Part of the Socal Ska and Punk “white-kid-reggae” movement with sibling bands like Sublime and the Aggrolites, the Expendables hail from Santa Cruz, CA. They’ve been banging out everything from surf rock to ska to punk since the band formed in 1997. After touring with many acts such as Slightly Stoopid, Kottonmouth Kings and 311, the Expendables have embarked on their own reggae vibed, and most definitely stoner geared, tour accompanied by a variety of ska, punk and reggae bands. Gettin’ Filthy was definitely their crowning achievement with the irresistibly poppy Bowl for Two and the heavily ska driven, message […]

NEW YORK TIMES: New York City was home to nearly 1.28 million people in their 20s last year, up from 1.21 million in 1980. In many respects, Mr. Cavin Quezada’s situation mirrors the way large numbers in that age group are living, three years after the Great Recession began. They are doubling, tripling, quadrupling and even quintupling up. According to the New York City Planning Department, 46 percent of New Yorkers in their 20s who moved to the city from out of state between 2006 and 2008 lived with people to whom they were not related, up from 36 percent […]

MARKET WATCH: Gold does not always glitter, but you wouldn’t know that from surging worldwide interest that has turned the yellow metal red-hot. Gold has become highly prized bling, as anxious and astute buyers alike, from hedge-fund players to central bankers, flock to the “currency of fear.” Gold at around $1,400 an ounce is almost double what it commanded two years ago, and gold’s price is up almost 25% so far this year alone. It’s been a great ride. Except gold is a bad investment. Gold’s feverish run has made a lot of people a lot of money, and though […]

HOVA: Jay-Z at the TLA, November 12th 2007. [Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA] Jay-Z will be on Fresh Air today discussing his just-published memoir Decoded. RELATED: His first book, “Decoded,” is not your typical celebrity memoir. In it, Jay-Z (real name: Sean Carter, aliases: many) paints the portrait of his life by delving into his lyrics, unwrapping his metaphors and opening up his ideology. He reveals who he was before he sold 50 million albums, scored 10 Grammys and established himself as a fixture in Forbes (current net worth: $450 million) as well as music history. He also ruminates on politics, […]

DAILY NEWS: The evacuation of a Chester County hotel earlier this month was caused when staffers entered a room, found an Indiana man’s naked, lifeless body next to various sexual devices and a gas mask, and smelled the stinging odor of unknown liquids, police and sources said. The liquids turned out to be cleaning solutions that the man had been huffing as part of a solo sexual act, a source said yesterday. State Police responded to the Fairfield Inn and Suites, on Baltimore Pike near McFarlan Road, in Kennett Square, on Nov. 4, after hotel employees found the 48-year-old man, […]

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: If you’re a high school cheerleader, you cheer for the whole team. The stars and the scrubs. The nice guys and the jerks. But what about a player you’ve accused of raping you? You’ve got to cheer for him too, according to a federal appeals court, because you’re really speaking for the school and not yourself. The court dismissed a free-speech suit by a Texas teenager [NOT pictured, above] who was kicked off the cheerleading squad for sitting silently, with her arms folded, while her assailant shot free throws in a playoff game. The former cheerleader and […]

TED KOPPEL: Much of the American public used to gather before the electronic hearth every evening, separate but together, while Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Frank Reynolds and Howard K. Smith offered relatively unbiased accounts of information that their respective news organizations believed the public needed to know. The ritual permitted, and perhaps encouraged, shared perceptions and even the possibility of compromise among those who disagreed. It was an imperfect, untidy little Eden of journalism where reporters were motivated to gather facts about important issues. We didn’t know that we could become profit centers. No one had bitten into […]

On Friday, November 26, George Harrison’s magnificent 1970 solo debut, All Things Must Pass, will be released in a limited edition, numbered 180-gram vinyl set in its original 3LP configuration, with faithfully replicated original monochromic album art, poster and lift-top box packaging.  Newly remastered at Abbey Road Studios from the original analogue master tapes, the deluxe vinyl reissue commemorates the landmark album’s 40th anniversary and will be available exclusively at Record Store Day-participating independent music retailers across the U.S.  On the same date, the album will be available for download purchase in audiophile quality digital format (96Khz/24 bit) exclusively at […]

FRESH AIR “Darkness on the Edge of Town came out of a huge body of work that had tons of very happy songs,” Bruce Springsteen told actor Ed Norton at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. “It was all music that we recorded, we wrote and made a very distinct decision to not use.” Twenty-one songs Springsteen originally recorded for Darkness on the Edge of Town are now being released for the first time as part of a collection called The Promise. Here, we feature some of Springsteen’s conversation with Norton at the Toronto International Film Festival, where the […]

FRANK RICH: The top 1 percent of American earners took in 23.5 percent of the nation’s pretax income in 2007 — up from less than 9 percent in 1976. During the boom years of 2002 to 2007, that top 1 percent’s pretax income increased an extraordinary 10 percent every year. But the boom proved an exclusive affair: in that same period, the median income for non-elderly American households went down and the poverty rate rose. It’s the very top earners, not your garden variety, entrepreneurial multimillionaires, who will be by far the biggest beneficiaries if there’s an extension of the […]

The Mutter Museum is selling  a conjoined twin gingerbread man cookie mold. We are holding out for the stillborn Siamese twin fetus cookie mold. Now that’s good eatin’!