JOE JACKSON: “I never beat him,” Joe is quoted as saying. “I whipped him with a stick and a belt. I never beat him. You beat someone with a stick.” MORE JOE JACKSON: “I thought [Michael] was a great father.” MORE JOE JACKSON:“The kids want to be with [Katherine and I] over here,” Jackson told Connelly about Prince Michael, Paris and Prince Michael II (Blanket). “Yes, there’s no else who can do what we can do for them.” MORE JOE JACKSON: “I don’t know — I keep watching Paris,” he said, referring to Jackson’s middle child, who spoke memorably at […]
THIS JUST IN: Fumo Gets 4.7 Years In Jail
Also, fined $411,00 and must pay Ruth Arnao $676,000 in restitution. Judge has instructed him to surrender to federal authorities August 31st and begin serving his sentence.
MOCKING BIRDS: The Shame Of A Wired Nation
[Photo by fotonomous] BY JEFF DEENEY Philadelphians know all too well that thinly-veiled racial tensions have been festering in the Greater Northeast long before the story about some young black day campers getting kicked out of a private swim club pulled back the curtain on a dirty, but poorly-kept secret, and then went viral and made our town the shame of a wired nation. Though the incident happened just across the county line in Huntingdon Valley, Lower Montgomery County is culturally indistinguishable from many outskirt neighborhoods at the city’s edge. In fact, if you drive a mile south of the […]
TONIGHT: Barfly On The Wall
Sarah Stolfa: The Regulars Revisited Tuesday, July 14, 2009 6:00pm – 8:00pm Gallery 339 339 South 21st St. Philadelphia , PA 19103 215-731-1530 INQUIRER: Place the book in front of McGlinchey’s comically nonchalant owner, Ron Sokol, and bartender Alia Burton, and the missing details are quickly filled in, in eccentrically McGlinchey’s style un-de-referencing: “Look at Artie, ha-ha.” “Trevor, he died.” “Sheldon, that’s my brother.” “Mike’s a trombone player. Meghan, she goes to Temple.” “This one was murdered two months ago.” “This guy was here when Anne Marie worked, he was in love with the Irish girls.” “This guy is a […]
WARNING: Do NOT, Repeat DO NOT, Attempt To Pull The Football Away From This Man Before He Kicks It
THE ARTIST: This is Chuck Brown. He is real and I guess, a monster. For a show at Copro Gallery in Santa Monica, I was invited by Travis Louie to offer a piece for a show titled, ‘MONSTERS?’ I looked at the list of invites and then imagined all of the usual takes on what a monster is thought to be. Perhaps some will be cute, some ugly. I went in another direction. What if I were to paint a realistic version of something usually thought of as cute and benign? For no particular reason and maybe several, I chose […]
The First Time I Got High…
[Illustration By ALEX FINE] BY MATT WYNNE When I look back at the dozen or so years I spent on drugs, it occurs to me that the first time I got high didn’t have much of an impact on me. What little I do remember of the first time I smoked pot is that, while not exactly disappointing, it was nothing stellar or engaging, either. I remember chain smoking cigarettes, eating a box of Cheez-Its and listening to Nirvana’s cover of the Wipers’ “D-7” over and over again. It wasn’t until I moved up the drug ladder a bit before […]
STRANGER THAN FICTION: Jane Roe — Of Roe V. Wade Fame — Arrested At Sotomayor Hearing
WASHINGTON POST: The woman at the center of the Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 abortion rights ruling was arrested today at the confirmation hearing for Sonia Sotomayor, among a wave of anti-abortion protestors who lined the sidewalks outside the Senate office buildings and several of whom made it into the hearing room in an attempt to disrupt the proceedings. Norma McCorvey, 61, of Texas, better known as “Jane Roe” in the famous Roe v. Wade case from January 1973, was arrested after she and another protester started began during the opening statement of Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), according to Capitol Police. […]
What Would Is Jesus Do On?
Beam me up Scotty, there’s no intelligent life down here.
EARLY WORD: No Pools, No Peace
Hello! Please join the Coalition to Save the Libraries and the Coalition for Essential Services* tonight and tomorrow to fight for open public pools! We believe that both pool closures and the threatened Library closures work to undermine the social and cultural infrastructure of our city. Pools create stable communities. By closing pools, Mayor Nutter provoked the disruption of people’s lives. We are demanding a cool and safe summer! Pools provide safety and security for our neighborhoods by providing organized and supervised activities for children. TOMORROW: Tuesday, July 14th 12 NOON POOLS UNDER LOCK & KEY! TURN ON THE WATER! MAYOR […]
THIS JUST IN: DN Pays Tribute To Swells
BY ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH FOR THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS: … But what I’ll remember most is the sarcastic encouragement Swells gave an intern for no other reason than that he believed in me. And oh the trouble he gave me. When I let slip that I wasn’t into Britney Spears or the Monkees, I was doomed. The next week, I was the target of a piece in the Guardian about his attempts to educate me about music: Undaunted by the massive task before me, I then proceeded to lecture Tad . . . on just how . . . extraordinarily […]
PHAWKER TAWK: Q&A With King Sunny Ade
BY DAVE ALLEN At age 62, King Sunny Ade is my parents’ age, and there’s no way I could see dear old mom and dad touring internationally or jamming for hours on end. Of course, they didn’t introduce the world to a form of music — juju, the guitars-and-drums-powered music of Nigeria’s palm-wine parlors. King Sunny’s music still has the same punch and arresting but upbeat complexity as when it burst out of his native land onto the global scene more than 30 years ago, and the energy in both the tunes and in the King himself is a marvel. […]
NEWS CLUES: Like A Private Swim Club Of The Truth
DEATH ON THE PIAZZA: Alleged Mastermind To Surrender “The man authorities say planned a drug-linked robbery that turned into a double homicide at a posh Northern Liberties apartment complex last month intends to surrender to police today. James “Pooh” Wilson, 40, who has been the target of an intense law enforcement manhunt for two weeks, will turn himself in at the Police Administration Building this afternoon, said Christopher Warren, a prominent defense lawyer who said Wilson had retained him.” [via the INQUIRER] REVERSED DISCRIMINATION: Swim Club Wants Minority Kids Back “The Montgomery County swim club that sparked a racial furor […]
DEENEY: I Could Have Easily Been Rian Thal
DAILY BEAST: It’s not as surprising as you’d think that someone like Thal, a reported casual coke user, would find herself being asked if she wanted to start participating in deals. I once knew a coke dealer—not a barroom nickel and dimer, but the kind of dude who could get you kilo if you needed it—and there were moments of opportunity when I, too, was asked if I wanted to get in on the game. Did I want to front five grand and go in on a niner? The question came up more than once. So when I read about […]