Leonard Cohen, Academy of Music, May 12th [Photo by MICHAEL T. REGAN] To the delight of his legions of fans, Leonard Cohen will once again return to the U.S. this fall for the final leg of his critically acclaimed 2009 World Tour. Since taking the stage earlier this year at New York’s Beacon Theatre — his first stateside performance in more than fifteen years — Mr. Cohen has enchanted audiences, earning rave reviews and sold-out concerts across the globe. While the acclaimed singer/songwriter/poet is currently dazzling crowds across Europe, his fall return to the U.S. will mark the final engagements […]
HAPPY ENDING: A Skate Park Grows In Fishtown
BY AARON STELLA On July 25th, Friends of Pop’s Playground, the NKCDC (New Kensington Community Development Corporation), The Department of Recreation, Exit Skate Shop and the Fishtown and New Kensington community will be holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the official opening of a new skate park, Pop’s Skate Park, in Pop’s Playground, located at Hazard and Collins Streets in Fishtown. Until 2007, the playground has remained closed to the public on account of the city revoking its funding and Edward Griffith’s, the playground’s last caretaker, retirement in 1996. But with the combined efforts of the aforementioned groups to restore […]
COMING ATTRACTION: This Could Be You
All this week we will be giving away pairs of tickets for all three days of All Points West. Sadly, the Beastie Boys have canceled their Day One headlining slot in the wake of Adam Yauch’s cancer diagnosis. A suitable replacement is expected to be announced soon. In the meantime, godspeed to Mr. Yauch.
Q&A With Carolyn Wyman, Spam Biographer And Author of The Great Philly Cheesesteak Book
BY SYDNEY SCOTT Junk foodie author Carolyn Wyman specializes in books that tell you everything you wanted to know (and then some) about foods of dubious edibility. Her previous books include Spam: A Biography and Jello: A Biography. Her latest book, The Great Philly Cheesesteak Book, tackles the Rocky Balboa of dead cow sammiches. She will be speaking tomorrow night at the Free Library. PHAWKER: First things first, Pat’s or Geno’s? CAROLYN WYMAN: My book is more of a celebration and comprehensive guidebook to the cheesesteak and cheesesteak stands. I do not rate them. So the question to me really […]
BREAKING: Beastie Boy Adam Yauch Has Cancer
NEW YORK TIMES: Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys announced Monday, by way of a homemade video placed without fanfare on the band’s Web site, that he would be receiving treatment for cancer and that as a result the group would cancel some future shows and push back the release of a new album. He did not give specifics of the veteran hip-hop group’s plans in the 3 minute 23 second video. Its next scheduled appearance is at the All Points West Festival in Jersey City on July 31. MORE EDITOR’S NOTE: The following ran last summer on Phawker… ILL […]
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Too White Crue
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR ROLLING STONE As the health care debate rages in Washington, Motley Crue weighed in with a loud-and-lewd vision of health care reform in Camden, New Jersey Sunday night when they kicked off the opening night of Crue Fest 2 with a start-to-finish run thru Dr. Feelgood to mark the six-million-selling album’s 20th anniversary. The stage design was no doubt intended to mirror the album’s underlining theme of waking up from a nightmarish sickness (remember, Dr. Feelgood was the notoriously hard-partying Crue’s post-rehab album), it also served as a not so subtle reminder that we are all […]
City Blocks ‘Domelights’ From Municipal Web
Website: domelights.com Restriction Reason: Categorized as Misc Block;Political/Activist Groups. ATTENTION: Use of the City Internet connection is restricted for City business related purposes only. The City reserves the right to log all Internet activity and block access to certain types of Internet sites to reduce load on the system and/or minimize risk. Details: Access to this site is RESTRICTED by the City, as it is deemed to be non-business related. If you require access to this site for a valid business reason, please contact the Division of Technology Service Desk at 215-686-8213 or dothelp@phila.gov. Options: Click Go Back or use […]
RIP: Author Frank McCourt Dead At 78
NEW YORK TIMES: Frank McCourt, a former New York City schoolteacher who turned his miserable childhood in Limerick, Ireland, into a phenomenally popular, Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, “Angela’s Ashes,” died in Manhattan on Sunday. He was 78 and lived in Manhattan and Roxbury, Conn. The cause was metastatic melanoma, said Mr. McCourt’s brother, the writer Malachy McCourt. Mr. McCourt, who taught in the city’s school system for nearly 30 years, had always told his writing students that they were their own best material. In his mid-60s, he decided to take his own advice, sitting down to commit his childhood memories to […]
GAYDAR: The Trouble With QFest
BY AARON STELLA GAYDAR EDITOR With a snappy new name that aspires to put the the non-gay among us at ease, a fattened marketing budget, and walk-ons by gay cinema stars (Bruce Campbell, Sharon Gless, Chad Allen) and straight power brokers (hello Mayor Nutter!), QFest seems destined to please everyone — everyone, that is, except for the rank and file of Philly’s gay community. Consider these man-in-a-gay-bar responses when the topic of QFest was raised by yours truly: “I don’t bother any more. None of the shows have any substance.” “I went this year, and was more disappointed than usual.” […]
THE EARLY WORD: Dots & Loops
[Click image to activate Internets] PINK SKULL: If You Like Can, Then I Guess You Know Music
SEPTA GIRL: Even Though I Walk Through The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death I Will Fear No Evil
BY PHILLY GRRL I vividly recall the first time I became a SEPTA apologist. It was my sophomore year at Temple. The Philadelphia Orchestra was playing Beethoven’s Fifth down at the Kimmel Center and I had just gotten a free ticket. It was the first time I was going to see them play and I was more than a little excited. An hour before the show started, I ran to the restroom at the student center to put on my makeup. (In my naïveté, I assumed the orchestra audience was akin to what I imagined the opera-going audience to be […]
Black Officer’s Association Sues The Philadelphia Police Department Over ‘Blatantly Racist’ Web Site
INQUIRER: An association of black police officers has sued the Philadelphia Police Department in federal court for allowing its officers to post “blatantly racist . . . and offensive” content on a popular Web site devoted to law enforcement topics. The suit, filed Wednesday, says Domelights.com, which bills itself as “the voice of the good guys,” was founded by a Philadelphia police sergeant who uses the screen name “McQ” and “encourages the racially offensive conduct.” The Guardian Civic League also sued McQ and the 10-year-old Web site, a forum where officers discuss crime news, police gossip, current events and other […]
EYE-RAGEOUS: McDonalds Clerk Blinds Customer Over McFlurry Dispute, Still Works For Burger Giant
CITY PAPER: The shift manager and Rashee Henderson began arguing. The shift manager called Rashee a bitch, said Henderson. In an effort to defuse the situation, Henderson testified, he escorted his wife to the restaurant door and then went back to complete the order. Then, he said, Lewis, who was working the register, threatened him. “This pussy think he tough,” Henderson remembered Lewis saying.”I’m going to knock him the fuck out.” Then Lewis asked the shift manager to punch him off the clock. “Wait a minute, I’ll go get my keys,” Henderson remembered Lewis saying next. At this point, Henderson […]