Now playing on Phawker Radio! BIO: Songwriter Jay Laughlin and engineer Dave Grubb spent the 1990s developing their vision in the critically acclaimed Philadelphia/New Jersey area noise-pop band Lenola, releasing numerous full lengths and amassing an international word-of-mouth following for their unique sound that proved Pop music could be seriously damaged, yet retain its infectious hooks & charms. Following Lenolas demise in late 2002, Laughlin soon began work on new compositions that pushed harder into some of the Electronic-meets-Rock directions that latter period Lenola had only hinted at. A full ensemble was put together in 2004 to perform these songs […]
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE: Jersey Cops Post $10,000 Reward For Information About Hickey Hit & Run
INQUIRER: A $10,000 reward has been posted for information leading to the arrest of the hit-and-run driver who critically injured a popular Philadelphia journalist last week in South Jersey. Brian Hickey, 35, was struck by a car after 10 p.m. on Black Friday as he walked to the PATCO High Speed Line in Collingswood near N. Atlantic and W. Linden avenues. Since then, Hickey — the former managing editor for Philadelphia City Paper and a contract video producer for Philly.com — has been in a coma at Cooper University Hospital in Camden. Anyone with information is asked to call Collingswood […]
CINEMA: Chess Kings
CADILLAC RECORDS (2008, directed by Darnell Martin, 109 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK, FILM CRITIC If you’re born in the rock and roll era it is hard to resist the rock biopic, as shamelessly shaggy as the genre has been. The rise and revelations of the music icon, whether it is Tina Turner, Ray Charles or Johnny Cash is always more giddy than the the grim final act, where the star has to wallow, repent or die. The facts are casually trashed, their lives are hammered into crass trajectories and their craft is often minimized but they usually reach some […]
WORTH REPEATING: Good Money After Bad
BY ELLIOT SPITZER FOR SLATE The great irony is that our new place in the global economy is a direct consequence of our grand victory over the past 60 years. We have, indeed, converted virtually the entire world into one integrated capitalist economy, and we must now bear the brunt of serious and vigorous competition. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the United States was essentially the only nation with financial capital, intellectual capital, skilled labor, a growing middle class generating consumer demand, and a rule of law permitting safe investment. Now we are one of many nations […]
ARTSY: Why Album Covers Used To Matter
MVD Entertainment Group (MVD) has created two posters for recent Devo and Ween releases. For a limited time, fans can purchase these limited-edition silkscreened posters of the cover art bundled with their respective release. The Ween posters are signed by the band. DEVO – Watch Us Work It LP + Silkscreened Poster This package comes “Watch Us Work It” vinyl plus a 5-color, handmade, silkscreened poster of the cover art. The record contains four versions of the song “Watch Us Work It”: Teddy Bears Version, Original Devo Demo Version, Karaoke Version, and “Still Workin’” Version. It was recorded at Mutato […]
FETISH FATALE: Philly Dominatrix At Center Of Bizarre Murder-Suicide-Kidnapping Tragedy
NY POST: [Prominent Manhattan attorney] Anthony Ottaviano and [ex-Penn grad student/part-time dominatrix] Edythe Maa partied together at kinky New York City fetish parties, sometimes with him wearing lipstick, a garter belt, stockings and high heels. His secret leather-loving lifestyle — seen on photos posted on fetish Web sites — turned out to be his downfall. The violence began when Ottaviano, 40, and his girlfriend returned to her Philadelphia home after a cozy dinner, police sources said. David Krieg, a former client of Maa’s who had been stalking her for months, was waiting for them in a parking lot near her […]
NEWS CLUES: Painfully Ordinary Local Edition
BREAKING: Local Man Gets Dog West Philly’s Ben Morgan, who books bands at the Mill Creek Tavern (42nd & Chester), didn’t want a dog, but his live-in girlfriend, Allison Paul, did. In March, Morgan, who also plays in the Rare Birds and occasionally performs as a German rapper, MC Digga, told Paul they could get a dog when “Chinese Democracy” came out. Morgan assumed the long-awaited Guns N’ Roses record, 17 years in the making, would never come out. He was wrong. The record, which can be listened to here, was released Nov. 23, days after he agreed to take […]
UNCONFIRMED SOURCES: Luke Wilson’s Twitter?
VALLEY WAG: Stars — they’re just like us, if by “us” you mean “people who use the Internet too much.” Luke Wilson, the Hollywood B-lister best known for playing a schlubby everyman, also appears to be a typical user of Twitter, the blogging service which sanely limits its users’ oversharing to 140 characters at a time, when it’s not actively destroying the news business. Someone signed up for a “LukeWilson” account back in April. Here’s why I think it’s really the actor. It’s not the autobiographical details, like a love for Austin or Blue Moon beer, which any pretender could […]
PAPERBOY: Special ‘Who Hit Hickey?’ Edition
Brian Hickey at Citizen’s Park in better days [Photo by MICHAEL T. REGAN] “Brian Hickey was managing editor of City Paper from 2003 to 2008. He sat in a corner office, usually wearing his ratty Cubs hat or a Broncos knit cap (Brian is too stubborn to root only for local teams), and listening to Springsteen, classic rock, hair metal, or — sorry for putting this out there, Hic — Top 40. He slicks back his long hair, shaves irregularly, chose a rumpled white suit on his wedding day, and spends a lot of time in a bar called Krupa’s, […]
NEWS CLUES: Like An Industry Shake-Up Of the Truth
IMPLICATED: Cops Charge Kids With Computer Snooping On Murdered Dad ARUNKUMAR Ingle never knew that he allegedly was being watched for four years by the very people he once watched over. Ingle’s children, Parth, 22, and Avnee, 25, were charged Tuesday in Delaware County with repeatedly hacking into their dad’s e-mail account and tracking his whereabouts with concealed GPS devices in his cars. It was only when Arunkumar Ingle, 55, was discovered beaten and stabbed to death inside his Middletown Township home on Jan. 21 that the alleged spying came to light through state police investigations. The Ingle children were […]
LIPSTICK ON A PIG: What Ed Said
INQUIRER: This morning, CNN confirmed that Rendell said of Palin: “Look, she has a right to be here. I think she has great instincts. … She has very good political instincts … cooperate where we can because that’s what the American people want to hear … not bull—-.” PolitickerPA.com, however, reports that the full quote includes, “She’s not a genius, but she has very good political instincts.” The “not a genius” part is so difficult to hear, it’s uncertain if Rendell said it, according to CNN. MORE PREVIOUSLY: Yesterday in Philadelphia, Gov. Ed Rendell made some blunt remarks that could […]
All Of This Happened While You Were Sleeping
HANG TIME: Bell Tower Rail Jam, Temple University, Yesterday [Photo by TIFFANY YOON]
FLEECING CHANGE: Obama Quietly Deletes Promised Windfall Tax On Big Oil From Official Web Site
Make a Donation Today and Get Your Official Obama Fleece This holiday season, celebrate our historic victory with a limited edition Obama fleece jacket. Your donation will support the Democratic National Committee and help recover the enormous resources they committed to this campaign. Make your donation of $50 or more by December 15th and your fleece jacket will be delivered by December 24th. [via OBAMA.COM] HOUSTON CHRONICLE: President-elect Barack Obama has quietly shelved a proposal to slap oil and natural gas companies with a new windfall profits tax. An aide for the transition team acknowledged the policy shift Tuesday, after […]