PHAWKER EXCLUSIVE: The Man Who Howled Wolf

  BY JON MICHALS The reason for my weekend trip to Columbus, Ohio was twofold; one to give Ohio a purple nurple for its role in recent elections, two to see Tom Waits. Both missions accomplished. Boo Ya! I made the 7 hour drive out with my friend Mike and this little Chihuahua named Carlos who had some sort of skin disease (don’t ask). Tom came into Columbus, Ohio and literally took over the town for the night. Every bar you went to was playing Tom songs. Every dude in town was a bearded thirty something that you knew was […]

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

JOCKO HOMO: Devo, Festival Pier, Last Night 1. Prophets are easily mistaken for jesters or fools, or worse. Understood by a precious few in their day, and largely dismissed as a novelty act by the general public, even by many who bought their records, Devo’s core message was in fact deadly serious: It’s the end of the world as we know it. And we laughed. Thirty years later, Al Gore said the same thing and they gave him the Nobel Peace Prize. 2. Waiting for Devo to come on Saturday night, a friend asked why they were on tour now, […]

TRAGIC: Suicidal Supermodel Plunges To Death

AFP: A fashion model from Kazakhstan has fallen from her New York City balcony and plunged nine stories to her death in what police called an apparent suicide, New York newspapers said. Ruslana Korshunova, who was to turn 21 on July 2, was known for her long chestnut locks and a “fairytale” face which graced the covers of Russian Vogue and French Elle magazines. “I turned around just as she was about three feet (one metre) off the ground and then, boom, she hit,” witness Ahmed Saad, 22, who was manning a nearby halal food cart, told the New York […]

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

FINE PRINT: Times New Viking, JB’s Last Night [Photo by TIFFANY YOON] BY SIMONE SECCI FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT I have to admit that I was suckered at this one. Fooled as many people by a fake press release, that displayed Times New Viking as a supergroup including former Pavement bass player Mark Ibold, I went to Johnny Brenda’s thinking that I would find a bunch of aged indie rockers in front of me. Instead I found this heterogeneous trio of twenty somethings from Columbus, Ohio. But Let’s start from the beginning: First on stage Fnu Ronnies local band I believe, devoted […]

NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t

FRESH AIR The American Film Institute recently listed its picks for the Top 10 American films in 10 popular genres. From unforgettable sci-fi to classic Westerns, the lists include some of the most influential works in American cinema. Fresh Air continues a series reflecting on some of those great films.Today, archival interviews with an actor, a director, a writer and a producer whose work is among the best of the best: Director Martin Scorsese received two nods on the AFI’s lists. Scorsese has been nominated for seven Academy Awards and won the Oscar in 2007 for The Departed. His 1980 […]

DEVOLUTION FOR DUMMIES: Q&A With Mark Mothersbaugh, Composer, Painter, DEVO-lutionist

[As told to JONATHAN VALANIA/Illustration by Alex Fine] Phawker: Let’s start with ancient history, I want to know about the evolution of the Devo idea, I’ve read conflicting things — that it was started sort of as a joke in the late 60s and then the shootings at Kent State radicalized you guys, tell me about that whole time. Mark Mothersbaugh: OK, I don’t know what you read, but I’m sure there’s plenty of people putting false information out there and this is the true story: The band happened, when I met Gerald Casale at Kent State, we were both […]

AD BUST: City Cracks Down On Malt ‘Murketing’

NBC10: Philadelphia is famous for its mural arts program. But some groups said that some specific murals need to be scrubbed out. Philly’s “Mural Arts Program” has painted 2,700 murals. But while most of the murals are about life, energy and color, some murals in Fishtown are all about malt liquor, Colt 45. Pabst Beer paid local businesses for some of their wall space. But the city said the quasi-murals are illegal because a permit is needed. NBC 10 called Pabst and they are not commenting on the issue. The city is still trying to see if any local advertising […]

END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT: No Polar Ice

THE INDEPENDENT: It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year. The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer. “From the viewpoint of science, the North Pole is just another point on the globe, but […]

Married Couples Are Now The Minority In Britain

DAILY MAIL: Married people have become a minority for the first time, it emerged yesterday. Most over-16s are now single, divorced or widowed, figures from the Office for National Statistics indicate. In 2006, the last year for which details are available, there were 236,980 weddings in England and Wales – the lowest number since 1895. It was also the lowest proportion of marriages compared to the population since counting began in the mid-Victorian era.