1. Wading into the Silence For the last five years of her life, Lebanese revolutionary and civil war survivor Nawal hasn’t uttered a word, not even to her twin children, Simone and Janine. They are exasperated and dumbfounded by their mother’s perpetual reticence. It isn’t until Janine obtains a box of cassette tapes containing 500 recorded hours of her mother’s silence that she is impelled to quest for her mother’s origins in her native land, and thus, the origins of her quietude. Simone eventually follows. Simone and Janine soon discover the horrific yet beautiful circumstances that precipitated the silence. In […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
SOUND OPINIONS Van Morrison recorded and released his masterpiece Astral Weeks 41 years ago, and to celebrate he released a live version of the album. This gave Jim and Greg a perfect opportunity to look back at Astral Weeks with a Sound Opinions Classic Dissection. Astral Weeks didn’t produce huge hits, but as Jim and Greg explain, this record is unique from any other in Van Morrison’s collection, and in fact, in rock history. It melds rock, blues, folk and jazz in such a way that makes it hard to define. The jazz musicians who contributed to this sound were […]
THIS JUST IN: Nutter Kills Trash Fee
INQUIRER: Mayor Nutter has canned a controversial but lucrative plan to charge Philadelphians for garbage service, saying there was too little time to enact the complex program before he presents his budget next week. By ditching the trash fee – which had evolved in recent weeks from a proposed $5 weekly charge to a per-bag fee – Nutter avoids alienating supporters who consider garbage removal a basic city service, and he escapes a tough fight with City Council, where many members had opposed the fee. But the decision will make it that much harder for him to close the city’s […]
TONITE: Unmasked And A Little Less Anonymous
BY ELIZABETH FLYNN Bob Troneiri is an institution in the Philadelphia bartending community. The man’s been slinging drinks for 16 years, and 12 of those years he’s been at Tattooed Mom’s. Every punk rock drunk in the city knows Bob, and if you’ve showed your true colors in Tattooed Mom’s like most of us, it’s guaranteed that Bob knows you. Now, we are all familiar with the phenomenon of bartender/artist, and we all know that the artist part of that equation fades a little bit more every year spent behind the bar. Very few people escape this trap, most end […]
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Good News Flower Hour
The Good News Flower Hour #12 The week that was in just five minutes, told by a stoned daisy with the obligatory voice of God. [cough, cough] And if you haven’t see it already, please check out Jon Stewart’s CNBC smackdown after the jump, it is quite possibly fake journalism’s finest hour eight minutes.
TONITE: Cartwheel And Handstand Practice
Because it’s later than you think.
PAPERBOY: ‘Beer The Drum Slowly’ Edition
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 […]
PLOT THICKENS: Philadelphia Newspapers Wants To Investigate Who Bugged Meeting With Lenders
INQUIRER: Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C. has asked a U.S. bankruptcy court for permission to hire special counsel to investigate what it described as the “unauthorized recording” of a confidential meeting between the company and its senior lenders, according to a filing Friday. The document filed by the owner of The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com did not identify the party that allegedly made the recording. Brian P. Tierney, chief executive of Philadelphia Newspapers, found a digital voice recorder under some papers on a table where the company met with creditors, two sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity […]
We Know It’s Only Mock N’ Roll But We Like It
WIRED: For a self-described “semi-retired” legend, Christopher Guest sure has a crazy schedule. The writer, director, actor and musician, most famous for his portrayal of knob-twiddling metalhead Nigel Tufnel in the 1984 cinematic spoof This Is Spinal Tap, is preparing for Spinal Tap reunion tours to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the movie’s release. He’s also been busy in the studio, emerging with six or seven new Tap tunes beneath his belt as well as an instrumental chill-out effort called Memories of Summers as a Child, released last month, which Guest recorded with childhood pals David Nichtern and CJ Vanston […]
HEAR YE: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Now playing on Phawker Radio! At the Barbary May 6th! “…pitch-perfect noise pop, sounding like it’s 1991 all over again. Impenetrable fuzz and fey mannerisms? Check. Superchunk-like melody? You got it. Can’t miss.” – Dusted “…just screams for continuous replay, as the catchy boy/girl harmonies wonderfully gel with the jangly, distorted guitars that echoes early My Bloody Valentine and Black Tambourine.” – Yellow Stereo “If dreamy, ’80s-sounding indie pop is your thing, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart have your number in a big way.” – Time Out NY *** RICHARD NIXON: Does NOT Like Faggy Dope Movies YOUTUBE: […]
ARTSY: Banksy Strikes Again
[Photo by Romanywg] DAILY MAIL: He is perhaps the most famous, or infamous, artist alive. To some a genius, to others a vandal. Always controversial, he inspires admiration and provokes outrage in equal measure. Since Banksy made his name with his trademark stencil-style ‘guerrilla’ art in public spaces — on walls in London, Brighton, Bristol and even on the West Bank barrier separating Israelis and Palestinians — his works have sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds. He is also known for his headline-making stunts, such as leaving an inflatable doll dressed as a Guantanamo prisoner in Disneyland, California, and […]
REPO MAN: Landlord Charges Outrageous Late Fee
DAILY NEWS: When Miguel Davilla got into an argument with a tenant at his unlicensed boarding home in Fairmount Saturday, he didn’t put him out in the cold — he put him out cold — and then placed his dead body in the makeshift coffin he had built out of scrap wood in the home, according to police. On Saturday, the back rent sparked an argument between Davilla and Woodson that ended with Davilla bludgeoning Woodson to death with a wooden baseball bat, Homicide Capt. James Clark said. Only one of the tenants, who knew of bad blood between Davilla […]