[Illustration by ALEX FINE] BY ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH OLYMPIC CORRESPONDENT First things first: I want to call your attention to this amazing race, my favorite by far of Phelps and company. Phelps actually led the relay, swimming a scorching 47.5 seconds for the leg of the relay. Now, unlike other swim events, individual relay legs are almost uniformly faster than the same distance might be in a stand-alone event. There are two reasons for this – one, a swimmer can anticipate when to dive, instead of having to react to a bell or air horn. You’ll see your teammate zooming […]
EARLY WORD: If You Had Wings
Pictured: Matthew Borgen will discuss The Wing Rack PHILADELPHIA – First Person Arts’ Salon series returns with another diverse and thought-provoking lineup at the Gershman Y on Wednesday, August 13th at 7:00 p.m. The multi-disciplinary First Person Salons, held on the second Wednesday of each month, showcase cutting edge original works by local artists through a variety of artistic mediums. The August Salon will feature local filmmaker Andrew David Watson, muralist Eric Okdeh, storyteller Juliet Wayne, and interdisciplinary artist Matthew Borgen. Admission is on a sliding scale of $5 – $10 at the door. Beer and light refreshments will be available […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Hostile womanizer, award-winning editor, crack addict, bad parent, coke dealer, New York Times columnist — David Carr has been all of those, sometimes simultaneously. But he doesn’t know all the details — or isn’t sure, after years of telling and retelling colorful anecdotes about himself, that he remembers them right. So for his memoir The Night of the Gun, Carr put on his investigative-reporter hat to reconstruct his various sordid lives. He interviewed friends, ex-friends, family members and colleagues, all in the effort to document the man he has been, rather than the myth he’s in the habit […]
GAYDAR: Me And Mr. Gay
The author with John Caputo, winner of this year’s Mr. Gay Philadelphia contest. BY AARON STELLA The Mr. Gay Philadelphia festivities were fabulous, pumped with enough glitz, glamor and celeb star power to draw gay Philadelphians of every echelon to the Gershman Y last Friday night. Supporters on the scene included, but were not limited to, Stacy Vey, owner of Stir, Jason Crook, owner of PHAG, Thom Cardwell, executive director of the Philadelphia Film Society, Wayne A. Hamilton, Esq., president of the Sapphire Fund, and many others. But without a doubt, the real stars of the evening were the gorgeous […]
JUST ANNOUNCED: Nick Cave At The Electric Factory
With the Bad Seeds, Tuesday, October 7. Tickets go onsale this Friday at 10am. In the beginning, there was The Birthday Party. And it was good. Rock n roll as sonic aneurysm: screeching, cataclysmic and cruel. The Birthday Party was scary, but not in the corny Count Chocula way of the Kabuki-faced goths that followed in its wake, but, like, Exorcist scary. Danger was the Birthday Party’s business, and in the early 80s business was good. Nick Cave was the human cannonball at the microphone, and the band would just light his fuse and run for cover. When the audience […]
TONITE: Somewhere Over In Rainbows
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER It’s difficult after just three or four listens to rate this album, but my initial reaction is that In Rainbows (****) is as fine a Radiohead album as I have ever heard. The devoted will be immensely gratified, and converts will be drawn in by all the buzz — and what proves to be bewitchingly ethereal, yet altogether visceral, rock music. The 10-song In Rainbows collapses into one tidy package all the Radioheads we have come to know: folk-rock Radiohead, electronica Radiohead, alt-rock Radiohead, prog-rock Radiohead. Not only does the band seem to nail […]
SCOTT ROCKS: True Robotic Scene
MYSPACE: Who Is Scott Rocks? [Dir. by SCOTT COLAN]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
I’M NOT THERE: Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band, Troc, Last Night [Photo by ANDY WARHOL]
COPS: Religious Cult Starved Toddler To Death
ASSOCIATED PRESS: A toddler whose remains were found inside a suitcase in Philadelphia this spring was starved to death by members of a religious cult, including his mother, in part because he refused to say “amen” after meals, police said. Ria Ramkissoon, the mother of Javon Thompson, was charged with first-degree murder in the boy’s death, and Baltimore police said that three other members of a group called 1 Mind Ministries have also been charged with first-degree murder. Police and Ramkissoon’s family say the group is a cult. Members did not seek medical care for Javon when he stopped breathing, […]
TRUCKSTOP: The Best Meals On Four Wheels
BY AARON STELLA My fellow hungry Americans, welcome to another edition of Truck Stop, where each week we’ll visit street vendors in different parts of Philadelphia to assist the common wayfarer in their travels and grub scavenging. Hey, don’t give me that look — if you ain’t too proud to get your news off the Internet, then you probably ain’t too proud to eat sushi off a truck. This week, we’ll be traversing the feeding grounds of the Community College of Philadelphia. From Jamaican to Chinese to sushi to the bacon-egg-n’-cheeses, an international smorgasbord layeth before you, and is cooked […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR Award-winning soul singer Isaac Hayes, who rose to the top of the charts in the 1970’s on the soul-record label Stax, died August 10. He was 65. He released his first solo album, Presenting Isaac Hayes, in 1968. His next album, Hot Buttered Soul, went gold in the 1970s, and is credited with helping pave the way for the rise of disco; his 1972 soundtrack to the movie Shaft went platinum, and the single “Theme From Shaft” won both an Oscar and a Grammy Award. Hayes also worked as an actor, with roles in movies as diverse as […]
Senator’s IT Dude Rolls Over For Feds, Fumo Fucked
INQUIRER: Admitting that he tried to foil a federal investigation by erasing the memories of state Senate computers on orders of Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, technician Leonard P. Luchko this morning pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of justice and agreed to testify against the powerful Philadelphia Democrat. Luchko, 52, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and 28 of obstruction of justice in a deal in which federal prosecutors promised to recommend that he spend no more than two years in prison. The guilty plea by Luchko, whose job was to manage computer services for Fumo and more than […]
HEAR YE: Conor Oberst Conor Oberst
Now playing on Phawker Radio! Conor Oberst plays the Troc Tonite! BY JONATHAN VALANIA Like Dylan in his prime, Conor Oberst writes long, elliptical narratives — weaving word-clotted threads of angst and regret, anger and shame, ecstasy and joy, through a camel’s eye of symbolism, creating word circuses that fascinate even when they flirt with meaninglessness. As with Dylan’s songs, when you boil them all down, they’re essentially about one thing: the wonder of consciousness. Baby I’m amazed, therefore I am.Both Bob Dylan and Oberst come from the Midwest — Dylan from Duluth, Minn., and Oberst from Omaha, Neb. (his […]