SNL: Lipstick Traces

“A Nonpartisan Message From Governor Sarah Palin & Senator Hillary Clinton”   HUFFINGTON POST: McCain spokeswoman Carly Fiorina has weighed in on the major issue of today, namely, 30 Rock creator Tina Fey’s portrayal of vice presidential contender Sarah Palin from this weekend’s Saturday Night Live. Fiorina, astonishingly, termed it “disrespectful.” […] In Fiorina’s opinion, Fey was “sexist” and failed to delve into Palin’s substance. Speaking of Palin’s substance, today on the stump she loudly declared that she’d end the practice of Wall Street rewarding incompetent CEOs with “golden parachutes.” Palin made no note of Fiorina’s own $21 million-dollar ripcord,, […]

SNL: Cure For Dem Bedwetters?

OBAMA SAYS: Be Cool. UPDATE:  WASHINGTON — With a deadly hurricane aimed at Texas, Barack Obama cancelled his appearence on Saturday Night Live this evening, spokesman Jen Psaki in a statement. “In the light of the unfolding crisis in Texas, Senator Obama has decided it is no longer appropriate to appear on Saturday Night Live tomorrow evening,” she said. WALL STREET JOURNAL: Barack Obama will make his second appearance on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend for the season premiere, hosted by Olympian Michael Phelps. “The details of the sketch are still being worked out,” an Obama campaign spokesperson told People […]

We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It

THE FINEST HOUR: R.E.M., The Mann, Last Night [Photos by JONATHAN VALANIA] BY JONATHAN VALANIA First time I heard “Wolves, Lower” live was at the Beacon Theater in New York City, and The Dream Syndicate opened. It was 1984 and Michael Stipe had hair down to his shoulders. The second time I heard it live was last night at the Mann Music Center, and Modest Mouse and The National opened. Hate to sound like Bill Murray reviewing movies he didn’t see on SNL back in the day, but The National? Didn’t see ’em, babe. I blame the traffic planner who […]

INSTA-REVIEW: The Breeders Mountain Battles

NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO! WHY? BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU! BY SARA SHERR The Breeders are my favorite band of the ’90s, back when cheerleading tomboys from Ohio roamed the Earth like alt-rock glamazons in flannel. Kim Deal’s terminal coolness is as undeniable as it is Midwestern friendly and gum-crackingly accessible. Everyone feels like they could pull it off. Together with her equally gum-crackingly cool sister Kelley and a revolving cast of band members that once included Throwing Muses/Belly’s Tanya Donnelly, their harmonies were tighter than your tightest black jeans, and their weird, wonderful guitar sounds made left-field hits that […]

PAPERBOY: ‘Everything I Needed To Know About Hip-Hop I Learned From Lady B’ Early Edition

BY AMY Z. QUINN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week, PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and […]

CONFETTI BETTY: Saint John Gets His Monica On

BY AMY Z. QUINN Cindy McCain totally just had a Hillary Clinton moment. There she was, wearing that same expression, eyes locked on her husband as he denied having an affair with a different (though, not dissimilar-looking?) blond and trashing those who would besmirch his honor, in this case, The New York Times. We’ve seen that look before, just as we’ve all watched this entire drama before, even down to the part where his staff tries to make the woman buzz off. Monica Lewinsky was shipped over to the Pentagon, supposedly Vicki Iseman got a stern talking-to at Union Station. […]

REWIND 2007: THE YEAR IN PHAWKER TALK

* UPDATE: We have since determined that there was nothing wrong with our camera equipment and that the only reasonable explanation for the ‘funny-ness’ is that the Mayor-elect chomped down two, possibly three buttons of peyote shortly before our interview this morning. If true, this is the kind of bold, visionary leadership we have been praying for. Truly, a ‘new day’ has dawned in Philadelphia. CLICK HERE TO SEE FOR YOURSELF. * Q&A With The Stooges’ Ron Asheton   PHAWKER: Do you recall the first time you met Iggy — legend has it he saw you and your brother standing […]

ALT-RAWK TALK: Thirteen Astonishing Things You Are NOT Supposed To Know About Spoon

[As told to JONATHAN VALANIA] 1. Britt Daniel has never killed anyone. “Technically, no,” he says when asked. 2. “Don’t Make Me A Target” was originally titled “Don’t Blame Me I Voted For Nader.” 3. Spoon is named after the Can song of the same name. Britt first learned about Kraut Rock in the 11th grade from his obsessive study of every word uttered by Julian Cope. 4. Britt Daniel may have voted for Ralph Nader instead of Al Gore in 2000. “I think maybe I did,” he says when asked. 5. Britt Daniel is 36 years old and has […]

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER: Miss NJ Goes Public With Pix

BY AMY Z. QUINN Ah, the old pumpkin-in-the-bra trick. That always kills. Cutting the legs out from under her still-anonymous blackmailer, Miss NJ Amy Polumbo took to the “Today” show to release the supposedly scandalous photos herself, hours before pageant officials were set to review her case and possibly strip her of her crown — but don’t look for that to happen, unless there are more, and dirtier, photos of Polumbo out there. Because right now, it sounds like the snapshots fall squarely under the “Two Dorks And a SixPack” category. (If you’re especially impatient, the first photo comes at […]

POP IN TAPE: Hot Wax In The 215

  ‘RIAA! Freeze Motherfucker! Slowly Step Away From The Computer!’ BY MICHAEL FICHMAN A blog called Thou Shall Not Leak (shouldn’t that be “shalt?”) has gotten all sorts of attention on it’s first day, thanks to the internet sleuthing of my homegirl Maura‘s posse at Idolator. Here’s what the single, solitary post on TSNL had to say: Hi, Instead of doing what everyone else has done and create a blog to leak music to people ahead of release dates illegally, I thought (largely since I work in the industry and people’s lack of care or respect for the hard work […]