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 […]
FRINGE PICKS: The Melting Bridge To Nowhere
The show must go on Jérôme Bel France’s Jérôme Bel, one of the most sought after choreographers in the world, will set his Bessie Award-winning, internationally renowned contemporary dance epic, The show must go on, with a full cast of twenty Philadelphia-based dancers. The Philadelphia premiere marks the first time a U.S. cast has ever performed the piece, which will be held at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater (260 South Broad Street). The local cast includes dancers diverse in age, race and disciplines including classical ballet dancers from the Pennsylvania Ballet, hip-hop dancers from Rennie Harris Puremovement, and student performers […]
CITIZEN MOM: Baby Mama Drama
CITY PAPER: After three days that contained enough absurdist theater to qualify for the Fringe Festival, the image I’m left with from the Republican National Convention is of the future Mrs. Levi Johnston — you know her better as Bristol Palin — standing onstage with her family and the McCains, being showered with the kind of wild-eyed applause usually reserved for that other rock star in the presidential race. There she was, all of 17, having sprouted a baby bump and a sketchy-looking fiancé since arriving in Minneapolis, and feeling the love from an arena — and a nation — […]
CINEMA: The Breeders
BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC If you think the McCain/Palin ticket would be a nightmare for reproductive rights, this month’s Andrew’s Video Vault brings to life a pair of disturbing visions that imagine the worst of what such a future could look like. Rain Without Thunder, the rarer of the features, is still unavailable on DVD. This early nineties film brings us to the year 2040 when a young girl and her mother are imprisoned for procuring a European abortion after America has descended into a Theocratic State. Filmed in a pseudo-documentary style where actors address the camera directly, the […]
IF 9 WERE 11: How We Are Getting Played In Pakistan
NEW YORK TIMES: “When the Americans kill innocent people, we must take revenge,” he said. Tell me about that, I asked Namdar, and his aides again shook their heads. Finally Namdar changed his line. “Well, we can’t stop anyone from going across” into Afghanistan, he said. “I’m not saying we send them ourselves.” And with that, Namdar raised his hand, declining to offer any more details. By many accounts — on the streets, among Western analysts, even according to his own deputies — Namdar was regularly training and dispatching young men to fight and blow themselves up in Afghanistan. An […]
LOSING MY RELIGION: The Vandals Stole The Jangle
PETER BUCK’S SIGNATURE RICKENBACKER GUITAR STOLEN AFTER R.E.M. SHOW IN HELSINKI, FINLAND BAND OFFERS REWARD FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO ITS RECOVERY Burbank, CA — R.E.M. has announced that Peter Buck’s signature Rickenbacker guitar was stolen from the stage immediately following the band’s performance last night at Finnair Stadium in Helsinki, Finland. The instrument is Buck’s iconic signature Rick, which has been the staple of the guitarist’s arsenal both live and in the studio since the band released its first EP Chronictown in 1982. The guitar means a great deal to Buck and to R.E.M. It is R.E.M.’s sincere hope that […]
WORTH REPEATING: Bonfire Of The Inanities
ADAM MCKAY ON THE HUFFINGTON POST: Something is not right. We have a terrific candidate and a terrific VP candidate. We’re coming off the worst eight years in our country’s history. Six of those eight years the Congress, White House and even the Supreme Court were controlled by the Republicans and the last two years the R’s have filibustered like tantrum throwing 4-year-olds, yet we’re going to elect a Republican who voted with that leadership 90% of the time and a former sportscaster who wants to teach Adam and Eve as science? That’s not odd as a difference of opinion, […]
FRINGE PICKS: Delta Dawn
Another Sleepy Dusty Delta Day Troubleyn/Jan Fabre Fabre’s rider specifies ten male canaries (the males sing) and one and a half tons of coal for the American premiere Another Sleepy Dusty Delta Day. The only U.S. appearance will be right here in Philly at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (480 South Broad Street). In its recent debut at Festival d’Avignon, Le Monde called the piece “a haunting work of blues, leading us down a path that is uncertain, but beautiful.” Fabre, widely recognized as one the most provocative choreographers in contemporary dance today, has been acclaimed for his versatility and experimental […]
WASILLA WITCH TRIALS: Sarah Palin Never Actually Banned A Book, But It’s Not Like She Didn’t Try
ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS: WASILLA — Back in 1996, when she first became mayor, Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books should she be asked to do so. According to news coverage at the time, the librarian said she would definitely not be all right with it. A few months later, the librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, got a letter from Palin telling her she was going to be fired. The censorship issue was not mentioned as a reason for the firing. The letter just said the new mayor felt Emmons didn’t fully […]
GAMBLOR: From Bad To Worse
INQUIRER: Foxwoods Casino has agreed to work with state and city leaders to move its long-delayed slots parlor planned for the South Philadelphia waterfront to the Gallery at Market East, The Inquirer has learned. Two sources familiar with the agreement, struck between Foxwoods and Gov. Rendell and Mayor Nutter this week, said the plan was to revive a vision for a downtown casino built over the Gallery. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity before Rendell and Nutter were scheduled to announce the plan at a 1 p.m. news conference today at City Hall. Although the Gallery was once […]
VALLEY OF THE SHADOW: Town Without Pity III
BY JEFF DEENEY There’s a street memorial on the corner of 10th and Tilghman Street in Chester so large that from a distance it looks like a growth engulfing the tree it sits under. The memorial commemorates the night in April, 2006 when Carl “Bo” Johnson was shot and killed by a Pennsylvania State Police trooper. The trooper was in Chester as a part of Operation Trigger Lock, a state run program aiming to sweep illegal guns off the streets. The trooper responded to a call of shots fired in the area of the notorious Bennett Homes housing project and […]
Q&A: David Berman of The Silver Jews
BY ED KING Since founding Silver Jews with with college friends Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich, songwriter/poet/cartoonist David Berman has rolled stoned, gathered a little moss along with a rotating cast of indie-rock contributors, hit rock bottom, toured the Promised Land, saw the light, and built an accomplished body of earthy, intelligent work. Over the years, as the band’s recordings moved from lo-fi to a matte finish country rock, Berman’s deep, wry, downbeat delivery remained a constant. In 2006, after years of not touring and surviving the lowest point in his personal life, Berman took Silver Jews, including his wife […]