Despite all our Vento-bashing, let us be clear: Joey Vento has a constitutional right to hang whatever asshole sign he wants on his cheese steak casino shack. That is the price of free speech: Sometimes people say things you don’t want to hear. Sure, it makes him look like a tone-deaf xenophobic bully in the best case scenario and a paranoid ignoramus deeply mistrustful of anyone a shade darker than Caucasian in the worst case scenario. And it reflects poorly on the city, VERY poorly. But barring some proof of denial-of-service based on racial discrimination — and to date there […]
KILLADELPHIA: 4-Year-Old Shot Dead
NBC10: The shooting was reported prior to 5 p.m. inside a house on the 1900 block of South Salford Street.The child was rushed to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in critical condition but soon pronounced dead, police said.Chopper 10 over the scene showed police and fire department activity on the street outside the home.Police said they are questioning people but reported no arrests, and they were not immediately commenting on the circumstances of the shooting.
NPR 4 THE DEAF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR Bettye LaVette recorded her first hit, “My Man — He’s a Lovin’ Man,” at the age of 16. She toured with Ben E. King, Barbara Lynn, and Otis Redding. And now she’s being crowned the Comeback Queen for her recent albums, I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise, which came out in 2005, and her latest The Scene of the Crime. LaVette recorded The Scene of the Crime at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala., with the Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers and the legendary session musician and songwriter Spooner Oldham. (He played on Wilson Pickett’s “Mustang Sally” […]
BREAKING: Gwen Stefani Sex Tape Is A Hoax!
The guys over at Rock Town Hall were gloating over this ‘exclusive’ earlier today, and now they have egg all over their face. I mean, c’mon, that is so obviously NOT Gavin Rossdale. And nobody does it doggie style anymore. That is so last year.
NEWS CLUES: It’s Like Adderall For Your Eyeballs
MONSTER: Father Stomps Mother To Death In Front Of 7-Year-Old Son Ferman said the youngest son told police his father became angry Saturday night over a takeout food order and began “punching his mother in the mouth.” The boy tried to call for help, but his father ripped out the phone cord, locked the front door, and continued beating his wife. “The boy related that his mother then said to him, ‘I’m going to die. I love you,’” the criminal complaint said. The boy told police his father left the kitchen and put on a pair of shoes, “returned to […]
DAN FOGELBERG: Longer Than
Soporific sire of soft-rock, dead at 56.
CINEMA: Shank Of The Evening
STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING (2007, directed by Andrew Wagner, 111 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC The actor Frank Langella’s name is always afforded the greatest respect by serious watchers of theater, although the genius he has shown on stage has seldom been visible in his film work. Langella made his big screen splash in 1979, recreating his stage role in John Badham’s Dracula (poorly-received it was quickly dubbed “Disco Dracula” by wags because Badham previously directed Saturday Night Fever and from then on, you’d be hard pressed to find an actor of his reputation who has appeared […]
HEAR YE: Now Playing On Phawker Radio
Awesome in its hilarity. Hilarious in its awesome-ness. NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO! WHY BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU!
TRAILER: Persepolis
This looks cool, Punky Brewster comes of age in post-Revolution Iran. RELATED: TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iranian police have closed down 24 Internet cafes and other coffee shops in as many hours, detaining 23 people, as part of a broad crackdown on immoral behavior in the Islamic state, official media said on Sunday. The action in Tehran province was the latest move in a campaign against fashion and other practices deemed incompatible with Islamic values, including women flouting strict dress codes and barber shops offering men Western hair styles. “Using immoral computer games, storing obscene photos … and the presence of […]
THE TAO OF EVA: Shitting Pretty In Tokyo
EDITOR’S NOTE: Phawker assistant editor Eva Liao is currently in Japan on an exciting journalistic-type assignment that we’d have to kill you if we told you about, etc. However, she promises to send us a little culture-shock postcard each and every day. Her first one concerns the peculiarities of Japanese bathroom etiquette. The Japanese have mastered the art of shitting in public bathrooms. I look forward to doing it everyday. Just because I like you, I made this easy-to-use tutorial. 1. Toilet Seat Cleaner: Step One: Hold toilet paper under knob and press the gray button to dispense anti-bacterial spray. […]
BE VERY AFRAID: The Walls Have Ears
CBS NEWS: Two months ago, President Bush made a strong argument for updating a law which oversees the government’s ability to engage in surveillance of Americans and non-citizens, which requires warrants from a secret court. He spoke of the importance to our nation’s security to have a bill ready for him to sign, so as to not “limit” his administration’s anti-terrorism activities.But underneath this urgency was a threat: Even if Congress sent him an updated Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) bill with the provisions he said were required to pursue wiretaps of individuals with a minimum of judicial oversight, Mr. […]
IN THE FAST LANE: When Anchorbabes Attack!
NEW YORK POST: December 16, 2007 — A foxy Philly anchorwoman — who once e-mailed sexy swimsuit snaps to a married TV talking head — became an anger woman today, calling a female cop a “dyke bitch” and slugging her in the face, law-enforcement sources said. The bizarro incident occurred when Alycia Lane, an Emmy Award-winning anchor for KYW-TV in Philadelphia, was riding in a cab with hunky radio DJ boyfriend Chris Booker and another couple when their taxi was stalled behind a slow-moving, unmarked police car, sources said. When the unmarked car stopped for a light at Ninth Avenue […]
FORECAST: Everyone Knows It’s Windy
Monday, Dec 17 High: 39 °F RealFeel®: 22 °F A rain or snow shower in spots this morning; otherwise, mostly sunny with winds gusting past 45 mph