BREAKING: Don’t Call It A Comeback

Roc-A-Fella Records’ CEO and Def Jam President Jay-Z will leave the office in November to embark on the “American Gangster Live” tour, a five-date outing in support of his upcoming album, American Gangster. Jay-Z will treat fans to exclusive shows in mid-sized, intimate venues in Los Angeles, Chicago, Baltimore, New York and Philadelphia, where he will perform songs from his American Gangster album, which is the rapper’s interpretation of the upcoming American Gangster movie. The rapper will kick off the tour at the House of Blues in Los Angeles on November 6, the same day the American Gangster album lands […]

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NEWS CLUES: It’s Like Adderall For Your Eyeballs

NUTTY PROFESSOR: Regrets What He Said, If He Said It James D. Watson, who shared the 1962 Nobel prize for deciphering the double-helix of DNA, apologized “unreservedly” yesterday for comments reported this week suggesting that black people, over all, are not as intelligent as whites. In an interview published Sunday in The Times of London, Dr. Watson is quoted as saying that while “there are many people of color who are very talented,” he is “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa.” “All our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — […]

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WORTH REPEATING: Takes ‘A Wide Stance’ To Win Big

This morning, Stephen Colbert discussed his just-announced candidacy for the President of the United States with Tim Russert on Meet The Press. Crazy like a Fox, Colbert’s southern strategy is to run as a Republican in the South Carolina primary and to lose and lose big. How? By tapping Senator Larry Craig as his running mate, of course. And if that doesn’t work, there’s always the closeted antics of Chuck Noblet — himself no stranger to the coded entreaties of men’s room meet-and-greets, and widely available on DVD — to drive gay-averse Dixiecrats into the arms of the enemy: Russert: […]

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INSTA-REVIEW: Five Things You Should Know About Spoon Last Night At The Electric Factory

1. They start off mellow, measured and, frankly, boring-as-hell. Half the crowd is asleep by the third song. Please oh please, Britt! Break out some of them catchy tunes. You know, like that “Camera” song. Yeah, that one! Okay, that’s more like it. Hips are moving. People are grooving. Now the pace is set for the rest of the night. 2. “The Ghost of You Lingers” is meant to be heard live. The bassist and guitarists are banging, banging, banging on the keyboards. Britt’s tremulous voice lingers and echoes as if he were singing into a vast subterranean cavern. It’s […]

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ALT-RAWK TALK: Thirteen Astonishing Things You Are NOT Supposed To Know About Spoon

[As told to JONATHAN VALANIA] 1. Britt Daniel has never killed anyone. “Technically, no,” he says when asked. 2. “Don’t Make Me A Target” was originally titled “Don’t Blame Me I Voted For Nader.” 3. Spoon is named after the Can song of the same name. Britt first learned about Kraut Rock in the 11th grade from his obsessive study of every word uttered by Julian Cope. 4. Britt Daniel may have voted for Ralph Nader instead of Al Gore in 2000. “I think maybe I did,” he says when asked. 5. Britt Daniel is 36 years old and has […]

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MAILBAG: Less Anderson

DEAR PHAWKER, Normally i wouldn’t comment, but man, by my watch — phawker were the only ones that nailed the review. love wes anderson, but i thought critics by and large gave this movie a huge pass. when a movie’s is this dull, and strangly lifeless; anderson’s whole thing starts to feel like a formula to me. and when it starts to feel like a formula — it cheapens the memories of movie’s past.. and that is a drag. nice job on stepping out on this one. JIM SUTCLIFFE PREVIOUSLY: The Royal Dressing Down PREVIOUSLY: Live And Direct From The […]

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THAT’S COMCASTIC! Or Why ‘Net Neutrality’ Matters

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Comcast Blocks Some Internet Traffic NEW YORK (AP) — Comcast Corp. actively interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online, a move that runs counter to the tradition of treating all types of Net traffic equally. The interference, which The Associated Press confirmed through nationwide tests, is the most drastic example yet of data discrimination by a U.S. Internet service provider. It involves company computers masquerading as those of its users. If widely applied by other ISPs, the technology Comcast is using would be a crippling blow to the BitTorrent, eDonkey and […]

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FEAR OF A WOMAN: 126 Killed By Suicide Assassins

KARACHI, Pakistan — A suicide bombing in a crowd welcoming former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto killed at least 126 people Thursday night, shattering her celebratory procession through Pakistan’s biggest city after eight years in exile. Two explosions went off near a truck carrying Bhutto, but police and officials of her party said she was not injured and was hurried to her house. An Associated Press photo showed a dazed-looking Bhutto being helped away. Officials at six hospitals in Karachi reported 126 dead and 248 wounded. It was believed to be the deadliest bomb attack in Pakistan’s history. Bhutto flew home […]

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NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t

FRESH AIR The three-day March on the Pentagon in October 1967 inspired Norman Mailer to write Armies of the Night and stirred many to action. While the march 40 years ago cannot be considered a turning point in the anti-war movement in the 1960s, it did serve to galvanize opposition to the Vietnam War. ALSO, Novelist Junot Diaz‘s first novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao explores the complexities of living in two cultures at once. Set in both the United States and in the Dominican Republic, the novel follows the story of Oscar Wao in prose that frequently […]

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