[Artwork by SHARPWRITER] Artist’s rendering of this little-known, but game-changing moment in American history.
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Pimping PIFA’s Savoir Faire
BY LAURA WESTERMAN To rev up the press and bloggerati for Philadelphia Festival of the Arts (PIFA), which kicks off April 7 and runs through May 1, the Kimmel Center hosted a media reception last night to showcase some of the fashion and food purveyors that will play a role in the arts festival: Le Bec Fin, Fork, Parc, R2L and Wolfgang Puck. Whilst I stocked up on free champagne underneath the Kimmel Center’s beautiful glass dome, spoke to the PIFA organizers, witnessed a small fashion show and tasted delicious food samples – including Wolfgang Puck’s famous crêpes (the banana […]
WARNING: Kochtopus Spotted In Downtown Madison
THE CAP TIMES: The billionaire brothers whose political action committee gave Gov. Scott Walker $43,000 and helped fund a multi-million dollar attack ad campaign against his opponent during the 2010 gubernatorial election have quietly opened a lobbying office in Madison just off the Capitol Square. Charles and David Koch, who co-own Koch Industries Inc. and whose combined worth is estimated at $43 billion, have been recently tied with Walker’s push to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public workers. The two have long backed conservative causes and groups including Americans for Prosperity, which organized the Tea Party rally Saturday in support […]
BLOODBATH: Hundreds Dead As Qaddafi’s Goon Squads Go House To House Hunting Protesters
[Photo by ENEMYKE] NEW YORK TIMES: Vowing to track down and kill protesters “house by house,” Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya tightened his grip on the capital, Tripoli, on Tuesday, but the eastern half of the country was slipping beyond his control. A bloody crackdown drove protesters from the streets of Tripoli, where residents described a state of terror. After a televised speech by Colonel Qaddafi, thousands of his supporters converged in the city’s central Green Square, wearing green bandannas and brandishing large machetes. Many loaded into trucks headed for the outlying areas of the city, where they occupied traffic […]
Phawker Presents The Second Installment Of BLOTTO
BY LANCE DOILY I’m still not sure what I did to get the Singac American Legion put on my route for the third straight week, but there’s no point complaining about it. You see, this woman Amy is in charge of handing out the truck runs in the morning, normally the most demeaning job in the company due to our fierce stubbornness and fiery tempers. But over the years she’s built up an impressive portfolio of dick pictures we’ve all been coaxed into sending her for one reason or another (for the record, none of us has gotten any further […]
TONITE: We Travel The Spaceways
ARS NOVA WORKSHOP PRESENTS THE CELESTIAL SEPTET (NELS CLINE SINGERS & ROVA SAXAPHONE QUARTET) 8 PM TONIGHT AT INTERNATIONAL HOUSE ARS NOVA: On Tuesday, February 22, Ars Nova Workshop presents the Celestial Septet, an extraordinary union of the Nels Cline Singers and the ROVA Saxophone Quartet. Hitting the road for only 5 concerts, this first date of the tour marks the septet’s Philadelphia debut. Given the significance of this epic collaboration, ANW and local webcast production team web.illish.us will be offering a free live webcast of the concert to audiences outside Philadelphia. Please follow this link to register for the […]
Was Anonymous Trolled By Westboro Baptist Church?
Not sure what exactly is going on here but we are sure enjoying the confusion. First this cease and desist letter to Westboro Baptist Church of Troll appeared on Anonnews.org, an open-source news channel for anons, on February 16th. Note that at Anonnews.org, “anyone can post to the site, and moderators will approve relevant posts. No censorship takes place!”, according to the web site. February 16, 2011 TO THE CONGREGANTS OF WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH: We, the collective super-consciousness known as ANONYMOUS – the Voice of Free Speech & the Advocate of the People – have long heard you issue your […]
EARLY WORD: Return Of The Fujiyama Mama
[Illustration by KING MERINUK/CLICK TO ENLARGE] Upon first listen to The Party Ain’t Over, the Jack White-produced comeback/victory lap by feral-rockabilly-kitten-turned-Born-Again-gospel-pensioner Wanda Jackson, it is tempting to agree with the prevailing CW that White made a fatal strategic error when he opted not to follow the Rick Rubin/Johnny Cash paradigm of less-is-more when it comes to polishing the legacies of Medicare-aged hellraisers. The Third Man Band — which includes White and various Dead Weather/Raconteurs alums — that backs Jackson on Party, is loud and hammy and takes up most of the oxygen on the record. The song choices range from […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR In 1854, Sen. Stephen Douglas forced the Kansas-Nebraska Act through Congress. The bill, which repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, also opened up a good portion of the Midwest to the possible expansion of slavery. Douglas’ political rival, former Illinois Congressman Abraham Lincoln, was enraged by the bill. He scheduled three public speeches in the fall of 1854, in response. The longest of those speeches — known as the Peoria Speech — took three hours to deliver. In it, Lincoln aired his grievances over Douglas’ bill and outlined his moral, economic, political and legal arguments against slavery. But […]
TONIGHT: Bringing It All Back Home
Despite all the half-arsed, one-hit wonders of the world, there are still those times when you find an album so solidly packed with incredible tunes that it almost re-invigorates your faith the album format. The release of Let Me Come Home by Scotland’s folksy Broken Records is one of those moments. This album is packed with rich influences, most notably Springsteen, and from the sound of things the band has succumbed to the sweet seduction of rock music. Not just any rock music. Given the Boss influence, we are talking big, yearning anthems like “A Leaving Song” and “I Used […]
TIPPING POINT: Gadhafi Regime On The Verge Of Collapse As Deadly Protests Spread To Tripoli
[Illustration by TAMER YOUSSEF] WALL STREET JOURNAL: Violent clashes between protesters and security forces snowballed in cities throughout eastern Libya Sunday, as the country’s leader, Moammar Gadhafi, struggled to crush an uprising aimed at ending his 42-year rule. Human Rights Watch said it had confirmed 173 deaths in protests so far, doubling the group’s toll from Saturday. But Human Rights Watch and doctors in Benghazi said they thought the final death toll would be significantly higher. Protests also sprang up on the outskirts of Libya’s capital of Tripoli for the first time since the unrest began five days ago, according […]
HOT DOC: Teabaggers Plotting To Infiltrate Pro-Union Wisconsin Rallies, Sow Chaos And Hijack Photo Ops
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] Tea Party Express organizer/talk radio host/frequent CNN guest Mark Williams is encouraging Tea Partiers to go to the SEIU home page and sign up for upcoming pro-union rallies at the Wisconsin capitol building, masquerade as a union sympathizer and then behave in a way that would paint protesters as greedy, lazy thugs in the eyes of the media and the general public (SEE BELOW). Last summer Williams was universally reviled (even by the Tea Party) for penning a blatantly racist “open letter” to Abe Lincoln from the “colored people” which chided blacks for “striving for welfare,” […]
CINEMA: Bergman’s Endless Summer
Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 comedy, Smiles of a Summer Night is screening this Saturday at the International House. It was the first of Bergman’s films to receive international acclaim, and was followed by The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries. Set in the turn-of-the-century, the film follows four couples exchanging flirtations, promises and partners throughout the course of a chimerical, dimly-lit Scandinavian night. In line with the rest of Bergman’s oeuvre, the film poignantly captures masculine/feminine quips and quarrels with humor and sadness — the banter and witticisms are still spot-on, despite the film’s being over half of a century […]