BLOOMBERG NEWS: Colombian troops freed French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. citizens held by the country’s biggest guerrilla group, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said. ”They are healthy and free,” Santos told reporters in Bogota today. ”This is unprecedented, and will pass into history.” Troops freed a total of 15 hostages, some held for more than 10 years by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, after infiltrating the group’s leadership, Santos said. Colombian agents convinced leaders of the FARC, as the rebel group is known, to put all the hostages in a single location, where they were retaken from […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Avant-garde composer and cabaret singer Theo Bleckmann has been a mainstay on the New York music scene for 15 years. This summer, he will be touring the United States and Europe in support of his new album Berlin: Songs Of Love & War, Peace & Exile. The album is a tribute to Bleckmann’s native Germany and contains a collection of Bertolt Brecht songs, reimagined. Pianist Fumio Yasuda arranged the work, and Philip Glass’ muse Wendy Sutter plays the cello on the album. Bleckmann has collaborated with John Zorn, Meredith Monk, Laurie Anderson and Anthony Braxton. He is on […]
DUFFY: Syrup & Honey
Sigh.
NEWS CLUES: Like A Compassionate Release Of Truth
DN LOOKS INTO THE WRONGFUL LIFE & DEATH OF KENNETH KEITH Kallenbach, 39, a longtime member of Howard Stern’s “Wack Pack” who suffered from cystic fibrosis, was rapidly shedding weight while jailed on a parole violation. Even the Upper Chichester cop who arrested him in March for allegedly trying to lure a teenage girl into a car was shocked by his gaunt appearance at his preliminary hearing April 15. “He looked bad,” Officer Michael Smalarz recalled last week. “I said, ‘Kenny, man, you’re really losing weight.’ ” He was dying. But despite the mid-April request that Kallenbach be released — […]
HOT DOC: The Final Chapter Of Molly’s Bookstore
Dear Faithful Friends and Customers, After eight years of slugging it out in the Italian Market, Molly’s Bookstore is closing its doors. A general shift in the bookselling industry and personal circumstances has simply made it inevitable. I can truly say that I spent my lifetime in the book business and can say, with some qualification, that I am a third generation bookseller. (My grandmother sold “girlie” magazines in the 60s and 70s.) The nature of the business has changed so much in the past few years. The reliance on Amazon to supplement sales made it much more of a […]
JAVA: Starbucks To Close 600 Stores, Fire 12,000
WALL STREET JOURNAL: In its most significant pullback yet to its U.S. expansion, Starbucks Corp. said it will close an additional 500 U.S. stores and cut 7% of its work force. The move effectively ends Starbucks’ era as a break-neck growth company, one that blanketed the country with about 11,000 locations nationwide since the late 1980s. It’s also a sign that the specialty coffee business is taking a troubling turn just as mainstream companies like McDonald’s Corp. are beginning to invest heavily in it. Starbucks said the 500 locations, as well as 100 others it slated for closure earlier this […]
SOLVED: The Mystery Of The Sphinx
[via MARRIED TO THE SEA]
Madame Marie, Asbury Park Fortune Teller, Dead At 93
ASBURY PARK PRESS: It was one line from a Bruce Springsteen song that made the boardwalk fortune teller world famous. And now, “Madam Marie” has passed away. Marie Castello, who had told fortunes since the 1930s and became famous for her presence and predictions on the Asbury Park boardwalk, died Friday, her great-granddaughter, Sally Castello said today. The psychic reader and advisor was 93. She became known worldwide from Bruce Springsteen’s homage to her in his music. “Did you hear the cops finally busted Madam Marie,” Springsteen sang in his 1973 song, “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” “for tellin’ […]
DAILY DOS: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Enjoy. The Colbert Report after the jump.
ARTSY: The Blizzard Of OZ
DAILY NEWS: COULD NORTH PHILLY be the homeland of OZ? Of course we’re not talking about the Wonderful Wizard from the movie classic. We’re talking about “OZ,” the prolific and pesky graffiti vandal who has scrawled his “tag” on structures all over Philadelphia for more than 20 years, costing the city thousands of dollars to clean up. So who is OZ — this person who prowls the city at night armed with an arsenal of aerosol cans? OZ, much like the movie character, might turn out to be just an ordinary man. Like, say, a 37-year-old who works at a […]
TONITE: Military Industrial Complexion
RADIO TIMES: JEREMY SCAHILL has been a critic of Blackwater Worldwide, a private security contractor that has participated in military operations in Iraq and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Scahill continues to write about Blackwater and the company’s plans for further operations. His most recent article is “Blackwater’s Private Spies” published in the June 23rd edition of The Nation. LISTEN USA TODAY: Today, at 38, [Erik] Prince, chief of Blackwater USA, has a real army or at least the makings of one, with weapons, aircraft, armored vehicles and a thousand or more battle-hardened security personnel…Prince landed an internship in the […]