That’s right: As we speak, the Oppressor class is welcoming none other than that senile failure John McCain to the Union League on Broad between Sansom and Walnut. He will be accompanied by a dinner of liver and onions, not a single joke about tea bagging and a nagging sense that if he hadn’t picked that Alaskan MILF, the world sure as hell would be a pretty different place right about now. Then again, maybe not.
Yes, it’s true: Sade’s first album in nearly 10 years comes out tomorrow. And yes, it is also true: We are oddly psyched. We’ve been checking it out for about a week now, and so far, so good. “Soldier of Love” is the lead single, and there is also this song called “Babyfather” that rules, and seriously, before you even go ahead and make the knee-jerk “yuppie easy listening” comment, know this: If you’ve got a problem with Sade, we don’t wanna know you. She is more punk than punk itself. Sade fans looking for community during this exciting time would do well to visit Silk City tonight, where Back 2 Basics’ Good 2 Go party will be saluting Sade all night, dropping classic Sade cuts, remixes and tracks from the new album.
A fresh volley of shots has been fired in the ongoing battle surrounding efforts to dredge parts of the Delaware River to increase the depth of its shipping channel. (That’s what she said.) On one side are the dredging proponents: The US Army Corps of Engineers, the State of Pennsylvania, and the teamsters. The opposition includes a consortium of environmental groups and representatives in Delaware and New Jersey, many of whom feel that Philadelphia will benefit disproportionately from the dredging, which might stir up layers of toxic sediment in the riverbed, contaminating the environment. The opposition contends that the US Army Corps of Engineers sidestepped securing the approval of the states of Delaware and New Jersey for the project to move forward. At the end of January, US District Court Judge Sue Robinson ruled in favor of the dredging proponents; however, the opponents, led by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, National Wildlife Federation, New Jersey Environmental Federation, Delaware Nature Society, and Clean Water Action, have just filed an appeal in a new attempt to prevent the dredging from progressing. A lot of commenters on the DelawareOnline article are fired up over the issue, both for and against, but seemingly more against. In an era where the “states’ rights” argument is too often invoked for unrelated reasons, this time it’s legit: Delaware and New Jersey do not have anything obvious to gain from the dredging, and it looks like Pennsylvania (along with some special interest groups) is trying to strong-arm their little brother state/neighbor, Delaware. The fact of the matter is that this is a matter of geography: Without the cooperation of Delaware and New Jersey, Philadelphia would have no access to the Atlantic Ocean at all, and continuing along this path of détente will only lead to additional conflict in the future. Philadelphia is just not in a geographic position to harbor a larger port, and we have to deal with that. Even if we could, would we really want a local version of Elizabeth or Bayonne on our front lawn?
John Murtha, we hardly knew ye. Murtha spoke truth to power, and here he is above, speaking out at the 2006 John F. Kenndy Profile in Courage Awards against the war in Iraq and healthcare.
Submitted by reader bernfiremon, and while we’re on the topic, even as lifelong fans — devotees, even — of The Who, even we must admit: That totally sucked. Enough already, Superbowl. Next year, we demand females and people of color on that stage. Ever since Janet Jackson revealed a sliver of boob, you people have been acting like it’s the second half of Pleasantville and you’re intent on keeping everything boring forever.
We’ve been quite vocal in xpressing our disapproval of corporate behemoth hometown cable and internet provider Comcast’s move to rebrand itself as XFINITY. And guess what… we’re right! The graphic design and branding experts at UnderConsideration’s blog, Brand New, have just posted their review of the new XFINITY name and logo, and they don’t like it either! They describe the XFINITY name as “pompous and clichéd,” largely due to the perceived connection between the letter X and xtreme/tacky/stripper-related products (here’s looking at you, Axe body spray). They also don’t like the detachment between the mandatory all-caps spelling and the lower-case logo, and they note that the spacing between the letters is the logo seems uneven, too tight at the edges, too spaced-out in the center. Brand New’s outsider perspective does allow them to praise the logo’s overall restraint, and the tidy way that the X-F and T-Y letters are angled into each other, something that we, as Philly locals and branding amateurs, might not have been able to see ourselves. But even Brand New admits that XFINITY “might sound more fun than ‘Comcast’ but at least Comcast sounds like a real company with almost fifty years of experience.” Experience doing what, we’re not quite sure, but there you have it: Even to the pros, the XFINITY name doesn’t seem likely to give Comcast much upward mobility out of the corporate lower caste.
IFC Films has picked up the controversial documentary about the Barnes Foundation, The Art Of The Steal. It’s slated for release on February 26 — no listings for local theaters yet — and the film, if the trailer is anything to go buy, is not nice to the politicians and art world of Philadelphia.
Over Snowmageddon Weekend, we finally got to sit down and spend some time watching the Jersey Shore marathon on MTV — we were kinda tired of just hating these people for no reason — and here is what we learned: There’s a Snooki in every crowd — the braying, bossy chubby girl who can’t let anybody just be happy; Sammi Sweetheart is straight up damaged goods and maybe a little, uh, what’s the best way to say this, challenged to boot; Pauly D is hangin’ on to that Serato shit like it’s the only thing that understands him; Vinny and Ronnie are nice boys who will be the only ones to survive all of this just fine; and The Situation aka Mike Sorrentino is basically just a fucking timebomb sociopath. He’s the Spencer Pratt of Jersey Shore, but whereas Spencer has that whole American Psycho panache, The Situation just comes off as common street trash. This notion was confirmed when we got a press release announcing The Situation’s appearance at Buckhead Saloon in NoLibs this Friday night, in which he will… “appear.” We’ve written about Buckhead Saloon before, and if our impressions are correct, this is the kind of place where the bouncers probably have to break up a handful of douchebag fights every weekend — God, it’s like these things are becoming our primary export — so it’s only a matter of time on Friday before somebody (laudably) will try and take a swing at The Situation. For the guy who punched Snooki, it’d be a step up, at least. Maybe he should consider the drive.
>>> We suppose we should get this out of the way sooner than later: That next snow storm you’ve been hearing about — the one that starts late Tuesday and blows clean into Wednesday — has now been upgraded to a blizzard (see conditions for Wednesday). We know you’ve all been paralyzed. Well, this week, prepare to be IMMOBILIZED! [KYW]
>>> Meanwhile, congrats again to Fox29 who, just like they did during the blizzard in December, stayed on the air all day Saturday, eating pizza and cutting away to its reporters stranded on streets in various locales, pointing at stuck cars and going, “Hey, look at that!” Other local news broadcasts — like the wildly podunk CBS3 — also snow-filibustered all day, which has brought us to the next logical step in this sort of coverage, with every station now blasting out in-house promos about how they had you covered better than anyone else on this local-man-in-the-snow nonsense. For our money, though, Fox29 still has this on lockdown though, because what would a Fox affiliate be, after all, if it did not specialize in The Reportage Of Nothingness? [Philebrity's Greatest Hits]
>>> And finally, as the city is headed in the direction of breaking the largest accumulated snowfall on record this winter — which may happen as soon as this Wednesday — one thing to keep in mind: Please, Nutter, don’t dump it all into the river. That didn’t work out so good last time. [Wikipedia]
With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, we’ve been thinking about all of our single readers, all of whom we know would just be so much happier if only they were in relationships. (Ed: Really? Really?) What could we do to help them find “the one?” Since we know that they spend lots of time online (reading Philebrity), we figured that the best course of action would be to go where they are (cyberspace), read their Craigslist ads, and pair them up two-by-two, equipping them with the tools and information necessary to start up a happy romance. Thus was born The Craigslist Matchmaker: Like a meddling old lady from a bygone era, the Craigslist Matchmaker is a possessor of rare knowledge and keen instincts to help our single readers navigate love’s battlefield. Today, the Craigslist Matchmaker has generously decided to help “Generous Gent,” a 38 year-old PA male. Here’s what he’s looking for:
“I am looking for a very sexy gal to join me for some comfortable evenings out. This can be a very “rewarding” experience as I can contribute to your fun “fund” as you desire.
And through the microphone of Jnnnphrhrhrhrrr Frdkdkddk no less. What did we tell you about this woman? She’s a goddamned savage. We’re awaiting more pics and wrap up from this morning’s Wing Bowl via our now lost and presumed drunk coverage team, but in the meantime you can relive it all on our Twitter account.
>>> Please join us for a great bill and even better cause tonight at Philly Rocks For Haiti at The Trocadero. West Philadelphia Orchestra, Black Landlord, Get the Led Out, Blood Feathers and Free Energy will all be performing, and afterwards, there’s a party in the Balcony where Jersey Dan is spinning. Proceeds go directly to the Haitian Professionals of Philadelphia to ship supplies to Haiti. >>> Elsewhere: Freak folkers James Blackshaw and Gary Higgins play the First Unitarian Church; Telepathe and Prowler play Kung Fu Necktie; and, though we have little to go on, we bet Jet Lag: World Music with Geoff Weiser at L’Etage sounds like a perfect pre-blizzard hang.
That’s right: As we speak, the Oppressor class is welcoming none other than that senile failure John McCain to the Union League on Broad between Sansom and Walnut. He will be accompanied by a dinner of liver and onions, not a single joke about tea bagging and a nagging sense that if he hadn’t picked that Alaskan MILF, the world sure as hell would be a pretty different place right about now. Then again, maybe not.
A fresh volley of shots has been fired in the ongoing battle surrounding efforts to dredge parts of the Delaware River to increase the depth of its shipping channel. (That’s what she said.) On one side are the dredging 
We’ve been 
Over Snowmageddon Weekend, we finally got to sit down and spend some time watching the Jersey Shore marathon on MTV — we were kinda tired of just hating these people for no reason — and here is what we learned: There’s a Snooki in every crowd — the braying, bossy chubby girl who can’t let anybody just be happy; Sammi Sweetheart is straight up damaged goods and maybe a little, uh, what’s the best way to say this, challenged to boot; Pauly D is hangin’ on to that Serato shit like it’s the only thing that understands him; Vinny and Ronnie are nice boys who will be the only ones to survive all of this just fine; and The Situation aka Mike Sorrentino is basically just a fucking timebomb sociopath. He’s the Spencer Pratt of Jersey Shore, but whereas Spencer has that whole American Psycho panache, The Situation just comes off as common street trash. This notion was confirmed when we got a press release announcing The Situation’s appearance at Buckhead Saloon in NoLibs this Friday night, in which he will… “appear.” 
With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, we’ve been thinking about all of our single readers, all of whom we know would just be so much happier if only they were in relationships. (Ed: Really? Really?) What could we do to help them find “the one?” Since we know that they spend lots of time online (reading Philebrity), we figured that the best course of action would be to go where they are (cyberspace), read their Craigslist ads, and pair them up two-by-two, equipping them with the tools and information necessary to start up a happy romance. Thus was born The Craigslist Matchmaker: Like a meddling old lady from a bygone era, the Craigslist Matchmaker is a possessor of rare knowledge and keen instincts to help our single readers navigate love’s battlefield. Today, the Craigslist Matchmaker has generously decided to help “
>>> Please join us for a great bill and even better cause tonight at Philly Rocks For Haiti at The Trocadero. 
