THE GUARDIAN: LOL Bush
EARLY WORD: If You Had Wings
Pictured: Matthew Borgen will discuss The Wing Rack PHILADELPHIA – First Person Arts’ Salon series returns with another diverse and thought-provoking lineup at the Gershman Y on Wednesday, August 13th at 7:00 p.m. The multi-disciplinary First Person Salons, held on the second Wednesday of each month, showcase cutting edge original works by local artists through a variety of artistic mediums. The August Salon will feature local filmmaker Andrew David Watson, muralist Eric Okdeh, storyteller Juliet Wayne, and interdisciplinary artist Matthew Borgen. Admission is on a sliding scale of $5 – $10 at the door. Beer and light refreshments will be available […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Hostile womanizer, award-winning editor, crack addict, bad parent, coke dealer, New York Times columnist — David Carr has been all of those, sometimes simultaneously. But he doesn’t know all the details — or isn’t sure, after years of telling and retelling colorful anecdotes about himself, that he remembers them right. So for his memoir The Night of the Gun, Carr put on his investigative-reporter hat to reconstruct his various sordid lives. He interviewed friends, ex-friends, family members and colleagues, all in the effort to document the man he has been, rather than the myth he’s in the habit […]
GAYDAR: Me And Mr. Gay
The author with John Caputo, winner of this year’s Mr. Gay Philadelphia contest. BY AARON STELLA The Mr. Gay Philadelphia festivities were fabulous, pumped with enough glitz, glamor and celeb star power to draw gay Philadelphians of every echelon to the Gershman Y last Friday night. Supporters on the scene included, but were not limited to, Stacy Vey, owner of Stir, Jason Crook, owner of PHAG, Thom Cardwell, executive director of the Philadelphia Film Society, Wayne A. Hamilton, Esq., president of the Sapphire Fund, and many others. But without a doubt, the real stars of the evening were the gorgeous […]
JUST ANNOUNCED: Nick Cave At The Electric Factory
With the Bad Seeds, Tuesday, October 7. Tickets go onsale this Friday at 10am. In the beginning, there was The Birthday Party. And it was good. Rock n roll as sonic aneurysm: screeching, cataclysmic and cruel. The Birthday Party was scary, but not in the corny Count Chocula way of the Kabuki-faced goths that followed in its wake, but, like, Exorcist scary. Danger was the Birthday Party’s business, and in the early 80s business was good. Nick Cave was the human cannonball at the microphone, and the band would just light his fuse and run for cover. When the audience […]
TONITE: Somewhere Over In Rainbows
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER It’s difficult after just three or four listens to rate this album, but my initial reaction is that In Rainbows (****) is as fine a Radiohead album as I have ever heard. The devoted will be immensely gratified, and converts will be drawn in by all the buzz — and what proves to be bewitchingly ethereal, yet altogether visceral, rock music. The 10-song In Rainbows collapses into one tidy package all the Radioheads we have come to know: folk-rock Radiohead, electronica Radiohead, alt-rock Radiohead, prog-rock Radiohead. Not only does the band seem to nail […]
SCOTT ROCKS: True Robotic Scene
MYSPACE: Who Is Scott Rocks? [Dir. by SCOTT COLAN]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
I’M NOT THERE: Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band, Troc, Last Night [Photo by ANDY WARHOL]
COPS: Religious Cult Starved Toddler To Death
ASSOCIATED PRESS: A toddler whose remains were found inside a suitcase in Philadelphia this spring was starved to death by members of a religious cult, including his mother, in part because he refused to say “amen” after meals, police said. Ria Ramkissoon, the mother of Javon Thompson, was charged with first-degree murder in the boy’s death, and Baltimore police said that three other members of a group called 1 Mind Ministries have also been charged with first-degree murder. Police and Ramkissoon’s family say the group is a cult. Members did not seek medical care for Javon when he stopped breathing, […]
BEIJING: Why Michael Phelps Sleeps With The Fishes
BY ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH, OLYMPIC CORRESPONDENT: Right, Phawkerites. Late to the party, but hopefully still fashionably so, I come bringing a crash course in the US phenom that is Michael Phelps and Olympic swimming. I’ll be updating you every day until the conclusion of his quest to win eight gold medals at this Olympics. As I’m writing this, Phelps has just attempted his 200-meter freestyle race and the won the semifinals in the 200 meter butterfly. For those of you who didn’t spend their formative years in the pool, here’s a basic rundown of Olympic swimming and Phelps’ quest this […]
CONQUERED: Georgia In The Belly Of The Russian Bear
ASSOCIATED PRESS: ZUGDIDI, Georgia — Russian tanks roared deep into Georgia on Monday, launching a new western front in the conflict, and Russian planes staged air raids that sent people screaming and fleeing for cover in some towns. Russian forces for the first time moved well outside the two restive, pro-Russian provinces claimed by Georgia that lie at the heart of the dispute. An Associated Press reporter saw Russian troops in control of government buildings in this town just miles from the frontier and Russian troops were reported in nearby Senaki. Georgia’s president said his country had been sliced in […]
TRUCKSTOP: The Best Meals On Four Wheels
BY AARON STELLA My fellow hungry Americans, welcome to another edition of Truck Stop, where each week we’ll visit street vendors in different parts of Philadelphia to assist the common wayfarer in their travels and grub scavenging. Hey, don’t give me that look — if you ain’t too proud to get your news off the Internet, then you probably ain’t too proud to eat sushi off a truck. This week, we’ll be traversing the feeding grounds of the Community College of Philadelphia. From Jamaican to Chinese to sushi to the bacon-egg-n’-cheeses, an international smorgasbord layeth before you, and is cooked […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR Award-winning soul singer Isaac Hayes, who rose to the top of the charts in the 1970’s on the soul-record label Stax, died August 10. He was 65. He released his first solo album, Presenting Isaac Hayes, in 1968. His next album, Hot Buttered Soul, went gold in the 1970s, and is credited with helping pave the way for the rise of disco; his 1972 soundtrack to the movie Shaft went platinum, and the single “Theme From Shaft” won both an Oscar and a Grammy Award. Hayes also worked as an actor, with roles in movies as diverse as […]