#1. Over One Million Iraqi Deaths Caused by US Occupation Over one million Iraqis have met violent deaths as a result of the 2003 invasion, according to a study conducted by the prestigious British polling group, Opinion Research Business (ORB). These numbers suggest that the invasion and occupation of Iraq rivals the mass killings of the last century—the human toll exceeds the 800,000 to 900,000 believed killed in the Rwandan genocide in 1994, and is approaching the number (1.7 million) who died in Cambodia’s infamous “Killing Fields” during the Khmer Rouge era of the 1970s. Authors Joshua Holland and Michael […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR The name of former anti-war activist William Ayers was brought up twice in an attempt to discredit Barack Obama during the recent presidential campaign — first by Hillary Clinton, and then by the McCain campaign. Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin accused Obama — who served on two nonprofit boards with Ayers — of “palling around with terrorists.” The accusations stemmed from Ayers’ involvement with the Weather Underground, a radical group responsible for bombings on the New York City Police Department headquarters in 1970, the U.S. Capitol building in 1971 and the Pentagon in 1972. The federal case […]
BEYOND THE BEYONCE: I Am Sasha Fierce
[Illustration by BENJAMIN MARRA] DAN DELUCA: The first part, I Am, whose leadoff single is the mildly gender-bending “If I Were a Boy,” represents the multitalented Ms. Knowles – she declines to use her last name when in music mode – as she is “underneath all the makeup, underneath the lights, and underneath all the exciting star drama.” The second part, Sasha Fierce, is named after the alter ego of Beyoncé, who stars as Etta James, alongside Adrien Brody and Jeffrey Wright, in Cadillac Records, Hollywood’s version of the Chess Records story, which opens Dec. 5. The two-sides-of-Beyoncé idea is, […]
THE SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS: Whatever Happens In Room 315, Stays In Room 315, Part 2
BLACKBOARD JUNGLE: At Least They Spelled It Right BY JEFF DEENEY You might be asking yourself, if Room 315 is designated as an educational no-man’s-land for the worst behaved kids in one of the city’s worst public high schools, where are the true hard cases? Where are the 15 year old stone killers that you saw holding corners down like trained infantry occupying a battleground hilltop on The Wire? The fact is that come high school many of those kids are already gone. They’ve gone to juvenile detention facilities and privatized discipline schools. Some were so incorrigibly truant and their […]
MAYOR NUTTER: This Won’t Hurt A Bit
INQUIRER: After 11 days of mounting outcry over its budget cuts, the Nutter administration yesterday tried to assuage critics with more detailed explanations for its decisions to target 11 libraries, seven fire companies, and 68 pools for closing. For libraries, the administration released statistics on usage and location, arguing that the 11 chosen were among the less heavily used and the nearest to other facilities. For the fire companies, the administration released a variety of measurements, including number and variety of calls each handled and length of response time. It was the most comprehensive offering yet of the data behind […]
NEW BEATLES: Macca To Release ‘Carnival Of Light’
THE GUARDIAN: For Beatles fans across the world it has gained near mythical status. The 14-minute improvised track called ‘Carnival of Light’ was recorded in 1967 and played just once in public. It was never released because three of the Fab Four thought it too adventurous. The track, a jumble of shrieks and psychedelic effects, is said to be as far from the melodic ballads that made Sir Paul McCartney famous as it is possible to imagine. But now McCartney has said that the public will have the chance to judge for themselves. ‘It does exist,’ McCartney says on a […]
ARTSY: Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven…
…But Nobody Wants To Die Cerulean Arts is pleased to present Heaven’s Gate featuring oil paintings by Yuri Makoveychuk, an artist, animator and filmmaker based in the Ukraine and New York. Comprising large-scale, oil on canvas paintings, Heaven’s Gate represents a contemporary take on traditional themes of human folly, reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Brueghel. Makoveychuk’s traditional technique, combined with a thoroughly contemporary artistic sensibility, gives the work its arresting power. At first glance, the works seem to be digital photographs, the illusion is so complete. The figures depicted are culled from different eras – some in 1930s fedoras, […]
CONCERT REVIEW: I Like American Music
BY DAVE ALLEN The Annenberg Center at Penn is giving this city something it’ll have a hard time getting at Kimmel Center this season: modern American music. After several years of strong contemporary programming, the Philadelphia Orchestra is doing a grand total of zero works by living American composers, so the American Composers Orchestra, a New York-based group with a dual season in Philly, fills the void. The ACO’s concert Sunday night at International House featured several pieces strong enough for repertoire status, but most remarkable was that all five composers on the program were in attendance – something you’ll […]
STRAIGHT OUTTA BIRDLAND: Q&A with Ben Ratliff
BY DAVE ALLEN Ben Ratliff has been the jazz critic for the New York Times since 1996. His reviews of live performances – produced at a rate of nearly one per night, always with a keen ear and a sharp word – always aim for the heart of the sound, and his newest book, The Jazz Ear: Conversations Over Music, strikes out for the same territory by a different path: through the words of the players themselves. He’ll be in Philadelphia tonight for a “conversation over music” with pianist Orrin Evans, an adoptive Philadelphian who’s made an impact on Ratliff’s […]
30 YEARS AGO: The Jonestown Massacre
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Peoples Temple sprang from the heartland in the 1950s. Rev. Jim Jones built an interracial congregation in Indianapolis through passionate Pentecostal preaching and courageous calls for racial equality. Moving his flock to California, the minister transformed his church into a leftist social movement with programs for the poor. Political work by his followers elevated Jones to prominence in liberal Democratic circles by the late 1970s. He was head of San Francisco’s public housing commission when media scrutiny and legal problems spurred his retreat to Jonestown for what would be his last stand. Jones had gathered his people in […]
FUNNY: Justin Timberlake In A Leotard
INCREDIBLE: Beyonce’s legs. LUCKY: Jay-Z