NEW AMERICAN: His vociferous support for Russia’s heavy aerial bombardment and invasion of Georgia notwithstanding, Mikhail S. Gorbachev is scheduled to be presented the Liberty Medal on September 18 by former President George H. W. Bush. The medal, ostensibly to honor men and women “who have strived to secure the blessings of liberty to people the world over,” is awarded annually by the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. “Awarding the Liberty Medal should not be construed as an endorsement by the Center of President Gorbachev’s views on the Russia-Georgia conflict,” the center’s president, Joseph Torsella said in a report that […]
PAPERBOY: Fall Guys And Crazy Cabbies 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 […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR The Bush administration’s global anti-terrorism campaign was meant to prevent another terrorist attack on the United States. But journalist Jane Mayer says that policies like extraordinary rendition — whereby suspected terrorists are transferred to countries that allow harsh interrogations not permitted under U.S. law — have compromised American values. Mayer cites that case of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who spent nearly a year in a Syrian prison after being deported from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport during a layover. Mayer has written for The New Yorker on what she calls “the outsourcing of torture,” on […]
REVIEW: Old Crow Medicine Show
BY DAVE ALLEN The fellas in Old Crow Medicine Show might look like shaggy hipsters, but they’re steeped in Appalachian string-band tradition and exude down-home soul. The band’s latest, Tennessee Pusher, strays only slightly from their roots as the boys holler and yearn about the seedier side of Appalachia. The sound of the band’s all-strings lineup – fiddle, double bass, slide guitar, and a banjo/guitar hybrid called a guitjo – is thinned out slightly on Pusher. Where it previously packed a fervid intensity, with plenty of hard-pickin’ and double bass-thumping so heavy you’d swear they had a drummer, there’s now […]
TODAY: Time To Make The Donuts Rock The Vote
Rock the Vote’s Voter Registration Campaign has Reached an Unprecedented 1.5 million & Counting… NEXT STOP: “The Road Trip ‘08” concert at Community College of Philadelphia WHO: Artists: Talib Kweli, Solange, The James Gang. Featuring special appearances by Joe Pantoliano, Ken Swift of the Rock Steady Crew and Max Kennedy WHERE: Community College of Philadelphia – Winnet Courtyard 1700 Spring Garden St. WHEN: Thursday, September 18th, 2008 Time: 3pm WHY: 2008’s election stands to be remembered as the most historically significant and hotly contested race in many years. As such, promoting Rock the Vote’s mission to “engage and build the […]
All Of This Happened While You Were Sleeping
REMAIN IN THE LIGHT: David Byrne, Zoellner Arts Center, Bethlehem, PA, Last Night ROLLING STONE: Byrne uses bodies in motion to advance the ambiguous narratives his multi-cultural rock — think of it as modern dance for people who don’t like modern dance. [Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA]
EARLY WORD: Liberation Is Our Occupation
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VALLEY OF THE SHADOW: The Lord Is My Shepherd
BY JEFF DEENEY The economic development plan to save Chester hinges on building a major league soccer stadium at the foot of the Commodore Barry Bridge. The $500 million dollar revitalization effort would include transforming Chester’s heavily industrial waterfront into a verdant river walk and building hundreds of thousands of square feet of new office space and condominiums. The coalition pushing for the development plan, KickStart Chester, have a website where you can watch the radical transformation of the vast, neglected vacant lots the stadium will sit on into an artists rendering of what the project will look like upon […]
KILLADELPHIA: 2 More Dead Since U Went 2 Bed
INQUIRER: Two men were gunned down in unrelated incidents last night in Philadelphia, police said. Police were called to the 1500 block of N. Bouvier in North Philadelphia shortly after 8:30 p.m. to find Rockie Jenkings, 25, dead at the scene of multiple gun shot wounds to his neck and torso. Investigators have no motive or suspects in the killing. * About an hour later, patrol officers in Kensington were called to 800 block of E. Thayer Street. They found Sharees Brown, 24, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Brown was taken to Temple University Hospital where he was pronounced dead […]
HISTORY: Great Moments In Community Organizing
COLLATERAL TV: Sarah Palin likens her previous experience as small town mayor to that of community organizers “except that you have actual responsibility.” In a country with a strong tradition of community organizing we felt it necessary to point out what some of those organizers have accomplished … like founding this country.
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Dick Cheney is arguably one of the most powerful vice presidents in American history, but much of his work is done behind the scenes. In his new book, Angler, journalist Barton Gellman details the forty-year political career of Bush’s second in command. Gellman is a special projects reporter on the national staff of The Washington Post. In 2002, he shared the Pulitzer with the Post staff for the paper’s reporting after the Sept. 11 attacks. Angler expands the Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles about Cheney that Gellman and Jo Becker wrote for the paper in 2007. RADIO TIMES […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR Acclaimed novelist and essayist David Foster Wallace, 46, was found dead in his home Sept. 12; reports attribute his death to suicide. His 1996 novel Infinite Jest was a critical and popular success, while in recent years he has written short-stories and nonfiction. And he wrote a celebrated Rolling Stone profile of John McCain in 2000; it was revised and this year as McCain’s Promise: Aboard the Straight Talk Express With John McCain and a Whole Bunch of Actual Reporters, Thinking About Hope. Wallace was awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant in 1997. Fresh Air remembers him with an […]