BY ZIVIT SHLANK JAZZ CORRESPONDENT Ravid Kahalani is on a global mission to redefine the blues. Raised in a strict Israeli household, Ravid’s early life was completely devoted to Yemenite religion and culture. His introduction to music was through the singing of Yemenite Jewish chants and prayers. However, it was his voracious appetite to know more about the world through people and music that started him on his quest. After many years and many discoveries, he came to this realization: music that relates to people and brings them together is the heartbeat of the blues. Seems deceptively simple, but for […]
VAN HALEN: Everybody Wants Some
NEW YORK TIMES: As news briefings go, it rocked. On Thursday night Van Halen took to the stage of the venerable Cafe Wha? on Macdougal Street in Greenwich Village, capacity 250. “Last time I stood on a stage this low, we had to have the car back by midnight,” said the singer David Lee Roth. The objective was to prove that Van Halen is alive and amicable for an arena tour that starts on Feb. 18 in Louisville, Ky., after the Feb. 7 release of a new album, “A Different Kind of Truth.” It’s to be Van Halen’s first full […]
The Terrible Truth They Don’t Want You To Hear
PREVIOUSLY: THE BALLAD OF BUDDY ROEMER: He’s Singin’ Our Song
Flyers Fans Brutalize Purple Heart Medalist For Wearing Rangers Jersey In Line At Genos
INQUIRER: Wearing a No. 24 Ryan Callahan Rangers jersey, Neal Auricchio [NOT pictured, above, that’s Bobby Clark in the 70s] stands surrounded by Flyers fans. He appears as a small man with his hands out, as if trying to play peacemaker. A man who looks to have about a one-foot height advantage on him removes his dark coat with white fur trim, uncovering his No. 28 Claude Giroux Flyers jersey. He shoves Auricchio, who still has his hands out, and then throws a punch. Auricchio throws back, punching up, but is quickly overwhelmed when a man in a No. 68 […]
HI-LARIOUS: My Dinner With Paul (Stanley)
This is what happens when you rock n’ roll all night and party every day. For 39 years. Just sayin’.
UNPLUGGED: Portlandia‘s Meta-Hipster Burlesque
THE NEW YORKER: “Portlandia” presents a heightened version of the city’s twee urbanity: a company sells artisanal light bulbs, a hotel offers a manual typewriter to every guest, and a big local event is the Allergy Pride Parade. The mayor, played by Kyle MacLachlan, becomes an object of scandal when he’s “outed” as the bass guitarist in a middle-of-the-road reggae band. (The real Portland’s mayor, Sam Adams, who is openly gay, plays MacLachlan’s assistant on the show.) Armisen and Brownstein, wearing anthropologically precise wigs and outfits, portray most of the main characters: bicycle-rights activists, dumpster divers, campaigners against any theoretical […]
THIS JUST IN: Ting Tings To Rock Troc
On April 13th. Tickets go on sale Friday. PREVIOUSLY: The Ting Tings, a stylish duo from the UK, and their sassy, big-bottomed punk-funk hit “Shut Up And Let Me Go”, currently wiggling in throbbing primary color perpetuity on a cable station near you. Even before the iPod ad put them over, The Tings Tings were the new hot thing for people who like ‘new hot things,’ and for good reason: They are a stone cold gas, trading in a kicky-cool, post-everything hybrid of punk, dance, pop and rap combined with an innate sexiness, impeccable style and an irrefutable ‘get down’ […]
WORTH REPEATING: Why Santorum Still Sucks
[Artowrk by DONKEY HOTEY] THINK PROGRESS: Rick Santorum reiterated his belief that states should have the right to outlaw contraception during an interview with ABC News yesterday, saying, “The state has a right to do that, I have never questioned that the state has a right to do that. It is not a constitutional right, the state has the right to pass whatever statues they have.” Santorum has long opposed the Supreme Court’s 1965 ruling “that invalidated a Connecticut law banning contraception” and has also pledged to completely defund federal funding for contraception if elected president. As he told CaffeinatedThoughts.com […]
Romney Snatches Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory
BUZZFEED: Fresh off a narrow victory in the Iowa Caucuses, and touting the endorsement of his former 2008 rival Sen. John McCain, Mitt Romney was looking to build momentum in a town hall event here — but instead he gave one of his worst performances in recent memory. Tired and hoarse, Romney drew a crowd of several hundred in the Central High School gym, which was filled well below capacity. After accepting McCain’s glowing endorsement he started taking questions — and then it got bad. The first came from an Occupy New Hampshire activist who pressed Romney on his remarks […]
STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES: South Philly Vandals Film Themselves In The Act, Post It On YouTube
RELATED: Vandals who spray painted cars and walls and smashed vehicle windows in South Philadelphia gave police an invaluable lead. They posted a video of themselves on YouTube. Acting on tips, police arrested a 16-year-old boy today and said they expected to arrest more soon. MORE
SIDEWALKING: Stay Classy, Philadelphia!
Philadelphia Weekly box, somewhere in Philadelphia, some time in 2011 by MEREDITH KLEIBER
Perry Un-Ends Campaign After Bachmann Quits
[Illustrations by ALEX FINE] UPDATE OF THE UPDATE: A determined Rick Perry announced Wednesday he will not abandon his presidential campaign despite a fifth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. “And the next leg of the marathon is the Palmetto State. … Here we come South Carolina!!!” the Texas governor wrote on his Twitter account. His campaign also confirmed his continued quest for the nomination. Perry, an avid runner, attached a photo of himself jogging near a lake, wearing a Texas A&M running shorts and showing a thumbs-up. The photo of Perry after what appears to have been a cold morning […]