BY MIKE WALSH I never met Joey Vento, but in 1986 I purchased a home about a block-and-a-half from Geno’s and the infamous cheesesteak junction (Wharton, S. 9th, and E. Passyunk). Back then, the intersection was popular, but it wasn’t the loud, crowded, 24-hour-per-day hotspot it is today. A large, stone church occupied one corner, and the other restaurants and shops you see today at the intersection had not moved in yet. The neighborhood was not in good shape in the mid-80s. Many homeowners had abandoned the neighborhood, and hundreds of single family homes had been converted to apartments. […]
MUST SEE: Incredible Photos From Battle Of Tripoly
TIME: In Libya, the fall of a dictator came faster than anyone expected. After six months of fighting along what were often stagnated front lines, the rebels succeeded last week in overwhelming the forces of Col. Muammar Gaddafi to take control of the Libyan capital. The sudden assault sent the enigmatic 69-year-old Libyan leader and his family into hiding; his forces scattering. And throughout Tripoli, TIME contract photographer Yuri Kozyrev and I have watched over the past week as a population celebrates its victory over a tyrant. As security improves with each night, more and more families flock into the city’s iconic Green Square—now renamed Martyrs’ Square—where Gaddafi once […]
RIP: Vaya Con Dios Jose Vento
From our partners in media crime over at Scrapple TV.
RIP: Composer Jerry Lieber Dead At 78
NEW YORK TIMES: Jerry Leiber, the lyricist who, with his partner, Mike Stoller, wrote some of the most enduring classics in the history of rock ’n’ roll, including “Hound Dog,” “Yakety Yak,” “Stand By Me” and “On Broadway,” died on Monday in Los Angeles. He was 78. The team of Leiber and Stoller was formed in 1950, when Mr. Leiber was still a student at Fairfax High in Los Angeles and Mr. Stoller, a fellow rhythm-and-blues fanatic, was a freshman at Los Angeles City College. With Mr. Leiber contributing catchy, street-savvy lyrics and Mr. Stoller, a pianist, composing infectious, bluesy […]
RIP: Lucian Freud, Searing Portraitist, Dead At 88
[“Francis Bacon” by LUCIAN FREUD] NEW YORK TIMES: Mr. Freud, a grandson of Sigmund Freud and a brother of the British television personality Clement Freud, was already an important figure in the small London art world when, in the immediate postwar years, he embarked on a series of portraits that established him as a potent new voice in figurative art. In paintings like “Girl With Roses” (1947-48) and “Girl With a White Dog” (1951-52), he put the pictorial language of traditional European painting in the service of an anti-romantic, confrontational style of portraiture that stripped bare the sitter’s social facade. […]
THE COLONEL REMEMBERS: Peter Falk RIP
[Illustration by GREG JOENS] BY COLONEL TOM SHEEHY In the Spring of 1978, I was working for A&M Records in Boston. I was staying at the Copley Plaza Hotel, and as I was getting dressed, I decided not to wear my jacket that morning. I got on the elevator, and as it stopped on the floor below me, a man got on who looked very familiar, but what really caught my attention was his manner of dress. He was wearing a very heavy winter coat which suggested to me, the weather must have changed over night. I debated whether or […]
RIP: Ryan Dunn, Human Cannonball, Dead At 34
TMZ: “Jackass” star Ryan Dunn was the driver in this morning’s fatal crash … this according to cops who also say Dunn’s car was “fully engulfed in flames” when officials arrived to the scene. The West Goshen Township Police Department says officers found Dunn’s 2007 Porsche 911 GT3 “off the road and in the woods.” Both Dunn and his passenger “died as a result of injuries sustained in the accident.” Cops will release more information on the passenger once officials can positively identify the body. Cops say “speed may have been a contributing factor to the accident.” MORE RELATED: On […]
RIP: Gil Scott-Heron, Godfather Of Rap, Dead At 62
“THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED”~a CLASSIC from BABA GIL SCOTT-HERON from jabari akhenamen on Vimeo. THE GUARDIAN: The musician and poet Gil Scott-Heron – best known for his pioneering rap The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – has died at the age of 62, having fallen ill after a European trip. Scott-Heron’s spoken word recordings helped shape the emerging hip-hop culture. Generations of rappers cite his work as an influence. He was known as the Godfather of Rap but disapproved of the title, preferring to describe what he did as “bluesology” – a fusion of poetry, soul, blues and […]
RIP: Mikey Wild, Mayor Of South Street, Is Dead
Sad news. After a years-long battle with lung cancer, Mikey passed away this morning. A celebration of his music and art will be held at Pageant Soloveev on June 18th. PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY: Some people are scared to talk to Mikey Wild. Maybe it’s because he’s a living, breathing South Philly legend. Or maybe it’s because he can be an ornery guy who threatens to burn you with his lighter if he takes a dislike to you. But some awe is in order, as Wild is the crazy dean of the South Philadelphia punk scene, making his living as a local […]
RIP: TV On The Radio Bassist Dead At 36
TV ON THE RADIO: We are very sad to announce the death of our beloved friend and band mate, Gerard Smith, following a courageous fight against lung cancer. Gerard passed away the morning of April 20th, 2011. We will miss him terribly. MORE THE GUARDIAN: I only ever met TV on the Radio‘s Gerard Smith once. It was three years ago in the Muzak-scented lobby of a west London hotel. Smith chucked the odd word into my hour-long interview with the band, but it was only when the conversation wandered towards the twin behemoths of Funkadelic and Led Zeppelin that […]
RIP: Gerladine Ferraro, First Woman To Break The Glass Ceiling Of Presidential Politics, Dead At 75
NEW YORK TIMES: “If we can do this, we can do anything,” Ms. Ferraro declared on a July evening to a cheering Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. And for a moment, for the Democratic Party and for an untold number of American women, anything seemed possible: a woman occupying the second-highest office in the land, a derailing of the Republican juggernaut led by President Ronald Reagan, a President Walter F. Mondale. It did not turn out that way — not by a long shot. After the roars in the Moscone Center had subsided and a fitful general election campaign […]
RIP: Elizabeth Taylor, Queen Of The Nile, Dead At 79
NEW YORK TIMES: In a world of flickering images, Elizabeth Taylor was a constant star. First appearing onscreen at age 9, she grew up there, never passing through an awkward age. It was one quick leap from “National Velvet” to “A Place in the Sun” and from there to “Cleopatra” as she was indelibly transformed from a vulnerable child actress into a voluptuous film queen. In a career of more than 70 years and more than 50 films, she won two Academy Awards as best actress, for her performances as a call girl in “Butterfield 8” (in 1960) and as […]
APPRECIATION: Nathaniel ‘Nate Dogg’ Hale RIP
BY MATTHEW HENGEVELD Alas, the death of another hip-hop icon— the ever raspy Nate Dogg. He was a frequently phoned-in guest rapper for anyone who needed a pristine hook. His works were catchy, but nothing that pushed away the hardcore fans. He made a name for himself as a singer amongst the G-Unit army and Death Row drones, and still got his props from waves of R&B fans, including R. Kelly, tha Kang himself. He got his two feet on the ground with tracks like “Deeez Nuts” on Dr. Dre’s The Chronic (“IIIII can’t be faded.. I’m a nigga from […]