Brunch wasn’t a hipsters’ game till Carman Luntzel hit town. Stoners, coke heads and roustabouts waking from Friday- and Saturday-night stupors started making their way, via word of mouth, to South Philly’s Carman’s Country Kitchen — run by the woman who “put the cunt in country” — on Jan. 1, 1990. We never stopped. But we’ll have to this weekend. It’s not because we no longer want jelly beans in our eggs, sumptuous duck breast with mystery sauce or Belgian waffle-everything. Rumor has it Carman’s landlord at 11th and Wharton wants to put in a pizza parlor. Luntzel’s taking her penis tchotchkes, her red pickup truck and her swellegantly bizarre menu and leaving the biz Dec. 16. She will be missed.
If there’s a guy ripe for a comeback spectacular, it’s David Stone. The guy behind The Johnny Cash Experience who hasn’t performed in downtown Philly for four years returns with a bang, collaborating with burlesque performer Annie A-Bomb (producer Anna Frangiosa), Lelu Lenore, Louis La Tease, Rene Rebel and Lil’ Steph on the explosive The Man in Black and the Ladies in Blue at the RUBA, Dec. 13 to 15. (For more on this, see p. 27.)
One piece of my Geoff Gordon cover story (last week) we didn’t have room for concerned Live Nation’s takeover of Del Ave.’s Ajax space with developer Michael Samschick, and how one room in the 2,400-plus people complex, a 400-person lounge, is dedicated to developing acts. I wanted more details but Gordon says he won’t “unwrap the Christmas present before I give you the gift.” And he laughed at my mention of ?uestlove’s rumored involvement. Didn’t deny. Just laughed.
Philly’s Breaking Glass Pictures just brought Gus Van Sant aboard Laurence Anyways as executive producer. After acquiring Xavier Dolan’s quirky trans flick at 2012’s Toronto International Film Festival (where the it won the top jury award), BGP will release it theatrically in the second quarter of 2013. “We’re in the 11th hour for the Golden Globes campaign. Fingers crossed for a nomination,” says Glass man Rich Wolff. ™ A second Mac’s Tavern — from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olsen — will be near 20th and Chestnut, but are we talking about the old El Fuego space or the Pearl?
Valerie Velvet, Philly tattoo artist and textile/jewelry designer, has taken over the 20-year-old Traveling Wares Vagabond Craft Show (Tattooed Mom’s, Dec. 22) and will push the event beyond its usual holiday schedule into a series of frequent shows. Velvet wants to carry on her Kadillac Tattoo tradition of “tying together charity, commerce and the community voice.” She is also debuting her oil paintings at The Abbaye throughout December.
More jelly beans and eggs at citypaper.net/criticalmass.
