ASSOCIATED PRESS: The 48-year-old governor was driven to Somerset Medical Center by his state police security detail out of an “abundance of caution,” said Christie spokesman, Michael Drewniak. Christie suffers from asthma and all indications are the governor will be OK, Drewniak said. Maria Comella, Christie’s deputy chief of staff, told The Associated Press that Christie is “fine and in charge.” Close friend and adviser Bill Palatucci said Christie was “getting tests and working from the hospital.” Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno was in her office at the Statehouse. Christie attended an education conference and a congressional fundraiser in Iowa on […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Destroying America To Save It
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Nietzsche said, “We do not place especial value on the possession of a virtue until we notice its total absence in our opponent.” Oh how I’ve come to revere such virtues as honesty, integrity and fairness since the debt/deficit reduction talks commenced! And, it’s that very reverence that now leads me to wonder what nature of maleficence courses through the veins of a political party/movement that descries patriotism in the destruction of a nation for the sake of affording more wealth to its already wealthiest. What’s equally befuddling is why they would choose to adopt such […]
CINEMA: Space Oddity
THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (1976, directed by Nicholas Roeg, 139 minutes, U.K.) * BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC True to its title, The Man Who Fell To Earth begins with David Bowie’s alien Newton crashing down from the sky in his alien vessel. It isn’t just Newton, Nicholas Roeg’s experimental sci-fi epic also seems like an alien document sent from a far-off place, that place being the mid-1970s. Before Star Wars‘ arrival, mid-70s sci-fi was still heavily influenced by the mystical vagaries of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Roeg’s film, which brought rock phenomenon David Bowie to the […]
TONITE: When You’re Strange
RELATED: Memphis mama Amy LaVere‘s second album was produced by Jim Dickinson, and she’s gorgeous. What else do you need to know? OK, she slaps a mean doghouse bass, has recorded at Sun Studios, and played with The Preservation Hall Jazz Band [and she played pioneering rockabilly filly Wanda Jackson in the film Walk the Line.] LaVere sings with a coquettish innocence that, frankly, doesn’t fool me for one minute. She knows just what she’s doing, and it sounds fantastic. She moves musically from cocktail shuffle to galloping rockabilly, and will undoubtedly move you as well. Bring napkins. MORE AMY […]
MUST SEE TV: True Blood Mud
The Muppets take on HBO’s hallucinatory vampire sex romp. Also, Bert and Ernie were gay all along! Shhhh! Michelle Bachmann might hear.
Post Office To Foreclose On Phawker Founder’s House
MY FOX PHILLY: The Ben Franklin post office in Philadelphia was informed Tuesday that it will likely be shut down, as the U.S. Postal Service attempts to reel in spending by closing thousands of locations across the country. The unassuming, three-story brick building, which pre-dates the Revolutionary War, would lose a post office but potentially gain a pharmacy, a grocery store or “other appropriate retailers,” the Postal Service. The Ben Franklin post office remains the only one in the country that doesn’t fly a U.S. flag. That’s because there wasn’t a U.S. flag in 1775, when Franklin founded what has […]
Philly Poets Take First Place In International Slam
BAY CITIZEN: On the steps of San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House at around 11 p.m. last Saturday night, 17-year-old Kai Davis finally ran out of words. The silence was a little disconcerting, given the fact that words—specifically Davis’s gift for summoning them, piecing them together, and spitting them out in corkscrewing contortions—were what earned her Philadelphia-based slam poetry team top honors at the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival just minutes beforehand. […] Philadelphia’s Davis, along with teammate Jamarr Hall, launched into an impression-riddled critique of popular music. With dreadlocks bouncing, Davis mocked Lil Wayne’s lethargic rhyme […]
Michelle Bachmann’s Wacky Homophobia Is All Fun And Games Until Kids Start Turning Up Dead
MOTHER JONES: The first was TJ. Then came Samantha, Aaron, Nick, and Kevin. Over the past two years, a total of nine teenagers have committed suicide in a Minnesota school district represented by Rep. Michele Bachmann—the latest in May—and many more students have attempted to take their lives. State public health officials have labeled the area a “suicide contagion area” because of the unusually high death rate. […] There’s no sure way of knowing why any of the kids took their own lives, but gay rights activists quickly honed in on one factor they saw as contributing to an unhealthy […]
INCOMING: Nevermind The 20th Anniversary
Released in September 1991, Nirvana’s sophomore album and major label debut elevated Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl from a critically acclaimed Aberdeen, Washington cult band to generational spokesmen who’d unwittingly created a cultural shift and musical touchstone. Rising to #1 the world over by year’s end and ultimately selling over 30 million copies worldwide, Nevermind would come to be much more than one of the most successful and influential albums of its or any era: As the album that returned unaffected rock n roll integrity and passion to the top of the charts, Nevermind would prove a singular inspiration to fans and […]
JUST WONDERING: Where Were The Fiscal Watchdogs Of The Tea Party From 2000-2008?
[SOURCE: New York Times] EZRA KLEIN: What’s also important, but not evident, on this chart is that Obama’s major expenses were temporary — the stimulus is over now — while Bush’s were, effectively, recurring. The Bush tax cuts didn’t just lower revenue for 10 years. It’s clear now that they lowered it indefinitely, which means this chart is understating their true cost. Similarly, the Medicare drug benefit is costing money on perpetuity, not just for two or three years. And Boehner, Ryan and others voted for these laws and, in some cases, helped to craft and pass them. MORE
LISTEN LIKE THIEVES: Free Fleet Foxes Downloads
MP3: “Grown Ocean” MP3: “Helplessness Blues” RELATED: 09/24/11 Sat – Brooklyn NY @ Williamsburg Waterfront PREVIOUSLY: The hirsute Seattle six-piece is largely acoustic and traffics in autumnal ’60s folk-rock and sun-dappled three-part harmonies that can be deadly in the wrong hands; Saturday they managed to stay on the right side of preciousness. The current incarnation – lead singer-songwriter Robin Pecknold, bassist/backing vocalist Christian Wargo, guitarist/drummer/backing vocalist Joshua Tillman, mandolinist Skyler Skjelset, keyboardist Casey Wescott, multi-instrumentalist Morgan Henderson – proved remarkably precise and versatile, adept at replicating the arrangements’ ethereal sonics and whisper-to-a-scream dynamics. And those immaculate, sunbeam harmonies – part […]
FOLLOW THE MONEY: Mitt Romney Sucks Koch
ROLL CALL: Patton Boggs, D.C.’s largest lobbying firm, and a lobbyist for Koch Industries are playing host today to a luncheon fundraiser for GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney. The firm’s Trent Lott and Ben Ginsberg, who served as national counsel to the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign, are among the K Street power players who are hosting the $1,000-a-person event. Ginsberg referred comment about the event to the Romney campaign, which did not respond to an inquiry by press time. Other lobbyists on the host committee include Andrew Siff of Siff & Associates, whose clients include Koch Companies Public Sector LLC, the […]
You Only Get Out Of Democracy What You Put Into It
ETHICAL PHILLY: As the flyer describes, this will be the 1st time ever that non-political members of the Federal, State, and Local watchdog agencies will be on a panel explaining how public corruption is investigated, by whom, and how it is best reported. Then they will take questions from the audience. Just look at the three panelists: Harvey Rice, who was the state Safe Schools Advocate (until it was nixed by the budget) – who is now Deputy City Controller (auditing the missing money at the Sheriff’s Office and School District, etc.), Pat Blessington, a former municipal prosecutor who led the […]