EDITOR’S NOTE: The following letter is in response to this week’s episode of GAYDAR. DEAR AARON Very well-written! As all the great writers suggest, “Write what you know.” Well, you did! Let me tell you a little story my mother used to tell me… There was a young man who went off to work in the Peace Corps in the African jungle. He was there 2 years and finally would get to come home to his family on their farm in the mid-West. In anticipation of this, he wrote his parents telling them that he was bringing home with him […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
HAVE MERCY, BABY: Duffy, TLA, Last Night [Photos by JONATHAN VALANIA] TOP FIVE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT DUFFY LAST NIGHT 1.) It takes some measure of balls to sashay onstage for the first time in a city you’ve never played before and launch directly into your hit album’s slowest number, accompanied only by a guitar. Apparently our Ms. Duffy has balls to spare, because the love-don’t-cost-a-thing ballad “Syrup and Honey” had the crowded (yet inexplicably not sold-out) TLA shouting out their appreciation during the song’s pauses, waving their hands in the air like it was Sunday morning at the […]
RIP: Robert Hazard Dead At 59
BY ED KING At one point last night, while standing behind home plate at Citizens Bank Park and watching the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Florida Marlins, I was suddenly overcome by a spell of Philly Pride. Cranky, old Ed King actually got misty as he looked out over the field, took in the sounds from the crowd, and remembered the franchise’s rare past glories and frequent letdowns. This is my team, I thought. My team’s lovely little ballpark. For better and for worse, my people. An hour after having gotten in tune with my city, I arrived home to read […]
KILLADELPHIA: Homeless Love Triangle Turns Stabby
DAILY NEWS: While Tony Stewart stayed cool, lounging in the shade near the LOVE Park fountain, a bitter feud started to heat up between his girlfriend and another woman. “Man, they were up there fighting over me,” Stewart said yesterday, gesturing toward benches that line the other side of the park near JFK Boulevard. Cops said that the squabble reached a tipping point at about 3 p.m., when Stewart’s homeless girlfriend, Yvette Prince, slugged her rival in the head. The other woman, also homeless, jumped up and plunged a knife into Prince’s chest. Prince, 45, died of her injuries at […]
JUNK SCI: Big Box Organic
[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 […]
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, […]
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 […]