FRESH AIR September 11, AIDS, the Holocaust — comic and actress Sarah Silverman has repeatedly proved that practically nothing need be off limits in a joke. Take the title of her Off-Broadway show, which later became a film: Jesus Is Magic. Or the music video, available on her Comedy Central show’s blog, of “The Doodie Song.” Silverman has appeared in films including School of Rock and There’s Something About Mary and she was a member of the Saturday Night Live ensemble in the early ’90s. The second season of The Sarah Silverman Program begins tonight on Comedy Central. RADIO TIMES […]
HOT DOCUMENT: Bush Eats Kittens, Kicks Puppies
Dear jonathan, You’re not going to believe this — President Bush just vetoed health care for millions of low-income children! I know that’s hard to believe, and I wish I were making it up. But I’m not. Earlier today, President Bush vetoed a bipartisan expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) — a successful program that provides health care to [six] million low-income children. [Bush just vetoed a bill that would have enabled four million more children to join the ranks of the insured] All I can say is, compassionate conservatism indeed. I can’t believe Bush’s nerve, and […]
MONICA: Red Meat For Rotting Vegetables
BY MONICA YANT KINNEY INQUIRER COLUMNIST Dios mio, I’m thinking as Rudy Giuliani graces Geno’s Steaks with his presence the other night.So many young, white college kids hoping the GOP presidential front-runner might accidentally touch them as he moved among the masses. So many Republicans united by disgust over the changing face of America, they don’t notice the enemy playing futbol on a rec center field across the street. As campaign cliches go, it doesn’t get much better than Giuliani dropping by Joey Vento‘s neon palace in South Philly. The Italian American who wants to seal the border, bonding with […]
YA GOTTA BELIEVE: In This Town, The Ring Of Sweat Inside The Blue Collar Is Always Tinted Phillies Red
BY JAMES DOOLITTLE I swear that at some point yesterday, I sped past a news article that made mention of a Pat Burrell sighting at Five Guys Burgers over on Chestnut Street following Monday’s Phillies rally at Dilworth Plaza. For the record, I can’t put my finger on this news brief, although I will say it was full of non-specifics and only contained two purported facts — that Pat The Bat was eating a burger, and he was eating it alone. I spent a good part of last night questioning whether I could have hallucinated this item, or whether […]
TODAY I SAW . . .
BY JEFF DEENEY TODAY I SAW a psychotic man harassing the African vendors who hawk oils and knock-off handbags on Market Street outside the Forman Mills on 49th. The psychotic’s beard was thick and matted, his clothes filthy, and the bulky leather jacket he wore over a thick hooded sweatshirt was too heavy for a warm fall afternoon. It looked like he hadn’t changed clothes since last winter. His ranting was incoherent; he wasn’t stringing full sentences together, his yelling hopped from topic to topic. His anger was unfocused but his gestures pointed in the general direction of a younger […]
INSTANT KARMA: We Are With You In Myanmar
THERE is growing concern for hundreds of monks and other protesters detained by the Burmese military regime since it began its crackdown a week ago. Witnesses reported slightly fewer troops on Rangoon’s streets yesterday, but raids on homes by gangs looking for dissident monks and civilians suggested [UN Special Envoy] Gambari’s nascent shuttle diplomacy and international calls for restraint had made little difference. “They are going from apartment to apartment, shaking things inside, threatening the people. You have a climate of terror all over the city,” a Bangkok-based Burma expert said. The UN and regime officials said yesterday that at […]
TONIGHT: Destroy Your Safe And Happy Lives…
Before it is too late! Mekons, tonight, World Cafe Live! [painting by JOHN LANGFORD]
HOLLA: The Monster Mile, Part III
BY JAMES DOOLITTLE Sunday, Sept. 23, 2007 1:35 PM There is something undeniably sexual about the buildup to the first crash of a given NASCAR race. Even I got a bit tingly in anticipation the moment the crowd yelled “Start Your Engines” with bloodthirsty enthusiasm. And as the steady thrum of 20-odd motors begin pounding rhythmically against the eardrums, there was a wanton desire to achieve an emotional orgasm that can only come through skid marks and shattered fenders. A pile up . . . Oh yes! yes! YES! Truly the closest many men in attendance will come to achieving […]
AUTHOR, AUTHOR: 13 Things You Are Not Supposed To Know About Daniel Handler, AKA Lemony Snicket
1. Mr. Handler is answering these questions while sipping his second Blanton’s in his posh room at the Four Seasons. 2. Mr. Handler plays accordion on the new Magnetic Fields album, Distortion, due out in January. He will be touring with the band on the West Coast. 3. Mr. Handler only bothered to learn to play the accordion so he could pick up chicks. “When I was coming up it was during that brief time in rock history when no keyboard whatsoever was cool, and that’s the only instrument I played. I really, really wanted to be in a band, […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh is a regular contributor to The New Yorker; his article in this week’s edition, headlined “Shifting Targets,” is about how the Bush administration is redefining the war in Iraq as a strategic battle between the U.S. and Iran. Hersh exposed the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and covers the administration closely. He’s a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and the recipient of five George Polk Awards, two National Magazine Awards and a dozen other prizes. His most recent book, Chain of Command, is a detailed analysis of events at Abu Ghraib. RADIO TIMES How ’bout them Phils….enough […]
HOT DOCUMENT: Letter From Bogota
Keith Richards and Andrew Loog Oldham at the Blue Boar Motorway Cafe, along the M1 between London and Birmingham, 1963. By Philip Townsend; never before published. JONATHAN, INTERESTING WRITE-UPS. YOU’VE ALMOST MANAGED TO GET AS FAR AFIELD AS I INTEND TO. WHILST DRIVING BACK FROM THE JUNGLESIDE TODAY IT OCCURED TO ME, AS REGARDING KEITH’S MEMORY ON ” SATISFACTION”: THE FELLOW HAS GOT SO MUCH MORE OF A STONES RECORDING MEMORY BANK TO TROLL THROUGH FOR RECALL. BEST, ANDREW LOOG OLDHAM SO PLZD TO SEE THE BRUCE S. TOUR IS FAIR PRICED AND WILL SAVE AMERICA(NS) ONCE MORE. I PLAN […]
HE SAID/SHE SAID: We Believe Anita Hill
WASHINGTON — Anita Hill, whose sexual harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas nearly derailed his Supreme Court nomination 16 years ago, said Tuesday she stood by her account of his behavior, disputing Thomas’ assertion in a new book that the charges were politically motivated. “I stand by my testimony” at a 1991 Senate Judiciary hearing on the nomination, Hill wrote in an Op Ed piece in The New York Times. “I will not stand by silently and allow him, in his anger, to reinvent me.” She said she believes the workplace environment is better now for women, but added that Thomas’ […]