INQUIRER: In November 2007, the governor asked for a comprehensive “fiscal and performance audit” of the agency, which directs $25 million in annual profits to the city and any surplus funds to the schools. “Accounts of skyrocketing expenses, bloated payrolls, excessive salaries, and parking-garage mismanagement suggest that the internal fiscal and management controls” were not in place, he wrote. This week, 20 months and $122,000 later, a near-final draft of the report appears that is neither comprehensive nor prescriptive. “Our procedures did not constitute an audit, review, or compilation of the information provided and, accordingly, we do not express an […]
CINEMA: That’s Not Funny, That’s Sick
FUNNY PEOPLE (2009, directed by Judd Apatow, 146 minutes, U.S.) SOUL POWER (2009, directed by Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, 93 minutes, U.S.) $9.99 (2006., directed by Tatia Rosenthal, 78 minutes, Israel/Australia) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Right from the start Funny People, the third film from director Judd Apatow, seems to have a few big things working against it, number one being the aging moron comic Adam Sandler. Not just Sandler but Sandler in a cancer dramedy that clocks in at a laugh-exhausting two hours and twenty minutes. Stunt casting, ballooning lengths and again with the endless guy-hang talk; it seems as […]
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Top 5 Things You Should Know About Fleet Foxes At The Electric Factory Last Night
WEIRD BEARD: Robin Pecknold, Fleet Foxes, Electric Factory, Last Night [Photo by TIFFANY YOON] 1. On a late July night in Philly, the Great Unwashed takes on a whole new meaning in the sticky, crowded Electric Factory. As the metal ceiling fans squeak futilely overhead, I’m hemmed in by Cousin-It-with-a-perm and a fresh-faced young fellow, no more than 17, who seems blissfully unaware that his T-shirt logo is imagery from the Third Reich. 2. Blue Öyster Cult had more than one album; more than one song, for that matter. When opening act Espers—Philly’s sleepy freak-folk celebs of choice—announce that they’re […]
MAKING NICE: The Beer Heard Round The World
[Courtesy of THE OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTOSTREAM] BOSTON GLOBE: They did not link arms, and there were no public apologies. But a subdued meeting over beers on the White House patio last evening appeared to achieve President Obama’s goal of encouraging a deeper dialogue on race between Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge police Sergeant James Crowley. The White House, which carefully choreographed the event, kept reporters out and would not disclose what was said after the unlikely trio, joined by Vice President Joe Biden, sipped their cold ones. But after the images of a peaceful dialogue were […]
HEAR YE: Jack Penate Everything Is New
Now playing on Phawker Radio! Out August 18th on XL. THE GUARDIAN: In fact, the really startling musical reinvention of 2009 is that of Jack Peñate. He hit the charts in 2007 as a kind of male equivalent of Kate Nash, a concept it’s hard to countenance, even now, without emitting a reflexive yell of panic. He peddled anaemic, bandy-legged gorblimey guitar pop with a side-order of anaemic, bandy-legged gorblimey cod-reggae. At least he did until March of this year, when he released Tonight’s Today, which seems destined to remain 2009’s premier WTF? moment, unless Bruce Springsteen is planning on […]
TONITE: Better Late Than Never
Apologies to Jersey Dan, we promised to post this snazzy flier and didn’t remember that we hadn’t until we were already at the show. But our word is all we have, so here ya go. And while we are coming clean, you should know that for at least two days we had up the headline WARNING: Do NOT Spill Bear On This Man re: the hoofties that beat a man to death at a Phillies game for spilling beer on them. And, it was our frenemies at Philebrity that pointed it out! Oh, the humanity! PW we feel your shame.
THE FLEET FOXES: Winter Hymnal
[Dir. by SCOTT COLAN] The Fleet Foxes play the Electric Factory tonight with the mighty Espers. PREVIOUSLY: QUEER AS FOLK or How Philadelphia Got Its Freak On [Illustration by ALEX FINE] BY JONATHAN VALANIA It all started, for me anyway, at Brooke Sietinsons‘ walk-up loft/hobbit hole on Second Street, somewhere in that OK Corral-esque strip between the Standard Tap and the 700 Club. Even though she no longer lives there, the exact location will have to remain a secret because, technically speaking, L&I could still fine her for dispensing the Morning Glory seeds of Philly freak-folkdom without a permit. But […]
TONITE: Secret Cinema
The Secret Cinema presents ISLAND OF LOST SOULS * Thursday, July 30th, 6 PM American Philosophical Society Museum Philosophical Hall 104 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia 215-440-3440 * BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Recently I was chatting with my three year old about his great passion, animals. Sometimes you forget that a fresh mind needs all angles explained to them. “We’re animals too,” I said. His eyes grew wide. “No way!” he shook his head in disbelief. I’m do not think I convinced him although he stopped challenging me after I repeated the fact a few times; he saw the gap between […]
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 […]
ALIVE: Baby Cut From Slain Mother’s Womb Found
CNN: A baby believed to be ripped from the womb of its mother has been found, Massachusetts police said Wednesday. In addition, authorities have arrested a suspect in connection with the crime. Darlene Haynes was found slain and wrapped in bedding in her apartment closet, according to authorities. Police had searched for the baby since Monday, when her mother, Darlene Haynes, was found dead in the closet of her Worcester apartment. Officers received tips from women who became suspicious of Julie A. Corey, a friend of Haynes who turned up with a newborn girl at the time that Haynes went […]
BIG NEWS: Dr. Dog Signs With Anti
Anti Records, home to such iconic artists as Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Mavis Staples, is proud to announce the signing of acclaimed symphonious pop purveyors Dr. Dog. The band, which has amassed a dedicated audience through four remarkable albums and a steady diet of exhilarating live shows, is currently preparing to record a new LP set for release in early 2010. Guitarist-vocalist Scott McMicken promises a subtle yet profound evolution in the band’s harmonic sound. (continued, with tour dates, after the jump)
TONITE: Nekophilia
BY JONATHAN VALANIA A tomboyish siren with a thick red mane and lungs of fine Corinthian leather, Neko Case is equal parts gender warrior and indie aesthete, a potent hybrid aptly evoked by the Joan-of-Arc-on-a-muscle-car tableau on the cover her new album, Middle Cyclone. Case is also in possession of what is arguably the greatest voice of her generation — clarion in tone; trans-national in its reach; and bottomless in its capacity to transmute wryly-observed public fictions into inescapable private truths that all more or less boil down to: I am woman, hear me ruminate. That voice was in fighting […]
SPITZER AGONISTES: Vanity Fair Investigating Whether Or Not Client #9 Was Set Up By Wall Street
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] GAWKER: The idea that Eliot Spitzer’s downfall was engineered by the financial industry whose profits he threatened with regulation has made the rounds on the internet for a while. Now Vanity Fair is siccing two investigative reporters on the story. Gawker has learned that Vanity Fair‘s Craig Unger and John Connolly are currently looking into the prospect that the banking and financial interests that Spitzer took on during his tenures as attorney general and governor of New York tipped off the feds to Spitzer’s proclivities and launched the investigation. MORE PREVIOUSLY: INJUSTICE DEPARTMENT: Was The Spitzer […]