This is from the archived Oh Word. Visit the relaunched Oh Word for the new style.

|

Rather see the above links in your inbox or feed reader?
Subscribe to our Links for hand-picked items from around the web

Oh Word Email Updates

Your email address:



Aug 24, 2007

Don Dewar is a major tool · by Brandon Soderberg


The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

“It’s unconstitutional to really erect a policy banning one kind of concert based on its content. If Paris Hilton was coming down to the Du Burns Arena on Aug. 18, I do not think Mr. Dewar would be complaining—and she’s been convicted.” – IKON Entertainment attorney Paul Gardner

Even local, piece-of-shit, wannabe, city councilmen are using hip-hop hate to fuel their political ambitions. Maybe you read about it on XXL but if you didn’t, on Friday a Juelz Santana/Lil Wayne concert was scheduled in Baltimore. Hoping to make a name for himself, Democratic candidate for city council Donald J. Dewar III, ran around with the flier above, printed on really nice paper, and hassled the residents of the area where the concert was being held. The entire thing is well, really easy to make fun of, so I’ll leave that for the comments section, but there are some things worth noting.

-Dude’s got his number at the top and didn’t mind printing the numbers of the Mayor and Liquor Board Commissioner, so maybe give him a call and tell him what you think? I dunno, just saying…

-There’s some race and class stuff going on here. The concert was held at smallish arena in a once working-class turned yuppified, white, bar spot in Baltimore called Canton. His “our neighborhood” stuff is a little more disturbing when you know that.

-The Du Burns Arena is home of many events, not just soccer. A Lil Kim concert was held there in June, which Dewar claims, turned into a “mini-riot”; it didn’t. The arena is also frequently the home of ‘Fat City’-esque boxing matches which are arguably, more violent and dehumanizing than the lyrics of two rappers that wear tight shirts.

-Did I mention this flier is printed on really nice paper? I mean the kind you put a resume on! The printing too, nice and dark…none of that Fast Draft shit!

-There were no reports of violence or crime at the concert. As this Baltimore Sun article attests, the only conflict was that it ran over curfew and was stopped, leaving fans with shortened sets from the headliners. Why did it run over curfew? According to the president of IKON Entertainment, the show’s promoter, it was because one of the opening acts was pulled over and held by the police for about 40 minutes and then let go, “no tickets or warrants were issued”.

-Dewar, under the guise of being concerned about Baltimore’s outrageous murder rate (more than 200 since the beginning of the year) takes it to the street to protest a rap concert? His energy would be better spent you know, rallying neighborhoods against actual crime. If you’re interested at all in Baltimore’s crime problem, there’s the Baltimore Crime Blog and this recent CNN story which is a little goofy but works when you read this article to counteract some of the misinformation and idiocy of the CNN story.

-One more time, 443-690-7900. Send in your Don Dewar call to Oh Word and we’ll run them all. That’s how we roll.

Comments for "Don Dewar is a major tool"

  1. thats fucked up. its funny when you see the candidates who aren’t gonna win start to push hot ticket items like they really give a fuck.


    — khal    Aug 24, 01:52 PM   

  2. umm, there’s also a Sun opinion piece that endorses this shit by comparing rappers to white supremacists:
    “Suppose, instead of Lil’ Kim or Busta Rhymes or Lil’ Wayne or Juelz Santana, Lamb and Lynx Gaede were performing at the Du Burns Arena. That’ll probably never happen, but humor me a bit.
    Lamb and Lynx – bless their little sieg-heiling hearts…”

    http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-to.lil20aug20,0,6050073.story


    — hastings    Aug 24, 02:50 PM   

  3. Hastings,

    I think this is the piece you were talking about.

    Different article at the same paper’s site.


    — rafi    Aug 24, 03:13 PM   

  4. thanks… was reading both at once, must’ve spaced


    — hastings    Aug 24, 04:23 PM   

  5. I didn’t want to clutter up the entry with lots of irrelevant information but, for the sake of accuracy, that CNN report is pretty messed-up. The City Paper article corrects some of it but, Ed Norris is more than a “convicted felon” and depending upon whose account you read, he was kind of railroaded out of office, he didn’t really lie on his tax returns etc. If you read-up on it at all, you’ll see it wasn’t as CNN presented it.

    Also, as the City Paper article suggests, the slant of the story being “Baltimore is so hard-up it would consult a convicted felon” is absurd, Norris himself posted a crime plan which the mayor took an interest in (although she was initially reluctant).

    Also, Dewar’s official site: dewarcitycouncil.com


    — brandonsoderberg    Aug 24, 10:50 PM   

  6. “hi this is don. im out of the cell range or temporarily disposed. leave me a message here and i’ll get back to you as soon as i can”


    — Jay B    Aug 24, 11:00 PM   

  7. hold tight. this is dude’s cell phone. this is one of the best things ever.


    — Kwis    Aug 25, 02:36 AM   

  8. On reflection, he’s just a sad lonely man without much else to do. I didn’t even leave him a message and he tried to call me back last night.


    — Kwis    Aug 25, 12:00 PM   

  9. rofl to the waffle


    — drew    Aug 25, 08:49 PM   

  10. When I saw the flyer, I was like, “holy shit, Juelz and Weezy are coming!” Props to Dewar for such a sincere and effective marketing campaign. Next time, I would ask him to send it out a little earlier so I might be able to get my hands on some tix at face value and not from some over-priced scalper site. Unfortunately, I didn’t end up going.


    — AE    Aug 26, 01:19 AM   

  11. dude’s been calling me back for 3 days straight.
    talked to my wife for two minutes wanting to know what the purpose of my call was


    — Jay B    Aug 26, 05:12 PM   

  12. Don Dewar III, the same man “taking a stand against violence” , has been arrested TWICE for domestic violence.


    — Glen    Sep 12, 08:18 AM   

  13. Glen-
    Got a source on that? I’d love to think it’s true because it adds another level of hypocrisy to the whole thing…


    — brandonsoderberg    Sep 12, 12:22 PM   

  14. Actually I do. How about the case number, court date and link to the official trial results on a government hosted server…

    08/26/1997: Assault
    Case: 6C00069705
    http://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/inquiry/inquiryDetail.jis?caseId=6C00069705&loc=32&detailLoc=DSCR

    Followed by a divorce on 02/11/1998.
    Followed by a foreclosure on 09/10/1998.

    I have no hard copies of other arrests that did not go to trial due to spouse refusing to testify.


    — Glen    Sep 13, 08:29 AM