BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Whatever happened to the man I voted for? Where did he go? Did he morph right before my ears? Or, has he simply been a sheep skinned Canus lupis all along? Damn, talk about your “quick change” artists. This guy has made Brachetti look like a full-body tattoo. From “equal” justice, to “open” government, to domestic spying, to whistleblowers, this “alchemistical” President of mine has got me to wondering if my rationale that “he’s probably better than the alternative” is anywhere near good enough. Here’s what I’m talking about: EQUAL JUSTICE: If my President is […]
Pocono Township Meeting Shooting Goes NMA
RELATED: A gunman blasted shots through the wall of a Pennsylvania municipal building during a meeting on Monday and then barged into the meeting room and killed three people before being tackled by a local official and possibly another person and shot with his own gun, a witness said. MORE RELATED: In one particularly eerie web posting, [the shooter] responded to a Mother Jones article about crime in Chicago. “I am a Liberal & I don’t mind violent criminals in jail its Pot smokers & non violent crimes such as prostitution, protesting that I don’t want to see people in […]
FLAMING LIPS: Do You Realize?
Live at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 2011. With Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. LOS ANGELES TIMES: In the center of Hollywood right next to the Paramount Studios lot lies the Hollywood Forever cemetery, which, in addition to housing to the bodies of, among many others Cecil B. DeMille, Art Pepper, Yma Sumac, Johnny Ramone, John Huston, Virginia Rappe, Bugsy Siegel and Fay Wray, also serves as an outdoor film venue, art exhibitor and concert venue. On Tuesday and Wednesday nights, the burial grounds will be loaned to Oklahoma psychedelic rock band the Flaming Lips, who will perform two classic […]
SILENCING THE LAMBS: Gas Company Settlement Bans 7-Year-Old & 10-Year-Old From Talking About Fracking For The Rest Of Their Lives
THE GUARDIAN: Two young children [NOT pictured] in Pennsylvania were banned from talking about fracking for the rest of their lives under a gag order imposed under a settlement reached by their parents with a leading oil and gas company. The sweeping gag order was imposed under a $750,000 settlement between the Hallowich family and Range Resources Ltd, a leading oil and gas driller. It provoked outrage on Monday among environmental campaigners and free speech advocates. The settlement, reached in 2011 but unsealed only last week, barred the Hallowichs’ son and daughter, who were then aged 10 and seven, […]
Win Tix To See Sullivan & Son Comedy Tour
We have a couple pairs of tickets to give away to see the Sullivan & Son Comedy Tour’s stop at the TLA on Thursday. The TV show, now in its second season on TBS, is premised upon Steve Sullivan (Steve Byrne), a corporate attorney from New York City who visits his Irish American father Jack (Dan Lauria) and Korean mother Ok Cha (Jodi Long) just as they are preparing to sell their bar in a Pittsburgh working-class neighborhood and retire. Much to their surprise, Sullivan decides to trade the corporate bar for his parents’ taproom which is the unofficial […]
BEING THERE: Paul Weller @ Union Transfer
Photo by RORY MCGLASSON Paul Weller, founder of The Jam, is now and shall forever be The Modfather. The 55-year-old Brit pop icon ended his U.S. tour Wednesday at Union Transfer and despite a setlist with paltry few Jam numbers, Weller did not disappoint. Weller doesn’t do nostalgia. Repeated shout-outs for Jam tunes were summarily ignored. Still, Weller did offer up a few all-time favorites, among them “That’s Entertainment,” the timeless classic that catapulted Weller to super-stardom some 36 years ago, and the mighty “Town Called Malice.” Weller, who still gets nervous before going on stage apparently, took about three […]
CONTEST: Win Tix To See The Vaccines @ UT
We have a pair of tickets to see The Vaccines at Union Transfer on Friday! To qualify, all you have to do is sign up for our mailing list (see right, below the masthead). Trust us, this is something you want to do. In addition to breaking news alerts and Phawker updates, you also get advanced warning about groovy concert ticket giveaways and other free swag opportunities like this one! After signing up, send us an email at FEED@PHAWKER.COM telling us a much, with the words VACCINATE ME in the subject line. If you are already on our mailing […]
Everything Edward Snowden Said Is True, Everything Obama/Clapper/NSA Has Said Is A Lie; The Internet Is A Trap; The Terrorists Have Won
THE GUARDIAN: A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The NSA boasts in training materials that the program, called XKeyscore, is its “widest-reaching” system for developing intelligence from the internet. The files shed light on one of Snowden’s most controversial statements, made in his first video interview published by the Guardian on June 10. “I, sitting at my desk,” said Snowden, could “wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, […]
David Bowie Vs. Charlton Heston & The NRA?
NME: A closer look at David Bowie’s music video for ‘Valentine’s Day’ suggests there’s more to it than meets the eye. When it came out earlier this month it was seen as stripped down and back to basics particulary when compared with his last, controversial video for ‘The Next Day’ that depicted Bowie as Christ and Marion Cotillard with stigmata. The lyrics suggest ‘Valentine’s Day’ is about a high school shooting: “Valentine told me who’s to go/ Feelings he’s treasured most of all/The teachers and the football star”. But is there a direct reference to Charlton Heston and the […]
IN THE AEROPLANE OVER THE SCHUYLKILL: Neutral Milk Hotel Announce Two Philly Shows
They play the Tower Theater on Wednesday, January 29 — FYI, last time they played Dobbs — and Union Transfer on Thursday, January 30. Tickets go on sale Friday, August 2nd at 10 a.m. HERE. Good luck and may The Force be with you. PREVIOUSLY: Neutral Milk Hotel, the 1990s indie-rock band known for its experimental sound, obscure lyrics and cult following, is reuniting for the first time in over a decade for a series of shows next fall, the band announced on its Web site. The band went into hibernation after releasing “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” […]
WILLIAM TYLER: A Portrait Of Sarah
This William Tyler guy is one deep cat and his music is well-served by this ingenius homage to the great Two Lane Blacktop, starring James Taylor and Dennis Wilson. New William Tyler tour dates after the jump.
WORTH REPEATING: Being Bradley Manning
JOSHUA FOUST: By all accounts he was deeply conflicted?—?with his gender identity, his poor integration into his Army unit, and his own moral struggle with the war. His chain of command in Iraq, which was responsible for his well-being and conduct, failed him utterly when they did not respond sufficiently to his breaks of discipline (which included punching a female superior officer in the face). After displaying such behavioral issues, he should never have been allowed to maintain his access to classified information, much less have unfettered access to a CD burner inside his intelligence facility.The lack of reprisals […]