Crazy people

[RashadZak]

Anyone seen the guy using a wheelchair and belting out Luther Vandross (or other terrible 80s R&B) via his old boombox lately?

[Strandherd]

My favorite old time crazy was a guy I called 'Kung Fu Jesus'.

I used to work on Chestnut Street and every morning, particularly in the summer, I would see this guy walking west along Chestnut. A scraggly and shirtless fellow with a wild beard, he had the appearance of someone not to be disturbed. His daily ritual was this:

He would approach every single tree and lamppost along the sidewalk, wave his hands in front of it for a few moments as if he were blessing it and then proceeded to violently kick and punch said tree/lamppost for a few moments before moving along to the next one and repeating the process. He never approached or engaged any people that I saw but his act certainly startled passersby. Some of my coworkers found him as amusing as I did and he became morning entertainment.

Haven't seen him for years (this was 2002-2004).

[iheartphilly]

I'm amazed by this thread. Making fun of the homeless isn't funny. This could be any one of you, given a wrong turn on your luck. Where's your tolerance? The city is full of nuts & calling the police because you're annoyed is equally nuts.

[RittenhouseGirl]

Ummm.... you're just now noticing this sort of stuff? Well, in that case, let me be the first to welcome you to the city.

I occasionally share a bus ride with the sign-on-head guy (if you've spent much time walking around the city, you've probably seen him... he carries signs - and has a sign attached to his head - covered with all sort of writing that nobody could possibly read. Volumes). Anyway, this guy spends the entire bus ride jabbering on and on the same sort of stream-of-conscience jibberish that is all over his signs. I'm not sure if he even takes time to breathe.

Folks just ignore him... although I am sort of curious about what all is on his signs. Unfortunately, its written so small (because there is so much) that one would have to get about 6 inches away from him to decipher it. I haven't been *that* curious.

__Jason

I always wondered what the phenomenon was with homeless people writing on cardboard signs and then wearing them. This is done by homeless in every city I've been to. How do they all know to do that? It's like they all belong to an underground college where they've been taught "Cardboard Signs 101."

[RittenhouseGirl]

The one that stands out the most to me is this tall white haired black dude. He would get close to you and stick his hand out, "Hey, can I have some money?"

When you would tell him you have none, he'd smack his teeth, then wave his hand down at you, saying "mannnnnnn!"

[CenterCityGuy]

What's going on in this city? Friday afternoon I walked down Chestnut st from Broad to 3rd st and saw min. of 4 people screaming/cursing/talking to themselves . Of course no cops were around. I took a bus into town later and a woman was on the bus loudly talking to herself and carrying dozens of bags.

Because that fat piece of sh*t by the name of Tom Corbett eliminated funding for mental health and substance abuse programs and now they have nowhere else to go. So get used to seeing them

[CenterCityGuy]

What happened to the FUN CRAZY PEOPLE like

the guy who used to dance on the corner of 15th and JFK while wearing headphones as you waited until your bus arrived at the 15th and JFK bus stop. He was dancing like Michael Jackson


Now he was CLASSIC

[shakerlady]

Anyone seen the guy using a wheelchair and belting out Luther Vandross (or other terrible 80s R&B) via his old boombox lately?

We had dinner outdoors at Jamonera last month, and he was entertaining the whole block. Everyone seemed to love him. Caused us to remark (again) that Philadelphia is a remarkably tolerant town.

[darthsinatra]

Anyone seen the guy using a wheelchair and belting out Luther Vandross (or other terrible 80s R&B) via his old boombox lately?

Is it a motorized chair? I see a dude outside CBP for many phillies home games matching that description, except he is singing his own song with a karakoe boom box that goes

"love is just like a baseball game/three strikes yer out!"

Hilarity.

[RashadZak]

Yes, it is a motorized chair and likely the same guy. I used to see him all the time, but not as much in recent months. I remember a week before Occupy Philly eviction he was singing some song down on the Dilworth steps about how everyone needed to go... do something... and something about love.

[guzzijason]

I always wondered what the phenomenon was with homeless people writing on cardboard signs and then wearing them. This is done by homeless in every city I've been to. How do they all know to do that? It's like they all belong to an underground college where they've been taught "Cardboard Signs 101."

I don't think the sign-hat guy is homeless. He's on the bus every morning into the city like clockwork, like he's commuting to his job.

__Jason

[guzzijason]

I'm amazed by this thread. Making fun of the homeless isn't funny. This could be any one of you, given a wrong turn on your luck. Where's your tolerance? The city is full of nuts & calling the police because you're annoyed is equally nuts.

The thread is about "crazy people". Not all homeless are crazy, and not all crazy are homeless. Some people are bat-sh¡t just for the sake of.

__Jason

[lemko]

Because that fat piece of sh*t by the name of Tom Corbett eliminated funding for mental health and substance abuse programs and now they have nowhere else to go. So get used to seeing them

This is a tragedy decades in the making. Mental hospitals were closed a long time ago by misguided do-gooders. They were supposed to have been replaced by mental health community centers that never materialized. Former mental patients had nowhere to go but the streets. Life in a mental hospital may have been medieval, but at least these people were out of the elements, had a place to sleep, three meals a day, and wouldn't victimize others be victimized by others.

[citykid]

This is a tragedy decades in the making. Mental hospitals were closed a long time ago by misguided do-gooders. They were supposed to have been replaced by mental health community centers that never materialized. Former mental patients had nowhere to go but the streets. Life in a mental hospital may have been medieval, but at least these people were out of the elements, had a place to sleep, three meals a day, and wouldn't victimize others be victimized by others.

This is true. But expect to see more starting Wednesday when General Assistance stops for 35,000 of some of Philadelphia's most vulnerable, many of whom are mentally ill and now have no other source of income for food, housing and medication.

[Volanova]

This is a tragedy decades in the making. Mental hospitals were closed a long time ago by misguided do-gooders. They were supposed to have been replaced by mental health community centers that never materialized. Former mental patients had nowhere to go but the streets. Life in a mental hospital may have been medieval, but at least these people were out of the elements, had a place to sleep, three meals a day, and wouldn't victimize others be victimized by others.

Spot on.

These places needed reform, not destruction. More oversight, better facilities, more humane treatment, a better system for placing people in these facilities, and a better method of rehabilitating them to society would have saved many lives (not to mention many millions of dollars spent in repairs and cleanup directly caused by their misdeeds).

[darthsinatra]

Titicut Follies is a 1967 American documentary film directed by Frederick Wiseman, about the treatment of inmates/patients at Bridgewater State Hospital for the criminally insane, a Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The title is taken from a talent show put on by the hospital's inmates. (The talent show was named after the Wampanoag word for the nearby Taunton River.) In 1967 the film won awards in Germany and Italy. Wiseman made a number of such films examining social institutions (e.g. hospitals, police, schools, etc.) in the United States.

Titicut Follies (1967) - YouTube

[InYourVacancies]

Spot on.

These places needed reform, not destruction. More oversight, better facilities, more humane treatment, a better system for placing people in these facilities, and a better method of rehabilitating them to society would have saved many lives (not to mention many millions of dollars spent in repairs and cleanup directly caused by their misdeeds).

Part of the issue is that there isn't enough political motivation to keep the money needed pumped into the institutions. There's no profit in it, and we all know how things go when it comes to that.

[LUCas]

I have always wondered what that guy has written on those signs as well, but, like you, I am not about to get close enough to read them... He used to hang out a lot at 18th and Market, but I've not seen him there in a while.

He's campaigning for Lyndon LaRouche. I assume he's been doing so since LaRouche started the "Intelligence Network" in '71.

[LUCas]

I don't think he's EVER taken his skates off!

Saw him walking through Rittenhouse Sq. the other day. Trumpet in hand, dressed normally, no skates. Where were the police??!!???

[LUCas]

and wouldn't victimize others be victimized by others.

Well, except for the abuse and torture at the hands of the "care givers", and the other patients they are locked up with.