Chester, 11:31 AM and 11:42 AM by JEFF FUSCO
MEDIA: DN Wins Pulitzer For ‘Tainted Justice’ Series
PULITZER: Investigative Reporting – Awarded to Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman of the Philadelphia Daily News for their resourceful reporting that exposed a rogue police narcotics squad, resulting in an FBI probe and the review of hundreds of criminal cases tainted by the scandal. MORE PHILLY CLOUT: The dynamic duo are celebrating in the DN newsroom where we’re told Ruderman just drank champagne out of her sneaker.You can check out their winning series “Tainted Justice” here. MORE PHAWKER: That is phucking excellent! RELATED: Ever since he died alone and forsaken in the back seat of a white Cadillac at 29 on New […]
BLACK TO COMM: Where The Mothership Go At?
WASHINGTON POST: It might be the most awe-inspiring stage prop in the history of American music and it belonged to funk legends Parliament-Funkadelic. Since the Mothership vanished in Prince George’s County in 1982, rumors of its whereabouts have mutated into local lore: It burned in a fire. It was disassembled. It was stolen. Scrapped. Kidnapped. Thrown in the woods. Chained to a truck by a drug dealer and dragged to funk-knows-where. The band’s most devoted followers say it flew off into space. This is a story about trying to find it. In concert, the Mothership was last spotted in Detroit […]
GRUMPY OLD MEN: Q&A With The Phillies’ Bill Giles
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] Bill Giles, The P.T. Barnum Of The Phillies, And The Creature He Brought To Life BY ED KING Pouring Six Beers at a Time and Other Stories from a Lifetime in Baseball is the new autobiography from Philadelphia Phillies’ longtime executive and partner, Bill Giles. The book, like the man I spoke to, has the jovial tone of a true dreamer. A Bill Giles tale is punctuated with knowing chuckles and the uncanny sense that the story is taking on new details since its last telling. Giles came to the public eye in the Philadelphia sports […]
HELL TO PAY: Dawkins & Hitchens Plan To Have The Pope Arrested For ‘Crimes Against Humanity’
TIMES ONLINE: Richard Dawkins, the atheist campaigner, is planning a legal ambush to have the Pope arrested during his state visit to Britain “for crimes against humanity”. Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, the atheist author, have asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church. The pair believe they can exploit the same legal principle used to arrest Augusto Pinochet, the late Chilean dictator, when he visited Britain in 1998. The Pope was embroiled in new controversy this weekend over a letter he signed arguing that […]
GAMLBOR: All Bets Are On At Philly.com
EDITOR & PUBLISHER: The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Web site, Philly.com, has become the first newspaper to offer online sports betting in the United States. In a partnership with FanDuel, a British online betting company, visitors to Philly.com Instant Fantasy Gamescan play and win in one-day online fantasy sports games that pay off in real money. Bettors pick a team from players in scheduled Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association or National Hockey League games that day. If their team wins the fantasy contest, Philly.com says, there are “instant cash prizes — win tonight!” Users pay a $5 entry fee for each […]
THE SUPREMES: Goodbye John Paul
WASHINGTON POST: The rumors have been swirling for months, but Justice John Paul Stevens’s retirement announcement Friday drives home the reality that come October, for the first time in some 35 years, he will not emerge through the velvet curtains to take his place on the Supreme Court dais. It is a natural and inevitable evolution: the soon-to-be 90-year-old justice stepping aside, paving the way for a young president to anoint a new legal luminary to tackle the great questions of the day. It is a moment rich with possibilities but also one that warrants contemplation of the life of […]
TONITE: People Are Strange
When You’re Strange screens at 8:30 PM tonite at the Piazza WHEN YOU’RE STRANGE (2009, directed by Tom Dicillo, 90 minutes, U.S.) THE ECLIPSE (2009, directed by Conor McPherson, 88 minutes, Ireland) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Some things never change. He’s still hot, he’s still sexy and he’s still dead yet I was still hoping that this new documentary on Jim Morrison, the lead singer of the 60’s pop band The Doors, would give us some original angle on the much-mythologized rock casualty. Perhaps the fact that it is distributed by Rhino Entertainment should have been a warning: When […]
WORTH REPEATING: How Lady Went Gaga
[Artwork by BEN HEINE] NEW YORK MAGAZINE: Before the meeting, I assumed that someone with a stage name like “Lady” (her given name is Stefani Joanne Germanotta) was going to be a bit standoffish—that’s the strategy employed by most nervous young musicians on the occasion of their first real interview, in any case. But I never thought she was going to actually be Lady Gaga. These days, very few artists play the media like Bob Dylan, or stay in character as Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh did in his early career. In the age of VH1’s Behind the Music, tabloid culture, and […]
SIDEWALKING: Sometimes You Wynne
54th and Arlington 5:54 PM Tuesday by JEFF FUSCO INQUIRER: A news release from Wynn Resorts Ltd. in Las Vegas on Thursday afternoon sent seismic waves through Philadelphia: Gambling magnate Steve Wynn had changed his mind and did not want to build a casino on the Delaware River waterfront after all. A lawyer for the original investors in the Foxwoods Casino project said he was “amazed.” Mayor Nutter, who had just met Wynn on Monday to review drawings of the proposed gaming hall, was “stunned.” And Gov. Rendell was uncharacteristically silent, issuing an official “No comment.” MORE PREVIOUSLY: Steve Wynn […]
WILCOPALOOZA: The Solid Sound Festival
WILCO WORLD HQ: If you tuned in to the Boston stream on Tuesday night, you may have heard Jeff mention the first ever Solid Sound Festival — a Wilcoworld production scheduled for August 13-15, 2010 at MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) in North Adams (northern Berkshire County). In addition to being Wilco’s only Northeast US show of the Summer, the three-day event will also feature band members’ solo/side projects including Glenn Kotche’s On Fillmore, The Nels Cline Singers, The Autumn Defense (w/ John Stirratt and Pat Sansone) and Mikael Jorgensen’s Pronto. We plan for this to be the […]
SHAZAM: Usain Bolt To Run OWN Penn Relays
INQUIRER: Usain Bolt, the holder of world records in the 100 and 200 meters and the most recognizable name in track and field, will compete at the Penn Relays as part of the USA vs. the World event April 24, USA Track and Field announced Thursday. Bolt, of Jamaica, is scheduled to compete in the men’s 4×100 relay. He established world records in the 100 (9.58 seconds) and the 200 (19.19) at last summer’s World Outdoor Championships in Berlin. Bolt won three gold medals in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics, setting world records of 9.69 in the 100 and 19.30 […]