[Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA] FRESH AIR Love, violence, death and America have always been themes for Australian-born singer-composer Nick Cave — Murder Ballads and Abbatoir Blues are just two of his album titles — so he was perhaps a natural to compose the soundtrack for last year’s epically paranoid Western The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Cave also wrote the screenplay and soundtrack for the Australian epic The Proposition, which Roger Ebert described as “pitiless and uncompromising, so filled with pathos and disregarded innocence that it is a record of those things we pray to be […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
RADIO TIMES w/ MARTY MOSS-COANE Hour One (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) CHRIS HEDGES joins Marty to talk about his new book I Don’t Believe in Atheists. Hedges is a former foreign correspondent for The New York Times and a Senior Fellow at the Nation Institute. Listen to this show via Real Audio WIKIPEDIA: Christopher L. Hedges (born 18 September 1956 in St. Johnsbury, Vermont) is a journalist and author, specializing in American and Middle Eastern politics and society. Hedges is currently a senior fellow at The Nation Institute in New York City and a Lecturer in the Council of the Humanities and the […]
All Names Have Been Changed To Protect The Innocent
BY JEFF DEENEY Author Richard Price, in town to read from and discuss his new book, Lush Life, drew a full house at the Free Library last night. The evening kicked off with a laudatory intro from former City Paper editor-slash-Hollywood heavyweight Duane Swierczynski. Duane’s lead was shaped around the idea of “stealing life” — his description of the kind of fiction that reads so real you’d swear it was — that Price is known for. It’s unfortunate, Duane said, that a lot of young writers don’t understand that it’s OK, even beneficial, to just make shit up, so long […]
PAPERBOY: Hollywood Options Ex-CP Editor’s Novel
BY AMY Z. QUINN Straight from the City Paper to Phillywood, Duane Swierczyinski tells me his novel The Blonde may be headed for the big screen. Actress Michelle Monaghan has optioned the rights to film the 2006 sci-fi thrilla, and we could easily see her playing the titular badass babe with a killer kiss. Though who plays Jack Eisley, the bitterly almost-divorced journalist? And will we find out through on-location shooting where that effed-up masturbation club really is? Here’s the official announcement: Film rights to Duane Swierczynski’s THE BLONDE, about a soon-to-be-divorced young father who is poisoned by a beautiful […]
NEWS CLUES: It’s Like Adderall For Your Eyeballs
Ex-Simpson Agent To Write How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder Tell-All Mike Gilbert, who served as O.J. Simpson’s sports agent for a reported 18 years, is writing a book for Regnery Publishing called How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder. According to a brief announcement published this afternoon on industry Web site Publisher’s Lunch, the book will “detail O.J.’s late-night confession” and offer new evidence showing that Simpson did kill his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her boyfriend Ron Goldman. The book also promises “information on Gilbert’s crucial role in obtaining the not guilty verdict and why he […]
WORTH REPEATING: Imperial Hubris
FRESH AIR Journalist Fred Kaplan offers a scathing critique of the Bush administration’s foreign policy initiatives in his new book, Daydream Believers: How a Few Grand Ideas Wrecked American Power. Here is an excerpt: Nearly all of America’s blunders in war and peace these past few years stem from a single grand misconception: that the world changed after September 11, when in fact it didn’t. Certainly things about the world changed, not least Americans’ sudden awareness that they were vulnerable. But the way the world works—the nature of power, warfare, and politics among nations—remained essentially the same. A real change, […]
THE EARLY WORD: The Elephant And The Dove
Hayden Herrera Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: Sacred Monsters Wednesday, February 13, 8:00 p.m., Series B The Free Library $14 General Admission, $7 Students Renowned art historian Hayden Herrera’s influential 1983 biography, Frida, helped establish the Mexican artist’s reputation in America and was used as source material for the acclaimed 2002 film of the same name. Herrera’s presentation at the Free Library will occur in conjunction with the arrival of a new Frida Kahlo exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which Herrera curated. Her talk and slideshow will focus on Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera’s relationship as revealed. MORE […]
TONIGHT: Freedom of Speech Is Not Free
The National Constitution Center, in partnership with the Freedom to Read Foundation, welcomes two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Lewis, one of the country’s most esteemed experts on the First Amendment and the author of the classic, Gideon’s Trumpet, to share his latest work, Freedom for the Thought That We Hate, on the importance of freedom of expression. Lewis’s new book tells the story of how the right of free expression evolved along with our nation and makes a compelling case for the adaptability of our Constitution. Lewis will discuss how our First Amendment rights were created and reveal a story […]
TONITE: Meet The Real Mr. Burns
WIKIPEDIA: Charles Burns (born September 27, 1955 in Washington, D.C.) is an award-winning U.S. cartoonist and illustrator. He is renowned for his meticulous, high-contrast and creepy artwork and stories. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, painter Susan Moore, and their two young daughters. His father was an oceanographer for the government. They moved around a lot, including Boulder, Colorado, Maryland and Missouri before settling in Seattle when Burns was in grade five. Charles Burns’ earliest prominent works include illustrations for the Sub Pop fanzine and contributions to Art Spiegelman‘s comic magazine RAW. Most of his short stories, published in […]
EARLY WORD: Free Speech Ain’t Free
Philadelphia, PA (December 27, 2007) — The National Constitution Center, in partnership with the Freedom to Read Foundation, welcomes two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Lewis, one of the country’s most esteemed experts on the First Amendment and the author of the classic, Gideon’s Trumpet, to share his latest work, Freedom for the Thought That We Hate, on the importance of freedom of expression. Lewis’s new book tells the story of how the right of free expression evolved along with our nation and makes a compelling case for the adaptability of our Constitution. Lewis will discuss how our First Amendment rights […]
THIS WILL BE ON THE TEST: Dave Eggers Is Comin’
The One Book, One Philadelphia Selection Committee has chosen Dave Eggers’ What Is the What to be the featured selection for this upcoming year. What Is the What tells the true story of Valentino Achak Deng, who as a child witnessed atrocities of civil warfare in Sudan and became one of the so-called Lost Boys. In order to enlighten readers and stimulate discussion dealing with both East African culture and history, as well as issues of violence in the world and within our own city, two thematically related companion books for families are also suggested: Brothers In Hope: The Story […]
Q&A: Armed America Photographer Kyle Cassidy
Dan and his Mossberg Model 88, Bushmaster AR-15, Rock Island Armory / Sendra M16, Remington 700 PSS, Springfield XD, FN Five-seveN, H&K USP, Sig Sauer P226, Colt Commander 1911, and Glock 22 by KYLE CASSIDY Kyle Cassidy has been a freelance writer and photographer since 1999. His photographs have been published in the New York Times, Barron’s Financial, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He writes frequently about technology and has been an outspoken voice in the area of practical modern photographic theory. Largely known for his fashion and portrait photography, he became interested in photographing gun owners during the 2004 Presidential […]
THE EARLY WORD: About A Girl
Closing Requiem Concert: Igni Natura Renovatur Integra The Artistic Legacy of Jennifer Bates On Saturday, December 1, 2007, six esteemed Philadelphia musicians will gather at Germ Books and Gallery to ritually close the current art show of our founder, the late Jennifer Bates. At approximately 3PM, David E. Williams — Germ’s owner and Bates’ widower — will open the performance on synthesizer with a plaintive melody from one of Jennifer’s own compositions. From there, the other musicians will join in an improvised performance of electronic drones, noises and other psychonautic sounds that evoke Jennifer’s spirit on the day before many […]
