BY RUDY SIMPSON It may be a cliche to say that controversy sells records, but that doesn’t make it any less true. By that metric, Nas is poised to go mega-platinum with his forthcoming release, the unspeakably titled Nigger. That is, assuming a hip-hop album — or any album for that matter — can still go mega-platinum in this day and age. I am beginning to have my doubts. Nas is no stranger to provocation. He proclaimed that “Hip Hop is Dead” with his last release and even rhymed on wax that he “waves automatic guns at nuns” in a […]
KING CRIMSON: Moonchild
Tap-dancing by Christina Ricci, circa Buffalo 66. [Hat tip to EVA LIAO]
TURD BURGLARS: Cops Say Gay Porn Wonder Twins Responsible For Wave Of Daring Rooftop Robberies
DAILY NEWS: TWINS Keyontyli and Taleon Goffney have been arrested for allegedly breaking into area businesses by cutting rooftop holes to gain entry. Turns out, they were also just as skilled at breaking into their second, more respectable careers — as hardcore gay-porn stars. The 25-year-old Goffney twins, both of New Jersey, were arrested Feb. 19. They were charged with breaking into Moon’s Beauty Shop at 9th and Washington streets in South Philadelphia and the adjoining Wings and More, using only a handsaw and ax to get in through the roofs of the establishments. A Rite Aid at Front Street […]
HEAR YE: Shocking Pinks
PITCHFORK: Beyond its high standard of quality, Shocking Pinks‘ first DFA release might seem a less obvious fit for the label. And not just because Harte’s project shares its name with Neil Young’s 1980s rockabilly sidemen. A 17-track, 45-minute compilation cherrypicked from Shocking Pinks’ two 2005 albums for New Zealand’s legendary Flying Nun imprint (Mathematical Warfare and Infinity Land), Shocking Pinks veers even further from early-2000s Brooklyn for an emotionally vulnerable highlight reel of scruffy Jesus and Mary Chain dream-pop, ecstatic My Bloody Valentine haze, droning C-86 confessionals, and bedroom New Order bass lines. Oh yeah, and cowbell. Nick Harte […]
PASSPORT: I Went To Africa And All I Got Was LOVE
BY MAVIS LINNEMAN AFRICA CORRESPONDENT I recently traveled to Ghana, West Africa, with a group of 13 students, all members of a St. Louis University-sponsored nonprofit group called Students United for Africa. SUFA has been working with the people of Manyoro village in Ghana for over five years to both restore a decrepit school building and to build a brand-new primary school for the village, which has the highest school enrollment in Ghana’s Upper East region. 1,679 children attend the school, although there are only 18 teachers. * We flew for 36 hours from St. Louis to get to Accra, […]
THIS JUST IN: Terry Gross On The Simpsons
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NPR 4 THE DEAF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR Drug addiction doesn’t just affect the addict, it changes the whole family. Journalist David Sheff and his son Nic join Fresh Air to talk about Nic’s addiction to methamphetamine. Both father and son have written memoirs about the experience. David Sheff’s is Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Meth Addiction and Nic Sheff’s is Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines. RADIO TIMES Hour 1 Anatomy of a trial. As the jury deliberates we look at the trial of Philadelphia rap music promoter Alton Coles. A man accused of using his company Take Down Records as a front […]
KILLADELPHIA: One More Dead Since U Went To Bed
INQUIRER: The body of a man was found in a car in West Oak Lane last night, police said. About 9:20 p.m., police discovered Steeve Charles, 24, behind the driver’s seat of a Nissan Maxima near his residence in the 7500 block of Thouron Street. He had been shot at least twice, and was pronounced dead at the scene shortly before 10 p.m. Police are investigating to determine suspects and motives.
TODAY I SAW: The Untouchables III
[Photos by MICHAEL S. WIRTZ/INQUIRER] BY JEFF DEENEY You might be asking yourself, as I initially did, why the Inky’s last installment in their three part series titled, “Homelessness in Philadelphia” focuses almost exclusively on New York. I’m not entirely sure, and while your conjecture is as good as mine, I’ll take a stab at formulating some theories. I imagine that this article was meant to act as a sort of demonstration piece about housing first, which is still relatively infantile in its deployment in Philly compared to other cities. When critics harsh on housing first in Philly, they make […]
STUDY: The Drugs Don’t Work Anymore
THE INDEPENDENT: They are among the biggest-selling drugs of all time, the “happiness pills” that supposedly lift the moods of those who suffer depression and are taken by millions of people in the UK every year. But one of the largest studies of modern antidepressant drugs has found that they have no clinically significant effect. In other words, they don’t work. The finding will send shock waves through the medical profession and patients and raises serious questions about the regulation of the multinational pharmaceutical industry, which was accused yesterday of withholding data on the drugs. The publication in 1994 of […]
NOW HIRING: Party Hacks, Spin Merchants, Fixers, Bagmen, Glad Handers, Knee-Breakers & Hatchet Men
BY DAVE DAVIES OF THE DAILY NEWS When Philadelphia Building Trades leader Pat Gillespie’s home phone rang late Thursday night, he wasn’t prepared for what he heard.”Hello, Pat? This is Barack Obama,” a voice said. “Who the hell is this?” Gillespie responded. But it really was the presidential candidate, phoning the influential labor leader in anticipation of a Building Trades Council endorsement meeting the next day. Obama’s 15-minute chat with Gillespie is just one measure of the fact that the smoldering Pennsylvania campaign efforts of Obama and Hillary Clinton are about to flare to life. Both campaigns will open offices in […]