…From its watery grave in the Hudson.
SIDEWALKING: All Good Piggies Go To Heaven
Chinatown, 9th & Race by JEFF FUSCO
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR If high-school government class taught us anything, it was that getting bills passed through Congress was a game of numbers: The bills with the most votes win. Turns out it’s not that simple. These days, the polarized state of American politics means that major bills need at least 60 votes to avoid an inevitable filibuster by the opposition. Political scientist Gregory Koger‘s new book Filibustering: A Political History of Obstruction in the House and Senate addresses the institutionalization of the filibuster — and describes congressional loopholes by way of which fast thinking and hard work can beat the […]
BREAKING: Justice Department Approves Ticketmaster/Live Nation Merger
BILLBOARD: The Department of Justice will announce today that it will approve the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger after a nearly a year of investigation and due diligence. REUTERS: Ticketmaster sells more than 140 million tickets a year and also owns Front Line Management, the leading artist management firm founded by Ticketmaster Chief Executive Officer Irving Azoff. Its roster of 200-plus artists includes The Eagles and Miley Cyrus. Live Nation owns major venues like the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles and the House of Blues chain, and has long-term contracts with top artists like Madonna, U2, Jay-Z and Nickelback. Although a relatively […]
SPORTO: Saints Go Marching In
BY MIKE WOLVERTON SPORTS GUY So, Colts and Saints in the Super Bowl. That should be pretty good. Lots of points and a decent chance of being close. Two awesome quarterbacks. No BrettFavre. I’m ready. A look back at how it happened yesterday… Jets-Colts: 2010 was the year when I finally figured out to stop picking against Peyton Manning (took me long enough, I know). The guy knows what to do and how to do it. Take away his best receiver (Reggie Wayne) and he makes Pierre Garcon look like Marvin Harrison. The Jets had him on the run […]
TEMPEST IN A TEA PARTY: That Michelle Bachmann Is No Lady — She’s Joe McCarthy In A Dress!
[Artwork by KEN AVIDOR] INQUIRER: Criticized for scolding Rep. Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.) on a Philadelphia talk show to “act like a lady,” Sen. Arlen Specter had little to say yesterday about the incident, commenting only that he looked forward to “more frank, but less testy,” discussions on issues. Pundits and challengers, however, are taking swings. New York Times columnist Gail Collins wrote Friday that Specter had “lost it completely.” A top Republican demanded an apology. Specter’s remarks came during a special broadcast from Washington of the Giordano show to mark the first year of President Obama’s term. Specter, the […]
REVIEW: Brat Production’s The Bald Soprano
BY AARON STELLA This weekend, six actors from Brat Productions performed looped interpretations of Romanian playwright Eugene Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano for 24 hours without breaks. Curtains opened 8pm last Friday and closed 8pm the following Saturday in the Annenberg Center for Performing Arts and Sciences. Coffee was served through each roaring hour, but some patrons guzzled PBRs in the interim. It was apparent that the more rowdy pockets of audience had been camping out in the theater for most the day, if not the since the night before. I stayed for three performances; I could have stayed for more. […]
WORTH REPEATING: The Case For Paul Krugman As The Next Chairman Of The Federal Reserve Bank
BASELINE: The case for Ben Bernanke’s reappointment was weak to start with, weakened with his hearings, and is now held together by string and some phone calls from the White House. Bernanke is an airline pilot who pulled off a miraculous landing, but didn’t do his preflight checks and doesn’t show any sign of being more careful in the future – thank him if you want, but why would you fly with him again (or the airline that keeps him on)? The support for Bernanke in the Senate hangs by a thread – with Harry Reid providing a message of support, albeit […]
NO JOKING: Philly Airport TSA Worker Fired For Planting White Powder On College Student
ASSOCIATED PRESS: A college student returning to school after the winter break fell victim to a prank at Philadelphia’s airport by a Transportation Security Administration worker who pretended to plant a plastic bag of white powder in her carryon luggage. The worker is no longer employed by the TSA after the incident this month, a spokeswoman said. Rebecca Solomon, 22, a University of Michigan student, wrote in a column for her campus newspaper that she was having her bags screened on Jan. 5 before her flight to Detroit when the employee stopped her, reached into her laptop computer bag and […]
MEDIA: Conan’s $500,000 F*ck You Farewell To NBC
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] According to ?uestlove, Tom Hanks’ walkout song on the finale of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien — the Beatles’ “Lovely Rita”, in honor of Hanks’ wife Rita Wilson — cost NBC $500,000. ?UESTLOVE: yo i hate spoiling but i will have you know that walk on song we just heard was half a milli. i know cause i got the list rate at nbc…tom’s walkon music on conan is on my “restricted” list—wow a $500,000 walkon song lol. [via TWITTER] CONAN O’BRIEN: “All I ask is one thing, and I’m asking this particularly of young […]
SIDEWALKING: Back In The Saddle
[Photo by JEFF FUSCO]
TONIGHT: Towering Babble
In case you passed out early in the 24-hour party cycle of this past New Year’s, you’ve got one more chance to kill it—tonight!—at the all-night, all-day performance of Eugene Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano. Originally scripted for an hour, Ionesco eventually chose to give his play meaning by looping it endlessly with pickled twists and interpretations, until it spirals into meaninglessness. Ionesco’s play holds an absurdist mirror up to the futility of human connection in the towering Babel of modern times, where non-sequiturs swarm and go viral and meaningful communication gets drowned out by the din of idle banter. Leave […]