BY AARON STELLA GAYDAR EDITOR Welcome friends to a very special edition of GAYDAR. I’ve just returned from visiting my family headquarters in the dirty, dirty south: Cullman, Alabama, to be exact. At the behest of the bossman, I will tell you all about it. If you have never been below the Mason Dixon, you would be well-advised to disabuse yourself of any romantic notions you might have about the South. Things have changed since Faulkner’s day, when the Land of Dixie was ripe with bucolic charm: rustic little hamlets scattered through field and vale, forests flourishing with pine and […]
5 Reasons Why Hanging With The Hold Steady Is More Fun Than Hanging With Your Old Drinking Buddies
TOMMY, CAN YOU FEEL ME: The Hold Steady, Electric Factory, Saturday Night 1. Knowing that they had the shorter of the two sets tonight, Craig Finn and the gang made sure to fit in all of the staples. For the Hold Steady, that means fitting in horse races, Kerouac references, and dealing with dealers—all in the course of an hour. Cliffs notes for having a good time? 2. Just a few years ago the crowd for the Hold Steady was mostly the younger, blog-savvy set, but last night saw a much older collective. It seems like Gen-X (and even some […]
EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION: NPR For The Tone Deaf
INQUIRER: WHYY is a relatively low-profile station in the world of public broadcasting. It doesn’t produce flashy, syndicated television shows like Frontline, from Boston’s WGBH, or Nature, from New York’s WNET. Among public stations in the top-10 markets, it is in the middle of the pack for budget and staff. WHYY is tops in one category — how much it rewards its chief executive. President and CEO William J. Marrazzo’s potential pay, benefits and expenses totaled $740,090 in the year ending June 30, 2007, according to its most recent tax filing. The package consists of $415,993 in salary, $317,240 in […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
NOVEMBER SURPRISE: The Decemberists, Electric Factory, Last Night [photo by MICHAEL DONOVAN] BY MICHAEL DONOVAN We all have novels we constantly return to in times of public boredom or private darkness. I’ve read The Great Gatsby more times than I’d like to admit, and The Sun Also Rises ceases to get old for me. It’s fitting, then, that Portland, Oregon’s premiere storytelling band is just the same—no matter how many times I spend the evening with them (seven) and no matter how little their show changes (very little), I’ll never tire of seeing the Decemberists. Take seven: The D’s are […]
THE NEW NORMAL: That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore
BY JEFF DEENEY I was gassing up early yesterday evening at the mega-Wawa on Edgemont Avenue in Brookhaven, a town in heavily Republican southern Delaware County. Brookhaven and the surrounding towns near the Delaware border have been fairly well covered in McCain lawn signs for the past couple months; I would characterize the area economically as middle-to-working-class depending on which township you’re in. While much of Delaware County strongly supported Obama there are still very substantial clusters of stalwart Republicans here, especially in the towns surrounding Brookhaven like Aston, Concord and Edgmont. These old school Republican Delco towns went for […]
DEBUT: The Good News Flower Hour
The Good News Flower Hour #1 Humbly submitted for your approval, a new animated feature wherein I am a flower that reads the news.
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
RADIO TIMES Joel Rose fills in for Marty and interviews ART SPIEGELMAN, famous for his comic, Maus. Spiegelman is re-introducing his 1978 book, “Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*!,” his transformational memoir. We’re also joined by Comix writer, DAVID HEATLEY, who is continuing in the comic narrative form with his new book, “My Brain is Hanging Upside Down.” Listen to this show via Real Audio | mp3 FRESH AIR The legendary Chicago broadcaster Studs Terkel dedicated his life to capturing the stories of ordinary Americans through oral histories. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1985 for his […]
NEW JERSEY BURNING: Obama Supporter Wakes Up To Find Charred Cross On His Front Lawn
INQUIRER: An Obama supporter in New Jersey woke up Thursday morning to discover the remnants of a cross burning on his front lawn. Wrapped around the charred 6-foot cross was a scorched homemade banner congratulating president-elect Obama on his victory. State police are calling the incident a bias crime. Gary Grewal, 51, of Hardwick Township, Warren County, was taking his daughter to work at 7:30 a.m. when he spotted the remains of the cross. “I saw this thing in my front yard,” Grewal said. “I didn’t know what it was.” Draped over the fallen cross, made of 2-by-4s and a […]
LIKE A FOX: Internal External
Like A Fox celebrates the release of Where Is My Golden Arm? (Transit Of Venus) Saturday at Johnny Brenda’s.
PAPERBOY: Election Afterglow 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 […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
BOW WOW WOW: Deerhunter, First Unitarian, Last Night [photo by TIFFANY YOON] BY TIFFANY YOON Bradford Cox and his gang put on a killer show, with the setlist drawn largely from their new album Microcastle, easily in my Top Five of the year. Cox seems to love Philadelphia, which he will forever associate with scrapple and pneumonia. I think he tells these stories every time he plays a show in Philly, but let’s start with the scrapple. Apparently, Cox didn’t know what scrapple was until he went to the Melrose Diner the last time through town. Curious, he orders some […]
NUTTER: City Finances Win World Series Of Hurt
INQUIRER: Mayor Nutter will announce drastic new steps today to close a $1 billion gap in the city’s five-year budget, including the closure of 11 of 54 branch libraries and dozens of city pools, a freeze on tax reductions, reduced hours or programs at more than a dozen recreation centers, and fewer engines at some firehouses, according to sources familiar with his plans. Until now, Nutter had estimated the budget gap at up to $850 million. “At $850 million, it continues to grow,” he said last night. To address the even bigger figure, scheduled city-funded cuts in the business and […]
ENDORSEMENT: Why I Voted For Barack Obama
BY JONATHAN VALANIA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF PHAWKER.COM Because I don’t believe in politicians, but I believe in this man. Because the rest of the world believes in this man, and contrary to what some would have you believe, that is a good thing. In fact, it’s crucial. Because words matter and he is a man of his word. Because he appealed to our best hopes instead of our worst fears. Because he ran on the content of his character, not the color of his skin. Because despite all that, he had to be twice as good. Because he is neither black nor […]