type.of.words

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

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

Before Google and GPS

Jan 25, 2010 philly

There were these things.

As usual, I was on the interwebs and looking up pie recipes and the next thing you know I’m looking for old maps of Philadelphia.

I think some of these are pretty interesting.

Philly 1796:

Philly 1842:

Philly 1861 – 1865 Military Map (for Billy):

Phily Wards 1914:

Tags: maps

I wonder if…

Jan 6, 2010 music, philly, video

More Lushlife for Billy.

I wonder if this will get shit on because he is white, dirty, plays the piano, plays the guitar, covers Jay-Z, doesn’t look hip-hop enough, the poor video quality or the poor audio quality.

L

Tags: cover, guitar, Lushlife, piano

Justice: Delayed, Dismissed, Denied

Dec 31, 2009 journalism, philly, video

I know I am not in the majority.
I intentionally have zero plans for New Year’s Eve.
And to make my life even simpler, the internet isn’t working at home.

I will spend my time re-reading this however.
(How you might ask? I have it printed out and on my iPhone.)

In this four part Philadelphia Inquirer series (Courts, Fear, Fugitives, Guns) Craig R. McCoy, Nancy Phillips, and Dylan Purcell address the failed court system and witness intimidation in Philadelphia.
Sad, fascinating, stunning, troublesome.
I am guessing few will spend the time to read it (I think it goes over the popular 140 character limit), which is too bad because it is worth it.

Interesting to also see what kind of multi-media packages newspapers are putting together to save their skin/fight off the inevitable. This one is kind of meh. Idea was good, but there’s some flaws in the execution.

Tags: court system, courts, Craig R. McCoy, Dylan Purcell, Justice: Delayed Dismissed Denied, Nancy Phillips, Philadelphia Inquirer, witness intimidation

Google Zeitgeist results

Dec 3, 2009 etc., philly

Google recently released their annual report on search terms.

Another year has come and gone, and as always, we’re taking a moment to look back at the happenings of 2009—the people, events and memories that made this year unique. Each year, we examine the billions of queries that people around the world have typed into Google search to discover the zeitgeist—the spirit of the times. As we welcome the new year, we hope you enjoy this glimpse at the past.

Not too surprising that the King of Pop was also the King of Google Searches.

What I did think was interesting was what Philly was searching for:

Tags: college, google, report, search, university, Zeitgeist

The Daily Show: NY v. Philly

Nov 3, 2009 philly, video

Thanks Missy.

Tags: NY, philly, The Daily Show

My old boss…

Oct 31, 2009 philly

This saga has been going on for years.

An owner of a defunct Old City internet company pleaded guilty today to fraud and tax charges connected to what federal prosecutors say was a scam that collected up to $75 million in bogus charges from 350,000 small businesses.

I have a million crazy stories from this place.
I always seem to find jobs like that.

Two of the best things in Philly

Oct 29, 2009 philly, video

Tags: 2009, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Phillies, World Series

DJ Jazzy Jeff x Michael Jackson = He’s The King, I’m The DJ Mixtape

Oct 27, 2009 music, philly, video

Download here.

Jeff said he was inspired to do the mixtape after fellow DJ Mick Boogie suggested putting his playlist together as a proper release.

“I did it exactly as I would play it out live,” Jeff explained. “I kind of wanted to give a feel like you heard it in a club. I didn’t necessarily want to go in a certain order, ’cause everybody in the world plays certain Michael Jackson songs. And I wanted to play songs that not everyone plays, play some obscure album cuts. And if you listen to it, I have some a capella and versions of songs that not everyone had heard. So, I kind of wanted to mix it up and keep people off guard. Just give them an example of all that Michael was like.”

“After Mike passed, I really started digging, and I found a bunch of stuff that I didn’t know Mike had, especially with the Jackson 5,” Jeff told MTV News. “He had a whole bunch of albums that go completely past people. I think people just go for [popular songs like] ‘I Want You Back,’ ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’ — and there was a bunch of obscure albums that all had really good stuff on them. Then it was hard, because I wanted to keep it one CD and not make it a Mike anthology. I wanted to just make it something that was entertaining, that you could just play from the beginning to end.”

The 49-song mixtape is sponsored by Undcrwrn apparel and will be available for free download on their site starting Monday (October 26), on the eve of premiere of the concert documentary, “Michael Jackson’s This Is It.” The mixtape cover, featuring an illustrated take on Jeff and Smith’s album He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper, is also printed on a T-shirt from Udrcrwn, retailing for $32.

There has been a recent slew of mixtapes honoring the late, great Michael Jackson. Like  most mixtapes these days, they were either quickly crafted or poorly crafted. All lacked any soul. So it was no surprise that when DJ Jazzy Jeff dropped one, it was going to be worth checking out. It is definitely worth a listen. From less heard joints, to a few remixes and blends, it even has tastefully done cutting and scratching that doesn’t overwhelm the feel or sound. Not surprising considering this is one of the forefathers of DJing. In general, I’m also not a fan of tapes that only have 30 seconds or a minute of a track. I always feel like just as I am getting into a song, it’s completely and abruptly switched up. Jeffrey doesn’t suffer from these same pitfalls. I know it probably sounds like I am doing a review for the mag, but here’s one of the few tapes that I listen to because I want to and not because I have to.
And the cover (done by UNDRCRWN) and title (for you young ‘uns, a play on this, the first rap song to win a Grammy) are great.

Tags: DJ Jazzy Jeff, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Michael Jackson, mixtape, UNDRCRWN, Will Smith