May 2008

Mayor Nutter has announced that R&B artists John Legend and Philadelphia’s own Boyz II Men will be the top acts at the city’s Fourth of July festivities this year, according to an article in the Inquirer.

There will be concerts, fireworks, a parade, and a tremendous amount of education programming between June 28th and July 6th for the Sunoco Welcome America Fourth of July festival, Nutter said.

John Legend, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, will perform the evening of July 4th in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Boyz II Men will appear the evening of July 5 at the Great Plaza at Penn’s Landing. Both events will have fireworks to cap off the night.

Photo courtesy of OrbitCast.

The Fairmount Park Welcome Center kicked off its summer concert series next door in “Love Park”, a.k.a JFK Plaza yesterday, according to a KYW1060 article.

Fairmount Park executive director Mark Focht: “We have office workers, we also have tourists, we have residents that come out and sit in the park on the beautiful days like today, to have their lunch and enjoy an outdoor setting. And five years ago we started providing music, all types of music.”

The “Summer in Love” concert series will run Mondays through Fridays, from 12 p.m. to 2pm, starting this week.

Photo courtesy of KYW1060.

There was a fire this morning in Powelton Village in the pre-dawn hours which left one person dead, as reported in a KYW1060 article.

The first broke out near 39th and Powelton Avenue around 4 a.m. and was declared under control about 20 minutes later.

However, one person was trapped and had to be rescued from the building. When the firefighters got to the victim, the person had no vital life signs. He was rushed to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was pronounced dead.

Photo courtesy of AmgMedia.

Microsoft Zune users can now purchase downloadable television shows for their portable media players, according to a KYW1060 article.

Microsoft’s original intention was to take on the iPod, but with this move, it is now launching its product up against iTunes, which already offers television shows for sale. The shows will be available on the Zune Marketplace.

The Zune’s television downloading program will have an advantage over iTunes in its deal with NBC. NBC pulled its shows from iTunes last year, but will be selling them on the Zune Marketplace for $1.99 each.

Photo courtesy of KYW1060.com.