Look for it Monday on a Phawker near you! RELATED: A retired Philadelphia police captain arrested in uniform during Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City has received written warnings from police and union officials. Philadelphia police Commissioner Charles Ramsey sent a cease and desist letter to retired Capt. Raymond Lewis, saying the police department supports his First Amendment rights but “those rights do not extend to the improper and/or illegal use of the official uniform.” “It could give the mistaken opinion that somehow this is a statement being made by a member of the police department, and it’s […]

BY MIKE WALSH Matthew Sweet’s Girlfriend was released in late 1991, just four weeks after Nevermind, but it took another six or eight months of word-of-mouth recommendations before it became a hit. That was probably because very few people had heard of Sweet prior to Girlfriend. He grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, and moved to Athens, GA, in the early 80s to attend college at the University of Georgia and quickly became part of the vaunted music scene there. Sweet played in bands such as Oh-OK and Buzz of Delight, got married, and made a few recordings with people like […]

A Christmas carol for the modern age, with Brendan Skwire on upright bass.

DAILY BEAST: White confessed that Cain wasn’t the only man who helped her financially; her work history and her sex life have long been intermingled in complex and contradictory ways, she said. […] “There are good men in corporate America, and there are bad men in corporate America, and those bad men take advantage of women in fragile situations—women who are struggling,” White said. “I’ve supported my kids, and I never wanted to let my kids go without. When I was having trouble making a payment on something, there was this powerful man saying, ‘I’ll help you out.’ I remember […]

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Virginia Tech officials said a police officer and another person were shot and killed on the school’s campus Thursday and the university locked down the campus, where 33 people died in 2007 in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The gunman remained on the loose. A news release from the school said the police officer had pulled someone over for a traffic stop and was shot and killed. Witnesses told police the shooter ran toward a parking lot on campus. A second person was found dead in that parking lot. A police officer secures the scene […]

[Illustrations by ALEX FINE] HUFFINGTON POST: News Corp. honcho Rupert Murdoch threw his weight behind Congress’ attempt to restrict the Internet, personally lobbying leaders on Capitol Hill Wednesday for two measures that purport to combat piracy. Murdoch’s media empire is among some 350 large corporations that have come out in favor of the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House, as well as the Protect IP Act in the Senate. Both measures would require Internet operators to police activity online, and would mandate Internet giants like Google and AOL (the parent company of The Huffington Post and an opponent of […]

ASSOCIATED PRESS: More than five dozen protesters upset about what they call corporate greed and the excessive influence of money in politics were arrested Wednesday after shutting down K Street, home to many of Washington’s lobbying firms, in a mass demonstration that snarled midday traffic in the nation’s capital. Demonstrators from across the US converged for the Washington march that included participants from Occupy Wall Street encampments as well as other groups, including unions, sympathetic to their message of income inequality. Organizers said they expected several thousand people in Washington this week for days of activism, almost three months after […]

BY BRYAN BIERMAN Let’s start by saying this: Pere Ubu’s The Modern Dance is the greatest album ever made. Possibly. Released in 1978, the band took only the great parts of punk rock then shuffled it around, adding musique concrete tape noise and free-jazz sax solos. It was the perfect blend of rock ‘n’ roll and avant-garde—you don’t fully understand it at first, but it still makes you want to head into the garage and try your hand at emulating it. ??But by the time of its release, lead singer David Thomas had already inspired a legion of bands in […]

BY MATTHEW HENGEVELD Growing up with icons like the Beatles, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, James Brown, etc etc., you might assume that success in the music biz would lead to some extraordinary fame. You’d think that universal critical acclaim, two decades of hard road work, a repertoire of thousands of songs, a diehard fan base and over 10 loved albums would lead to some excellent payoff, right? Like, having your face on some billboards; a roving mob of half-clothed women; or a helicopter… at least a helicopter. But, superstardom is far from reality for everyone’s favorite afro-havin’ drummer, […]