NPR: In the decade since its publication, Michael Azerrad’s book Our Band Could Be Your Life has taken on a sort of biblical quality among fans of independent music. So it’s no surprise that this concert — 14 current bands performing the songs of 13 icons of indie rock at the Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan — occasionally felt like church. The lesson of the book — if nobody else is doing it, do it yourself — was repeated many times, and more than one musician credited Azerrad with clarifying the lessons of the earlier age at a moment when they […]
NEWSPAPER TAXIS: Dylan & Lennon In The Back Of A Limo After Staying Up All Night Doing God Know’s What
RELATED: This is the famous/infamous ‘Eat the Document’ clip. It’s now 7am. The sun is up over Hyde Park. The limousine trip is nearly over. Lennon is stoned, Dylan is about to be sick. This footage is from May 27th 1966 during Bob Dylans tour of England. In the taxi is John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Bobby Neuwirth, friend of Dylan’s and temporary sound recordist; D.A. Pennebaker film-maker; Tom, a chauffeur. Filmed by D A Pennebaker, famed filmmaker who also captured the footage for Dylan’s ‘Don’t Look Back’ 1965 tour film, this was intended for inclusion in Eat The Document, but […]
Chris Christie Is Ready, Willing And Able To Beat Up On On Low-Income Single Mothers For Political Gain
INQUIRER: Gov. Christie plans to seek approval for a proposal that would deny Medicaid coverage to adults in a family of four with an annual household income of little more than $6,000, down from the current $30,000. A single mother raising three children who earned as little as $118 a week would not qualify for the government-funded medical coverage. The eligibility-requirement change […] would follow Christie’s eliminating – for the second year – a long-standing line item that would provide nearly $7.5 million in funding to family-planning clinics. […] On Monday, Democrats linked Christie’s opposition to funding the family-planning clinics […]
5 Things You Should Know About Dengue Fever
1. Dengue Fever, the disease, “is manifested by a sudden onset of fever, with severe headache, muscle and joint pains (myalgias and arthralgias—severe pain gives it the name break-bone fever or bonecrusher disease) and rashes. The dengue rash is characteristically bright red petechiae and usually appears first on the lower limbs and the chest; in some patients, it spreads to cover most of the body. There may also be gastritis with some combination of associated abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. Other symptoms include: bladder problems; constant headaches; severe dizziness; and uncontrollable laughing,” according to Wikipedia. Dengue Fever, the band, […]
George Carlin Foretold The Ryan Plan
“There’s a reason for this, there’s a reason education sucks, and it’s the same reason it will never ever ever be fixed. It’s never going to get any better. Don’t look for it. Be happy with what you’ve got… because the owners of this country don’t want that. I’m talking about the real owners now… the real owners. The big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. […]
BREAKING: Bob Dylan May Or May Not Have Used Drugs In The 60’s; Regardless He Turns 70 Tomorrow
ROLLING STONE: In newly released audio from a March 1966 interview, Bob Dylan claims he kicked a heroin habit after moving to New York City. “I got very, very strung out for a while,” he says in excerpts released by the BBC. “I kicked the habit. I had a $25 a day habit and I kicked it.” He was speaking to New York Times writer Robert Shelton on a plane from Lincoln, Nebraska to Denver while on his legendary 1966 electric tour. This may sound like a huge revelation, but Dylan has been telling journalists wild lies about his past […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Jimmy Fallon has spent most of his career coming up with jokes and doing impressions. His early impersonations of Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Cosby, Pee-Wee Herman, Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy helped get him an audition in front of Lorne Michaels and then a job on Saturday Night Live, where he stayed for six years. After leaving the show to appear in several films, he was tapped by NBC to become the host of Late Night, after Conan O’Brien left in 2009 to prepare to take over Jay Leno’s slot on The Tonight Show. When he’s not interviewing guests, […]
Bogus End Of The World Predictions Are All Fun And Games Until Someone Gets Their Feelings Hurt
NEW YORK MAGAZINE: “Wanna order a pizza?” Jeff asks. “I don’t know if we’ll have time to eat it, but we might as well get it.” It is 4:48 p.m. on May 21, and earthquakes have not yet riven the Earth. “When the sky goes dark and you feel a rumbling, I’m going to ask you and the kids to step outside very quickly,” Jeff told me when I first arrived at his small ranch house in Hicksville, Long Island. “God willing, we’ll all be taken up in a whirlwind to Heaven. I know it might sound strange, but that’s […]
(PRETTY) GOOD FELLAS: Feds Roll Up Local Mob For…Wait For It…Video Poker Violations (Sigh)
INQUIRER: FBI agents fanned out across the area this morning, arresting alleged Philadelphia mob boss Joseph “Uncle Joe” Ligambi and 10 reputed associates on charges of racketeering, gambling, extortion and loan sharking. The arrests and charges against two others already in custody capped a 5-year investigation targeting Ligambi and his organization. The gambling charges contained in a 50-count indictment unsealed today center around a sports gambling and illegal video poker machines. No actual violence is alleged. MORE PREVIOUSLY: Where Have All The Gangsters Gone? PREVIOUSLY: HELP WANTED: Mob Looking For A Few Bad Men
SIDEWALKING: Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Festival Pier, 6:56 PM Friday by JEFF FUSCO
CONCERT REVIEW: Fleet Foxes At The Tower
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER It is well known that the Fleet Foxes look like lumberjacks and sing like angels, but less known is that live, they play like a band that made a deal with the devil at the crossroads. If you loved their 2008 self-titled LP but were a little underwhelmed by the new Helplessness Blues, you should have been at the Tower Theater on Saturday night, because those same songs blared loudly with the kind of heat, friction, and true grit sorely lacking on the recording. The moral of the story, I suppose, is that sometimes […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Big Brother’s Holding Co.
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Be afraid, people, be very afraid. Of the Taliban, al Qaeda, or terrorism in general? No. Street gangs, career criminals, or crime altogether? Nope. Rising prices at the pump and on grocery store shelves, or inflation overall? Not even close. Folks, I’ve got something to tell you about that should raise every hair on the back or your neck and send a stampede of shivers right through your soul! It’s called the National Security Agency or NSA. It’s headquartered in Fort Meade, MD, and your hard earned tax dollars–a whole bunch of them–as well as your […]