TONITE: 17 Years Of Fergie In A Glass

[Photo by BRIAN FERGUSON] GRUBB STREET: Before Fergie’s there was nothing. Okay, maybe that’s a little bit of stretch, but when Fergus “Fergie” Carey opened his eponymous pub on Sansom Street near 13th Street back in 1994, editors from Food & Wine and Bon Appetit weren’t exactly lining up to check out the likes of Barbuzzo, El Vez or Sampan. In fact much of what’s now called Midtown Village was dotted with empty store fronts, strip joints, sex shops and adult cinemas. And Fergie was seen as something of a madman for opening a bar and restaurant in the middle […]

BLOTTO: Fear & Loathing In Nowhere, New Jersey

BY LANCE DOILY I had just gotten through my first route without a near total collapse into debauchery in a couple months, so I gave my man Royce a call to celebrate over a couple cold ones at the Husker. Slunt Huskers, that is. Stone was at the helm, so it goes without saying that the tap was locked in the pour position and Uriah Heap’s “Easy Livin’” was runnin’ repeat on the juke before my asscheeks even touched the barstool. He was in rare form that night, barely getting to the second round before telling us a story about […]

ARAB SPRING BREAK: U.S. College Students Cuffed, Beaten And Scared Sh*tless By Egyptian Popo

CBS NEWS: Of his treatment by Egyptian authorities during his detention, Sweeney said, “The first night, we weren’t really told anything as to what was going to happen to us for a long time, for several days. “But the first night, we were hit several times in the face, in the back of the neck, and we were forced to sit on the ground in the dark with our hands cuffed behind our backs, and there were a number of Egyptian policemen behind us with guns telling us that if we moved, we would be shot. We were there for […]

SHAKING THROUGH: Snowmine

RELATED: Snowmine, a Brooklyn-based five-piece, is keyboardist Grayson Sanders, guitarists Calvin Pia and Austin Mendenhall, bassist Jay Goodman, and drummer Alex Beckmann. The band’s lush indie-pop songs are generated largely by Sanders, who recently turned his attention from composing in the New York classical music scene to become the principle singer and songwriter for the group. For the session, Snowmine chose to record the song “Curfews.” Sanders said: “It’s a song about being a slave to your work. The first line is: I might not earn it but its what I deserve […] It’s the relationship you have being validated […]

ENDGAME: Did The Homeless Sink #OccupyPhilly?

[Photo by ROBIN ODLAND] PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY: An Occupier named Dan, waiting at the edges of the Occupy camp on Monday night for the GA to begin, says that his patience quickly wore thin—he says he camped at Dilworth for the first two weeks of Occupy Philly until homeless people made things “sketchy.” “I feel bad for people who are homeless, but nobody really wants to admit what happened,” he says. “The homeless basically ruined Occupy Philly. They took it over and brought a lot of negativity down on us, and they pushed out a lot of the original Occupy Philly […]

DAVID BOWIE/BING CROSBY: Little Drummer Boy

ROLLING STONE: When David Bowie appeared on Bing Crosby’s 42nd and final Christmas special, it was his attempt to make his arty career more mainstream, more normal. Instead, the glam-rocker’s duet with the legendary crooner Crosby resulted in one of the strangest moments of both of their careers. In September of 1977, Bowie taped his only appearance on Crosby’s family-friendly Christmas variety show; the pair sang two songs, “Little Drummer Boy” and “Peace on Earth.” They reportedly spent less than an hour rehearsing both songs – during which Bowie reportedly begged in vain to sing anything besides “Little Drummer Boy” – […]

RIP: Ken Russell, Fever-Dream Fabulist, Dead At 84

THE GUARDIAN: Ken Russell, the director behind the Oscar-winning Women in Love has died aged 84. Russell died on Sunday in his sleep, according to his friend, the arts writer Norman Lebrecht. Known for a flamboyant style that was developed during his early career in television, Russell’s films mixed high and low culture with unusual deftness and often courted controversy. The Devils … a religious drama that featured an infamous scene between Oliver Reed and Venessa Redgrave sexualising the crucifixion – was initially rejected by Warner Brothers. It will finally be released in its entirety in March next year, 42 […]

SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: A Man For No Reasons

BY WILLIAM C. HENRY “Hear Ye! Hear Ye! The phoniest, pettiest, most hypocritical politician to ever ply the trade has proclaimed he wants to become your President.” Such is the headline that should have blazed across the front page of every newspaper and online news source in America on May 11, 2011, the day Newt Gingrich became convinced that the passage of time had obscured his true persona to the point that he just might be able to pull off a run for the highest office in the land. And, although the aforestated somewhat uncomplimentary hyperbole could probably attach to […]

SIDEWALKING: #Occupy The Campaign Trail

President holding note passed to him by #Occupy protester in New Hampshire by Charles Dharapak/AP RELATED: The Occupy movement trailed President Obama to New Hampshire today, where protestors briefly interrupted his jobs speech at a Manchester high school. Using the so-called “human microphone” method, protestors shouted Obama down just minutes into his speech, calling attention to the arrest of peaceful protestors at Occupy movements around the country. MORE

Free Parking Is The Opium Of The Masses

CHURCH PARKING FOR ATHEISTS: This site allows you download parking placards that are used by some church-goers to park in otherwise illegal No Parking or No Stopping Zones, during services or other church events. This service is provided for entertainment purposes only. Any unauthorized use of the materials contained herein is not sanctioned. This is not an endorsement of parking illegally on sundays to go to brunch or engage in any other secular activities. MORE

HOT DOC: The Survivor’s Guide To Tahrir Square

[Photo by JONATHAN RASHAD] AMR BASSIOUNY: Many people are either new or relatively inexperienced to violent protests, and considering what is happening these days, you might want to get close to the action and see what is happening or maybe even join the fighting yourself.  Before doing so, it’s essential to know how to do it right.  If you take it lightly, you could end up seriously injured, incapacitated or even dead. In this post I will go through how to prepare and protect yourself from attacks by the Central Security Forces (CSF) and the Military forces, as each uses […]