EXTRA: Early reports say Sheen was being treated for “abdominal pain.” Our source, Charlie’s friend Steve Brodersen, tells “Extra” the pain is the result of a hernia injury, worsened when Sheen laughed too hard at the TV. Doctors tell Sheen he may need surgery as soon as tomorrow morning to repair the hernia, for which he’s been treated in the past. Sheen’s best friend Tony Todd is by his side in the hospital. Charlie denies drugs were involved. MORE TMZ: Charlie Sheen had a “briefcase full of cocaine” delivered to his home — and was using large amounts of the […]
WORTH REPATING: The Course Of Hempire
MOTHER JONES: Two years ago, Mann says, he had never seen a pot plant. Today, he envisions weGrow becoming the “Wal-Mart of Weed,” a vertically integrated chain of big-box stores perfectly positioned to cash in on California’s booming marijuana industry as it moves from the shadows to the mainstream. In this “green rush” for semi-legal weed, Mann and his partner Derek Peterson, a 36-year-old investment banker, seek to be the modern equivalents of Levi Strauss and Samuel Brannan—the Gold Rush entrepreneurs who made a killing not from mining, but from selling pans, pickaxes, and victuals to the forty-niners. From […]
BEST COAST: Crazy For You
ONION AV CLUB: It’s funny how Best Coast and Wavves—two bands fronted by songwriters whose lyrics focus almost entirely on loneliness, depression, and dejected self-esteem drops—have become the “it” couple of indie rock. MORE RELATED: Best Coast plays the Starlight Ballroom Tuesday with Wavves
CONCERT REVIEW: Band Of Joy At The Tower
Which pursuit befits a ‘golden god’ in twilight? A.) Recreating the metaphysical graffiti of his youth, i.e. reuniting Led Zeppelin for a global tour as Jimmy Page wanted, in a faintly desperate attempt to convince yourself and your audience that the last 30 years never happened? B.) Trade the Hammer of the Gods for the sickle of the common man, paying tribute to the mountain music of yore by channelling the music’s vast, quasi-religious powers and redemptive grace for future generations? If you answered A, you would have been sorely disappointed last night at the Tower, where ex-Led Zep frontman […]
CINEMA: Local Punk’s Doc Explores The Enigma Of Toynbee Tiles, Takes Sundance By Storm Strange
INQUIRER: You’ve seen them, even if you don’t remember it. You’re crossing the street and something catches your eye, a flash of color amid the rush of feet. You wait for the light to change and the traffic to thin, and there it is: a rectangular shape embedded in the asphalt, with a message etched in silhouette: TOYNBEE IDEA IN KUBRICK’S 2001 RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPITER Philadelphia is not the only city where the cryptic messages have appeared. They’ve turned up in New York, Boston, and Kansas City, Mo., and as far afield as Buenos Aires. […]
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
OBAMAJUANA: Pot Legalization Overwhelmingly Dominates Questions At Obama YouTube Town Hall
HUFFINGTON POST: President Barack Obama plans to take questions from YouTube viewers Thursday afternoon, and for the third time in as many years, the overwhelmingly most popular query involves the legalization of marijuana. Of the top 100 most popular questions as rated by YouTube users, 99 are about the drug war or pot. Of the next one hundred, 99 are again about drug policy. Somehow, two questions about clean energy made their way into the top 200. The pot questions don’t stop there, but HuffPost stopped counting deep into the 200s, as the president is unlikely to answer all of […]
Will Farrell To Replace Carrell For Office Wind Down
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Ferrell will play a visiting branch manager over an arc of several episodes. NBC announced the casting Wednesday with the promise that Ferrell’s character will be “just as inappropriate” as Steve Carell’s Michael Scott. Carell’s farewell is expected four episodes before the season finale of “The Office.” In preparation of his exit, NBC is bringing in high-profile guests, including “The Office” creator Ricky Gervais, reprising his role as David Brent.Gervais will make a cameo on tonight’s episode. MORE RELATED: Ferrell called the producers, offering his services because he’s a fan and wanted to commemorate Carell’s swan song by […]
SNOWPOCALYPTIC SEPTA SLUMBER PARTY: 150 SEPTA Buses Stuck In The Snow Over Night
[Photo by Wenda Guzman-Freeman] NEWSWORKS: “We had 150 buses get stuck last night into this morning,” said Heather Redfern, a spokesperson for SEPTA. Redfern said passengers were let off the buses if they had alternate means of transportation or if they lived very close by. Otherwise, “We did have some passengers on the buses overnight,” she said. Redfern wasn’t sure how many passengers participated in the SEPTA bus sleepover, or what neighborhoods were hardest hit. As of 10 a.m., about 45 buses were still stuck across the city, according to Redfern. MORE NBC PHILADELPHIA: Three of the buses got stuck in front […]
KITCHEN BITCH: Mushroom Risotto
BY MAVIS LINNEMANN My little black truffle: You knew I had to come back to it. It’s like a little black dress—it just keeps giving time and time again. I can’t receive a black truffle for Christmas from my good friend Ian Adams and only give KB readers one simple but insanely delicious recipe for baked eggs with black truffles, now can I? Nope, the black truffle brings a flavorful punch to other foods besides eggs. Because of its fragrant, pungent aroma and delicate nature, it’s best used raw or mixed into a cooked dish at the last second. It […]
Snowpocalypse Punishes City For Crying Wolf
[Photo by avocadoh] ACCUWEATHER: Two parts of a snowstorm have come together in the Northeast and are making for several hours of wild weather tonight. The result of the merging parts is bursts of heavy snow in some areas and rain changing to heavy snow in others in the eastern mid-Atlantic. What happens in this situation is road surface temperatures typically cool during the late afternoon and evening hours, while heavy, wet snow (and sleet) takes additional heat out of the roads. The result is a rapid covering of slippery snow. AccuWeather.com meteorologists are expecting a total snowfall of 8 […]
THE ENGLISH PATIENCE: How A Phawker Intern Learned To Stop Worrying And Love North Philly
BY REBECCA GOODACRE When I told people I was spending a year abroad studying in America, more specifically at Temple University in North Philadelphia, more than a few looked at me with slightly raised eyebrows and asked “Are you going to be safe?” I just brushed it off and made a few lame jokes about joining the Crips and getting myself a Smith and Wesson loyalty card. However, being a 5’5 white middle class girl from rural England, neither of these suggestions had any real viability, and so my friends and family just shook their heads and began worried aloud. I come […]
RIP: The Last Living Louvin Brother Dead At 83
NEW YORK TIMES: Resolutely traditional in approach, Charlie Louvin and his brother, who died in an automobile accident in 1965, were proponents of the high, lonesome sound of the southern Appalachian Mountains, where they grew up. Some of their best-known recordings were updates of foreboding antediluvian ballads like “In the Pines” and “Knoxville Girl.” Other material centered on the wholesome likes of family and religion, including “The Christian Life,” an original that later appeared on “Sweetheart of the Rodeo,” the landmark Byrds album featuring the singer Gram Parsons. Alternative rock acts like Elvis Costello and the band Uncle Tupelo (which […]