FRESH AIR Actor Jack Black is best known for his comedic performances in films like Nacho Libre and School of Rock. In his latest film, Bernie, Black goes to a darker place: He plays a serious small-town funeral director who uncharacteristically murders his live-in companion, a wealthy widow played by Shirley MacLaine. The film is based on a true story. In 1996, 39-year-old Bernie Tiede of Carthage, Texas, murdered his 81-year-old companion, Marjorie Nugent, shooting her in the back four times with a rifle. A lengthy Texas Monthly article about the case notes that “what made the story peculiar was […]
REWIND: R.E.M. @ The Mann 6/18/08
Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA BY JONATHAN VALANIA First time I heard “Wolves, Lower” live was at the Beacon Theater in New York City, and The Dream Syndicate opened. It was 1984 and Michael Stipe had hair down to his shoulders. The second time I heard it live was last night at the Mann Music Center, and Modest Mouse and The National opened. Hate to sound like Bill Murray reviewing movies he didn’t see on SNL back in the day, but The National? Didn’t see ’em, babe. I blame the traffic planner who thought just one or two little one-lane access […]
SIDEWALKING: Confederacy Of Dunces
Capitol dome, 10:21 AM Thursday, by JEFF FUSCO
Living In The Tibetan Book Of The Dead
EDITOR’S NOTE: Phawker South American Correspondent St. John Barned-Smith just completed a two year stretch in Paraguay for the Peace Corps. He is currently in Nepal, Katmandu to be exact, and you can almost see neighboring Tibet from there. Next stop is India. He will be sending intermittent dispatches as our newly deputized Himalayan Correspondent. BY ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH My Peace Corps service ended last Sunday. On Tuesday, I took a taxi to JFK airport through the ribbons of highway that look like a spider web of asphalt webbing and I boarded another international flight, this time for the Himalayas […]
DEATH OF A HATCHET MAN: Charles Colson, Nixon’s Dirty Trickster, Dead At 80
GUARDIAN: Charles “Chuck” Colson, the former special counsel to President Richard Nixon who was jailed for his role in a Watergate-related case and became an evangelical Christian, has died aged 80. Colson, who compiled Nixon’s infamous “enemies list” before the Watergate scandal led to the president’s resignation in 1974, died of complications from a brain haemorrhage after undergoing surgery. He was jailed for obstruction of justice in 1974 after being involved in an attempt to discredit Pentagon analyst Daniel Ellsberg who leaked secret defence papers on the Vietnam war to the New York Times. Colson, who was known for his […]
TONIGHT: All Jazz Hands On Deck
BY ZIVIT SHLANK Saxophonist, improviser and composer Steve Coleman is reticent to call himself a jazz musician because of preconceptions. It’s probably best to just call him a musical expressionist. Originally from Chicago, Coleman’s early explorations stemmed from his dad’s love of Charlie Parker. He gained foundational insight early on studying Windy City legends Bunky Green and Von Freeman at play. From there, it was onto New York in 1978 and that’s where the real work began. Coleman as an early, foundational member of the collective MBase, through countless collaborations and his most prolific vehicle, Five Elements, has been consistently […]
THE EARLY WORD: Metal Circus
Calling all electric warriors, metal gurus, jeepsters and Telegram Sams! Creem Circus — from the people who brought you Wastoid, i.e. Chris DiPinto of DiPinto Guitars fame — celebrates the release of their debut 7-inch 10 PM tonight at Gunners Run in the Piazza. The show is free. Why should you go? This is their cover sleeve art. Enough said. Still not convinced? Here’s how Creem Circus describes that thing they do: Tandem lead, sparkle-faced riffs, chocolate covered choruses with glamtastic outfits! Word has it the kids are gonna kill a man and then they’re gonna have to break up […]
WHY DEMS ALWAYS LOSE: A Q&A With Righteous Mind Author Jonathan Haidt
[Illustration by Johnny Selman] You’re smart. You’re liberal. You’re well informed. You think conservatives are narrow-minded. You can’t understand why working-class Americans vote Republican. You figure they’re being duped. You’re wrong. So begins William Saletan’s recent book review of Jonathan Haidt’s Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion in the New York Times. Haidt, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, argues that the left will continue to fail to capture the sympathies of the Great American Middle until it begins to understand what motivates ordinary people. Haidt argues that contrary to the conventional […]
THE EARLY WORD: Wayne’s World
If consistency is a positive quality in rock ‘n’ roll, then the Fountains of Wayne belong in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Since the late 90s, Fountains of Wayne have created one record after record with the same style, approach, personnel, pacing, and subject matter. Each record has the same clean, straight-ahead pop style with the same guitar/bass/drums arrangements. They have the same dry humor and flat, no-frills delivery they had when they started. The same singer sings lead each song, the same backup singer sings backup, the same guitarist plays the occasional leads. Did I mention that […]
THE SECRET HISTORY OF AMERICAN BANDSTAND: The Fall Of Bob Horn And The Rise Of Dick Clark — Drunk Driving, Statutory Rape, Geator The Bagman, And Mrs. Annenberg Is NOT Amused
Let us just say up front, we have no idea where the truth lies in all of this and merely offer this up for your consideration. In the last 10 years, a very different story about the rise of Bandstand has emerged that runs counter to the soft-focus squeaky-clean nostalgia we’ve all come to know and accept about the beginnings of the Philly-based Mecca of Sock-Hopdom. It is the story of a man named Bob Horn, a middle-aged hipster DJ, who hosted a show with a simple but then-unheard-of concept: Play rock n’ roll records for teenagers dancing on camera. […]
The End Of Phawker As You Know It
Take a good look at the old Phawker, it’s your last chance. Later today Phawker will be unveiling a radical site re-design. Bold. Clean. Sharp. Uncluttered. Easier to use, easier to read, and easier to tell all your little friends about. Great taste, less filling. Even better than the real thing. No, this isn’t the new look, it’s a full-page, four-color ad trumpeting our makeover on page 40 of this week’s issue of the City Paper which hits the street today. See you on the other side.
RIP: Dick Clark, ‘America’s Oldest Living Teenager’, Dead At 82
VARIETY: Dick Clark, known to several generations as the host of “American Bandstand,” died of a heart attack today. He was 82. Though he was most closely associated with the TV dance show, Clark was a shrewd entrepreneur in radio, television and music, creating a production empire that elevated his net worth to more than $100 million. During his career he won five Emmy awards, including one for “American Bandstand.” Attempts to act in front of the camera, however, proved virtually fruitless despite Clark’s wholesome American good looks and his predisposition for remaining youthful looking well into his later years. […]