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Archive: January, 2012
Allentown’s Pissed Jeans are just like the rest of us. They also face life’s problems: balding, tiredness after a full night’s rest and a waning desire to socialize to help break up the daily grind. And perhaps the grind is getting to them, they’ve only dropped two songs since 2009’s King of Jeans. That would be 2010’s Sam Kinison Woman EP, whose riffs didn’t bear the same amount of destruction but kept an eye down the barrel of noise and hardcore. When Korvette sings, “Love is a word I use to describe/ The way I feel inside,” on “The L Word,” you’ll pick up on his tongue-in-cheek sentiment but you’ll be dodging — or maybe dealing — swinging arms and stomping boots.
Sat., Jan. 14, 9:30 p.m., $10-$12, with Blues Control & Inner Gaze, Johnny Brenda’s 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 215-739-9684, johnnybrendas.com.
Devoted poet/avid concert-goer/nerd-grrrl extraordinaire Jane Cassady’s weekly horoscopes run in this space every Friday morning.
Capricorn (Dec. 23-Jan. 20): Do something untoward this week. Talk too loud about secret things and get outraged when they shush you. Skip church in favor of erotic poetry readings. Think about that person you are not supposed to think about. Ask for more than you ever have before.
Aquarius (Jan 21-Feb. 19): If this is your time to take a break, make the most of it. Spend whole Tuesdays writing letters to yourself. Catch up on beloved series. Hug your nearest and dearest a hundred million times or tell them (nicely) to go away and leave you in peace. This is your time now, take it.
Pisces (Feb. 20-March 20): You have all of the moxie in the world this week. You are as brave as children. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise, push them down and walk away. Enjoy the rest of the playground. I recommend the swings.
Williamstown, N.J. native Dexter Darden has a memorable supporting turn as Queen Latifah’s son Walter in the enjoyable new film Joyful Noise. The 20-year-old musician/actor holds his own on screen against both the Oscar-nominated actress and legendary country singer Dolly Parton. Darden, who grew up singing in church and at Victory Christian School, chatted with City Paper about getting his start from Paul Newman, Dolly Parton’s fried chicken and his favorite one-hit wonder.
City Paper: How did you get started in music and acting?
DD: My mother sent me to Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang camp [where] I did my Michael Jackson impersonation, and Newman saw the tape. He asked me to perform for the camp’s gala fundraiser. I got to perform with Kevin Kline, Whoopi Goldberg, Paul McCartney, Robin Williams and Jerry Seinfeld. Then, when I hit 13, Newman approached me and asked if I was interested in pursuing entertainment. I said it was something I wanted to do, but I was in school, getting good grades and playing basketball. But when I was 13, I took my first professional vocal lesson, and got an agent and manager and the rest took off from there.
The only other woman more out in front of the Philly news loop than Zoe Strauss is Sandra Bernhard, who started her weeklong run of I Love Being Me, Don’t You? at Painted Bride with a poke at the arts center’s sound people (“they’re probably high,” she joked) and merrily mean end runs on Tim Tebow, Bristol Palin and Philly’s own Camille Paglia. After that, Sandra and her all-boy band hung out at a cocktail reception at Hotel Palomar where I snapped her with Britanny Lynn (see photo), the Philly drag queen that Bernhard performed with several years back at Pure. While Bernhard has been spied supping at the Palomar’s Square 1682 restaubar, her band ate at Jim’s Steak courtesy Philly ChitChat’s HughE Dillon.
Off-Rittenhouse saloon Rogues Gallery and David Carroll are gearing up for their 2012 Friday DJ series with a new name (Rogue Sessions), a new crew (Schoolly D, Robert Drake, Bobby Startup) and a new start date — Fri., Jan. 13 with Diplo’s Holletronix cohort Low Budget. Diplo, on the other hand, has taken to publishing. 128 Beats Per Minute is out in April through Universe/Rizzoli and his writing travelogue (he writes a column for Vanity Fair online already) features photography by former assistant to Annie Leibowitz Shane McCauley, with a foreword by award winning fashion designer, Alexander Wang.
There’s nothing like the Walnut Street Supper Club at 1227 Walnut. The newly refurbished spot that long held Portofino has spruced itself up with onyx everywhere, high back booths, table lamps and balcony seating for that darkly romantic ’40s dinner club vibe (thanks to new GM James McManaman who founded the Midtown Village Merchants Association and owns the Absolute Abstract art shop around the corner). There’s a pianist and musical director (Jeremiah Downes) who leads a singing waiter crew (Temple and UArts alums) through floor shows filled with the standards of jazz and Broadway. They’ve mixed up the Italian fare with an old school steakhouse vibe (when was the last time you had a baked potato with a hearty New York Strip Steak?). They pour a mean martini. Then there’s Ralph Berarducci the suave Italian gent who has owned the spot for 40-plus years, a gentleman who has stories about the glory days of Philly nightlife and stop-ins from guys like Sinatra, Rickles, and Liza. Oooh, ask Ralph how he coaxed the normally reclusive Liz Taylor, then in town with Richard Burton to stage Private Lives, from her hotel into the swanky confines of his restaurant. You can’t hear this any where else in town.
When Verve drops the swinging ’60s-ish soundtrack Pan Am: Music From and Inspired By the Original Series, look for Philly’s own S-Curve/Universal recording artist Nikki Jean to take on the Lennon/McCartney classic “Do You Want To Know a Secret.”
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Every week, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
Comedian Dave Hill is a Renaissance man, dabbling in a number of different persuasions. He’s written for The New York Times and Huffington Post, contributed to NPR's This American Life, played in the band Diamondsnake with Moby, and turned out numerous performances on Comedy Central, VH1 and Adult Swim. This year he adds another trade to his lengthy résumé: author of a new book, Tasteful Nudes: ...and Other Misguided Attempts at Personal Growth and Validation (St. Martin’s, May 22).
Tonight, the multi-tasker performs at Tin Angel. But before that, he chatted with me about how he stumbled into comedy, his favorite tunes and who he’s voting for in the Republican primaries.
Asking the non-musical question, I Love Being Me, Don’t You?, Sandra Bernhard had her fans eating out of her 
hand at the Painted Bride Wednesday night. On the rainy evening, she delivered on her promise to “make it sunny and bright,” opening with a kick-ass rendition of Neil Sedaka’s “Laughter in the Rain” that dripped with irony.
Taking on topics as diverse as her Mitral valve prolapse (and crush on her cardiologist) and raising her teenage daughter to name-dropping the only two people allowed to smoke in her apartment — Liza Minnelli and Chrissie Hynde, no less — Bernhard was revealing, unafraid to expose herself and her insecurities.
But Bernhard is also prone to puncture holes in “fakers,” and she memorably lacerated Tyra Banks, Cindy Crawford and Gywneth Paltrow for their lame product lines and self-aggrandizing sense of being. The comedian's irritation toward Bristol Palin and Jessica Simpson’s Fancy Nights fragrance may be expected, but these remarks still produced laughs because of her excellent delivery and amusing facial expressions. Her keen sense of comic timing was on display throughout the night; she never held the joke too long. All of her schtick stuck.
Backed by a trio of fine musicians, Bernhard’s musical numbers were the highlight of the show. She sang a few bars of Joni Mitchell’s “Ladies of the Canyon” and encouraged the audience to sing along to the 1973 Eurovision hit “Eres Tu,” which she performed in Spanish. While Bernard closed with REO Speedwagon’s “I Can’t Fight this Feeling,” it was her knockout encore — a medley of gun songs — that truly distinguished I Love Being Me, Don’t You? For it featured Bernhard in just a porkpie hat, t-shirt and stockings, strutting her stuff with panache. And everyone loving every minute of it.
See Also:
Human sexuality education expert — and our Sexy Time columnist — Meg Augustin answers your deepest, darkest questions about getting it on. Don't be shy, email her for advice at megan.augustin@citypaper.net.
QUESTION: I’m a 30-year-old woman and have never had an orgasm during sex with a man. Is that weird?
ANSWER: First of all, let it be said that sex isn’t all about the orgasm. Orgasms are great, don’t get me wrong, but when you are aiming for the finish you might pass up all of the wonderful sensations to be found along the way. That being said, everyone should have the chance to try it at least once if they want to.
Secondly, you aren’t weird. In fact, you are quite “normal” — at least in the sack. Over 75 percent of women can’t orgasm vaginally. When you know the biology behind it, it makes sense. We all start out with the same genital junk in the womb. Male and female fetuses are given the same undefined, genital tissue in the beginning. As the fetus gets more defined all over, so do the genitals. Males turn tissue into a scrotum (aka “balls”) while that same tissue forms the vulvar lips on a female (aka the “outside” of female genitalia). Similarly, the tissue that forms the male penis makes the female clitoris, which means that all the nerve endings in the male member are concentrated in the female’s smaller, sensitive bundle. Long story short, this means most women orgasm when the clit is stimulated — not during penetration. Think about it: How many men do you know that get off without having their penis touched? See!
Chris Brown digs into our listings bin and pulls out a little something-something to do every day of the week.
On Sunday night, ?uestlove appeared on the debut of Bravo VP and talk show host Andy Cohen’s now 
five-times-a-week gab fest, Watch What Happens Live, and kinda-sorta dissed one of Philly’s own, Tina Fey. Fey just happens to work for the same NBC//Universal/Comcast/Kabletown network as The Roots and ?uestlove do. Still ?uest was pissed that any time the 30 Rock-er appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, she never gave a shout to her home-slice Roots. “Fellow Philadelphians, we bond with each other and it's been hard to bond with her" said ?uesto.
He knew, like Fallon did, that Fey would appear on last night’s show. Another misspeak or just good publicity for all concerned? Anyway, last night on Fallon’s late show, Fey mentioned the Q-dig, said she had considered keying ?uestlove’s car, only to face an apologetic but still wounded-by-the-brush-off drummer. So the two Philly natives hugged it out — or ate it out — over a foot-long hoagie. Ah, if only the Archdiocese and its potentially closing high schools could just get some sandwiches ...
(a_amorosi@citypaper.net) (@ADAmorosi)
Photo from latenightiwthjimmyfallon.com
So good. ?uesto sat in. Tina Fey was also on the show, and she and the Roots drummer shared a moment. XOXO Philly etc.
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