For more of Dan Murphy’s photos of Michael Nutter
at the TLA Philebrity Screening Series last week, click here.

If you don’t count Ramsey’s crime report, last week found Dude attending to some of the less sexy nuts and bolts of his first month in office: Appointments to DHS, the Historical Society, a new Chief Education Officer, Lori Shorr, and, uh, going to First Friday, opening up the Auto Show and… hanging out with us. Whatnow?
· Being inside the Dude Orb, even for an hour or so, was a pretty revealing look at what the off-hours must be like for Dude. If we couldn’t believe he consented to speak at our event, imagine our surprise when he showed up 15 minutes early and, green room be damned, pressed the flesh with any and all in attentance. In some ways, Dude is still campaigning, and his remarks before the screening of Invincible showed why: The elephant in the room, of course, is what exactly is going on with the Office Of Arts & Culture talked about so much during his campaign. That he even uttered the phrase “arts and culture” during his brief speech showed that it was definitely on his mind, that perhaps even if such an office does not materialize, he’s got that world’s back. After all, he was clearly a little freaked that after all this, his new gig led him back to the place that used to be Revival.
· Dude’s Orb also includes a long train of media behind him, and our thing was no exception: CBS3, City Paper and even KYW 1060 showed, the last of whom mentioned in an early version of their story some blog called “Philadebrity.”
· But onward and upward. Speaking of “Where Is?,” where is the gays in the Nutter Admin? Mark Segal says they are right around the corner…
· And just this morning, Ed Rendell came by for a grip and grin regarding the state’s ponying up dough for 100 new police officers, in addition to shouldering the weight for 100 more the got hired in 2006. “Philadelphia and Harrisburg will need to work in partnership if we are going to tackle the crime problem that we have in this city and I thank the Governor for coming here to make this announcement,” said Dude. “His presence underlines our joint commitment to ending the violence in this city.” Grip and grin, Dude, grip and grin. Doing things is what we like to do.

Want to track more of Michael Nutter’s first months in office? Visit the Nutline® archives.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 4th, 2008 at 2:28 pm.