Philadelphia, PA

Four women pled guilty earlier this week to stealing from the Macy’s at the Willow Grove Mall. (Uhh, ladies? Bloomingdale’s is so much nicer.) They’ve apparently been doing similar thefts all over the country and have criminal records in 10 states.

The judge called them a “plague of locusts” and gave them an extra punishment:

The judge also ordered them to stay out of all malls in Pennsylvania.

Geeze, that is quite a ban, but it raises some questions. What about outlet malls that aren’t enclosed? For that matter, what about places like the Roosevelt Mall, which are called malls but are just big outdoor shopping centers? Man, this is complicated; I do not envy the probation officer for these women.

It almost burns the eyes. And it’s only $24.99! What a steal!

Buy this whacky item here. (MLB Shop)

The Wilma Theater has announced the productions for its 30th Anniversary season, which will open with the Philadelphia premiere of Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll, September 17-October 19. Blanka Zizka will direct this work, which spans the years 1968-1990 from the double perspective of Prague, Czechoslovakia, where a rock ‘n’ roll band comes to symbolize resistance to the Communist regime, and of Cambridge, England, where the verities of love and death are shaping the lives of three generations in the family of a Marxist philosopher.
Over the holiday season, the Wilma will produce the U.S. premiere of Schmucks (December 3-January 4), a comic fantasy by Roy Smiles that tells of a fictitious meeting between two comic icons, Groucho Marx and Lenny Bruce. Jiri Zizka will direct.

Following will be the Philadelphia premiere of Scorched (February 25-March 29) from the internationally acclaimed Lebanese-born playwright Wajdi Mouawad. The play, to be directed by Blanka Zizka, portrays characters searching for humanity while surrounded by the irrationality of war in the Middle East.

The season will close with the Philadelphia premiere of Terry Johnson’s Olivier Award Winner for Best New Comedy, Hysteria (May 13-June 14), based on an historical meeting between Sigmund Freud and Salvador Dalí. This production full of surrealist imagery will feature a set by Barrymore Award winner Mimi Lien. Jiri Zizka will direct.

For more information visit the Wilma Theater online at wilmatheater.org.

A now closed Horsham-based car-wash business and five managers were indicted today by a federal grand jury for allegedly operating a scheme to employ illegal aliens at four local car washes.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan told reporters that the defendants gave the workers the names of former employees to use and paid them in the names of those employees. The illegal workers were permitted to cash their paychecks at a nearby bank without showing identification, according to the charges, as long as they wore T-shirts or sweatshirts bearing the name of the business, Car Care Inc.

The company had branches in Norristown, Flourtown, Bryn Mawr and Cherry Hill. Officials said they have since been sold.

Charged in the indictment was Car Care Inc., and five of its managers. Eric W. Sitarchuk, an attorney for Car Care, said the now-defunct company has agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and forfeit $500,000 from the sale of the car washes. Fifty-seven illegal aliens were arrested during the investigation, authorities said; 14 have been deported, and the others are still facing immigration proceedings.

Hola, guess who was in town today?, Dick Cheney was in town today! He was talking to people about how the economy isn’t all that bad, really. Look at the people Cheney talked to who have been helped by the economic stimulus!

Cheney delivered a 10-minute speech Thursday to about 100 workers at a Northeast Philadelphia facility that prints the economic stimulus checks.

My stimulus arrived via direct deposit, so I guess I didn’t do much for the economy.

While we’re on the subject of Dick, why don’t you sign Wexler’s petition for hearings to impeach Dick Cheney. Or you could just watch 9/11: Press For Truth.

Eric Floyd, the fugitive suspect in the slaying of police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, was captured yesterday. Good news.

Then things got surreal:

Afterward, the mayor told reporters said he got within two feet of Floyd. “I looked him dead in the eye when he came in, and I told him how disappointed I was in him,” Nutter said. There was no response from the suspect, the mayor added.

Oh, you showed him, Mr. Mayor! Two feet! Maybe someone can set up a trip for the mayor to death row where he can tell every killer how disappointed he is. “Don’t murder, guys! You might let the mayor down!”

It’s your move, Philly.com. Phillies.com has placed Indiana Jones into it’s schedule page. What’s best is it’s there with no explanation at all. Maybe the Phillies will wear Indiana Jones hats that day?

Now, I’m sure I’ll see the new Indiana Jones movie. I’m also sure that the movie is going to be heavily advertised. I fully expect ads for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to be broadcast directly into my brain by George Lucas. But do you really need to sponsor the Phillies schedule?

Something like Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay would be a much better choice to advertise the schedule. It needs to be something you forget you want to see.

I could be wrong, though. Maybe Harrison Ford is entering the starting rotation on May 22nd, 2008. Shape up, Kyle Kendrick!

Check out the Phillies schedule here.

The most eagerly awaited world premier of Tony Award winner Bill Irwin’s The Happiness Lecture finally opens this month at the Philadelphia Theatre Company. The Happiness Lecture will run May 16th thru June 15th, 2008. Conceived, directed and starring Bill Irwin, Lecture concerns a group of adventurers who embark on a journey in pursuit of happiness.

The Walnut Street Theatre concludes it’s 199th year with one of the 20th century’s biggest and best loved musicals Les Miserables, May 13th thru August 1st, 2008. Reportedly one of the first self-producing theatre’s chosen by Lez Miz producer Cameron Mackinstosh to create a new concept for the 1985 musical, director Mark Clements’ production stars Broadway vet Hugh Panaro as Jean Valjean and Walnut favorite Paul Schoeffler as Valjean’s dogged pursuer Inspector Javert.

While we’re on the topic of musicals, this May the Cadillace Broadway Series offers two award winning shows bound to satisfy any fan. Taking the stage May 2nd thru 4th, 2008 at the Academy of Music is the irreverent hit Hairspray, a high-energy tale about a full-bodied girl who becomes an overnight celebrity. May 9th thru 11th, the Academy hosts the legendary musical Gypsy. Set during the heyday of vaudeville and burlesque, Gypsy features a wondrous score from Julie Styne (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) including the classics “Everything’s Come up Roses” and “Some People.”

Fans of experimental theatre will applaud the long-awaited Philadelphia premier of New Paradise Laboratories’ 2004 work Prom, May 1st thru 11th, makes it’s local debut at Drexel University’s Mandell Theatre. The first installment in NPL’s “American Ethnographies” trilogy, Prom employs dance and athletics to recall this memorable teenage rite of passage.

The Bristol Riverside Theatre concludes it’s season with a revival of Jerry Herman’s 1969 musical Dear World, Now thru May 18th, 2008. A musical fable about the dangers of greed, World is a rarely-seen gem from the composer of Mame and Hello Dolly.

The Wilma Theater - who scored a hit in 2005 with Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House - now stages the playwright’s highly-acclaimed Eurydice, Now thru June 1st, 2008, directed by Blanka Zizka. An original retelling of the myth of Orpheus. The play is a magical exploration of the divide between life and death. Featuring an original score by composer Toby Twining, the Wilma’s surreal production promises to be one of the month’s most visually-dazzling offerings.

The Arden Theatre Company concludes it’s 20th anniversary season with an unconventional staging of Thornton Wilder’s masterpiece Our Town, May 22nd thru June 22nd, 2008. The first act of director Terrence J. Nolen’s production takes place at the Arden’s Haas Stage. During intermission the show moves next door to the historic Christ Church, which houses the second half of Wilder’s classic look at life in small town America.

Flashpoint Theatre Company takes on the reality TV craze with the company’s production of Eric Coble’s The Dead Guy, May 14th thru May 31st, 2008, which focuses on America’s seemingly boundless interest in the so-called reality of others.

Do you remember Jocelyn Kirsch? Yes, of course you do. You probably don’t remember Edward Anderton, the other dude in the Bonnie and Clyde of Identity Fraud case from last year.

One might think things are a little quiet on the Kirsch and Anderton front nowadays, but that didn’t stop British paper The Observer from doing a giant piece on ol’ B&C. By giant, I mean 4100 words! On Bonnie & Clyde!

Steeped in narcissism and privilege, fuelled by entitlement, theirs is truly an outlaw romance for the 21st century. The Philadelphia Daily News immediately dubbed the photogenic couple ‘Bonnie and Clyde’. It’s a name some people take exception to. ‘Bonnie and Clyde, that’s only because they’re young and good-looking,’ scoffs Detective Terry Sweeney of the Philadelphia police. ‘These two were complete idiots. If this was two fat fucks from South Philly, it would have been Turner and Hooch.’

Yeah, too bad the phrase was originally coined by a police source. Uh oh.

The article is full of unintentionally hilarious sentences. The first one here is the best:

- 22-year-old Jocelyn was a final-year student at nearby Drexel University, a big step down from Penn.
- Each year, Jocelyn also reinvented herself, swapping old friends for new ones, transforming from goth girl to Abercrombie prep to frisky cheerleader wannabe.
- While Jocelyn was fast becoming Drexel’s answer to Paris Hilton, a few blocks away at the University of Pennsylvania, Edward Kyle Anderton was winding down his college career in obscurity.
- He hadn’t always been so anonymous. He grew up in Everett, Washington, where he was a straight-A striver and a standout swimmer whom the Seattle Times once named ‘Star of the Month’.
- But at Penn, Ed was just one bright undergraduate among 10,000. Intimidated, he tried to assume the confident air of his Ivy League peers, but if he made any sort of impression, it was for the way he feigned good humour to mask something else. ‘His niceness didn’t seem that genuine,’ says a former classmate. ‘When you talked to him, there was a disconnect. He was a bit fake.’
- At a gathering of family and friends, Jocelyn refused to play their board games, choosing to sit at Ed’s elbow, sipping wine while everyone else drank soda, her blouse undone a few buttons too many, her face arranged in a careful, lipsticked smile.
- ‘Hi, my name is Jocelyn Kirsch,’ she introduced herself, as the crowd and Britain’s heir to the throne looked on. ‘I’m originally from Vilnius, Lithuania.’ She went on to speak eloquently about the way globalisation is stratifying societies around the world.

Okay, that’s enough. The whole thing is just a differently-detailed version of the Rolling Stone article about the pair. Gah, it’s 5:12 a.m., and I haven’t slept yet.

The “Mosquito” acts as a teen repellent, and shops and theatre’s in Philadelphia are starting to use it. The “Mosquito’s” slogan is, “Teenage loiterers affecting your business? Get your business back on track with the Mosquito™ Utrasonic Teen Repellent!” Still not quite sure what the “Mosquito” is? The Mosquito™ ultrasonic teenage deterrent is the solution to the eternal problem of unwanted gatherings of teenagers in shopping malls, around shops, in parks and schools afterhours and anywhere else they are causing problems. The presence of anti-social teenagers discourages genuine customers from coming into stores, affecting your turnover and profits. With loitering comes vandalism. Anti-social behaviour has become the biggest threat to private and public property over the last decade and there has been no effective deterrent until now. It is also proven to reduce vandalism by 90%.

With an effective range of between forty and sixty feet, customers all over the world have shown that teenagers are acutely aware of the Mosquito and usually move away from an “infested” area within a few minutes. The system does not cause hearing loss or other ill effects. You can only hear the “Mosquito’s” noise if you are under the age of 25 years old.

Personally, I believe this is a great idea, even though I am under the age of 25. I haven’t been the “type” of “teenager” to loiter malls, stores, etc., and I find it somewhat annoying when teenagers do. Every time I go to the mall I’m lucky if I can actually get inside the mall because of all the teenagers loitering outside.

On the “Mosquito” website you can download the actual sound and see if you can hear it. They also have video demonstrations of the “Mosquito” in action. Just visit noloitering.ca.

A massive amount of violence on Sunday left five dead and eighteen wounded. Sunday’s violence has left a top city police official puzzled.

Most of the violence began over what William Blackburn, Chief Inspector of Detectives, called “a senseless argument.”

“Arguments are still the dominate motive”, he said in a press conference Monday, “not just for the homicides, but for the shootings.”

After Blackburn was asked to elaborate about violence on recent weekends, Blackburn said, “I’m not going to blame weather conditions. I’m not a sociologist.”

This year, Philadelphia has recorded 101 homicides, down from 131 for the comparable period last year. This Sunday’s total included four homicides from shootings, two of them erupting in or near bars. Philadelphia has earned the nick name killadelphia because of how many homicides occur.

The violence began at 1:45 a.m. Sunday, police were called to Charlie B’s Bar and Grill on the 4900 block of North Broad Street in Logan. There, police found 37 year old Marcus Davis suffering from a gun shot wound to the head. Davis, taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center, was pronounced dead fifteen minutes later.

Close to the same time, a block away, police found a twenty eight year old man with a gunshot wound to his back. The victim, who was not identified, was reported in stable condition at Einstein.

At 2 a.m., police said David DiPrimo, twenty four years old, opened fire outside a South Philadelphia bar after an argument over a woman. DiPrimo wounded four men outside McDaniel’s on Second Street, police said; two of the victims have been treated and released, the other two are in critical condition.

Philadelphia police charged DiPrimo, of the 2600 block of South 28th Street, with attempted homicide, aggravated assault and simple assault. DiPrimo is being held on a $1 million bail.

A little after 3 a.m., police were called to the 6800 block of Limekiln Pike in West Oak Lane and found Tyrone Miller, forty three years old, who had been shot three times in the face and chest. Miller was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have no motive or suspect in the slaying.

At 4:02 a.m., police officers on patrol spotted a woman kicking a fallen man in the head at a Sunoco gas station on the 5000 block of North Broad Street. Louis Campbell, sixty six years old, of Feltonville, died at 5:25 a.m. of injuries received in the beating. Nicole Wilson, twenty six years old, of Olney, was arrested and charged with murder.

About 1:30 p.m., housing police in West Philadelphia were tipped to a shooting at a Busticq Avenue apartment complex. Investigators found resident Robert McNair, forty eight years old, dead in the lobby of multiple gunshot wounds. Detectives have identified the suspects as Klaeem Smity, twenty eight years old, and Brandon Brown, twenty three years old.

At 5:49 p.m., police dispatchers sent officers to Kensington to investigate a report of a shooting. Kalis Leslie, fifteen, of Southwest Philadelphia, was found unresponsive near the intersection of Cambria and Amber Streets, Leslie, who had a single gunshot wound to the chest, was taken to Temple University Hospital and pronounced dead.

Philadelphia police found a second victim at the scene, an eighteen year old man, and took him to Temple, where he was in critical condition with gunshot wounds to his chest and shoulder.

At 10:25 p.m., in South Philadelphia, a twenty one year old man was shot once in the head on the 1800 block of McCain Street. He was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was in stable condition.

Mayor Michael A. Nutter reported the results of the April 5th, 2008 Philly Spring Cleanup at a press conference at City Hall on April 8th, 2008. Goals that were set prior to the cleanup were met and exceeded, and Keep America Beautiful - the organization responsible for clean-ups across the country - has confirmed that the Philly Spring Cleanup was the largest single day, citywide clean-up on record in the United States of America.

“Even I was taken aback by the scale of what was achieved on Saturday”, said Mayor Nutter. “I am so proud of the thousands of volunteers, the dedicated public servants, the community organizations and corporate sponsors who all worked so hard to make this even such a huge success.”

“With over 17,000 events taking place each spring, Keep America Beautiful’ Great American Cleanup is the nation’s largest community improvement program,” said Matthew McKenna, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful. “Across all categories, the Philly Spring Cleanup was the largest single-day citywide cleanup event to happen in event’s 24-year history. We’re proud that our local affiliate, Keep Philadelphia Beautiful, was able to help Mayor Nutter in this incredible effort.”

Mayor Nutter emphasized that this would not just be a one-day effort to clean up Philadelphia. He spoke of the ongoing Love Where You Live effort which focuses on prevention and education and changing the attitude of those people who think that it is acceptable to drop trash on the street.

Philly Spring Cleanup Results:

Trash Tonnage:
- 2.56 million pounds of trash (1,280.02 tons)
- 48,010 pounds of recycling

Volunteers:
- Total volunteer involvement estimated around 15,000

Commercial Corridors:
- Estimated 71 Commercial Corridors cleaned

Blocks Cleaned:
- Estimated 5,000 neighborhood blocks cleaned

Recreated Centers:
- 28 Recreation Centers cleaned

Park Sites:
- 27 Fairmount Park sites cleaned

Supplies Used:
- 65,600 biodegradable paper trash bags
- 14,050 biodegradable paper recycling bags
- 17,269 pairs of gloves
- 9,804 brooms

Streets Department Support:
- 522 sanitation workers
- 163 sanitation trucks
- 10 bulk trucks
- 3 flushers
- 11 mechanical brooms

Sponsorship:
- Over $300,000 in cash and in-kind contributions

Other Related Outcomes:
- PPD Removed 186 abandoned automobiles
- 2,302 Tires removed
- More than 177 registered Cleanup sites in neighborhoods across the City
- Over 200 community organizations involved
- 14 churches of faith-based institutions invovled

For more information and to get involved visit phillycleanup.com.

The non-profit group Partners for Sacred Places and Philadelphia’s Mural Arts program are sponsoring a Mural Arts Tour Series.

When people encounter a mural, they experience it first as an impressive work of art. But soon after, they begin to ask questions: who created this, why is it there, how was it made? They sense the story behind the mural and want to know more about it. To help answer questions like these, Mural Arts Program developed a tour program in 1998. Led by docents, these tours offer a “behind the scenes” look at how murals are made. These tours are filled with anecdotes and stories, the tours leave people with an understanding of the complexities of mural making and an appreciation of Philadelphia as the world’s largest outdoor art gallery.

The Mural Arts Program has just started a new tour entitled, Experiential Mural Tours. On this tour you will be taken by trolley around the world’s largest collection of public murals. You will learn how each mural’s location and theme is selected, how the artists begin their creative process, and the techniques utilized to make the three-and four-story masterpieces. You will meet local mural artists and learn first hand how these works of are are created.

To purchase tickets for a Mural Arts Tour click here to order online or call 215-389-8687.

What is a mural?

A mural is a painting on a wall, ceiling, or other large permanent surface.
Murals of sorts, date to prehistoric times, such as the paintings on the Caves of Lascaux in southern France, but the term became famous with the Mexican “muralista” art movement. There are many different styles and techniques. The best-known is probably fresco, which uses water soluble paints with a damp lime wash, a rapid use of the resulting mixture over a large surface, and often in parts. The colors lighten as they dry.

Murals today are painted in a variety of ways, using oil or water based media. The styles can vary from abstract to trompe-l’œil (a French term for “fool” or “trick the eye”). Today, the beauty of a wall mural has become much more widely available with a technique whereby a painting or photographic image is transferred to poster paper which is then pasted to a wall surface.

Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre Company has announced it’s full cast and creative team for Our Town, directed by Terrence J. Nolen, to run May 22-June 22.

This production will take place in both the Haas Theatre and the adjacent Christ Church, and will feature guest appearances from over 100 local personalities and 36 community choirs.

The principal cast will feature Oberon Adjepong (Joe Stoddard), Fred Andersen (Simon Stimson), Krista Apple (A Woman From Among the Dead / Ensemble), Bev Appleton (Professor Willard), Carla Belver (Mrs. Soames), Rebecca Blumhagen (Emily Webb), David Corenswet (Si Crowell/Joe Crowell/Ensemble), Chioma Dunkley (Rebecca Gibbs), Sherri L. Edelen (Mrs. Gibbs), Nathan Edmondson (Sam Craig), Eric Hissom (Stage Manager), Cleo House, Jr. (Constable), Jordan Johnson (Wally Webb), Kevyn Morrow (Dr. Gibbs), Harry Philibosian (Ensemble), Peterson Townsend (George Gibbs), JoAnna Rhinehart (Mrs. Webb), Brian Anthony Wilson (Howie Newsome), Greg Wood (Mr. Webb), and Damien Wallace (A Man From Among the Dead / Ensemble).

The townspeople will be played by Robert Bauer, Craig Bazan, Katrina Yvette Cooper, Juanita Frederick, Andy Joos, Brian Kurtas, Erin Read, Wendy Staton, and Tara Van Ness.

The creative team will include Jim Kronzer (sets), Richard St. Clair (costumes), Justin Townsend (lighting), and Troy Herion (sound).

For more information, call 215-922-1122 or visit www.ardentheatre.org.

What is Our Town about?

Our Town is a three act play by Thornton Wilder which is, perhaps, the most frequently produced play by an American playwright. The play is set in the fictional community of Grover’s Corners, modeled after several New Hampshire towns in the Mount Monadnock region: Jaffrey, Peterborough, Dublin, and others. Using meta-theatrical devices, the play is set in a 1930’s theater. Through the actions of the Stage Manager, the town of Grover’s Corners is created for the audience and scenes from its history between the years of 1901 and 1913 play out. Wilder, in his 30s, lived in MacDowell Colony in Peterborough in June, 1937, one of many locations where Wilder worked on the play. The third act was drafted entirely in one day during a visit to Zurich in September of 1937 after a long evening walk in the rain with a friend.

Our Town is a story of character development that details the interactions between citizens of an everyday town in the early 20th century through their everyday lives (particularly the lives of George Gibbs, a doctor’s son, and Emily Webb, the daughter of a newspaper editor).

Our Town was first performed at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, New Jersey on January 22, 1938. It next opened at the Wilbur Theater in Boston on January 25, 1938. Its New York City debut was on February 4, 1938 at Henry Miller’s Theatre, and later moved to the Morosco Theatre.

James George Stone, a middle aged man, married, and a father of two from Northern Philadelphia. But when he entered internet chatrooms on several occasions during the past year he said he was an eighteen year old boy from the United States of America.

That’s not the worst part though, law-enforcement officials said that Stone sexually propositioned someone that he thought was a twelve year old girl, sending her long webcam videos of him masturbating and asking if she wanted to meet him at the mall.

The “girl” that Stone ended up talking to was an undercover agent from the state attorney general’s Child Predator Unit.

Agent’s arrested Stone, 44 years old, at his home on Lynford Street near Magee Avenue on Thursday and charged him with seven counts of unlawful contact with a minor and one count of criminal use of a computer, the attorney general’s office said in statement.

Stone is being held in the Montgomery County Prison on $100,000 bail. Stone could face up to seven years in prison and $15,000 in fines.

Stone’s daughters whom are eleven and thirteen years old, had contact with the agent nine times since last September.

How do you know if someone is a sex predator?

Predators establish contact with kids through conversations in chat rooms, instant messaging, e-mail, or discussion boards. Many teens use peer support online forums to deal with their problems. Predators often go to these online areas to look for vulnerable victims.

Online predators try to gradually seduce their targets through attention, affection, kindness, and even gifts, and often devote considerable time, money, and energy to this effort. They’re aware of the latest music and hobbies likely to interest kids.

They listen to and sympathize with kids’ problems. They also try to ease young people’s inhibitions by gradually introducing sexual content into their conversations or by showing them sexually explicit material.

Some predators work faster than others, engaging in sexually explicit conversations immediately. This more direct approach may include harassment or stalking. Predators may also evaluate the kids they meet online for future face-to-face contact.