Sad, sad news. We received word today that Tom Sheehy, aka The Colonel — longtime Philly music publicist/scenester/historian, storied music biz vet, barroom philosopher, perennial guest list fixture, late-blooming recipient of a Ph.D. in 20th-century American History from Penn, colonel in the ‘MMaRmy, and frequent Phawker contributor — passed away this weekend. This week we will honor his memory by re-posting some of his greatest Phawker hits. We conclude our weeklong tribute to The Colonel with his 2011 remembrance of the night Nirvana honored a longstanding booking at J.C. Dobbs on October 1st 1991, one week after the release of […]
KENNETH COPELAND: Wind Of God
WIKIPEDIA: Kenneth Max Copeland (born December 6, 1936) is an American televangelist, and author associated with the Charismatic Movement. He runs the Kenneth Copeland Ministries based in Tarrant County, Texas. He has been identified as preaching the prosperity gospel. As part of his evangelism, he calls for donations to his church, with the suggestion that parishioners will get a “hundredfold” return on their investment.[2] He has stirred controversy over his use of donations to finance mansions, private jets, an airport and other lavish purchases.[3][4] During the pandemic of COVID-19 in 2020, Copeland gained national attention for his comments and actions […]
MUST SEE TV: The Tiger King Is NOT A Role Model
BY RACHEL TESON On the off chance you haven’t heard by now, Netflix’s six-hour breakout docu-series Tiger King is a jaw-dropping white-trash shit-show that somehow combines tigers, gay rednecks, the FBI, a sex cult, a fried blonde mullet from hell, a wealthy definitely-missing and quite-possibly murdered husband, an on-camera suicide, a ridiculous run for the presidency, and it all ends, fittingly, in a 22 year murder-for-hire prison sentence. In other words, it’s must-see TV. The co-directors Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin played both sides of the story, allowing the viewers to get a full view of all the crazy horrendous […]
MUST SEE TV: Naruto
Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto’s short anime series, explores the childhood of Naruto Uzumaki, an orphaned aspiring ninja in The Leaf Village. Naruto wants nothing more in the world than to become the Hokage of the Leaf Village, just like his father before him. Naruto grew up without a family, so in a sense, the citizens of the Leaf Village raised him — even though most despised his constant childish antics throughout the town. Naruto finds a home in his ninja team, Team 7. His team includes his instructor Kakashi Hatake, an introverted but highly trained ninja with a mysterious power and […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Here It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is now the richest man in the world, with an empire that stretches from Hollywood to Whole Foods — and even into outer space. The new PBS Frontline documentary, Amazon Empire: The Rise And Reign Of Jeff Bezos, investigates how Bezos transformed Amazon from an online bookseller into a trillion-dollar business that’s unprecedented in its size and reach. Director James Jacoby, who worked with fellow filmmaker Anya Bourg on the project, calls the company an “inescapable part of our modern lives.” “It’s not just how the majority of Americans are shopping online,” he […]
EXCERPT: Postcard From The Edge
VULTURE: [Carrie] caused deep worry that was somehow hidden by the movie crews’ obsession with John’s addiction rather than her own. Carrie—younger than the others—was intensely fragile. She was generous, brilliant, witty, charismatic, caring—and deeply vulnerable: friends could see that. When they all got to the Belushis’ Vineyard house, “my brother was most concerned about her. He had to carry her limp body from room to room. I guess she was conscious enough that he didn’t call an ambulance, but he had a strong sense that she was really out of it.” It was during that spate of days on the […]
DRAMA: So Shines A Good Deed In A Weary World
Hamilton The Musical will be making 40 $10 tickets available via lottery for each Philly performance at the Forrest Theater (Aug. 27th-Nov. 17). Sign up HERE.
RIP: Gar Joseph, Legendary Daily News Editor
THE INQUIRER: The first few times Gar Joseph applied for a reporting job at the Philadelphia Daily News, the editors turned him down. On paper, he was a solid candidate, a whip-smart 30-something assistant metro editor at the Wilmington News Journal. But there was some disagreement over whether he was too buttoned-up for the tabloid, which proudly wore its irreverent heart on its sleeve. What was clear to the paper’s editors was that Mr. Joseph didn’t give up easily, even if the odds weren’t in his favor. He kept on telling them he belonged at the Daily News, as simple […]
Win Tix 2 Freakonomics Radio Live @ Kimmel Ctr
Photo by AUDREY BERNSTEIN Freakonomics Radio, one of the ten most popular podcasts in the country, is hosting a live show at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia on June 6th and we have a pair of tickets to give away to some lucky Phawker reader. What’s that you say? “What is this *makes sarcastic air quotes* freakin’ nomix thing you speak of?” Oh brother, where art thou?!? Time to get your freak on. Here’s a brief history of time as it applies to Freakonomics from their web site: It began when New York journalist and author Stephen J. Dubner [pictured] […]
Win Tix To See Brendan Dassey’s Lawyers Discuss Making A Murderer 2 @ The Keswick Theater
Calling all Making A Murderer binge-watchers and true crime obsessives, we have a couple tickets to give away to see defense super-lawyers Laura Nirider and Steven Drizin at the Keswick Theater on Friday where they will discuss coerced and false confessions, unscrupulous interrogation tactics, and the wrongful conviction of Brendan Dassey whose case and post conviction process has captivated the world in the Netflix phenomenon Making A Murderer. Laura Nirider is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth (CWCY) at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in Chicago. Nirider represents individuals […]
Washington Post Taps Phawker Alumnus Alex Fine To Illustrate Jamal Khashoggi’s Final Column
WASHINGTON POST: The Arab world was ripe with hope during the spring of 2011. Journalists, academics and the general population were brimming with expectations of a bright and free Arab society within their respective countries. They expected to be emancipated from the hegemony of their governments and the consistent interventions and censorship of information. These expectations were quickly shattered; these societies either fell back to the old status quo or faced even harsher conditions than before. My dear friend, the prominent Saudi writer Saleh al-Shehi, wrote one of the most famous columns ever published in the Saudi press. He […]
CONTEST: Win Tix To See Dr. Dog @ Festival Pier!
There are few greater pleasures in this American life than watching a relatively young, gifted rock band in the prime of its youth burn through its set before an adoring hometown crowd with the confidence of five young men who’ve come to realize that — after all the blood, the sweat and the tears that got them to this point — they are making their mark on the world. It’s even better when the young, gifted band is local, as will be the case when Dr. Dog takes the stage at the Festival Pier tomorrow night in support of […]
ALBUM REVIEW: God’s Favorite Customer
With God’s Favorite Customer, Joshua Tillman, the man behind Father John Misty, continues to solidify his reputation as a narcissistic grifter, though this time in the absence of his wife Emma. Written during a six-week hotel stay while the two were separated, God’s Favorite Customer is Tillman’s retreat into himself. It’s the emotional breakdown he has after, in the words of Joan Didion, he runs away to find himself and finds no one at home. If we go by Tillman’s own definition of authenticity as “empathizing with people and making them feel like what you’re talking about is somehow […]