R5 Presents: Kurt Vile Strapping Fieldhands, Home Blitz Johnny Brenda’s Fri, January 8, 2010 Doors: 8:00 PM / Show: 9:00 PM $10.00 Sold Out
DOPE: Pot Shops Outnumber Starbucks In Denver
PORTFOLIO: If you want more proof that selling legal pot is a booming business, consider this statistic: Denver has more medical-marijuana shops than Starbucks Corp. locations. Denver’s City Treasurer Steve Ellington tells ABC New affiliate Channel 7 that at least 390 pot dispensaries applied for a sales-tax license recently. That compares to 208 Starbucks in the entire state of Colorado, the station reports. Denver’s city council took a step toward regulating the marijuana stores last night, and the businesses are filing their tax applications. The Denver statistic sheds light on a business that is becoming more institutionalized as local governments […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Writer-director Robert Siegel wrote the screenplay for the acclaimed 2008 film The Wrestler; Patton Oswalt, the stand-up comic and actor, starred in CBS’s The King of Queens and provided the voice for Remy, the main character in Pixar’s food romance Ratatouille. Now the two have collaborated on a new film — a drama, not a comedy — called Big Fan, about an obsessive 35-year-old New York Giants fan. Oswalt’s character, Paul, works as a parking-garage attendant, lives with his mom, and finds an outlet for his passion — and a minor kind of celebrity — as a frequent […]
EARLY WORD: Requiem For A Kensington Bluesman
[Click to enlarge] PREVIOUSLY: Jack Rose, Kensington Bluesman, Dead At 38 *
GOD SAVE ARTIE LANGE: Howard Stern Sidekick Survives Nine Self-Inflicted Knife Wounds
NEW YORK POST: Troubled comic Artie Lange landed in the hospital after stabbing himself nine times in an apparent suicide attempt, sources told The Post. Lange’s frantic mom called 911 Saturday morning after she entered his Hoboken apartment and found the bloodied funnyman, a law-enforcement source said. Lange sustained six “hesitation wounds” and three deep plunges. A source close to Lange’s management team confirmed that the Howard Stern sidekick stabbed himself, adding that his mother had come to visit him that day to drop off food. Surgeons managed to save Lange despite heavy bleeding. MORE WIKIPEDIA: Since Lange joined the […]
CONTEST: Win 2 Tix 4 Wilco At The Electric Factory
That’s right folks, we have two tickets to give away for Wilco at the Electric Factory on April 10th and an itchy giveaway trigger finger. Instead of the usual first-emailer-with-correct-answer-to-such-and-such-trivia question, we are gonna give you a chance to flex your creative writing skills — after all, Wilco is for lovers English majors. So send an email to feed@phawker.com with your best why-I-simply-can’t-live-without-those-Wilco-tickets sob story — make us laugh, make us cry, make us laugh AND cry — and we just might have mercy on your soul. Go ahead, try and break our heart. PREVIOUSLY: Phawker Names Yankee Hotel Foxtrot […]
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 […]
EXIT INTERVIEW: Dave Davies, A Reporter’s Reporter
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] BY JONATHAN VALANIA Intentionally confusing Daily News journalist extraordinaire Dave Davies with Kinks guitarist extraordinaire Dave Davies is, admittedly, a weak stab at humor but we’ve been doing it for years and it’s too late to stop now. Just to be clear for those too young or gullible to know better, the Dave Davies in question is NOT the former guitarist of the Kinks, rather he is one of the best journalists this town has ever had and after nearly 20 years Daily News he is moving on to what comes next — specifically he will […]
MEDIA: Philly.com’s Chris Krewson Named Editor Of Variety.com; Our Boy Mike Newall Hired On by Inky
VARIETY: Chris Krewson has been tapped editor of Variety.com, overseeing all editorial content for the website and contributing to its vision and content strategy. Krewson, currently executive online editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer, will report to Variety group editor Tim Gray. “We considered a lot of great people, but Chris was everybody’s favorite. With his innovative ideas, as well as his people skills, Chris will be a major asset as our website expands and improves. And since readers have indicated they want information in both print and online, Chris will be able to help us coordinate and differentiate the two […]
ARTSY: Judith Schaechter’s ‘Cold Genius’
[Click to enlarge] JUDITH SCHAECTER’S LATE BREAKING NOOSE: So to recap: first I made the head. Ahhh…and what a head!!! I don’t think I have attained such spot-on idealness before. Definitely my best head to date. Of course I desired a body and context that would do this face justice. Yikes…never ever wish this….because this set into motion a series of impossible to meet standards, goals ratcheted to unattainable levels, yadda yadda yadda blah blah blah. So I had this face. Made in glass and at some point shortly after its birth, I saw this YouTube video by Klaus Nomi. […]
KABUL ROCKS: The First And Only Afghan Rock Band
BBC: This is music from Afghanistan, of a kind seldom heard before, but now produced by a trio of young men. The band, Kabul Dreams, is made up of vocalist Sulaymon Qardash, bass player Siddique Ahmad and drummer Mujtaba Habibi, who claim to be the country’s first and only rock and roll group. “One year ago in December we decided to create this band and since it was happening in Kabul, we thought Kabul Dreams is a good name,” says the 19-year-old vocalist, who bears a distinct resemblance to Liam Gallagher of the British band Oasis. “It’s a real dream […]
DOUBLE STANDARD: Outgoing D.A. Lynne ‘Tough Cookie’ Abraham Was Not So Tough On Rogue Cops
Outgoing District Attorney Lynne Abraham, who has often been accused of being soft on cop crime, declined to press criminal charges against Philadelphia Police Officer Frank Tepper who was fired this week for shooting to death William “Billy” Panas Jr. in Port Richmond on Nov. 21. The victim was unarmed. Eyewitnesses claimed an irate and intoxicated Tepper shot the unarmed Panas Jr. in the chest when the two men exchanged words after a neighborhood brawl. A grand jury is currently investigating. In her final act as D.A. Abraham also declined to press charges in the death of Lawrence Allen who died […]
REPORT: Homicides Down 22%, All Crime Down 10%
INQUIRER: Philadelphia saw across-the-board decreases in major crimes over the last two years, authorities announced yesterday, including a 22 percent drop in homicides. Overall crime is down 10 percent from 2007, the year before Police Commissioner Ramsey took over. Violent crime is down 10.8 percent from 2007; property crime, 9.7 percent. Many major crimes decreased from 2007 to 2008, though there were spikes in burglaries and rapes. In 2009, the numbers of all major crimes fell below 2007 levels, authorities said yesterday. The city had 305 homicides last year, down from 333 in 2008 and 392 in 2007. Robberies were […]