FRESH AIR George Carlin‘s iconoclasm, his envelope-pushing and pointed politics helped pave the way for comedians from Richard Pryor to Cheech and Chong to Eddie Murphy to Chris Rock to Bill Maher. “I like to find out where the line might be drawn and then deliberately cross it,” he said during an NPR interview in 2000. “There are an awful lot of taboos. … I just enjoy squashing them and stepping on them and peeling them apart and trying to expose them to people. For some reason, it makes me happy.” “There are 400,000 words in the English language, and […]
KILLADELPHIA: Aaron McKie Faces Gun Charges
INQUIRER: Former Philadelphia 76er Aaron F. McKie was arrested this morning on charges he lied while trying to buy two pistols despite a restraining order banning weapons possession. McKie, 35, is to be arraigned this afternoon in Montgomery County Magisterial District Court on one felony and one misdemeanor count stemming from his April 8 trip to Abington Gun Sports in Upper Moreland Township. While filling out paperwork to buy a .38-caliber Smith and Wesson and a 9 mm Ruger, McKie denied that he was subject to a court order restraining him from harassing his “child or an intimate partner or […]
INCONVENIENT TRUTH: Top NASA Climate Scientist Says CEOs of Big Oil Should Be Brought Up On Charges Of High Crimes Against Humanity And Nature
THE GUARDIAN: James Hansen, one of the world’s leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer. Hansen will use the symbolically charged 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking speech (pdf) to the US Congress — in which he was among the first to sound the alarm over the reality of global warming – to argue that radical steps need […]
HERCULES AND LOVE AFFAIR: Blind
NEW YORK TIMES: SOMETIMES you instantly know you have a hit on your hands. And sometimes it takes you a few years to realize it, because you mistakenly assume that your lone collaborator hates the song. In 2004 Andy Butler persuaded his friend Antony, the otherworldly singer of Antony and the Johnsons, to record a dance track he had written called “Blind.” They listened to it afterward, and Mr. Butler said, “Antony was like: ‘What did we just do? What did I do?’ ” This inscrutable response deterred Mr. Butler from trying to release the song. “Antony always thought it […]
RIP: Sage Funnyman George Carlin Dead At 71
REUTERS: Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday, a spokesman said. He was 71. Carlin, who had a history of heart problems, died at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica about 6 p.m. PDT (9 p.m. EDT) after being admitted earlier in the afternoon for chest pains, spokesman Jeff Abraham told Reuters. Known for his edgy, provocative material, Carlin achieved status as an anti-Establishment icon in the 1970s with stand-up bits full of drug references and a routine about seven […]
Amy Winehouse Has Emphysema & Lump In Breast
HAPPIER MONDAYS: Amy Winehouse & Now-Jailed Husband Blake Sharing Unidentified White Pills ASSOCIATED PRESS: LONDON — Soul diva Amy Winehouse has damaged her lungs by smoking crack cocaine and cigarettes, her father said in an interview published Sunday. The Sunday Mirror quoted Mitch Winehouse as saying that Amy has early stage emphysema and an irregular heartbeat, and has been warned that she will have to wear an oxygen mask unless she stops smoking drugs.”The doctors have told her if she goes back to smoking drugs, it won’t just ruin her voice, it will kill her,” Mitch Winehouse was quoted as […]
NEWS CLUES: Like Retroactive Immunity For The Truth
Obama Vows To Strip Telecom Immunity From iSpy Bill (CBS/AP) – Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., issued a statement in support of the House’s update of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but said he would try to strip a provision granting immunity to telecommunication companies when the bill comes to a vote in the Senate next week. The House approved a compromise bill Friday that would set new electronic surveillance rules that would also shield telecoms from lawsuits arising from their participation in the government’s warrantless eavesdropping on telephone and computer lines in the United States. The government eavesdropped on American […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
LIVE AND DIRECT: The Philadelphia Popped Festival, 33rd & Market, Saturday [Photos by JONATHAN VALANIA & TIFFANY YOON & AMY QUINN]
RIP: Twigga, Beloved Local Giraffe, Dead At 29
INQUIRER: Old age has claimed another animal at the Philadelphia Zoo. Twigga, who at 29 was one of the oldest giraffes in the nation, was euthanized Thursday at the zoo, her home since 1979. In announcing her death yesterday, the zoo said the giraffe — tall for a female at 15 feet — had been on medications for age-related arthritis for some time. “Based on Twigga’s comfort and behavior, the zoo’s veterinary team decided this week that humane euthanasia was now the best course for her,” the zoo’s statement said. Giraffes typically live into their late teens and early 20s. […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR The American Film Institute (AFI) has named the top ten American films in ten popular genres. From sci-fi flicks to classic Westerns, the lists include some of the most influential works in American cinema. Today’s Fresh Air presents archival interviews with several of the actors and a screenwriter whose work has been recognized on the new list: Eva Marie Saint, star the AFI’s seventh-ranked mystery movie, North by Northwest, speaks with Terry Gross about her career, her Oscar-winning role in On the Waterfront and being typecast as a “sexy spy lady.” Screenwriter Robert Towne and actress Faye Dunaway […]
WORTH REPEATING: Why We Fight
DAILY KOS: In addition to more practical steps, President Carter made symbolic gestures toward saving energy. He began to give his speeches to the nation wearing a sweater to show that the White House thermostat had been turned down. He installed a wood stove in the living quarters of the White House. He had a set of solar water heating panels installed on the White House roof. For the period of 1973 to 1980, the United States refused to walk the 9/11 highway. Rising energy prices lead the charge for near run-away inflation, and the economy wandered in and out […]