PROSPECT: The Errors Of Edward Snowden And Glenn Greenwald ANTI-WAR.COM: George Packer, resident egghead-journalist at the New Yorker – and Iraq war supporter-turned-“anguished” semi-recanter – is the latest “liberal” to turn his guns on Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald for their alleged devotion to libertarianism. A whole genre has grown up around this subject: Sean Wilentz, writing in The New Republic and the boys over at ThinkProgress are exemplars of the form. They compete with neocons like David Brooks and the Weekly Standard gang to see who can demonize the Snowden-Greenwald team in the most damning terms. And to […]
DEENEY: Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
THE ATLANTIC: In 2012, an officer was arrested for selling heroin; he was one of 40-some officers charged with corruption after the “Tainted Justice” investigation. That may be evidence that “Tainted Justice” sparked more oversight, but more likely it’s an indication that police corruption has continued with abandon despite it. Last year, Jeffrey Walker, another rogue narc-squad officer in West Philly, was charged with robbing drug dealers. He pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Courthouse insiders say that Walker will finger as many as 15 dirty cops who are still on the streets. The city’s capacity for […]
LED ZEPPELIN: Whole Lotta Love (Rough Mix)
The video is a composite of several classic Led Zeppelin live performances, some well-known and others rarely seen. The “Rough Mix With Vocal” version of “Whole Lotta Love” is featured on the deluxe edition of Led Zeppelin II which is set for release on June 3, along with deluxe editions of the band’s debut album and Led Zeppelin III. “This version of ‘Whole Lotta Love’ is the mix down from the night that we recorded it,” says Jimmy Page. “So it doesn’t have any of the overdubs that everyone will be familiar with, because when they hear this they’ll think, […]
RIP: Bunny Yeager, Model-Turned-Photographer Who Smashed The Glass Ceiling Of Pin-Up Portraiture & Mainstreamed Bettie Page, Dead @ 85
NEW YORK TIMES: Bunny Yeager, a model-turned-photographer whose images of a scarcely clad Bettie Page, embodying feral sexuality and winsome naïveté all at once, helped propel Ms. Page to international stardom as a midcentury pinup queen, died on Sunday in North Miami, Fla. She was 85. The cause was congestive heart failure, said her agent, Ed Christin. Ms. Yeager, who took up her art by accident, was one of the world’s most celebrated photographers of female nudes and near-nudes of the 1950s and ’60s. She is widely credited with helping turn the erotic pinup — long a murky enterprise […]
GUIDED BY VOICES: Exit Flagger
From the Black Cat in D.C. last night. Captured by our rock-write brother-in-arms Joe Warminsky. PREVIOUSLY: Guided By Voices @ The Troc PREVIOUSLY: The Complete Robert Pollard MAGNET Interview
CINEMA: Woman Is The N*gger Of The New World
THE IMMIGRANT (2013, directed by James Gray, 120 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Director James Gray’s new film The Immigrant has the whiff of classic to it, perhaps because watching fresh-faced lovelies fall prey to exploitation has been the stuff of great cinema since Lilian Gish first wilted for D.W. Griffith. With the gifted French actress Marion Cotillard at his disposal, Gray works up a lot of steam in this Ellis Island historical piece but he lacks the insight for character or the temperament for melodrama to make his dour little tale fire on all cylinders. Arriving […]
BEING THERE: MAGNET’s 21st Birthday Bash
Photo by PETE TROSHAK MAGNET magazine celebrated its 21st Anniversary with a concert headlined by Robert Pollard’s Guided By Voices. Dayton’s finest have existed on and off for over thirty years and during those years Pollard has proven himself to be one of the greatest and most prolific songwriters of this or any era, having released over 40 albums between his solo and GBV releases. In 2012 Pollard reunited the seminal lineup of GBV that recorded 1994’s Bee Thousand album and together they have released six albums in the last four years including two in 2014 alone. If Nirvana’s 1991 […]
TRAILER: The Pulp Movie
Looks quite promising. In theaters June 6th.
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Singer Donovan Leitch is known best by his first name alone. He discusses his 2004 box set, Try for the Sun: The Journey of Donovan It’s a remastered CD/DVD set which covers his work from 1964 to 2004. It includes 60 tracks, 15 of them previously unreleased. Donovan’s best known for his hits of the psychedelic era, such as “Mellow Yellow,” “Sunshine Superman” and “Catch the Wind.” Donovan, 58, grew up in Glasgow, Scotlan, before moving to the United States, where he became part of the groovy San Francisco scene in the late 1960s. Despite dropping out […]
SEPARATED AT BIRTH: Will Ferrell & Dude Who Plays Drums For The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Finally had a drum-off on Fallon last night. In the back of our mind we always knew this would happen sooner or later. Go check it out HERE. We’ll wait.
RAY LAMONTAGNE: Supernova
Title track from his effing AMAZING new Dan Auebach-produced album. He plays the Susquehanna Bank Center with Jason Isbell on June 6th.
READY FOR PRIMETIME: Brian Williams Interviews Edward Snowden In Undisclosed Russian Location
NBC NEWS: “NBC Nightly News” anchor and managing editor Brian Williams traveled to Moscow this week for an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with Edward Snowden. The former NSA contractor’s first-ever American television interview will air in an hour-long NBC News primetime special on Wednesday, May 28 at 10 p.m. Eastern/9 p.m. Central. Williams’ in-person conversation with Snowden was conducted over the course of several hours and was shrouded in secrecy due to Snowden’s life in exile since leaking classified documents about U.S. surveillance programs a year ago. Williams also jointly interviewed Snowden and journalist Glenn Greenwald, who has reported stories […]
BEING THERE: Panda Bear @ Union Transfer
Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ Last weekend, Panda Bear (a.k.a. Noah Lennox) navigated his sonic spaceship through Philly and Brooklyn as a part of his North American tour to drum up support for his forthcoming album with Domino Records. Tentatively titled Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper, it does not yet have a release date. His two previous mystic dream-pop masterpieces, Person Pitch and Tomboy, set the bar for his new material at an all-time high, but his performances last weekend completely surpassed anything we could have expected, as shows at both Union Transfer in Philadelphia and at Warsaw in […]