PHILADELPHIA — The Darfurian audience at the forum took their turns to lash out the Sudanese ambassador. Dr. Ali Dinar, president of the Darfur Alert Coalition, reminded Ukec of the article he wrote three years ago in Iowa in which described the situation in Darfur as genocide. Ukec laughed sarcastically asking Dinar whether he is “asking a question or chatting with him.” Then the situation in the hall started turning ugly. Sara Mansour, a woman from Darfur, addressing Ukec told him to “stop lying” before leaving without waiting for his response. Ukec gestured with a big smile “come back young […]
BRIGHTBLACK MORNING LIGHT: Everybody Daylight
Yes, this is what you think it is.
King Britt, Need New Body Dude Score Pew Grants
Ki CUT CHEMIST: King Britt spins the crowd before Obama’s arrival at the Electric Factory, last month. Twelve fellows were awarded $50,000 each to spend any way they wish. The Pew program, in its 16th year, aims to identify Philadelphia-area artists at critical career junctures and give them the freedom to advance their artistic ambitions. “One of the things [recipients] say to us is that now when people ask them what they do, they say first and foremost, ‘I am an artist.’ There is something about the validation that these grants bring,” program director Melissa Franklin says. Validation, yes, and […]
KILLADELPHIA: One More Dead Since U Went 2 Bed
Showing no signs of slowing down, Philadelphia’s homicide tally has jumped by four since Sunday, bringing the latest count to 181. Yesterday at about 1:30 p.m. police found a 19-year-old man with a single gunshot wound to the neck when they were called to 61st Street near Elmwood Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia. The unidentified man was pronounced dead at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania at about 2 p.m. Cops yesterday also said a 42-year-old woman. Terry Bassey, who was shot last Wednesday has died. Bassey was found on 41st Street near Lancaster Avenue, unconscious and bleeding from a […]
LOCAL RAWK: NY Times Gives The Teeth Big Ups
“The Teeth’s first full-length album, ‘You’re My Lover Now’ (Park the Van), is a population explosion. Songs fling shards of narrative about dozens of characters: lovers, friends, schoolkids, parents, depressives, liars, strivers, even partygoers tootling kazoos. The bits of stories arrive in an even more manic outpouring of tunes: honky-tonk, garage-rock, music-hall Merseybeat, frantic new wave and a final tinkly philosophical ballad with an apt self-diagnosis: ‘You got too many ideas building up inside of you.’ It’s an overload, but an exhilarating one; these songs are worth decompressing.” — John Pareles NEW YORK TIMES: And That’s Just The First Song!
SMELLS LIKE JOURNALISM: Inky’s Sam Wood Ends When Strippers Attack Piece With Sneaker Zinger
Giberson accused two dancers of stealing a pair of sneakers from her locker over the weekend, Saymon said. The argument grew heated. Giberson [NOT pictured] drew a folding knife. As her companion, Jennie Santos, 23, grappled with the dancers, Giberson slashed repeatedly at their shoulders, backs, buttocks and thighs, Saymon said. Leaving the dancers bleeding in the dressing room, Giberson and Santos fled and drove home to Collingswood. Shortly after, they were arrested by Collingswood police, Saymon said. The dancers were rushed to Cooper University Hospital, where they were treated for deep cuts. The sneakers have not been found. INQUIRER: In […]
NO JOKE: Pentagon Spent $7.5 Million On Gay Bomb
The proposal came from the Air Force’s Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, which requested $7.5 million to develop a so-called “gay-bomb.” Using the Freedom of Information Act, Edward Hammond, director of the U.S. office of the Sunshine Project, obtained a copy which was “part of a military effort to develop non-lethal weapons.” If completed, the bomb would release a chemical aphrodisiac “and by virtue of either breathing or having their skin exposed to this chemical… soldiers would become gay.” This would cause their units to break down as the troops “became irresistibly attractive to one another.” WASHINGTON POST: Rather Astonishing […]
ABU GONZALES: Next Stop, Impeachment?
CANCELED DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA: The Senate could hold a no-confidence vote as early as today.The resolution is non-binding and symbolic, but it will put Senators on record and send a strong message to President Bush. Make sure your Senators know you want them to support the no-confidence vote: Senator Bob Casey (202) 224-6324 Senator Arlen Specter (202) 224-4254 RELATED: ImpeachGonzales.org PREVIOUSLY: Bring Me The Head Of Abu Gonzales THANK YOU JOE LIEBERMAN*: “My vote against going ahead with more debate on this no confidence resolution is not an expression of confidence in Attorney General Gonzales. It is an expression of […]
VIET NOW: It’s All Right Ma, I’m Only Bleedin’
[via NEW YORK TIMES]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR A concert and conversation with Los Straitjackets, the Nashville-based indie-rock band that’s made a name performing surf-rock classics from behind Mexican wrestling masks. The group’s latest album, Rock en Espanol, Vol. 1, features Spanish language versions of rock ‘n’ roll hits from the 1960s. Tracks include “De Dia y de Noche” (“All Day and All Night”), popularized by the Kinks, “La Hiedra Venenosa” (“Poison Ivy”), made famous by the Coasters, and many more. RADIO TIMES Two former interrogators talk about the techniques used by the U.S. in Iraq and the work being done to develop new rules and […]
DEAD MAN TALKING: Johnny Doc Is Not Afraid
In addition, Dougherty already was on the outs with many leaders of the city Democratic machine because of a feud with the party chairman, U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, that resulted in his ouster last year as party treasurer.Dougherty is “a dead man walking,” one top Democratic elected official said. “He’s created so many enemies, so much animosity.” Still, it is a measure of the respect and fear that Dougherty inspires that the above official – and many others interviewed for this story – did not want to be quoted by name. One reason is that, despite his political losses of late, […]
THE EARLY WORD: Waiting For Rogaine
It’s all Ionesco, all the time! A performance event of absurd proportions We’re wide awake! On June 29 & 30, one of Philly’s most adventurous companies will go to absurd lengths to perform Eugene Ionesco’s absurdist classic, The Bald Soprano. A sensation when first produced in 1998, A 24-Hour THE BALD SOPRANO is being revived by Brat Productions as part of their 10th-anniversary celebration. Original director (and Brat founder) Madi Distefano returns to helm the performance marathon that American Theatre Magazine called “The best-ever theatrical critique of Suburban banality.” “There is NOW no other way of performing Ionesco’s absurd comedy!” […]
SATULLO: Regrets? Too Few To Mention, Except…
A big one: endorsing Jim McGreevey over Christine Whitman in 1997. I was deputy then, and supported Whitman, but I lost that discussion. Jim McGreevey. Good Lord. We should have come out strongly against stand-alone casinos in Pennsylvania. Slots at racetracks seemed a plausible, limited gambit to raise needed money for schools, but we should have seen that, in corrupt and secretive Harrisburg, casinos would metastasize. We should have come out sooner against the Iraq invasion. INQUIRER: Oh, NOW You Tell Me