BY TOMMY ZANE GAYDAR EDITOR The 13th Annual Philadelphia International Gay Lesbian Film Festival opened Thursday with a bang as DJ Lady Miss Kier of Deee-Lite kicked the party wide open with the best of dance floor underground, from Malcolm McLaren to M.I.A., to vintage disco and street beats. Ever the fashionista, Miss K was dressed in a fierce magenta prom gown cut into a mini-dress! Work it, Miss Thang! She really had the queens pumpin’ and jumpin’. Seen at the partay: Drunkan, Billy Kline, The Divine Miss Jimmi, Pearl, stunning filmmaker Ursula Burton, and more hipster hotties than you […]
KILLADELPHIA: 14-Year-Old Shot Dead By 18-Year-Old
A 14-year-old boy was shot and killed Saturday in broad daylight in South Philadelphia. Police have charged 18-year-old Charles Meyers of South Philadelphia with his murder. Police say at about 4pm, 10 kids — including 14-year-old Tykeem Law — were on five bikes on the 900 block of Federal Street, near the Italian Market. A car coming down the street honked the horn and yelled at the kids to move out the street. Four of the five bikes got out of the way. One didn’t move fast enough ridden by 14-year-old Tykeem Law. Police say words may have been exchanged, […]
KILLADELPHIA: 2 More Dead Since U Went To Bed
BY PETER MUCHA OF THE INQUIRER Two men and a 15-year-old boy are dead and two other men were in critical condition after three double shootings in Philadelphia, police said. The slayings, along with yesterday’s death of 19-year-old shot June 17, raise the murder total for the year to 217. Timothy Clark, 15, was pronounced dead at 2:25 a.m., just minutes after being found shot in the head in the 6900 block of Vandike Street in the Tacony section of the Northeast, according to Homicide Sgt. Charles Coan. Clark lived down the street, in the 6800 block. A second victim […]
NEWS CLUES: It’s Like Adderall For Your Eyeballs
Miss NJ Keeps Crown, Vows No More Fuzzy Navels With Touchy-Feely Fat Guys According to KYW, “Members of the board of the Miss New Jersey Pageant decided Thursday afternoon in Ocean City, NJ, that Amy Polumbo will be allowed to keep her crown amid a controversy over some anonymously mailed photos. ‘Why these pictures came out I have no idea,’ said Terry McLean, Polumbo’s grandmother. ‘I’m sure there are pictures of these people, too — only worse. And her pictures are nothing.’” Radar Magazine begs to differ: “Miss New Jersey Amy Polumbo‘s blackmail photos reveal a moderately tame pageant queen […]
PAPERBOY: Now With Less Extra, Read All About It!
BY AMY Z. QUINN 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. Hey, we know how it is — so many words to read, so little time to surf for free porn. That’s why every week, PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you, freeing up […]
TODAY I SAW…
BY JEFF DEENEY “Today I saw…” is a series of nonfiction shorts based on my experiences as a caseworker serving formerly homeless families now living in North and West Philadelphia. I decided not long after starting the job that I was seeing so many fascinating and disturbing things in the city’s poorest neighborhoods that I needed to start cataloging them. I hope this bi-weekly column serves as a record of a side of the city that many Philadelphians don’t come in contact with on a daily basis. I want to capture moments not frequently covered by the local media, which […]
EARLY WORD: Play That Funky Music White Boys
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LEAVE IT TO BEAVER: Miss NJ Goes Public With Pix
BY AMY Z. QUINN Ah, the old pumpkin-in-the-bra trick. That always kills. Cutting the legs out from under her still-anonymous blackmailer, Miss NJ Amy Polumbo took to the “Today” show to release the supposedly scandalous photos herself, hours before pageant officials were set to review her case and possibly strip her of her crown — but don’t look for that to happen, unless there are more, and dirtier, photos of Polumbo out there. Because right now, it sounds like the snapshots fall squarely under the “Two Dorks And a SixPack” category. (If you’re especially impatient, the first photo comes at […]
KILLADELPHIA: Where The Money Go At?
Ever since President Bush took office, there has been $2 billion worth of federal funding cuts to state and local law enforcement agencies. Wait a minute. PC assumed that the Bush administration was big on national security and making Americans feel safe at home. So what’s up with Washington pulling money away from first-responders? Aren’t these the same first-responders hailed during the 2004 election season, when it seemed that every other Republican stump speech was tied to 9-11? Then we read this from the NYT: Many criminologists and law enforcement officials are debating whether the violent-crime data signal a significant […]
GAYBO ALERT: DJ Lady Miss Kier
Yup, Lady Miss Kier of Deee-Lite fame steps it up to DJ the opening night festivities of the 13th Annual Gay & Lesbian Film Festival on Thursday. Here’s info from the press release — hope to see you there!! xo, Tommy Zane The 13th Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival gets underway with a sensational screening of A Four Letter Word, a romantic comedy, at The Prince Music Theater followed by an in-person Q&A with featured cast and crew including director Casper Andreas (Slutty Summer) and star Charlie David (“Dante’s Cove”). Then, grab your spot on the bus (one-way […]
KILLADELPHIA: Council To Sue State For Insanity
Philadelphia City Council members Darrell L. Clarke and Donna Reed Miller, stonewalled by the Pennsylvania legislature’s continued apathy on gun control, said they would sue the state today for Philadelphia’s right to enforce its own, stricter firearms laws. In what has been regarded as a legal long shot, the lawsuit will seek to force the state House and Senate to do what they have refused to do: allow the city to force owners to immediately report stolen guns and to set monthly limits for firearms purchases, among other things. INQUIRER: Court-Ordered Common Sense?
GUVNER: Rendell Calls Critic Crazy As A Cannibal
“I think [Rendell] believes he has a mandate to pillage, but he won 61 percent of the vote against an empty suit last year and he didn’t have a clear agenda until June 30,” added Eric Epstein, a Holocaust scholar, nuclear power watchdog and founder of the public interest group Rock the Capital. The comments set Rendell off. He called an Inquirer reporter fuming that the paper gave Epstein any ink at all. “Eric Epstein,” boiled Rendell, “is about as mentally stable as that guy who ate all those people.” It was unclear whether the governor was referring to Jeffrey […]