The father of Bonnie Sweeten, a Pennsylvania woman who faked her own abduction and fled to Disney World flipped out after her sentencing yesterday and sent two cameramen to the hospital.
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week, PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
THIS JUST IN: Judge Approves Vick Bankruptcy Plan
ASSOCIATED PRESS: A judge in Virginia has approved a plan for Michael Vick to repay $20 million to his creditors and emerge from bankruptcy. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Frank Santoro approved the plan Thursday on the condition that Vick retain a personal financial planner to manage his future earning with the Philadelphia Eagles. Santoro says while Vick is “at the pinnacle of his profession,” he has proven unable to manage his finances in the past. The plan was overwhelmingly approved in a ballot of creditors. After the hearing, Vick was scheduled to return to Philadelphia to make his debut with the […]
THE EARLY WORD: Black Mirror
[Click to activate Internets] ARCADE FIRE: Black Mirror Arcade Fire • Black Mirror (Official Video) from Tracy Maurice on Vimeo. Arcade Fire- Black Mirror from Tracy Maurice on Vimeo.
STOP THE DOOMSDAY CLOCK: State Senate OKs Bankruptcy-Averting Sales-Tax Hike For Philadelphia
[Illustration by JOHN HENDRIX] INQUIRER: With solid support from the Philadelphia delegation, the state Senate moved yesterday to break a summerlong deadlock over letting the city raise its sales tax to avoid what Mayor Nutter terms a financial “doomsday.” On a 38-9 vote, the Republican-controlled Senate approved a bill that would allow the city to increase the sales tax from 7 percent to 8 percent, and also to defer $230 million in employee pension costs for two years. Mayor Nutter, speaking to reporters atop a marble staircase in the Capitol, made it clear he didn’t like everything in the bill […]
PHAWKER TAWK: W/ The Vivian Girls
BY BRITTNEY BARRETT Named after the slippery hermaphroditic heroines of Henry Darger‘s The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion, the Vivian Girls have built a burgeoning career out of channeling the same sense of adventure and exploration possessed by their namesakes. That’s about as far as the comparisons — given that Darger is best known for his winding, 15,000 page bizarro epic, the girls are defined by their emotional realism and punk-rock brevity, speeding through their debut in a flurry […]
MUST SEE TV: Breakfast At Sulimay’s
This week the wrecking crew reviews new music from Amanda Blank and Radiohead. NPR: In the back booth of Sulimay’s Restaurant in Philadelphia, you’ll regularly find three saucy old-timers. Between them, they’ve lived almost 100 years in Philadelphia’s Fishtown, but these three aren’t just fixtures of the neighborhood diner scene. Ann Bailey, Bill Able and Joe Walker have become surprisingly popular — as pop music critics. As Walker, 84, explains, “It is the music of the age — it is the music of the young people. And it’s what they’re going to remember years from now, with nostalgia. I don’t […]
LIVE AID: Great Moments In Philly Concert History
This is an open call for your two cents. 215 Magazine has asked us to pen a piece about the most notable moments in the last 50 years of Philly concert history — both the best of the best and the worst of the worst — and we’d like to hear your thoughts on the matter. Drop us a line at feed@phawker.com and let us know the 10 best (and/or worst) concerts you have attended in the 215, all genres apply and no venue is too big or too small. Please include a phone number as we may want to […]
BOOK REVIEW: Best Friends Forever
BY SYDNEY SCOTT Your name is Addie Downs, you live in your parents’ house in Pleasant Ridge, Illinois, where your days are spent taking care of your troubled brother and your nights are spent looking for Mr. Right on the Internet. It’s the night of your high school reunion and you’ve decided not to relive those horrible moments with people you have no interest in seeing again, specifically your former best friend. But, your planned night-long Food Network marathon is cut short when your former best bud shows up on your doorstep claiming to have killed someone. Thus begins Jennifer […]
THANK YOU DOM PILEGGI: Harrisburg Budget Impasse Chases Shyamalan Movie Shoot To Toronto
INQUIRER: With uncertainty about whether Pennsylvania’s film tax credit will be authorized in the state budget — now in Day 56 of limbo — the [new M. Night Shyamalan] supernatural thriller [Devil] has relocated production to Toronto. Though the filmmaker has shot eight of his nine features in the Philadelphia region — for an estimated economic impact of $375 million, according to the local film office — his backers couldn’t wait any longer for legislators to approve the incentive that brings filmmaking and jobs to the state. “Last week, at the 11th hour, Devil withdrew its application for credits because […]
AMANDA BLANK: Might Like You Better
PITCHFORK: In Romeo Void’s hands, the line “I might like you better if we slept together” is a casual diss as much as a come on, and it’s delivered with a detached, arch wit, making it a subversive punch line within a dark post-punk song. With Blank, it’s the whole song, one idea– Blank is horny–stretched well past its breaking point. Crazy thing is Blank’s song is less danceable, less subversive, far lighter, more PG, and just flat out more boring than Romeo Void’s. She doesn’t sound sexy, she sounds like she’s going through the motions. MORE NEW YORK MAGAZINE: Amanda Blank first […]
Authorities Break Up Germantown Dog-Fighting Ring; Michael Vick Not Involved, But Still Will Be Blamed
INQUIRER: Officers from the Pennsylvania SPCA Sunday uncovered a dog-fighting ring at an East Germantown home and rescued several badly injured pit bulls found there. Following a tip to an animal cruelty hotline, the officers discovered two dead dogs and five others at the home, in the 200 block of East Bringhurst Street. Three men, including the property owner and the alleged ringleader, are facing charges. The bust comes in the wake of the Philadelphia Eagles’ signing of quarterback Michael Vick, the country’s best-known former dog-fighter. Vick, who served 18 months in federal prison for running a dog-fighting operation, has […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
SET THE CONTROLS FOR THE HEART OF THE SUN: Asteroid #4, Kung Fu Necktie, Last Night [Photo by TIFFANY YOON] BY WILL HANNAN Drugs make for better music. Whether you’re playing in a stoner metal three-piece ripping bongs and noodling on your Gibson or you’re in a throwback psychedelic band eating acid and drooling on a friend’s vinyl collection, the introduction of psychotropic substances will inevitably make your music more interesting. If you don’t trust me, take it from the two bands that played Kung Fu Necktie last night: The Asteroid #4 and Gondola. Gondola, a Sabbath-inspired bass, guitar, and […]