WENT TO PLACES UNKNOWN: Spoon, Starlight Ballroom, Last Night BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER Most bands are lucky to live one nasty, brutish and short life — much of it spent travelling vast distances to play for minuscule audiences, waking up in the back of stinky rental vans and finding breakfast at the bottom of a Budweiser can — but like a cat, Spoon seems to have nine lives. Spoon keeps coming back from one curiosity-killing foray into the unknown after another — trusting a major label, aping the Pixies, dabbling in white funk, etc. Some religions call it […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
RADIO TIMES Hour 1 The politics of faith. We talk with RAY SUAREZ senior correspondent for PBS’ NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. He is author of The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America, which was released last year. He was also a contributor to last week’s 11-hour PBS series America at a Crossroads, His segment looked at Why Muslims in America haven’t been radicalized like some European Muslims. Hour 2 Leni Riefenstahl, the Controversial German Nazi film director, is often referred to as Hitler?s filmmaker. Her most famous works are documentary propaganda films for the German Nazi Party including […]
HIZZONER ’07: The Gloves Are Officially Off
“There are four candidates sitting at this table that all their life helped working men and women,” Brady said. “There is one candidate, Tom Knox, that has not. [He’s been] ripping off men and women, working men and women . . . Predatory lending, insurance scams, attacking pensions. Now, I’m going to get a lot of negative ads coming back to me, probably a million dollars negative on me. But . . . my vision is too important for this city to have Tom Knox become the mayor.” It was a calculated attack. As the candidates left the television studio, […]
GARDENING AT NIGHT: The Weedman Cometh, Again
BY S. FITZGERALD LODWICK Friday afternoon was April 20th, or to those in the stoner community 4/20, aka the Fourth of July for those who get high. In the name of the holiday, Edward Forchion, aka the NJ Weedman, organized a marijuana rights rally at the Independence Visitor Center. It was supposed to be at the Liberty Bell, but the location changed due to construction. I arrived around noon, as per the instructions in the ad in City Paper the week previous. Upon meeting several people looking for the same event, we were guided by Rob Dougherty of Philly NORML […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] AMY SAYS: Patti Smith is 60 and graying, a widow, the mother of two grown children. Somewhere in the last few years, people began referring to her less as “punk priestess” and more as “punk matriarch.” Her new album, Twelve, is a genre- and generation-spanning collection of covers that has kinder critics saying she’s coming full circle now, which would almost make sense were there anything cyclical, round, or non-linear about Patti Smith. Her body is like an arrow always pointing forward, the direction all visionaries cast their eyes. She may not get there with us, […]
KILLADELPHIA: Warm Nights, Hot Lead, 124 Dead
Despite a new round of pleas last week to stop the violence, the killing in Philadelphia did not abate. At least eight people were fatally wounded by gunshots from Friday night through noon today, and at least 6 people were injured. The homicide number climbed to 124, with weekend shootings that spiked with the higher temperatures. Six of the latest homicides occurred on city streets, while two happened inside apartments and one took place at a neighborhood barbecue in West Philadelphia. INQUIRER: Seems Neighborhood Forums, Candlelight Vigils And Good Intentions Don’t Do Dick
INGRATITUDE: NOLA Mayor Literally Trashes Philly
PHILADELPHIA — New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin criticized the cleanliness of Philadelphia after a visit to the city last week. “Let me tell you something. You ought to go to Philly and you will appreciate how clean New Orleans is,” Nagin said Saturday to a crowd of New Orleans residents concerned about the city’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina. “Just go and walk around Philly a little bit and you will appreciate,” Nagin said. ” … We still have some work to do but we definitely beat them by a long shot.” Nagin struck a different tone when he was in […]
AMUSE BOUCHE*: Wavy Gravy
BY AMY Z. QUINN This past week, Mrs. Quinn Version 1.0, aka my husband’s mother, was in for a visit. This is not a bad thing, as she lives in New York and we don’t get to see her very often and usually on holidays, and well, time with Grandma is an important thing for a little boy. And for me, time with MQ1.0 is valuable on many levels. I like — no, make that love — my mother-in-law, and why not? She’s smart, genuinely funny, adores my son, tells awesome Years Ago stories and has embraced me like a […]
All Of This Happened While You Were Sleeping
PEACE & NOISE: Patti Smith & Jackson Smith, The Free Library, 6:07 PM [FLICKR] [Photos by JONATHAN VALANIA]
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AUTHOR, AUTHOR: Q&A W/ GARY SHTEYNGART
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] BY MAVIS LINNEMANN BOOK CRITIC Gary Shteyngart’s second novel, Absurdistan, is a biting comical ride in the adventures of Misha Vainberg, the 325 lb. son of the 1,239th richest man in Russia. After attending Accidental College, USA, and living in the South Bronx with his hot Latina girlfriend, Misha must return to Russia to see his father. When his father kills an Oklahoma businessman, Misha can no longer obtain a visa from the INS. Misha’s love for New York and multiculturalism take him to the little-known country of Absurdistan, were he’s supposed to get a Belgian […]