Dan Rubin — Inquirer columnist/beta-blogger and all-around friend of Phawker — knocks one out of the park today. He takes all the real, quality-of-life issues that just float around in the abstract in all the casino controversy coverage — easily lost amidst news of this lawsuit and that counter-suit — and puts a human face on it. Two faces, to be exact, as well as an address — which will soon be deserted for the suburbs. Thank you, Ed Rendell: Bob and Maureen have been experiencing the sort of revisionist view of their relationship with their city that you see […]
HOT DOC: The Last Temptation Of Lenny Dykstra
From the Mitchell Report: Lenny Dykstra played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball with two clubs, the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, from 1985 to 1996. As a player with the Phillies, Dykstra played in three All-Star games and finished second in Most Valuable Player balloting in 1993. Radomski first met Dykstra when he was playing for the Mets and became “very close with Lenny.” According to Radomski, when Dykstra reported to spring training in 1989, “his increased size was noticeable.” When Radomski asked him about his increased size, Dykstra admitted to taking steroids. Radomski also recalled that […]
SPORTS: The Mitchell Report
BY MIKE WOLVERTON SPORTS GUY Former Senator George Mitchell has wrapped up his 21-month investigation into the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs in baseball. Today at a press conference Mitchell will “name names” (reportedly 60-80 players). It should be fascinating theater. Will he just read the names, one after the other, like disaster victims? Or will there be music and highlights, with Mitchell intoning, “The next career going down in flames belongs to a small town kid…”. I can’t wait. Is today the day Alex Rodriguez loses his status as “Golden Boy/Future Rescuer of the Home Run Record”? Was Miguel […]
5 Things You Really Oughta Know Before You Go See Papertrigger At The Fire Tonight
1.) The five members of Papertrigger all live together in a house in Roxborough, “up on Ridge” as the locals say. This makes me imagine all of my nephews shacked up together, which in turn kind of makes me want to stop over with a tray of ziti and, like, fold their laundry or something. Actually, they all have day jobs and “it’s less like the Monkees crazy happy funtime house you imagine it to be and more like a really long, heavy episode of ‘Full House,’” says singer/drummer Brian Dwyer. 2.) Vital stats on Papertrigger: Guitarist/sax player Joshua Taylor, […]
HEAR YE: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Awesome in its hilarity. Hilarious in its awesome-ness. NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO!
TODAY I SAW…
BY JEFF DEENEY TODAY I SAW two 16-ft. moving trucks parked back-to-back in front of Mantua Hall, their loading ramps extended so they almost touched each other. Every day is moving day now. The building is slated to be emptied by the end of the year, and while most families have already left there are still some stragglers waiting for the Philadelphia Housing Authority to approve their new scatter-site placements. PHA is paying for the families to relocate, so the moving trucks come in pairs and when one leaves another arrives. The process is orderly, and as efficient as […]
POT CALLS KETTLE: Pope Disses Gore For ‘Dogma’
Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology. The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering. The German-born Pontiff said that while some concerns may be valid it was vital that the international community based its policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement. His remarks will be made […]
THIS JUST IN: Ike Turner Is Dead
“Rocket 88” by Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm is widely regarded as the very FIRST rock n’ roll ever recorded. REUTERS: LOS ANGELES — Rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Ike Turner, who rose to fame in the 1950s and became a star performing with his ex-wife Tina Turner, has died at age 76, said an official with the performer’s management company. CHICAGO TRIBUNE: It doesn’t matter if I invented rock ‘n’ roll, because it didn’t make me any money,” Turner told the Tribune. “I made $60 from ‘Rocket 88’: Six-oh. I don’t care about the glamour or the money. I don’t […]
THE HUCKABOOM: The Devil and Mitt Romney
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, asks in an upcoming article, “Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?” The article, to be published in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, says Huckabee asked the question after saying he believes Mormonism is a religion but doesn’t know much about it. His rival Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, is a member of the Mormon church, which is known officially as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. MORE RELATED: Is Mike Huckabee the presidential candidate shunning Mike Huckabee the preacher? Before […]
MEDIA: How Pigs Fly
Under the nascent ownership of Brian Tierney and Philadelphia Media Holdings, the Inquirer and Daily News have not only managed to stanch the chronic hemorrhage of readers, they’ve actually seen a modest, but no less substantive uptick in circulation. In this era of mass media ‘shrinkage,’ this is nothing short of a modern miracle. How did they do it? With prizes inside. That’s right, borrowing a page from the cereal-maker’s playbook, PMH has been giving away prizes like Bob Barker on ecstacy. To wit: Philadelphian Jennifer Barr is the grand-prize winner in the “Alvin and the Chipmunks” movie contest, which […]
THE BUDOS BAND: Volcano Song
The Budos Band opens for Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings Friday at the Fillmore.