BY ADAM FRUCCI/GIZIMODO In case you missed it, last Friday we declared the month of March Boycott the RIAA Month. We’ve gotten sick and tired of always seeing the RIAA pulling deplorable moves and decided it was time for us to do something about it. We’re kicking the month off with this, our manifesto. We want to be absolutely clear about what this fight is about and why it’s so important. This is an overview of what the RIAA does, why it’s damaging, and what we need to do to stop it. Consider this our planted flag. Who We’re Up […]
THE MICHAEL SMERCONISH EXPLAINER: Wiping The Smirk Off Mr. Clean With The Dirty Rag Of Truth
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Michael Smerconish looks like Mr. Clean, or, as he is known to Russian housewives, Mr. Proper. Michael Smerconish is also a country club Republican, a talk-radio host and, as of late, a regular fixture of the Inquirer’s Sunday Op-Ed page. Bully for him, we’re all for equal time and open debate even if we think he has his head up his ass most of the time. Sadly, because of guys like Smerconish — Machiavellian media climbers that will say ANYTHING to ensure their butt space in the game of musical chairs that is the talking head punditocracy […]
Cover Wars: Whose Artfag Kung-Fu Is Stronger?
[The curtain closes and the camera pulls back to reveal a stone-faced audience sitting on their hands. The uncomfortable silence is broken only by the occasional cough, chair squeak and, yes, the chirping of crickets.] WINNER: Daily News’ Shitful Cover Band Cover Because, Hey, It’s Been That Kind Of Week
THE EARLY WORD: New World Order
THE ORDER OF THINGS FEBRUARY 24 + 25, 2007 Wagner Free Institute of Science THE ORDER OF THINGS invites visitors into an ethereal and seductive sound-scape that explores our relentless quest for order, from the private sphere to the vast domains of the natural world. This world premiere piece by British sound artist Scanner (a.k.a. Robin Rimbaud) will feature an electro-acoustic installation and 45-minute performance inspired by and created for the breathtaking space of The Wagner Free Institute of Science. Scanner’s work will celebrate the tercentenary of Swedish biologist Carolus Linnaeus, who was the father of modern taxonomy. The Wagner […]
MEDIA: And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, or, Why You Don’t Know Anything You Should
ST. PETERSBURG – The notes under the door. The incessant phone calls. The impassioned pleas, all begging for a piece of the story. It wasn’t reporters in search of secret intelligence involving the war in Iraq. The subject: St. Petersburg’s Jennifer Mee, a 15-year-old who started hiccuping four weeks ago today and has yet to stop. The competition for her story became so frenzied over the weekend that NBC’s Today show changed Jennifer and her mother’s New York hotel after another network’s exhaustive attempts to get an interview. “You really never know what is going to gain that sort of […]
NEW JFK MOVIE: Welcome To Dallas, Mr. President
DALLAS (Reuters) – Previously unreleased footage of John F. Kennedy’s fateful motorcade in Dallas moments before he was gunned down was released on Monday, a surprising new detail in a saga that has gripped the United States for four decades. The silent 8mm film shows a beaming Jacqueline Kennedy close up in vivid color waving to the crowd. A group of excited bystanders — women sporting big 1960s hairstyles — waves to the cameraman shortly before the motorcade sweeps past. The president’s coat is clearly if briefly seen bunched up on his back — a detail that will be scrutinized […]
IT CAME FROM OUTERSPACE: Sirius & XM To Merge
Feb. 19, 2007 — ABC News has confirmed reports that two satellite radio providers XM and Sirius will announce a long-anticipated merger today. The two companies worked over the weekend to finalize a plan that is expected to be structured as a “merger of equals,” although ABC News has learned the plan calls for Sirius CEO Mel Karamzen to run the new company. The merger would require regulatory approval as well as anti-trust scrutiny. Kevin Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, reportedly said last month that a merger could not be approved under current FCC regulations. ABC NEWS: They Are […]
NY Times Spotlights Philly DJ Crew Raided By RIAA
The Aphilliates’ inner circle, in their Atlanta studio, from left: Willie the Kid, DJ Drama, Jay Stevenson (the studio engineer), DJ Sense, DJ Don Cannon. By SAMANTHA M. SHAPIRO In 1996, Sense and Drama, then both freshmen majoring in mass communications, met in Brawley Hall, their dorm at Clark Atlanta University. C.A.U. is part of the country’s largest consortium of historically black colleges, directly abutting Morehouse and Spelman. Drama and Sense were both aspiring D.J.s, and they were both from Philadelphia. After they met, they competed in a local D.J. battle and became friends. The following year they met Cannon, […]
Cover Wars: Whose Artfag Kung-Fu Is Stronger?
Here’s to the motivational power of Tough Love. After giving both alt-weeklies talk-to-the-hand last week, both have come back strong — as Mike Newall would say. (Whatever happened to that guy, anyway?) CP rocks yet another distinctive illustration by Evan M. Lopez to illustrate it Sarah Weinman‘s Where’s Waldo?-esque cover story on a nameless Philly boy missing for 50 years — complete with retro cherry top, spot-color blood stains and case-solving arrow (he was behind the cop the whole time, in the trees, right below the arrow!). Good stuff, CP, however, PW really upped their game this week. With a […]
THE VELVET WELK: Sister Ray
Whip it on me, Jim. Whip it on me, Jim.
LINDA RONSTADT: Lovesick Blues
Appears to be a typical night in 1970 at Hef’s place. [Hat tip to Citizen Mom]