WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS: Point Breeze Residents Quite Happy In Their Rut, Thank You

DAILY NEWS: BY NOW, they know the name Ori Feibush in Point Breeze. Some praise it. Others curse it. Feibush, 27, is a real-estate developer. In the last four years, by his estimate, his company – OCF Realty – has built more than 150 homes in the neighborhood. Now he wants to build a coffee shop and a pharmacy, to revitalize a long-neglected corridor. But not everyone likes his plans. Windows on buildings owned by Feibush have been shot out. A dead pitbull was tossed onto the steps of his Point Breeze home. And a flier circulating recently in the […]

WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS: Meet Dick Scott, Health Care Reform’s Public Enemy Number One

BY JONATHAN VALANIA While recent polls show an overwhelming majority of Americans favor health care reform that included a so-called public option that would provide coverage for the estimated 45 millions Americans with no health insurance, one man is doing everything in his power to make sure this does not happen, going so far as to spend $5 million of his own money to bankroll TV ads designed to scare American public off the path of health care reform with visions of a socialized medicine hell where the right to choose is forcibly surrendered to Big Brother, government bureaucrats dictate […]

KILLADELPHIA: Why We Can’t Have Nice Things #2

INQUIRER: The 28-year-old man shot by police yesterday has a lengthy criminal record that includes two charges of attempted murder and two convictions for illegal gun possession, court records show. Troy Bagby — who also goes by Troy Pressley and Troy Bagby Pressley — was sentenced to county prison twice for gun violations and once for drug dealing, court records show. No gun was recovered from the scene. Police did find drugs that Bagby allegedly ditched while he was being chased. Police said Bagby has been arrested nine times. Court records show that Bagby was arrested in 1997 and charged […]

KILLADELPHIA: Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

INQUIRER: Leaning up against the counter in his second-floor gun shop in South Philadelphia, Gregory J. Isabella just sighed. On Tuesday, his business, Firing Line Inc., and the business of a competitor, Colosimo’s Inc. in Center City, found themselves in the crosshairs of Mayor Nutter, who referred to them as “gun traffickers.” Isabella’s been in the gun business nearly a quarter of a century, and it’s always the same. Politicians are constantly squawking about guns. Lots of squawk, not a lot of real action. “You look at all these politicos and all these bureaucrats,” Isabella said. “They are hypocrites. They […]

GAMBLOR: Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

SLOTS CRIME STATS In the first four months of 2007, Pennsylvania State Police troopers assigned to gaming-enforcement offices at the Philadelphia Park Casino & Racetrack in Bensalem and the Harrah’s Chester Casino & Racetrack in Chester reported these crimes: Philadelphia Park: 29 thefts 17 forgeries or counterfeit bills 5 assaults 1 illegal firearm 11 drug investigations 1 public intoxication 2 harassments Harrah’s Chester: 34 thefts 1 robbery/purse-snatching 8 forgeries or counterfeit bills 6 harassments 1 domestic disturbance 1 indecent assault 1 criminal mischief/vandalism 1 fugitive from justice 2 outstanding warrants served DAILY NEWS: Casino Royale With Cheese Sleaze

GUNCRAZY: From The Dept. Of Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Boy Shot In Groin Outside North Philly Theater PHILADELPHIA — A 16-year-old male was shot in the groin on Wednesday outside of a North Philadelphia movie theater.The shooting occurred outside the Pearl Movie Theatre, located at Oxford and Carlisle streets, next to Temple University’s campus.The boy was reported to be in critical condition.There was no information as to a possible suspect or a motive. NBC10 News reported that the weapon used in the shooting was a Tech-9 semi-automatic pistol. NBC10: Can’t Help Feeling That ALL Of North Philly Was Let Down Tonight PREVIOUSLY: Blatstein Gives Folks Seven More Screens To […]

Q&A: Everything You Ever Wanted To Ask Monty Python But You Didn’t Have His Phone Number

[illustration by ALEX FINE] EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview originally posted in 2007, hence the crappy-looking overcrowded layout. We’re reprising it today to mark the sad passing of Monty Python’s Flying Circus performer/writer/creator Terry Jones. Enjoy.  BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER In 1969 Michael Palin quit smoking, a pasttime he was quite fond of, through sheer will power. Having achieved a victory for mind over matter, Palin decided to raise the stakes — he would keep a diary for the next 10 years come hell or high water. What makes this enterprise interesting to people like you and me is […]

SET THE WAYBACK MACHINE TO NEVER: A Q&A With Jon Spencer, Legendary Blooze Traveler, Elvis From Hell, Noise-Rock Deviant & A Really Nice Guy

BY JONATHAN VALANIA With all due apologies to The Gun Club, Jon Spencer looks just like an Elvis from Hell. Where I come from that’s the highest praise you can confer on someone. And after 34 years of rocking righteously and outrageously, not to mention prodigiously — more than 40 albums and EPs, and countless singles and comp appearances spread across five different bands — he’s earned it. Back in 1985, his band Pussy Galore crawled out of the noise rock sewer of the Lower East Side and proceeded to define deviance downwards. They sounded like Einsturzende Neubauten raised on […]

Q&A With New York Magazine Film Critic Matt Zoller Seitz, Author Of The Wes Anderson Collection

EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview originally published on March 14, 2014 Matt Zoller Seitz is the TV critic for New York magazine and Vulture.com and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism. A Brooklyn-based writer and filmmaker, Seitz has written, narrated, edited or produced over a hundred hours’ worth of video essays about cinema history and style for The Museum of the Moving Image and The L Magazine, among other outlets. His five part 2009 video essay Wes Anderson: The Substance of Style was later spun off into the hardcover book The Wes Anderson Collection. Seitz is the founder and […]

THE BEST JUSTICE MONEY CAN’T BUY: Q&A w/ William Ciancaglini Esq., Candidate For Judge

  BY JONATHAN VALANIA Attorney William Ciancaglini, aka Billy C., thinks the pay-to-play method of electing judges in this city stinks on ice. He should know, he’s an underdog candidate for Common Pleas judge. The source of that stink, he says, is the funny money you have to pay into the Dem Machine to become a judge in this city. That’s right, seats on the bench don’t go to the most qualified, they go to the highest bidder. Just to get into the game will cost you $35K, money Ciancaglini doesn’t have. Even though he’s a trial lawyer, Ciancaglini considers […]

REWIND 2014: The Year In Questions And Answers

If armies run on their stomachs, blogs run on their big fucking mouths. We’re no exception. But we’d like to think that, on a good day, we put all that hot air to good use when interrogating visiting dignitaries in advance of their triumphant arrival into the City Of Brotherly Love. We’ve never pretended to have all the answers but we do know all the right questions. And we’ve never settled for easy answers to hard questions. Sometimes feelings get hurt and sometimes new connections are made. Sometimes painful truths emerge and sometimes we actually learn something. And sometimes we […]