My Italian Market neighborhood has its share of old dear landmarks: DiBruno Bros., the Rizzo mural, Connie’s Ric Rac. But it’s one of the new ones that’s about to break my heart. No, Teri’s isn’t out of here yet, but the very fact that the narrow breakfast-nook-turned-tacky-disco-turned-al-fresco-hipster-haven is for sale makes me sad beyond mere tears. It’s a bargain at $600,000 (for the entire building and its liquor license) so it’s bound to get snapped up. If Teri’s departs I’ll miss the tough-crusted sausage (that sounds so wrong), the Purple Panther cocktails (it was supposed to be pink, but) and the kids in fur hoods and platforms playing with my greyhound.
After throwing the garish Umami fundraiser in its towering new digs at Old City’s Power Plant, the Theatre Confetti peeps (Nicole Paloux, Bi Jean Ngo) move on to actual theatrics with the March 8 opening of their Aaron Cromie-directed, A. Rey Pamatmat-scripted play Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them. “Edith’s characters are dynamic and its themes are topical: young people who deal with loneliness, neglect, abandonment, sexual identity and growing up,” says Ngo. The Power Plant on N. Second is ideal for the splashy Confetti, a raw space that actors and designers can custom-fit to their imaginations, according to Ngo (you should’ve seen the blue-balloon-filled whimsical forest of string erected for Umami). “Because of the starkness of its design, it’s like an explosion of the senses,” he says.
Over the weekend, outlets from the Hollywood Reporter to Grantland spread the rumor that Jay Leno would finally cede his NBC Tonight Show slot to later-night fellow Jimmy Fallon in 2014 with an announcement coming before spring. Not that we doubt it, but, would this deal include Fallon’s current house band, The Roots? Would new author/drummer ?uestlove’s band expand as Letterman’s did when he moved to 11:30 p.m.?
I want you guys to do me a favor this weekend. On Friday night, Kim Gordon will be in town to play Space 1026 with Bill Nace as the duo Body/Head. You’ll pack the place. It’ll be noisy. Good, good. The favor: Please don’t steal any of her equipment. The last time a Sonic Youth member played Space 1026 (Thurston Moore, months ago), somebody swiped his prized vintage guitars. The SY couple is going through a divorce and doesn’t need the distraction. This city doesn’t need another black eye. Behave yourselves.
A fond farewell is due Justin “Chachi” Benoit — the onetime member of Cold Cave, roommate of its leader Wes Eisold and writer for Eisold’s Heartworm Press — who passed away at the end of February.
Icepack gets illustrated every Thursday at citypaper.net/criticalmass.
