[CLICK TO ENLARGE] BY ELIZABETH FIEND LIVING EDITOR There’s a crisis in the organics world, and it’s called big business. Too much of a good thing has gone haywire. Organic food is so much in demand these days that there simply isn’t enough to go around. As a result, manufactures of organic products have had to outsource. What was once an industry of small family farms has mushroomed into a new kind of agribusiness, with direct financial ties to the likes of Wal-Mart, Kraft, Kellogg and General Mills. Yikes. Big business is finding loopholes in the legal definition of organic […]
All Of This Happened While You Were Watching TV
THE SNACK PACK: Snacks w/ BLOC PARTY DJs, Woody’s, Last Night [Photos by TIFFANY YOON] INQUIRER: “I thought this was Killadelphia,” said Kele Okereke, the singer of the London quartet Bloc Party, at the TLA on Tuesday night. “We were expecting something dangerous.” […] Under the strobing lights, the crowd undulated like a rolling sea, into which Okereke launched himself as the band neared the end of its set. As the band quickened its pace, stretching its rhythms to the breaking point, he floated on a sea of hands, safe from harm.
GAYDAR: My Life After Christ
BY AARON STELLA Ladies and gentlemen and fellow gay Americans: welcome to an all-new Gaydar! This week, we chronicle the slings and arrows of my family’s post-cult life and my first bold steps in discovering my sexual niche (all the juicy details included, not for the faint of heart gay). OK, here goes: In the December of my 12th year on this earth, my family and I left The Community, aka The Cult. It had become undeniable to us that we were being exploited, and despite my parents’ desperate desire for a wholesome Christian life, they couldn’t ignore the rampant […]
GIRL GERMS: Letter From Rock Camp
Editor’s Note: This week, on the campus of Girard College, Girls Rock Philly! is holding their summer Rock Camp for girls ages 9-17. The campers get their choice of concentrations in guitar, bass, drums, vocals, keyboard and DJ’ing. Our beloved neophyte rock diva, 14-year-old Jenn W. (Roxborough represent!), is on the scene and will be sending us dispatches from Rock Camp all week. Monday, Aug. 4 DEAR PHAWKER, We started off the day in the auditorium of the Elementary Building, with all the girls filing in to sit. I came to camp with my best friend C., so I already […]
RESURRECTION: The Second Life Of No Depression
Plans for a major overhaul of NoDepression.com — the website of the former bimonthly alternative/roots-music magazine No Depression — are well under way this summer, with the new site set to be launched in late September. NoDepression.com, which will be edited by the magazine’s founding co-editor Peter Blackstock, will include regular blogs by many of the magazine’s most frequent contributors, including Blackstock and fellow founding co-editor Grant Alden. The new site will also include record reviews and live reviews, features on emerging artists, news updates, the current website’s popular upcoming-releases list, reader-participant discussion forums — and, perhaps most significantly, a […]
JUMPIN JACK NEWS FLASH: Councilman Kelly’s Chief Of Staff Indicted On Corruption Charges
PHILLY CLOUT: City Councilman Jack Kelly’s chief, Chris Wright, [pictured making O-Face behind his boss] and three men involved in local land development were indicted this morning on federal corruption charges. Federal investigators say Wright used his post to help real estate developers Ravinder and Hardeep Chawla and their attorney Andrew Teitelman. Wright, the indictment said, received $16,000 in cash, gifts, a free apartment near Rittenhouse square and free legal services. “According to this indictment, Wright was bought by the Chawlas so that he would serve their interests, and ultimately his own, instead of the public’s,” acting U.S. Attorney Lauri […]
KILLADELPHIA: Machine Gun-Toting Asshole On Bike Shoots Up Camden, Caps Four Year Old In The Head
INQUIRER: A man mounted a bicycle shortly before 5:30 p.m. yesterday and pulled out a gun. He pedaled down Norris Street in Camden and opened fire, peppering the neighborhood with bullets, police sources said. Brandon Thompson, 4, was playing on the street in front of his house. The child was struck in the head. He died instantly. Just before dawn this morning, U.S. Marshals captured a suspect in South Philadelphia. Donald Benjamin Lindsey, 20, has been charged with the boy’s murder. Marshals arrested Lindsey at 5 a.m. on the 2000 block of South Bonsall Street without incident, said Jason Laughlin, […]
Easy Reader On The Mend After Vehicle Flips
TELEGRAPH: The 71-year-old star was cut free by rescue workers following the crash in Mississippi. He is to undergo surgery after suffering a broken arm, broken elbow and damage to his shoulder. Despite his injuries, Freeman is in “good spirits,” according to his publicist, Donna Lee. “He says he’ll be ok and is looking forward to a full recovery,” she told reporters. The actor, currently appearing in Batman film The Dark Knight, was driving along a rural highway shortly before midnight on Sunday when he lost control of the car, which left the road and flipped over several times. No […]
DEENEY: When Privatization Kills
METRO: Much of the DHS disaster that led to the death of 14-year-old Danieal Kelly can be traced to the agency’s decision to farm out client home visits to outside contractors. Home visits have long been the cornerstone of the social work profession; real change happens in a family’s living room, in their community. When you are in someone’s home you know whether your services are effective; you can see their living conditions, clearly assess their needs and build a level of trust and open communication that doesn’t happen in a downtown office. Home visits are especially important in high-risk […]
THE EARLY WORD: Have Mercy, Baby
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER Nobody puts Duffy in the corner. “Do you want to be my friend or not?” says the Welsh nouveau soul sensation, beneath a crisp Brit accent, after a third attempt is made to sort fact from fiction in her Wikipedia entry. “Forget all that, just talk to me.” It’s true that her first introduction to pre-Watergate musical styles came from her dad’s collection of Ready, Steady, Go VHS tapes of that British rock TV show, but it was Bernard Butler (ex-Suede guitarist and producer/co-songwriter of Duffy’s 2.5 million-selling debut Rockferry) who gave her graduate […]
THE DEATH OF PRINT: Why Pigs Can’t Fly
PHILLY MAG: According to a report released today by Standard & Poor’s, the owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News has received a forbearance agreement from its creditors that will run through September 10th. Philadelphia Media Holdings, the investor group put together by publisher Brian P. Tierney to acquire the papers and philly.com in 2006, will face a serious financial penalty — interest on its debt will climb a full percentage point — in exchange for being allowed to skip payments during that period. PMH has also offered to surrender $15 million from its revolving line of credit, reducing […]
NEWS CLUES: Like A Montauk Monster Mash Of Truth
WHY SO SERIOUS? Olsen Twin Refuses To Speak To DEA Without Immunity NEW YORK — Federal investigators want to question Mary-Kate Olsen about how Heath Ledger got two powerful painkillers that contributed to his accidental overdose death, but she’s refusing to talk without immunity, a law enforcement official said Monday. Olsen’s lawyer has twice refused requests for her to speak with investigators, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. The lawyer, Michael C. Miller, said the “Full House” actress has nothing to do with the drugs, and has already told the government everything […]
PET CEMETERY: Man Finds Three Decapitated Chickens, One Dead Dog & One Dead Kitten In City Park
INQUIRER: A pedestrian walking through a city park made a grisly discovery this morning in the Juniata section of Philadelphia. Three beheaded chickens, one dead kitten, another cat close to death, and the skeletal remains of a dog were scattered throughout a small area of the Tacony Creek Park. The carnage was found just off a concrete service road leading into the park near Ramona and I Streets. Investigators were puzzled and shocked as they scoured the site this afternoon. “This is a little different from anything I’ve ever seen,” said George Bengal, the director of law enforcement for the […]