Drumtime for Bongo

This man was at Broad and Sansom Streets, just across Sansom from the Union League. He shook my hand and introduced himself as "Bongo." "Appropriate name," I said to him, and he smiled a toothless grin before returning to his instrument. He wished a happy Mother's Day to some passing women while I snapped a few photos of him before heading to Border's Books for a cup of coffee.

May 13 MOVE Protest

As anyone who was alive in Philadelphia in 1985 knows, on May 13 of that year, the city's police department dropped a bomb on the roof of the MOVE house, in advertently igniting containers of kerosene, and subsequently burning down an entire block of 62 houses and killing 11 of the 13 people who were inside the MOVE house. I remember watching it on TV when it happened, even though I was only 13 at the time. It remains a divisive issue in the city, with people taking sides either with the police or with MOVE. Today is the 22nd anniversary of that event.

Every year the survivors, other MOVE members, and their supporters stage a protest. These photos come from the event at Broad and Walnut Streets. An angry young man was shouting through a megaphone to anyone who would listen about the evil system of government we all live with. Most people seemed to ignore what was going on, although I saw a few people stop and take literature from the protesters.





This man, along with a few others at each of the four street corners at Broad and Walnut, was handing out literature about Mumia Abu Jamal, another issue which MOVE has associated itself with. I talked with him for a few minutes, during which time a passing pedestrian shouted "Cop killer!" as he passed. The man responded with a quick "Fuck you!" before resuming his conversation with me:





Another man approached me while I was taking photographs and stared at me in an unfriendly and highly suspicious way. I finally said, "hi there," and he asked me who I was taking photos for. And I told him about Philly Happening.
"Are you sure it's not for a guy named Tony Allen?" he asked.
"Who's Tony Allen? Some guy who doesn't like you?" I responded
"You seem to know all about that then," he said, as if confirming his suspicions.
"No, you just seemed really suspicious about him, so I assume he's not your biggest fan."
I don't think he believed me, but he dropped the subject and we talked for a few minutes more before I moved on.

[update: I looked up Tony Allen, and indeed, he is no fan of MOVE. He runs the "Anti-MOVE/Mumia Blog" Like I said: highly divisive.]

Mummers Parade (a little bit late)

Happy Late New Year! I had completely forgotten that the Mummers Parade was today, but then I thankfully ran into a guy with a banjo and a funny costume on Walnut Street and instantly ran toward Broad Street, camera at the ready. The parade got rained out on New Year's Day, which turned out to be a good thing, because we couldn't have had nicer weather today. I often just skip the Mummer's parade because it's too fracking cold, but today I stayed for hours. I slowly made my way down Broad Street from Walnut all the way down to Oregon, just as it finally got too dark to keep taking photos. Everyone was so friendly--from the spectators to the Mummers themselves. My only complaint is the same one I always have about parades in Philadelphia--there's way too much time between groups. One group comes through, you clap and cheer, and then you sit and wait for the next group to come by. Even so, I have to say, it was still probably the most fun I had all winter long.

How the heck do you pee in one of those costumes??:

My favorite photo I took all day:

Even the parking meters get into the act:

Last, but CERTAINLY not least, The King:

That guy was just amazing--my favorite costume by far. I would have stood there all day and taken photos of him if he would've let me.