After more than seven decades, the Melrose Diner got a new owner on Wednesday as Richard Kubach Jr. handed the keys over to Michael Petrogiannis. Derrick Rice was heading for lunch at the Melrose Diner, 15th and Snyder Avenue in South Philadelphia, when he heard the news: “I’ve been coming here since I was a little kid. It’s a shocker right now.” He says he hopes the new owner doesn’t tinker with anything — especially in the kitchen. There are some who hope to see changes, perhaps some new items on the menu and more food on the plate. KYW: […]
How Privileged White Suburban Assholes Get Made
BY MONICA YANT KINNEY INQUIRER COLUMNIST Imagine having your house ravaged by hard-drinking teenagers who doused your clothes with urine, pooped on your piano, and played catch with 10 pounds of homemade meatballs while you were away for the day. Imagine watching the kids who got caught get off without so much as an hour of community service, a mandatory essay, or an AA meeting. Not one of the 10 Haddonfield teens who struck plea deals last week apologized in court unprompted. Only after being nudged by a judge did two boys and one parent say, uh, sorry. If juvenile […]
EXIT INTERVIEW: Steve Volk Kicks Ass
BY JONATHAN VALANIA As we reported earlier this week, PW Senior Writer Steve Volk — obsessive Bowie-phile, tireless chronicler of all things Beanie, daring dissector of the unholy marriage of crime and justice in this city, intrepid shiner of the Fourth Estate’s disinfecting sunshine upon the dark places where gay meets meth — is leaving the alt-weekly to take a staff writer gig at Philadelphia Magazine. We’ve known Steve a long time and aside from his impressive paper trail and his storage locker full of journo awards — hey, look at this, Steve Volk just took Second Place in the […]
HOT DOCUMENT: The Day The Music Died
Philadelphia, PA — June 22, 2007 — WXPN, the nationally-recognized leader in Triple A music and a noncommercial radio service of the University of Pennsylvania, today announced that it wlll join other Internet radio providers in a “Day of Silence” to protest higher royalty rates expected to go into effect on or after July 15th. Silence is what Internet radio may sound like after that date because of a royalty rate hike scheduled to go into effect. The new rates will also be retroactive for 17 months and payment will become due to the SoundExchange collection organization under the terms of […]
State Senate Moves To Undermine Philly Smoking Ban
HARRISBURG – The state Senate wrote loopholes into a proposed statewide smoking ban last night and approved language that would strike down Philadelphia’s more restrictive rules against lighting up in public places. All of the action came in a sweeping amendment, which passed, 29-21, after two hours of debate over the balance between public health and individual liberties. The amendment — which exempts casinos, private clubs, cigar bars and some taverns from the proposed ban — also bars municipalities from enacting any smoking ban tougher than the state’s. INQUIRER: Smoking In The Boys’ Room Still Allowed
DNA: Cops Say There’s Now TWO Toe Suckers
(CBS) PHILADELPHIA Police are searching for two suspects in connection to a series of attacks on woman in which their toes are fondled, sources have said. The sources have told CBS Philadelphia that DNA tests now reveal not just one, but two separate predators are targeting women. Beginning last November through January, seven women were victimized by an attacker who sexually assaulted the women and fondled their toes. In the latest attack, a woman in her 20s was walking in the 1700 block of Panama Street at about 2:45 a.m. when she was attacked by an unknown male armed with […]
REVEALED: Vince Fumo’s Private Dick
At the same hearing, Fumo’s private eye, Frank D. Wallace, spoke in public for the first time and said his sleuthing for Fumo had been “one-third Senate business, one-third political, and one-third personal.” Wallace also revealed that he had performed electronic “sweeps” of Fumo’s legislative offices and home, as well as of offices and homes of Fumo allies, but had balked at continuing to do them once he became aware that a federal investigation was under way. He said he told a top Fumo aide, “I thought it would be obstruction of justice” to continue. INQUIRER: Riddle Me This Batman […]
OK, Then Is THIS Your Alligator?
[This] gator is not to be confused with the nearly five-footer that Mullen helped bag Thursday in Pennypack Creek, less than a mile downstream in Bryn Athyn. That gator was taken to the Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown. Mullen, Warminster Township’s public-works director, said he believed that both gators were “dumped” by the same pet owner, who had tired of them. INQUIRER: I Call The Big One Bitey PREVIOUSLY: Now Be Honest — Is This Your Alligator?
NHL DRAFT: The Weak Shall Inherit The Earth
BY MIKE WOLVERTON The Flyers sucked last year. Credit them for consistency, though, as they sucked early on, sucked in the middle and sucked straight on through to the end. Hey, it saved all of us the pain of watching them take a dirtnap in the playoffs. The fact is, the Flyers have been a flawed team ever since The Strike Season, and ever since then they’ve been too big and slow to deal with the escalating metabolism of the “New Faster, More Agile NHL.” Mercifully, the makeover has already begun. Ever since Messier brought the Stanley Cup to NYC, the […]
GAMBLOR: The Donald Trumped?
BY SUZETTE PARMLEY INQUIRER STAFF WRITER ATLANTIC CITY — As his image flashed on video screens in his casino’s nightclub recently, Donald J. Trump surveyed the mostly young crowd. Many were too young to remember his history of financial difficulties here, or to care. They came to celebrate with The Donald on his 61st birthday at his flagship casino, the Trump Taj Mahal, and he relished the attention.With his gambling halls still struggling and his casino company reviewing bids from possible buyers, this could be the end of the show for Trump in Atlantic City. People familiar with negotiations to […]
KILLADELPHIA: 2 More Dead Since U Went To Bed
Two homicides overnight brought the city’s total to 197.The first deadly shooting happened Sunday night … in Overbrook near 63rd Street and Columbia Avenue in West Philadelphia. Numerous gunshots rang out around 8pm. Two young men, ages 18 and 19, suffered multiple gunshot wounds. One victim was pronounced dead at the scene of a head wound. The second victim was in extremely critical condition on life support at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, battling for his life. Police had no suspects in connection with the double shooting as of 8am Monday. … The second fatal shooting occurred around […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
PLEASE DON’T FEED: Panda Bear, First Unitarian Church, Last Night BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER The great advantage of our shiny white iPod-abetted Information Age, where the far-flung chaos of recorded music has been organized and arranged into the orderly feng sui of alphabetized and easily-accessed mp3s, is that innovative music-makers like Panda Bear can connect the dots and create unexpected and stunning constellations of sound that cross the once un-breach-able barriers or time, space and genre. I can think of no better explanation, barring something being in the water, for the way that Panda Bear’s Person Pitch combines […]
KILLADELPHIA: 6 Dead Since You Went To Bed
[Click to activate] Thursday’s six slayings — three young men gunned down in North Philadelphia in the early hours; two people killed, one critically wounded, in Kensington in the afternoon; and an unidentified man shot to death about 10:30 p.m. in Southwest Philadelphia’s Kingsessing neighborhood – pushed the year’s homicide total to 195, compared with 177 at the same time last year, police said. [via THE INQUIRER]