Capitol dome, 10:21 AM Thursday, by JEFF FUSCO
Living In The Tibetan Book Of The Dead
EDITOR’S NOTE: Phawker South American Correspondent St. John Barned-Smith just completed a two year stretch in Paraguay for the Peace Corps. He is currently in Nepal, Katmandu to be exact, and you can almost see neighboring Tibet from there. Next stop is India. He will be sending intermittent dispatches as our newly deputized Himalayan Correspondent. BY ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH My Peace Corps service ended last Sunday. On Tuesday, I took a taxi to JFK airport through the ribbons of highway that look like a spider web of asphalt webbing and I boarded another international flight, this time for the Himalayas […]
DEATH OF A HATCHET MAN: Charles Colson, Nixon’s Dirty Trickster, Dead At 80
GUARDIAN: Charles “Chuck” Colson, the former special counsel to President Richard Nixon who was jailed for his role in a Watergate-related case and became an evangelical Christian, has died aged 80. Colson, who compiled Nixon’s infamous “enemies list” before the Watergate scandal led to the president’s resignation in 1974, died of complications from a brain haemorrhage after undergoing surgery. He was jailed for obstruction of justice in 1974 after being involved in an attempt to discredit Pentagon analyst Daniel Ellsberg who leaked secret defence papers on the Vietnam war to the New York Times. Colson, who was known for his […]
TONIGHT: All Jazz Hands On Deck
BY ZIVIT SHLANK Saxophonist, improviser and composer Steve Coleman is reticent to call himself a jazz musician because of preconceptions. It’s probably best to just call him a musical expressionist. Originally from Chicago, Coleman’s early explorations stemmed from his dad’s love of Charlie Parker. He gained foundational insight early on studying Windy City legends Bunky Green and Von Freeman at play. From there, it was onto New York in 1978 and that’s where the real work began. Coleman as an early, foundational member of the collective MBase, through countless collaborations and his most prolific vehicle, Five Elements, has been consistently […]
THE EARLY WORD: Metal Circus
Calling all electric warriors, metal gurus, jeepsters and Telegram Sams! Creem Circus — from the people who brought you Wastoid, i.e. Chris DiPinto of DiPinto Guitars fame — celebrates the release of their debut 7-inch 10 PM tonight at Gunners Run in the Piazza. The show is free. Why should you go? This is their cover sleeve art. Enough said. Still not convinced? Here’s how Creem Circus describes that thing they do: Tandem lead, sparkle-faced riffs, chocolate covered choruses with glamtastic outfits! Word has it the kids are gonna kill a man and then they’re gonna have to break up […]
WHY DEMS ALWAYS LOSE: A Q&A With Righteous Mind Author Jonathan Haidt
[Illustration by Johnny Selman] You’re smart. You’re liberal. You’re well informed. You think conservatives are narrow-minded. You can’t understand why working-class Americans vote Republican. You figure they’re being duped. You’re wrong. So begins William Saletan’s recent book review of Jonathan Haidt’s Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion in the New York Times. Haidt, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, argues that the left will continue to fail to capture the sympathies of the Great American Middle until it begins to understand what motivates ordinary people. Haidt argues that contrary to the conventional […]
THE EARLY WORD: Wayne’s World
If consistency is a positive quality in rock ‘n’ roll, then the Fountains of Wayne belong in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Since the late 90s, Fountains of Wayne have created one record after record with the same style, approach, personnel, pacing, and subject matter. Each record has the same clean, straight-ahead pop style with the same guitar/bass/drums arrangements. They have the same dry humor and flat, no-frills delivery they had when they started. The same singer sings lead each song, the same backup singer sings backup, the same guitarist plays the occasional leads. Did I mention that […]
THE SECRET HISTORY OF AMERICAN BANDSTAND: The Fall Of Bob Horn And The Rise Of Dick Clark — Drunk Driving, Statutory Rape, Geator The Bagman, And Mrs. Annenberg Is NOT Amused
Let us just say up front, we have no idea where the truth lies in all of this and merely offer this up for your consideration. In the last 10 years, a very different story about the rise of Bandstand has emerged that runs counter to the soft-focus squeaky-clean nostalgia we’ve all come to know and accept about the beginnings of the Philly-based Mecca of Sock-Hopdom. It is the story of a man named Bob Horn, a middle-aged hipster DJ, who hosted a show with a simple but then-unheard-of concept: Play rock n’ roll records for teenagers dancing on camera. […]
The End Of Phawker As You Know It
Take a good look at the old Phawker, it’s your last chance. Later today Phawker will be unveiling a radical site re-design. Bold. Clean. Sharp. Uncluttered. Easier to use, easier to read, and easier to tell all your little friends about. Great taste, less filling. Even better than the real thing. No, this isn’t the new look, it’s a full-page, four-color ad trumpeting our makeover on page 40 of this week’s issue of the City Paper which hits the street today. See you on the other side.
RIP: Dick Clark, ‘America’s Oldest Living Teenager’, Dead At 82
VARIETY: Dick Clark, known to several generations as the host of “American Bandstand,” died of a heart attack today. He was 82. Though he was most closely associated with the TV dance show, Clark was a shrewd entrepreneur in radio, television and music, creating a production empire that elevated his net worth to more than $100 million. During his career he won five Emmy awards, including one for “American Bandstand.” Attempts to act in front of the camera, however, proved virtually fruitless despite Clark’s wholesome American good looks and his predisposition for remaining youthful looking well into his later years. […]
STUDY: Florida Welfare Drug Tests Winds Up Costing The State Instead Of Saving Money
NEW YORK TIMES: Ushered in amid promises that it would save taxpayers money and deter drug users, a Florida law requiring drug tests for people who seek welfare benefits resulted in no direct savings, snared few drug users and had no effect on the number of applications, according to recently released state data. This week, Georgia instituted a nearly identical law, with supporters saying it would foster greater personal responsibility and save money. From July through October in Florida — the four months when testing took place before Judge Scriven’s order — 2.6 percent of the state’s cash assistance applicants […]
The Ritthenhouse Square Doyenne Who Moved A 1/2 Ton Of Weed Across The Mexican Border When She Was A 20 Year Old Hippie Chick Could Be Your Boss
JEFF DEENEY: This tale of drugs and death begins and ends far from Nogales—in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, probably the last place you’d expect to find a former drug smuggler. The small park is ringed by high-rise apartment and condo complexes filled with old-money blue hairs, baby-boomer corporate execs and U. Penn kids whose rich parents happily shell out for luxury off-campus housing. Nestled among the city’s elite is a woman with a secret past [not pictured, that’s Marianne Faithfull] that includes having moved almost a half-ton of weed from Mexico to the East Coast. Rita (her executive-level career position […]
MUST SEE TV: Drunk Santa Falls Down, Goes Boom!
We LOL’d and you will, too. Guaranteed. Or my name ain’t Nathan Arizona. H/T Scot D.