REST IN POWER: Grafitti Outside Tritone, 15th & South [Photo By SARA SHERR] Hey Jon, Scotty here, the fat blond soundman from Upstairs at Nick’s and so forth. Just saw you were the editor of this webzine and wanted to thank you for putting up a blurb about that idiot comment made in response to the statement about Rick D. booking Dobbs. That was me replying — some people just have no class at all. The service was really highly emotionally-charged as to be expected but there was a huge turnout with tons of people showing their love for Rick […]
ALOHA: Don Ho To Headline Big Luau In The Sky
Sad news: Don Ho, the Velvet Foghorn of Tiki Culture, dead at 76. Here he is performing Peter Gabriel’s “Shock The Monkey.”
KURT VONNEGUT RIP: ‘Everything Was Beautiful, And Nothing Hurt’ — Epitaph From Slaughterhouse Five
NEW YORK — Kurt Vonnegut, the satirical novelist who captured the absurdity of war and questioned the advances of science in darkly humorous works such as “Slaughterhouse-Five” and “Cat’s Cradle,” died Wednesday. He was 84. Vonnegut, who often marveled that he had lived so long despite his lifelong smoking habit, had suffered brain injuries after a fall at his Manhattan home weeks ago, said his wife, photographer Jill Krementz. The author of at least 19 novels, many of them best-sellers, as well as dozens of short stories, essays and plays, Vonnegut relished the role of a social critic. He lectured […]
TRIBUTE: RICK D. IN HIS OWN WORDS
My favorite time in Philly’s music history was ’79 to ’83 or ’84. The city was a mess then. It was bankrupt and every other building was boarded up. The entire city was coated with fliers for shows. A lot of them were really creative, and you could generate buzz and excitement overnight. Because Center City was so shady, you could put on shows at the drop of a hat, and nobody really gave a damn. The police were enforcing the liquor laws, so you’d just hand them a hundred bucks and they’d go away. There was no radio support, […]
BREAKING: Tritone’s Rick D. Killed By Heart Attack
SARA SHERR REPORTS: I’m shocked to even type this. Just found out through Paul Dellevigne that Rick D co-owner of Tritone passed away from a heart attack just a few hours ago. I’ve known Rick D for over a decade, first as a music journo, back when he booked The Firenze, JC Dobbs, and Upstairs at Nick’s. He was an early supporter and adopter of all kinds of punk bands, most famously booking Green Day at Dobbs pre-Dookie. He also ran a label called Black Hole and was in a band called the Newbyles. He probably has a history pre-bar […]
Rick D: Barman And Booker Extraordinaire, Beloved Inventor Of The Bob & Barbara’s Happy Meal
BY BRIAN HOWARD The crowds have changed since [Nate] Wiley first began playing at the bar in 1983 with the Joe Whalen trio. Back then, Bob and Barbara’s drew primarily black crowds as one of the last of South Philadelphia west-of-Broad’s jazz bars. (Many nearby establishments had closed or vacated in the ’50s, ’60s and early ’70s due to the long-planned-but-never-realized crosstown expressway, which eventually became the Vine Street expressway.) Bob Port, who had owned the bar since 1978 with his friend Barbara Carter, retired to Kansas City in 1995 and sold the bar to Prince, who used to own […]
OBIT: Bruce Langfeld, Rocker, Writer, Sad Man
BY GAYLE RONAN SIMS INQUIRER STAFF Bruce Langfeld, 45, singer-songwriter and guitarist for roots-rock band Bag of Hammers and others in the 1990s, was found dead on Sunday in his Center City apartment. Jeff Moran, spokesman for the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office, said the cause of death is pending lab tests. “He was last seen alive 10 days prior to his body being found, but the report does not indicate he was dead that long,” Moran said. “No one has told me that foul play is suspected.” “My brother struggled with depression most of his life,” said his sister, Nancy […]
OBIT: David Berger, The People’s Lawyer
By ANDREW MAYKUTH Inquirer Staff Writer David Berger, who called himself a “people’s lawyer,” was best known as one of the pioneers of class-action lawsuits. After leaving the Philadelphia City Solicitor’s Office for private practice, he recovered billions of dollars from the government, big oil companies, and Wall Street bankers for legions of small clients. Mr. Berger, 94, who of died of pneumonia Thursday in Palm Beach, Fla., won major cases in the Three Mile Island nuclear power accident, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and the Drexel Burnham Lambert junk-bond scandal. His firm won a $2 billion settlement from the […]
OBIT: Local Gay Rights Pioneer Dead At 75
Pioneer Gay rights activist Barbara Gittings at the first homosexual rights demonstration, Independence Hall, Philadelphia, July 4, 1965. Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) — Barbara Gittings, one of the earliest activists to push the U.S. government to provide homosexuals with equal rights, has died. She was 75. Gittings died yesterday at 7:25 p.m. in Kennet Square, Pennsylvania, after a lengthy battle with breast cancer, said friend Mark Segal, publisher of Philadelphia Gay News. She is survived by her partner of 46 years, Kay Lahusen, and sister Eleanor Gittings Taylor. In 1965, Gittings and several gay men and lesbians were the first to […]
BREAKING: ANNA NICOLE SMITH IS DEAD
(CNN) — Reality TV star and former model Anna Nicole Smith was pronounced dead Thursday after being taken to a Florida hospital after being found unconscious in her hotel room, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the case told CNN. Smith, 39, collapsed at a south Florida hotel and was taken to a local hospital, according to news reports. TMZ.com had reported that Smith collapsed at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, and was rushed to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood just after 2 p.m. ET. According to reports, Smith was found unresponsive in her […]
RIP: Molly Ivins, Concerned American, Legendary Texas Political Racontuer, Thorn In The Decider’s Side
Molly Ivins died Wednesday at age 62 after a long battle with breast cancer. This is her final column, entitled “Stand Up Against The Surge“: The purpose of this old-fashioned newspaper crusade to stop the war is not to make George W. Bush look like the dumbest president ever. People have done dumber things. What were they thinking when they bought into the Bay of Pigs fiasco? How dumb was the Egypt-Suez war? How massively stupid was the entire war in Vietnam? Even at that, the challenge with this misbegotten adventure is that WE simply cannot let it continue.It is […]
ALL THE LEAVES ARE BROWN: Denny Doherty, Last Papa Of The MAMAS AND PAPAS, Dead At 66
They were the first pop group, after The Beatles and the so-called British invasion, to include women (and a Canadian) as equal partners and to showcase tuneful and harmoniously sophisticated songs. As a group, they produced five albums and sold an estimated 20 million records. Behind the scenes, though, the group was wasting its talent and its energy because they were all — especially Mr. Doherty — in thrall to sex, drugs and alcohol. One of five children of a hard-drinking Halifax pipe fitter, Mr. Doherty began his singing career there with a local rock band, The Hepsters, while working […]
The Rev. Dr. MARTIN LUTHER KING Jr. 1929-1968
“I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the Promised Land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I do not fear any man. Mine eyes have […]