Looking for Mt. Airy Phil

So it’s around eight o’clock this morning and I’m snarled in traffic in Manayunk when my phone rings.

I get a lotta crank calls … like how I can lower the interest rates on my credit card – even though I don’t have any credit cards … like some guy with a thick accent warning me the IRS has a federal warrant out for my arrest. So I’m always ready for some bullshit.

This caller identifies himself as a police officer and says he’s trying to locate Barry Bowe.

“Yeah, sure,” I say. Figure it’s one of my buddy’s fucking with me. “Who is it, really?”

“I’ll give you my number and you can call back to verify my identity.”

“Who are you?”

“Pete Black with the Penn Police Department.”

That’s the University of Pennsylvania’s police department. I’m driving around that campus every day. Wonder if one of the students complained about my taking a run at them when they’re J-walking. Most of them don’t understand the pedestrian-crossing laws and I like to put a little fear of God into them. Did one of them file a complaint?

“And why exactly are you trying to locate this Barry Bowe?”

“Trying to find out if you know Mt. Airy Phil.”

Now there’s a name from the past. Mt. Airy Phil … or Phil from Mt. Airy. That’s the handle he used when he had a sports-talk show on the Fanatic. Full name is Phil Allen.

As it works out, someone found Phil’s camera on the Penn campus and the officer’s trying to locate Phil to return it. Says it’s an expensive camera with lots of photos of his family members.

I used to call Phil’s show a lot. He used me as an on-air guest a couple times. Even wrote a couple blog posts about him two years ago.

Screw Our Listeners … Missing In Action

Two years ago I was arguing with Phil about the shitty way Matt Nahigian was running the radio station and Phil was sticking up for his boss. Two weeks later, Nahigian fired his ass without warning. And Mt. Airy Phil fell off the face of the earth like Punxatawney Phil after seeing his shadow on Groundhog’s Day.