ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH: The compact biography deftly recreates the scenes of Barney Ross’s life, of a striver “intoxicated by the clouds of cigar smoke hovering over the men in fedoras; the fists mummified in billiard cloth and tape; the mineral jelly smeared on gashed eyebrows; the tattoo of leather on leather….” Century moves from Ross’s early years in Chicago to his place in the history of Jewish prizefighting. More interesting to me, though, was the author’s ability to convey a life defined by strife, one that seemed to embody that of a generation. From the very beginning, “Life was a […]
Comcast In Talks To Purchase 51% Of NBC Universal
INQUIRER: The Philadelphia-based cable giant, which has about 24 million cable TV customers, has confirmed that it’s looking for entertainment content and published reports say it could be negotiating for a 20 percent to 50 percent stake in NBC Universal. NBC Universal, which is 80 percent owned by General Electric, controls the NBC broadcast network, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo, USA, Bravo, Universal Pictures, and theme parks. It has been considered in play for several years. Comcast Corp. had denied reports last night that it had reached a deal to buy NBC Universal for $35 billion. Comcast owns regional sports networks, the […]
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 […]
PLOT THICKENS: Army Reservist Kills Man In Manhattan Then Kills Himself In Philadelphia
INQUIRER: An Army reservist wanted in the stabbing death of a man outside Manhattan’s main post office was found dead Tuesday night, an apparent suicide, in West Philadelphia, police said. Sirmone McCaulla, 28, was discovered by his ex-girlfriend in the bathtub of her apartment on the 4900 block of Pine Street. The woman called police about 5:45 p.m. When police arrived, they found McCaulla slumped in the partially filled tub with a plastic garbage bag over his head and a television cable box on his chest, police said. McCaulla, a veteran who served in Kuwait, had been wanted after a […]
SMOKE ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM: Phils Clinch!
Philadelphia Phillies’ Jayson Werth is seen after the Phillies’ 10-3 victory last night over the Houston Astros. The Phillies clinched their third straight NL East title (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) BOB FORD: As with everything else about the 2009 season, it wasn’t easy or predictable as the Phillies clinched the National League East title last night with a 10-3 win over the Houston Astros. If that description seems too dramatic for a season in which the Phils led the division since late May and secured their third consecutive title with a cushion of four games to play, you weren’t paying attention. […]
HOT DOC: Right Wing Web Site Pulls Column Promoting Military Coup Against President Obama
MEDIA MATTERS: Yesterday, we highlighted a Newsmax column by John L. Perry essentially advocating a military coup to resolve the “Obama problem” (while, of course, claiming he was advocating no such thing). It’s just the latest example of extreme right-wing rhetoric directed at President Obama. Now, it appears that Newsmax has removed the column from its website; the link to it defaults to Perry’s main column page. Fortunately, we made a copy. MORE NEWSMAX: There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America’s military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the “Obama problem.” Don’t dismiss it as unrealistic. America […]
SEX IN THE CITY: Men I’ve Dated
BY GLORIA MARIS I spent one of my better New Year’s Eves with an academic. He was (or still is) a professor of Latin American Studies at a small university in the outer, outer western suburbs of Philadelphia. We went to see a band at a club on South Street.We’d arrived early enough to get seats at the bar and started kissing shamelessly as soon as the clock on my phone rolled to midnight. The bartender passed out tiny portions of champagne in plastic cups. Part way through the show, another former lover of mine arrived unexpectedly. He immediately fell […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Nick Hornby has written the screenplay for the new film An Education. The movie — about a teenage girl coming of age in ’60s Britain, post-war and pre-rock — is based on a memoir by journalist Lynn Barber. This isn’t Hornby’s first foray into film; many of his novels have been made into movies, including About a Boy and High Fidelity. His novel Fever Pitch, about a soccer-obsessed English teacher, was adapted for the silver screen, then re-adapted for American audiences with a Boston Red Sox fanatic (Jimmy Fallon, playing opposite Drew Barrymore) as the protagonist. Hornby has […]
DOUBLE STANDARD: America’s Prostitution Expert
YOUTUBE: Hypocrisy is a special kind of gall. If Senator Vitter is so outraged by the ACORN prostitution scandal, surely he doesn’t mind talking about his own. The group that Vitter and others so easily condemn provides vital services to some of the poorest people in America. ACORN is clearly imperfect, but it takes a bold man to attack their sex worker interactions when his own have gone unpunished. So as long as the self-proclaimed “most outspoken critic of ACORN” is sitting in judgement of prostitute consultations, let’s benefit from his real world experience. Call up Senator Vitter’s office, ask […]
EVIL DOER: Dick Scott Is A Bad, Bad Man
SALON: For months now multimillionaire healthcare entrepreneur Rick Scott has been at the center of the aggressive campaign to derail healthcare reform in Washington, D.C. Reprising the role he played nearly 20 years ago, when as the head of a national hospital chain he helped kill Clintoncare, the former hospital-chain executive founded the group Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, raising $20 million to fight Obamacare, including $5 million of his own money. The tall, lean Scott, whose shiny bald head swivels in exasperation at the idea of government involvement in healthcare, even stars in its nationwide ad campaign comparing Democratic proposals […]
If Roman Polanski Can Read This He Is THIS F*cked
DAILY BEAST: So what was the claimed impropriety that got the DA’s office to scrape off 30 years of rust and start the wheels grinding? A backroom chat in 1977 between prosecutor Wells—not the prosecutor assigned to the case—and Judge Laurence Rittenband, during which the judge asked how he could get out of the deal that’d been made for no additional time and send Polanski back to prison. Supposedly, Wells told him how. If true, that’s an ethical violation, no question about it. It’s absolutely forbidden to have one-sided communications with a judge about a pending case. Still, Wells denies […]
RAWK TAWK: Q&A With Rock Critic Jim Derogatis
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Jim Derogatis is the pop music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, co-host of public radio’s rock talk show Sound Opinions, the definitive Lester Bangs biographer and author of five books, including the just-published and altogether beautiful The Velvet Underground: An Illustrated History of a Walk on the Wild Side. Derogatis got his start in the rock crit biz back in 1982 when Lester Bangs agreed to sit for an interview to satisfy Derogatis’ high school journalism class assignment requiring him to interview one of his heroes. Two weeks later, Bangs was dead at the ripe old age […]
BREAKING: DJ AM Death Ruled Accidental Overdose
MTV: One month after DJ AM was found dead in his New York apartment, the city’s medical examiner has announced a cause of death in the case. After a battery of toxicology tests, the New York City medical examiner’s office has determined that AM’s accidental death was caused by acute intoxication brought on by a cocktail of prescription drugs and cocaine, a spokesperson from the office confirmed. The toxicology report released on Tuesday says that the 36-year-old celebrity DJ (born Adam Goldstein) had cocaine; painkillers OxyContin and Vicodin; anti-anxiety meds Ativan, Klonopin, Xanax; antihistamine Benadryl and Levamisole (a drug used […]