Cops Seize $28 Million Worth Of Blow; Still Can’t Buy Jay-Z PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia police said they found 600 pounds of cocaine and are calling it the largest drug bust in the city’s history. Officers found it at a home along the 2600 block of Federal Street in South Philadelphia Wednesday morning. If it were sold on the street it would be worth about $28 million. “Getting this amount of drugs off of the streets whether it’s the poundage or the kilo count or the street value all of this active is what leads unfortunately to the daily death and […]
BREAKING: Cops Have Subway Killers In Custody
PHILADELPHIA – April 2, 2008 (WPVI) — Police say there has been a possible break in a deadly SEPTA attack. Authorities have four young men in the homicide unit on the verge of being charged in the fatal attack that claimed the life of a Center City coffee shop manager. Right after the attack police arrested a 16-year-old boy, and were looking for four other suspects. Now, police believe as many as six people were involved in the subway attack. It was a week ago today that 36-year-old Sean Conroy [NOT pictured] was attacked at the subway platform at 13th […]
All Names Have Been Changed To Protect The Innocent
BY JEFF DEENEY Author Richard Price, in town to read from and discuss his new book, Lush Life, drew a full house at the Free Library last night. The evening kicked off with a laudatory intro from former City Paper editor-slash-Hollywood heavyweight Duane Swierczynski. Duane’s lead was shaped around the idea of “stealing life” — his description of the kind of fiction that reads so real you’d swear it was — that Price is known for. It’s unfortunate, Duane said, that a lot of young writers don’t understand that it’s OK, even beneficial, to just make shit up, so long […]
LIVE AND DIRECT: The Audacity Of Teamsters
Sen. Barack Obama, on his way to address a union audience in Philadelphia this morning. [photo by MASTERCHEF28] BY NICK POWELL CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT Obama addressed the AFL-CIO at a Center City Sheraton this morning, and judging by the roaring cheers and Holy Ghost shrieks, one would have thought that Barack Obama had already saved our sagging economy, brought the boys home from Iraq and ended racism as we know it. Speaking to a major pow-wow of union workers, the effervescent U.S. Senator fired up his base, dissed his own bowling skills, discussed the Rocky comparisons, and drew a line in […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR In 2005, The New York Times revealed that the National Security Agency had initiated wiretaps and other forms of surveillance without court orders. It was a story the Bush administration hoped to keep under wraps, says Eric Lichtblau, one of the two reporters who pushed for the publication of the story. Lichtblau’s new book, Bush’s Law: The Remaking of American Justice, details how the administration used the “war on terror” to push for controversial surveillance programs. Lichtblau is a Washington correspondent for The New York Times. In 2006, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of domestic […]
Stranger Than Pulp Fiction, Funnier Than Borat
INQUIRER: A 20-year-old Philadelphia man was attacked and forced to put on handcuffs in a room at the upscale Chestnut Hill Hotel, then got free and fought with his assailant down an elevator and into the lobby of the historic inn last night, police said. Akiva Israel, 24, of Middletown, N.J., was arrested after the bizarre incident and is expected to be charged with aggravated assault, false imprisonment and related offenses, police said this morning. The two men have known each other for several months, police said, and met at or went together to the hotel, which is popular with […]
THE EARLY WORD: Keep Dreaming
Worship service to commemorate the 40 year anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr’s death (and in resolution to continue the struggle for civil rights and economic justice). Security guards throughout the city face the problem of low wages and insufficient benefits. AlliedBarton is the largest security company in our city and employs 87% of the guards in Philadelphia. 97% of the private security guards in Philadelphia are African American. Like the black workers in Memphis in 1968, security guards face systemic oppression. Like the black workers in Memphis in 1968, we want to unite and stand up for our families.
IRAQI VICE: Freedom From Choice
Ever wonder what life would be like under Sharia Law? No, me neither. But check it out: There wouldn’t be no TV commercials with funny black dudes goin’ Wasssssuuuuuuuuuuup on the phone. No beer pong, no beer goggles, no kegstands, no keggers period. Which is a shame if you ask us, but be that as it may this is really quite fascinating and worth the five minutes of your time. It’s a super-short documentary on how Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army cracks down on alcohol sellers in Basra. Under Sharia Law alcohol is forbidden, of course. It opens with an Imam […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
WINTER BEARD BLUES: Adam Acuragi, Silk City, Last Night Adam Acuragi could have been more popular than Jesus, if he’d shaved his dog’s ass and taught it to walk backwards, burned all his money in a trash can and jumped out the window, gave all his clothes to poor and all his blood to the Red Cross, and walked from here to California with the oversized cross of confessional folk on his back, wearing nothing but man-sandals and a beard. All told, I am guessing he likes his girlfriend, his house, not being naked and possibly even his day job, […]
THE STYLISTICS: Join The Switch
1982 promo for channel 10 news featuring …wait for it… Larry Kane! From the look of it, the band got paid in Members Only jackets. Seems like a fair trade.
TRAGI-COMIC: Velvet Revolver Splits As STP Reunites
BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I COCK N’ ROLLED: Velvet Revolver, Camden, Aug. 2007 [pictures by JONATHAN VALANIA/CLICK FOR SLIDE SHOW] LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Four founding members of the rock band Velvet Revolver said Tuesday they were splitting with the group’s troubled singer, Scott Weiland, citing his “increasingly erratic” behavior. The announcement came in a terse statement from the group’s management company as Weiland, 40, and his recently reunited original band, Stone Temple Pilots, were set next week to announce plans for a highly anticipated summer tour.The Pilots, also known by their acronym, STP, already have confirmed a handful […]
THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW: 52nd & Larchwood
[photos by JUSTIN ROMAN] EDITOR’S NOTE: The Valley of the Shadow is an ongoing series documenting how those in Philadelphia’s poorest and most violent neighborhoods publicly mourn and commemorate their dead. Jeff Deeney knows these neighborhoods well from his days as a social worker. The object is to cast Philadelphia’s disadvantaged in a new light, brighten the darkest corners and gather-and-share compelling personal stories of loss, grief and remembrance. BY JEFF DEENEY On the corner of 52nd and Larchwood, across from West Philadelphia’s vibrant and thriving Malcolm X Park, on the south facing wall of the Food Plus corner store, […]
HEAR YE: The Pink Floyd Amsterdam 1969
Now playing on Phawker Radio! Why? Because we love you, ya big dummy! Finding their feet: 1968–1970: This period was one of musical experimentation for the band. Gilmour, Waters and Wright each contributed material that had its own voice and sound, giving this material less consistency than the Barrett-dominated early years or the more polished, collaborative sound of later years. As Barrett had been the lead singer during his era, Gilmour, Waters and Wright now split both songwriting and lead vocal duties. Waters mostly wrote low-key, jazzy melodies with dominant bass lines and complex, symbolic lyrics, Gilmour focused on guitar-driven […]
