It was my good fortune to see Arlo Guthrie about 10 years ago in South Jersey and he mentioned that his song "Ring Around The Rosie Rag" was written about Rittenhouse Square. Apparantly some of his friends had indulged in ice cream and cannibus and decided to go stand in the fountain at Rittenhouse Square, splash one another and sing songs. Arlo, not wanting to get wet, sat on a bench and watched them. Soon, a Philly police officer arrived and said "You can't' stand in the fountain and sing" when they wouldn't get out of the fountain, he arrested them. Arlo got off the bench and said something along the lines of "Hey man, you can't arrest them for standing in a fountain and singing." And the cop replied "I can, and I'm going to arrest you for complaining about it."
And he spent the night in jail. Or so he said. kc -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Glenn Sent: Tue 5/1/2007 9:15 AM To: UnivCity@list.purple.com Subject: [UC] Rally for free speech The Philadelphia Metro reports on the front page that a free speech rally will take place sometime today in Rittenhouse Square. Does anyone know the time? Apparently at "the upscale park," Rittenhouse Square, singing by common folk is now a crime of disorderly conduct. I'm sorry to have to inform all of you that this is the future at Penn's upscale park at 43rd and Baltimore too. Free speech is considered an antiquated concept that is now the exclusive privilege of an upscale elite. UCD's partners, the Friends of Corporate Plutocracy (FOCP), have been refining the elimination of free speech and the public park for a long time. While I believe there is no hope for free speech at the Penn park, I beleieve there may be a slight hope because Rittenhouse Square is not the exclusive domain of Penn corporate interests. I wrote to the reporter and I'll post the time if he gets back to me. Glenn
