[Photos byTIFFANY YOON] DAILY NEWS: The forecast was was hot, hot, hot yesterday as the Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders unveiled their latest “eco-sexy” calendar. The entire cheerleading squad showed off bikinis made of recycled soda bottles and organic cotton by designers Aaron Chang and San Natura Organics. MORE
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR The New Republic senior editor Jonathan Cohn discusses power players of health care reform, including the insurance lobby, the pharmaceutical lobby, the American Medical Association and Congress. Cohn is the author of Sick: The Untold Story of America’s Health Care Crisis — and the People Who Pay the Price, in which he makes a case for universal health care coverage through a government-regulated, single-payer system. He writes about health care for The New Republic’s blog The Treatment. RADIO TIMES Hour One A behind the scenes look at how the case against Former State Senator Vince Fumo was built […]
SOUTH STREET ROSHOMON: Police Brutality Or Brought It On Themselves? Depends On Who You Ask
DAILY NEWS: Olivia Cotton, 18, said that she and her sister were on South Street with friends when cops began clearing the crowd. […] “I got punched, kicked; they stomped my head, and they Maced me two times,” she said. “And they Tasered me on my leg.” Her 14-year-old sister was punched in the head and blacked out, said Jonathan James, the pair’s attorney. Cotton’s sister also sustained two long scratches on her breast after her shirt was pulled down during the arrest, James said. Police also sprayed pepper-spray in her mouth and throat, zapped her with a Taser in […]
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 […]
THE TYRANNY OF MINDLESS PLEASURE: George Orwell’s Police State Vs. Aldous Huxley’s Dunce State
[via RECOMBINANT RECORDS] WIKIPEDIA: The book originated with Postman’s delivering a talk to the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1984. He was participating in a panel on Orwell’s 1984 and the contemporary world. In the introduction to his book Postman said that reality was reflected more by Aldous Huxley‘s Brave New World where the public was oppressed by pleasure than Orwell’s 1984 where they were oppressed by pain. Postman distinguishes the Orwellian vision of the future, in which totalitarian governments seize individual rights, from the vision offered by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World, where people medicate themselves into bliss and […]
GAYDAR EXTRA: It’s Dumpsta Diving Time Again
Well, it’s that time of the month again. Oh boy, that didn’t come out right. What I meant to say is that Philadephia’s favorite trash-glitz drag troupe, the Dumpsta Players are putting on their monthly showcase of dirty, nasty, salacious satire. This month, it’s “Dial C for Chardonna!” Philly-gone-bad relationships with a Hitchcock lemony-twist of menace and horror. Chardonna Jenkins has been a little careless with her extra-erotic dalliances, as her bellicose beau, Rocco Rigatoni, caught her making whoopee one night with another guy. On a wave of rage, Rocco strikes a deal with Psycho’s Norman Bates to kill each […]
THIS JUST IN: Fumo Gets 4.7 Years In Jail
Also, fined $411,00 and must pay Ruth Arnao $676,000 in restitution. Judge has instructed him to surrender to federal authorities August 31st and begin serving his sentence.
MOCKING BIRDS: The Shame Of A Wired Nation
[Photo by fotonomous] BY JEFF DEENEY Philadelphians know all too well that thinly-veiled racial tensions have been festering in the Greater Northeast long before the story about some young black day campers getting kicked out of a private swim club pulled back the curtain on a dirty, but poorly-kept secret, and then went viral and made our town the shame of a wired nation. Though the incident happened just across the county line in Huntingdon Valley, Lower Montgomery County is culturally indistinguishable from many outskirt neighborhoods at the city’s edge. In fact, if you drive a mile south of the […]
TONIGHT: Barfly On The Wall
Sarah Stolfa: The Regulars Revisited Tuesday, July 14, 2009 6:00pm – 8:00pm Gallery 339 339 South 21st St. Philadelphia , PA 19103 215-731-1530 INQUIRER: Place the book in front of McGlinchey’s comically nonchalant owner, Ron Sokol, and bartender Alia Burton, and the missing details are quickly filled in, in eccentrically McGlinchey’s style un-de-referencing: “Look at Artie, ha-ha.” “Trevor, he died.” “Sheldon, that’s my brother.” “Mike’s a trombone player. Meghan, she goes to Temple.” “This one was murdered two months ago.” “This guy was here when Anne Marie worked, he was in love with the Irish girls.” “This guy is a […]
EARLY WORD: No Pools, No Peace
Hello! Please join the Coalition to Save the Libraries and the Coalition for Essential Services* tonight and tomorrow to fight for open public pools! We believe that both pool closures and the threatened Library closures work to undermine the social and cultural infrastructure of our city. Pools create stable communities. By closing pools, Mayor Nutter provoked the disruption of people’s lives. We are demanding a cool and safe summer! Pools provide safety and security for our neighborhoods by providing organized and supervised activities for children. TOMORROW: Tuesday, July 14th 12 NOON POOLS UNDER LOCK & KEY! TURN ON THE WATER! MAYOR […]
THIS JUST IN: DN Pays Tribute To Swells
BY ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH FOR THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS: … But what I’ll remember most is the sarcastic encouragement Swells gave an intern for no other reason than that he believed in me. And oh the trouble he gave me. When I let slip that I wasn’t into Britney Spears or the Monkees, I was doomed. The next week, I was the target of a piece in the Guardian about his attempts to educate me about music: Undaunted by the massive task before me, I then proceeded to lecture Tad . . . on just how . . . extraordinarily […]
PHAWKER TAWK: Q&A With King Sunny Ade
BY DAVE ALLEN At age 62, King Sunny Ade is my parents’ age, and there’s no way I could see dear old mom and dad touring internationally or jamming for hours on end. Of course, they didn’t introduce the world to a form of music — juju, the guitars-and-drums-powered music of Nigeria’s palm-wine parlors. King Sunny’s music still has the same punch and arresting but upbeat complexity as when it burst out of his native land onto the global scene more than 30 years ago, and the energy in both the tunes and in the King himself is a marvel. […]
NEWS CLUES: Like A Private Swim Club Of The Truth
DEATH ON THE PIAZZA: Alleged Mastermind To Surrender “The man authorities say planned a drug-linked robbery that turned into a double homicide at a posh Northern Liberties apartment complex last month intends to surrender to police today. James “Pooh” Wilson, 40, who has been the target of an intense law enforcement manhunt for two weeks, will turn himself in at the Police Administration Building this afternoon, said Christopher Warren, a prominent defense lawyer who said Wilson had retained him.” [via the INQUIRER] REVERSED DISCRIMINATION: Swim Club Wants Minority Kids Back “The Montgomery County swim club that sparked a racial furor […]