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Archive: May, 2012
Every Monday, James Friel rounds up the week's sure-bet live shows.
Monday: With just a trumpet and drum kit, the Chicago Underground Duo are considered a jazz ensemble, but their latest album, Boca Negra, encompasses multiple genres. The record has a thread of simplicity not unlike folk music, but it also contains bursts of polyrhythmic improvisation from the percussion/vibraphone. 8 p.m., $15, Philadelphia Art Alliance, 251 S. 18th St., 215-545-4302.
View galleryStaring at the back of Regina Spektor’s head all night gives you a lot of time to think about her lyrics. She is, she remains, one of the most interesting and idiosyncratic songwriters out there. The poignant stuff gets cut with the funny stuff, only the funny stuff is kinda poignant, too. She’s just really good at laying it all out there: “This is how it works: You’re young until you’re not / You love until you don’t / You try until you can’t / You laugh until you cry / You cry until you laugh / and everyone must breathe / until their dying breath.”
The resigned and nostalgic “Call Them Brothers” — the first single from her coming-soon LP What We Saw From The Cheap Seats — is another oddball charmer: “In the darkness the film machine’s spinning / so let’s leave it on / We’ll be out in the street / before anyone knows that we’re gone.” I’m not sure what a “film machine” is, but there’s probably some other word for it. The song was co-written with Jack Dishel formerly of The Moldy Peaches and currently of openers Only Son, and Dishel joined her for a pristine but soulful rendition that pulled Spektor away from the Steinway for a second and allowed everybody on my side of the hall a rare glimpse of her smiling face. “Call Them Brothers” first appeared on Only Son’s Searchlight album last year. By the way, they played an alluring, high energy opening set. Worth checking out.
After this weekend, Old City will lose one of its hidden gems, Hudson Beach Glass (26 S. Strawberry St., 267-319-1887). The shop has been a fixture on Strawberry Street since 2008, selling handcrafted glass wares and jewelry and offering glassblowing classes. On Sat.-Sun., May 12-13, their final weekend open, the glass nook will offer discounts from 15 to 50 percent off, and you can take advantage of a last chance to make your own glass flower. The artists’ works will still be available on the web, and at their location in Beacon, N.Y.
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
This Friday, First Person Arts fave R. Eric Thomas (pictured) will co-host the Gayborhood's most popular alternative 
comedy show, Camp Tabu at, you guessed it, Tabu Lounge and Sports Bar (200 S. 12th St.). Event organizer Alejandro Morales always features a different comedian at each show to co-host and do a longer feature set later in the evening. Thomas — a playwright, teaching artist and standup dramedian — has been touted as one of Philly's most talented LGBTQ storytellers. His one-man show Will You Accept This Friend Request? premiered during November's First Person Festival to a sold-out run.
Also appearing with Morales and Thomas this Friday will be Chip Chantry, Aaron Hertzog, Mike Logan, LaTice, TJ Hurley, Stephen Harman and Natalie Levant. If you haven't checked out Camp Tabu yet, it's only $5 and comes with a drink ticket. Morales boasts a regular audience count of 50-75 people. "It's really exciting," he says, "because it's a chance for young comedians to come and do a show in front of a real crowd that isn't filled with other comedians."
By the by, Natalie Levant has been making splashes, and has a funny video from her set across the river at Sarcasm comedy club in Cherry Hill. "I'm broke, I'm post-post-post-post-post-post menopausal, and I hate kids and old people. I'm a poor, dried-up bitch. What am I doing here? Well that's easy, I'm disgracing my family."
Check out her vid below ...
D.C. may have us one-upped in terms of free museums, but this Friday we, too, can bask in the glory of high art at no cost. In honor of the International Council of Museums’ International Museum Day (Fri., May 18), the Philadelphia Museum of Art will open its doors to the public, waiving admission fees all day long. Over 200 galleries and special exhibits in the main building and the Perelman building will be on view, and the free admission includes public tours, access to the CraftLAB and Art After 5 with Cuban-born jazz musician Francisco Mela.
Devoted poet/avid concert-goer/nerd-grrrl extraordinaire Jane Cassady’s weekly horoscopes run in this space every Friday morning.
Taurus (April 19-May 18): It’s OK to keep consoling yourself for what you’ve lost. It still aches, that’s OK, because it’s important. You are going to get exponential goodwill in return, runaway growth.
Gemini (May 19-June 21): Rewrite your past so that you have everything you’ve ever needed, so that you were always treated like a precious jewel every minute, no one ever let you be unsafe. I think you’ll find yourself missing what you’ve learned from all the crimps and deficiencies — these are their own weird luxury.
Cancer (June 22-July 23): “I wanna thank you, for letting me, be myself again” (Sly and the Family Stone). The encouragement you give out will have such a huge effect, you may never know. Write letters to buoy up your friends’ spirit — it will always work.
I’m not so sure this week’s liquor license announcement for the Pump House — I mean, the Live Arts/Fringe Center on Columbus Blvd with Nick Stuccio and Fergie as its heads — is news, as we announced this last August. But it’s fun.
The first Brewerytown Arts and Crafts Festival is May 12, noon-4 p.m. You can check out some of the artisans that organizers Priscilla Molina and Rob Hanlon gathered together here wgbabrewerytown.com or take my word for it and know that Andre Wright — a neighborhood guy running a youth athletics basketball mentoring program — is displaying, as is Kiki Hall of Diva Ears Arts and Bee Vintage.
Oh, meth. It makes a fool of us, especially those who deal it. This story tells a sad tale, especially when you consider that we know at least one of the ring’s high profile traffickers: Joseph “Phoenixx” Croxton — Ms. Phoenixx to ya’ll — whose mug shot is on DJ Shok’s site. I am hearing/seeing through the FB grapevine a whole lot of comments have been bitchily reveling in what may be considered a “gotcha” glad-yer-busted moment for Phoenixx, strong feelings for a guy who seemingly was happiest in heavy pancake make up. Remember though, drugs don’t need a dealer. They sell themselves. On a stranger note, I hear that Shok is trying to sell a bunch of techno-disco that he recorded with Phoenixx way long ago. Cute.
Daisy Dukes contests. Mechanical bulls. Yeehah, right? That’s Johnny Utah’s is all about. The big U is finally hunkering down on the 400 block of N. Third Street starting Thursday night. Giddy up.
Though there are a lot of couture foods and fooderies that I might find fault with (despite the glory that is Underdogs, I’m still uncomfortable about designer hot dogs), I’m tickled ice pink about Lil’ Pop Shop. The 44th and Spruce eatery is an artisinal frozen popsicle shop with flavors, so far, like Peanut Butter Curry, Cherry Lambic and Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade. Yes, I approve — anything in a popsicle. Hell, meth in a popsicle is good.
I can't even express how funny it is that Dolphin Tavern has recently been hosting metal shows — including one tonight, with a lineup of Hollenlarm, Burden, Dutchguts and Ominous Black.
If you haven't been, Dolphin is a divey quasi-strip club at Broad and Tasker where the dancers come out at the top of the hour and dance topless-except-for-strategic-electrical-tape on the bar to the next three songs that happen to be on the jukebox. (I personally have spent countless dollars trying to make one of these songs "Bohemian Rhapsody;" the one time the stars aligned was utterly, utterly worth it.)
This place has a claw machine filled with fetish porn and a semi-functional light-up floor a la Saturday Night Fever. Among the things I have witnessed at Dolphin: A neck-tatted Asian dude launching himself over the bar to beat up someone he thought he heard disparaging the Chinese language; dancers simultaneously yanking off their wigs to reveal shaved heads in the middle of their third song. Now that I think about it, adding doom-metal shows kind of makes sense.
Photo by libby lynn via Flickr's Creative Commons.
Each week, Nina Willbach puts together a rundown of book-centric events. This week: Dead Sea Scrolls come alive, live podcast tapings, and Madeleine Albright at the library!
Thursday, May 10
The Mark of Abel
Lydia Panas photographs people. In twos and threes or sometimes alone, the people of her photographs always seem a little caught off guard. The pictures are neither candid nor fully composed, each face looking a little bewildered to have ended up in the frame. Never smiling, her subjects have a haunting power over viewers, making us painfully aware that we are delving into lives that we may not have full permission to see. A native of Kutztown, PA, Panas has shown her work at galleries across the U.S. and abroad, and her photographs have been published in the New York Times Magazine and fotoMAGAZIN. Her solo show The Mark of Abel is currently on view at the Allentown Art Museum, and the accompanying book will be the subject of tonight's discussion. For anyone interested in the process of photography and the often twisted paths to publishing artwork, Panas is sure to offer some much-needed insight.
6:30p.m., free, The Print Center, 1614 Latimer St., printcenter.org.
The Awesome Fest has been doing its name proud lately, bringing a ton of weird and great rep film to to town. They were extremely fast about obtaining the rights to show Beastie Boys concert video (sort of) made by Adam Yauch:
“Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That!” is a 2006 concert film of the Beastie Boys, directed by Adam Yauch. It was created by giving camcorders to 50 audience members of a sold out concert at Madison Square Garden on October 9, 2004. The audience members were instructed to keep the cameras rolling at all times. For a low budget operation, all cameras were returned to the place of purchase for a refund. The film premiered at Sundance in 2006.
The screening's next Thursday, May 18; doors at 7, movie at 8. It's technically free, but the suggested $5 donation goes to a charity of Yauch's family's choice.
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