BY SARA SHERR For a critic, the hardest thing to review is something that’s just sort of “eh,” instead of moving you towards joy or repulsion. I didn’t think I’d have a blah attack from The Good, The Bad & The Queen, the latest project for Blur/Gorillaz man Damon Albarn. It certainly sounds good on paper, a gaggle of (mostly) white punks on dope: Clash bassist Paul Simonon, Verve guitarist Simon Tong, and Africa ’70s drummer/musical director Tony Allen, who’s the real star here. Albarn uses reggae rhythms and thick dub soundscapes to explore life during wartime in London when […]
ADVICE: ASK MOTHER PHAWKER
DEAR MOTHER PHAWKER, Ok, here’s the setup: Back in 1989, I was in a band and playing a show in Nuremberg, Germany, with three other bands. I was the only woman, hanging out in the dressing room, which was in a basement down a LONG hall, far away from anything. A dude from one of the other bands held forth with a long, rambling, liquor- and heroin-induced diatribe about how women didn’t belong in rock. OK, whatever, asshole. But then he threatened to rape me. There were eight other people in that room, all men, and not one of them […]
CARTOON: Words Have Consequences
[Courtesy of Married To The Sea]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
I AND I: The Skatalites, Trocadero, February 22nd, 2007 EVA SAYS: I wasn’t at all surprised to find a lot of empty space between patrons at the Skatalites show. On a night like this, all the hip, trendy kids were probably well on their way to catch the new electro-ipod/turntable-avant-garde-sample whatever somewhere along the borders of NoLibs. Their loss. Though a little aged and worn around the edges, the Skatalites still delivered one of the most fun shows of the past year. And sure, the musical aspect was important. There was no forgetting that I was in the presence of […]
GUNCRAZY: Learn To Love, MOTHERFUCKERS!
A weekend of gun violence in Philadelphia left four dead and at least six people injured. One flare-up involved a shoot-out near an all-night Center City pharmacy early yesterday. Shortly after 2 a.m., two men were wounded when a disturbance in a nightclub apparently spilled out into the streets of Center City near a CVS Pharmacy, police said. Police identified them as New Jersey residents, ages 25 and 26. Police said the altercation may have resulted from an earlier dispute in the Tragos nightclub near 19th and Chestnut Streets. Police said that they weren’t sure if the incidents were connected, […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
BY JONATHAN VALANIA For nearly half a century television has had to bear the “barren wasteland” rap. But even a cursory, static-smeared twist of the radio dial reveals a largely fallow garden. Corporate consolidation and play-it-safe programmers have conspired to increase the emphasis on the obvious, the ordinary and the lowest common denominator. It doesn’t have to be like this. “When correctly harnessed, radio can be as emotional, as funny and as satisfying as the best motion pictures and television shows,” says Ira Glass, host of public radio’s This American Life. “But sadly, few radio programmers even shoot for that.” […]
BUMMER: Buckets Of Buds Beached At Boutique, Bogarted By Boys In Blue, Well Oh My And A Boo Hoo
Employees at a popular South Street store were scratching their heads over a special delivery Saturday morning. Police were called to the Fusion jeans boutique, on South Street near 4th, after employees received not one but two packages of marijuana, with a total of 20 pounds of weed. “Officers received a call that the manager of the store had received a package from FedEx and when he opened it there was a five-gallon bucket inside,” said Capt. Chris Werner of Narcotics Field Unit 2. “We don’t usually get Saturday deliveries, so right away we thought something was up,” said another […]
OBIT: David Berger, The People’s Lawyer
By ANDREW MAYKUTH Inquirer Staff Writer David Berger, who called himself a “people’s lawyer,” was best known as one of the pioneers of class-action lawsuits. After leaving the Philadelphia City Solicitor’s Office for private practice, he recovered billions of dollars from the government, big oil companies, and Wall Street bankers for legions of small clients. Mr. Berger, 94, who of died of pneumonia Thursday in Palm Beach, Fla., won major cases in the Three Mile Island nuclear power accident, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and the Drexel Burnham Lambert junk-bond scandal. His firm won a $2 billion settlement from the […]
Teacher Confiscates iPod, Students Break His Neck
A high school teacher was assaulted by two students and hospitalized with broken vertebrae after he took an iPod away from one of them during class, officials said. Frank Burd, 60, was in a hallway at Germantown High School shortly after 11 a.m. when he was confronted by the 17-year-old who brought the iPod to class, officials said Friday. A 15-year-old student joined the confrontation and either punched or helped trip Burd, who fell and hit his head, said Fernando Gallard, a spokesman for the Philadelphia School District. Burd was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center with two broken bones […]
THE MICHAEL SMERCONISH EXPLAINER: Wiping The Smirk Off Mr. Clean With The Dirty Rag Of Truth
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Michael Smerconish looks like Mr. Clean, or, as he is known to Russian housewives, Mr. Proper. Michael Smerconish is also a country club Republican, a talk-radio host and, as of late, a regular fixture of the Inquirer’s Sunday Op-Ed page. Bully for him, we’re all for equal time and open debate even if we think he has his head up his ass most of the time. Sadly, because of guys like Smerconish — Machiavellian media climbers that will say ANYTHING to ensure their butt space in the game of musical chairs that is the talking head punditocracy […]