Shock Value

In a bid to shock Center City passersby, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals placed a doll of a human baby in the center of table surrounded with all the traditional Thanksgiving fixings Monday to protest eating turkey on the holiday. But with Salvation Army bells ringing in the background at the corner of Ninth and Market Streets, hardly anyone seemed disturbed by the display. The message, said Virginia Fort, a PETA senior campaigner, was that "everybody's somebody's baby, including turkeys.

Schoolly D's music doesn't make for easy listening. Unlike Philadelphia's other nationally known rap stars, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Schoolly D doesn't sweeten his sounds for mass consumption. His vivid slice-of-street- life tales of sex, drugs and urban chaos aren't told to set a negative example or teach any lessons. His sound is noteworthy mostly for its commitment to the basics of rap: big beats, fierce "scratching" of records and a commanding vocal presence. Schoolly's not for everybody, and he doesn't try to be. The rapper, who performed an occasionally exciting set at the Chestnut Cabaret Saturday night, has nevertheless established a loyal following among fans attracted by his brutal style and tantalized by his carefully cultivated superstud image.

THERE HAVE been days when I wished I didn't have an editor so I could say exactly what I wanted, without worrying about pesky libel issues or about crossing the line of civility. Joshua Scott Albert doesn't worry about any of that. For the past three months, the 25-year-old North Carolina native has been lobbing hand grenades at some of the city's most prominent restaurateurs, and whether they admit it or not, getting under their skin. On his website StaphMeal.com, he has attacked restaurateurs Georges Perrier, whose legal threat led the formerly anonymous blogger to identify himself; Stephen Starr; Marc Vetri (whose stutter Albert mocks relentlessly)

This editorial is not for the faint-hearted. That's because it's about Congress' attempt to outlaw a stomach-turning, rarely performed method of late-term abortion. Both supporters and opponents of the ban have revolting stories to tell. Supporters stress the gruesomeness of what they call a "partial-birth" abortion, in which the fetus' body except for the head is pulled out of the birth canal feet first. The skull is then pierced, crushed and removed. Opponents of the ban are not quite as free with the gory details, but instead offer horrifying photos of the fetal abnormalities for which women have sought "dilation and extraction" abortion, which is the medical term.

Knowing how to assemble a good keyboard recital is an art form all by itself, one that pianists have struggled with for hundreds of years. But what's different for performers of our era are all the options that come with today's heightened awareness of historical correctness and performance practice. It's not just about style or interpretation anymore. Choices abound. Which instrument is best to play - a modern one or an original one? What edition to play, the standard one or one that reflects more recent scholarship?

Some utility companies who perform work in Hatfield Township without permits could find themselves subject to cease-and-desist orders in the near future. At a meeting of the Board of Commissioners Tuesday night, Chairman John F. Norman said he was willing to invoke whatever powers at his disposal to get the utility companies to cooperate with the township. All utility companies, including those providing telephone, electric, water and sewer and cable television service, are required to obtain permits from the township before performing any work, including street openings, according to Norman.

Those who measure chamber music concerts by their shock value would have loved the performance Monday by 1807 and Friends at the University of the Arts' Laurie Wagman Hall. Indeed, latecomers without the benefit of program notes would have been hard pressed to identify the composer of the trio for clarinet, bassoon and piano that was the program's second piece. The melodic and harmonic language of the music, performed by clarinetist Ronald Reuben, bassoonist Kathleen Vigilante, and pianist Marcantonio Barone, sounded totally Italian in nature.

Pianist Emanuel Ax and the Philadelphia Orchestra under American conductor David Zinman made up the Mann Music Center collaboration last night. Their vehicle was the Beethoven Third Piano Concerto, and their approaches came from the same direction. Beethoven's third concerto leaps out boldly from the smaller concepts of the first two just as the third symphony (to be played Friday evening at the Mann) was a giant leap for the symphony form. Its extended introduction makes the big piano entry a dramatic event, yet it's still a descendant of late Mozart, a classical work and not a slam-bang bravura romantic showpiece.

It's aflame in the water, moving slowly in a circle. It sends up black smoke as it reduces 30-foot pilings to charred remnants and rails. Of all the ships that carry strange cargoes off the New Jersey shore, few rival the pure shock value of the Burn Barge as it works 15 miles off Point Pleasant on a summer night. "We had a guy in Manasquan call us up this summer. He saw these big flames," said radioman Tim Rollins of the Coast Guard's Search and Rescue operation at Sandy Hook.

"Nuts!" my dad would say. "Jeez!" my brothers would say. "Heck! Darn!" It may sound as if I grew up in a pretty genteel environment, but one day a stepmother moved in, and she was a very colorful lady. "Good Lord and Heavenly Father!" she would say when she'd been pushed too far. At the time, this was something to be feared. But as I matured (picking up good, serviceable words of my own) I came to regard it as simply the most marvelously long four-letter word I'd ever heard.