1.) RZA wasn’t in the house — he’s not part of Wu-Tang’s current tour — and not a single track from the Pride of Shaolin’s latest album, 8 Diagrams, was played, but nobody minded, least of all the drunk white dudes who rapped along to “Bring The Pain” like they were away at Senior Week ’94. 2.) Even without The RZA, the Clan was not lacking in personnel — GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Cappadonna, Inspectah Deck and others made appearances, passing the mic (and, uh, other things) freely and generously back and forth across the stage during a […]
OBAMA: Lady Gov Of AZ Follows Kerry Endorsement
ASSOCIATED PRESS: PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is endorsing Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for president, The Associated Press has learned. The endorsement is a major gain for Obama in his race against chief rival Hillary Rodham Clinton. Napolitano, one of several female governors, is the most prominent Democrat in Arizona and her endorsement could be significant in a state now regarded as winnable by a Democrat after decades as a near-lock for Republicans. The state holds its primary Feb. 5. Napolitano was elected governor in 2002 and re-elected in 2006. She previously was U.S. attorney for Arizona during […]
AFTER INNOCENCE: Why The Caged Bird Sings
BY JEFF DEENEY Hearty and much-deserved congratulations go out today to Nick Yarris, whom the Inquirer reports received a heaping settlement in his wrongful imprisonment lawsuit against Delaware County. You might remember Yarris from the searing 2006 documentary, After Innocence, which profiled wrongfully convicted men exonerated by the nonprofit Innocence Project, a national coalition of legal clinics that advocates for the release of prisoners who can be conclusively proven innocent by DNA evidence. Yarris got tangled up with the law as a young drug addict in the early ’80s and through a series of unfortunate circumstances and bad decisions (which […]
CINEMA: The Twilight’s Last Gleaming
BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Acclaimed experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs (named by the Whitney Museum as one of the one hundred greatest artists of the twentieth century) delivers his life’s work with the nearly-fifty-years-in-the-making masterpiece Star Spangled To Death. No wonder the movie’s running time is an elephantine six hours-plus. Think of it as Picasso’s La Guernica come to life, with laughs added. Nearly fifty years in the making, Star Spangled To Death sums up everything that fascinates and distresses the filmmaker. Sifting through the cinematic junkyard of the last century to display a delirious melange of ham-fisted political propaganda, […]
MAYOR NUTTER: Rapper’s Delight
Reason #6,784 why we like Mike.
WORTH REPEATING: The Invisible Hand Of Hope
ABC NEWS: Kenyans reach out to receive food aid handed out by the Kenyan Red Cross, Tuesday, Jan.8, 2008 in the Kibera slum in Nairobi. Kenya’s president and his chief rival made key concessions to end the dispute over the country’s elections, calling off protests and agreeing to talks under pressure from the United States as the death toll from a week of violence reached nearly 500. (Riccardo Gangale/AP Photo) SWAMPLAND: One of the more extraordinary stories of the Obama campaign has been playing out behind the scenes over the past week as the candidate has been working on a […]
ARTSY: Steal This Blog
BY TIFFANY YOON We all know the old saw about Robin Hood stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Which is noble and all, but quite frankly risky — the rich HATE when you steal from them and tend to press charges — and a lot of work. Wouldn’t it be so much easier, not to mention downright Republican, to steal from the poor instead and, well, just keep it for yourself? And who is poorer than a bunch of starving artists? And get this: These starving artists actually WANT you to steal their shit. Starting today, the […]
NEWS CLUES: Dead Man Walking Edition
KILLADELPHIA: Two Men Critical After Shooting Two men are in critical condition after being shot in the Powelton section of Philadelphia late last night. A 19-year-old with multiple gunshot wounds and a 22-year-old with a gunshot wound to the chest were found in the 4200 block of Haverford Avenue shortly before 11:30 p.m., police said. Both men were taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Both were in critical condition. The names of the men have not been released. No arrests have been made and police are investigating the motive for the shootings. [via the INQUIRER] * Judge […]
GOOD GRIEF: AP Declares Britney ‘A Big Deal’
[ Source: Gawker]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Historian Drew Gilpin Faust writes that Civil War deaths — both their number and their manner — transformed America. Her new book is This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War. The Civil War death rate was six times that of World War II, when adjusted against the size of the American population, Faust points out. “For those Americans who lived in and through the Civil War, the texture of the experience … was the presence of death,” she writes. “At war’s end this shared suffering would override persisting differences about the meanings of race, citizenship, […]
HOT DOC: Governor’s Proclamation
GREETINGS: It is my distinct pleasure to welcome everyone gathered tonight at the Keswick Theatre to honor the late gospel musician, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and to pay tribute to this musical legend that influenced an entire generation with her song and spirit. I would also like to give a special thank you to those performing in the benefit concert—The Dixie Hummingbirds, Willa Ward with The Johnny Thompson Singers, Marie Knight, The Huff Singers, and Odetta. Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a pioneering gospel singer, songwriter, and recording artist. She took gospel music into the mainstream with her unique mixture of spiritual lyrics […]