenants, Standard & Poor’s reported. The two sides are negotiating to resolve the default, Standard & Poor’s Leveraged Commentary & Data said today, citing unnamed sources with knowledge of a Citizens Bank-led phone call Wednesday in which lenders learned of the missed payment. The company is seeking an $8 million equity investment, S&P said. In January, Chief Executive Officer Brian Tierney warned of “a dire situation” if costs weren’t cut by 10 percent by […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
RADIO TIMES Hour 1 Today marks 40 years since the death of Robert F. Kennedy. He was assassinated shortly after midnight on June 5th and died on June 6. His campaign for the presidency in 1968 was considered by many as inspiring and contemporary observers have noted parallels to the candidacy of Barak Obama. Guest host Dave Davies talks about the Robert F. Kennedy’s campaign for the presidency with author THURSTON CLARKE and Penn professor TOM SUGRUE. Listen to this show via Real Audio | mp3 Hour 2 Tune in for a rebroadcast of Dave’s interview about Leni Riefenstahl, the Controversial […]