Fools, Gold

by Brian Howard

Oh man, you'll never believe it. This week we've got a profile on a hardcore liberal who believes his staunch progressivism is going carry him all the way to the governor's mansion! We've got an investigation of a police commissioner who apparently doesn't think Philly has a police discipline problem! A story about a group that thinks it can turn Philly into an indie film mecca! A review of the city's newest food craze: OCTOPUS BALLS! And the main feature in our Book Quarterly is about how people like poetry! Again!

Hooooooo boy! April Fools, right?

Actually, after a minor internal debate (and, OK, desperate pleas from our publisher) over whether we should seize on our April 1 pub date this week, we forewent discussion of that time-honored journalistic tradition: an April Fools issue (much to Patrick Rapa's eternal chagrin). Instead, we ended up with a lineup of stories both strange and true.

For starters, we've got poetry. You probably thought that verse was good and dead after people like Henry Rollins began calling themselves poets and shouting their shit with neck veins a-bulging. Yet poetry has weathered the storm, and, says A.D. Amorosi, who's been composing his own brand of dada word puzzles in his Icepack column since the Tristan Tzara days, Philadelphia is no longer trying to stab its poets or put cigarettes out on their faces. Buttressed by CA Conrad, Frank Sherlock, Ish Klein, Sonia Sanchez, Thomas Devaney and more, there is, once again, a thriving poetry scene in Philadelphia. Weird, right?

Or consider the strange tale of the four guys vying to be the Democratic nominee for Ed Rendell's seat, not one of whom seems to have a puncher's chance against each other, let alone against Republican Attorney General Tom Corbett. In the first of our Candidates Anonymous series on this gang of low-profile would-be-govs, staff writer Holly Otterbein gets the straight dope from former U.S. Rep Joe Hoeffel, a man who's letting his liberal flag fly at a time when progressives are being targeted (figuratively, literally) by tea baggers partiers across the country on Fox News every day. Godspeed to him.

Then there's Andrew Thompson, who uncovers statements made under deposition by police chief Charles Ramsey which suggest the top cop is either blissfully ignorant of or simply unconcerned with perceived problems in the police disciplinary system.

Molly Eichel's got a profile on a group that calls itself, seriously, PUFF that's teaming with the Piazza at Schmidts and its big effing screen to give us a chance to see the art-house flicks that usually screen only in New York, Chicago and L.A..

And then there are those octopus balls. No, it's not what you're thinking, but Trey Popp insists that the tentacle-laden orbs at Maru Global Takoyaki will change your life. I've had them, and they will. No fooling.

(bhoward@citypaper.net)