According to the online encyclopedia – which has a well-earned checkered reputation as both an everyman’s Britannica and a site where bias, slander and outright untruths reign – Mayor Street once played Bozo the Clown. Wikipedia’s bio on the mayor included: “At the same time that Street practiced law, he also began a media career in Philadelphia. Street worked for television station WPSG-TV and, for a four-year period, he played the character Bozo the Clown on Philadelphia’s Bozo the Clown children’s television show. When Street ran for Philadelphia City Council, he ceased his media career.” “I’m sure that isn’t true,” […]
THE NEW PANIC: Toe Sucker Strikes Again
In just about every case, the attacker ordered his victims to remove their shoes. He then checked for hidden money and groped or sucked their feet. He also fondled the genitals of one victim and penetrated another woman’s rectal area with his finger, another officer said. In the latest incident, the woman was on Aspen Street, near 25th Street, where a taxi had dropped her off, when the man approached her and held a gun to her head, police said. She screamed, and he ordered her to keep quiet and walk three blocks with him to a small park off […]
URBAN LIVING: Following Partridge Family’s Lead, More Families Forming Pop Groups And Moving To The Big City In Search Of Fame And Beater Houses To Flip
They are part – a surprising part – of Center City’s future: young, well-educated, affluent, eager participants in a renaissance that has swelled the downtown population 11 percent – to 88,000 – in just seven years. They also represent one of the biggest challenges facing Philadelphia’s next mayor and City Council: Will they stay, or will they vote with their feet if the city cannot maintain momentum in revitalizing Center City and improving schools? […] Philadelphia has historically been behind New York and Chicago among large cities with large residential populations. In Philadelphia’s case, however, statistical evidence is unclear about […]
MILESTONE: Academy of Music Turns 150, Considering Chin Tuck And Getting Eyes ‘Done’
The academy had a grand ball on January 26th, 1857, and after America’s first opera house premiered Verdi’s ?Il Trovatore? that same year, it has been in continuous use ever since.The “open horseshoe” shape design has offered more visibility than most opera houses to the audience seated on both sides of the balconies, surrounding a 5,000 pound crystal chandelier, which was loaded with gas burners, until it was electrified in 1900. Legendary singers have performed there from Maria Callas to Enrico Caruso. The world renowned Philadelphia Orchestra spent more than 100 seasons in the academy, until it moved down the […]
CODE BLUE: Baby, It’s Cold Outside
(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA The latest winter chill to hit the region moves into dangerous territory, as temperatures continue to drop. It is brisk Sunday morning. There are reports of occasional black ice. Before first light, the Walgreen’s monitor registered at 24 degrees another one down the block registered at 19 degrees in South Philadelphia. Either way it is cold. It is good idea to be prepared by bundling up. “I have on triple layers of everything,” said one woman. “It’s cold, very cold this morning,” said one man. KYW: Colder Than A Witch’s Tit
ST. JOHN THE ESCALATOR
NEW YORK TIMES: 27 Americans Killed In Iraq Over The Weekend NEW YORK TIMES: Faces Of Death
ALL THE LEAVES ARE BROWN: Denny Doherty, Last Papa Of The MAMAS AND PAPAS, Dead At 66
They were the first pop group, after The Beatles and the so-called British invasion, to include women (and a Canadian) as equal partners and to showcase tuneful and harmoniously sophisticated songs. As a group, they produced five albums and sold an estimated 20 million records. Behind the scenes, though, the group was wasting its talent and its energy because they were all — especially Mr. Doherty — in thrall to sex, drugs and alcohol. One of five children of a hard-drinking Halifax pipe fitter, Mr. Doherty began his singing career there with a local rock band, The Hepsters, while working […]
SORE LOSER: CITY PAPER Protests Judge’s Call In This Week’s COVER WARS, Cites PW’s Blatant ‘Visual Plagiarism’ — Is That Even A Thing?
You be the judge. UPDATE: Turns out there is such a thing as ‘visual plagiarism’ — in Richmond, Virginia. And ONLY in Richmond, Virginia, it would seem (read this, this is an assinine firing by piss-poor managment, it’s an INTERN for Chrissakes, you fire them for blowing the President not for hitting a foul ball on the job). Frankly, we’re more interested in talking about why these kids’ legs are blown off instead of who wins the race to get a photogenic Iraq vet double amputee on the cover. Don’t hate the messenger, hate the message.
EARLY WORD: SUGAR, SUGAR
Phawker headquarters itself in a secure undisclosed location on the mean cobblestoned streets of the O.C. and not a day goes by on the nearby stretch of North Third when we don’t find ourselves accosted, albeit pleasantly so, by a pack of suburban Jersey coeds, dressed to the nines in their best approximation of season four Sex In The City. Usually, they are being skippered by a hip mom in a furry bucket hat and she’s the one that usually asks, “excuse me can you tell me where…” and we always finish their sentences for them: “Let me guess, […]
Cover Wars: Whose Artfag Kung-Fu Is Stronger?
OK, gloves off. CP’s Rennie Harris puppeteer cover is straight out of the Big Book Of Alt-Weekly Arts Cover Cliches, though the bordello-red tones ARE gorgeous. That’s compared only to itself, when you put it next to PW’s double amputee Iraq vet shocker, CP looks like the wop who brought a knife to a gun fight with Sean Connery in The Untouchables. It’s a hard slog for city-based alt-weekly to telescope their mandate into national stories like the abattoir Iraq, but returning local vets are the most obvious entree into the war beat and PW’s Cassidy Hartmann has found a […]
FINAL INDIGNITY: Rocky Theme Stolen By Drunks
Actually, good luck with that. RELATED: Iggles Fans Force New Orleans Man To Sing For His Coors Lite Supper
COMEUPPANCE: GOP Congressman Ney Sentenced For Being A Drunk, A Liar And A Useless Sack Of Shit
WASHINGTON – Former Rep. Bob Ney was sentenced Friday to 30 months in federal prison for his role in a congressional bribery scandal. The Justice Department had asked for a term of 27 months in prison. Ney, the only congressman charged in the case to date, pleaded guilty to trading official favors for golf trips, tickets, meals and campaign donations from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Ney admitted that he traded official actions for expensive trips, sports tickets, meals and campaign donations from the former lobbyist, who is already in prison. […] Prior to the sentencing, nine letters from citizens, most […]
FIRST AMENDMENT: Provision Of Lobbyist Reform Bill Requires ‘Political’ Bloggers To Register With Congress Or Face Year In Jail, Where The Wireless Really Sucks
It remains to be seen whether or not the provision in question will still be in the Lobbying Reform bill by the time it hits the Senate floor for a vote — ideas this blatantly unconstitutional and vampiric tend to crumble under the first light of judicial review — but this is the latest bit of nastiness ringing the blogosphere’s Orwellian alarm bell: In what sounds like a comedy sketch from Jon Stewart’s Daily Show, but isn’t, the U. S. Senate would impose criminal penalties, even jail time, on grassroots causes and citizens who criticize Congress. Section 220 of S. […]