BRIAN HICKEY: Ever since a hit-and-run driver mowed me down in Collingswood on Nov. 28, I’ve been considered a “patient.” The conversational-English translation of that term is “dramatically injured person at the total mercy of insurance-company whims.” After I was released from inpatient care at Philadelphia’s Magee Rehabilitation in January, I was forced to wait more than six weeks for outpatient physical, occupational, and cognitive therapy. For context, more than two weeks of waiting risks regression on all three fronts. My mistake? Figuring my local insurance company would grasp why I wanted to stick with the therapist who inexplicably got […]
COMING ATTRACTION: Exactly How Soon Is Now?
Morrissey, Academy of Music, last night [Photo: MICHAEL T. REGAN] Standby for our flood-the-zone coverage of Morrissey at The Academy of Music last night. We’ll have a must-see slideshow from ex-CP staff photog Michael T. Regan, who did a bang-up job on Tom Waits for us over the summer. And Kylee Messner and Dianca Potts — two twentysomething Smiths acolytes/embittered Temple J-schoolers — will give the play-by-play of their first audience with the man called Mozzer. Look for it later today.
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Good News Flower Hour!
The Good News Flower Hour #14 The week that was in just five minutes, told by guest anchor/adorable-voiced rosebud Daisy Powers! Funny. Sad. Good for you. Just do it.
BEING THERE: The Good News Flower Hour!
The week that was in just five minutes, read by a stoned daisy that sounds just like me. Look for it every Friday. PREVIOUSLY: The Good News Flower Hour #13
GAYDAR: My Life In The Ghost Of Bush
BY AARON STELLA Welcome back to another long awaited edition of GAYDAR! Let’s do a little recap on the parts of my crazy so-called life I have shared thus far: My family had extricated themselves from a crazy Christian cult in Augusta, GA, and have fled to Alabama to wait out the imminent apocalyptic storm of Y2K. We were, disappointed, to say the least, with the grand finale. Fast forward to 2003, I no longer live with my family. My homosexuality being one of the many reasons. My friend Andrew’s family has taken me in, and I’ve just heard word […]
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 […]
NEWS CLUES: Like A Lux Hi-Rise Condo Of The Truth
SENATOR: AIG Executives Should ‘Resign Or Go Commit Suicide’ Expressions of outrage across the political spectrum reached a new crescendo Monday when Sen. Charles Grassley suggested in an Iowa City radio interview that AIG executives should take a Japanese approach toward accepting responsibility for the collapse of the insurance giant by resigning or killing themselves. “Obviously, maybe they ought to be removed,” the Iowa Republican said. “But I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they’d follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep […]
RAW TAPE: F*ck It, We’ll Do It Live!
BOING BOING: Thanks to Al Franken, we all know that Bill O’Reilly wrote a terrible pornographic novel in 1998. Now the Village Voice’s head garage-sale nut has digitized a bunch of choice clips from the audiobook (read by O’Reilly), including “Say baby, put down that pipe and get my pipe up,” “Cup your hands under your breasts and hold them for ten seconds,” and “Cunnilingus involves the lips and tongue.” MORE *** WORTH REPEATING: We Have Met The Enemy… DAILY NEWS: There was an unindicted co-conspirator in the case against Fumo. That would be the city that spawned him, took […]
MAILBAG: The Trouble With Tweeney
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following represents two divergent reader responses to Jeff Deeney’s new Twitter project for Phawker (CLICK HERE for the details). Deeney responds in the comments section which should be of interest to all you people that love giving or getting a good flamejob. DEAR PHAWKER, This is downright shameful. Poor black people say the darndest things, right? Ya, well so do self-inflated white dudes. Your snippets of conversation provide no context and smack of the same poverty porn you’ve been peddling on this site for a while now, Deeney. It is so disheartening to see how you’re capitalizing […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR Acrassicauda is an Iraqi heavy-metal band — though its members live in a one-bedroom apartment in Elizabeth, N.J. Despite their humble quarters, the band is happy to be together: When they were still based in Iraq, their practice space was bombed and they received death threats. The band first gained widespread notice in a 2007 documentary, Suroosh Alvi’s Heavy Metal in Baghdad, which followed the band in the days after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Initially hopeful, the band members watched their country crumble around them. Two years of exile in Syria and Turkey followed before the men […]
NEW FEATURE: Meet Jeff Tweeney
Hey folks, Jeff Deeney here to let you know how this new Twitter project we’re rolling out will work. From now until Philadelphia no longer needs me for cannon fodder in the trenches of the War On Poverty, I will be posting the little overheard snippets of unintentional brilliance and frequently unhinged insanity that comprise the background noise of my work day. Think of it as Today I Saw for the ADD set; I will bring you the streets in 160 characters or less. All dialogue 100% overheard. You’re already a couple days behind, so start following the Phawker Twitter […]
BREAKING: Fumo Guilty On All Counts
INQUIRER: Former State Sen. Vincent Fumo was convicted of all 137 counts against him today as his marathon federal corruption trial ended in a stunning victory for prosecutors. The jury also found co-defendant Ruth Arnao guilty of all 45 counts against her. After a 30-minute hearing this afternoon, U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter agreed to let Fumo and Arnao remain free pending sentencing although he ordered them to post bail of $2 million and $500,000, respectively, by Wednesday. The two had been free on unsecured own-recognizance bail since they were charged. Both defendants were ordered not to leave the […]
THIS JUST IN: It’s Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
THE ROOTS LAUNCH SECOND ANNUAL ROOTS PICNIC! Starring THE ROOTS TV ON THE RADIO, THE BLACK KEYS SANTIGOLD, ASHER ROTH & MORE And a special performance: PUBLIC ENEMY performs IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLIONS TO HOLD US BACK backed by ANTIBALAS and THE ROOTS PHILADELPHIA’S FESTIVAL PIER AT PENN’S LANDING Saturday, June 6 @ 2pm Tickets Go On Sale This Friday, March 20 @ 10am Get tickets at LiveNation.com, 877-598-8696, EFC Box Office (111 Presidential Blvd, Bala Cynwyd, PA / cash purchase is service-charge free on-sale only) and Festival Pier (Columbus Blvd & Spring Garden St, Phila, Pa / […]