A.P. discusses Nutter in the Gulf, Christie on weed, ?uestlove’s Kanye moment, Comcast swallowing NBC and the homeless man living in center field at Citizens Bank Park.
Judge Who Struck Down White House Ban On Gulf Drilling Has Extensive Oil Industry Investments
ASSOCIATED PRESS: The Louisiana judge who struck down the Obama administration’s six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has reported extensive investments in the oil and gas industry, according to financial disclosure reports. He’s also a new member of a secret national security court. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman, a 1983 appointee of President Ronald Reagan, reported owning less than $15,000 in stock in 2008 in Transocean Ltd., the company that owned the sunken Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. Feldman overturned the ban Tuesday, saying the government simply assumed that because one rig exploded, the others pose […]
LIFE LESSONS: With Your Life Coach, AP Ticker
AP takes on the ‘non-troversey’ surrounding the two-year-old Indonesian boy who smokes two packs a day, pointing out that when he was that age he smoke THREE packs of Lucky Strikes a day AND worked full time in the coal mines of Pennsyltucky. He had to, he had three kids, two ex-wives and a bartender to support. [rimshot]
BOOK REVIEW: Red Meat For Raw Men
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] BALTIMORE CITY PAPER: It’s 10 years since Anthony Bourdain delivered Kitchen Confidential, the “obnoxious, over-testosteroned account of my life in the restaurant business” as he told The Observer in 2006. A classic of its kind, Confidential was a pugnacious, take-no-prisoners look into the murky world of restaurant kitchens and the misfits and miscreants who inhabit them. Above all, it was brilliantly written and had the ring of truth–a memoir/rant by one of the culinary world’s foot soldiers, a battle-scarred veteran who’d done his time and lived to tell the frequently sordid and salacious tale. Cooks across […]
JUST SAY NO: Drug Test The Unemployed?
HUFFINGTON POST: Utah voters have reacted enthusiastically to Sen. Orrin Hatch’s legislation to drug test the unemployed and those receiving other forms of government cash assistance, the Utah Republican told the Huffington Post after introducing his measure last week. Hatch said the test would be paid for with money saved by not paying benefits. “Any monies left over would go to help the states with the drug testing and so forth, and if there’s any surplus it goes to pay off the deficit,” he said. The idea of drug testing those on public assistance is not a new one, though […]
CENSUS: Philadelphia Grew By 7,000 Residents Last Year, Sixth The Straight Year Of Population Growth
INQUIRER: While other northern cities saw population declines, Philadelphia’s population inched upward last year, rising by 7,000 to 1,547,297, according to 2009 U.S. Census figures released Tuesday. That was the sixth straight year of gains for the city, helping it remain the nation’s sixth most populous city, the report said. The Top 5, in decreasing order: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Phoenix, which overtook Philadelphia in 2006. Projections from early in the decade showed Philadelphia with yearly population declines, but a turnaround began in 2004. The biggest jumps took place from 2006 to 2008, with yearly increases […]
LIGHTNING BOLT: Vile House
We have been asked by the promoters of Lightning Bolt‘s Philly show not to say anything about Lightning Bolt’s Philly show. So we won’t.
UPDATE: Soon-To-Publish Philly Mag Story Rumored To Dispel Talk Of Rendell Hanky Panky, Not Confirm It
As we reported last week, the new issue of Philadelphia Magazine, which comes out tomorrow, will feature a juicy story about governor Ed Rendell’s alleged extramarital affairs, but it may not be what you think. The latest buzz is that the story will actually quash rumors of infidelity, not foment them. PREVIOUSLY: We have been hearing talk that the July issue of Philadelphia Magazine, which hits newsstands next Friday, will feature a story about the extramarital affairs of Governor Ed Rendell. We called up Philly Mag Editor Larry Platt and asked him to confirm or deny and he said the […]
NOW PLAYING: The Roots Drop How I Got Over
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Hip-hop group the Roots hails from Philadelphia, but since becoming the house band on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” last year, its members have increasingly embraced New York. The Roots’ new album, “How I Got Over,” was recorded in Philadelphia and New York, and is the group’s first release since taking on the late-night TV gig. Members of the Roots are also working on a number of forthcoming projects, including collaborative albums by soul British soul siren Duffy and American singer John Legend. “Between all those records I’ve been living out of a hotel, like the lone […]
AFGHANISLAM: McChrystal In Dutch With The White House For Loose Cannon-isms In Rolling Stone Profile
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] FOX NEWS: The top U.S. war commander in Afghanistan apologized Tuesday for an interview in which he said he felt betrayed by the man the White House chose to be his diplomatic partner, Ambassador Karl Eikenberry. The article in this week’s issue of Rolling Stone depicts Gen. Stanley McChrystal as a lone wolf on the outs with many important figures in the Obama administration and unable to convince even some of his own soldiers that his strategy can win the war. In Kabul on Tuesday, McChrystal issued a statement saying: “I extend my sincerest apology for […]
TONITE: The New Pornography
New Pornographers play the Troc tonight.
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR When LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy attended live concerts, he says he always felt like there was something missing. “I’d start to see bands prioritize things wrong in my mind,” he tells Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross. “[They weren’t] prioritizing the momentness of a show or the physical experience of a show. Instead, they [were] prioritizing making sure they didn’t make mistakes or prioritiz[ing] trying to faithfully represent a prerecorded piece of material.” When Murphy hit his early 30s, he says he decided that he would stop complaining and instead make his argument for better live music by composing […]
DVD REVIEW: I Need That Record!
BY DAVID M. SNYDER Subtitling his documentary The Death (or Possible Survival) of the Independent Record Store, I Need That Record! director Brendan Toller imagines he’s telling some great conspiracy tale in his pursuit of an explanation for why more than 3,000 independent record stores have closed in the last decade. But in reality he presents a partial picture, picking and choosing the facts that will heighten his thesis. The movie itself is composed of an intertwining of interviews with a select number of independent record store proprietors from a couple of regions of the country, with a focus on […]