THE TELEGRAPH: Morrissey, former lead singer of The Smiths, has made a career from warbling about how woeful his life is. His autobiography, published today, bizarrely as a Penguin Classic, continues in this vein. Here are 13 of the most Morrisseyesque bits in Morrissey’s life story. On being born: “Naturally my birth almost kills my mother.” On being taught to swim: “I was lifted up and thrown into the water in an act that, these days, would count as extreme physical and psychological assault.” On school dinners: “Putrid smells reduce me to a pitiful pile, and none are more […]

  AMAZON: Hidden far from sight, deep in the thick underbrush of the North Florida woods are the ghostly graves of more than thirty unidentified bodies, some of which are thought to be children who were beaten to death at the old Florida Industrial School for Boys at Marianna. It is suspected that many more bodies will be found in the fields and swamplands surrounding the institution. Investigations into the unmarked graves have compelled many grown men to come forward and share their stories of the abuses they endured and the atrocities they witnessed in the 1950s and 1960s at […]

  NEW YORK TIMES: Anyone who has commuted to a Fort Lauderdale beach will be familiar with the journey T. D. Allman describes in “Finding Florida: The True History of the Sunshine State.”Because drawbridges that lead to the ocean’s edge are raised to allow large boats up the inland waterways, highway passengers are almost invariably subjected to long waits. This imposition — and the fact that the people behind steering wheels don’t protest — drives Allman to distraction. “Not one person demands to know: Why is it that the people with boats take precedence over us?” he writes. The Florida […]

  FRESH AIR: David Sedaris writes personal stories, funny tales about his life growing up in a Greek family outside of Raleigh, N.C., about in Santa’s workshop at Christmastime, and about living abroad with his longtime partner, Hugh. The stories have appeared on This American Life and in The New Yorker, and have now filled seven essay collections, including Me Talk Pretty One Day, Naked, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and now — his latest collection — Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls. Because Sedaris’ writing relies so heavily on his own life, it’s not surprising that many of […]

  BY JONATHAN VALANIA Perhaps you’ve seen Stewart Ebersole [PICTURED BELOW, RIGHT] bike messenger-ing around town over the years. He no longer lives in Philadelphia but for many years he cut a pretty dashing profile, a tall drink of water with the gift of gab and miles of style, always changing up his look, sometimes a mod, sometimes a rocker, sometimes shaggy-haired, bearded and Rapsutin-like, but always a punk.  Always. Black Flag is his brand, having cut his punk rock teeth back in the early ’80s as a mohawked college radio DJ, and he’s a lifer. He’s got the Black […]

  “Look down at me and you see a fool; look up at me and you see a god; look straight at me and you see yourself” — Charles Manson BY JESSICA DURKIN Author and noted misanthrope Jim Knipfel re-invents the fairy tale for modern times with this wonderfully bizarre and twisted collection of short stories. He takes the supernatural elements of fairy tales and places them into an urban, modern-day setting. He amuses, confuses, and ultimately delights in this book of brutal satire that tightrope walks the borderline between fantasy and reality. Knipfel , who got his start back […]

  BY CHRIS DIPINTO It’s an understatement to say that when I heard about the new book Randy Rhoads – The Quiet Riot Years (with an accompanying DVD), I was totally psyched. Randy’s playing, look and songwriting changed the course of music and his influences can still be seen and heard today. I never stopped trying to figure out his riffs, his playing style, and what he brought to the stage. I was good at copping other players’ styles but couldn’t fully master Randy’s. I read every article and searched out every picture of the guy, but never completely understood […]

  SenSexual: A Unique Anthology 2013 is a treasury of steamy, provocative, authentic works, bound to broaden the erotic literary experiences of the reader. Susana Mayer, PhD, delivers for the first time in print, the same mix of soul stirring, edgy, brazen writings, along with the authors’ illuminating backstories and her occasional revealing commentaries that have lead to raucous laughter, unabashed tears and occasional squirming at her long running Erotic Literary Salon in Philadelphia. Fifty authors have contributed tender memories of love, spirited sexplay and spicy communications to this exceptional two-volume anthology, transporting the reader through heart-pounding, seductive, occasionally kinky […]

  FRESH AIR: Dealing Coke to customers called “heavy users.” Selling to teens in an attempt to hook them for life. Scientifically tweaking ratios of salt, sugar and fat to optimize consumer bliss. In his new book, Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael Moss goes inside the world of processed and packaged foods. Moss begins his tale back in 1999, when a vice president at Kraft addressed a meeting of top executives of America’s biggest food companies. His topic: the growing public health concerns over the obesity epidemic and the role packaged and […]