BY WILLIAM C. HENRY The political over-importance and consequent over-propagandizing attached to Hilary Rosen’s recent questioning of Ann Romney’s work record brings to mind a previous column I authored concerning birthright/inheritance and the hyper-critical role it plays in determining one’s economic future — and the fact that this whole child-rearing “choice” kerfuffle only serves to further emphasize the point. How so? you ask. Well, because today’s moms’ “choice” of child rearing methods is determined almost entirely by economic status rather than any altruism or feminism on their part, and is but another example of the overriding influence that something none of us had […]
Q&A w/ Nick Lowe, Elder Statesman Of Pure Pop
Photo by Dan Burn-Forti BY ED KING ROCK EXPERT Nick Lowe’s 45-year career as a singer-songwriter, record producer, and all-around musical instigator is a one-man Village Green Preservation Society, to quote the Kinks’ 1968 mission statement. After brief spell in a Cream-influenced psychedelic rock band, Kippington Lodge, Lowe and his fellow UK mates, including future standouts in the late-’70s new wave scene, got an early start on “preserving the old ways” in the Americana roots-rock band, Brinsley Schwarz. A big push to launch the band in the States flamed spectacularly, and in the US their records would be left for […]
CINEMA: The Unkown Soldiers Of 20th Century Pop
BY JONATHAN VALANIA A little known fact outside of musician circles is that the instrumental tracks of many of the most beloved and iconic pop songs of the 1960s — The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations.” The Byrds’ “Mr. Tambourine Man,” Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me,” The Mamas & Papas’ “California Dreamin’,” The Monkees’ “Mary Mary,” Elvis Presley’s “Viva Las Vegas,” The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” Simon and Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson,” Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night,” Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe” to name but a few — were not performed by the artists credited. […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, The Hives, NYC last night by GENE SMIRNOV
CINEMA: The Craven
THE RAVEN (2012, directed by James McTeigue, 110 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK At one point in the silly speculative fiction fantasy that is The Raven, a character is describing the town drunk Edgar Allan Poe. When he is asked about what kind of writing Poe contributes to the newspaper he replies, “Criticism, you know the easy kind.” Critics learn to take such passing jibes in stride, but you can see why The Raven’s writers are so touchy on the subject, at every turn their film is preposterous in ways sure to wake the film critic in everyone. Not that […]
JUDAS PRIEST: Even More Nauseating Testimony
INQUIRER: In 1999, the altar boys there included the 10-year-old son of a Philadelphia police officer. In a photo shown to jurors, the boy wore a blue sweater vest, a light-colored crew-cut, and a smile. “Mom always said I was a cute kid,” he testified. Earlier that school year, the man said, he had been sexually abused by another priest at the parish. (That priest, the Rev. Charles Engelhardt faces a separate trial because he belongs to an independent religious order. So, too, does a former schoolteacher at St. Jerome’s also accused of raping the boy.) Avery, he said, […]
SIDEWALKING: Here Comes Johnny
34th & 8th Avenue, NYC, 3:29 PM yesterday by JONATHAN VALANIA
THE HORROR, THE HORROR: How Family Court And DHS Left 6-Year-Old Khalil Wimes To Die
INQUIRER: When police arrested the parents of Khalil Wimes and accused them of starving and torturing their 6-year-old son to death, Mayor Nutter decried the boy’s demise as tragic, but said the city could not have prevented it. Philadelphia’s Department of Human Services had no official oversight – no “open case” – for Khalil Wimes, the mayor stressed. “None,” Nutter told reporters in March. “Next question.” In fact, Khalil had spent the final months of his life beaten, bone thin, desperately ill, and out of school – and DHS had failed to see what was right in front of […]
OBAMA & FALLON: Slow Jam The News
With The Roots on top. Kinda mind-blowing that it even happened. Combined with the president’s press secretary declaring, in the middle of a White House conference, that Guided By Voices “the greatest rock n’ roll band of the modern era,” (for the second time!)it feels like some kind of cosmic joke that, for a change, we’re not the butt of. Feels good, man.
SMELL YA LATER: Gingrich To Suspend Campaign
NPR: Fox News reports that “senior Gingrich aides” say former House Speaker Newt Gingrich “plans to formally suspend or end his presidential campaign next Tuesday.” CNN writes that “sources close to Newt Gingrich say he will end his bid for the GOP presidential nomination next week.” USA Today‘s On Politics blog notes that “Gingrich told a North Carolina audience today that he’s ‘working out the details of our transition.’ ” MORE
TIME HAS COME TODAY: Brian Sims Unseats Babette Josephs To Become 1st Out PA Legislator
_______ NEWSWORKS: At a time when so many of us say we’re sick of politicians and want to throw all the bums out, we generally don’t. And that’s one lesson from yesterday’s legislative races in Pennsylvania. Incumbents prevailed almost everywhere.But in Philadelphia, the rule was broken by Brian Sims, an openly gay attorney who mobilized a national constituency to unseat a fixture in the city’s Harrisburg delegation, Democratic state Rep. Babette Josephs of Center City. Josephs, who was elected when Ronald Reagan was president, was simply overhelmed by Sims’ direct mail and field effort. A veteran committeeman from the 8th […]
ARTSY: Knight Arts Challenge Winner’s Circle
BY BRANDON LAFVING The Knight Arts Challenge 2012 winners were announced last night at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Awards were announced to the pleasant tune of $2.76 million, slated for reinvigorating Philadelphia’s vibrant cultural life.Everyone was there but you: the Mayor, Chief Cultural Officer, a host of other VIPs. They wore rakish suits, sleek cocktail dresses. I wore khakis and a brown sweater with elbow patches. I don’t think they would have let me in without the elbow patches. The look and feel of the ceremony may have shouted generic city publicity nonsense, but the façade – fortunately laden […]