Prophet

RE THE MUSLIM shrine versus the cartoons: A large explosion heavily damaged the golden dome of one of Iraq's most famous Muslim Shiite religious shrines in Samarra on Feb. 22. So can someone from the Muslim society please explain how the destruction of such a famous house of worship is less of a concern to the Muslims than a cartoon of the prophet? I'm confused. Larry Lueder Mantua, N.J.

Sheila Audet would see the face in the window of the train as she traveled to New York City. The disembodied visage, with deep-set eyes and light mustache, was not the reflection of anyone seated nearby, and it resembled no one she knew. Audet had left a career as a theater director and choreographer for what she describes as "esoteric stuff - astrology and things. " And as it turned out, the mysterious face in the window was a harbinger of her return to theater, through involvement with a production to run tomorrow through Sunday at the Annenberg Center's Harold Prince Theater.

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran is a book of preachments contained within the barest outline of a story. It would seem to be most unlikely material for a musical, and the show now at the Annenberg Center's Harold Prince Theater proves that it is indeed not the stuff of musicals. That is if you define a musical as a show with a book, characters and song and dance numbers that move the action and story along. The musical The Prophet has no book, and it has no characters. It is, rather, a series of self-contained scenes based on the prophet's preachings.

Prophet 21 Inc., a Yardley business-software company, said yesterday it agreed to be acquired by two private equity firms for about $70 million in cash. The deal will make Prophet 21, which became a publicly traded company in 1994, private again. "We feel that Prophet 21 will be a much stronger entity in today's environment," Chuck Boyle, the company's president and chief executive, said yesterday. As a company with a relatively few shares outstanding and a small stock-market value, he said, it has not been followed or appreciated by analysts and investors.

"The Prophet" at the Harold Prince Theater at the Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut St. through Sunday. A number of recent musicals have succeeded by tugging on the fond memories that Baby Boomers have for their adolescent years. These walks down memory lane include "Grease," the off-Broadway show "Beehive" and, in a different vein, the current local hit, "Nunsense. " "The Prophet," the new musical that opened last night at the Annenberg Center's Harold Prince Theater, reaches out to those same memories.

A boxer with "the potential to be the puncher Philadelphia has been looking for for years" was killed early Saturday morning, the result of a hit-and-run accident. Andre "Thee" Prophet, 20, and a female companion, Tres Kelly, 18, were killed when the motorcycle they were riding was struck by a hit-and-run driver at 22nd and York streets, in North Philadelphia, shortly after 5 a.m. Both Prophet and Kelly were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Prophet, who lived with his mother in the 2400 block of North Colorado Street, a few blocks from the scene of the accident, was considered by many to be a star on the rise.

Jim Wallis is a prophet rapidly gaining honor in his own land. His new book, The Great Awakening, just hit the New York Times best-seller list. Jon Stewart fawns over him. On his book tour, Wallis speaks to large, rapt audiences, as he did last week at the Episcopal Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Chestnut Hill. Wallis, a founder of the Sojourners revival movement, seeks to be a prophet in the biblical sense - a man driven to proclaim the hard truths that God has branded on his heart to a skeptical people in a stubborn time.

Yardley software-maker Prophet 21 Inc. said yesterday it was being acquired by Activant Solutions Inc., an Austin, Texas-based business-to-business software firm, for $215 million. Prophet 21 makes e-commerce software for distributors in industries including ones dealing in fasteners, electrical, medical and plumbing. It employs about 530, two-thirds of them in Yardley. The firm is on pace to do $85 million in sales this year, Prophet 21 chief executive officer Chuck Boyle said.

Making his debut as a main-event fighter, Germantown cruiserweight Nate "Mr. " Miller escaped the clutch-and-grab tactics of Ricardo Spain long enough to score a fifth-round technical knockout in the co-featured bout last night at the Blue Horizon. In the other co-feature, light-heavyweight Andre "Thee" Prophet, a senior at Simon Gratz High, remained undefeated with a unanimous eight-round decision over fellow North Philadelphian William Morris. Miller (10-0, 9 knockouts), who is 28th in the latest World Boxing Council ratings, had met Spain before, and won a six-round decision in 1987 in the only fight of Miller's career to go the distance.

For miles they walked in the choking dust kicked up by tanks and armored vehicles thundering down the highway. Many walked without shoes. Some limped on crutches. They were taking part in 10th Muharram, an annual religious pilgrimage that Shiite Muslims in southern Iraq had made to Karbala for hundreds of years until Saddam Hussein banned the practice in 1997. "Saddam was against everything," said Jamal Khalil, 52, who recently returned to Iraq from Germany. Khalil said Hussein was afraid that the practice would undermine his power.

Going by its title, you might think Rock Prophecies had something to do with Nostradamus' predicting the rise of the Jonas Brothers, or some similarly uncanny feat of seeing into the musical, or geological, future. That's not the case. Instead, the poorly chosen title of John Chester's documentary about Robert Knight is meant to imply that the music photographer's ability to home in on young talent destined for greatness qualifies him as some sort of rock prophet. Which is a reach, to put it mildly.

Some words still echo where they were spoken. At Mason Temple in Memphis, Tenn., the echo is strong - that's where, 40 years ago today, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his last speech. He was in Memphis for the sanitation workers' strike, but he was not meant to speak that night. Ralph Abernathy, whom King described as "the best friend that I have in the world," had begun to speak. But he recognized immediately that it was not his crowd and called for Martin. King was exhausted.

Some people mellow with age. Others grow more passionate. If the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.'s weekly sermons seem overly zealous, Barak Obama's outspoken minister has earned his outrage over decades of social injustice, a longtime friend said yesterday. "I look at Rev. White as controversial but prophetic," the Rev. G. Daniel Jones said. "He is informed and he informs. He is a religious analyst coming out of the biblical tradition who denounces social ills and warns people on how to become more just and more humane.

Jim Wallis is a prophet rapidly gaining honor in his own land. His new book, The Great Awakening, just hit the New York Times best-seller list. Jon Stewart fawns over him. On his book tour, Wallis speaks to large, rapt audiences, as he did last week at the Episcopal Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Chestnut Hill. Wallis, a founder of the Sojourners revival movement, seeks to be a prophet in the biblical sense - a man driven to proclaim the hard truths that God has branded on his heart to a skeptical people in a stubborn time.

ATTENTION: Don't start this column unless you promise to read it to the end. This disclaimer results from what occurred last week. Never before have I gotten so many hatriolic e-mails from so many knuckleheads representing such different perspectives, all of whom completely missed my point. So, this week, I'm writing more slowly, so they can follow along, lest there be further misunderstanding. Watching from my Barcalounger as Tom Cruise was bloodied by biographer Andrew Morton and pollsters found that many Americans wouldn't support a Mormon for president, I decided to defend the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Scientology.

Looking back now, the older construction worker's words were downright prophetic. Earlier this month, when Shawn Jenkins and his girlfriend decided it was time to move out of Feltonville, he asked his fellow construction workers for their opinions on his planned destination. Jenkins had fallen in love with a tidy, red-brick Port Richmond rowhouse that was being rented out by a relative of one of his co-workers. The neighborhood was quiet, tree-lined and clean. The block of Edgemont Street near Cambria that Jenkins and his girlfriend - who are black - soon planned to call home was predominantly white, but he didn't expect any racial tensions.

Editor's Note: The Ministry of Magic, fearing evil consequences, insists the Daily Prophet give no clear information that might help You Know Who. Therefore, we present our latest report on Harry Potter as a quiz. (Feel free to circle your answers. Ours are on Page 23.) Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, might not live much longer. A mysterious prophecy, the Daily Prophet has learned, foretells that Potter is headed for a showdown with He Who Must Not Be Named, and (a) Potter has to die (b)

Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, might not live much longer. A mysterious prophecy, the Daily Prophet has learned, foretells that Potter?s headed for a showdown with He Who Must Not Be Named, and Such a showdown is likely to happen soon, judging from recent horrifying events at The greatest shock was that headmaster Albus Dumbledore was Don?t be so quick to judge, some observers say, because the former potions professor The professor then escaped with student Draco Malfoy, who is suspected of being one of the New headmistress Minerva McGonagall says Potter ?

YOU DON'T WANT to hear us try to sing, whether it's on "American Idol" or in City Council chambers. On either stage, we'd probably get the hook. Christian Stronghold Baptist Church, whose members serenaded Council last week, should be shown the exit, too, for being off-key in its unwavering effort to build a church at 49th Street and Parkside Avenue on land specifically zoned for economic development. Churches may spur spiritual development. But when it comes to creating businesses and permanent jobs for a community, houses of worship are not exactly designed to be economic engines, even if they are located in an industrial park.

RE THE MUSLIM shrine versus the cartoons: A large explosion heavily damaged the golden dome of one of Iraq's most famous Muslim Shiite religious shrines in Samarra on Feb. 22. So can someone from the Muslim society please explain how the destruction of such a famous house of worship is less of a concern to the Muslims than a cartoon of the prophet? I'm confused. Larry Lueder Mantua, N.J.