PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY: Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic by most any measure—T.S. Eliot called it a masterpiece, and Ernest Hemingway pronounced it the source of “all modern American literature.” Yet, for decades, it has been disappearing from grade school curricula across the country, relegated to optional reading lists, or banned outright, appearing again and again on lists of the nation’s most challenged books, and all for its repeated use of a single, singularly offensive word: “nigger.” Twain himself defined a “classic” as “a book which people praise and don’t read.” Rather than see Twain’s most important work […]
DEBUNKED: The Great Philadelphia Paywall Scare
As you may have seen by now, Philebrity is trumpeting an exclusive on news that Philly.com will be going behind a paywall some time soon, according to what they claim are reliable sources. We have it on good authority, from an even more reliable source apparently, that is NOT true — although the confusion is not surprising given that some senior editors at the paper were unwittingly parroting misinformation. And Philadelphia Media Network CEO Greg Osberg confirmed as much in a meeting with staffers earlier this evening. The virtual version of the print editions of both the Inquirer and Daily […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Guitarist and composer Marc Ribot has been called “a master of introverted ironies” by The Village Voice and “a fount of pithy commentary” by The New York Times. Citing everything from Haitian classical music to Jimi Hendrix as influences, Ribot has been featured on albums by Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Solomon Burke, T-Bone Burnett, The Black Keys and Alison Krauss. His solo projects have been performed by the National Symphony Orchestra and other major symphonies. Ribot grew up in suburban New Jersey, where he performed in several garage bands, before moving to New York City in 1978 to […]
Robert Gibbs To Step Down As White House Spokesman And Join ‘Professional Left”
CNN: White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says it’s been a “remarkable privilege” to be President Barack Obama’s top spokesman, “even when you wake up at 4 and pick up the paper and groan.” “I would not trade the worst days here for many of the best days at another job,” Gibbs told reporters Wednesday, after announcing his departure from the White House. But he said he wants to “step back a little bit and recharge some” after four years of campaigning and a hard-fought first half of the Obama administration — “probably the busiest years that Washington and the […]
LET THEM EAT KAKE: Tasty Baking In Trouble, Looking To Merge Or Sell Itself To Competitors
PHILLY.COM: Tasty Baking Co. announced today that financial problems are forcing it to explore options that could include merging with another company or selling itself. Charles P. Pizzi, president and CEO of the Philadelphia-based maker of baked goods, said preliminary financial information for the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 25, showed an expected annualized pretax savings of about $10 million. That number had been projected to be $13 million. The company also cited the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing Dec. 12 of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., a major customer whose Philadelphia-area presence is best known through its Pathmark, […]
ENIGMATIC: Plot Thickens In Case Of Former Bush Aide Found Dead In A Delaware Landfill
INQUIRER: Police in Delaware have discovered evidence that a former Pentagon aide may have been involved in an attempted arson days before his murder, a law enforcement source has told The Inquirer. Police found evidence linking John Parsons Wheeler 3d to devices planted at the New Castle home of a neighbor with whom he had been feuding, said the source, who is close to the investigation. The feud was over the size of the neighbor’s house, which was under construction in the city’s historic district. The source emphasized that the evidence does not shed light on the murder itself, but […]
SCRAPPLE TV NEWS: With Your Host AP Ticker
This week AP discusses the Upper Darby woman suing Disney because Donald Duck groped her, the mysterious sick-out at a church in Bucks County and the downright apocalyptic mass birdkill in Arkansas. Plus Hot Carl with sports.
School District Prepping For Massive Budget Cuts
[Photo by Marvy!] INQUIRER: Confronted with a possible $430 million shortfall in the next fiscal year, Philadelphia School Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman has asked her top administrators to prepare contingency plans to cut 20 percent, 25 percent, and 30 percent of their budgets. The directive was contained in a brief e-mail sent Dec. 29 to members of Ackerman’s leadership team, according to district sources. The plans were due at 10 a.m. Tuesday, and top administrators are scheduled to gather for a budget meeting Friday morning. The district, which has 162,000 students and nearly 24,000 employees, currently receives 55 percent of […]
STEALER’S WHEEL: Stuck In The Middle With You
DAILY MAIL: Baker Street singer Gerry Rafferty has died at the age of 63. Rafferty, who is also best known for his 1972 hit Stuck In The Middle With You with his band Stealer’s Wheel, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family, said daughter Martha this morning. The Scottish-born singer had been admitted to hospital in Bournemouth last November with liver failure. MORE
CHENEY: If I Only Had A Heart
[Artwork by PADRAIC O’REILLY] NEW YORK TIMES: At 69, Mr. Cheney’s heart will never beat at full strength again, doctors say. His new mechanical pump — a partial artificial heart known as a ventricular assist device — leaves patients without a pulse because it pushes blood continuously instead of mimicking the heart’s own beat. Most pulse-less patients feel nothing unusual, but the devices do pose significant risks of infection. They are implanted as a last resort either for permanent use or as a bridge to transplant until a donor heart can be found. Mr. Cheney, who has participated in some […]
EARLY WORD: Lullabyes For The Common Man
MERGE: Julian Koster and The Music Tapes will be delivering lullabies at bedsides from bedroom to bedroom, and house to house during a tour that stops in Philadelphia on Friday. Featuring new songs as well as some of the gentler songs from Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes and the 1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad, lucky hosts will be visited at the bedtime hour by the most lulling of music tapes songs, by the sounds of the glowing and enchanting “Ghost Orchestra,” Singing Saws, Stories, and so forth. To invite The Music Tapes to your house, send an invitation to:LullabyeDeliveries@gmail.com […]
MUST SEE TV: Rendell On Colbert Report
The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c March to Keep Fear Alive INQUIRER: Last night Ed Rendell, Pennsylvania’s irrepressible outgoing governor, threw his hat into the ring of what may be his new career: talk-show guest. During an appearance on The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, Fast Eddy displayed his gift for light banter, parrying with host Stephen Colbert. The comedian had teed up the governor during his monologue, playing the now infamous radio interview in which an exasperated Rendell called us “a nation of wusses.” Rendell did not back down from his plank of rugged individualism, saying, […]
HIZZONER: The Problem With Nutter’s Black Problem
[Artwork by HUGGIE!] PHILADELPHIA MAGAZINE: Who can blame Michael Nutter, though, for […] bristling at the fact that he was — again — being forced to publicly defend his authenticity as a black man?As the Mayor puts it to me, in an interview in his office a few weeks after the party, “I’m fully secure and clear about who I am, where I came from and what my life experience has been as an African-American.” Then he adds, “The fact of the matter is, neither you nor anyone else has walked into Ed Rendell’s office and said, ‘Are you white […]