Watch it for a few minutes, and you begin to feel something weird; set to DJ Kool’s “Let Me Clear My Throat,” the clip ruminates on a clip of Chaka Fattah speaking on the House floor, before moving to stock footage of young black men dancing in the street, then Mayor Street, then, absurdly, Mumia Abu-Jamal and stills from pro-Mumia rallies. Suddenly, Bob Brady’s face appears on the screen. The montage continues, until just about the end, where a legend bears: “THIS MAY, DO THE RIGHT THING,” followed by a shot of a “Fattah For Mayor” placard with “Fattah” x’ed […]
Cover Wars: Whose Artfag Kung-Fu Is Stronger?
Someone important once said: Writing about comedy is like square-dancing about acupuncture. Or they should have. And now, for all intents and purposes, it has been said. And not a moment too soon, because PW rock’s its first, and possibly last, annual Humor Issue this week and boy are my arms tired! Props for the 411 on local laugh shacks and the aspiring showbiz Sheckys that fill them with hot air, laughing gas and two-drink-minimum guffaws. Which reminds us, did you ever hear the one about the lollipop and the jump rope? Skip it, it sucks. [insert rimshot here] Yeah, […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
Haliburton Convoy Ambushed In Iraq FRESH AIR ON WHYY Army Lieutenant Ehren Watada is the first American officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq on the grounds that he thinks the war is illegal. He is joined by one of his lawyers, Eric Seitz, a civillian. Watada is now being court-martialed for his refusal, and for statements he made opposing the war and the Bush administration’s leadership.
CRADLE WILL ROCK, AGAIN: Original Van Halen Reunites For Summer Tour, Philly Date Inevitable
PEREZHILTON: ‘Is pleased to exclusively confirm – sources tell us – that Van Halen is 100% reuniting for a massive comeback tour this summer with original lead singer, David Lee Roth.The tour will kick off in May and travel through amphitheaters across America.’ ROLLINGSTONE: ‘The reunion that Van Halen fans have been awaiting for twenty-two years began in December, when David Lee Roth walked into Eddie Van Halen?s Hollywood home studio. There he rejoined the band for a rehearsal, singing fourteen Van Halen classics. ?They totally got along on a personal level,? a source close to the reunion says. ?And […]
PHOODIE: Continental Knocked Off, Gunmen Order $10,000 Worth Of Black Sesame Crab Cakes And Boneless Duck With Tamarind Glaze, Leave Shitty Tip
Stephen Starr says that surveillance videos from the Continental (138 Market St.) have been turned over to police after the popular nightspot was held up last week. Two armed men wearing ski masks snuck into a side entrance of the Continental about 2 a.m. on Jan. 18. They threatened employees at gunpoint and made off with $10,000, an investigator with Central Detectives told the Daily News‘ Christine Olley. Reached yesterday, Starr was hesitant to discuss the incident, but praised police for “doing a terrific job trying to catch these guys and doing a great job in cleaning up Old City.” […]
GOOD DEED: West Philly Teen Saves Kitten From Fire
Malakiah Ayres feared the gas line could explode at any moment. But the family’s kitten was inside his house on 71st Street near Paschall Avenue, next door to where the gas pipeline had ruptured and caught fire. And Ayres knew she would be scared. “So I ran in there,” said Ayres, 17, a 10-grader at John Bartram High School in Southwest Philadelphia, after his rescue yesterday of Missy, a 7-month-old black kitten with green eyes and a white patch on her chest. He knew just where to look for her. Under the bathtub. “Any time anything scares her, she hides […]
GUNCRAZY: Son Who Shot Stepdad, Repeatedly, Over Denial Of Laundry Privileges, Still At Large
A West Philadelphia teenager allegedly pumped several bullets into his stepdad yesterday morning, and investigators said the shooting was preceded by an argument over laundry. Arlen Briddell, 18, stopped by his mother’s home, on Broomall Street near 55th, hoping to do some laundry about 9 a.m., police said. Briddell’s stepfather, local hospital worker William Green, had asked Briddell to move out around Christmas and stuck to his word, declining the laundry request, police said. But Briddell screamed, “If you don’t get out of my way, you won’t make it to work tonight!” and then chased his stepdad into a bedroom, […]
NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO: Elvis Costello & The Attractions LIVE AT THE EL MOCAMBO
The best rock show this week in Philadelphia happened 29 years ago in Toronto, which either means the winter doldrums are officially upon us or we’re just feeling especially knock-kneed, pissed-off, bespectacled and amphetamined for no particular reason other than it just seems right and natural. Either way, we’re amusing ourselves imagining the punch-up that will invariably ensue when we master time travel (muahahahaha!) and send circa 1978 Elvis Costello to the doorstep of circa 2007 Elvis Costello (a guy who seems more like a Declan MacManus these days, though isn’t that as it should be?). Imagine the mutual looks […]
GUNCRAZY: COP MOM SHOOTS SON, DEAD
(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA An apparent argument between a Philadelphia Police officer and her son ended with his death Tuedsay night. Authorities said the 16-year-old was fatally shot inside the family’s home near 57th and Girard Streets around 9:30 p.m. Police said the teen was shot while struggling with his mother for her gun. He was rushed to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was pronounced dead. Internal affairs is investigating the deadly incident. KYW: That Is Fucked UP
Home Of The Philly Blunt Criminalizes The Philly Blunt
(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA One man, leading a 14-month charge against area convenience stores selling items that could easily be used as drug paraphernalia, claimed victory Tuesday when Mayor Street signed an anti-drug paraphernalia bill. Philadelphia Police Officer and community activist Jerry Rocks Sr. founded ‘Not In My Neighborhood’ in October of 2005 and started a crusade against convenient stores selling items such as flavored cigars, blunts, and wrappers that could be used for illegal drug use. […] Rocks took his fight to the mayor’s office and testified in support of legislation to remove ‘blunts’ and other drug paraphernalia from Philadelphia […]
ONE SENTENCE EDITORIAL: Blunts don’t kill, guns do.
Just saying.
Lost Album Of Local-ish Theremin Virtuoso Found
In 1927 The New York Times reported from Berlin about an astounding recent invention: a box with a brass rod and ring that, when the inventor moved his hands around them, produced a violinlike sound of “extraordinary beauty and fullness of tone.” “He created music out of nothing but motions in the air,” the article said. The inventor was Leon Theremin (born Lev Termen), a young Russian scientist whose fascinating life would later include spying for Soviet intelligence, serving time in a Siberian labor camp and inventing a host of things, including electronic bugs, an early television and an electronic […]
REM: Talk About The Passion
State Of The Union: Same As It Ever Was