FRESH AIR Last July, Brent Stirton took a photograph that shocked the world when it was published in Newsweek — a picture of a dead 500-pound male gorilla named Senkwekwe, one of six endangered mountain gorillas who had been murdered, execution-style, in the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the photo, Senkwekwe is strapped on his back, on a litter made of saplings. More than a dozen African men are carrying him — gently, respectfully — out of the jungle that was supposed to be his sanctuary. When Stirton took that photo, one pressing question […]
IN 1987: I Saw An X-Ray Of A Girl Passing Gas
BY JONATHAN VALANIA First thing you should know is that what I am about to tell you violates a solemn pact that was made by all involved: Whatever happens in 1987 stays in 1987. I grew up in Pennsyltucky — Allentown, PA, to be exact — and by the time I was getting to the be the age where you just WANNA GET THE FUCK OUT OF DODGE, a shiny new superhighway literally appeared out of thin air, connecting the hinterlands of the Keystone State to New York City with a directness and efficiency that was heretofore unimaginable. You could […]
BURAKA SOM SISTEMA: Sound of Kuduro
This is badass. Don’t miss the MIA cameo. Play loud. No…LOUDER!
SCOTUS: Sympathy For The Devil
BLOOMBERG: A divided U.S. Supreme Court slashed the $2.5 billion punitive damage award against Exxon Mobil Corp. for the 1989 Valdez oil spill to $507.5 million, ending a 19-year legal saga over the worst such disaster in U.S. history. The justices, voting 5-3, said the original award, which would have been increased by more than $2 billion with accrued interest, was excessive under federal maritime law. The $507.5 million figure is equal to the economic damages that a trial judge determined were suffered by thousands of Alaskan commercial fishermen involved in the case. ASSOCIATED PRESS: The Supreme Court has struck […]
RADIOHEAD: From A Basement On The Hill
Radiohead has released ten live performance videos recorded at The Hospital studio in Covent Garden with the team from the band’s longtime producer Nigel Godrich’s ‘From the Basement’ TV show. The collection is now available exclusively through iTunes. The videos feature live renditions of songs from ‘In Rainbows’ and the bonus CD included in its deluxe discbox edition. The full track listing of video performances is:
BREAKING: Acquittal In Winehouse Hubbo Trial
ASSOCIATED PRESS: LONDON – A British court on Wednesday acquitted a former pub manager of taking a bribe to drop assault charges against Amy Winehouse’s husband. A jury deliberated for three hours before finding James King not guilty of trying to pervert the course of justice (the equivalent of obstruction of justice in the U.S.). The singer-songwriter’s husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, has admitted beating up King in a barroom fight in 2006 and then offering him $400,000 to keep quiet about it. King, who suffered a broken cheekbone, said he was intimidated into withdrawing the assault claim. Three other men also […]
NO PARKING: Aggravation Just Got More Expensive
ASSOCIATED PRESS: The Philadelphia Parking Authority says rising fuel costs are forcing it to increase the fee for towing your car away if it’s confiscated by police. Each day, about 100 vehicles are towed in Philadelphia under the city’s “Live Stop” program. That program targets drivers who don’t have proper registration, or who have invalid, suspended, or revoked driver’s licenses. Corinne O’Connor, the Parking Authority’s director of on-street operations, says a Live Stop job can take hours. She says tow trucks get stuck in traffic, just like everybody else, and the Parking Authority has to cover its costs. The Live […]
LISTEN LIKE THIEVES: My Bloody Valentine
DOWNLOAD: My Bloody Valentine (2008) Live @ ICA London 13/06/2008 SOME GUY ON THE INTERNET: They just reformed after 16 years out. I went to see them on Sunday, on the 3rd of a 5 night residency at a really great venue in London. My ears are still ringing – man, that was by far and away the loudest gig i ever saw in 20 years of gig-going – tons of people were walking out holding their ears looking utterly bewildered…… SOME OTHER GUY ON THE INTERNET: Glad to hear they haven’t toned it down. I remember seeing them open […]
SECOND COMINGS: Meet Jesus Of Siberia
THE GUARDIAN: Four thousand feet up a mountain deep in the Siberian taiga, the middle-aged man appears in a velvet crimson robe, long brown hair framing a beatific smile. He sits down in a log cabin perched on the brow of the hill. It is a room with a stunning view. The snowy Sayan mountains sparkle in the distance. The silver and pink of the birch forests shimmer in the clear sunlight. Down to the right, the pure blue water of Lake Tiberkul mesmerises. Behind the cabin, for much further than the eye can see — a thousand kilometres — […]
JC PENNEY: I Has Sex Tape?
GAWKER: That JC Penney commercial, which featured two teens practicing for a naked romp in the basement? The one that won a prize at the Cannes Lions Awards this weekend and spread quickly on the Web yesterday? It was an unauthorized fake, and executives at the department store are royally pissed. “It’s obviously inappropriate and nothing we would ever condone,” Penney’s chief marketing officer told the Wall Street Journal. “We’re very disappointed that our logo and brand position were used in that way.” Thus began the blame game over who unleashed this mutant sorta-sex tape, one that will seem oh-so-familiar […]
DEMOCRACY NEEDS YOUR HELP: Tell Senator Arlen Specter NOT To Feed The Telecom Lobbyist Beast
Dear Jonathan, The House passed a version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) last week that included retroactive immunity to the telecom companies that conspired in Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program. And now, as the bill heads to the Senate, it looks like we have one last chance to stop this massive erosion of the rule of law. Thankfully, we have a few champions, like Russ Feingold and Chris Dodd, who look poised to fight this to the very end, but they can’t do it alone. They need both strong support from progressive senators and the vote of those senators […]
NEWS CLUES: Like A Pregnancy Pact With The Truth
Pregger Teen Denies Pregnancy Pact, Calls 17 Pregnant Friends A ‘Coincidence’ One of the pregnant teenage girls at a Massachusetts high school denied that 17 students had entered a pact in an effort to get pregnant and called the high rate of pregnancies “unlucky” and a “coincidence.” “There was definitely no pact,” Lindsey Oliver, 17, [NOT pictured] who became pregnant when she was a junior, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” today. “There was a group of girls already pregnant that decided they were going to help each other to finish school and raise their kids together. I think it was […]
ADAM ACURAGI: The Bottom Of The River
One Take New York filmed Adam Arcuragi at an underground flea market. Each Saturday, two levels of a standard, dingy parking garage turns into a full-blown Chelsea flea market.When Adam Arcuragi and band rolled in with instruments, wary vendors objected, reasoning – apparently – that the delightful, stompy sing-along “Bottom of the River” might distract customers from spending their cash on a stack of vintage post cards or a maybe-working Tupac Shakur clock. But Arcuragi and company charmed ’em and a woman with an infectious smile actually emptied a trash tub to provide the band a bass drum. Oh, and […]