BY GLORIA MARIS He’s a musician and has worked as a musical director off-Broadway and in the Catskills. He appeared in a few episodes of a well-received cable sitcom, now off the air. He had a very brief speaking part (no close-up, but a credit in the end titles) in a film that won the Academy Award for best picture. He’s a cruciverbalist, a person who constructs crossword puzzles. He lives in New York, and we met during the fringe festival a few years ago. That year, there was a late-night cabaret of various acts — based on the vaudeville […]
TONIGHT: Full Metal Jacket Required
Two acclaimed Australian companies descend on the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, now in its final 4 days, this week. Geelong, Australia’s Back to Back Theatre presents the Philadelphia premiere of their Bessie Award-winning small metal objects, which takes place at the 40th Street field on UPenn’s campus. Actors are outfitted with microphones. You are given headphones. From a prominent riser you listen to an intense drama happening somewhere in the crowd. In a public space with pedestrians wandering every which way, only gradually do the actors become distinguishable from the rest of the passersby. small metal objects explores how respect […]
OBAMA: Is That All There Is To A Teabagging?
[Photos by TIFFANY YOON] BY GREG ADOMAITIS President Barack Obama came to town this afternoon to attend an invitation only fundraiser for Senator Arlen Specter at the Convention Center. White House press pool reports indicate the haul was hefty. Christopher Nicholas, Specter’s campaign manager, said that they were “within striking distance” of the $2.5 million goal for the two-tiered event. Proceeds were to be split between the Specter campaign and the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. Guests dined on steak, crab cakes, potatoes, carrots and green beans. For giving $10,000 or raising $50,000, donors posed for photos with the president and […]
Q&A: With Jesse Thorn, America’s Radio Sweetheart
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Jessie Thorn has been dubbed “America’s radio sweetheart” by, well, Jessie Thorn. It started as a joke, but each week it comes closer to self-fulfilling prophecy courtesy of the thoughtful and illuminating interviews Thorn conducts with underground rappers, indie-rockers, and edgy comedians as part of The Sound Of Young America, the nationally-syndicated public radio talk show Thorn tapes in the spare bedroom of his apartment in Los Angeles. Heard locally on WHYY Friday nights at 9PM, The Sound Of Young America has morphed in recent years from an unpaid hobby dating back to Thorn’s college years into […]
OFF THE RECORD: Obama Calls Kanye A ‘Jackass’
During an off-the-record portion of an interview with CNBC, ABC reporter Terry Moran overheard the president call Kanye West a ‘Jackass’ — for storming stage and grabbing the mic from Taylor Swift in the middle of the country star’s acceptance speech — and immediately Twittered it, along with the snarky zinger “now THAT’s presidential”. ABC quickly pulled the tweet and apologized, but the damage was already done — ABC’s Twitterstream has a million-plus followers and Obama’s remark was immediately screencapped, retweeted ad nauseum and then picked up by the MSM, becoming the latest much ado about nothing to burn up […]
I, GAMER: ‘Rape’ Me?
BY ADAM BONANNI It’s certainly been a busy couple weeks for the music game genre. After Beatles: Rock Band dropped on 9/9/09, gamers are anticipating what could be a renewed interest in the genre, partially due to lack of new titles in the Rock Band or Guitar Hero franchises and, what this journalist can only imagine as the issue of plastic guitars and drum sets outnumbering bad ties in peoples’ closets. Almost overshadowed by the hype that can only be described as modern Beatle-mania, was the launch of Guitar Hero 5. Overshadowed, but not totally forgotten, it would seem Last […]
TONITE: Smut Cave Live
Though it sounds like the title of some great lost Russ Meyers flick, Smut Cave is actually Woodshop Film‘s bi-monthly journey to the center of the all-consuming vaginal blackhole of Internet porn. Each episode, your host The Spelunker (aka Nick Fiore) — outfitted with mining helmet, safety glasses, coveralls and seated behind an old refrigerator box that serves as his talk show desk — brings you the strangest flavors the pornucopia of online smut has to offer, from the downright lascivious to the deeply ludicrous. Tonight, The Spelunker is saying ‘Fuck it, we’ll do it live!” as part of the […]
THIS JUST IN: Patrick Swayze Dead At 57
CBS NEWS: Patrick Swayze has died after a nearly two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Swayze’s publicist Annett Wolf says the 57-year-old “Dirty Dancing” actor died Monday with family at his side. He came forward about his illness last spring, but continued working as he underwent treatments. It was 1987 when Swayze became a star with his performance in “Dirty Dancing,” a coming-of-age story set in a Catskills resort. The 1990 film “Ghost” cemented his status as a screen favorite. MORE NEW YORK TIMES: Mr. Swayze’s cancer was diagnosed in January 2008. Six months after that, he had already outlived his […]
MUST SEE TV: MA Men
MA Men from Joey McIntyre * Crudely hilarious spoof of Mad Men that extrapolates the casual boozy chain-smoking sexism and homophobia of Madison Avenue circa 1963 to Boston circa now. Audio is distinctly NSFW, or as John Hodgman says, “Not Safe Unless You Work In 1963” or NSUYWI1963.
PUNKING THE HATERS: Man Parades PUBLIC OPTION NOW Sign Through Sea Of DC Teabaggers
FLICKR: This brave man walked through the anti-health care crowd with his large poster and was immediately set upon by the crowd. One person spit on him, while others pushed and tried to grab his flag until the police intervened. Most of the crowd around him turned on him like rabid dogs, yelling epithets and things like commie, why dont you leave this country etc. Impressively, he remained unflappable and had this little smile on the whole time. MORE SALON: Why then do nearly all of the Republicans in Congress find it so difficult to empathize with the tens of […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Edward M. Kennedy, who died Aug. 25, 2009 after serving 46 years in the U.S. Senate, kept careful notes and journals about his life for nearly 50 years. Now, in his posthumously published memoir True Compass, Kennedy reflects on the controversies, successes and tragedies of his famous family. The book, which was co-authored by Ron Powers, is published by Twelve Books. Jonathan Karp, editor-in-chief and publisher of Twelve, speaks with Terry Gross about his experiences working with the late senator in the final year of Kennedy’s life. RADIO TIMES Hour 1 According to the most recent Department of […]
DUH: Another ACORN Office Falls For Hooker Sting
NEW YORK POST: The scandal surrounding the left-wing activist organization ACORN has spread to New York, with employees at its Brooklyn office caught on video helping supposed ladies of the night get loans for their dream houses of ill repute. Rather than reminding the women that prostitution is dangerous and illegal and advising them to change their careers, counselors at the social-services group shockingly offer suggestions on how they can launder their earnings. “Honesty is not going to get you the house,” a loan counselor at the offices told two activists posing as a mortgage-seeking pimp and prostitute. “You can’t […]