Now playing on Phawker Radio! 1. Sing (Travis) 2. Walls (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) 3. Angel Dream (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) 4. Times Like These (Foo Fighters) 5. These Days (Jackson Browne) 6. Sadly Beautiful (The Replacements) 7. All I Want Is You (U2) 8. Jesus (Velvet Underground) 9. Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) (Green Day) 10. Grow Old With Me (John Lennon) * NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t JOHN PRINE [Highly Recommended] Join us for a two-hour visit with John Prine as he walks us through his life — from […]
GOLDFINGER: Officially The Greatest Of All Time
ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH OLYMPIC CORRESPONDENT I owe you all an apology. The one day I don’t file a dispatch, all the shit hits the Olympic fan. First, Phelps won his seventh gold of the ’08 Games. Damn. But what a race! This was the 100m fly, which as you may recall, is one of Phelps weaker events – in that he is best in mid-distance events. Coming off the 50m mark, Phelps was in seventh place, and even heading into the final wall, it looked like he would lose. Then he pulled some weird half-stroke super-lunge, and ended up winning […]
THIS JUST IN: Frankford Rapist Strikes Again
NBC 10: Philadelphia police said a 37-year-old woman was sexually assaulted in her bedroom Saturday morning in Frankford, the third attack in the neighborhood in a week. Police said Saturday’s attack has similarities to three prior sexual assaults in the same area of Frankford over the last two months, two of which occurred last week. Investigators said the attacker pulled a chair up to a window and cut the screen to gain entry into the woman’s Dyre Street home. The victim’s children said she told them the assault occurred at about 4 a.m. The woman’s adult children told NBC 10 […]
PENNSYLTUCKY: Hope + Heavy Metal Thunder
Philadelphia, PA – Harleys for Obama will be revving their engines across the state of Pennsylvania this weekend. Harley-Davidson enthusiasts will saddle up their bikes and head to events in Wilkes-Barre, York, Pittsburgh, and Johnstown. They will speak out about John McCain’s “philosophical” opposition to all Buy American provisions that help our manufacturers – including a requirement that the Secret Service use American-made motorcycles. Barack Obama knows that the finest motorcycles in the world are manufactured right here in America, including in York, Pennsylvania. Obama supports the men and women of Harley-Davidson, one of the flagship companies of American manufacturing. […]
JUNK SCIENCE: Confucius Say
BY ELIZABETH FIEND LIVING EDITOR “You peng zi yuan fang lai, bu yi yue hu?” “Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?” To the thunderous beat of 2,008 Xia Dynasty drums, 2,008 voices chanted this classic greeting from Confucius in welcoming the 100,000 spectators to the opening of the Summer Olympics in Beijing. The games are now well underway, and it’s impossible to ignore thinking about China, especially after that dazzling opening ceremony. Are the Chinese scary task masters, or did that display show the wonders of a large group of people working together in harmony? […]
OLYMPIAD: Here Comes The Strokes
BY ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH OLYMPIC CORRESPONDENT Yesterday, I wrote about Dara Torres and the slant-eye scandal. I promised I’d write about Crocker and Lochte today, but I’m feeling sorta “ehh…” about them, so we’re going to talk about strokes instead. For the swimmers among us, this will be Remedial Swimming 101. I apologize. Everyone else, listen up. (And double apologies for the vids, which are of course as campy as I could possibly find.) There are four competitive strokes currently swum in the Olympics today – the freestyle (i.e., the crawl stroke), the backstroke, the breaststroke, and the butterfly. Of […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
DOG DAYS: Dr. Dog, Rittenhouse Square, Last Night [Photo by TIFFANY YOON] THE WORLD CAFE Dr. Dog David Dye welcomes Dr. Dog for a special session mixed by the celebrated producer, Steve Lillywhite, at Avatar Studios in New York. Fate, the fifth album from this Philadelphia based five-piece is already drawing stellar reviews. As the band’s national recognition continues to grow, they’ve remained true to their bouncy rock style, mixing intricate harmonies with ’60s pop beats driving each song forward. They also aren’t afraid to come back with another concept album, manifesting the theme of fate creatively throughout the record. […]
BLUE HAWAII: What, Me Worry?
BLOOMBERG NEWS: The U.S. presidential race is a tossup as Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has lost what was once an eight-point lead over Republican rival John McCain, according to a new poll. The Washington-based Pew Research Center for the People and the Press said today that Obama now leads McCain 46 percent to 43 percent among registered voters, down from June when the Illinois senator enjoyed a 48 to 40 advantage. His lead narrowed to five points in July, the survey said. MORE WASHINGTON POST: An analysis of political contributions from soldiers on the battlefield has produced some unexpected […]
OLYMPIAD: Meet Dara Torres — Mom, Medalist, MILF
BY ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH OLYMPIC CORRESPONDENT Well, hopefully this is not news to you – if it is, my columns have not sparked the appropriate level of US Olympic Swimming ardor that I’m looking for from all of you. Phelps won his fourth and fifth gold medals yesterday, in the 4×200 free relay and the 200 butterfly. The relay was the fun race to watch because the US team didn’t so much as beat their opponents as they did spank them silly. USA! USA! So Phelps took the lead over the four Olympians who were tied for the most golds […]
TONITE: A Month Of Sundays
BY DAN BUSKIRK, FILM CRITIC The synopsis sounds like it could be a reality TV episode: two couples, “real people” like me and you, flirt and switch partners during a summer outing by the lake. What sets this apart from Cheaters is that it was shot in the Berlin of 1929 and the team that created would go on to make some of Hollywood’s crowning achievements. People On Sunday is a one-of-a-kind experiment made by a collective of young Berliners over a summer of Sundays in 1929. It’s a staggering list of talent, all a decade away from beginning their […]
LOWLIGHTS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT: Cops From The Last Televised Beatdown Bust Heads At Baby Shower
DAILY NEWS: The Peterson home is an inviting place. A Winnie the Pooh flag that reads “Welcome” is posted above the front door. The once- trash-strewn, abandoned lot next to their home has been turned into a garden with rows of flowers and vegetables. The fenced-in grassy lot, with its swing set and miniature basketball hoop, has always been a place for neighborhood kids to play. It seemed the perfect spot for a baby shower — or so the Petersons thought. Lorna Peterson’s daughter Lacrecia Tindley, 30, who is nine months pregnant, was just about to open her gifts when Schaffling […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
SOMEWHERE OVER IN RAINBOWS: Radiohead, Susquehanna Center, Last Night 01. 15 Step: The men of Radiohead walk onstage, waving and clapping along with the audience. They look happy to be here. Thom Yorke looks hale and healthy, and like all new dads, a little thicker around the waist than the last time you saw him. Ed O’Brien looks GQ dapper in his tailored, two-button blazer and scarf (a bold fashion choice for August in Camden). Jonny Greenwood is rocking his hoodie high and tight for that hipster monk look that’s so popular with the kids these days. Colin Greenwood still […]
REVIEW: New Dog, Old Tricks
BY ED KING ROCK SNOB On “Hang On,” from Dr. Dog’s latest album, Fate, everyone’s favorite floppy-eared psychedelphians swing Tarzan-like from bearded, cut-out bin Beach Boys to cokehead-era Band, before doing a canonball in the Beatlesque bongwater. Come on in, the water’s lovely! The Dog always seem to front load their albums with these kind of multi-faceted tracks — part homage, part theft — which is right up my alley, and even though the singer’s reedy voice has more in common with Steve Forbert than Rick Danko, I’m always excited to hear more. A bit like The Byrds in their […]