Reginald Branham became a computer whiz while at Overbrook High School in the 1980s, earning a four-year scholarship to Drexel University and becoming a computer executive. In recent years, however, he had turned his attention to fixing up bars. On Christmas night, Branham, 37, was shot dead at his latest bar, Cognac Corner in the 1400 block of South 21st Street in Point Breeze, making him the city’s 402d homicide victim of the year. Police were not talking about a motive yesterday, but on the street outside the bar, those who said they knew Branham spoke of a possible hit […]
SMELLS LIKE JOURNALISM: Daily News Puts Boots On The Ground In Drug Trade, Gets To Know Name Behind Faceless Statistic And The Awful Truth Therein
DRESSED IN A black Dickies suit and black Timberlands, the chubby-faced 17-year-old crack dealer paced around the desolate lot working another graveyard shift. In the darkness, a steady stream of addicts ambled toward him to make a buy. Then he saw a familiar face: his close friend’s mom. “I need a nick,” she mumbled to him. Without hesitation, he sold her a nickel bag — $5 worth of crack. “I was surprised that she was a smoker,” Mikey recalled, months after that night. Today he calls it “the deal I will never forget.” “I was thinking that a real friend […]
Ladies And Gentlemen, The Fabulous Shades OR THE GREATEST PHILLY NEW WAVE SINGLE YOU NEVER HEARD OF AND COULDN’T FIND IF YOU TRIED!
THE SHADES “Hello Mr. Johnson” (NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO) Excerpted From THE BOB JR. Part Six BY DAVID SNYDER I’ve swore I’d get to this single before I put this miserable pamphlet in its grave. To set the context we’re going to revisit the bits and pieces of my life that on occasion have previously bubbled up here in the bastard offspring and, before that, in the old rag. I was born in Philly. But between fifth and sixth grade the family shipped out to New Jersey, some suburbs — from Northeast Philly, which was then a kind of […]
DEATH OF A SALESPERSON: 10 Things I Won’t Miss About Tower Customers
By SARA SHERR: 1.Mouth-breathers who hug the cart of refiles that I’m trying to put away. This is the same crap that’s been sitting in the racks for the last two months. If I put a bunch of Keak the Sneak CDs on a cart, does that make them suddenly more attractive and awesomely collectable? 2.People who ask stupid questions in order to make a conversation with me. Yes, we?re going out of business. Nope, there’s nothing left. Yep, that pesky downloading. 3.People who can’t read. I understand the Philadelphia public school system is in a shambles and it’s hard […]
EAKINS STAYS HOME! HOORAY! OUR RICH PEOPLE ARE RICHER THAN THEIR RICH PEOPLE! HOORAY!
As announced yesterday, a consortium of the local moneyed class has pulled out their checkbooks and stopped the Wicked Witch of Walmart from getting her flying monkey paws on our Eakins masterpiece. Maybe next time we can rally $60 million in a coupla weeks to, say, build a new school or put some new books in the Public Library or something. Still, let us applaud the following: Leonore Annenberg ($10 million to the Gross Clinic effort) is the widow of Walter Annenberg, the publisher and U.S. ambassador to Britain. She is the president, chairman, and sole director of the Annenberg […]
SHADES OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK: You Mean $68 Million Clams Coulda Bought All This Stuff Instead?
FROM ATTYTOOD: 68,000,000: Dollars that could hire 170 new Philadelphia police officers for five years, or 850 officers for one year, based on official estimates of $80,000 a cop for salary, benefits and training. 68,000,000: Dollars that could almost completely close the current yawning budget gap currently faced by the Philadelphia School District, estimated now at $73.3 million. The gap has led to a series of painful cutbacks, such as the elimination of 175 administrative jobs. 68,000,000: Dollars that could hire roughly 124 new social workers for 10 years in city’s Department of Human Services (based on average city salary […]
Cover Wars: Whose Artfag Kung-Fu Is Stronger?
Well, it would appear that the worm has finally turned. After weeks of being shut out by PW, the Daily News and even our own Election Day dead pachyderm cover, CP comes back stronger than ever. Truly, Evan M. Lopez‘s cover illustration is the finest aspirational visual representation of Christmas in the 215 since, like, ever. Seriously, we take our hat off, Sir. Meanwhile, PW‘s cover may well be pink and scrapplicious at first glance, but if you squint real hard you can almost see the marks from the hands-free headset they used to phone this one in. It just […]
CHEAP SUNGLASSES: Diddy Rip Off Local Electro Dude’s Rip-Off Of Kraftwerk? Or Diddy Not?
You be the judge. DIDDY.COM: Look How Rich I Am, Bitches! PREVIOUSLY: Kilroy Waz Herre KRAFTWERK: Take Off Those Aviators And Fight Like A Man!
GAMBLOR: Neighborhood Associations Say Casino Choices Smell Like Graft, Plan Panopoly Of Legal Challenges To This ‘Monkey Business’
To the south, Paul Boni, a board member of the Society Hill Civic Association, said his group will “do all we can to prevent this from happening.”In the case of Foxwoods, they may have leverage. Foxwoods has proposed to mitigate the traffic problems in South Philadelphia with a southbound off-ramp from Interstate 95, an idea that city analysts say has not been approved or funded, and that could cost the public $100 million. But in a Dec. 14 letter to the gaming board, Boni and Donald Ackerman of the Queen Village Neighbors Association noted that their groups are parties to […]
Gaming Board Picks Foxwoods And SugarHouse Gang; DiCicco Smells A Rat, Plans To File Suit To Reveal Which Varmints Have Cheese On Their Breath
by KYW’s Mike Dunn The Philadelphia city councilman whose district includes both of the sites chosen says politics, not merit, prompted the Gaming Board?s approvals. And he?s taking it to court. First District councilman Frank DiCicco is disappointed by the two choices -? particularly the selection of the Foxwoods bid for a casino at Delaware Avenue and Reed Street: ?I have always felt that Foxwoods was the worst site.? He says the traffic problems there are already enormous and will only get worse: ?There?s total gridlock today. And (with a casino) you raise the level of vehicles by somewhere between […]
REVIEW: He Coulda Been Somebody
ROCKY BALBOA (2006, directed by Sylvester Stallone, 102 minutes) BY DAN BUSKIRK As the press cheers the return of Rocky Balboa to the big screen, you have to ask yourself: Is the public really crying out for another round with this mug, after 30 years? If the Riverview, the only movie theater in South Philly, draws only a three quarters-filled house at the advance screening, I’d say signs point to this fighter’s legs finally giving out. Hearing the promising advance word, I’ll admit to being vaguely optimistic that, against all reason, the man who wrote the arm-wrestling epic “Over the […]
GAMBLOR: Slot Shack Neighbors Looking Forward To Drunks, Gridlock and Even More Broke-Dick Losers
Lori McCole is afraid that her daughter could get run over on the way to school by a gambler who has been up all night drinking. Samantha Pakech worries about traffic jams and property values falling. Christopher Tucker asks if some kid will repeat his own childhood and end up sleeping in a car outside a casino while a parent blows the rent or mortgage money inside. Go to the sections of the city where a casino could rise and you will hear a litany of reasons that the negatives may outweigh any benefits that slots parlors can bring to […]
Finally, A Magazine For Rich WHITE People
BALA CYNWYD, Pa. — Philadelphia’s famed Main Line is getting the glossy treatment in a magazine debuting next month. The bimonthly publication, called Mainline Magazine, will cover the arts, culture and lifestyle topics. The Main Line is a collection of tony suburbs just west of Philadelphia. The debut January/February issue [NOT pictured, left] includes a peek inside a Vanderbilt mansion, a profile of actor and former Wayne resident Bradley Whitford, and features on Philadelphia 76ers president Billy King and state Liquor Control Board chairman Jonathan Newman. “With its rich tapestry of people, cultures, business models and lifestyles, the Main Line […]