BEING ROD BLAGOJEVICH: It Just Gets Weirder

[Image by GEO8498] WALL STREET JOURNAL: Among the hundreds of hours of conversations involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich secretly recorded by the FBI since Oct. 22, one phone call is drawing particular scrutiny among politicos, journalists and others in Washington. It was a marathon conference call on Monday, Nov. 10. The call lasted about two hours. On the phone were Mr. Blagojevich, his wife, his general counsel, an unnamed adviser, and John Harris, the governor’s chief of staff and his co-defendant in this week’s case. But what’s drawing the most interest is who was on the line from Washington, and […]

SHAMELESS: Illinois Governor Jailed For Selling Obama’s Empty Senate Seat To The Highest Bidder

ASSOCIATED PRESS: CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested on Tuesday on charges he brazenly conspired to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder in what a federal prosecutor called a “corruption crime spree.” U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald told a news conference prosecutors make “no allegations” Obama was aware of any alleged scheming. Blagojevich also was charged with illegally threatening to withhold state assistance to Tribune Co., the owner of the Chicago Tribune, in the sale of Wrigley Field, according to a federal criminal complaint. In return for state […]

HISTORY TURNS A PAGE: And So It Begins…

NEWSWEEK: Secrets Of The 2008 Campaign [HIGHLY RECOMMENDED] POLITICO: Critics said they were too nice, too vague on the issues, too obsessed with the youth vote and too dependent on all those penny-ante Internet donors. But Obama’s core group of Chicago advisers, led by former reporter David Axelrod, has created a new paradigm for post-Rove campaigning. Instead of exploiting wedge issues (as Rove did) or micro-targeting demographic niche groups (as the Clintons and their pollster, Mark Penn, did), they focused on exciting a new base of young people, educated whites and minority voters. Get-out-the-vote wizard Steve Hildebrand built a hyperdisciplined […]

We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It

I’M NOT THERE: I’m From Barcelona, First Unitarian Church, Last Night BY MICHAEL DONOVAN By all logic and reason, trying to cram a 29-piece band into one of Philadelphia’s smallest venues should be an awful mess. Apparently, Swedish juggernaut I’m From Barcelona does not listen to logic or reason — or maybe it just gets lost in translation — because Thursday night the performance by the 29-person Jönköping mob was nothing short of astounding. Taking the stage with upwards of 20 of his closest friends, lead singer Emanuel Lundgren wasted no time starting the party, launching into “Treehouse” from the […]

THE BREAKDOWN: Return Of The Wu Tang

BY M. EMANUEL When the BREAKDOWN first got word that all eight living members of the Wu-Tang Clan were heading to the studio to prep their fifth collective effort, 8 Diagrams, the news was met with cautious optimism. An admitted fan of the Wu’s classics, in part because the early albums formed the sonic backdrop for the high school incarnation of the BREAKDOWN, allegiance to the Wu has been downgraded, somewhat, from fanatic in the mid-nineties to mere respectful reverence in the post-new millennium. Still, while the promise of the new album, in stores yesterday, may not have registered as […]

SECOND OPINION: 5 MORE Things You Should Know About Jay-Z Last Night At The Fillmore

H TO THE IZZO: Jigga, The Fillmore, Last Night 1. Live hip-hop could use more live instrumentation. Jay-Z’s 8 piece band, plus DJ, breathed new life into classics like “99 Problems” and ” P.S.A” giving them the deep kick and crunchy shred that only a live band can deliver. 2. Black is gangsta. From Hov’s upside down Betsy Ross Flag (the one with thirteen stars) T-shirt with black stripes instead of the traditional red, white and blue version, to the band decked out in vintage black suit vests, white shirts and black ties — Hov’s political statement can be summed […]

CONCERT REVIEW: Power 99’s Powerhouse 2007

THE ONE: Ne-Yo all up in the matrix, Powerhouse 2007, Wachovia Center. BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER ‘Nothing succeeds like success’ may well be a cliche but that doesn’t make it any less true, especially in the hip-hop world where sales is artistry. And that’s pretty much how things went down Friday night at the Wachovia Center when radio station Power 99 hosted Powerhouse 2007, a nearly six-hour revue-style parade of major hip-hop artists — some on their way up, others on their way back down. Kanye West, currently the king of the hip-hop hill, headlined with great artistic […]

THE BREAKDOWN: Kanye West The Graduate

NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO BY M. EMANUEL The Breakdown hates to say it told you so, but in the spirit of the oft-outspoken Mr. Kanye West, we’re going to boast a bit. Go ahead and raise your champagne flutes, because we called it. West’s third release, Graduation, in stores today, is all that we said it would be — a Breakdown-certified instant classic that will hopefully infuse some much-needed jolt of reality and innovation into the stale monotony of the current rap game. Gone are the skits and many of the blatant attempts at humor that messed with the […]

THE BREAKDOWN: The Clash Of Civilizations

BY M. EMANUEL For the sake of hip hop, on Sept. 11, make tracks to your local music spot, your iTunes, your friendly neighborhood Target store, or wherever you legally buy music and purchase two copies of Kanye West’s eagerly anticipated Graduation. Why two? Well, the extra copy will go a long way in assuring that Kanye wins round one of his faux-WWE Smackdown-esque showdown with Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. The infamous date and ensuing hype surrounding the respective releases is to be expected, as West and 50 are considered in most circles as the two biggest rap stars in […]

THE BREAKDOWN: Let Us Praise The Common Man

BY M. EMANUEL It’s been a wet-firecracker of a summer for hip-hop. Gone are the days when summer was the season to expect a heavy rotation of full-lengths from your favorite MCs — things have changed. Record sales are in the toilet, digital downloads are either destroying or saving the industry (depends on who you ask and what day you ask them) and cautious record labels are releasing albums at a snail’s pace, and only after they are assured that there is enough radio-friendly material to justify the six-figure palm-greasing required to make them hits. In the midst of this […]

THE BREAKDOWN: Platinum Until Proven Guilty

BY M. EMANUEL True or false: You can still be one of the biggest pop stars on the planet even if you (allegedly) urinated on and then fornicated with an underage girl, videotaped it, and then that tape was leaked to the world and the authorities brought 21 counts of child pornography charges against you. As much as we would all like to think the answer is false, we all know that’s not true. However, knowing and caring are two different things and while we know the charges are still hanging out there, a better question is do we even […]