EDITOR’S NOTE: William C. Henry is better known to me as ‘Uncle Bill.’ I’ve invited him to weigh in from time to time on whatever is getting his goat at the moment. BY WILLIAM C. HENRY If you’ve read any of my commentaries you know that I’m no shrinking violet (Google it) when it comes to politics, but I’m thinking it would probably be best if I exceed the recommended dosage of my hypertension meds for this one. Let me begin by saying that what we’ve got here, in the immortal words of Strother Martin, isn’t just “failure to communicate.” […]
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
SONG OF THE MOMENT: “Apothecary Love”
This old-timey charmer from The Low Anthem’s drop-dead gorgeous Smart Flesh, the just-released follow-up to 2009’s Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, has been making me smile for weeks. It vibes like a summery cross between The Band’s Music From Big Pink and Beck’s Mutations — all mournful, moonlit country lilt and coal mountain melody waltzing matilda across the fruited plains and purple mountain majesties of the warm, narcotic American night. Its like old time country lemonade for your ears. The singer sounds like an Appalachian Cat Stevens telling it on the mountain, the harmonica wheezes like a far-off train whistle […]
RIP: TV On The Radio Bassist Dead At 36
TV ON THE RADIO: We are very sad to announce the death of our beloved friend and band mate, Gerard Smith, following a courageous fight against lung cancer. Gerard passed away the morning of April 20th, 2011. We will miss him terribly. MORE THE GUARDIAN: I only ever met TV on the Radio‘s Gerard Smith once. It was three years ago in the Muzak-scented lobby of a west London hotel. Smith chucked the odd word into my hour-long interview with the band, but it was only when the conversation wandered towards the twin behemoths of Funkadelic and Led Zeppelin that […]
STUDY: Illegal Immigrants Paid $11.2 Billion In Taxes This Year; G.E. Paid Nada On $14 Billion In Profits
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: I bet most of you didn’t know undocumented immigrants contributed more – much more – to the national treasury last year than General Electric. Surprised? Yet it’s true. While GE – which earned a whopping $14 billion last year – is reported to have paid nothing, nada, zero in taxes (GE denies it), the undocumented paid billions in state and local taxes in 2010. No, it’s not me talking; it’s the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (itepnet.org), a prestigious, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that works on federal, state and local tax policy issues. MORE NEW […]
HEAVENLY STATES: Berlin Wall (Feat. Britt Daniel)
In May, Heavenly States will be supporting West Coast dates by Buffalo Tom, who play The M Room next Friday.
Everyone Excited About Proposed Concert Venue In Fishtown, Except Fishtown Neighbors Association
PLAN PHILLY: Zoning legislation that would allow developer David Grasso to transform a 7,600 square foot warehouse into a live music venue/performance space at Richmond and Beach streets in Fishtown is headed for a city council committee hearing with the planning commission’s recommendation for approval. Grasso and his team told planning commissioners that the venue, which would be operated by Live Nation, could hold up to 3,000 people and would host bands, comedy shows, live theater and corporate events. Not everyone is thrilled with Grasso’s plan, though. MORE
TONITE: Serve The Servants, Deny The Deniers
VIA THE YES MEN: Information Launderer Dr. Patrick Michaels Will Accept Corporate Climatology Award from Swarthmore Students for Scientific Industrial Progress (SSSIP) Corporate-funded information launderer Patrick J. Michaels of the free-wielding, free-enterprising Cato Institute* is giving a lecture tonight at Swarthmore College entitled “Is It Extreme Not to Be Extreme on Climate Change?” We don’t really know how he or we will answer this convoluted question, but we do know that it is extreme to manipulate science on behalf of the fossil fuel industry, and we plan to make this very clear to him. This talk is on April 20th, the […]
New Bon Iver Album Art And Release Date Revealed
Bon Iver, Bon Iver comes out June 18th on Jaguwaguar. RELATED: Bon Iver, Bon Iver was recorded and mixed at April Base Studios, a remodeled veterinarian’s clinic located in rural Fall Creek, Wisconsin. The main recording space is constructed over a defunct indoor pool attached to the clinic. “It’s an unique space and destination; it’s our home out here,” says Vernon, who purchased the structure with his brother in late 2008 with the sole intention of converting it into his ideal recording studio. “It’s been a wonderful freedom, working in a place we built. It’s also only three miles from […]
STYLE COUNCIL: PIFA’s Brave New World
It could be argued that the beginning of modern fashion was the end of the Victorian-era, when women strapped themselves into corsets with little regard for human anatomy or lung capacity. After that came the flappers of the Roaring ’20s, who let it all hang out with un-cinched waistlines and accessorized with all that jangly stuff that went so well with all that jazz. But what exactly happened in between that got the style world from the reserved to roaring? PIFA’s “Brave New World” fashion exhibit, currently showing at the Drexel’s Leonard Pearlstein Gallery, seems to have all the answers. […]
AP TICKER: Plutocracy Now!
AP explains how we would like to think we live in a DEMOCRACY but in fact we are living in a PLUTOCRACY, how nearly half of all the wealth in this country is concentrated in the hands of the top 1%, so that rest of us 99% have to fight over the other half. How things have gotten so out of whack because the top 1% has become so rich and powerful they can literally buy and sell the federal government, and ensure that all legislation rigs the game so that literally the rich keep getting richer, the poor get […]
HELLO, IT’S ME: Local Pornographers Are The Biggest 1-800 Number Phone Sex Spammers In North America
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Records obtained by The Associated Press show that over the past 13 years, a little-known Philadelphia company called PrimeTel Communications has quietly gained control over nearly a quarter of all the 1-800 numbers in the U.S. and Canada, often by grabbing them the moment they are relinquished by previous users. As of March, it administered more 800 numbers than any other company, including Verizon and AT&T. And many, if not most, of those 1.7 million numbers appear to be used for one thing: redirecting callers to a phone-sex service. Dial 1-800-Chicago and instead of reaching a tourism hotline […]
This Is Your GOP Presidential Candidates On Weed
MOTHER JONES: When it comes to pot, we’ve come a long way from the days of “I did not inhale.” Fifteen states (plus the District of Columbia) currently permit the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, and according to a recent Pew survey, 45-percent of Americans say they’d support legalizing marijuana outright—a 29-point increase from just two decades ago. Cannabis is fast losing its political stigma, too: The GOP might march in lockstep on abortion and tax cuts, but when it comes to pot, things get a bit hazier. Some of the party’s presidential candidates have never touched the stuff; […]