Bad Luck City Blog

I flew to Michigan over the weekend to see my last remaining Grandfather. Michigan’s economy and housing market are in the crapper so I won’t be moving back there anytime soon but each time I go I yearn to go back for good.

One of the reasons is the beer. No, it doesn’t come close to the Philly area for beer geek fun, but it IS catching up. More and more often I’m seeing out of state tap handles at my Philly watering holes. Yeah, I see some from obvious states like California and Colorado, and from closer states like Delaware and New Jersey, but not really that many from neighboring states like Ohio, New York or Maryland. NONE from Iowa, Indiana or Minnesota, but quite a few from Michigan. Bells, of course, which I had to pleasure to visit last year, is everywhere. Founders is one that seems to be be popping up everywhere around here lately (and I’ll be visiting this summer), and New Holland. I had a chance to try Founders 13% Devil Dancer at the P.O.P.E, and I picked up big bottle of New Holland’s 10.5% Existential Ale from MI.

The other reason is the selection. On a visit to my closest “party” (convenience) store there was at least a dozen selections from Bells, in sixes. And cases. Even singles. I even found one last six of Hop Slam. Naturally they have Bells since it’s local. But their selection of Dogfishhead blew me away. I never even heard of some of them, and the brewery is just over 100 miles outside Philly! Granted, some of them were over $17 for a six, but that’s the reason you don’t see them here: A case of Burton Baton Ale is just way too expensive to stock by the case.

Local beer writer Lew Bryson actually created a blog called Why the Philadelphia Liquor Control Board should be abolished.

The last reason is the hunting. I’ve mentioned before that I’m no hunter. Hell, I’ve never even filleted a fish. But it’s so ingrained in my family’s DNA, we even had to hunt when there was no current season. What’d we hunt? Mushrooms! Morels. It was kinda fun because those damn things are HARD to find. Even a seasoned hunter admits that there’s not much rhyme nor reason to where they decide to sprout. Even if you stumble upon a large patch one year they won’t be there the next. And the buggers are almost impossible to see. The tasted great, but not $80 a pound great.

Last night’s winds made for quite a commute this morning. This is just outside 30th Street Station in the middle of Market Street.

Alternate title: “Man, what a weird place to park your ice shanty.”

Here are some nice pictures taken this beautiful morning on my commute through West Philly. The house is the Dominion Sisters Convent on 36th & Baring.

The old advertisement is near the Dock Street Brewery at 50th & Willows. I’ll have to send it to the Philadelphia Ghost Signage Project.

You know when, just before they pave a road they scrape off the top layer of asphalt (macadam for some of you Pennsylvanians)? When you see it you try not to imagine FALLING on it, thinking about how rough those jagged edges would feel on your bare thigh? Yeah, that’s right. I fell on it. Out in the burbs, took a turn too sharply, front wheel hit some gravel and I went down. It wasn’t has bad as it coulda been but I’ve got some road rash and I’m SORE.

I’ll be taking it SLOOWW on the way back today.

You’re probably too young to remember the whole Saturday Night Fever/ Disco fad, but in the late ’70s disco was EVERYWHERE. It even infiltrated every American’s record collection, which till then consisted mainly of classic arena rock. Frampton Comes Alive came off the turntable and the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack took it’s place… at least for a while.

Most of you know that said soundtrack featured the Bee Gees, but the very last track, and arguably the BEST track of the lot was by Philly own The Trammps.

The Trammps released their first album in 1972 and were one of America’s first disco bands. They hit it big with the aforementioned Grammy-winning soundtrack in 1977 and some of the original members are touring to this day.

John Hart Jr., the original keyboard player, attended West Philadelphia High School and remained in Philly until 1978 when he moved to New Orleans. He moved back to West Philly in 1986.

John Hart Jr. died last week at the age of 67. Read his obituary here.

Burn baby Burn.

I’m almost as giddy as the time Santorum was booted!

I talked to my ward leader as to why Dougherty’s name was printed on the sample ballot. His short answer: Dougherty promised that he’d retaliate if he wasn’t. Nice.

I ended up voting for Dicker but am happy that Farnese got it anyway. I don’t know too much about him (does anyone?) but he seems like a good guy. I’m also not too happy with his connection to Fumo though- The front page of today’s paper said Fumo was “holding up Farnese’s arm, boxing-champion style”. I hope he didn’t have the other hand up Farnese back, “puppet style”.

When I went to bed around 10:00 I turned on the news halfway through what I thought was Dougherty’s acceptance speech. It really sounded like one, so I was REALLY bummed. I flipped channels for the next hour until I finally found out the truth. Made me wake up with a smile!

Read the reader comments on my previous post for more info on election day.

This was taken this morning around the corner from my house.
The guy on the left is a volunteer who works every election. He was there when the polls opened and he’ll be there when they close late tonight.

I cast my ballat but I’m nervous. Nervous that Johnny Rotten is going to become my State Senator. Why? Take a look (below) at the official Democratic sample ballot the volunteers hand out to every voter on the way to the booth. Yep. Dougherty’s name is on there. We’ll have to keep a close eye on the polls at closing time. Fingers crossed.

It sure was an exciting three weeks. It almost makes me, gasp, PROUD of my country. Did I just type that? I got to see Chelsea in person last week and was really impressed with her, and the next day I attended the Obama rally in Philly with 35,000 others. By the way, The very lucky Frank has a great story (and video) about the rally over at his site. Definitely take a look.
He also made the front page of Sunday’s Inquirer.

On Saturday my 4 year old and I took the train to central PA. Our train was just ahead of Obama’s so at each we were met with throngs of cheering and waving Obama supporters. My daughter asked, “are those people waiting for that guy who is running away?” (I told her he was running for President).

Finally, if you encounter any polling place shenanigans today Albert has links on where to report them.

(O’Reilly above working for ABC News pre Inside Edition) 

This don’t necessarily reflect Matty Thinman’s views.

ddogg on the pulpit.

Since the shit has hit the fan with ABC being called on its obvious despicable actions on Wednesday night… All of the major broadcast news shows have been using substitutes.  Yes yes… it is a beautiful spring weekend… I got off too.  

This is not just the shamed ABC, but CBS and NBC too.  I have also not seen any television news programming mention the ABC snafu.  We’ll see what happens Sunday.  Who’s calling out sick?

I haven’t seen the cable news, but the snafu is certainly being reported in print.

WTF,  yo?

I am a broadcast-only home.  I expect to trust the news that comes into it for free. You see the reason it’s free is because someone else is paying for it.  I fear that ABC news is on the take and is being pressured by the “owners” of the network.  ABC was my preferred television news organization… They seemed the most trustworthy to me…  although I wouldn’t say that I have trusted them… just most trustworthy in national broadcast.  They’ve had way too many features and too few worldly news… they’ve all become so tabloid.

I think ABC is either up to something, or someone big asked them for a favor.  It seemed soo creepy in realtime.  Awful questions that were declaratory and not one bit interrogative.

I don’t know who is behind it, but I would be heartbroken it’s any company associated with Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  That would just break my heart.  Speculation… obviously.  There’s no way that I could know who or what could pull a mega media’s strings… but I imagine that they’re really important and powerful.

Wouldn’t it be great if it was Satan and his hooves slipped all over the newsroom floor and everyone laughed at him?  Unfortunately Satan is probably not pulling the strings. There’s got to be a record of the planning and decision-making.  Let’s see the brainstorming notes.  This source is not a protected source.

Besides the questions… the cutaway to Nutter’s daughter yawning while Obama was talking was deliberate and just plain mean.  I want to see who made that call… which producer… was he/she asked to look for stuff like that?  Did they tell their cameraman to get the shot?

I loved that Rendell was all slouchy on his cutaway.  I doubt that shot was deliberate… it’s what he really looks like.  That bastard’s on the take with the casinos… but that’s another pulpit.  He’s being a bad man.

I assume they’re all up to some no-good (television media organizations), so they probably don’t really want to report or investigate themselves.  They are kin. 

Shake them out.  We’re mad as hell and we ain’t gonna take it no more.  Just like that.  Isn’t it funny that they really suck that badly… like in that movie (fyi if you don’t get the ref).  How could they not know that they would be caught?  I’ll bet they saw it coming and have 20 moves planned ahead.  Someone should come forward. Steal a memo or something.  Please.

WPVI should make their opinion on the matter known.  Or at least address that so many people and other news sources are upset with their broadcast.

Support the affiliates though… they’re just passing on a feed.  They have rights like states have rights.  If WPVI gets enough complaints about their national network… ABC will have to fess up.  Don’t let them get away with it.  There’s no reason for them to talk to us this way or think they can get away with it.  We’re smarter than they think.

I can’t find any video of it, but there was an interview with Gibson and Stephanopoulos in the WPVI studio.  The lights and filters were set for the local news staff so the two network folks looked out of place and heavily made up.  Gibson and Stephanopoulos stepped out of the national standard definition 4:3 feed into the best studio in town with the best lenses and lighting (so much nicer than that Mente light down the knob).

So Jim Garnder is all excited.  Big event in the city.  It was HIS station’s gig.  Philly was getting national exposure.  He was stoked. He asks them how they thought the debate went.  Gibson is caught off guard.  He can’t answer.  He finally says that he won’t be able to come up with an answer until the next day… while physically stammering and struggling.   The struggle was just subtle body language… but it seemed very off.  Not to be insulting… but he seemed dopey… as if he wasn’t all with it.

Stephanopoulos stepped in to take the damage control.

Gibson may have been shaken up by being heckled at the end of the national broadcast.  He also seemed to insult the affiliate (unknowingly) by acting surprised that WPVI got a round of applause for their part in hosting the debate.  And  He was heckled and the affiliate got applauded so maybe even bitter.

It’s an insult because WPVI is the sweetheart of Philly news.  Action news has remained loyal to its audience.  The magnetic clouds still make their appearance by request.  The Action News opening has been fast paced montages of the community.  They change it up a bit too.  It seems like there’s a new vignette at the opening of every show.

They still host a large number of local shows.  Many of which are produced in the community’s interest.  They had great kids shows back in the day.  A lot of us grew up with Captain Noah and Chief Halftown and Sally Star.  

They are the best station in town (WHYY and WYBE are in a different category).

I have complained to both WPVI and ABC.  I encourage you to do the same.

Links:

Video and link to ABC discussion board.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/16/attention-abc-youre-hurting-america/

Write to WPVI @ 

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/feature?section=resources/inside_station/station_info&id=5770777

Rendell did say Fox News was doing the best job…

Hannity fed Stephanopoulos one of the questions:

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/17/steph-hannity-audio/

Reactions

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So the sun once again shone on Philadelphia. We elected a super mayor. Vince Fumo, the popular but unethical State Senator, decides not to run again due to “health reasons and, oh yeah, a federal fraud investigation.

Awesome. Things are looking great. Come election day we vote for a “change” and elect an honest Senator. Easy. Problem is, the guy who will most likely take his seat is more corrupt than his predecessor.

John Dougherty has a rap sheet longer than a roll of toilet paper. Here’s just a short list of his offenses:

His best friend and partner in crime, Donald “Gus” Dougherty, plans to plead guilty to 98 of 100 federal criminal charges. These include committing tax fraud, bribing a banker, and hiding $869,599 he owed Local 98’s employee benefits fund. More here.

You also may have heard of his other buddy. Fellow Electricians Local 98 and City Council member Rick Mariano. He’s still in jail for bribery.

There’s another big “indiscretion” of his that has also been making the news lately. It’s his stay at a waterfront condo while his home was being renovated and whether he truthfully reported it. The feds are also looking into this case. Big deal? Well, the kicker is that the OWNER of the condo ALSO has a large stake in Foxwoods Casino in South Philly. Ironically, Dougherty heads the Pennsport Civic Association who’s members OPPOSE the casinos. No, that’s not slimy.

According to today’s article in the Inquirer, few insiders will go on record (primarily because they’re afraid of him and his hired goons) but many label him as a ruthless thug. One guy who WILL go on record is Sam Katz. I know I know, he’s a Repub. but I always respected the guy. From the article:

…for Katz, nothing would be more dangerous to the nascent reform movement in Philadelphia than “having in 2008 an elected official named John Dougherty.”

Katz, one of the few critics willing to speak on the record, recalled that during his 1999 and 2003 races against Street, electricians union members had shadowed him and his family, intimidating them and his supporters.

“I understand politics is a pretty rough sport,” he said, “but there were no limits to what they would say. . . . John would rather win an argument with a fist than with an idea, and he doesn’t have any ideas.”

The WORST thing about this jackass? He supported Rick Santorum’s reelection bid in 2006.

He has also picked up the majority of endorsements from city unions and public officials and he’s way ahead in the polls. A LOT of people actually like this guy. My kids’ school is even hosting a wine and cheese meet and greet with him tomorrow night. Wanna come heckle him with me?

Larry Farnese
Anne Dicker

Either of his two opponents have solid platforms but we can’t split our vote. Farnese is the stronger candidate and is in favor of stopping the current casino locations.

John Dougherty is a thug yet he’s running for public office.

A vote for him is a vote for the same old corruption and “politics as usual” in Pennsylvania.

A lot of TECHNO, really.

Classic Detroit techno from Juan Adkins AKA Cybotron AKA Model 500. This is the shit I grew up on. The Electrifying Mojo (an eccentric Detroit radio DJ from the 80s) mixed this stuff with 10 minute versions of Kraftwerk and early, and I mean EARLY Prince.
Ddog is just now delving into this genre and he’s loving it.

Model 500- Nightdrive (thru Babylon) (click to download MP3)

Since I mentioned Mojo you gotta take a listen to one of his show intros. Can’t believe the stuff people post on the net:

The Electrifying Mojo radio show

I don’t know much about them, but this is a killer track from The Touch courtesy of Palms Out Sounds.

The Touch- Le Night Dominator (DJ Assault Remix)

This is definitely NOT techno but it’s on constant rotation- it’s Northern California’s Port O’Brien.

Port O’Brien- I Woke Up Today from The Wind and the Swell in 2007.

Port O Brien - Close The Lid from All We Could Do Was Sing due out May 13.

And what would this post be without some reggae? From the Full Attention riddim, Here’s lover’s rock singer Pam Hall.

Pam Hall- Hold it down

Man I’ve been slacking on the blog lately, and there’s been so many things I want to share bitch about.

This is the reason: I’ve been working on my turning my basement into a den slash shop slash home theatre slash playroom. I started the project in like, September? October?. Maybe even August.

The reason it’s taking so long? I’m doing it all myself. All of it. Well, not entirely by myself- my Dad helps me when he’s in town but it’s a 12 hour drive so he ain’t around too often.

This is an early picture. I, er, WE moved all of the water, gas and HVAC lines that ran across the middle of the room. Then I framed it. We finished the wiring this weekend. It’s gonna be pretty sweet, even though it’s pretty small. The other reason it’s taking so long is that I didn’t do any research before I started. Not that it woulda speeded things up much, but I’m trying to figure things out as I work. NOT a smart way to do a project. No drawings, no idea.

Hey Son. Where do you want the lights?”
“Um, damn. That’s a great question.”

Right now I’m trying to figure out how to hack some Ikea shelves for the entertainment center. In my last house I made them all from scratch and that took half a year itself. (picture below) I’m also trying to read up on Z-Wave RF wireless dimmer wall switches which are supposed to work with Harmony universal remotes. THAT should be cool. If ANYONE can help me out I’d mucho gracos. Online text support is a impossible when trying to describe something beyond a simple one sentence question.

Anyway, bear with me. When I’m finished I’ll post before and after pictures….

By December. I promise.