September 16-22, 2004

music

icepack

by A.D. Amorosi

"Philadelphia" got some TV time this week: We had the boorish children of MTV's The Real World: Philadelphia. The wound-tight Wharton-ites on NBC's The Apprentice (but we're not counting bow-tied Raj Bhakta going to Pottstown's Hill School where Trump's kids went). Hyperventilatingly frenetic Pat Croce on Moving In. Having done amber meth in my life, I found Croce's bug-eyed approach doubly heart-palpitating. In related news: MTV came by Heery Casting to gather more gnarly Phillykids for The Block(heads?). Ugh. One good thing was that Blue Chip Films is shopping a new series, Deadline @ The Philadelphia Inquirer wherein they follow reporters covering breaking news. I laugh because they filmed me for a series, first. Called Deadline, Darling, my reality show consisted of me frantically deciding which Thom Brown suit to wear, re-applying false eyelashes, typing while DJing, practicing facial expressions of genuine empathy, and yawning at you. I think the directors liked me. … Philly's stylish Global Dish Caterers bring their traveling restaubar/winetastings to the moto-guzzing Vespa Boutique Sept. 17. Want in? Call 215-592-9944. … WHOWHATWHERE: Blue Comet's Tommy Maguire hosted Brian Setzer who stopped by to see the Rockats while in town. Philly's tech-metal Single Bullet Theory shot a video for "Hollowed Out" in Ardmore over the weekend with director Jay Bones. TLA Releasing celebrated their DVD-distribution of casting director-turned-auteur Mike Lemon's Touched at Astral Plane with producer Tammy Tiehel-Stedman and stars Bob Bowersox (QVC), Vicki Gorman and Astral's Reed Apagian. Former CP ad man Sonny Velozzi headed to Pittsburgh to shoot 10th & Wolf with Philly's Leo Rossi, Val Kilmer, Giovanni Ribisi and Dennis Hopper. It wasn't Scissor Sisters who didn't let V.I.P. open their Khyber set as planned. 'Twas the SS management. "The band were cool," said V.I.P.-er Jonny Szymanski who played victoriously upstairs after the Sisters' sweaty set. Still, when I suggested punching out a Sister, Johnny thought about it. He should've. The headliners wouldn't even let V.I.P. stop by their dressing rooms! Hockey fans that missed the private reunion of '74 and '75 Stanley Cup-winning Flyers (Dave Schultz and his puck pals) at Frederick's on Front, can read (I think) Flyers announcer Jim Jackson's Walking Together Forever: Inside Stories on the Broad Street Bullies. During the Caucasian optometrist convention that was Guided by Voices' farewell show at TLA (between that and the Fringe Cabaret, I never saw many white people wearing glasses), Bob Pollard reminisced about his old days "drinking at Siltbreeze parties at Khyber with TJ Lax. I'd get to sleep at 7. Someone would wake me up at 10 with another party go to then I had to be at the Khyber that night." Oddly enough, I saw Lax at the Abbaye that night. … Speaking of the Fringe Cabaret, I spoke to old pals and prominent longtime No-Libs residents so disgusted by Bart Blatstein's tacky Roman Greco strip-malling of their area, that they promise to sell to the worst-ever concerns (dollar stores). … With its "Mojito" parties and the opening of MarBar behind them, Paperstreet's next party promises to get "bodega" on you. … The rumors are true: Actress Chloë Sevigny joins honoree Brian Kappra (of Evantine Design) at BHI's "Give the Shirt Off Your Back!" bash at the Penn's Landing Hyatt on Oct. 29 as "fashion muse of the decade." Sevigny. Not Kappra. No Brown Bunny jokes. Also that week, Fashion Group of Philly brings designer Anna Sui and Anthropologie GMM Wendy Wurtzburger to Drexel's Mandell Theater for the "Fashion Luminary Award," Oct. 26. No Brown Bunny jokes. The week before all that, professor Emil DeJohn brings jeweler David Yurman to Drexel, Oct. 19, location TBA. No pearl necklace jokes. … Notekillers' David First hosts a weeklong "Regional Notekillers Convention" to celebrate the release of Notekillers (1977-1981) on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label. He'll be stopping first at Bar Noir's Monday Night Club Sept. 20 to play live. Then it's off to The Marvelous for Sept. 26's in-store laptop gig, followed by closing ceremonies at Tritone Sept. 27, with VJ/DJ Large Marge and The Motherfucking Clash. The MFC, by the way, hosts her own birthday gig at the Rotunda, a pre-party for Girls' DJ Collaborative, on Sept. 22. The Collaborative — with DJs Lisa Love and Chatty Cathy — kicks it at the same place Oct. 4. … Francesco and Giovanni Badalamenti grandly open their eponymous Salon and Spa at 72 S. Trooper Road in Trooper, Pa., Sept. 19. Drink while you get a facial. … Quote o' the week: With plans afoot to re-do Doc Watson's third floor, The Sympathizers held what they guessed might be "the last rock show in this room before they dedicate the space as another Center City cocaine palace for the over-served, as mandated under the CCCP act of 2002." The band also released their new 7-inch single: "Jolly Rancher"/"Highway Cleaner." … Condolences to the family of journalist Rose DeWolf -- an inspiration to all Philly scribes — who passed away this weekend.