The father of Twanita Johnson’s baby needed a gun, but he can’t buy one because he’s a convict. So Johnson, 21, who had no criminal record, went to a Bucks County gun shop and bought him a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber pistol, according to law enforcement officials.This morning, the recently formed Gun Violence Task Force announced that arrest warrants had been obtained for Johnson and 16 others accused of making illegal “straw” purchases. The task force, a joint effort of city District Attorney Lynne Abraham and state Attorney General Tom Corbett, has opened more than 70 investigations since being launched […]
Easter Bunny: DiCicco’s Eggs Are Rotten
This just came in over the transom.
MEDIA: Don Imus Suspended For Calling Rutgers Women’s Basketball Team “Nappy-Headed Ho’s”
BY AMY Z. QUINN This is Essence Carson [pictured, right], a forward on the Rutgers women’s basketball team. She’s also a straight-A student, a music major who plays several instruments, and an athlete who was named the Big East women’s basketball player of the year. But of course, that’s not why she’s in the news today. No, people care about Essence Carson all of a sudden because she’s one of the “nappy headed hos” Don Imus and his producer were talking about the other day. Flanked by her teammates — including South Jersey’s own Rashidat Junaid, a towering center from […]
All Of This Happened While You Were Sleeping
POP WILL EAT ITSELF: Popped! Festival Opening Night Party, JB’s, Last Night
TRIBUTE: RICK D. IN HIS OWN WORDS
My favorite time in Philly’s music history was ’79 to ’83 or ’84. The city was a mess then. It was bankrupt and every other building was boarded up. The entire city was coated with fliers for shows. A lot of them were really creative, and you could generate buzz and excitement overnight. Because Center City was so shady, you could put on shows at the drop of a hat, and nobody really gave a damn. The police were enforcing the liquor laws, so you’d just hand them a hundred bucks and they’d go away. There was no radio support, […]
JOHNNY THUNDERS: You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory
This one goes out to Rick D. Because at least he tried.
POPPED! FEST PREVIEW: Pattern Is Movement
NOTE: Throughout the week we will be sharing the responses of Popped Fest bands to our Mad Libs-esque questionnaire. 1. We are called Pattern is Movement because it sounded better than Passionate Moments. 2. No, that is not a stupid name for a band and it is awesome of you to say that. 3. We are a band because God told/commanded us. 4. If we were not a band, we would be working for Ride The Ducks. 5. People say we sound like Julie Andrews meets System of a Down. 6. But really we sound like Julie Andrews. 7. A […]
FEST PICKS: ‘Happy Endings’; S&M; Here’s Johnny
BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC I dropped into TLA Video’s South Street store on Friday and found the staff frantically scurrying to serve the Philadelphia Film Festival’s advance ticket buyers, so it appears the opening weekend got things off to a smashing start. I didn’t make it out from under my pile of Festival home-screeners until late Sunday night, but was happily surprised to see the screening of 12:08 East Of Bucharest a good three-quarters full; not bad for a Romanian comedy. The film, which examines the different memories of a town’s citizens over who showed bravery as Communism fell, […]
EARLY WORD: Pop ‘N Fresh
Standby for our daily Popped Fest preview…
Jersey Teen Jumps Off Ben Franklin After Police Chase
PHILADELPHIA – A teenager who led police on a car chase through the city’s historic section ended up jumping off the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and was presumed dead, authorities said. Authorities began pursuing the youth after he tried to run over an officer in the Old City neighborhood late Saturday night, said police spokeswoman Yolanda Dawkins. It was unclear what led to that situation. The chase led to the New Jersey side of the bridge, where the teen got out of his vehicle, Dawkins said. The suspect then walked to train tracks that run alongside the bridge and leaped into […]
INQUIRER: Fumo’s Personal Wealth Is $33 Million
The personal wealth of Pennsylvania Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, a banker, lawyer and licensed electrician, has been estimated at $20 million, and his stock and options from the bank his grandfather founded are worth an additional $13 million. INKY: If He Did It, Why?
KILLADELPHIA: ‘Jesus Christ Died For Something, I Suppose’
Two men were shot to death on Philadelphia streets early yesterday, boosting the city homicide total this year to 108 — a rate of more than one killing a day. Both were shot in the head and pronounced dead on the street, police said. Their deaths followed that of a man who died Friday night in West Philadelphia in a place most would presume to be out of the line of fire – in his house. In a second-floor bedroom, Charles W. Baldwin, 42, was struck in the head by a stray bullet from a shoot-out below at 58th and […]