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Artwork by BANKSY Dear Taliban, I’ve have never had much patience for charlatans, sociopaths and fascists — or any combination thereof — that hide their perversions of justice behind the skirts of organized religion and false pieties. But you guys have raised the bar of that kind of douchebaggery to a whole new level. No kite flying, no music, no movies, no television, no computers, no satellite dishes, no chess boards, no dancing or clapping during sports events, no artistic representations of living things — no paintings, drawings, photographs, stuffed animals, or dolls. Basically no anything invented after the eighth […]

OFF! – Wrong with Jack Black from OFF! Starring Jack Black. Hi-larious. They play First Unitarian next Friday. RELATED: Off! was formed in Los Angeles, California in late 2009 by Circle Jerks/Black Flag singer Keith Morris, Burning Brides frontman Dimitri Coats, Redd Kross bassist Steven Shane McDonald, and Rocket From The Crypt/Hot Snakes drummer Mario Rubalcaba. The idea to form the band came after Coats had worked as producer on a Circle Jerks album which fell apart. During that time, Coats and Morris had written several songs together which they used to start OFF!. MORE

  DAILY NEWS: The police union will fete the 19-year veteran with a $30-per-person benefit Oct. 28. “Come On Out and Support ONE OF OUR OWN” reads a flier inviting officers to the five-hour, Sunday-afternoon event at the FOP Hall on Spring Garden near Broad. Proceeds will help Josey with living expenses, because he no longer gets a paycheck, FOP President John McNesby said.[…] McNesby blasted any suggestion that the benefit is inappropriate. “It was inappropriate for the city to apologize to this woman and drop the charges until the investigation was complete,” McNesby said. “And we still don’t believe […]

Ben Franklin Bridge, 8:11 AM by JEFF FUSCO

    NEW YORK TIMES:  Let me say a few words about the really astonishing person who appeared at the vice presidential debate on Thursday – the moderator. Martha Raddatz of ABC News didn’t ask puffy questions like Jim Lehrer did at the presidential debate. Or let the candidates get away with vague non-answers, as Jim Lehrer did. Ms. Raddatz acted like a working journalist instead of a television personality from her first question, on Ambassador Stevens’ death: “It was a pre-planned assault by heavily armed men,” she said. “Wasn’t this a massive intelligence failure, Vice President Biden?” Later, she […]

  BY BRANDON LAFVING ARTS CORRESPONDENT Open Air, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s synchronous, bat signal-esque ballet of light has been illuminating the Philly nightscape since September 20th and will continue to do so until October 14th. Open Air is interactive in the best sense of the word. The installation’s 24 dancing searchlights are choreographed by the voices of participants who submit messages via the Open Air web site or iPhone app. It’s kind of like those dancing flowers we all thought were so funny and cute back in the 90s, but with light sabers. In the midst of all the stress and […]

Guitar/drums/bass-wise, this is easily the best Stones single since “Start Me Up,” but Jagger’s trite lyric sinks this into the depths of sad, septuagenarian hackery. He makes a few limp stabs at being topical and relevant before lazily falling back on the same old tired ticks and tropes  he’s been leaning on like a crutch since the mid-70s. After namechecking war, famine, flood, greed and ruin on the verses, the big resolve on the chorus is…wait for it…”Baby won’t you daaaaaaaance with me.” Jagger, please.

  HUFFINGTON POST: Fourteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai was admired across a battle-scarred region of Pakistan for exposing the Taliban’s atrocities and advocating for girls’ education in the face of religious extremists. On Tuesday, the Taliban nearly killed her to quiet her message. A gunman walked up to a bus taking children home from school in the volatile northern Swat Valley and shot Malala in the head and neck. Another girl on the bus was also wounded. The young activist was airlifted by helicopter to a military hospital in the frontier city of Peshawar. A doctor in the city of Mingora, Tariq […]

Babs, Wells Fargo Center, 8 PM last night by JEFF FUSCO PHILLY MAG: If you were wondering what the view (or at least the camera view) from a $200 Barbra Streisand seat looks like, let [THIS PHOTO]  serve as documentation. I wasn’t supposedto be sitting in section 204a, where I snapped this photo. No, my free $500 review ticket (provided by Streisand’s publicist) was second row center. As in two rows from Streisand’s glory. But my 62-year-old mom, who had the 204a seat, tripped and fell on her way into the Wells Fargo Center, breaking her glasses, spraining her wrist […]