AUTHOR’S NOTE: Today I Saw was a series of short imagistic non-fiction narratives I did back in 2007. I didn’t even conceive it as a series for publication, it was really just a bunch of scenes and images I jotted down while doing field work as a social worker. I was doing intensive community based work with homeless families, and writing about all the crazy things I saw in the field helped me decompress at the end of the day from the stress and pressure I was under at my often emotionally-grueling job. Phawker approached me about writing for them […]
THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH: John Travolta Reportedly Considering Split With Scientology
[Artwork by STEVEN BARRET] DAILY MAIL: His distress, say sources close to him, has been compounded by the first cracks in his 34-year relationship with the Church of Scientology, the cult-like religion of which Travolta is a prominent and generous benefactor. And there are dark mutterings that if he carries out private threats to leave, the organisation will go public with embarrassing details of his private life, including, it is claimed, allegations of past homosexual relationships. […] But there is much more to this than just a questioning of a once rock-solid faith. “I think it would be very difficult […]
LOSE YOUR ILLUSION: Quitters Never Win
WASHINGTON POST: Whether her ultimate goal now is to seek the presidency in 2012 or later is not known. Those who have some insight into her frame of mind believe she departs elected office without a real plan to make that happen — or even a plan for what to do with the next six months of her life. Palin left office about 18 months before the end of her term. In her farewell speech, she lashed out at the media, which she accused of “making things up,” and warned about encroachments from big government in Washington. “Be wary of […]
DEATH ON THE PIAZZA: Daily Beast Sends Deeney To Plush Night Club — Plush Night Club Is Not Amused
DAILY BEAST: The room has all the ambience of a high school gymnasium converted for a dance; the walls are brick and cinderblock painted a garish orange-red, and at the head of the room is a platform that barely qualifies as a stage where heavily tatted dudes in wifebeaters mill about, some holding microphones and rapping along with the music, some just taking up space. The music is so loud that you have to scream directly into someone’s ear for them to hear you. The crowd loves the down and dirty vibe that prevails; booty bounces to the beat of […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
READY, STEADY, GO: Craig Finn, The Hold Steady, Xponential Music Festival, Last Night [Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA] *** ZEE AVI: Honey Bee WIKIPEDIA: Zee Avi (born Izyan Alirahman,[1] also known as KokoKaina; b. 1986) is a Malaysian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and ukulele player. She was born in Miri, Sarawak, on the island of Borneo. She moved to Kuala Lumpur when she was 12.[2] She studied fashion design at American InterContinental University in London.[3] Zee originally posted a video of her first song on YouTube because one of her friends had missed her first performance in Kuala Lumpur, so she created a […]
The Five People U Meet When U Die And Go 2 SEPTA
1. The Playa: Age doesn’t matter when it comes to the playa. His age or yours. The playa can be a middle school kid two feet shorter than you whose baggy pants sag to reveal Spongebob boxers asking, “Can I text you tonight?” Or he can be a senior citizen on his way to the community center who thinks making kissy noises on his knuckles will convince you to drop your knickers. Either way, the playa is cool, calm and confident. His favorite technique is to enter a totally empty subway car/bus and sit next to you. If you don’t […]
EARLY WORD: Jingle Bells, Batman Smells
[Click flier to activate Internets] BY TIFFANY YOON Geoff McGovern has become well known in Philly, or at least in some DIY circles, for booking all ages shows in makeshift venues like the Danger Danger Gallery and Pi Lam in West Philadelphia. He’s also booked shows at the Copy Gallery on 11th and Arch and has been known to use other venues to house bands like Ponytail, Growing, Eric Copeland of Black Dice, Teeth Mountain and many other names that are now well-known in the music circuit. He’s not the first to book shows of this caliber in Philadelphia, but […]
I’M WITH STUPID: Cambridge Police Union President Says Obama Owes Cops Everywhere An Apology
CNN: President Obama should apologize to members of the Cambridge Police Department for saying they acted stupidly, the president of the city’s police union said Friday. Dennis O’Connor, president of the Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association, said at a news conference that Obama should not have criticized officers’ actions in last week’s arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. Sgt. James Crowley, the officer who arrested Gates for disorderly conduct, has previously said he was dismayed by the president’s remarks and that Obama had offended police in Cambridge and elsewhere. MORE PHAWKER: So, let us get this straight. The […]
RAWK TAWK: Q&A With Black Moth Super Rainbow
BY DIANCA POTTS Analog-synth psych-poppers Black Moth Super Rainbow hail from the hinterlands of Western Pennsylvania. Their music, spanning the course of four albums, has been described thusly: “Sometimes the songs feel like pagan rituals in a sugarcoated fairyland. Other times they’re like sad thoughts on the happiest days. All played and lovingly assembled by real people with real hands. BMSR lives and makes music in their own lollipop neon folktale world.” Notoriously camera-shy, Black Moth’s members prefer to hide behind aliases — there is vocalist Tobacco, who does most of the writing and production; Power Pill Fist on bass […]
CINEMA: Summer Lovin’
(500) DAYS OF SUMMER (2009, directed by Marc Webb, 95 minutes, U.S.) ORPHAN (2009, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, 123 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Marc Webb’s debut feature (500) Days of Summer is a breezy pop song of a movie. Not a transcendent pop song though; certainly not “There’s A Light That Never Goes Out,” the morbid and infatuated Smiths’ tune that our romantic couple first bond over when the flirty Summer overhears it on Tom’s iPod. No, the pop tune this slightly clever, mildly amusing romantic comedy more closely resembles is the one Tom turns onto a […]
Cops Investigate Domelights Death Threats; Black Officer’s Union Prez Under Police Protection
INQUIRER: Philadelphia police are investigating threats directed toward the president of a black officers league after her organization accused the now-disabled Web site Domelights.com of hosting racist material. After the Guardian Civic League sued Domelights last week in federal court, several postings on the site attacked league president Rochelle Bilal. One said she “deserves to be gang-raped.” Bilal, a sworn officer who works in narcotics intelligence, has been assigned officers from the dignitary protection unit to guard her during the investigation. Two uniformed officers accompanied Bilal Wednesday night at a meeting at Guardian Civic League headquarters. MORE PREVIOUSLY: City Blocks […]
THIS JUST IN: Monsters Of Folk To Stomp On (Albeit Gently And Responsibly) The Academy Of Music
An Evening With Mike Mogis, Conor Oberst, M. Ward, and Yim Yames ACADEMY OF MUSIC MON., NOV. 9, 8 PM On sale Friday, July 31 at 10 am! FREE DOWNLOAD: “Say Please” [Mp3] JAY-Z TIX GIVEWAY UPDATE: We have a winner! Skye Ruozzi responded first (at the ungodly hour of 5:20 AM) with the correct answer to our trivia question (“Blue Magic”). Skye and her best PLUS ONE will be going to Day One of the All Points West courtesy of Phawker.com. Stay tuned we will be giving away a pair of tix for Day Two and Day Three of […]