FRESH AIR Journalist and historian Burton Hersh has followed the Kennedy family for more than 35 years. His latest book is a study of the behind-the-scenes power struggles among the Kennedys and longtime FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Hersh writes that as attorney general, Robert F. Kennedy did his best to keep Hoover — technically his subordinate — on a short leash. But knowledge of Kennedy family secrets gave Hoover, always a master manipulator, the upper hand. Hersh’s book is titled Bobby and J. Edgar: The Historic Face-Off Between the Kennedys and J. Edgar Hoover that Transformed America. RADIO TIMES Hour […]
FRINGE DWELLER: Recommended
That’s Why They Don’t Call it Picnic Vagabond Acting Troupe Theater, 80 minutes Philadelphia?s own Christian Lisak returns home with a one-man performance piece about his recent experience in a federal prison camp. This sometimes humorous, sometimes serious look at unexpected life detours and the lessons learned attempts to prove the idea that everything happens for a good reason, even incarceration. Click Here for Showtimes * My House/Your House React/Dance Dance, 75 minutes We?re new to the neighborhood. Want to come over? react/dance?s Jacelyn Biondo and Kristen Shahverdian invite you to their housewarming. Experience site-specific, audience-inclusive performance with Philly?s most […]
JUNK SCIENCE: Animals, Vegetables & Minerals
BY ELIZABETH FIEND LIVING EDITOR Upon returning from my vacation I was greeted by my two charming 20-something house sitters. They did a great job holding down the fort and loving my big orange cat, Hurricane. They bashfully asked me if it would be OK if they left the remainder of their CSA Farm Share in my fridge. Like many people, seems they?re trying hard to eat right but are at a loss as to how to actually pull it off. Can you image asking ME if it would be OK to unload a bunch of organic fruit and vegetables? […]
BREAKING: We Have Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself
“What is the greatest threat facing us now? People will say it’s terrorism. But are there any terrorists in the world who can change the American way of life or our political system? No. Can they knock down a building? Yes. Can they kill somebody? Yes. But can they change us? No. Only we can change ourselves. So what is the great threat we are facing?” — Gen. Colin Powell [via USA TODAY]
MISSING: One Psycho Killer
A man found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1975 killing of his roommate and the man’s 4-year-old son disappeared from a mental hospital in Camden County yesterday. Police from the Ancora Psychiatric Hospital in Winslow Township were joined by state and local police in the search for William Enman, 65, who had unsupervised grounds privileges at the 80-acre campus, according to two law-enforcement sources. Last night and early this morning, using infrared devices and dogs, authorities searched parts of Camden and Atlantic Counties around the facility. Enman, who has lived at Ancora since 1992, was found not […]
TODAY I SAW…
BY JEFF DEENEY TODAY I SAW an older black woman in a stained white cook’s apron hunched over an ATM machine inside a Germantown pawn shop. Her left elbow was propped on top of the machine as she leaned in to read the blurry words on the beat-to-shit screen. In her hand she had her bank card and a scratch-off lottery ticket that said “FORTUNE COOKIE” across the top in the kind of Oriental-ish font you find on Chinese restaurant menus. The ticket was scraped clean, its symbols uncovered. The machine spat out $40 and she reached down to take […]
CINEMA: The Hotness
THE HOTTEST STATE (2006, directed by Ethan Hawke, 117 minutes, U.S.) NO END IN SIGHT (2006, directed by Charles Ferguson, 102 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC For a guy who has been acting in films for over 20 years, something about Ethan Hawke remains uneasy on the motion picture screen. The characters Hawke specializes in are often cocky, moping cads who suffer easily and whose angst-ridden intellect has not won themselves any inner peace. My feelings toward the men he portrays has inescapably bled over into my thoughts about the actor as well, sensing him strain for a […]
MUST HEAR RADIO: It Can’t Happen Here?
FRESH AIR As head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, Jack Goldsmith led the team of lawyers that advises the presidency on the limits of executive power. During his tenure, he battled the Bush White House on the now-infamous “torture memos,” as well as on issues of surveillance and the detention and trial of suspected terrorists. Goldsmith resigned his post after nine months. He’s speaking publicly for the first time about why he resigned in a new memoir, The Terror Presidency — which also recounts what he witnessed in Attorney General John Ashcroft’s hospital room, when Alberto Gonzales and […]
MAILBAG: ‘They Are Not Prisoners’ At WHYY
Dear Phawker, What a lame group of so-called ‘dedicated’ WHYY employees. These people claim they believe in the cause. “However, we’ve willingly decided to work for less, knowing we are contributing to a god [good] cause, a cause we strongly believe in.” Yet they contradict themselves throughout this letter. First they say that their CEO and COO have “contributed to an atmosphere of low morale, virtually no teamwork or cooperation between departments, and an overwhelming feeing of distrust between senior management and the rest of the company” What do they think they are doing sending things like this to the […]
PAPERBOY:Keepin It ‘Gayngsta’ Edition
BY AMY Z. QUINN 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. Hey, we know how it is — so many words to read, so little time to surf for free porn. That’s why every week, PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you, freeing up […]
CONFETTI BETTY: Dirty White Boys
By the time I arrived back in New Jersey — where, by the way, we know from this kind of thing, from the years of whispered is-he-or-isn’t-he to the dramatic press conference to the shell-shocked wife looking on — Sen. Larry Craig was reconsidering his decision to step down and now says he plans to stay away from D.C. Even here in the Jerz, where our to-the-left attitude is part drag queen, part gangsta lean, people are like, “Yo, good luck with all that.” I never thought I’d say this, but compared to the what the folks in Idaho are […]
HEAR YE: Elliott Smith New Moon
NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO
HEAR YE: Porter Wagoner The Wagonmaster
NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO * REVIEW