THE ADVOCATE: Patrick Murphy, the Iraq War veteran and two-term congressman from Pennsylvania who “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal activist Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach recently called “the right man at the right time to take on this battle,” has not given up politics despite a narrow loss in the 2010 election. (He was one of 63 House Democrats to lose their seats.) The former West Point constitutional law professor and current partner in the Philadelphia law firm Fox Rothschild is vying to become the first Democratic attorney general in the state in three decades. Murphy is one of several key […]
EARLY WORD: OMG Radiohead Is Coming! Run!
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] Radiohead has confirmed two shows at New York City’s Roseland Ballroom to take place September 28 and 29. Tickets will go on sale at 10:00 AM on September 26 at www.ticketmaster.com. There is a 2 ticket limit per household. All tickets will be available for pick up at will call the evening of the event beginning at 6:30 PM and entry into the venue is required immediately upon receipt. No tickets shall be distributed prior to the event. In addition, Radiohead will appear on a very special one-hour episode of The Colbert Report featuring multiple songs and […]
COURAGE OF HIS CONVICTIONS: NPR Travel Guru Rick Steves Fights For His Right To Roast A Bowl
Not really surprising that Rick Steves, possibly the mellowest man on NPR, likes to unwind with a doobie at the end of the day. What is surprising, or more accurately disappointing, is that he is the only one with the balls to stand up and be counted. We’re still waiting for Terry Gross to come clean. ‘Twenty years of Fresh Air? I was high the WHOLE time!’ Or something like that.
RIP: Fear & Loathing At Cheesesteak Junction
BY MIKE WALSH I never met Joey Vento, but in 1986 I purchased a home about a block-and-a-half from Geno’s and the infamous cheesesteak junction (Wharton, S. 9th, and E. Passyunk). Back then, the intersection was popular, but it wasn’t the loud, crowded, 24-hour-per-day hotspot it is today. A large, stone church occupied one corner, and the other restaurants and shops you see today at the intersection had not moved in yet. The neighborhood was not in good shape in the mid-80s. Many homeowners had abandoned the neighborhood, and hundreds of single family homes had been converted to apartments. […]
LIFE LESSONS: You, The Sad Clown
With your life coach, AP Ticker!
FRINGE REVIEW: Extremely Public Displays Of Privacy
BY BRANDON LAFVING Philly’s own New Paradise Laboratories broke new ground at this year’s Fringe Fest with Extreme Displays Of Privacy, a three-act live thriller that straddles almost every fence currently dividing up the performing arts. Act I commenced with an interactive website (http://extremelypublicdisplays.com) that presents a series of edgy and exhilarating video cuts, photographic montages, and music tracks to set the stage for the budding relationship of Fess Eliot, an aging singer/songwriter, and the gorgeous Beatrix Luff, a sublime and diabolical anti-heroine. Beatrix wants to teach Fess how to get attention, and the ennui-laden songwriter is just depressed enough […]
BOOK: The Man Who Wasn’t There
[Illustration by EDDIE GUY] NEW YORK TIMES: Why have so many people in the Obama administration vented to Mr. Suskind in the first place, when the president was only partway through his first term? Like many of Bob Woodward’s sources a lot of them are motivated by spin, score settling and second-guessing. Given the stalled economy and the president’s sliding poll numbers, some former staff members are playing the blame game early, while others seem to be hoping to goad the president into a reboot and a more aggressive stance before the 2012 election. Mr. Suskind — a Pulitzer Prize […]
U SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION: Occupy Wall St.
Dear patriots, rabble-rousers, revolutionaries, On Saturday thousands of us will occupy Wall Street. We will wave our signs, unfurl our banners, beat our drums, chant our slogans … and then we’ll get down to business and hold several people’s assemblies to decide what our “one demand” will be. Shall we demand that President Obama reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act; outlaw flash trading; impose a 1% tax on all financial transactions? These are good ideas but not very energizing. How about we demand the revocation of corporate personhood? Feels a bit too abstract. Many Americans don’t fully grasp what’s at stake with […]
SIDEWALKING: Gentle On My Mind
Irvine Auditorium, post-Glen Campbell concert, last night by JONATHAN VALANIA DAN DELUCA: “I’m not Minnie Pearl, but I’m just proud to be here,” he said on taking the stage to John Hartford’s “Gentle On My Mind,” on which he immediately displayed the undiminished guitar picking skills which made the Delight, Arkansas native a standout member of the 1960s group of Los Angeles studio players known as The Wrecking Crew. Campbell, who stands 6 feet tall but cut a larger than life figure as he moved about the stage in black shirt and jeans and blue blazer, had other schticky stage […]
CHITWOOD: Lion Stamped Out Lesbian Crime Spree
INQUIRER: A pair of lesbian lovers have admitted to burglarizing 29 homes but passed up one house where they encountered a lion, police said. Harley Rose Gifford and Britney Singleton, both 19 and from the 7100 block of Marshall Road, in Upper Darby have been arrested, according to police who expect to charge them with the crimes when their initial investigation is completed. They are currently being held on unrelated charges, according to court documents. Police were continuing to check the home that reportedly held the lion. The owners are not home, Chitwood said. “If we find a lion it […]
FRINGE REVIEW: The Oresteia Project
BY BRANDON LAFVING The Oresteia is a triptych of plays — Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Furies — written by Aeschylus that the Philadelphia Artist’s Collective (PAC) has adapted and presented as part of the Fringe Festival. Adapted and directed by Philadelphia’s Brenna Geffers, The Oresteia Project modernizes the ancient Greek drama so that contemporary American ethos replaces the Ancient Greek perspective. The final scene is the quintessential example of this, when the implacable Athena, played by Dana Kreitz, prophetically reveals the gods’ judgment of humanity. Apparently, the gods decided to manipulate the Greeks and Trojans into a war, […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Confusion Is Next
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY We are going to learn a great deal about ourselves as Americans, and as human beings, between now and November 7th, 2012. We’re going to find out what our REAL underlying values are; about our humanity, our ethics, our true morals. We’re going to expose our collective intelligence, our ability to reason, our ability to analyze, our ability to interpret. We’re most likely going to reveal whether, as a nation, we believe in basic science or the bible-tells-us-so. We’re most definitely going to learn a great deal about our capacity for tolerance, understanding and compassion; and […]
CONTEST: Win Tix To See Lupe Fiasco At The Mann
We’ve loved Lupe since 2006’s Food And Liquor and even if we are feelin’ a little let down by the new Lasers we could not be more psyched to see him at the Mann on Saturday. We have two pairs of tickets to give away. The first two Phawker readers to tell us the name of the song he recorded with Jill Scott wins ’em. Email us at FEED@PHAWKER.COM with ‘Lupe’ in the subject line and include a cell phone number for confirmation. Good luck and godspeed. PREVIOUSLY: Top 5 Reasons Why LUPE FIASCO Was Better Than Whatever Hip-Hop Show […]