FRESH AIR Last fall, several teens across the country committed suicide because they were gay or perceived to be gay. This shocking rash of suicides raised attention about a sobering fact: Gay teens are up to four times as likely to attempt suicide as straight teens, and 9 out of 10 LGBT teens have experienced some sort of harassment in their school, according to The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention hot line for LGBT youth. When advice columnist Dan Savage heard about the suicide crisis unfolding, he had an idea: If older gay people offered hope and encouragement to gay […]
How Phones Got Too Smart For Their Own Good
NEW YORK TIMES: It’s at the point where when the phone does ring — and it’s not my mom, dad, husband or baby sitter — my first thought is: “What’s happened? What’s wrong?” My second thought is: “Isn’t it weird to just call like that? Out of the blue? With no e-mailed warning?” I don’t think it’s just me. Sure, teenagers gave up the phone call eons ago. But I’m a long way away from my teenage years, back when the key rite of passage was getting a phone in your bedroom or (cue Molly Ringwald gasp) a line of […]
EARLY WORD: Stoned In The Queen Age
BY MIKE WOLVERTON The first time I went to see Queens of the Stone Age was in New York in January of 1999. I was just getting into Kyuss at the time and had caught wind of this new project involving some of those guys. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to go, it was a Friday night and I had already had way too many drinks. I called an old work buddy and invited him to go with me, thankfully he turned me down. I somehow stumbled downtown to this dive on Saint Mark’s Place, where I […]
RIP: Elizabeth Taylor, Queen Of The Nile, Dead At 79
NEW YORK TIMES: In a world of flickering images, Elizabeth Taylor was a constant star. First appearing onscreen at age 9, she grew up there, never passing through an awkward age. It was one quick leap from “National Velvet” to “A Place in the Sun” and from there to “Cleopatra” as she was indelibly transformed from a vulnerable child actress into a voluptuous film queen. In a career of more than 70 years and more than 50 films, she won two Academy Awards as best actress, for her performances as a call girl in “Butterfield 8” (in 1960) and as […]
EARLY WORD: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
On Saturday, March 26, 2011, the Secret Cinema at Moore College of Art & Design will present the first screening in several years centered on rock music: A WALK ON THE SOFT SIDE: FILMS OF THE BEACH BOYS AND FRIENDS. The program, sure to be welcomed by those rediscovering the charms of the “sunshine pop” and “soft rock”* genres, features difficult to find footage from lost television specials and educational films. Much of the program features the Beach Boys, but there are also rare appearances by the Fifth Dimension, Jimmy Webb, Johnny Rivers, Merrilee Rush and others. Noted musician, pop […]
CINEMA: Live From The Mars Hotel
The critically acclaimed cinematic concert rockumentary, The Grateful Dead Movie Event will take audiences back to the ‘70s for a one-night in-theater event on Wednesday, April 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the Riverview and University City 6. Under the direction of the band’s lead guitarist Jerry Garcia and co-directed by Leon Gast, these legendary 1974 concerts capture the Grateful Dead at the pinnacle of their psychedelic worldwide fame while documenting the Dead Head experience. During this NCM Fathom event, theater audiences will be the first to see exclusive, never-before-seen interviews with both Garcia and Bob Weir that were captured during […]
DVD: Brother From Another Planet
ROCK SNOB ENCYCLOPEDIA: ENO, BRIAN: Egghead electronica wizard, inventor of “ambient,” synthesizer-tweaker on the first two Roxy Music albums, in-demand record collaborator/producer (David Bowie, Talking Heads, U2). In 1973, Eno quit Roxy Music at the direct request of foppish frontman Bryan Ferry and thus began a profoundly influential career as a solo artist and producer. His collaboration with King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp later that year resulted in No Pussyfooting, an album that sounds like what inhaling nitrous oxide feels like. By 1975, Eno had released the three landmark solo albums that lodged him in the rock-snob pantheon–Here Come the […]
MONEY: It’s The Wealth Inequality, Stupid!
[Illustration by ROGELIO NARANJO] MICHAEL NORTON, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL: In a recent survey of Americans, my colleague Dan Ariely and I found that Americans drastically underestimated the level of wealth inequality in the United States. While recent data indicates that the richest 20 percent of Americans own 84 percent of all wealth, people estimated that this group owned just 59 percent – believing that total wealth in this country is far more evenly divided among poorer Americans. Easy consumer credit and a belief in social mobility have reduced the clamor for wealth redistribution. What’s more, when we asked […]
Eye Care Has Come A Long Way Since The 1800’s, Baby
[Photo by Dr. Stanley B. Burns] No, that’s not a Butthole Surfers album cover, it’s a man from the year 1908 with an abscess so large it has shifted his eye downward. Back before antibiotics, a simple head cold could easily escalate to this gruesome pathology. From CBS News’ Mutter-esque slideshow Eye Care In The 1800s: 14 Shocking Photos. Let the viewer be weird.
ALBUM REVIEW: Raekwon Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang
BY MATTHEW HENGEVELD YO! MTV Raps first interviewed the Wu-Tang Clan in 1993 fresh off the set of “Da Mystery of Chessboxin’” music video. Each member had a chance to speak to Fab 5 Freddy, but Raekwon initially declined — lurking in the background chewing on a toothpick. Minutes later, Rae violently yanks the mic from Freddy and explains the duality of swordplay and wordplay in his hip-hop. He’s a silent-eccentric like Miles and Mingus. There’s a second or third layer to everything he says. Ghostface Killah may be the enigma of the Wu-Tang Clan, but Rae is undoubtedly its […]
SIDEWALKING: Come And Get It
22nd and Sedgley, 9:15 AM yesterday by JEFF FUSCO
DRUG WAR: Man Who Prosecuted Paris Hilton For Cocaine Posession Busted For Posession Of Cocaine
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: A Clark County prosecutor assigned to some of Las Vegas’ most high-profile drug cases was arrested Saturday after police say he bought crack cocaine from a street dealer. David Charles Schubert, 47, was arrested Saturday and booked on a possession of cocaine charge, according to jail records. Schubert was arrested by a Las Vegas police patrol officer at 4:51 p.m. near Desert Inn Road and Maryland Parkway. The patrol officer saw what he thought was a drug transaction and stopped Schubert’s vehicle near Sierra Vista Drive and Cambridge Street, police said. The alleged drug dealer told police […]
Juan Williams Still Fox’s Faux-Liberal House Negro
JUAN WILLIAMS: Even after they fired me, called me a bigot and publicly advised me to only share my thoughts with a psychiatrist, I did not call for defunding NPR. I am a journalist, and NPR is an important platform for journalism. But last week my line of defense for NPR ran into harsh political realities. Rep. Steve Israel (D- N.Y.) chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent out a fundraising letter with the following argument for maintaining public funding of NPR: “They [Republicans] know NPR plays a vital role in providing quality news programming — from rural radio […]