Inside the Nitrous Mafia, an East Coast Hippie-Crack Ring
Jul 8, 2010 journalism, philly
Interesting article in the Village Voice.
Philly makes a few prominent appearances too…
During these campground events, which last two to four days, the Mafia, which is divided into two rings, based in Boston and Philadelphia, can burn through hundreds of nitrous tanks. With the ability to fill up to 350 balloons per tank, which they sell for $5 and $10, they can bank more than $300,000 per festival, minus expenses.
and
The Philadelphia ring is larger and split up into several sub-crews who know each other but operate independently, says Sean. “The Philly guys are more reckless,” he says, and more prone to violence and intimidation. “They operate without a code of honor. They were the first kids I saw bringing guns to the lots and putting fuckin’ shit to people’s heads.” The Philadelphia don, who owns his own nitrous supply store and has several workers underneath him, is less apt to show up at festivals himself, says Sean. “He’s a fucking nut job,” he adds, noting that even Dmitri is deferential to him.
Plus a scene outside of the Electric Factory covered.
“Mad adrenaline, mad money, mad pussy,” says a Philadelphia nitrous dealer named Beef, explaining why he got into the business. He’s standing outside the Electric Factory, in the club-cluttered Northern Liberties section of the city, near the end of a Wilco show on a Saturday night. Beef is with five of his gang mates; together, they have three watermelon-size tanks stored in Nike gym bags, with reserves stowed inside the trunks of their cars. One of the dealers, an older man who looks to be in his fifties, sits in an illegally parked SUV—a hiding place for tanks in case cops come.
A meter-reader approaches—a black woman, who notices the tanks. Immediately, a tall dealer named Jimmy, who wears a baggy gray sweatsuit and looks like Shaggy from Scooby Doo, diverts her attention. “Damn, what’s a fine-lookin’ girl like you doing as a parking lady?” he asks, approaching her. She smiles, charmed, and leans against the wall next to him. “I just gave out my last ticket,” she says, letting the gang off the hook. Later, Jimmy notices an Electric Factory security director pulling into the parking lot. He is asked whether the director ever puts the kibosh on the nitrous parties. “He works both sides of the fence,” he explains. “Most of the time, he’s cool, but just like women, he wakes up every once in a while with PMS.” (At a later show, on a blisteringly hot day in Baltimore, Jimmy cooled down by emptying the contents of two nitrous balloons directly onto his face. Then he hoisted a clump of black balloons into the air and barked his sales pitch: “Once you go black, you never go back!”)All of the nitrous dealers are civil, with the exception of the older man, who warns against taking photographs. Beef, a husky Italian-American from South Philly, has a tongue ring, a lazy layer of facial scruff, and a pair of young daughters at home. Twenty-four years old, Beef says he operates independently with a couple of associates, who together pocket about $50,000 a weekend in the summertime. He offers a handshake and a free balloon. It produces a pleasant sensation from head to toe.
Nice to see the author of the piece, John H. Tucker, imbibed in the activities to really get an understanding of what all the hype was about. You know, for journalistic purposes…
Here is the YouTube video referred to:
Tags: hippy crack, John H. Tucker, nitrous, nitrous mafia, Village Voice
If you were looking for something to read, may I suggest…
Mar 16, 2010 journalism, storytelling, writing
From NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute:
New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, together with a group of distinguished outside judges, will be selecting The Top Ten Works of Journalism of the Decade in the United States. Ten years ago New York University, using some of the same judges, selected The Top 100 Works of Journalism of the Twentieth Century in the United States.
The eighty works of journalism listed here were nominated by the faculty at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute (with some student suggestions) and by our outside judges, who include: Madeleine Blais (University of Massachusetts), Dorothy Rabinowitz (Wall Street Journal), Morley Safer (60 Minutes), Gene Roberts (University of Maryland), Ben Yagoda (University of Delaware), Eric Newton (Knight Foundation), Ron Allen (NBC), Kathleen Parker (Washington Post), Leon Dash (University of Illinois), Juan Williams (NPR), Ezra Klein (blog, Washington Post), Alex Jones (Shorenstein Center, Harvard), Sylvia Nasar (Columbia), Daisy Hernández (Colorlines) and Greil Marcus (cultural critic).
The full-time faculty and our outside judges are now being asked to vote on these nominees — by March 22, 2010. The “Top Ten” — in order — will be announced on April 5, 2010, at New York University. Please feel free to comment on the nominees and make suggestions. Clicking on a nominee in the list that follows will bring up a short description and a link either to the work or to a discussion of the work.
– Mitchell Stephens, Professor of Journalism, NYU
There’s 80 pieces. Anyone want to split it with me?
We could do something like this guy, who is reading the Best American Short Stories series from 1978- 2009 and blogging about each story. Love it…
Tags: awards, blogging, NYU, short story
C-SPAN’s Online Archive
Mar 16, 2010 journalism, news
C-SPAN plans to announce tomorrow that they have been uploading every minute of video they have from 1987. Around 160,000 hours. They have roughly 10,000 more hours to add between the year 1979 (when the network began) and 1987.
What is going to be key here is the searchability.
From the NYT article:
One of the Web site’s features, the Congressional Chronicle, shows which members of Congress have spoken on the House and Senate floors the most, and the least. Each senator and representative has a profile page.
This is sure to bring a smile to many journalists faces and a frown to many politicians.
The LA Times coverage was a snarky blog post.
Tags: archives, C-Span, LA Times, Mediaite, New York Times, NYT, online archives, video archives
Nick Kristoff: Reporter
Mar 15, 2010 journalism, movies, video
This is what I watched the other night:
I have to say the movie was pretty moving and motivating. To be reminded that when things need to be said and stories need to be told, people should, can and at times actually do listen. And it is important to continue to have people bringing light to issues.
At a time when people are scrambling to figure out the future of journalism, Nick Kristoff is not caught up in that mindfuck but just continuing to report, realizing that regardless of the future journalism model it will still require people to be telling important stories. So he is taking that part of the problem into his own hands. In the same way the movie shows Kristoff realizes the need to draw the human element into caring about stories, he draws one person in to both journalism and stories by bringing along a student.
Interesting because I had just emailed George this the other day.
I like the fact that he didn’t necessarily choose the valedictorian from NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, but almost picked someone unworthy. At various times I have debated entering contests and explaining that “no I’m not so-and-so’s biggest fan, but I would like to win because…” and seeing where that got me. Sounds like this kid did it and won. Certainly made me want to enter the next contest. Do I deserve to win? Probably not. But I am sick of writing about a vapid topic. And I felt inspired to write about something more important. And it just made me want to write more.
Granted, it doesn’t seem like Kristoff has much to worry about as far as job safety when it comes to job security, but there is something romantic and attractive about the possibility of living that sort of life, having that type of career and possibly effecting that type of change.
I also enjoyed the movie for the fact that it offered the visuals for what it takes to put a story, or a story like that, together. You read it in two dimensional black and white in the paper or on a screen, but to see the footwork, the trekking, the interviewing actually taking place, especially with a warlord in a country such as the Congo, was pretty amazing.
Tags: documentary, New York Times, Nick Kristoff, NYT, Reporter
Not that anyone reads magazines…
Mar 12, 2010 journalism, news, storytelling, writing
You should. Just most people don’t.
I had a video heavy posting day the other day and apparently today’s theme is documentaries. I will be posting about the one I watched last night a little later. But to break it up, I wanted to post this year’s ASME’s 2010 National Magazine Awards finalists.
I’m sure most of these can be found online.
(Aka: something to read while at my day job.)
Tags: 2010, 2010 National Magazine Awards, ASME, magazine, National Magazine Awards
2009 Polk Award for citizen journalism?
Feb 19, 2010 journalism, news, video
So the George Polk Awards in Journalism were announced the other day. Amongst the winners for 2009 there was something curious that I had mixed feelings about. The George Polk Award for Videography.
The anonymous individuals responsible for recording the shooting death of 26-year-old Neda Agha-Soltan at a June protest in Tehran, Iran, and uploading the video to the Internet. The video became a rallying point for the reformist opposition in Iran.
Here is the disturbing and horrifically sad video:
Here is the announcement in full:
The George Polk Award for Videography will recognize the efforts of the people responsible for recording the death of 26-year-old Neda Agha-Soltan at a June protest in Tehran, Iran, and uploading the video to the Internet. Ms. Agha-Soltan reportedly was shot by a pro-government militiaman. The video, which shows the woman collapsing to the ground and being attended to by several men as she lay dying on the street, became a rallying point for the reformist opposition in Iran after it was broadcast over the Internet. Seen by millions as it spread virally across the Web, the images quickly gained the attention of international media.
Here’s what I do like: that it is an award to the anonymous AND it is in effect the first time such a prestigious journalism award has been given to a citizen journalist and not a traditional news outlet or journalist. This is high significant and a HUGE leap in what I believe is the right and inevitible new direction we are headed in.
Here’s what I don’t like: it is the equivalent of awarding the winner of America’s Funniest Home Videos the Oscar for Best Picture. There’s no real skill or talent involved. It was just someone in the right place at the right time with a video camera. (This is to take NOTHING away from or to minimize the life and death of Neda Agha-Soltan or to diminish the bravery it to be and film in Iran at that time and under those conditions. I am talking strictly in a journalistic sense.)
I just feel it does a disservice to the title “journalists.” I feel like it does more to further the idea that just because you have a blog, camera and/or video camera that you are a journalist. Granted, armed with these things you have the potential to be a journalist, but the fact you use them and may even occasionally cover or catch real news does not propel you into the field or earn anyone the title of journalist. I think part of the evidence of this mislead belief being a slippery slope is the sheer number of talking heads on television, news programs and news stations that purport to be journalistic in nature or delivering the news when they are really only their to further their own agenda and there is very little legwork if any to uncover the truth. No, even an expensive camera and expensive suit does not make you a journalist.
I was talking with George recently about the National Enquirer being considered for a Pulitzer for their breaking the news about John Edward’s mistress and love-child. Essentially, he pointed out that just because you break a story doesn’t mean that it is journalistic in nature. Yes, he conceded, National Enquirer got the scoop but he felt that eligibility should hinge on more than just that. A Pulitzer was for the gathering of a story, the craft of putting it together and the disseminating of the assembled piece. Which the Enquirer fell short of. I think there’s parallels between this video and the National Enquirer consideration. (Care to weigh in George?)
So what does make someone a journalist? This question will elicit as many different and varied responses as what’s the best ice cream out there? (Ben & Jerry’s Crème Brulée if you really wanted to know the truth.) I think it simply would have to be someone who knows, believes in and adheres to certain practices and standards of the trade with a commitment to pursue and tell the truth. And I think the brave soul who shot this video does not meet this criteria.
So back to the award. While I do think it was a huge and necessary step in the right direction, one that I would rather have and disagree with than not have at all, while I appreciate the sentiment and nod, I can’t help but feel it might of missed its target.
Tags: 2009, awards, George Polk, George Polk Awards in Journalism, Iran, Neda Agha-Soltan, protest, Tehran
Trouble the Water
Feb 6, 2010 journalism, movies, storytelling, video
So better late than never.
I keep watching these docs that are a couple of years old.
But at least I am watching them.
Tonight I checked out Trouble the Water.
Nominated for an Academy Award® for best feature documentary, TROUBLE THE WATER takes you inside Hurricane Katrina in a way never before seen on screen. It’s a redemptive tale of two self-described street hustlers who become heroes-two unforgettable people who survive the storm and then seize a chance for a new beginning.
The film opens the day before the storm makes landfall-twenty-four year old aspiring rap artist Kimberly Rivers Roberts is turning her new video camera on herself and her 9th Ward neighbors trapped in the city. “It’s going to be a day to remember,” Kim declares. With no means to leave the city and equipped with just a few supplies and her hi 8 camera, she and her husband Scott tape their harrowing ordeal as the storm rages, the nearby levee breaches, and floodwaters fill their home and their community. Shortly after the levees fail, their battery dies.
Seamlessly weaving 15 minutes of this home movie footage shot the day before and the morning of the storm with archival news segments and verite footage shot over the next two years, directors Tia Lessin and Carl Deal tell a story of remarkable people surviving not only failed levees, bungling bureaucrats and armed soldiers, but also their own past.
Directed and produced by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal and Executive Produced by Joslyn Barnes and Danny Glover of Louverture Films, edited and co-produced by T. Woody Richman, with addiitonal editing by Mary Lampson, Trouble the Water features an original musical score by Neil Davidge and Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack, and the music of Dr. John, Mary Mary, Citizen Cope, TK Soul, John Lee Hooker, and the Free Agents Brass Band and introduces the music of Black Kold Madina.
The more I read and see about Katrina, the more in awe I become. It also makes me want to learn more about it and the more I seem to learn the more upsetting it gets. Movies like this put real faces on the events and I found Kim and Scott Rivers to be pretty amazing people. Not only did they survive it, but they don’t appear to be broken as a result. Times where I have zero doubt I would lose my patience under the circumstances and impossible conditions of dealing wit a negligent and uncaring government, they retained their dignity and self-respect never stooping to the levels I wanted to even watching from the comfort of my own living room.
I give Kim credit for having the foresight to be taping everything. I give the producers of the documentary credit for showing the human sides of the Rivers and not condoning or denying their character flaws, but by also not turning them into caricatures. The filmmakers also did not miss small but important details that while are not central, are still integral to the story are nonetheless important to the Rivers and what it say about the treatment of the victims of that city and the hurricane. This is a story that should not only be told, but a story that should be heard.
Well done.
Tags: Carl Deal, documentary, hurricane, Hurricane Katrina, Katrina, Kim Rivers, Lousiana, New Orleans, Scott Rivers, Tia Lessin, Trouble the Water
Who Polices the Philadelphia Police?
Feb 4, 2010 journalism, news, philly
I read this cover story by Andrew Thompson in the City Paper today.
Ugh.
I read things like this and similar to my other post about another article, I wonder why I live here. It’s not the fact that it happens but the systematic and system-wide institutional lack of addressing of the problem.
And the thin facade of doing something about the problem, by creating committees and then not holding the people who head these committees responsible for not doing their job of taking a look into these abuses of power.
- The Police Advisory Committee, supposedly and independent body to review disciplinary matters and penalties as well as enforce guidelines, has not released a report since 2004. The executive director since 2005, William Johnson, says this is because, “cannot release any information about an investigation or its conclusion without the consent of the complainant.” Convenient. And ridiculous.
- The governmental counterpart to this, the Integrity & Accountability Office, has not released a report in two years. The head of the agency, Curtis Douglas, claims the reports are “internal to my office, and subject of discussion between the police commissioner and myself.” Convenient. And ridiculous.
- The city’s blatant and repeated refusal to hand over records and documents when asked via right-to-know requests.
(I tried to dig up links, emails and phone numbers for the above people and bodies, but couldn’t locate anything quickly. Feel free to pass any information on.)
Interestingly too, I was curious about the complexities and possible conflicts of writing this, from an editorial standpoint as well as from a journalist’s perspective. The online article directed me to EIC Brian Howard’s addressing of this here. I will probably shoot Thompson an email too about his methodology and process. God knows they don’t teach us shit like this in journalism school at Temple.
I thought the piece was pretty fair. It didn’t condemn all cops or give all complaints merit. But I did think it begged a very poignant question.
After all, Officer Corcoran was not punished for his treatment of Foley in a highly populated area, where his actions were witnessed by dozens of tourists and diners. Just imagine what happens in the city’s darker crevices.
Tags: Andrew Thompson, City Paper, Integrity & Accountability Office, Philadelphia, police, Police Advisory Committee
