MIAMI HERALD: GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — Here in the land of limbo, the news of President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize landed with more of a whimper than wild enthusiasm among those waging their part in the war on terror. Most troops interviewed this week reflected the surprise of their commander in chief on waking up to the news Friday morning. More than a few hadn’t heard about the award for the president who pledged to empty the prison camps here until they were asked about it in an interview with The Miami Herald. […] Still, the Nobel […]
THE EARLY WORD: Andrew Bird At The E-Factory
With St. Vincent at the Electric Factory October 25th. Sometime in 1977 — A four-year-old Andrew Bird picks up his first violin at the age of 4. Actually, it is a Cracker Jack box with a ruler taped to it, as the first of his many Suzuki music lessons involve simply bowing to the teacher and going home. So begins a formative period soaking up classical repertoire completely by ear followed by a teenage expansion into Hungarian Gypsy music, early jazz, country blues, South Indian music and more, as well as the discovery of an uncanny whistling ability. MORE CONCERT […]
HOT DOC: Inky/DN Go Up For Auction Nov. 18th
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 3:15 PM To: All PN, BSCN and PHILLY.COM Employees Subject: Bankruptcy Update/Schedule As many of you may have now seen based on the reporting in The Inquirer and Daily News, the company filed papers yesterday in federal district court to appeal last week’s ruling on credit bid rights. We continue to believe it is in the best interests of the company to have an auction process in which all potential bidders are treated equally and that giving the lenders the right to credit bid will hinder the willingness of other bidders to get involved in […]
EARLY WORD: Calling All Copyright Criminals
[[ [Copyright Criminals Trailer] Next Tuesday, October 20, head on down to The Rotunda at 40th and Walnut for a free screening of the documentary COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS. Presented by ITVS’s Community Cinema program, COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS examines the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the related debates over artistic expression, copyright law, and money. The film includes interviews with many of hip-hop music’s founding figures like Public Enemy, De La Soul, and Digital Underground, and the world’s most funky drummer Clyde Stubblefield — while also featuring emerging hip-hop artists from record labels Definitive Jux, Rhymesayers, Ninja Tune, and more. […]
STUDY: Philly Not Ready To Stand Up And Be Counted
DAILY NEWS: When it comes time to stand up and be counted, Philadelphia may not be ready. That’s the evaluation of a new report released yesterday by the Pew Charitable Trusts on the city’s preparedness for the 2010 Census. “Philadelphia is lagging behind other major cities in mounting the kind of local outreach and awareness campaign for the 2010 Census that many experts consider important for achieving a full count,” the report said. According to the report, seven of the other 10 cities surveyed had launched citywide coordinating committees by early October. The other three cities had secured more funding […]
BOB DYLAN: Do You Hear What I Hear?
NEWSWEEK: My take, after one listen (Sony didn’t provide advances of the CD) is that there’s no deep meaning or in-joke to behold here. Anyone attempting a hermeneutical link between Dylan’s new version of “Little Drummer Boy” and his recent rewrite of Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You” is asking to be made a fool of in the public square. Whatever historian Sean Wilentz says, these new carols and standards don’t sound like part of the same project as the allusive, original compositions on Love and Theft or Together Through Life. There’s not enough context or commentary […]
GREATEST HITS: Today I Saw Revisited
BY JEFF DEENEY Today I saw a wino walking across a trash strewn lot on Ridge Avenue, down the street from the shelter. It was a classic image, a living stereotype stumbling with bagged bottle in one hand while the other waved in the air unsteadily, like he was struggling to get across the deck of ship in rough waters. He slowed and then stalled, as if he might change direction but had to think hard about the decision before continuing. Then he pitched forward, undulating towards the brick wall at the other end of the lot. When he reached […]
MUSSOLINI HEADKICK: ‘Il Duce’ Was A British Spook
THE TIMES OF LONDON: Historians in Cambridge have uncovered details of a lucrative deal struck between a young Benito Mussolini and MI5 in 1917. For at least a year, the young socialist was paid £100 a week by the UK government — around £6,000 today — to write pro-war propaganda for his newspaper Il Popolo d’Italia, one of the slickest media machines the country, and keep Italian troops fighting at the front. “Mussolini wasn’t exactly house-trained,” said Dr Peter Martland, the Cambridge historian who made the discovery. It was unlikely that the young Il Duce was saving for aid packages […]
RIP: Al Martino, South Philly Crooner, Dead At 82
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Singer Al Martino, who played the Frank Sinatra-type role of Johnny Fontane in ”The Godfather,” died Tuesday afternoon at his childhood home. He was 82. Starting in 1952, Martino was known for hit songs including ”Here in My Heart,” ”Spanish Eyes,” ”Can’t Help Falling in Love” and ”Volare.” Besides acting in the Marlon Brando classic ”The Godfather,” Martino sang the 1972 film’s title score, ”The Love Theme From The Godfather.” His Fontane character is a singer and occasional actor and is the godson of Brando’s Mafia boss character, Don Vito Corleone. MORE DAILY NEWS: “He was the […]
YA GOTTA BELIEVE: Phils Kill Rockies Dead
[Photo by crwelling] INQUIRER: When the Phillies allowed three runs in the eighth inning last night, Ruben Amaro Jr. began to think about the trip home. With Game 4 appearing lost, the first-year general manager resigned himself to logistics. “I was thinking about the flight home,” he said an hour later, standing in the corner of a wild visitors’ clubhouse at Coors Field, quiet and exhausted. “Thinking about whether Cole [Hamels] would be ready for a Game 5 start, and about how tough it would be to stop their momentum.” Amaro did not know that Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, and […]
THE DAILY SHOW: The CNN/SNL Smackdown
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
John Hodgman Is NOT A PC, He Just Plays One On TV
PHAWKER: So just to be up front, your new book, More Information Than You Require, just showed up this morning, so I have barely even skimmed it. But my favorite endorsement is from Justin Long, the guy who plays the Mac dude in your Apple commercials, who says “I love this book so much I almost read it!” But seeing as how I am completely unprepared to discuss your book, we will have to do this on the honor system. Is your book any good? JOHN HODGMAN: I think my book is ‘any good’, yes. I would categorize it as […]
CINEMA: The Two-Way Mirror Between Life And Art
SALON: I am not claiming that a work of art has nothing to do with the person who made it, since that’s a stupid idea, and I’m certainly not claiming that the work of art is somehow co-guilty of its creator’s crimes, since that’s an even stupider idea. (Wagner’s music will always be identified with fascism; it can’t be reduced to fascism.) I am certainly not speaking out in defense of Roman Polanski, who apparently did something that was both heinous and illegal, and should long ago have faced the consequences. I guess I’m saying that it’s hypothetically possible to […]