That’s right folks, we have two tickets to give away for Wilco at the Electric Factory on April 10th and an itchy giveaway trigger finger. Instead of the usual first-emailer-with-correct-answer-to-such-and-such-trivia question, we are gonna give you a chance to flex your creative writing skills — after all, Wilco is for lovers English majors. So send an email to feed@phawker.com with your best why-I-simply-can’t-live-without-those-Wilco-tickets sob story — make us laugh, make us cry, make us laugh AND cry — and we just might have mercy on your soul. Go ahead, try and break our heart. PREVIOUSLY: Phawker Names Yankee Hotel Foxtrot […]
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
EXIT INTERVIEW: Dave Davies, A Reporter’s Reporter
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] BY JONATHAN VALANIA Intentionally confusing Daily News journalist extraordinaire Dave Davies with Kinks guitarist extraordinaire Dave Davies is, admittedly, a weak stab at humor but we’ve been doing it for years and it’s too late to stop now. Just to be clear for those too young or gullible to know better, the Dave Davies in question is NOT the former guitarist of the Kinks, rather he is one of the best journalists this town has ever had and after nearly 20 years Daily News he is moving on to what comes next — specifically he will […]
MEDIA: Philly.Com’s Chris Krewson Named Editor Of Variety.com; Our Boy Mike Newall Hired On by Inky
VARIETY: Chris Krewson has been tapped editor of Variety.com, overseeing all editorial content for the website and contributing to its vision and content strategy. Krewson, currently executive online editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer, will report to Variety group editor Tim Gray. “We considered a lot of great people, but Chris was everybody’s favorite. With his innovative ideas, as well as his people skills, Chris will be a major asset as our website expands and improves. And since readers have indicated they want information in both print and online, Chris will be able to help us coordinate and differentiate the two […]
ARTSY: Judith Schaechter’s ‘Cold Genius’
[Click to enlarge] JUDITH SCHAECTER’S LATE BREAKING NOOSE: So to recap: first I made the head. Ahhh…and what a head!!! I don’t think I have attained such spot-on idealness before. Definitely my best head to date. Of course I desired a body and context that would do this face justice. Yikes…never ever wish this….because this set into motion a series of impossible to meet standards, goals ratcheted to unattainable levels, yadda yadda yadda blah blah blah. So I had this face. Made in glass and at some point shortly after its birth, I saw this YouTube video by Klaus Nomi. […]
KABUL ROCKS: The First And Only Afghan Rock Band
BBC: This is music from Afghanistan, of a kind seldom heard before, but now produced by a trio of young men. The band, Kabul Dreams, is made up of vocalist Sulaymon Qardash, bass player Siddique Ahmad and drummer Mujtaba Habibi, who claim to be the country’s first and only rock and roll group. “One year ago in December we decided to create this band and since it was happening in Kabul, we thought Kabul Dreams is a good name,” says the 19-year-old vocalist, who bears a distinct resemblance to Liam Gallagher of the British band Oasis. “It’s a real dream […]
DOUBLE STANDARD: Outgoing D.A. Lynne ‘Tough Cookie’ Abraham Was Not So Tough On Rogue Cops
Outgoing District Attorney Lynne Abraham , who has often been accused of being soft on cop crime, declined to press criminal charges against Philadelphia Police Officer Frank Tepper who was fired this week for shooting to death William “Billy” Panas Jr. in Port Richmond on Nov. 21. The victim was unarmed. Eyewitnesses claimed an irate and intoxicated Tepper shot the unarmed Panas Jr. in the chest when the two men exchanged words after a neighborhood brawl. A grand jury is currently investigating. In her final act as D.A. Abraham also declined to press charges in the death of Lawrence Allen who […]
REPORT: Homicides Down 22%, All Crime Down 10%
INQUIRER: Philadelphia saw across-the-board decreases in major crimes over the last two years, authorities announced yesterday, including a 22 percent drop in homicides. Overall crime is down 10 percent from 2007, the year before Police Commissioner Ramsey took over. Violent crime is down 10.8 percent from 2007; property crime, 9.7 percent. Many major crimes decreased from 2007 to 2008, though there were spikes in burglaries and rapes. In 2009, the numbers of all major crimes fell below 2007 levels, authorities said yesterday. The city had 305 homicides last year, down from 333 in 2008 and 392 in 2007. Robberies were […]
DO THE MATH: One Billion In 215-Targeted Stimulus Dollars Has Created Just 3,500 Jobs In Philadelphia
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] DAILY NEWS: Federal records show that more than a billion dollars from President Obama’s $787 billion economic-stimulus program has been targeted for Philadelphia. But the typical job created here is just as likely to require a lab coat as a hard hat, as much of the money has gone for university research projects. Meanwhile, city government, which has been financially ravaged by the recession, has gotten relatively little help from the stimulus program, and then mostly in indirect ways, like payments to citizens that bump tax revenues, or money to accelerate already-planned capital projects. In the […]
GOODBYE SUPERMAJORITY: Two Top Congressional Democrats Say ‘Take This Job And Shove It’
NEW YORK TIMES: Senator Christopher J. Dodd, the embattled Connecticut Democrat who was facing an increasingly tough bid for a sixth term in the United States Senate, has decided not to seek re-election this year, Democrats familiar with his plans said Wednesday. Mr. Dodd, 65, a pivotal figure in the major debates now confronting Congress, is to announce his decision at a news conference Wednesday afternoon in Connecticut. The decision came hours after another Democratic senator, Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota, also announced that he would not seek re-election this November. The developments underscored the fragility of the Democrats’ […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR For the last three years, comedian John Oliver has been telling some serious jokes as “Senior British Correspondent” on The Daily Show With John Stewart. He won an Emmy for his work on the show in 2009, but his comedic career is not confined to the fake newsroom. Also last year, Oliver wrote and starred in his own stand-up special, John Oliver: Terrifying Times and appeared in the Mike Myer comedy flop The Love Guru. When he’s not on the screen, you can hear Oliver on the airwaves as the host of the TimesOnline weekly satirical news podcast […]
UPCOMING: Exit Interview With Dave Davies
Coming soon to a Phawker near you. Check local listings. PREVIOUSLY: Kinks Guitarist* Ditches DN For WHYY *
FROM THE VAULT: Clothes Make The Man
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY There is, perhaps, no more efficient way to remind yourself that you are no longer 22 than to walk the aisles of Urban Outfitters. For the postcollegiate slackerati it is a mecca of precisely modulated urban hipster cool, a time-warp thrift store aesthetic filtered through a retrograde prism of detached irony and kitsch–proof positive of the fashion adage that everything, no matter how uncool, comes back into style eventually. This is readily apparent to anyone old enough to remember when most of these styles were cool for the first time. Rule of thumb: […]