BY JEFF DEENEY With the mercury starting to dip and the nights getting longer expect the Inquirer to drop their boilerplate homelessness story any day now. They’ve been reprinting this story annually, simply changing the date with each iteration, for as long as I can remember. You can set your watch by this story — it’s better than a department store full of fake pine trees and giant plastic candy canes for letting you know the holidays are almost here. You know, that story where an Inky reporter first gets Center City District CEO Paul Levy on the phone for […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
I AM SUPERMAN: Of Montreal, Electric Factory, Friday Night BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER The only constant with the Athens, Ga., indie-pop band Of Montreal — over the course 11 years, nine albums, five EPs and innumerable personnel shifts — is change. In its decade-long evolution from twee psych-pop for second-wave Elephant 6ers recording collective to its current status as the definitive, post-everything party band for barely 20-somethings, Of Montreal’s mantra has remained the same: Change or die. Likewise, the band’s live show is a study in perpetual flux. During the course of the band’s two-hour tour de farce […]
ROAD TRIPPIN’: I Went Punkin’ Chunkin’ And All I Got Was A Good Time And A Bad Hangover
[Photos by KEVIN LUDWIG] BY BERNARD DOWNEY Admiring the autumnal foliage heading south on I-95, the white noise rush of traffic whooshing in my ears, along with the occasional Guns N Roses song on the radio, I press the pedal to the metal of my ’84 Corolla and race towards the annual World Championship Punkin Chunkin in Sussex County, Delaware. I didn’t really know what to expect. For the last 22 years, on the first weekend after Halloween, beery revelers have gathered in this picturesque community to catapult pumpkins with homemade cannons. Do not let the term ‘homemade’ dissuade you […]
PAY TO PLAY: Volunteers Say ‘Show Me The Money’
PHILLY CLOUT: PhillyClout correspondent Dave Davies reports in on a growing wave of concern in the city’s Democratic party about “street money,” the funds distributed to pay for Election Day workers. When Democratic ward leaders fire up their election day operations tomorrow, they’ll do it without “street money” from the Obama campaign, and many are ticked about it. City Democratic chairman U.S. Rep. Bob Brady hasn’t returned out calls on it, but we heard from several ward leaders that Obama stiffed Bob and the local party, choosing to rely on his own massive volunteer army. Ward leaders told us they […]
KILLADELPHIA: 2 Dead Since U Went To Bed
INQUIRER: Two men were stabbed, one fatally, at a shopping center in the 600 block of Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia this morning. Police were called to the scene at 1:04 a.m. today. A 36-year-old male, who was stabbed in the stomach, was pronounced dead at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital at 1:28 a.m. The other victim, a 31-year-old male was stabbed in the back and is in stable condition at Jefferson. In a second Sunday homicide, a male in his 20s was fatally shot in the back early this morning in the 2100 block of North Reese Street in Kensington. […]
Folks, I Think We’re Gonna Win This Thing
REAL CLEAR POLITICS: Pew Research is out with its final pre-election poll. After allocating undecideds nearly evenly between the two candidates, Pew is projecting Obama will finish with 52% of the vote on Tuesday to 46% for John McCain. MORE GALLUP POLL: Gallup’s interviewing conducted Wednesday through Friday shows that 27% of registered voters who plan to vote have already voted. The trend in early voting has trended consistently upward on a day to day basis, moving from 7% of registered voters, who had already voted during the period of Oct. 17-19, to the current estimate of 27%. Another 8% […]
All Of This Happened While You Were Sleeping
THE HEADMASTER RITUAL: Of Montreal, Electric Factory, Last Night [Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA]
THE CHANGELING: Q&A With Christopher Buckley
Christopher Taylor Buckley is an American political satirist and accomplished novelist. His books include God Is My Broker, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, The White House Mess, No Way to Treat a First Lady, Wet Work, Florence of Arabia, Boomsday, and, most recently, Supreme Courtship. Tom Wolfe calls him “one of the funniest writers in the English language.” Recently, he made headlines when he publicly endorsed Senator Barack Obama for President. In advance of his appearance at the Philadelphia Free Library on November 5th, we spoke with the son of conservative movement standard-bearer William F. Buckley about his […]
All Of This Happened While You Were Sleeping
Dead pigeon, 20th & Spring Garden, October 1st [photo by RAY SKWIRE]
GOOD CAUSE: Send A CP Kid To College
BY HEWHOCANNOTBENAMED My girlfriend works as a pediatric physical therapist, largely with kids who suffer from cerebral palsy, and whatever victories she achieves may appear small. She comes home, in fact, and says things like “Tommy* stood on his own for 30 seconds today. First time ever!” I probe her with questions (questions, I said, get your head out of the gutter), find out Tommy is 16 years old and this was no small victory. In fact, for Tommy and his mother and the rest of his family (not to mention his physical therapist) it is a moment for high-fives […]
BRIDGE FROM NOWHERE: Goodbye Garden State
BY DAVE ALLEN Having been a frequent visitor to Philly for years, I finally broke down and moved here at the end of July. Well, not quite “here.” I moved to the suburbs, south and east of the city in Gloucester County, New Jersey. For three months, I’ve been a commuter, coming to “the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night,” as E.B. White said of NYC’s suburb-dwelling workforce. For three months, I’ve been a locust. But no more. This Saturday, I move into an apartment in the city. It’s a decent-sized one-bedroom place […]
WE ASK YOU: Does This Man Look Like He’s Coasting?
NO RAIN NO GAIN: Senator Barack Obama, Widener University, Chester, Tuesday Morning [Photos by AP & GETTY IMAGES] NEW YORK TIMES: Despite a cold, steady rain and driving winds, Senator Barack Obama addressed a crowd of about 9,000 at Widener University in Chester, just outside Philadelphia, praising their dedication and promising tax cuts and solutions for the country’s economic woes. The punishing weather forced Senator John McCain and his vice presidential running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, to cancel a rally in Quakertown, about 80 miles to the north. MORE PLUMBING THE DEPTHS: No Show Joe (The Plumber) [Joe […]
HOT DOCUMENT: Print Is Undead?
PHILADELPHIA, October 30, 2008 – In response to the Phillies World Series win last night, Philadelphia Media Holdings Chief Executive Officer Brian Tierney announced this morning that last night’s over-run of almost 350,000 copies of The Inquirer and Daily News are completely sold out. And, in an unprecedented move, the printing presses are running again this morning so that an additional 350,000 copies can be printed and available by early afternoon today. “People are buying these souvenir editions of The Inquirer and Daily News in massive quantities and we are responding by firing up our printing presses for another run […]