SARA SHERR REPORTS: With just four days left to go, the Avenue of the Arts Tower Records isn’t even a shell of its former self. It’s the Pennsauken Mart. The second floor is no more. It once housed DVDs, Jazz, Vocals, New Age, Folk, Blues, Comedy and Kids. What little of it is left is now on the first floor. Before this everything-must-go transformation, the Jazz guy and the Goth kid from the DVD department were working side by side, a sitcom waiting to happen. The Classical department consists of one bin in the front of the store, much to […]
GUNCRAZY: Homicide #394 A Done Deal
(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA Police are investigating a shooting that left a man dead in South Philadelphia. The shooting marks the city’s 394th homicide. Shots rang out around 10:30 p.m. Monday near 3rd and Titan Streets in South Philadelphia. Police said a 29-year-old man was found shot to death on the street. No arrests have been made and the motive is under investigation. KYW: Drug Dealers Tying Up Loose Ends Before The Holiday Shutdown
(THE LAST) STOP THE PRESSES: GUILD Ratifies Contract, Drafts, Passes And Affixes F.U. Resolution Before Sending It Back To THE COMPANY
SGT. BYKO’S FINAL REPORT: After the questions subsided and a motion was approved to start the vote, another motion was presented, and approved after some debate. That motion ?instructs the Local 10 Executive Board to discuss – and pass — a resolution saying the following: ?1- Because of their tight-fisted, slash-and-burn, anti-labor tactics, we have NO CONFIDENCE in the new owners? actual desire to publish great newspapers ?2- Because of the new owners? recent record of poor business decisions, which includes hiring executives while promising layoffs of union workers, we have NO FAITH in their desire to treat employees with […]
THE NEW PANIC: Toe Sucker Strikes Again
The attacker with a fascination for women’s feet has struck again. Police said the man they’ve sought in connection with five other attacks, mostly in Center City, is responsible for victimizing yet another woman – this time in South Philadelphia. According to police, a 33-year-old woman was getting off a bus at 19th and Federal streets shortly before 5 Saturday morning when a man approached with a gun and forced her to walk down Ellsworth Street. Along the way, the man struck her with his weapon and forced her to enter a nearby playground on Ellsworth Street near 20th. “The […]
GUNCRAZY: Lil’ Wayne Concert First Casualty of 215 ‘Stop n’ Frisk’; Rapper Cancels Show To Keep It Real
Rapper LIL’ WAYNE scrapped a concert in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania recently because he feared for his safety when security at the venue insisted he give up his guns. The tough-talking rap star, real name DWAYNE CARTER, told venue security he had a permit to carry guns for protection and feared they were setting him up for a shoot-out with a longstanding rival when they insisted he left his weapons with them. He tells Complex magazine, “I know the n**ga I’m beefing with is out there, so when security at the show told me, ‘We gonna search y’all,’ it was like, ‘Nah, […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
CLOSING TIME: The Killers Have Left The Building, Electric Factory, December 16 EVA SAYS: I went to see Brandon Flowers and ended up in New Jersey. I tried my hardest to focus on the music, but couldn?t ignore the boob-jiggling, blond highlighted girls bouncing in front of me. And I couldn?t, as much as I tried, look past the frat boy, business jocks intermittently exchanging high-fives. So I can’t really tell you how the Killers performance was, but according to the rhythm-less fat dude awkwardly bending his knees next to me, ?the killers are good shit.? And I won?t deny […]
The Economy Of Sleep: New 215 Growth Industry, Snore Control
PHILADELPHIA – Loud snoring and insomnia used to be merely annoying. Now they are big business. In Philadelphia and across the country, sleep-diagnostic centers are popping up and people once aggravated by a lousy night’s sleep are getting help. One beneficiary of the push for more testing is a local company, Viasys Healthcare Inc., which makes medical equipment including devices to diagnose and treat sleep ailments like sleep apnea, a condition in which breathing stops repeatedly for brief periods during sleep. In the five years since Viasys was spun off from a Boston-area company, Thermo Electron Corp., sales of its […]
MONEY $HOT: Santa Paws
SANTA’S LIL’ HELPER MEETS PHAWKER: Electric Factory, December 16, 2006 THE CONTEXT: So we are standing at the back of the Electric Factory Saturday night waiting for the dreadful Killers concert to put itself out of its misery when up walks Peter Pan, Santa Claus and his Lil’ Helper, who are, it becomes immediately apparent, more than full of holiday cheer — the beer spilled down Santa’s shakes-like-a-bowl-of-jelly belly was the first of many clues. We ask if we can take their picture and when they ask what for we hand them our business card and Santa proceeds to stuff […]
EULOGY: Fair Thee Well Leaning TOWER of Song
KING BRITT REMEMBERS: Tower Records totally changed my whole life. I worked there in ’88, for four years. In high school I was a music nerd, so naturally I desperately wanted to work at Tower. I started as bag check dude, but moved up to 12″ singles buyer and New Age buyer in a matter of six months. Everyone who worked there were masters at their craft, and their passion for music was amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed the “team work” vibe. We all went on to do great things. Renny Harris, a major choreographer and dancer; James Bond, who owns […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
DUTCH COURAGE: The Ex, First Unitarian Church, December 14 SIMONE SECCI, FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, REPORTS: Before talking about the show, I just would like to say how was weird and different for me as a European, going to a show here in Philly expecially an all ages show, where pretty much nobody was drinking and smoking weed, which is what the majority of the people do in Europe at shows. Cultural shock! Anyway first to be on the stage is this folk rock singer which I’m not exactly sure about the name, but I think was Billy Petersen, whose songs the […]
Cover Wars: Whose Artfag Kung-Fu Is Stronger
There something sick going on in Atlantic City, or shall we say something sicker than usual, which is really saying something. The Inquirer and Daily News have been reporting — and we’ve been echoing — what the cops won’t say: a monster lurks in A.C. And no, we are not just talking about Gamblor. Though authorities refuse to label him as such, a serial killer has wasted four street walkers, dumping their bodies in a drainage ditch in the briny swamplands nearby, all within a stone’s throw of each other, all facing East, towards Atlantic City. Fox News, no stranger […]
SMELLS LIKE DEMOCRACY: DiCicco Calls For Six Month Hold ‘Em On Slots, Wants To Re-Shuffle Deck And Deal Public Into The Game
PENNSYLVANIA ? As reported by the Philadelphia Daily News: “With four of the potential casino locations in his district, Councilman Frank DiCicco yesterday urged the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to postpone for six months the selection next Wednesday of the two winning applicants. “Though DiCicco had hoped for plenty of support from the city’s legislative delegation to Harrisburg, he got only incoming freshman state Rep. Michael O’Brien and Councilman Darrell Clarke to stand with him in South Philadelphia near the proposed Foxwoods Casino. “?With a six-month delay, the board could gather more public input on the casino operators’ evolving plans, […]