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, […]
GAYBO: FROM HELSINKI WITH LOVE
TOMMY ZANE REPORTS: HELSINKI, Finland — Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the gayest of them all: a.) A drag queen lip-synching “It’s Raining Men”; b.) Judy Garland singing “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” or c.) A stripper at Woody’s gyrating to Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff”? Well, the answer is obviously d.) none of the above, because I’m here in Helsinki for the gayest show on earth, the Eurovision Song Contest. And child, every queen on the continent is here. By Saturday night, 100 million people from Istanbul to Copenhagen will be tuned in to root for their respective faves in […]
HIZZONER ’07: PW Has Joined The Game
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We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
SEXY BOY: Air‘s Jean-Benoit Dunckel, The Fillmore, Last Night BY SIMONE SECCI FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT Air are one of those bands that have this precious ability to relax you like nothing else does. Personally I find this amazing and besides any consideration about the nature of the music, which draws heavily and equally from seventies prog, sixties extravaganza and eighties pop. But even though — doesn’t this mix sound perfect? And it does, it really does! The live show is just great, the duo of Jean-Benoit and Nicolas have this amazing back up band that recreate live every single sound from […]
THE SHAMEFUL POLITICS OF UNCLE TOM
BY ANNETTE JOHN-HALL OF THE INQURER Well, now. Talk about black-on-black crime. I’m not referring to the city’s exploding homicide total, now at an abysmal 139, by the way. I’m talking about Chaka Fattah’s drive-by in the debate Monday night, the underhanded and unseemly shot he took at Michael Nutter in an attempt to undermine his candidacy for mayor. […] Defending charges from opponents that his proposal to stop and frisk those suspected of carrying illegal weapons was a racist tactic, Nutter insisted his plan wasn’t about race. “It’s about criminals. As a person who’s been black for 49 years, […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR In Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989, historian Michael Beschloss takes a look at the crucial moments when a president risked his political career for the good of the country, often by taking an unpopular or controversial stand. Beschloss is the author of books including The Conquerers: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler’s Germany. RADIO TIMES Hour 1 Rebroadcast of the May 6th WHYY-TV Philadelphia Mayoral debate. Marty Moss-Coane moderated the debate that featured the five major democratic candidates. The candidates are Chaka Fattah, Bob Brady, Dwight Evans, Tom Knox and Michael Nutter. Philadelphia […]
BREAKING: Eagles’ Cheerleaders Chillaxin’ In Mexico
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Feds Abort Alleged Terror Attack On Fort Dix
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Six suspected Islamic radicals have been arrested on allegations of plotting an attack on New Jersey’s Fort Dix army installation with the aim of killing as many soldiers as possible, officials said on Tuesday.Four of the suspects were born in Yugoslavia, one in Jordan and one in Turkey, said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s office in Newark, New Jersey.The arrests were made on Monday night in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, by FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, said a spokesman for the Cherry Hill police.”They were plotting to make an assault on Fort […]
STAY CLASSY, PHILADELPHIA!
SMASHMOUTH POLITICS: On The Pavement Outside The Mayoral Debate, Constitution Center, 8:05 PM During the hour-long encounter at the National Constitution Center, Chaka Fattah and Michael Nutter went at it bitterly over race, with Fattah stunning the crowd by accusing Nutter of having “to remind himself that he’s an African American.” Fattah and Dwight Evans went at it over the wisdom of Fattah’s proposal to lease the airport as a way of funding a massive antipoverty initiative, with Evans calling the idea “half-baked.” And Tom Knox and Bob Brady almost went at it quite literally. What prompted the Knox-Brady explosion […]
VIET NOW: Still Winning Hearts & Mines
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Eight American soldiers were killed in roadside bomb attacks Sunday, one of the highest single-day death tolls this year. They were among 12 U.S. service members whose deaths were announced on a day when car bombs killed scores of Iraqis across the country, threatening to deepen sectarian tensions. “All of us believe that in the next 90 days, you’ll probably see an increase in American casualties because we are taking the fight to the enemy,” Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the Army’s Task Force Marne, told reporters Sunday. “This is the only way we can win […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR On the Set with Garry Shandling Garry Shandling parodied TV talk shows on The Larry Sanders Show, which ran on HBO from 1992 to 1998 and is now out in a four-DVD box set. It’s called Not Just the Best of “The Larry Sanders Show” — in part because it features eight hours of extras, including essentially unedited conversations with stars who made guest appearances on the Larry Sanders sofa. Patti Smith, All Covered Up Since she began her recording career in the ’70s, Patti Smith has never been shy about recording covers of her favorite songs, such […]
GAYBO: Biting The Big Apple; I Love A Man In (A Spiderman) Uniform; Helsinki Is For Lovers!
BY TOMMY ZANE GAYDAR EDITOR A quick trip to NYC can create at least two effects. Utterly exhaust one from the dizzying amounts of peeps, drugs, shopping and dick available, or make one long for the loyal and comparatively quaint streets of Philly. I, at once, experienced both. Childhood girlfriend, Miss April, finally got married and popped out a kid within the year, which I had yet to meet. Oh, and did I mention BOTH her twin brothers are gay, live in NYC, and I’ve casually flirted with them for decades? April has always been a total brain, Vassar educated […]