PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY | JUNE 24 – JULY 1, 2021

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FREE | JUNE 24 - JULY 1, 2021

THERAPY,

Interkon: Where New Jersey and Russia meet Philly Punk

INSPIRATION,

Roam, roar, race: A look at ATVs rolling through Philly streets. | Page 14

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FROM THE EDITOR

LET US DRINK SUPPORT GREAT CONTENT T and help us make it. here wasn’t much to smile about gal system less workable — you can’t pick up in 2020. Most changes were for a shipment at the state store when the state the worse, nearly all of them stores are all closed. After the PLCB closed every state store without so much as a board arising out of the COVID-19 panvote, regular consumers got a taste of that demic and subsequent lockdown. headache, too, in trying to navigate an online Along with the wave of illness and death, we saw a steep rise in ordering system for delivery by mail during the pandemic. If you didn’t log on right at heavy-handed governance from midnight, you would find that everything was City Hall and Harrisburg.

But one bright spot, one minor concession sold out. If you did get through, and if the system didn’t crash, you would get your booze in of freedom in an unfree year, was Act 21 of a few days at inflated prices. You could call 2020, which allowed bars and restaurants for curbside pickup, but that required being to sell mixed drinks to-go. It was a small but lucky enough to have your call get through. valuable concession to struggling businessMost people heard busy signals for es laid low by social distancing rea while and gave up. quirements. The change, though Privately owned liquor stores in always intended to be temporary, New Jersey and Delaware remained was the latest in a series of minor open much in the way supermarimprovements to Pennsylvania’s kets here in Pennsylvania did, but outdated regulation of alcohol. the state liquor monopoly here Naturally, they took it away as took months to reopen its doors. So soon as they could. to-go cocktails became the one conThe Pennsylvania Liquor Concession to the “new normal” that trol Board (PLCB) occupies an outactually benefited the consumer in sized place in the lives of average Pennsylvania. In every other way, Pennsylvanians. It was born in an the liquor bureaucrats used the awkward compromise: when Proemergency to seize more power and hibition ended in 1933, the state do less work. government saw that it had to allow That sort of glacial pace is typpeople to drink again, but wanted to ical of state-run enterprises, but make that process as difficult and @KYLESAMMIN the PLCB manages to move quickly expensive as possible. In the PLCB, when it comes to taking away peothey succeeded. The state gave them ple’s rights. As soon as the legislature enda monopoly on the sale of wine and liquor ed the state of emergency, the liquor police along with a mandate to make sure not too sprang into action. many people were drinking it.

They had the power to do so under the strict To work for the PLCB is, to paraphrase H.L. terms of Act 21, but let’s talk for a moment Mencken, to have the haunting fear that someabout how stupid this law is. Thirty-three one, somewhere, may be tipsy.

Often, anger at bureaucratic agencies is states allow to-go cocktails and there seems to be no ill effect on public order as a result. And misplaced. The law they enforce might be unwhy should there be? If I wanted to get drunk popular, even unjust, but they did not write in public, I could easily and legally buy a botthe law themselves. The PLCB, in theory, only tle of cheap whiskey from the state store. Or carries out the will of the state legislature. drink at a bar until I was falling off the stool.

But history has shown that, in fact, the agenBut a cocktail to go? That would loose anarchy cy regularly oversteps its legal authority to upon the commonwealth, I guess. make drinking alcohol more onerous in PennAt least some of our representatives in Harsylvania. Even as Act 21 was passing swiftly through the state House and Senate last year, risburg agree that this is absurd. House Bill 1154, which would make permanent the temthe PLCB was the subject of a judicial repriporary measures for to-go cocktails, passed mand for refusing to follow a 2016 law that althe state House by a lopsided 187 to 14 vote. lowed restaurateurs to order out-of-state wine But it passed the Senate by just one vote with directly from suppliers instead of requiring it changes that require the House to concur. to be shipped to state stores.

Hopefully, those minor changes don’t derail a The state Supreme Court affirmed that rulgood law. And hopefully the PLCB will actualing earlier this year, noting that the PLCB’s ly follow the law, this time, once it is passed. pandemic response made their already ille-

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PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY | JUNE 24 - JULY 1, 2021

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STATE STATEOF OFOUR OURCITY CITY

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STATE

New band,

“The creative arts sector is a time tested and well-documented economic engine for our City which supports thousands of local jobs. With over $1 billion available to us from the American Rescue Plan, I believed a $45 million fund was well worth the investment to ensure the sector remains a vital pillar of our economy in the years to come. Despite the setback, I will continue to be an advocate for our local creative economy and seek alternative ways to deliver support in their time of need.”

New Philly band Sharing Contest – Alex Fichera and Sam Ansa – released its first single recently and is following with an EP called "Slumber" on July 2. The group also has plans for a release of cassette tapes through Nap Time Records and is planning to film a music video.

The tracks will be released on all streaming platforms under the name Sharing Contest. Want to learn more? Follow Sharing Contest on Instagram and like them on Facebook.

Philadelphia Weekly Holdings, Ltd. 1520 Locust Street, suite 501 Philadelphia, PA 19102 215-543-3743

Philadelphiaweekly.com @phillyweekly JUNE 24 - JULY 1, 2021 | PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY

Dan McDonough, Jr. Chairman & Publisher Anthony Hennen Executive Editor

CITY

HE SAID IT:

new music

Dope Shows to host performance

OF OUR

– Councilmember David Oh, after his proposal to restore City funding for the arts and establish a new $45 million creative arts economy fund was defeated in Council’s Committee of the Whole session.

The Philadelphia-based concert series Dope Shows will host its first live show of the year July 16 at the Mann Center. This celebration of arts and urban culture will include performances from hip-hop artists like Chicago’s own Lil Durk. A portion of the ticket proceeds will go to some great causes in Philly.

Tickets go on sale June 5 and can be purchased at dopeshowsonline.com. Visit Dope Shows on Instagram for more information.

Image | Von Cabando

John Montesano Art Director

Kyle Sammin Senior Editor

Alan Bauer Managing Editor

Contributors: A.D. Amorosi, A. Benjamin Mannes,Jesse Bunch, Paul Davis, Timaree Schmit, Ryan K. Smith, Stu Bykofsky, Eugene Zenyatta.

Intern: Genevieve Wittrock

To contact the news department: mail@philadelphiaweekly.com.

Ed Lynes Chief Revenue Officer Stephanie Hawkins Michael Chambers Controller Director of Circulation Signature Supporter: Ted Kazantzis

To purchase advertising in Philadelphia Weekly, contact Sales at 215-543-3743, ext. 104, or sales@philadelphiaweekly.com.

CRIME BEAT

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Image | Thomas Def

THE REAL

Sopranos Giovanni Rocco talks life inside the mafia

“G

iovanni’s Ring: My Life Inside the Real Sopranos,” written by Giovanni Rocco with Douglas Schofield, covers the true story of a former FBI undercover operative and his successful infiltration of the DeCavalcante Cosa Nostra crime family.

Rocco was a New Jersey police officer assigned to an FBI task force that focused on nailing Charlie Stango, one of the DeCavalcante family’s top captains. For two and a half years, Rocco penetrated the mob using the undercover name Giovanni Gatto. His undercover life ended in 2015 with the arrest of Stango and nine other mobsters.

I reached out to Rocco and asked him if the real New Jersey mobsters he encountered were anything like the TV gangsters “The Sopranos,” which was based reportedly on the DeCavalcante crime family.

“Inside the real world of the mafia, there are no ‘second takes or re-dos’ like on TV,” Rocco replied. “If you do not get it right the first time, there may not be another tomorrow for you. But I think the ‘Sopranos’ TV series depicted a genuine look into the life of the Italian American mafia and had several similarities to the DeCavalcante crime family.

“The DeCavalcante crime family is one of the oldest Italian American crime families in the United States based out of North Jersey,”

al marshal and assigned to a DEA task force to Rocco explained. “Because of the close proxinvestigate narcotics violations and trafficking imity to New York City, they can be overshadowed by New York’s traditional five families, organizations within the U.S. and internationally,” Rocco said. “Eventually, I joined the FBI but that doesn’t mean they do not hold their task force and trained to be a certiown among the other families. fied FBI undercover employee.”

They are a very close-knit organiI asked Rocco if his undercover zation with old school Cosa Nostra work brought him in contact with beliefs with a strong propensity the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra crime for violence. Their reputation as family. such is the reason the other fami“Because Stango was my capo lies respect and have been known and I reported directly to him and to contract out work to them, such spoke on his behalf, I was exposed as extortions, murders, and other to individuals within all the major rackets.” crime families. On occasion, I met Rocco said Stango and Luigi Olwith or was introduced to members iveri, two of his targets, were comof the Philly/South Jersey crime mitted to life inside the DeCavalcafamily,” Rocco recalled. nte family.

Rocco said he participated in the “They are two generations of the investigation of Nicky Scarfo Jr. crime family who both grew up in and Salvatore Pelullo in a financial Elizabeth, N.J. They both value the fraud scheme that netted millions old-school mafia beliefs and live PAULDAVISONCRIME.COM of dollars illegally. Pellullo and by the code of Omerta. Oliveri and Scarfo, whose father, Nicky Scarfo other defendants in the case were Sr., was the former mob boss of sentenced and served time, and Philadelphia, were sentenced to 30 years in Stango is currently serving his 10-year senprison for racketeering, securities and wire tence in federal prison.” fraud, and other charges related to the 2007 Rocco began his law enforcement career in illegal takeover of FirstPlus Financial Group 1990 as a patrolman. He later worked as a deInc. tective in a Vice/Gambling Unit investigating “I was also part of the investigation surorganized crime and then worked in a narcotrounding the witness cooperation of Nicholas ics and major case unit.

‘Nicky Skins’ Stefanelli, who had wired up “I was then deputized as a special U.S. feder-

PAUL DAVIS

against significant Philly crime figures such as Joe Merlino, Joe Ligambi, Anthony Staino and others before Stefanelli ultimately murdered another witness and took his own life rather than going into the witness protection program,” Rocco said.

I asked Rocco if there was a time he was concerned about his life while undercover.

“I was concerned for my life every single day I lived the life inside the mafia,” Rocco said.

“I knew that Stango had prior convictions for murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

The stress of being discovered as an infiltrator, crossing the wrong person, or worst, being accused of being an informant or rat, was constant.”

I asked Rocco what he thought of Philadelphia.

“Philadelphia is a city rich with history, culture and a feeling of constant growth. Its residents are dedicated, hard-working and passionate,” Rocco said.

“It is a city with many similarities to the neighborhoods I remember growing up in the Hudson County area of N.J. Their pride in the city and the close-knit feeling the residents still have in their neighborhoods may contribute to making Philadelphia stand out as the great city.”

Paul Davis’ Crime Beat column appears here each week. He can be contacted via pauldavisoncrime.com.

PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY | JUNE 24 - JULY 1, 2021

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FEATURED

Interkon is everything from the late 1990s and early 2000s you wish you had now.

The band has more new music and live appearances planned for this summer. Image | Daytodaychase

PHILADELPHIAWEEKLY.COM @PHILLYWEEKLY

Philly group is a band for both the sinless and sinful

MEET INTERKON

JUNE 24 – JULY 1, 2021 | PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY

FEATURED

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M

Shep, JOZIE and Kult, collectively known as Interkon, are on a mission to change the music industry. Their debut single, ‘Wait For Me,’ dropped earlier this month. Image | Daytodaychase

eet Interkon: It’s where New You just released your debut single, Jersey and Russia meet Philly “Wait For Me.” Talk a little about how Punk. the song came about, in terms of both the Interkon is everything from writing and production processes. How can the late ’90s and early 2000s you people hear it? wish you had now. Made up of “Wait For Me” was one of those tracks that three engineers and producers, just came together with ease. Kult locked Shep, JOZIE and Kult, the band is genreless as himself in a room at Obsidian (our studio) for it puts a unique spin on new wave Alternative somewhere between six to eight hours, then Punk and Pop-Grunge Rock. showed Shep and I the track later that night.

Growing up on bands like Nirvana, System We ended up writing and recording it in about of the Down, Rage Against the Machine, and two hours. While Shep and I were recording Mötley Crüe, the guys want to have the same each other, Kult would plug in and work on effect and artist to fan relationship on people mixing the instrumental while we were in the as bands did on them. They want their fans to recording process. feel therapy, inspiration, and nostalgia.

A day later, we finished the track and knew Now the world can hear Interkon. On June it was the beginning of our new sound. Kult 4, the band released its debut single, had a dream about the song prior “Wait For Me,” a track about selfto making it, so we’re pretty sure love and putting yourself first. his soul is in a contract now, but in

BY EUGENE Coming out of Philadelphia, the terms of writing the lyrics, Shep ZENYATTA three band members say they are on and I just tapped into each other’s a mission to change the industry in feelings and had a vent session a positive way. They are a band for through our music. We go back the people – for the misfits, for the lovers, for and forth off each other every time we write/ the sinless, and for the sinful. Originally from record. So we tend to finish things faster and New Jersey and Moscow, Russia, they have deeasier when writing/recording together. “Wait voted themselves to music to do what it takes For Me” is out now on all major platforms – to be able to share their craft with the world.

Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon music, SoundWhen shooting for the “Wait For Me” visuCloud, Bandcamp, Audius – and the music vidal, it was nothing but creativeness and chaos. eo is out on YouTube It is your classic ”backyard punk,” “girl next Now that the single is out, what’s ahead door” style, but with an Interkon touch. Shot for Interkon?

by Daytodaychase and DiJawn, the video was Now that the single is out, we’re ready to recorded at a buddy’s house in Morrison, New release some more music. We have two more Jersey, where hometown friends came out to singles planned and possibly an album for this be a part of it. The video shows the liveliness summer. Live shows are coming back, so we’re and passion Interkon is all about. planning on playing as many shows as we can PW recently caught up with JOZIE to talk to build that real relationship with our fans. about the new music and the plans Interkon We want to be that band for the people. We has for the future. want our music to be able to heal, inspire, and Let’s go back to the beginning. How did help people of all ages.

Interkon come about? When and why did Are there any local artists you’d like to you decide to get together to make music? collaborate with in the future?

Interkon came about through manifestaThere’s no one in Philly that we’re aware tion. Shep and I had been working together of, yet, doing what we’re doing. We are always a few years prior when a friend reached out down to collab with artists on the same wave and said a friend of his (Kult) was looking for as us, whether it’s the same genre or not. a vocalist for a new project. Kult is from RusSomeone we do want to collab with on a larger sia, but was living in Florida at the time. Shep scale would be YungBlud, out of the UK. and Kult organized a weekend to meet up and What are the best ways for your fans to work on music, and that’s when the three of stay current with what you’re doing? us clicked. During that first weekend working Instagram and YouTube are our most up to together, we finished about seven tracks in the date/active platforms to follow us on. But we course of two to three days, and we just knew are also on Facebook, Twitter, Bandcamp, etc. we were all meant to work together. Our work For links to music, social media and more, visflow matched, our drive was all there, and it linktr.ee/interkon. most importantly, we all shared the same energy and goal. Which was/still is, to have fun making the music we want to make to help impact fans the exact same way we were impacted by our music idols growing up.

PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY | JUNE 24 – JULY 1, 2021

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MUSIC

PHILADELPHIAWEEKLY.COM @PHILLYWEEKLY

g n o r t s l l i St s r a e y 0 3 r e t af New music, shows mark Punch Drunk’s anniversary

Philly cyberpunk band Punch Drunk is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a new double single and EP. Image | Courtesy of Punch Drunk

JUNE 24 – JULY 1, 2021 | PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY

MUSIC

PHILADELPHIAWEEKLY.COM @PHILLYWEEKLY

Punch Drunk is eager to perform in front of live audiences again.

They’ll be adding a drummer, continuing with their costuming and visuals, and performing new songs and some ‘classics’ too.

Image | Courtesy of Punch Drunk

P

formed with a number of well-known acts in hilly band Punch Drunk reits early years. cently released a new double Saputelli and Skerchok met in the Philadelsingle and will be dropping an phia underground punk scene of the late ‘80s, EP to celebrate its 30th anniand after working together in an electro metversary. The single “I, Ego” al band called NEVER, they formed Punch came out June 18 on BandDrunk. camp and Spotify, After nearly appearing as a side and will be followed by a new vidBY: EUGENE stage act on a leg of Lollapalooza eo and six-song EP entitled “Crash ZENYATTA in ’94 they were suddenly “derezzed Method” later this summer. by the Master Control Program.”

Developed in the early ‘90s, But in ’98, they performed a soldthey’ve recently rebooted, maintainout reunion show, and in 2002 a collection of ing their distinct but updated sound of “hu14 songs from their EPs and cassettes entitled manoid experience cyberpunk, bionic hard“Upload the Past, Download the Future” was core and sci-fi electronic industrial metal” as released on Floating Fish Media with internaonly they could create. tional distribution.

For 2021, Punch Drunk plans to release sinNow in the present and on their 30th annigles, EPs and videos from their “Crash Methversary, they announced a new single with od” sessions of songs written from 2019 to the more music and video to come, and have been present. Plus, a return to the live stage is also programmed to perform on stage once again. programmed into their operating system.

PW recently caught up with Saputelli to Punch Drunk – Steve Saputelli, Scott Skertalk about the anniversary and new music. chok, Eriq Ellixson and Jeff Winner – per-

Punch Drunk is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Talk a little about how the band was formed and how the group and the music have evolved over the years.

I was introduced to Scott Skerchok by Philly punk legend and close friend Brubaker (R.I.P.) around 1991, saying “You guys will make beautiful music together.” In our earliest form sitting on the floor of my studio apartment with our music equipment and noise-making gear, we learned digital sequencing and sampling.

At first, we collaborated with local band Deadspot in a project called Never. It was short-lived, so we decided to start our own band. Building a sound from punk, metal and new wave, along with mysticism and esoterica, the songs and aesthetic became self-propelled after we added themes from sci-fi movies like “Tron,” “Terminator,” “Robocop” and “Lawn Mower Man.” We took it up a notch by bringing in Eriq Ellixson and Jeff Winner, who helped expand our theatrical and performance art – also giving us a presence online in the early days of the web, special effects, and contributing music ideas, as we pushed for an over-the-top hyperactive, quirky and intense sound. We went from heckles and clearing out rooms to endearing ourselves to audiences who began to appreciate our efforts, responding in a “What is this? I don’t know, but it’s fun!” kind of way.

Our first show was at Silk City Lounge in 1991, making this our 30th anniversary. It was hosted by Kathy Hughes, who later opened Tattooed Mom’s on South Street.

Punch Drunk has evolved by gaining musicianship and production skills. We are writing with a more solid dance groove under metallic guitar production. We have also remained loyal to our caustic fast tracks that are part of our classic sound.

I wrote about technological salvation versus its dystopian prospects, and sang about illumination, stimulation overload and my personal experiences. Today, I find inspiration that adheres to our band concept about Algorithmic Destiny, Deep Fakes and Virtual UNReality.

How has the Philadelphia music scene changed over the years? Are there any current artists you’d like to collaborate with?

The underground music scene declined for a while, and although they’re great, it seemed DJ nights replaced live band performances, but with a return to venues hosting more local bands again and combining the two into one event.

I do miss the camaraderie of the old days.

Now, it’s splintered with multiple events of

9

the same genre happening across town on the same night, by separate groups of people in their own crowd. But you’ll always meet amazing and talented people in Philly if you go out, support and take part.

We would like to collaborate with local artists for remixes of our songs, otherwise we’re a self-contained act, but we are open to it!

You’re releasing a new double-single and EP. Can you talk a little about how both the single and EP came about? When do you think they will be released, and what will be the best way for your fans to access the music?

Having all stayed good friends over the long hiatus, in 2019 we suddenly began making new Punch Drunk music like a mysterious force sparked us back into action.

Ideas were circulating between Scott and I, and they grew across Google Drive during the lockdown. The single “I, Ego” had many versions, but we hung in there because it felt like a merging of our older and newer styles, plus the lyrical concept of an artificial intelligence transcending its ego in an encrypted status update worked perfectly.

Our new single and EP will be on Bandcamp and Spotify. The double single was released on June 18.

You’ve performed with Godflesh, Ween, KMFDM, Machines of Loving Grace, Cop Shoot Cop, Consolidated and many more during your most active period of the early ‘90s, as one of the first cyberpunk acts to exist. You’ve also headlined popular Philly venues like The Trocadero and The Khyber. Are you eager to get back on stage, now that the pandemic is easing? What will your fans experience when Punch Drunk once again takes the stage?

As a musician and contributor in other live acts, I am eager to get back on stage, and Punch Drunk hasn’t performed since 1998, so we are looking forward to playing again.

I am hoping Philly venues can rebound soon and am sympathetic to the ones that struggled or closed during the pandemic. There is no streaming show or Zoom jam that can compare to the live show experience.

We are adding a live drummer for our return to the stage, continuing with our costuming and visuals, performing new songs and some “classics” too!

What’s ahead for Punch Drunk in the coming months and years?

After our double single, we will release a six-song EP. After that, we’ll release another single and EP. We are making music videos and will book some shows into next year.

We’ll continue to create into the future, even if we slightly stray from the sound and aesthetic, maintaining what makes a track sound like us, although I don’t think we’re allowed to “mellow out!”

What are the best ways for your fans to stay current with what Punch Drunk is doing?

Follow us on Instagram, Bandcamp and Facebook.

PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY | JUNE 24 – JULY 1, 2021

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VOICES

OF OUR

REAGAN OVERDUE FOR LIBERTY MEDAL

It is time for the annual award of the Liberty Medal at Philadelphia’s Constitutional Center on July 4th. But for fair-minded objective individuals, a hollowness, a chasm of cosmic disbelief will forever tarnish its intrinsic worth and integrity by the failure or reluctance to award this medal to Ronald Reagan for his singular diplomatic and strategic measures that brought about the demise of the former Soviet Union and the freedom of eastern Europe. Tantamount to the raw politicization that denied Ronald Reagan the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mikhail Gorbachev, who had to be dragged into a realistic appraisal of his country’s brutal history, third-world economy, technological backwardness and lack of academic and journalistic freedom, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by that crew of myopic hypocritical trolls in Oslo.

Arthur Schlessinger, author of the multi-volume hagiography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a man whose very countenance was the incarnation of liberal smarm, was summoned from obscurity by the biased liberal media to trash Reagan’s historical triumph, and seriously, incredulously state that the reluctant communist Mikhail Gorbachev be given the Nobel Peace Prize.

Even the Russians were perplexed by the failure of America’s pseudo-intellectuals to give Reagan credit for that unparalleled diplomatic coup of the 20th century. It can be summed up in two words: Reykjavik and SDI. But as Harry Truman stated: “professional liberals are intellectually dishonest.”

Edmond Morris, in his excellent biography of Reagan, which I would highly recommend to any open-minded college students who can think for themselves, recounts statements made at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Conference held at Hofstra University in 1992, which scholars from the former Soviet Union attended.

One Genrikh Trofimenko, former advisor to Leonid Brezhnev and U.S. expert at the Soviet Academy of Sciences, strongly stated that “Ronald Reagan was tackling world gangsters of the first order of magnitude. Ninety-nine percent of the Russian people believe that you won the Cold War because of your President’s insistence on SDI. Yet the greatest flimflam man of all time, Mikhail Gorbachev, was

made the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.”

Who decides the granting of Philadelphia’s Liberty Medal? Who appoints them? Are they fairly representative of the values and aspirations of the citizens of the United States?

Predictively, in 2008 they gave the Liberty Medal to Gorbachev. Oh really? He would subsequently state that he still considered himself a socialist. His repressive brand of socialism mandated the total control of the life of a Russian, politically, economically and spiritually, etc.; this included the imprisonment of dissidents in mental institutions with no legal redress.

In 2006, Bill Clinton and George Bush were awarded the Liberty Medal. How vague and insubstantial were the reasons for this bequeathal. They were recognized for their bipartisan humanitarian efforts on behalf of victims of natural disasters in Southeast Asia and the Gulf Coast. Wouldn’t any other president have done the same? What did that have to do with freedom?

In 2003, Justice Sandra Day O’Conner was awarded the Liberty Medal. Only a reclusive hermit in a cave could not grasp this was a political decision based on Roe v. Wade. A prior decision based on a lie. How ironic that this medal was awarded for upholding the denial of the most ultimate freedom of all, the freedom to be born. It goes against the grain of the very soul of a nation.

Did Justice Anthony Kennedy’s “advancement of the cause of civic education” in 2019 in any way approach Reagan’s achievement?

In 1997, they gave the Liberty Medal to the International Cable News Network, CNN, whose political bias and disinformation has risen to the pathological.

No one could reasonably deny the merit of awarding this Liberty Medal to Kim Dae Jung of the Republic of Korea in 1999, Vaclav Havel of Czechoslovakia in 1994 or Nelson Mandela and F.W. De Klerk of South Africa in 1993.

Considering the subject matter of this article, only an amnesiac could fail to grasp the irony of that 1993 decision.

Until the surviving children of Ronald Reagan stand in the Constitution Center near Independence Hall and accept this medal posthumously on behalf of their father, it ultimately will not be worth the increasingly corrosive content from which it is being created.

RUSSELL SATTERTHWAIT | LANSDALE

JUNE 24 – JULY 1, 2021 | PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY

CITY

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THE SHOUT OUT

Singer Macy Gray last week called for a new American flag.

Your turn: Should Old Glory be retired, or should we stick with our current flag?

Send your thoughts to voices@philadelphiaweekly.com

VOICES OF OUR CITY

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PUSHING NURSES’ LIMITS AFFECTS PATIENT SAFETY “Thank you, healthcare heroes!”

That is the sign I encounter from hospitals and businesses on almost every other block in the city. However, these thank yous feel so empty when our hands are still so full. It is difficult to believe these thank yous when hospitals keep expecting overworked and understaffed nurses to take care of more and more patients in one shift.

In a year where nurses and healthcare workers have been acutely overwhelmed by a ravaging pandemic, the chronic issue of overworked and understaffed hospital units remains. Nurses are expected to stick their necks out to take care of a greater number of patients.

The feeling of being overwhelmed by unsafe patient-to-nurse ratios is more than palpable in Philadelphia’s hospitals. One nursing colleague of mine, C.L., recalls, “There were days after shifts I would get into the car and hope that I would get into an accident so I wouldn’t have to go to work. That’s how bad it was.”

Like so many nurses, C.L. felt that the increased patient load was unsafe for both her

and her patients. With the increased demands of a larger patient volume, there was no way to fit in all the checks and balances that ensure safe patient care. “I was scared I was going to lose my license, with all of the corners we had to cut.”

Another nurse I have worked with, O.M. describes his 12-hour shift, “I would sometimes have to take seven or eight patients. My main goal for them was quickly giving medications and making sure everyone was stable. They were being checked on less than eight times a shift!”

What if your family member developed a pressure ulcer from not being checked on or being turned? According to O.M., “I know [patients] were not being changed. You would get the patient at change of shift, baths and turns weren’t done and no one was afraid to admit it! People were still incontinent for who knows how long!” This nurse’s comment is supported by the numerous studies that have demonstrated that as the number of patients per nurse increases, there is an increased risk of patient safety events, morbidity, and even

mortality.

To combat the abysmal nurse-to-patient staffing standards, some healthcare systems in Philadelphia resorted to more extreme measures, such as assigning patients to nurses who have been out of practice for several years.

Often, this doubled the workload of the regular nursing staff on the floor. In addition to having to take care of an increasing number of patients in one shift, they also needed to help a nursing supervisor or retired nurse who had been out of clinical nurse practice.

The most difficult aspect of managing these unreasonable patient assignments is that most nurses do not even realize how unsafe these conditions are.

“You don’t realize what you’re doing to yourself until you’re out of it.” If they are aware of these unrealistic patient assignments, they often feel powerless in being able to change them.

So, it is up to us, everyday people and users of healthcare, to stand up for the nurses who work 24/7 to keep us healthy. Pennsylvania

legislators are aware of this issue and have proposed House Bill 106 and Senate Bill 240 to protect nurses and require safe staffing levels.

The bill seeks to set a fixed nurse-to-patient staffing standard based on patient acuity levels.

The bill also seeks to put protections in place for nurses to contest unsafe patient assignments.

If we do not take care of our nurses and nursing support staff, who will take care of our most sick and most vulnerable? How can we expect them to take care of our families and friends if these protections are not in place?

To ensure the health and safety of all Pennsylvanians, we need the Patient Safety Act, as proposed by the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association, SEIU, PASNAP, and Nurses of PA. Contact your legislators and the chairs of the PA House Health Committee, Kathy L. Rapp and Dan Frankel, today and tell them they need to move this bill to vote.

This bill cannot be tabled. Lives cannot be tabled.

Melanie Mariano is a clinical nurse on the floors at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and recent family nurse practitioner graduate from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

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PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY | JUNE 24 – JULY 1, 2021

12

GOSSIP

PHILADELPHIAWEEKLY.COM @PHILLYWEEKLY

COCKTAILS TO-GO GO End of takeout drinks another blow to restaurants

BY A.D. AMOROSI

ICEPACK

Image | Kike Salazar N

JUNE 24 – JULY 1, 2021 | PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY

O

f course the Sixers lost. But you knew that would happen.

That Ben Simmons would fail in the fourth quarter. That’s over though. Celebrating towering Sixer Tyrese Maxey and not-somuch Simmons AND definitely not $35,000 man Joel Embiid – no matter what happened with Game 7 – should be a big, bright idea citywide, going forward. Please.

Billboards. Top of PECO Building light display. Sandwich specials named after him at Schlesinger’s.

I remind you of this because Philly (or at least its severely shortsighted team managers and owners) have a thing for forgetting the real true heroes of the game, the cats who got the jobs done. Like QB Nick Foles, who actually won a Super Bowl for the Eagles, as opposed to Carson Wentz, who touted his SB ring, and turned into a do-nothing dickwad for most of the rest of his time in Philly. Foles got the big game’s MVP then went on to start only five games the next season. Wentz? He whined until he got traded to the Colts. So, Michael Rubin: make a big thing of Maxey so that he

doesn’t pull a Foles and opt out of his contract for lack of play. Leave the bellyaching excuses to Embiid and the lameness to Simmons.

(Speaking to my aforementioned point: 6ers coach Doc Waters was a prick for not starting Maxey. Dummy). And remember the words of Deadspin’s Bryan Fonseca, who last week wrote, “The Sixers chose Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris, and Brett Brown over Jimmy Butler in 2019 and now they’re living with the result.”

Cocktails to-go ends The close of last weekend’s all-together too-sudden end of to-go cocktails and outdoor-dining drinks in PA (any end to drinking outdoors, really) is not only a kick in the rubber parts to an industry all-but decimated by the pandemic, but just a stupid set of moves when it comes to keeping restaurants busy, profiting and getting their taxes to the state and city’s Caesars. Making cocktails-to-go a permanent fixture, with Gov. Wolf’s hello? I’ll drink to that. Maybe not outdoors, but…

Lucy Dracus music Virginia native-turned-Philadelphia house hopper Lucy Dracus not only just dropped my single of the summer with “Brando,” she’s

also got a shimmering, matching album to go with it, in “Home Video,” and will hang out at Repo Records on June 25 at 5:30 signing copies and hanging tough-but-tenderly. By the way, the Dacus meet-and-greet comes just weeks after Philly expat Michele Zauner’s Japanese Breakfast album release signing and shaking (hands), making Repo THE place to be for indie label industry slogs and snogs and such.

New restaurant Speaking of Zauner (kind-of) 13th Street Kitchens’ (Kensington Quarters, Prohibition Taproom) Michael and Jeniphur Pasquarello are setting up the Spring Garden neighborhood for the August reopening of Union Transfer (with its handful of sold-out Japanese Breakfast shows), by opening the long-discussed La Chinesca. The Mexicali-inspired restaurant with the SoCal touches and Chinese spices popped its top at the weekend with Nicholas Bazik, (13th Street Kitchens’ culinary CEO) and ex-CookNSolo chef David Goody as La Cinesca’s executive chef.

‘Old’ from M. Night Shyamalan Anyone keeping track of Philly auteur M. Night Shyamalan’s spring shooting sched-

PHILADELPHIAWEEKLY.COM @PHILLYWEEKLY

GOSSIP

ule along 22nd & Rittenhouse/Spruce/Pine/ day.” Burse also learned additional skills to Fitler Square for Apple TV+’s “Servant” sefurther his visual art. ries should not bother with their usual star “I created a three-piece multimedia project, fucking or Night sighting this week. During one element of the project being a coffee table his end-of-Tribeca Film Festival sit-down the book, which I’d never done, but spent a good other night, Shyamalan stated that this end-ofweek researching how to create.” This projJune week is Hell week for “Old,” his upcomect came as a result of a grant Burse received ing scary ageing drama as he is looking for its from Black Music City: to create a piece of art real denouement, what he called “its minor paying homage to a local Black musician. note.” Considering that the show’s tropical “We chose Bilal and his song ‘Soul Sista.’ holiday horror epic, his first not to be shot in The entire project (music video, photos in the the Philly area, is due book) were all done on to screen in theaters the iPhone12. I learned Image courtesy of Zeek Burse (no streaming for this how to edit both the one, folks) starting music video and the July 23, that’s cutting photos, and to be clear, it very close. this is 32 different More restaurant women of color having news their own photoshoots, One point lost in at 32 different times at the overall coverage, 32 different locations last Friday, of Conaround the city! It was nie’s Ric Rac closing to celebrate the beau(end of an era DIY ty, resilience, strength punk rock stuff) and and courage that they South Philly Barbabring to the world.” coa Christina MartiBurse’s impression nez and Ben Miller’s of the mask for C-19 takeover of the Ric safety, then not wearRac for the purposes ing one presently, of a liquor license for comes with a surpristheir lamb tacos and ing response. “I knew consommé is what the day that we’d bewould happen to its gin to ‘unmask’ would current hot spot at come... but because I, 1140 S. 9th St., the like so many others, Ellsworth corner of have had ‘always wear the Italian Market. a mask’ inundated into Miller told me that our psyche, I’m finding rather than get rid of myself having to reits current home, the assure my inner self, twosome was keeping that it’s now safe – to that address as well, a certain degree – and bum to go and together with their other restaurant, Casa even relatively common to not wear a mask.

It’s a bit of a mind trip. When I first heard we ang out at Mexico on the block, would make for one long were being encouraged, then required to wear ing copies separate but equal space, and a genuine dymasks, the first thing I thought of was, ‘How y the way, nasty expansion, involving tradition and tranam I going to work-out at the gym or sing?’ ust weeks sition. So bully to that.

Perform through that? Then again, I have Japanese Masked Philly: Zeek Burse d shaking In Icepack’s continuing saga of asking always been a bit of a germaphobe, so even having to breathe my own air back in fucked be for in- mask-donning local celebrities what they’ve with my head a bit. I’m taking the unveiling, nd such. been up to, beyond the pale, during C-19 – from lockdown to the current reopening and presdepending on the environment, one step at a time.” (Burse’s mask comes courtesy designer 3th Street ent-day unmasking – I reached out this week Capri Lewis and N-Dowd, ndowd.com) rohibition to Zeek Burse.

Along with the upcoming coffee table book, Pasquarel- This Philadelphia griot, model and humanBurse also just partnered with LIFEWTR and en neigh- itarian is so many things to so many people of Union – an audio, visual and literary artist, often Issa Rae, the latter of which has a mini film element to it that he’s producing. “When it d-out Jap- working in an amalgamation of both antheening the mic and organic expression – that a simple comes to how the pandemic changed how I exicali-in- question like “whatareyoudoin” becomes a make art… I engulfed myself in knowledge on software and executing things with quality at uches and tree with many limbs yielding multiple fruits. the forefront, all because of the inability to ine weekend Come pandemic quarantine, Burse worked Kitchens’ his way forward in creating new working and teract with other creatives, physically. It was either innovate, or get left the fuck behind... hef David living atmospheres.

“I’ve made my apartment cozy, yet creative” and well….. the latter wasn’t and never will be f. said Burse. “It’s my sanctuary now, having an option for me.” auteur M. added plants, painted my bedroom white so @ADAMOROSI ng sched- that I’m greeted by the natural sunlight, every

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PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY | JUNE 24 – JULY 1, 2021

14

OPINION

PHILADELPHIAWEEKLY.COM @PHILLYWEEKLY

ROAM,

ROAR,

RACE JUNE 24 - JULY 1, 2021 | PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY

OPINION

PHILADELPHIAWEEKLY.COM @PHILLYWEEKLY

Allan ‘Black Moses’ Lane, a local motorcycle industry veteran, is genuinely angered by street illegal dirt bikes and ATVs, illegal because they have no turn signals or brakes, let alone licenses and insurances. ‘It infuriates me because they either don’t know the right way, which is ignorant, or do know the right way and just choose to ignore it, which is stupid,” he said.

Lane is so annoyed he has all but given up on organizing mass motorcycle rides throughout town.

Image | Courtesy of Allan Lane

Dirt bikes, ATVs, cops and criminality

BY A.D. AMOROSI

I

f you live anywhere in Philadelphia, you have been disturbed and deterred by the sight, sound and fury of thunderous street-illegal dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles teetering on four non-pneumatic tires – ATVs. Since the pandemic’s start – that’s when all streets were emptied with everyone working, schooling, living and fearing from home – clear roads have offered ATV and dirt bikers freedom to roam, roar and race while Philly police, initially told to lay back and lay off (even though Philly City Council passed laws in 2012 prohibiting riders from operating, parking, stopping, placing or standing ATVs on a public sidewalk or public property, including parks and recreation centers), could only watch as the ensuing noisy melee went on. Tumult as such has meant everything from densely-packed, dozens of bikers at once making noise in one small space (in front of restaurants, homes and gas stations), to blocking everyday car and bicycle traffic en masse, to pursuing altercations with drivers and pedestrians with whom they have perceived beef.

While it can indeed be amazing to hear

the thunder and watch 70 to 80 bikers at once cruise down roads, wide and thin, popping wheelies, provoked by #bikelife flash mob social media postings and buoyed by the celebrity of dirt bike culture enthusiasts Meek Mill and Lil Uzi Vert, it can also be a mess.

And though Councilperson Mark Squilla introduced legislation that eventually was passed to crack down on ATV and dirt bike riders, group all illegal vehicles into one (uni)form and provide police the jurisdiction and authority to give chase and confiscate illegal bikes, even he seems to want friendly outlets for these racers.

“There are some truly talented dirt bike guys out there,” said Squilla. “There’s got to be a way to get them their own space to ride.”

With that, Philadelphia Weekly not only spoke to Squilla about the trouble with illegal ATVs and dirt bikes, but one Philly motorcyclist and bike organizer who’s gone about riding the right way.

“Because there is a right way, and a wrong way, and the wrong way gets your bike confiscated, your blood pressure up, and all your buddies in your riding an-

gry,” said Allan “Black Moses” Lane, a local motorcycle industry veteran. Philly’s Lane, is the publisher of the internationally renowned SportBikes Inc. Magazine since 2010 (as well as this city’s pop cultural Dosage Magazine), the host of the Life in the Fast Lane podcast, and the hardknocksmoto.com biker merchandising site, all of which, in his words, embrace the motorcycle lifestyle and the passion possessed by those that ride.

Legally.

During a series of races and demonstrations in Atlanta, Georgia, in which he participated recently, Lane – an owner of several legal Ducati sport bikes and cruisers (“as a journalist, I’ve driven them all”) – spoke adamantly about the need for speed and the civic obligation of legality and safety. Lane is a biker badass, but he’s got the public’s interest and the matter of policy at heart. He gets the freedom and charge of an ATV’s revved-up engine and a low-to-the-ground hog, but not if it’s against the law or the grain.

People ride illegal dirt bikes and ATVs for a number of reasons, as far as Lane is concerned, the first being, “accessibility,” which usually means stolen and uninsured.

“To get a street legal motorcycle is not necessarily a difficult thing – but they’re not cheap,” stated Lane. “Along with that cost, there’s other things that come with that in order to be street legal – insurance, gas, registration, like any other motorist. With all that, it’s probably easier to just jump on something because it is…. there. Let’s keep it 100, in fact: most of those bikes are stolen.”

As a professional motorcyclist and moto-journalist, this expert witness believes at

15

least 50 to 60 percent of the bikes on those “illegal ride outs,” are stolen. “And most of these kids riding – and I know there are 30 and 40 year olds mixed in with the millennials – aren’t looking to do the right thing. I’m not being harsh. They could do the right thing.

They’re smart enough. There just happens to be a thrill in being this outlaw.”

Being a bike outlaw goes back to Marlon Brando in the ‘50s, the Hells Angels in the ‘60s, and the Wheels of Soul in the ‘70s. One of my favorite cinematic moments harkens back to Brando, in 1953’s The Wild One. When asked by a townie what he’s rebelling against, Brando’s leather jacketed character asks, without a glint of irony, ‘Whattayagot?’

Classic.

In the 21st century, however, that outlaw mentality is on trend, not with film, but with Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube and fast and furious social media-ization. “Mob scenes, flash mobs, they all get together, quickly, through Instagram posts and Tweets,” said Lane.

“Then everything from the gathering to the ride outs make their way onto follow up Instagrams detailing the ride-outs and YouTube. I know because I see them all on my feeds. And I know because I have spent a lifetime legally organizing my own street rides throughout all parts of the city of Philadelphia – long before I had the magazine or the podcast,” he said. “I did these same sorts of rides, but, always, always, in a legal way.”

That way, according to Lane, was one where the City celebrated its bikers, bike culture and what motorcyclists’ lifestyles are all about.

Speaking for myself, I remember forever how the City sanctioned everything from Toy Runs for needy children, Philly’s Fallen Heroes Memorial Motorcycle Rides for the families of police officers killed in the line of duty, to the Miles of Smiles Ride to aid special needs families.

“Any time I was preparing to have a city-wide ride, I contacted City Hall, always reached out to its councilpeople,” said Lane, pointing out supporters such as Bob Allen, Giselle Jones, and Michelle in the Office of Special Events. “They helped me coordinate the rides and make sure that all aspects of it went smoothly. I let them know our dates and our routes for coming into the city; say, typically from King of Prussia, through Manayunk, hitting Kelly Drive, going through the Parkway, until we wound up in South Philly in front of Pat’s and Geno’s Steaks. We have had upwards of 2,500-3,000 bikes with us on one ride. No tragedies. If something like the Dad Vail Regatta coincides with our time on the Drive, I would get our group to detour, to find another route. The point being is that the City never said ‘No’ to me. We worked with all SEE DIRT BIKES, PAGE 16

PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY | JUNE 24 - JULY 1, 2021

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OPINION

PHILADELPHIAWEEKLY.COM @PHILLYWEEKLY

DIRT BIKES, FROM PAGE 15 departments within the City, including the police, so that when we pulled into Pat’s and Geno’s, we were allowed to park, to occupy that cross section. We celebrated the #bikelife. So to see now, how the #bikelife gets celebrated when you do it all wrong…”

Lane is genuinely angered by street illegal dirt bikes and ATVs, illegal because they have no turn signals or brakes, let alone licenses and insurances. “It infuriates me because they either don’t know the right way, which is ignorant, or do know the right way and just choose to ignore it, which is stupid.” Lane is so annoyed he has all but given up on organizing mass motorcycle rides throughout town.

Other than paying big bucks for a motorcycle and its insurance, Lane claims there are different answers for ATV and dirt bike riders, all dependent on who is asking the question.

For instance, for the City, several years ago Councilperson Curtis Jones held discussions in City Hall (“10 years ago – it’s not a new problem,” laughs Lane) to promote a bikers’ park; something that is great, conceptually, but might not be what these bikers want.

“They have a park in Fairmount Park, one of America’s largest, all that greenery. They want to ride on a street. There’s another park in Jersey – New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, the Field of Dreams where they have go-kart racing. Dirt bikes and ATVs could go there. If you’re in downtown Philly, you’re like 50 minutes away. Why not go there? Ride your heart out.”

Lane knows why: the thrill of taking over the streets rules supreme. Even when dirt bike drivers could modify their bikes with kits of head and tail lights to make them street legal, they don’t. They could register their bikes, but they would have to show proof of purchase, which they often can’t. And ATVs will never be street legal. They are against all codes. To be on trend on social media means filming your bike in all its funky glory and its ride outs with your crew – that’s the shit.

“There’s no discussion about what’s right or safe,” said Lane. “Every biker wants his or her moment in the social media sun. Even when they honestly don’t know how to ride – and there are a ton of videos out there of them smashing into parked cars, stopped cars and moving cars. With that, there is their level of aggression. There’s one recent video from two weeks ago, where one ATV rider rammed into the back of a van, the guy driving the van jumps out, and all you see is hand motions and other riders getting off their bike surrounding the guy in the van. Then boom, they were gone. That argument didn’t escalate into violence. Some have.”

Lane gets the need to ride hard and free, but doesn’t see the need to engage with police unnecessarily, and doesn’t send out red flags.

“Not causing trouble isn’t about ‘growing up’ or being an adult. It’s about being smart. ATV and dirt bikers have spoiled the road for legal bikers. And, I know the frustration too of ev-

JUNE 24 - JULY 1, 2021 | PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY

eryday citizens who come out of their house to see damaged vehicles from ATVs. I know the nuisance factor of bike noise levels. I own a house. And I hear the bullshit excuses from their defenders: leave the kids alone. Let them ride. There’s worse crimes. You know what, that’s a piss poor excuse and a load of fuckery.

Wrong is wrong. Crime is crime, low level or not – especially when the path to legality is not so difficult, and its road not so far away.”

The path to righteousness, paved in part by Squilla’s newly passed legislation (co-sponsored by Councilpersons Derek Green and Allan Domb) give Philly police the pull to chase and confiscate, to crack down on both ATVs and dirt bike riders by placing the two wheelie-popping, revved-up vehicle classifications in one uniform category.

The conversation between Squilla and the complaining constituents of City Council’s First District – a group of people “stretched along the Delaware River from his native South Philadelphia across Center City, Chinatown, Northern Liberties, Fishtown, Kensington and Port Richmond” (as goes his Phila.gov bio) – truly started in earnest in 2020.

“I heard it first in Kensington and Harrowgate, the Northern end, then down into Center City and into South Philadelphia,” noted Squilla. “Mostly, I heard complaints about

safety issues of the riders on these ATV/dirt bikes and dune buggies that were riding on the wrong side of the road, erratically, on the wrong side of the road. Or going through stop signs. Or driving on sidewalks. They weren’t just being a nuisance. People genuinely feared for their own safety, as well as plain old quality of life issues – legal bikes are responsible for that last issue too, what with loud, over-amplified music over a certain decibel count at all hours of the day and night, modified muffler systems. Maybe, that’s not breaking the law, per se, but people have a right to a decent quality of life. It was, as if, we were living in a scenario of lawlessness where people would do whatever they wanted, without consequences. That built up.”

Though the winter of 2020 held its ground where ATV, etc. complaints hit Squilla’s desk on a regular basis, reports escalated greatly come March of this year, with a citizenry’s non-stop objections growing greater in number ever since. “Seriously, EVERYBODY complained, and on a daily basis, as to what were we, City Council and the police, going to do about this.”

The issues then quickly became, for Squilla and his fellow councilpeople, one geared toward the police’s ability to seize illegal bikes and to get noise controls in place, to not dis-

turb the peace.

The conversation around police wearing kid gloves through every interaction, small and big, sensitively and sanely, is of the utmost importance to City Council. “Other things get thrown into the messaging, I know, but if this is considered an illegal activity, are we going to enforce it,” said Squilla. “And then, how do we enforce it?”

Squilla quickly notes that police have priorities in this city: “Murder, gun crimes, robberies; those priorities come first. Safety too is a priority. If an ATV biker is going the wrong way down a one way street or they’re blowing through red lights or they’re riding on sidewalks, that’s a crime. We need to enforce those. The noise issue? We used to have signs on South Street for $300 fines for loud radios over a certain decibel. That used to be enforced, and the loud volumes stopped. We need the ability to do that again. The police need to enforce all that. Are the administration and the mayor’s office willing to support the enforcement of these quality of life issues and illegalities?”

If you’re wondering why Philadelphia Weekly didn’t bother phoning the D.A.’s office (Krasner has turned down all of my interview queries, along with other PW inquiries), or the police commissioner, or the mayor – c’mon, man. Their answers remain clear.

With all that, Squilla – “and I know people think I’m crazy when I say this” – is a huge proponent of a bike park in city limits, the likes of which Allan Lane stated was available in New Jersey, where riders can rev and do their thing. “There are so many talented riders who can do all sorts of tricks. If we had a place where they could perform, where people could go see them and pay to see them, I think it could be popular. The City should partner with someone to build a space that could work.

You could have big events with say, sponsors such as Kawasaki. It wouldn’t stop everyone on an illegal bike from staying on the street.”

The other option for Squilla where ATVs and dirt bikes and loud ass motorcycles are concerned is very real, good old enforcement.

“That illegal riding will not be tolerated, that it will be enforced, and that all the messaging around that is consistent – as is the enforcement,” said Squilla. “I know the City has a ‘no chase’ policy. We don’t have to chase them. There has to be some form of technology, even drones, to find and pursue them.

As for the legal bikes that play loud music or modify their mufflers so that the boom rattles your house when they go by, we have to restart and enforce the fines again. This is an issue that must be dealt with. We know that this is not as huge as the high crimes of murder, the prevention of gun violence, and the issues of social justice that this city must take care of. But, we – the police, City Council, the mayor – can do more than one thing at a time. We can care about dirt bikes and murders in this city.“

@ADAMOROSI

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Scientists didn’t have to wait for grants or budget approvals.

Scientists had been studying these kinds of viruses for years.

Scientists worked together …

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Sharing data across the world, instead of competing.

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18

THE RUNDOWN

PHILADELPHIAWEEKLY.COM @PHILLYWEEKLY

THE RUNDOWN Image | Nathan Ansell

MUSIC, CIVIC UNITY AND INDIGENOUS ARTS

Like the weather, things are heating up around the city.

Here are a few events you’ll want to put on your calendar.

POPS on Independence at the Mann

The Philly POPS continues its 42-year Independence tradition with POPS on Independence at The Mann. The POPS will perform an original program created and conducted by Music Director and Principal Conductor David Charles Abell, featuring Grammy and Tony nominee and “Hamilton” star Joshua Henry. The program will feature patriotic standards, pop favorites and more. A Philadelphia tradition, this performance is part of The Philly POPS Salute Series, honoring our nation’s traditions, values and commitment to service. July 3 at 7pm. manncenter.org

JUNE 24 - JULY 1, 2021 | PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY

See Lindsey Stirling

We Are the Seeds Philly

Civic Unity: What You Can Do

Join We Are the Seeds for a day-long celebration of Indigenous arts and cultures, including a fine art show and sale, music, dance, storytelling, a cornhusk doll making workshop by Dawn Spears (Narragansett/Choctaw), live paint by Priscilla Bell (Taino), a photo exhibition featuring Benjamin West (Otoe-Missouria), and film screenings curated

by American Indian Film Institute. Artist booths include internationally known jewelry designer Tchin (tchindesigns.com), children’s book author Colleen Farwell (iwillcarryyouchildrensbook.com), and fashion designer Dawn Spears (facebook. com/kitompanisha). June 26, 10am - 5pm. Cherry Street Pier. wearetheseeds.org

Platinum-selling electronic artist, violinist and multi-talented entertainer Lindsey Stirling, known all over the world for her unique, futuristic violindriven electronic music and exquisite live show, is bringing her 2021 Artemis U.S. Tour to Philadelphia on Aug. 3 at The Met. The 36-date cross-country outing, featuring special guest electro-pop artist Kiesza, supports Stirling’s latest chart-topping studio album “Artemis” as well as her current single “Lose You Now.” lindseystirling.com/tour

Join Carpenters’ Hall for a provocative virtual panel discussion (followed by a Q&A) moderated by Morgan Robinson, the president of Young Involved Philadelphia. With partisanship as extreme as it’s ever been, the idea of civic unity often feels like an unachievable goal. But there is still a lot that can be done, especially by young people, to foster the civic unity that will help us address our nation’s current challenges. June 29 at 6pm. carpentershall.org

Live music at Dock Street

It’s summertime, and nothing sounds better than ending the weekend with live music at Artsi’s Artist Exposed at Dock Street Brewery South. On Sunday, June 27 from 6-8pm, you’re invited to their next intimate concert, with your favorite brews and pizza, featuring singer/songwriter Dante Lorenzo. dockstreetbeer.com

THE RUNDOWN

PHILADELPHIAWEEKLY.COM @PHILLYWEEKLY

19

Glamorama A Luxurious Burlesque Experience

Glamorama is a luxurious burlesque experience! For Frankie Bradley’s July 15 experience, enjoy live performances by Sophie Sucre.

Sophie hales from Guyana and was raised in Memphis, Tennessee.

8pm. 1320 Chancellor Street. frankybradleys.com.

From getting back in shape, to seeing a movie under the Stars & Stripes, we’ve rounded up these events that you won’t want to miss.

Image | Courtesy of JIP Wikicommons

BURLESQUE, WORKING OUT, MOVIES AND MORE The Get Back Workout

It’s been a long quarantine! Join Philly Boss Babe Collective and Paris Fit Studios for “The Get Back Workout.” The event will include an upbeat and outdoor HIIT workout, followed by relaxing yoga flow led by Paris Fit Studios.

After the workout, there will be refreshments, music and swag bags. Saturday, July 10, 11am – 1pm. In the park directly behind Paris Fit Studios, with refreshments in the studio. 221 Vine Street. getparisfit.com

Chefs at the Art Museum

A new Chef-in-Residence program, local partnerships and community-driven art displays will enhance the iconic Philadelphia Museum of Art’s food and beverage offerings.

The schedule for the Chef in Residence program is as follows: July: James Beard Award Nominee Tova du Plessis, Essen Bakery; August: Nana Wilmot, Georgina’s Foods; September: Melissa Fernando, Sri’s Company; October 2021, Nok Suntaranon, Kalaya; November: Mike Jenkins and Melody Lauletta, Keep. philamuseum.org

All But True reading series

The All But True author reading series at A Novel Idea returns with a virtual event featuring two thought-provoking novels set in American small towns. A long-time teacher at Bread Loaf and the University of Vermont, David Huddle is the author of more than 20 books. In his most recent novel, “Hazel,” the aged Ms. Hazel Hicks could be taken at first for a stereotype – what would in her day have been called a spinster. Yet she’s the most remarkable person in her small Vermont town. Winner of the AWP Award Series, Ginger Eager’s “The Nature of Remains” takes readers behind the scenes in a hardscrabble Georgia town. Class struggles, gender discrimination, domestic violence – all the typical problems are here, and yet the characters emerge with an individuality that makes readers root for them even when they’re clearly in the wrong. July 1 at 6:30pm. anovelideaphilly.com.

Movie night at Betsy Ross House

The second installment of First Friday Movie Night Under the Stars & Stripes is set for Friday, July 2.

Gates open at 5:30 p.m. Movie starts at dusk. The $7 admission includes after-hours tours of the house, so come early, bring drinks and snacks, and plan to spend the evening in the courtyard enjoying (because how could you not) a showing of “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.”

Historicphiladelphia.org

PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY | JUNE 24 - JULY 1, 2021

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SEX WITH TIMAREE

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TALKING TO YOUR KIDS ABOUT PORN REACH OUT TO US. Carry PW’s at your spot. drops@philadelphiaweekly.com.

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That’s OK! Q: What’s the best guide you have seen to • Do you like to pet the dog? Does it help parents talk to their sons about pornogmake you happy? How do you know raphy? I don’t want to raise a son whose earwhen the dog likes it? ly sexuality is shaped by (even mainstream) • We don’t touch our vulvas at the dinmisogynistic pornography. Are there things I ner table, that’s a private time activcan do to both give my son space to discover/ ity. explore his sexuality and also keep this phase Fact 2: You can’t control what they see, from being tainted by misogynistic porn? Give but you can shape how they perceive it. him access to softer stuff and hope he doesn’t Parental filters are a phenomenal option go looking? This doesn’t seem like a realistic enough approach. So many articles advocate and can delay accidental viewings, but they are not a long-term solution. To be very talking to kids about porn and not giving a reclear: it’s illegal for kids to ally practical guide to how to do interact with porn in any cathis.

You’re absolutely right. A pacity. I don’t advocate sharing lot of guides aren’t specific explicit content with them, unenough to be practical – and less it is specifically designed for most of the search results for their education. talking to kids about porn While the average age at are shame-filled. They often which children first come across use the same abstinence-only porn (around 14) hasn’t really messaging that made DARE a changed in the internet age, it spectacular failure. does mean that a kid who wants The denial method leaves to seek it out will have a simpler kids to their own devices and time. The easiest stuff to see is the approach that says “porn the free [read: stolen] content on is a scourge” has been shown tube sites, not the more artistic to backfire, but media literacy or pleasure-focused ethical porn @TIMAREE_LEIGH training and an open channel behind a paywall. of communication will be solid In general, we must prepare preparation for the world. So: kids for things before it is perlet’s be realistic and specifsonally relevant. They ic. should know about birth Fact 1: You’re going to control and STI prevention have to talk about porn BEFORE they are in a sitwith your kids. uation where it matters.

Ignoring the reality that Similarly, they should comkids see porn changes nothprehend that one form of ing. Reprimanding them for entertainment – for adults viewing (or asking about – is depictions of people it!) fosters shame and dishaving sex. courages talking honestly.

Porn literacy is really Discussing porn openly media literacy. and calmly demonstrates Talk to kids about they can come to you with themes in TV shows and thoughts and questions. movies, what kind of peoLike all facets of sexualple are depicted and the use ity, this will be more of an ongoing conversaof exaggeration in fiction. Build on what they tion than a one-and-done. Start early – at a dealready know. Discuss stereotypes, ask them velopmentally appropriate level – normalizing what they think is happening in a scene and using correct names for anatomy, as well as what implicit messages they take away from a concepts of consent and pleasure. viewing. Don’t assume they perceive it as you Some examples for very small children: do.

• You don’t want to give Uncle a hug?

Talk about elements of production, the en-

DR. TIMAREE SCHMIT

“Regardless of your viewing habits or beliefs around porn, your kids’ health, safety and ability to navigate the world come first.”

PHILADELPHIAWEEKLY.COM @PHILLYWEEKLY

SEX WITH TIMAREE

learn more and sign up for early access at nourity.com

tertainment industry, and how content makes it from someone’s brain to the screen. Acclimate them to consuming media through a critical lens.

Introduce them to the idea that content is designed for people of different ages, including some made for adults that shows sexual activity. Explain that some people find these movies pleasurable, just like some people like action movies and others enjoy romantic comedies.

None of those genres are designed to be how-to guides. They exist for entertainment.

Fact 3: It’s helpful to acknowledge discomfort.

Regardless of your viewing habits or beliefs around porn, your kids’ health, safety and ability to navigate the world come first. Part of establishing yourself as someone with whom they can be real is owning your discomfort. Most of us didn’t have this kind of conversation modeled for us.

You don’t have to be perfect, just stay calm, be direct and admit when you don’t know the answer.

One Australian study found that children who are unintentionally exposed to porn are often upset and distressed by it, especially if they were younger. They also found “boys are more likely to find it amusing, arousing and funny while girls were more likely to find it shocking, scary or upsetting.”

You can share how you feel about porn,

whether you find it entertaining, boring or offensive.

Fact 4: This is an opportunity to share your values What do you believe the purpose of sex is?

What are your values about sexual relationships? Do you prioritize empathy, openness to experience, generosity, and directness? What are your beliefs about gender? How do those things factor into sexual situations? In the same way that you impart your morals about hard work, honesty and compassion, you will have the chance to share your sexual values as well – but only if you make those values known.

Further resources: • ThePornConversation.org: Educational tools for kids under 11, 11-15 and 15 and older, developed by parents/feminist porn creators and supported by sexuality educators and therapists.

• Cindy Gallup’s TED Talk about MakeLoveNotPorn, and cultivating videos of real world “social sex,” rather than scripted porn.

• Scarleteen’s guide to Making Sense of Sexual Media and other porn resources for young people.

• A pornography literacy curriculum developed for adolescents.

Have a question for Dr. Timaree? Send an email to asktimaree@philadelphiaweekly.com.

“Ignoring the reality that kids see porn changes nothing.

Reprimanding them for viewing (or asking about it!) fosters shame and discourages talking honestly.”

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Public Notice T-Mobile proposes to modify an existing facility (new tip heights 89.4’) on the building at 6635 McCallum St, Philadelphia, PA (20210259).

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classifieds@philadelphiaweekly.com PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY |JUNE 24 - JULY 1, 2021

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