I’M YOUR FAN: Leonard Cohen on bended knee, Academy of Music, 5/12/09 [Photo by MICHAEL T. REGAN] NOTICE: Leonard Cohen’s October 22nd concert has been moved from the originally scheduled Wachovia Spectrum to the more intimate Tower Theater. Tower Theater offers fans a special opportunity to get up close and experience Leonard Cohen in a more personal setting, while enjoying the emotive and superbly crafted concert engagement that the acclaimed singer/songwriter/poet has been performing in venues of all sizes worldwide this year. All tickets will be honored with a comparable seat. Fans simply need to bring their Wachovia Spectrum tickets to […]
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 […]
GAYDAR: Octoberfist VI Reviewed
BY AARON STELLA GAYDAR EDITOR The Dumpster players are, in short, a mad mob togged in trash-picked threads bent on inciting worldwide pandemonium. Nobody is safe; everybody is ripe for parody. I have attended almost every DP performance in the past year, but it wasn’t until last night’s “Octoberfist VI” celebration, the sixth of the DPs biannual fist-fest of Pan-European song and dance, that I witnessed their awesome power. Hail Satan! And despite the supervening night-o-da-Phillies, once the game ended and crowds flooded the streets, the majority of B&B’s patrons remained. Incredible. Again, another testament to theDP’s patent reputation. Contained […]
ADDICTED TO AFGHANISTAN: Heroin Ground Zero
BBC: Afghanistan has a monopoly on illegal opium production that has devastating global consequences, a UN report says. UN findings say an opium market worth $65bn (£39bn) funds global terrorism, caters to 15 million addicts, and kills 100,000 people every year. The UN says corruption, lawlessness and uncontrolled borders result in only 2% of Afghan opiates being seized locally. The UN says more Russians die annually from Afghan drugs than Soviet soldiers were killed during its Afghan conflict. Afghanistan produces 92% of the world’s opium, with the equivalent of 3,500 tonnes leaving the country each year. Most of the opium […]
MEDIA: The Nutcracker Strikes Back!
[Artwork by ALEX FINE] BY JONATHAN VALANIA On Tuesday, Big Government.com, the conservative web site behind the ACORN hooker sting videos, issued a press release that reads in part: After suing Breitbart.com, Mr. O’Keefe and Ms. Giles in Maryland over the release of the Baltimore tapes, ACORN has issued public statements denying any wrongdoing in its Philadelphia office and lying about what happened there. Mr. O’Keefe and Ms. Giles are now prepared to respond.According to Mr. Breitbart, “ACORN representatives claim James and Hannah were kicked out of Philadelphia. They also said publicly that unlike Baltimore, Washington D.C., Brooklyn, San Bernardino […]
HELLO WORLD SERIES: We Are The Champions!
NEW YORK TIMES: The Phillies went 35 years between their first World Series (1915) and their second (1950). Then they went 30 years before their next World Series, in 1980. From a historical perspective, the idea that the Phillies have now won the pennant in consecutive seasons is astounding. As Richie Ashburn would have said, “Hard to believe, Harry.” MORE South Broad Street, 12:37 AM [Photo by TIFFANY YOON]
GREATEST HITS: Today I Saw Revisited
BY JEFF DEENEY TODAY I SAW new black magic marker tags scrawled on the sidewalk outside Mantua Hall. “Tre Six Gangstas,” read one, “36th Street Mafia” read another. There’s a ledge outside the front doors to the housing project tall enough to sit on, and there were seven or eight Tre Six boys kicking back on the ledge and mobbed on the steps leading to the front door. It was early Friday evening, so I assumed they were getting ready to serve the payday party crowd that would start rolling through at any minute. One of the boys had shoulder […]
GAYDAR: Dumpster Diving
“What are doing tonight?” “We’ll, I’m going to see “Octoberfist” down at Bob and Barbara’s. Wanna Come?” “Whoa! What? Bob and Barbara’s does porno viewings now? When did this start?” “No silly Billy: It’s the Dumpster Players—you know, that wacky trash-glitz drag troupe that shoves their prickly stick of parody up society’s bunghole every month?” “Oh yeah! Those dudes!” “Yeah, well, it’s their sixth “Octoberfist” celebration, complete with vivacious drag queens, heinous costumery and flamboyantly flaming back-up dancers flailing in lip-sync to Pan-European techno-balladry, from countries like Norway, Moldovia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, France, Germany and Greece. Also, The Little Italian immigrant girl […]
Tierney & Co. Add $20M To Their Bid For Inky/DN
INQUIRER: Three local investors allied with newspaper publisher Brian P. Tierney are adding more than $20 million to their offer for the Daily News and Inquirer.The three local investors – businessman Bruce Toll, philanthropist David Haas and the Carpenters Union Pension Fund – had previously offered $52 million in cash and credit as part of a reorganization plan to bring the newspapers out of bankruptcy. The plan called for the newspapers’ lenders to receive $37 million in cash and ownership of the newspaper building at Broad and Callowhill streets, valued at $29 million. The original proposal would have paid about […]
HELP WANTED: Dope Fiend With Word Power
[Artwork by JAMES THORTON] GUARDIAN: An alternative newspaper in Denver, Colorado, Westword, is seeking a marijuana critic. More than 120 people have applied for the job to review the drugs legally available in the state’s medical dispensaries. One condition: the critic must have a medical ailment that allows him or her to buy and use marijuana at one of Colorado’s 100 dispensaries. And the pay, unlike the job, is not expected to be high. There are already several online reviewers of cannabis, such as marijuanareviews.com and weedmaps.com. MORE WESTWORD: All those journalistic scoops are just so much smoke compared to […]
PENN STUDY: Gunslingers Are 4.5 Times More Likely To Become Gunshot Victims Than Non-Gunslingers
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: In a first-of its-kind study, epidemiologists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that, on average, guns did not protect those who possessed them from being shot in an assault. The study estimated that people with a gun were 4.5 times more likely to be shot in an assault than those not possessing a gun. The study was released online this month in the American Journal of Public Health, in advance of print publication in November 2009. “This study helps resolve the long-standing debate about whether guns are protective or perilous,” notes […]
INTERNET KILLED THE VIDEO STORE: TLA Video Store On South Street Is Closing Its Doors Forever
TLA Video on Fourth and South streets is closing its doors. Actually, it’s already closed for inventory and will re-open on Friday for sales only. The South Street institution, long a prized destination for the kind of quirky indie fare not easily found in big box retailers like Blockbuster and Hollywood video, will remain open through Thanksgiving or until it sells through its inventory. The TLA Video location at 1520 Locust St. will remain open. “It was an amazing 24-year run for our South Street store,” said TLA president Ray Murray, “but changing viewing habits of our customers (internet, cable, […]