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 […]
S&M: Turns Out Strom Thurmond Owned Al Sharpton
ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK — Geneaologists have found that civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton is a descendent of a slave owned by relatives of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, a newspaper reported Sunday. The Daily News said professional genealogists, working at the newspaper’s behest, recently uncovered the ancestral ties between one of the nation’s best known black leaders and a man who was once a prominent defender of segregation. “I have always wondered what was the background of my family,” the newspaper quoted Sharpton as saying. “But nothing _ nothing _ could prepare me for this.” “It’s chilling. […]
STUDY: Civic Leadership Not On Same Page, Making Matters Worse Many Citizens Can’t Even Read The Page
A new study commissioned by the Pew Charitable Trusts depicts Philadelphia as a place that has two sets of leaders, one political, one civic, with similar goals, different outlooks, and little contact with each other. The report, which updates a similar document published in 1999, describes a city that has made real progress over the last eight years but is still held back by widespread poverty, high taxes, and a poorly educated workforce. In the earlier report, author Basil J. Whiting, a Brooklyn-based consultant, found the city’s overall condition “decidedly negative.” A key weakness, he wrote then, was the fatalism […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
ALL YOUNG IN THE SOUL: The Photon Band + Like A Fox, Johnny Brendas, Last Night [FLICKR] [Photos by JONATHAN VALANIA]
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 […]
NOW PLAYING: The Good, The Bad & The Queen
[NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO] In 1993, it was with little left to lose that Blur’s Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon — bottom of the bill at an Xfm fundraiser in Finsbury Park — gave the premiere of a new song to a small, indifferent crowd. Entitled For Tomorrow, it was a sad little love song to the city on which Albarn so desperately wanted to make his mark. If there was a hitherto untapped passion in the way Albarn sang the line about “hanging on for dear life,” it was hardly surprising. That was him there, forlornly throwing out […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
OUR MOTHER THE MOUNTAIN: Son Volt, WORLD CAFE LIVE, Noon BY AMY Z. QUINN It’s difficult to know sometimes whether Jay Farrar is actually enjoying himself up there. The never-excitable singer/songsmith at the front of Son Volt rarely cracks a smile, doesn’t dance and, as per usual, is a man of few-to-no words. But those are the wrong places to look for vital signs with this guy. With Farrar it’s when his left leg starts going, a steady stomp that never gets faster, only pounds harder against the stage while he works out his quiet rage. And what beautiful rage […]
THE EARLY WORD: Always Do The Right Thing
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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
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
RADIO TIMES The Academy Awards are on Sunday night which seems like a perfect excuse to talk about one of our favorite topics — movies! Tune-in to hear Marty preview the picks with SAM ADAMS, film writer for the Philadelphia City Paper, and MATT PRIGGE, film writer for the Philadelphia Weekly Phawker. FRESH AIR The Queen is nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. The director is Stephen Frears, who previously gave us My Beautiful Laundrette, High Fidelity and Dirty, Pretty Things, among other films. PLUS DAVID EDELSTEIN on Oscar contenders in the two categories devoted to […]