Ki CUT CHEMIST: King Britt spins the crowd before Obama’s arrival at the Electric Factory, last month. Twelve fellows were awarded $50,000 each to spend any way they wish. The Pew program, in its 16th year, aims to identify Philadelphia-area artists at critical career junctures and give them the freedom to advance their artistic ambitions. “One of the things [recipients] say to us is that now when people ask them what they do, they say first and foremost, ‘I am an artist.’ There is something about the validation that these grants bring,” program director Melissa Franklin says. Validation, yes, and […]
KILLADELPHIA: One More Dead Since U Went 2 Bed
Showing no signs of slowing down, Philadelphia’s homicide tally has jumped by four since Sunday, bringing the latest count to 181. Yesterday at about 1:30 p.m. police found a 19-year-old man with a single gunshot wound to the neck when they were called to 61st Street near Elmwood Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia. The unidentified man was pronounced dead at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania at about 2 p.m. Cops yesterday also said a 42-year-old woman. Terry Bassey, who was shot last Wednesday has died. Bassey was found on 41st Street near Lancaster Avenue, unconscious and bleeding from a […]
LOCAL RAWK: NY Times Gives The Teeth Big Ups
“The Teeth’s first full-length album, ‘You’re My Lover Now’ (Park the Van), is a population explosion. Songs fling shards of narrative about dozens of characters: lovers, friends, schoolkids, parents, depressives, liars, strivers, even partygoers tootling kazoos. The bits of stories arrive in an even more manic outpouring of tunes: honky-tonk, garage-rock, music-hall Merseybeat, frantic new wave and a final tinkly philosophical ballad with an apt self-diagnosis: ‘You got too many ideas building up inside of you.’ It’s an overload, but an exhilarating one; these songs are worth decompressing.” — John Pareles NEW YORK TIMES: And That’s Just The First Song!
SMELLS LIKE JOURNALISM: Inky’s Sam Wood Ends When Strippers Attack Piece With Sneaker Zinger
Giberson accused two dancers of stealing a pair of sneakers from her locker over the weekend, Saymon said. The argument grew heated. Giberson [NOT pictured] drew a folding knife. As her companion, Jennie Santos, 23, grappled with the dancers, Giberson slashed repeatedly at their shoulders, backs, buttocks and thighs, Saymon said. Leaving the dancers bleeding in the dressing room, Giberson and Santos fled and drove home to Collingswood. Shortly after, they were arrested by Collingswood police, Saymon said. The dancers were rushed to Cooper University Hospital, where they were treated for deep cuts. The sneakers have not been found. INQUIRER: In […]
DEAD MAN TALKING: Johnny Doc Is Not Afraid
In addition, Dougherty already was on the outs with many leaders of the city Democratic machine because of a feud with the party chairman, U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, that resulted in his ouster last year as party treasurer.Dougherty is “a dead man walking,” one top Democratic elected official said. “He’s created so many enemies, so much animosity.” Still, it is a measure of the respect and fear that Dougherty inspires that the above official – and many others interviewed for this story – did not want to be quoted by name. One reason is that, despite his political losses of late, […]
THE EARLY WORD: Waiting For Rogaine
It’s all Ionesco, all the time! A performance event of absurd proportions We’re wide awake! On June 29 & 30, one of Philly’s most adventurous companies will go to absurd lengths to perform Eugene Ionesco’s absurdist classic, The Bald Soprano. A sensation when first produced in 1998, A 24-Hour THE BALD SOPRANO is being revived by Brat Productions as part of their 10th-anniversary celebration. Original director (and Brat founder) Madi Distefano returns to helm the performance marathon that American Theatre Magazine called “The best-ever theatrical critique of Suburban banality.” “There is NOW no other way of performing Ionesco’s absurd comedy!” […]
SATULLO: Regrets? Too Few To Mention, Except…
A big one: endorsing Jim McGreevey over Christine Whitman in 1997. I was deputy then, and supported Whitman, but I lost that discussion. Jim McGreevey. Good Lord. We should have come out strongly against stand-alone casinos in Pennsylvania. Slots at racetracks seemed a plausible, limited gambit to raise needed money for schools, but we should have seen that, in corrupt and secretive Harrisburg, casinos would metastasize. We should have come out sooner against the Iraq invasion. INQUIRER: Oh, NOW You Tell Me
KILLADELPHIA: 2 More Dead Since U Went 2 Bed
Just after 10:30 last night, two men were shot to death in their West Philadelphia home, police said. Kevin Tingle, 45, and Terry McCray, 36, both suffered multiple gunshot wounds and were found inside the front doorway of their home in the 700 block of South 56th Street, police said. They were taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where McCray was pronounced dead at 10:52 p.m., Tingle at 11:08. Their deaths bring the city’s homicide total for 2007 to 180. INQUIRER: This Is How The Sopranos Ends, Not With A Bang, But A Double Homicide In West […]
All Of This Happened While You Were Sleeping
DUB HOUSING: Lee Scratch Perry, World Cafe Live, Last Night [Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA]
THE WINNER: “Now, let’s get that Brazilian started.”
Congratulations Mike Guggino You Are Going To See Lee Scratch Perry! Enjoy! The City of Philadelphia’s photo archive contains over 2 million images that date back as far as the late 1800s, i.e. the last time a Republican won in this town. In all seriousness, this is an INCREDIBLE visual record of the city’s evolution and a relatively new web site, PhillyHistory.org, is making it available for online consumption and purchase. To date, some 27,000 images have been digitally scanned, at a rate of roughly 2,000 images a month. So, if you’ve been wondering why the line at Kinko’s is […]
Q&A: Daily Show Comedian Paul Mecurio
Comedy Central’s Paul Mecurio & Brian Regan, Tomorrow Night At The Tower. PHAWKER: You gave up a successful career as an investment banker on Wall Street to become a comedian — a profession that pays migrant worker wages to most of its practitioners. How come? Is your mom still pissed? PAUL MECURIO: I really got a connection from creating jokes out of thin air and having people respond to them. There was nothing like that feeling on Wall Street. PHAWKER: Everybody thinks being a comedian is nonstop laughs, but what is the worst part about the job? PM: The subjectivity […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
OF YOUTH AND YOUNG MANHOOD: Kings Of Leon, Electric Factory, Last Night EVA SAYS: When the Brothers Followill arrived on stage wearing jeans so tight they made even the hormonal 16-year-olds blush, I was skeptical. Admittedly a little flushed as well, but skeptical nonetheless. (I mean, if I wanna watch bone smugglers in painted-on Wranglers, I’ll go to The Cave, right?) But as soon as the drummer kicked in with the throw-me-down-and-fuck-me beat to “Taper Jean Girl,” and Caleb opened his mouth and out came that sweet, snarling whine — well, I was bouncing right along with the all the […]
Rogue Condo Developer Demolishes Historic Buildings
BY INGA SAFFRON INQUIRER ARCHITECTURE CRITIC Bulldozers smashed the two 1830s buildings to dust last month, but the case is likely to reverberate a long time in City Hall. The matter is under investigation by Philadelphia’s inspector general, Seth Williams. Officials at three agencies — the Historical Commission, the Department of Licenses and Inspections, and the Law Department — are engaged in discussions about what went wrong and how to plug the loopholes. They need to do more than talk. What happened at Front and Chestnut Streets reveals deep structural weaknesses in the city’s preservation system. The demolished buildings occupied […]