FOX 29: “We believe that this enhanced design is consistent with a number of the city’s planning and urban design objectives, and will support the rapid construction and opening of the SugarHouse casino on North Delaware Avenue,” says SugarHouse architect Ian Cope. “Do not call this proposal anything but what it is, which is a scaled back, strip mall, cut-rate version of a casino that will at least, at one phase, put about 1500 surface parking spaces on the river in direct violation of the most basic principles of waterfront planning, development and design,” says anti-casino activist Matt Ruben. MORE
Last Summer’s Televised Cop Beatdown Goes On Trial
ASSOCIATED PRESS: The lawyer for a man accused of shooting three people on a North Philadelphia street corner last year says the only eyewitness has changed details of what he saw in the course of five statements. Defense lawyer Mary Maran, representing Pete Hopkins Jr., says police want to get a conviction in order to justify the actions of police officers who pummeled her client and his co-defendants. The beating was captured on video by a TV news helicopter and resulted in four officers getting fired. Assistant District Attorney Carol Meehan Sweeney acknowledges that the videotape overshadows the case. But […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Top Five Things You Need to Know About the Old 97’s at the TLA Last Night
1) The Old 97’s would be a much more depressing band if Rhett Miller weren’t around. The structure of “An Evening With the Old 97’s,” as the show was billed, gave a unique insight into what half of the 97’s bring to the table: With no opening acts, first was a solo set by bassist Murry Hammond, who trudged through a dozen dirges that were about as cheery as a plane crash. “I’m all about the funerals,” he noted before one particularly depressing Carter Family cover. Next was a set of poppy love songs by lead singer Rhett Miller. While […]
JAILHOUSE ROCK: Fumo Looking At Hard Time
KAREN HELLER: After all these years of Vince’s being the Prince of the City and Harrisburg, of battling and fighting for you, but often for himself, in that $9-for-you, $1-for-him way of his, it comes down to this: He’s between a rock and hard time. Talking to a battery of leading defense lawyers and former prosecutors, I can tell you this: Based on the sentences of other corrupt officials, Fumo’s most likely going away for a long time, and soon. Convicted in March on all 137 counts, the former state senator faces a possible term of 21 to 27 years. […]
LIVE REVIEW: Seinfeld At The Academy Of Music
BY JONATHAN VALANIA “Comedians are the new philosophers,” the girl next to me whispered in my ear conspiratorially, like this had just occurred to her for the first time — at 24, she was roughly half the median age of the crowd at the Academy of Music Friday night where Jerry Seinfeld was staging a two-night/four-show big-ticket stand, endeavoring to put the lie to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s dictum that there are no second acts in American lives. I just shrugged and thought: Maybe back in the day. Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks — those guys were philosopher […]
KILLADELPHIA: 5 Dead Since You Went To Bed
INQUIRER: Father’s Day ended violently yesterday with four people — two women, a 50-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy — gunned down about two hours apart in different parts of the city. The first shooting happened at 7:21 p.m. in the 2200 block of Wanamaker Street in the city’s Overbrook section. Police said they believed a 60-year-old man shot two women, a 31-year-old who died at the scene and the other, described as the shooter’s 55-year-old girlfriend, who was declared dead at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Their names were not released. According to neighbors, the man shot […]
TONITE: I Walked With A Zombie
BY KYLEE MESSNER Easter Sunday 2006 began the first of Philly’s annual Zombie Crawls, in honor of the birth of J.C. Today, Philadelphia is the second city in the country to host an official zombie crawl, with events like Zombie Prom and the new Zombie Beach Party under its belt. Tonight marks the inaugural Zombie Beach Party and to mark the occasion we chatted up Zombie organizer DJ extraordinaire Robert Drake. PHAWKER: Explain what the Philly Zombie Crawl is. ROBERT DRAKE: For some it’s a chance to take make-up and costume design to an extreme and really embrace their […]
The First Time I Got High…
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] BY STEPHANIE SAYES Considering the fact that I was blazed out of my MIND the first time I got high, it’s a wonder I remember anything at all. But I remember the details with crystal clarity. Probably because at the age of 17, I thought I was partaking in something so bad, so out of the realm of my sheltered world, that my first experience with marijuana, or any drug for that matter, has always lived in my mind as a magical memory. I was visiting Philly for the first time. My then-boyfriend was a freshmen […]
WEEKEND UPDATE: The Good News Flower Hour
Do something.
SEPTA GIRL: Public Transit Is For Lovers
BY PHILLYGRRL SEPTA and dating do not always mix well. In fact, if you’re a female SEPTA rider, you may as well write off dating entirely. For one thing, waiting for the bus is not as glamorous as catching a cab. When you’re hailing a cab at the end of a date gone well, there’s a certain Carrie Bradshaw-like pose that is struck. A one-hand-on-your-hip, other hand showing-off-your-manicure pose. There’s the shifting of weight, to highlight the stilettos. A toss of the hair, or two. Whereas if you’re a SEPTA bus taker, you have that whole exhaust-in-your-face thing. Not always […]
URBAN PLANNING: The Future Of Pier 11
[Photo courtesy of PHILLYSKYLINE] BY NICK POWELL METRO CORRESPONDENT Cantankerous pundits and enthusiastic pols shared the stage last night at the Festival Pier where the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation hosted a public presentation showcasing the design finalists for the Pier 11 project, an endeavor that, depending whom you ask, will either re-introduce Philadelphians to the beauty of the waterfront, or will drift away into limbo just like other ambitious developments such as the re-design of Penn’s Landing that never happened. Pier 11, an eighty by five hundred forty foot structure that jets out onto the river next to the Ben […]
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week, PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
MAILBAG: Throw Another Kade On The Barbie, Mate
DEAR PHAWKER, Hi there, am interested in getting in touch with Aaron Stella, regarding his interview with Arthur Kade. I just had a piece published about him here in Australia and am fascinated by his interview. Mainly because it seems to be that after reading your interview it seems to prove to me that, if it’s entirely possible, this is a REAL person, and not some hoax. Anyway, Aaron, feel free to have a read of this article, if indeed you find this as fascinating and bizzarre as I do. CHRIS DEAL Some Guy From Australia RELATED: Touching The Void […]