January 5, 2007 – Police are on the scene of a water main break that happened in the area of 3rd and Girard in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia just before noon. Police are stopping traffic including trolleys approaching the area. Reports say that the 30-inch water main break has lead to waters as deep as a foot in some areas. The water department has been notified. ACTION NEWS: Glub, Glub, Glub [If you look closely you can almost see Sweeney’s complete Belle & Sebastian singles collection circling the drain. Tragic. Just tragic.–Ed.]
NOW PLAYING: NEW SHINS ON PHAWKER RADIO
BY ED KING, ROCK SNOB My first serious exposure to the music of The Shins was through that godawful Zach Braff film, Garden State. In a film that aspired to be The Graduate but was minus the talents of Mike Nichols and Dustin Hoffman, The Shins provided the Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack minus the song-smithery and understated cool of Paul Simon. I didn’t want to kill the band based on their association with Braff’s first step toward the pantheon of TV actors done in by good fortune and hubris (see McLean Stevenson through Rob Morrow), so I kept an ear […]
THIS IS ONLY A TEST: Thank You For Not Eating
As reported on WHYY, The Locust Bar is planning to decrease the number of items on the food menu to qualify for the smoking ban exemption. If we actually did some reporting, we would surely find many other bars doing the same. But that’s not gonna happen, so let’s just say they are. And from the look of things, a great many of you get your nourishment in bars. So it would only follow that a famine of epic proportions may well descend upon our fair city, leaving us all walking around naked, pregnant-looking and with flies on our faces. […]
BUZZ BITCHSLAP: Bissinger Calls On Columnists Grogan And Smith To Do The Right Thing And Pull Golden Parachutes For The Good Of The Inquirer
FROM THE BLINQ COMMENTS SECTION: Given what is happening at the Inquirer, I hope that columnists Stephen A. Smith and John Grogan do what is right and take voluntary buyouts given they have both hit the jackpot in other realms and could care less about what they write for the paper. They both mail their columns in now. Smith is preoccupied with his ESPN show and is apprently never in the city he allegedly covers. Grogan is mired in the gooey syrup that made Marley and Me such a hit and has never shown any knowledge of the region whatsoever.Neither […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
ON TODAY’S FRESH AIR ?A Scanner Darkly,? the film based on the novel by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick ? about drug addiction, paranoia, government surveillance and corporate greed ? is now out on DVD. On the next Fresh Air, we hear from RICHARD LINKLATER, who wrote and directed it. THE WORLD CAFE Formed in 2000 from the ashes of the outstanding Minneapolis band Lifter Puller, The Hold Steady might just be the best bar band in America. With its riff-heavy mixture of classic rock and Craig Finn’s lyrically dense storytelling, the group crafts intricately detailed musical universes that […]
This Is Why We Stopped Watching Television
It’s nothing but Leo Sayer abuse, and we simply won’t have it. Because when you need love, you just close your eyes and guess what? You feel love.
STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES: They Sell Dildos In California, Girl, Don’t They Warn Ya & Man It Pours
BY JOHN SHIFFMAN A Bryn Mawr College student wrongly jailed for three weeks on drug charges by Philadelphia police has settled her civil-rights case for $180,000. Janet H. Lee, now a senior, was arrested at Philadelphia International Airport in 2003 after screeners found three condoms filled with white powder in her carry-on and city police said field tests showed that the substances likely contained opium and cocaine. Lee was held in lieu of $500,000 bond for 21 days, until further drug testing proved that her unlikely story – that the powder was just flour – was true. As part of […]
National Association Of Black Journalists Questions Preponderance of Minorities On THE LIST
The Philadelphia Inquirer began informing the 71 newsroom employees Tuesday night that they would be let go as of Jan. 17, 2007. Early reports indicate that as many as 14-16 black journalists were among those laid off, or as much as 22.5 percent of the overall layoffs. According to the 2006 ASNE newsroom census, approximately 11.3 percent of the Inquirer?s newsroom staff is African American. ?This takes the Inquirer in the wrong direction,? said NABJ President Bryan Monroe, vice president and editorial director of Ebony and Jet magazines. ?While we recognize that economic realities are forcing industry executives to make […]
Cover Wars: Whose Artfag Kung-Fu Is Stronger?
Well, well, well. The bitch is back. Not sure what we mean by that, but it sure sounds like a badass opening. First a few words about our boy Jeff Fusco — hardest working family man in show business, great big grizzly of a man, but a real Gentle Ben. Always a gentleman and a scholar. He always gets The Shot, too. Although for reasons that elude us, PW elected NOT to use one for this week’s The Year In Photos cover. Why the hell didn’t they use that Obama money shot and plug into the zeitgeist for a second? […]
Company Gives List To Guild, Guild Names Names
What follows is a list of the 71 Guild members at the Philadelphia Inquirer who have been notified that they will be laid off. This list was created by the Company and sent to the Guild on January 3rd. Guild representatives are in the process of comparing the Company’s information on hire dates and job categories with the Guild’s records and will also meet with Company representatives on Friday to discuss bumping rights and other layoff related issues.
NPR FOR THE DEF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FROM ROLLING STONE After the screening, Borat returns to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to shower and transform back into Sacha Baron Cohen: mild-mannered Londoner, fiance of actress Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers), reluctant sometime resident of Los Angeles. I wait outside the restaurant Asiate for him to appear. I’d met Baron Cohen once before, three years ago, when he was recording his first series of Da Ali G Show for HBO, interviewing a panel of leading scientists as pseudo hip-hop youth talk-show host Ali G. (“Let’s talk about when technology goes horribly wrong: Could there be another Nintendo 64?”) At the […]
YOU’VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY: First Woman In U.S. History Is Sworn In As Speaker Of The House
SAN FRANCISCO — It shouldn’t be surprising that it took more than 200 years for Congress to select a female speaker of the House. The United States isn’t exactly at the forefront when it comes to women in politics. Women make up a larger share of the national legislature in 79 other countries, including China, Cuba, North Korea and Vietnam, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an association of national legislatures. The U.S. even trails a couple of fledgling democracies: Afghanistan and Iraq. “When my colleagues elect me as speaker on Jan. 4, we will not just break through a glass […]