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On Monday we will have a report from Obama headquarters.

FRESH AIR

In the climax of Arthur Penn’s 1967 classic film, Bonnie and Clyde, the bank-robbing duo’s days of crime end abruptly when they are gunned down in a shower of bullets. It’s a realistically violent scene, shot in slow motion, which has been both praised and criticized for its brutality. Penn says that the scene was influenced by media reports and images of the Vietnam War, which were broadcasts daily during the filming of the movie. “It was a time,” he says, “where, it seemed to me that if we were going to depict violence, then we would be obliged to really to depict it accurately; the kind of terrible, frightening volume that one sees when one genuinely is confronted by violence.” To achieve a measure of realism, Penn developed a system of camera settings that would lend both slow-motion and a spastic effects to the scene: “The intention there was to get this kind of spastic motion of genuine violence, and at the same time, the attenuation of time that one experiences when you see something, like a terrible automobile accident,” he explains. It’s a technique that’s become more mainstream since the release of Bonnie and Clyde, but Penn asserts that he paved the way for other directors. “God knows we’ve been imitated thousands and thousands of times now,” he says. “Every time you see somebody attempting violence, they go into that basic slow motion. Well, in American films at least, we did it first.” A new two-disc collector’s edition of Bonnie and Clyde was released this week. This interview first aired in September 29, 1989.

THE WORLD CAFE

English-Sri Lankan beat princess M.I.A. joins World Café host David Dye, sharing songs from her sophomore record, Kala. Though her musical entrée came after moving to London, Maya Arulpragasam’s songs are strongly tied to her original home of Sri Lanka and its turbulent political environment. Incorporating diverse styles from hip-hop, to electro, to Brazilian baile-funk, Kala is a smorgasbord of international rhythms and schoolyard choruses.

M.I.A.: Paper Planes

BY ELIZABETH FIEND LIVING EDITOR Subway’s Tuna sandwich is advertised as dolphin-safe but they fail to mention it comes with a side order of heavy metal — mercury, to be exact. Not just hoagies, sushi too. Shocking news outta Manhattan recently. How much mercury did you say was in that sushi? Yikes, just eating two or three pieces a week of bluefin tuna sushi could be a health hazard for an adult. There are dangerous levels of mercury in marlin, shark, and swordfish, too. Tuna is the fish most often consumed by Americans, so this is the vehicle for most of our mercury exposure. But even the fish you catch yourself, in nearby streams, rivers and lakes out on those fishing trips with your buddies is contaminated with mercury.

Mercury is dangerous to kids, especially when they’re still in the womb. A powerful neurotoxin, mercury can impair a child’s ability to do just about everything – walk, talk, read, write. And the effects are permanent. Currently, one in six American babies are born with mercury levels exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) safe limit. It’s not good for adults, either, recent studies have shown. High mercury intake has been associated with an increased risk of heart disease and neurological problems in grownups. But where is the mercury coming from?

From opening the hood of your car.

Say what? Yeah, freaky.

You know the switch that turns on the light when you open the trunk of your car? It’s got mercury in it. When your car is scrapped, so the metal can be reused, the mercury is released into the atmosphere. In the U.S. alone an unbelievable 10 to 12 tons of mercury each year comes from these mercury switches in cars. So, like, recycling sucks? Or maybe it’s the car industry that sucks for using mercury-based switches in the first place?

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CLINTON CAMPAIGN: According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Sen. Obama has received over $160,000 from the oil and gas companies. Two major bundlers for his campaign — George Kaiser and Robert Cavnar – are oil company CEOs. Sen. Obama has accepted money from Exxon, Shell, BP, Chevron and just about every other major oil company. Just last month, Sen. Obama accepted another $8,400 from ExxonMobil, $12,370 from Chevron and $6,500 from British Petroleum. In 2005, Sen. Obama voted for the Dick Cheney energy bill, which was written in secret with the oil industry. Hillary Clinton opposed Cheney’s energy bill, has a plan to eliminate oil industry tax breaks, and would require oil companies to contribute to a $50 billion strategic energy fund to jumpstart research and investment in clean energy technologies.

OBAMA CAMPAIGN: Senator Obama is the only candidate in the race who doesn’t accept campaign contributions from special interests PACs and Washington lobbyists, and that includes oil companies and oil lobbyists. The energy bill that Senator Clinton has already been criticized for misrepresenting — one that Clinton supporters Representatives Murtha and Kanjorski also backed — actually raised taxes on oil companies and made the largest investment in renewable energy in our nation’s history. Instead of continuing with the negative and misleading tactics that voters everywhere are rejecting, Senator Clinton should get behind the Obama plan to ease the burden of rising gas prices on working families.

RELATED: Casey Endorses Obama

GIRL FROM CHELSEA: Miss Clinton greets commuters with Mayor Nutter at Olney Station this morning.

[photo by TIFFANY YOON]

Did CBS3 just lay off 11 employees? We’ve got a call in to Station Manager Michael Colleran and will update you when he does. In the meantime, feel free to give us the skinny in the comments or via email, if you’re the shy type.

EDITOR & PUBLISHER: The Los Angeles Times apologized for using documents that were apparently fabricated in a story implicating associates of Sean “Diddy” Combs in a 1994 assault on rapper Tupac Shakur. “The bottom line is that the documents we relied on should not have been used,” Editor Russ Stanton said in a story posted Wednesday night on the newspaper’s Web site. “We apologize both to our readers and to those referenced in the documents … and in the story.”

Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Chuck Philips, who wrote the story, and his supervisor, Deputy Managing Editor Marc Duvoisin, also apologized.The apologies followed an investigation launched by Stanton after The Smoking Gun Web site reported earlier in the day that the paper was conned by a prisoner who doctored the documents.

Combs denied that he had any prior knowledge of or involvement in the robbery and shooting of Shakur at a New York recording studio. He and other subjects of the story claimed they had been defamed by the newspaper.

The Smoking Gun said the documents seemed phony because they appeared to be written on a typewriter instead of a computer and included blacked-out sections not typically found in such documents, among other problems.The Web site claimed the documents were fabricated by a prison inmate with a history of exaggerating his place in the rap music world. MORE

ALL HIP-HOP: Hip-Hop star Sean “Diddy” Combs has responded to a new article printed today (March 17) in the Los Angeles Times, which claims the mogul had advanced knowledge of a planned assault on the late Tupac Shakur. The Los Angeles Times claims that Combs and B.I.G. had advance knowledge of a 1994 plan set by music executive Jimmy “Henchmen” Rosemond and an associate named James Sabatino to assault Shakur for a number of different reasons. The assault went awry & Shakur ended up getting shot, according to The Times. “This story is beyond ridiculous and completely false,” Combs told AllHipHop.com. “Neither Biggie nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during or after it happened. It is a complete lie to suggest that there was any involvement by Biggie or myself.” Combs chastised the Los Angeles Times’ piece and completely denied any involvement. “I am shocked that the Los Angeles Times would be so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story.” MORE

NAS & PUFFY: Hate Me Now

POLITICO: Hillary Rodham Clinton’s cash-strapped presidential campaign has been putting off paying hundreds of bills for months — freeing up cash for critical media buys but also earning the campaign a reputation as something of a deadbeat in some small-business circles.

A pair of Ohio companies owed more than $25,000 by Clinton for staging events for her campaign are warning others in the tight-knit event production community — and anyone else who will listen — to get their cash upfront when doing business with her. Her campaign, say representatives of the two companies, has stopped returning phone calls and e-mails seeking payment of outstanding invoices. One even got no response from a certified letter.

Their cautionary tales, combined with published reports about similar difficulties faced by a New Hampshire landlord, an Iowa office cleaner and a New York caterer, highlight a less-obvious impact of Clinton’s inability to keep up with the staggering fundraising pace set by her opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. MORE

NME: Axl Rose has responded to an offer by soft drink company Dr Pepper in which they promised a free can of their drink to every American – except Slash and Buckethead – if the band releases their ‘Chinese Democracy’ album this year. Rose said he was “surprised and very happy” about the offer, but denied the record label or himself were involved in the pledge.

Posting on Guns N Roses‘ website, Rose stated: “We are surprised and very happy to have the support of Dr Pepper with our album ‘Chinese Democracy’, as for us, this came totally out of the blue. “If there is any involvement with this promotion by our record company or others, we are unaware of such at this time. And as some of Buckethead‘s performances are on our album, I’ll share my Dr Pepper with him.”

As reported yesterday, Dr Pepper‘s Marketing Director Jaxie Alt made the offer, explaining: “We completely understand and empathise with Axl‘s quest for perfection – for something more than the average album.” Rose‘s inclusion of former guitarist Buckethead in the offer means Slash, guitarist in the band during their ‘golden’ period, is now the only American on the planet who would not get a free drink. MORE

UPDATE: Thanks for all those who bought the print in support of OBEY and OBAMA. Unfortunately, the print is sold out and we do not plan on producing another edition. The edition was released earlier today with great response. The PROGRESS screenprint was exclusively available through OBEY and the HOPE offset print will be distributed by the OBAMA Camp as an awareness campaign.

I believe with great conviction that Barack Obama should be the next President. I have been paying close attention to him since the Democratic convention in 2004. I feel that he is more a statesman than a politician. He was against the war when it was an unpopular position (and Hillary was for the war at that time), Obama is for energy and environmental conservation. He is for healthcare reform. Check him out for yourself www.barackobama.com. Proceeds from this print go to produce prints for a large statewide poster campaign.

Thanks.

-Shepard Fairey

RELATED: WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Somebody forgot to tell Hillary Clinton the Democratic presidential race is over and Barack Obama won.

FRESH AIR

Movie actress Zooey Deschanel has expanded her ambitions recently, moving from the big screen to the indie-rock stage. With co-founder M. Ward, she’s half of the duo She and Him. Deschanel, who sings and plays keyboards, joins Fresh Air to discuss her music and her band’s new album, Volume One — described recently in Time Out New York as “a disarming set of simple pop songs drawn from a variety of ’60s and ’70s styles, a perfectly charming record for the onset of spring.” Deschanel, who’s dabbled in jazz cabaret and sung on the occasional film soundtrack, has starred in such movies as Elf and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. She made her screen debut in 1999′s Mumford, and recently provided the voice of Lani Aliikai in the animated film Surf’s Up. Deschanel met Ward, a gifted singer-songwriter widely known as a solo artist, while recording a duet for the soundtrack to the 2007 film The Go-Getter. In their performances as She and Him, the two try to use as few machines as possible. The duo recently performed at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas.

MERGE: This is the musical debut from Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. Immediately struck by one another’s talents and finding an instant rapport, Zooey let slip that she wrote her own songs which she recorded alone at home on her computer. Somewhat shy about anyone hearing these musical morsels she eventually sent the demos to Matt who was instantly impressed. They soon reconvened at his Portland studio to begin work. Embracing the warm sound of early analog recordings, Volume One is more than just a showcase for Zooey’s rich and endearing voice; it’s a distinctive and endlessly charming album. The songs themselves give a respectful nod to the likes of Dusty Springfield, Linda Ronstadt and The Zombies while Matt’s production gives them just the right amount of golden era sheen. Whether Zooey’s channeling Ronnie Spector as on “I Was Made For You” or joining Matt in turning The Beatles “I Should Have Known Better” into a seductive hula guitar duet, the results are always captivating. MORE

Now playing on Phawker Radio! Why? Because love you, ya big dummy!

BY ED KING ROCK EXPERT I dodged a bullet recently after having applied some of my tough love to the latest platter from The Raconteurs. Maybe you heard. A handful of Jack White’s biggest fans jumped me in a cubicle, took a red pencil to my draft – marking Roman at each instance of boldfaced text. “It’s my editor’s idea of a parody of a gossip column!” I pleaded, but that wouldn’t stop them. They called me names then shoved their iPods in my face, making me recite all the happening artists’ names as they scrolled down their menus. One guy even had the nerve to gun for my job! Damn college kid! I began to regret having spent so much of my Raconteurs review citing obscure bands like Boston and Foreigner. “Shoot,” I thought to myself, “is it hipster pride that makes me look beyond the obvious and informative Terry Reid reference I could have made while expressing my thoughts on ‘Rich Kid Blues’?”

Instead of harping on the difficulties of that experience, I decided to take away the one clear positive from the Phawker Mailbag: My readers care, my readers really care! A lot of responsibility that comes with being a rock critic. One of my reviews could sink the career of an established, multimedia artist. One of my reviews could change the course of a college kid’s illegal downloading habits. And with that responsibility, I realized, comes a high ceiling of growth. If I get really good at this reviewing job, I might be able to work my way up to reviewing Pearl Jam‘s next concert tour. I might even land my dream job of writing a regular television or blog review column for a major metropolitan newspaper–or a glossy, weekly entertainment mag!

It’s with this new perspective, that I pledge to write a more fair-balanced and intellectual review of the latest CD from gutsy, often ironic roots rockers Drive-By Truckers, entitled Brighter Than Creation’s Dark. Recorded during and after the band’s acoustic Dirt Underneath Tour, the album is said to feature a more stripped down, country-based sound not heard since their sophomore release, Pizza Deliverance. Following twists and turns the band has been through since the release of the ambitious, breakthrough, double-album Southern Rock opera, The Southern Rock Opera–a virtual rock ‘n roll Vicksburg Campaign–it’s only right that the band would seek shelter in the values of their Muscle Shoals forefathers. Let’s have a listen!

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