DAILY SHOW: As Jon Stewart reported on last night’s Daily Show, 30 GOP Senators (that’s 75% of all Republicans in the Senate for those keeping score at home) recently voted in favor of KBR and Halliburton’s right to gang-rape employees. It’s shocking, I know. However, it is important to keep in mind that KBR and Halliburton directed Chinatown. MORE THE GUARDIAN: US defence firms are to be barred from lucrative government contracts if they refuse to allow employees access to the courts, after a woman working for a Halliburton subsidiary in Iraq was prevented from taking legal action over an […]
TRUTH IS OUT THERE: Was Balloon Boy A Fraud?
[Artwork by Chris Toumanian] ASSOCIATED PRESS: The disappearance and sudden discovery of the boy have raised questions about whether it was all an elaborate attention-getting stunt orchestrated by the Heenes or simply a bizarre case of a child who ran away and hid after getting spooked by a scolding from his father. Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said authorities do not believe at this point if it was a hoax but he would meet with investigators Friday to decide whether to look into the matter further. Asked during an impromptu news conference outside his house whether the incident was a […]
PHEWWW: Phils Trump Dodgers 8-6 In Game One
[Photo by Chickie’s & Pete’s / PLAY²] NEW YORK TIMES: LOS ANGELES — The how-to guide to beat the Philadelphia Phillies is shrinking by the day. It says to attack them with left-handed pitchers, so that was what the Los Angeles Dodgers did. It recommends knocking out their starter early, turning the game over to the bullpen, the underbelly of their pitching staff. The Dodgers did that, too. All they have to show for their strategy is an 8-6 loss Thursday night, a game that burnished the Phillies’ reputation as one dangerous, if delightfully unpredictable, team. In Game 1 of […]
SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW: 6-Year-Old Boy Climbs Into Flying Saucer Balloon And Floats Away
ASSOCIATED PRESS: A 6-year-old boy climbed into a homemade balloon aircraft in Colorado and floated away Thursday, forcing officials to scramble to figure out how to rescue the boy as the balloon hurtled through the air. The bizarre scene played out live on television and prompted fears that the flying saucer-shaped balloon would crash with the young child inside. The balloon rotated slowly in the wind, tipping precariously at times. Cathy Davis of the Larimer County Sheriff’s Department told reporters the balloon was owned by the boy’s parents and tethered behind the family’s home. She said two sons were playing […]
CONCERT REVIEW: The Boss At The Spectrum
BY ADAM BONANNI “How does he do it?” was the question that lingered in my mind up to The Boss’s appearance at the Spectrum Wednesday night. Over 30 years of touring, and I couldn’t imagine him mustering up the same kind of energy rushing through me as I headed down Broad St. to see him with the rip-roarin E Street Band for the very first time! Which only proves the shortcomings of my imagination, because the guy put out like a man half his age. Taking the stage with the ground-shaking opener “Thundercrack,” Springsteen was smiling ear to ear, eyes […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
[CLICK TO ENLARGE] FRESH AIR While most record companies of the 1940s and 1950s made money in one genre, Cincinnati-based King Records spread the love to R & B, rockabilly, bluegrass, western swing and country. Jon Hartley Fox tells the story in his new book King of the Queen City. Combining archival research with contemporary interviews, Fox describes the company by focusing on the people who made up the culture, including executives Sydney Nathan, Henry Glover and Ralph Bass, as well as artists like Red Foxx, Johnny “Guitar” Watson and James Brown. A Dayton resident now based in California, Fox […]
SEX IN THE CITY: Men I’ve Dated
BY GLORIA MARIS A couple of days ago, I picked up a copy of Sarah Stolfa’s The Regulars, a compilation of portrait-snapshot photos the author took while “she earned the dubious distinction of Unfriendliest Bartender In Town” at McGlinchey’s. I’d gone into the bookstore for something else but thought I’d enjoy flipping through the portraits to see if there was anybody I recognized. To my surprise and delight, I found a photo a guy I’d slept with a few times in the first year after my ex-husband and I split. The photo must have been taken about the time that […]
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
‘We Don’t Get Much Nobel Prize News Down Here’
MIAMI HERALD: GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — Here in the land of limbo, the news of President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize landed with more of a whimper than wild enthusiasm among those waging their part in the war on terror. Most troops interviewed this week reflected the surprise of their commander in chief on waking up to the news Friday morning. More than a few hadn’t heard about the award for the president who pledged to empty the prison camps here until they were asked about it in an interview with The Miami Herald. […] Still, the Nobel […]
THE EARLY WORD: Andrew Bird At The E-Factory
With St. Vincent at the Electric Factory October 25th. Sometime in 1977 — A four-year-old Andrew Bird picks up his first violin at the age of 4. Actually, it is a Cracker Jack box with a ruler taped to it, as the first of his many Suzuki music lessons involve simply bowing to the teacher and going home. So begins a formative period soaking up classical repertoire completely by ear followed by a teenage expansion into Hungarian Gypsy music, early jazz, country blues, South Indian music and more, as well as the discovery of an uncanny whistling ability. MORE CONCERT […]
HOT DOC: Inky/DN Go Up For Auction Nov. 18th
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 3:15 PM To: All PN, BSCN and PHILLY.COM Employees Subject: Bankruptcy Update/Schedule As many of you may have now seen based on the reporting in The Inquirer and Daily News, the company filed papers yesterday in federal district court to appeal last week’s ruling on credit bid rights. We continue to believe it is in the best interests of the company to have an auction process in which all potential bidders are treated equally and that giving the lenders the right to credit bid will hinder the willingness of other bidders to get involved in […]
EARLY WORD: Calling All Copyright Criminals
[[ [Copyright Criminals Trailer] Next Tuesday, October 20, head on down to The Rotunda at 40th and Walnut for a free screening of the documentary COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS. Presented by ITVS’s Community Cinema program, COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS examines the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the related debates over artistic expression, copyright law, and money. The film includes interviews with many of hip-hop music’s founding figures like Public Enemy, De La Soul, and Digital Underground, and the world’s most funky drummer Clyde Stubblefield — while also featuring emerging hip-hop artists from record labels Definitive Jux, Rhymesayers, Ninja Tune, and more. […]