PHAWKER: You were, to my mind, the first white rock critic of stature to take rap music seriously. You had that column in Spin back in the mid-80s when Spin really mattered and you were always plumbing the depths of Stetsasonic and Biz Markie and shit. I remember Guccione writing in his Letter From The Editor “is Leland really serious with this rap thing?” What flipped your switch and caused you to sit up and pay attention? JOHN LELAND: I lived in an apartment on 99th Street [in New York] which was right by the handball court and where there’s […]
THE REVOLUTION WILL BE DIGITIZED: The Video The Burmese Junta Does Not Want The World To See
Shaky amatuer video of pro-Democracy protest in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), at about the five minute mark the soldiers arrive in mass numbers and then the shooting breaks out, the crowd scatters and all is chaos.
NPR 4 THE DEAF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR September 11, AIDS, the Holocaust — comic and actress Sarah Silverman has repeatedly proved that practically nothing need be off limits in a joke. Take the title of her Off-Broadway show, which later became a film: Jesus Is Magic. Or the music video, available on her Comedy Central show’s blog, of “The Doodie Song.” Silverman has appeared in films including School of Rock and There’s Something About Mary and she was a member of the Saturday Night Live ensemble in the early ’90s. The second season of The Sarah Silverman Program begins tonight on Comedy Central. RADIO TIMES […]
HOT DOCUMENT: Bush Eats Kittens, Kicks Puppies
Dear jonathan, You’re not going to believe this — President Bush just vetoed health care for millions of low-income children! I know that’s hard to believe, and I wish I were making it up. But I’m not. Earlier today, President Bush vetoed a bipartisan expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) — a successful program that provides health care to [six] million low-income children. [Bush just vetoed a bill that would have enabled four million more children to join the ranks of the insured] All I can say is, compassionate conservatism indeed. I can’t believe Bush’s nerve, and […]
MONICA: Red Meat For Rotting Vegetables
BY MONICA YANT KINNEY INQUIRER COLUMNIST Dios mio, I’m thinking as Rudy Giuliani graces Geno’s Steaks with his presence the other night.So many young, white college kids hoping the GOP presidential front-runner might accidentally touch them as he moved among the masses. So many Republicans united by disgust over the changing face of America, they don’t notice the enemy playing futbol on a rec center field across the street. As campaign cliches go, it doesn’t get much better than Giuliani dropping by Joey Vento‘s neon palace in South Philly. The Italian American who wants to seal the border, bonding with […]
YA GOTTA BELIEVE: In This Town, The Ring Of Sweat Inside The Blue Collar Is Always Tinted Phillies Red
BY JAMES DOOLITTLE I swear that at some point yesterday, I sped past a news article that made mention of a Pat Burrell sighting at Five Guys Burgers over on Chestnut Street following Monday’s Phillies rally at Dilworth Plaza. For the record, I can’t put my finger on this news brief, although I will say it was full of non-specifics and only contained two purported facts — that Pat The Bat was eating a burger, and he was eating it alone. I spent a good part of last night questioning whether I could have hallucinated this item, or whether […]
TONIGHT: Destroy Your Safe And Happy Lives…
Before it is too late! Mekons, tonight, World Cafe Live! [painting by JOHN LANGFORD]
AUTHOR, AUTHOR: 13 Things You Are Not Supposed To Know About Daniel Handler, AKA Lemony Snicket
1. Mr. Handler is answering these questions while sipping his second Blanton’s in his posh room at the Four Seasons. 2. Mr. Handler plays accordion on the new Magnetic Fields album, Distortion, due out in January. He will be touring with the band on the West Coast. 3. Mr. Handler only bothered to learn to play the accordion so he could pick up chicks. “When I was coming up it was during that brief time in rock history when no keyboard whatsoever was cool, and that’s the only instrument I played. I really, really wanted to be in a band, […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh is a regular contributor to The New Yorker; his article in this week’s edition, headlined “Shifting Targets,” is about how the Bush administration is redefining the war in Iraq as a strategic battle between the U.S. and Iran. Hersh exposed the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and covers the administration closely. He’s a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and the recipient of five George Polk Awards, two National Magazine Awards and a dozen other prizes. His most recent book, Chain of Command, is a detailed analysis of events at Abu Ghraib. RADIO TIMES How ’bout them Phils….enough […]
HOT DOCUMENT: Letter From Bogota
Keith Richards and Andrew Loog Oldham at the Blue Boar Motorway Cafe, along the M1 between London and Birmingham, 1963. By Philip Townsend; never before published. JONATHAN, INTERESTING WRITE-UPS. YOU’VE ALMOST MANAGED TO GET AS FAR AFIELD AS I INTEND TO. WHILST DRIVING BACK FROM THE JUNGLESIDE TODAY IT OCCURED TO ME, AS REGARDING KEITH’S MEMORY ON ” SATISFACTION”: THE FELLOW HAS GOT SO MUCH MORE OF A STONES RECORDING MEMORY BANK TO TROLL THROUGH FOR RECALL. BEST, ANDREW LOOG OLDHAM SO PLZD TO SEE THE BRUCE S. TOUR IS FAIR PRICED AND WILL SAVE AMERICA(NS) ONCE MORE. I PLAN […]
HE SAID/SHE SAID: We Believe Anita Hill
WASHINGTON — Anita Hill, whose sexual harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas nearly derailed his Supreme Court nomination 16 years ago, said Tuesday she stood by her account of his behavior, disputing Thomas’ assertion in a new book that the charges were politically motivated. “I stand by my testimony” at a 1991 Senate Judiciary hearing on the nomination, Hill wrote in an Op Ed piece in The New York Times. “I will not stand by silently and allow him, in his anger, to reinvent me.” She said she believes the workplace environment is better now for women, but added that Thomas’ […]
PHILLY MAG: Why Ask WHYY? Here’s Why…
BY STEVE VOLK PHILADELPHIA MAGAZINE STAFF WRITER Marty Moss-Coane hadn’t planned on saying anything, but the longer she listened, the more it seemed that a particularly significant issue just wasn’t being raised. The occasion was a company-wide meeting in the summer of 2006 to discuss morale at WHYY, and the longtime host of the popular call-in show Radio Times felt she had some idea what was making her co-workers angry. So she finally stood up, both literally and figuratively the heft of her role at the station allowing her to say something to CEO Bill Marrazzo that maybe no one […]
MAILBAG: Wake Me Up When It’s Over
Dear Phawker, Even though it’s amusing to read all these baby boomers working up a froth every time the Bossman releases another disc I have to give in to the truth that I’m never going to get back on his bandwagon. I find the whole shtick terribly corny (see above photo) and tired. Steve Earle has done a better job at being Springsteen than Springsteen himself has over the last twenty-four years (when is the last time Bruce has written something as good as “The Devil’s Right Hand”?). Modern day Bruce, like modern day Stones, just depresses me. It’s like […]