BY TOMMY ZANE GAYDAR EDITOR The Broadway musical Hairspray slammed theatres last weekend with an all-star cast including Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah and a fat-suited, dragged-up John Travolta in the Divine role of Edna Turnblad. I managed to catch the film with two girlfriends — both born and raised in Baltimore — last Tuesday night. Now, these babes are huge fans of the original John Waters 1988 cult fav, so I listened to their review with bated breath. I’m happy to report that we absolutely loved it! Newcomer Nikki Blonsky, as fat girl-turned-TV dance show star Tracy Turnblad, […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
WAGON TRAIN: Porter Wagoner, opening for the White Stripes, Madison Square Garden, Last Night BY AMY Z. QUINN For the life of me, I couldn’t remember the name of the dude with the Siegfried & Roy hair playing playing twang-tastic guitar behind Porter Wagoner. I got to my seat just after they came on, as he was singing Wagoner to the stage: “The Wagonmaster’s comin’, the Wagonmaster’s comin’ . . .” and, tragically bereft of an Internet-ready device with which to google, the solution finally came to me. Time to call Mom. She’s a country fan from way back when […]
TODAY I SAW…
BY JEFF DEENEY “Today I saw…” is a series of nonfiction shorts based on my experiences as a caseworker serving formerly homeless families now living in North and West Philadelphia. I decided not long after starting the job that I was seeing so many fascinating and disturbing things in the city’s poorest neighborhoods that I needed to start cataloging them. I hope this bi-weekly column serves as a record of a side of the city that many Philadelphians don’t come in contact with on a daily basis. I want to capture moments not frequently covered by the local media, which […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
THE WIZARD OF MOZZ: Morrissey, The Mann, Last Night BY A.D. AMOROSI FOR THE INQUIRER As Brit-pop’s patron saint of things smartly smarmy, sexually obsessive and shyly sensitive, Morrissey — regarded as divine since he fronted the Smiths from 1982 to 1987 — has become more iconic with each solo effort. It’s odd, then, that an idol so untouchable has grown more willing than ever to engage his feverish fans. Take his show on Monday at the Mann Center. With a graying, spiky pompadour and a thicker middle than in his waifish youth, Morrissey, 48, may appear more pope than […]
KILLADELPHIA: 5 6 More Dead Since U Went 2 Bed
BY JAN HEFLER INQUIRER STAFF WRITER A killing spree this morning began with a triple homicide outside a Southwest Philadelphia bar and ended with two more shooting deaths in other parts of the city. The deaths bring the total homicides this year to 233 234, on pace to be the highest in a decade. Police said there are no suspects and no arrests in any of the three cases. Police said an argument inside Abay Wheeler’s Bar on South 62nd Street shortly after midnight led to four men being shot multiple times by a lone gunman. Three died and the […]
TODAY I SAW…
BY JEFF DEENEY “Today I saw…” is a series of nonfiction shorts based on my experiences as a caseworker serving formerly homeless families now living in North and West Philadelphia. I decided not long after starting the job that I was seeing so many fascinating and disturbing things in the city’s poorest neighborhoods that I needed to start cataloging them. I hope this bi-weekly column serves as a record of a side of the city that many Philadelphians don’t come in contact with on a daily basis. I want to capture moments not frequently covered by the local media, which […]
MAILBAG: Talk About Blog About Nothing
Regarding Jeff Deeney’s painstaking dissection of the DHS budget: Dear Phawker, Great work. I also want to say how much I enjoy reading your column on a daily basis Jeff. It’s nice to read a blog that adresses issues such as this rather than just telling me what shitty hipster band is cool this week. Keep it up guys. –Prof Armitage Dear Phawker, You rule! I like you so much better than Philebrity. Please don’t print my name. –Jonathan Valania Dear Phawker, Why do you have to use the F-word so much? –Jonathan’s Mother
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
THINK LOCALLY, FUCK GLOBALLY: Gogol Bordello, Trocadero, Last Night BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER Despite all the negative chatter the issue of immigration generates, the fact is Americas love the trial-and-error tragicomic saga of fresh-off-the-boat immigrants trying to fit their square peg into America’s round hole — the latest proof of such is the runaway success of the movie Borat. Before there was Borat, there was Taxi‘s Latka Gravas, Andy Kaufman’s lovable mechanic of mysterious Eastern European descent. And in between there was, and for that matter is, Gogol Bordello, led by human cannonball frontman Eugene Hutz, perhaps best […]
RICH MAN, POOR MAN: The DHS Budget For Dummies
BY JEFF DEENEY A lot of blogs lead an entry off by saying “we do/watch/listen to X, so you don’t have to.” In this equation, X is usually a shitty band’s new record or something. Big whoop, so you watched TV for me. What have you done for me lately? Tell you what I did: I read the city’s 100-page Department of Human Services planning and budget document released by the City of Philadelphia — so you don’t have to. Why? Because nobody’s going to read one end to end unless they’re earning comp time, and the fact is, that’s […]
PAPERBOY: Even Hot, Wet Surferboys Need Insurance
BY AMY Z. QUINN 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. Hey, we know how it is — so many words to read, so little time to surf for free porn. That’s why every week, PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you, freeing up […]
KILLADELPHIA: 1 More Dead Since U Went To Bed
One male was killed and two other males were injured in a shooting in South Philadelphia this morning. Officers were called to the 2300 block of Wilder Street after reports of the shooting just after 12:30 a.m. One person was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. One wounded victim was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital; another was transported to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. One of the wounded victims was a bystander who was cleaning his porch, police said. No arrests have been made. Police said the male suspect used a handgun in the shooting. PHILLY.COM: […]
KILLADELPHIA: The Suburbs Are Killing Me
Authorities have broken up an illegal gun trafficking network where guns were stolen from homes in the Philadelphia suburbs and sold on the streets of Philadelphia and Norristown. Seven people (one from Philadelphia, six from the suburbs) have been charged in connection with more than 40 burglaries in Montgomery, Chester, and Berks counties. Prosecutors say that over the span of about eight months the gang stole cash, jewelry, electronics — and more than 50 handguns and long guns which were then sold on the streets. Several of the guns were confiscated from a house on Franklin Street in Philadelphia, but […]
TODAY I SAW…
BY JEFF DEENEY “Today I saw…” is a series of nonfiction shorts based on my experiences as a caseworker serving formerly homeless families now living in North and West Philadelphia. I decided not long after starting the job that I was seeing so many fascinating and disturbing things in the city’s poorest neighborhoods that I needed to start cataloging them. I hope this bi-weekly column serves as a record of a side of the city that many Philadelphians don’t come in contact with on a daily basis. I want to capture moments not frequently covered by the local media, which […]