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Icepack Illustrated
With Little Baby's Ice Cream gearing up for tomorrow's brick-and-mortar opening, what of their neighbors, Brian Dwyer and his Pizza Brain crew who helped get the party started between them when they partnered for the double wide location on the 2300 block. How much longer do we have to wait for Dwyer’s dough-n-gravy museum/old-school pizza shop opening? “Since day one we always planned to have Little Baby’s first, and us second,” says Dwyer. “Hopefully we’re not too far behind.” The last time I was at Pizza Brain, the reclaimed tin roof was up with the shelving and peep holes of Dwyer’s curated cheese-arium being readied so it should be ... very soon.
Keith Richard Peirce of Northern Arms Philly fame hasn’t been around for a minute. A Hemingway-esque exile in Florida’s gulf is what Peirce has become. Now, though, Peirce is getting ready to move back home to Philly between September and October with plans including a new Northern Arms record. Good, good. But what about right now? In the immediate, Peirce and Eric “Whorehouse” Bandel just recorded what they are calling a hymn to Rick Dombrowski, the late, great Rick D whose shuttered-n-sold Tritone on South Street just re-opened (courtesy Chris Fetfatzes and Heather Annechiarico of Hawthornes) as The Cambridge on Aug. 1. It's now a sour-beer-bottle-heavy, six-pack-to-go-selling pierogi, chicken and corned beef joint. The song that Peirce and Bendel wrote is called “Last Horse” and it’s a swet send off to an old friend. “Eric drove 1,300 miles — from Brooklyn to the Gulf Coast of Florida — just to work on this song,” says Peirce. “We wrote a germ of it right after Rick died and it bothered us over the years for not finishing it. We knew we had to. Eric could have waited until I returned but he drove here and we locked down the house for four days, wrote the rest and recorded it. I'm glad we did it this way.” As Peirce “certainly wants everyone who loved or cared about him to have it,” he is planning a possible iTunes drop shortly. Keep you posted.
“Recently, I read that Bob Dylan’s new album Tempest will feature a 14-minute song about the Titanic,” starts expatriate Philadelphia comedian Tim Heidecker innocently enough on a recent blog post. “I wrote this song to see if I could beat the Master to it. I can’t wait to see how close I got to the real thing.” With that, one half of the Tim & Eric team, unleashed a teaser (you gotta pay for the whole thing) to his own eerie 14-minute epic. Good luck.
Philadelphia’s Video Pirates do what their name infers: rip and clip precious booty and throw it up for the world to see. Happily, the VP crew shows off “Horrors” July 28 at International House, with swipes of commercials from Krass Brothers clothiers and the classic rock dawn of WYSP when Randy Kotz was still happily a regular on-air jock.
When weiner wonks Hawk Krall and Holly Moore judged this week’s hot dog cook-off at Hot Diggity on South Street, one of the immediate area’s top notch spaces took home the prize. Not nouvelle chef hot spots like Supper or Pumpkin or Brauhaus Schmitz. Marrakesh won — the forever-on-Leithgow-Street home to the best in Philadelphia’s Moroccan cuisine. I haven’t been there in a minute but love their lamb dishes, their private copper-table dining rooms and the manner in which their waiters pour hot tea from six feet above your table. Go. But don’t ask for hot dogs. I’m pretty sure they don’t serve them.
Further down the block on South Street this weekend, another longtime tradition gets upheld: the Midnight Movie at the Theater of the Living Arts. Live Nation tested the waters back in May and return to the scene of the crime for the next several Saturdays with John Waters’ Pink Flamingos (July 28), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Aug. 4) and Mommie Dearest (Aug. 11). Bring your own toast to toss.
Remember when life was simpler? When hot dog water enthusiast (thanks Pen & Pencil) Anthony Bourdain was just a heavy -smoking, leather jacket-wearing Leonard Cohen-lookalike trying to sell some books and NOT the foodie icon Philly lusts after? I do. I found this chat with him from 2001 when he stopped to meet me at L’Ange Bleu hawking copies of Kitchen Confidential. They’s all growed up.
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The mother of Philadelphia intergalactic noise-psych acts, Bardo Pond, joins with Alabaster Museum and the Rotunda for a Laserium-like happening (Eyegate II handles the acid visuals) that doubles as a benefit for Tom Carter. Bardo’s gentle psychedelic brother got hit with acute pneumonia while touring Europe and needs assistance with medical costs. Joining B-Pond on July 20 is Kohoutek, Rhyton and NYC’s Guardian Alien.
After previewing The Industry for Meal Ticket, I finally made my way there. Try the panko crusted testa. Italians call it “Head in a box.” Mwhahaha. Owners Dave Garry, Heather Gleason and chef Pat Szoke just started serving “the city’s only public staff meal,” Sundays, 10 p.m.-1 a.m. guests get an ever-changing plate of what they serve to the staff after the evening’s service, for $6 per plate. Mwhahaha.
If you see Sigourney Weaver or the cast of the filming-in-Philly USA Network’s Political Animals, say something nice. July 15’s premiere brought in just 2.6 million viewers during the extended broadcast at 10 p.m. (only 675,000 of adults 18-49, and 834,000 viewers in the adults 25-54 range: important demographics for advertisers). Animals’ numbers weren’t bad but they weren’t great.
For the 10th anniversary of its Diamond G String Awards on July 25, Delilah’s Gentlemen’s Club and Steakhouse (I still don’t know anyone who has eaten a steak there after a full decade) will bring in retired porn star Jenna Jameson to host the strip-dance competition with $10,000 prize.
Lose a wiener, gain a rib rub: Jose Garces has given up the ghost of Abe Frohman. Or at least Abe’s Wursthaus, as the 13th Street brat boite is back on the buying block. Stephen Starr on the other hand has co-opted Brooklyn’s Fette Sau rub-centric BBQ for his next-to-Frankford Hall location, ending the long (well, three weeks) speculation as to what he’d open along Johnny Brenda Row. By the way, the Fette Sau concept, eat by weight, is something I believe that Philly’s BBQ Nick’s Charcoal Pit does.
Mikes Santoro and Dorris have been too busy dealing with sewage pumps, sump pumps and other pumps to worry about what they were going to call their S. Eighth Street purchase, the restaurant space that once held James. The pumps must be fixed as they’ve titled their cuisine-TBD restaurant The Mildred. It ain’t sexy but it works.
Philly’s Latin king DJ Rahsaan and his AfroTaino Productions, bring Thom Yorke’s favorite multi-lingual MC Ana Tijoux, Academy Award-winning musician Jorge Drexler and local spoken word diva Denice Frohman to Dobbs July 15. ‘Musica’ estilo indeed.
Cherry Bomb Bus babe and Hen with a Knife lady, chef Jen Zavala has just left her most recent digs at Interstate Draft House up north according to the restaurant. We’re waiting to hear from Zavala but the restaurant’s employees say it was a genial mutual parting of the ways and that she packed up her knives on Sunday.
Philly’s favorite comic book power-pop peeps, Conversations with Enemies, is having a party this Saturday (July 7) at Johnny Brenda’s for their second album The Good Times. Like 2009’s Nowhere OK, their new CD comes with a 20-page color comic volume featuring panels from area artists, this time starring locals Kristyn Fayewicz, Jessica Lowe and the all-of-15 years old Rhiannon Iwer. That’s got to be pricey. While The Good Times’ CD features gobs of sarcastically lyrical and melodic song, the comic book is highlighted by a romantic entanglement between a werewolf pirate, a vampire a devil.
Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Liam Hemsworth and director Robert Luketic want you to be in their movie Paranoid when it starts filming in Philly later this month. Actually, those four guys could care less who is in their movie. It’s Diane Heery of Heery Casting that needs upscale business folk and hip beautiful people (not to be confused with hipster doofuses) of all ages and sexes to be background extras. Check heerycasting.com and know that you’ll be rubbing elbows too with Richard Dreyfuss who just got added to the cast. Maybe Ford and he can talk about American Graffiti. Also while you’re at Heery, drop them some photos if you’re a guy in great physical shape. Sigourney Weaver’s Political Animals is still looking for a few good men, militarily speaking that is, through July 15.
Now-buff Derek Dorsey, co-owner of The Fire (get that man some carbs), has a roommate who just happens to have her own gallery in someone else’s home in South Kensington. The 1522 Salon at 1522 N. Lawrence is Natalie Beckwith’s baby and together with Michael Yoder the pair host their “Two Squares” exhibition starting July 6.
As the pasta bowl turns: The 1537 S. 11th St spot along the East Passyunk dining corridor that was earmarked for what Gordon “Birra” Dinerman was calling the Fountainhead (an Ayn Rand burger joint?) has just found new owners. While Dinerman moved his newest concept into Old City (Barra of which we reported on last week) Fond co-owners Jessie Prawlucki and Lee Styer have taken over the 1537 location for Fond, their stealthily healthful food boite at 1617 E. Passyunk. No word on what will happen to the old (still current) Fond spot but the new one should be ready by late autumn. Prawlucki can also be fond, I mean, found at her Belle Cakery at 1437 E. Passyunk, right across from the Ac-a-mee.
WHOWHATWHERE: As the first cast of Jersey Shore ungracefully gets ready to end its tenure in Seaside Heights next week, two things caught my eye. One is that the now-pregnant Snooki was spied pushing beer, Coors Lite yet, in a baby stroller. Fine. The other is that Deena Cortese was fined $106 after pleading guilty to dancing in the road and not using the sidewalk. Really. In other shore points, Mary J. Blige did the Atlantic City party circuit last weekend, first in the VIP area of Caesars Toga Bar then at Ivan Kane’s Royal Jelly Burlesque hot spot at Revel. Ellen Burstyn, in Philly shooting the aforementioned Political Animals hung with the mayor and the governor for the Celebration of Freedom ceremony at Independence Hall. Slow week for Ms. Burstyn. On the local radio station tip, both Jack Black and Kyle Gass — Tenacious D to you — stopped by Radio 104.5’s iHeart Radio Performance Theater before playing Festival Pier, as did the wonky Walk the Moon. Lastly, there’s poor Bruce Jenner who looked more frozen than ever (it’s either an overabundance of Botox or the shock of being away from the Kardashians clan where he wears the skirts) when the 1976 Olympic gold medalist showed up at Parx Casino on Saturday. Guy needs a break.
Before we commence, let’s say a sad and sorry farewell (at least for now) to the just-burned Lorenzo’s Pizza on South Street . While I never had a sloppy slice there (no way, brah) I did, waybackintheday, use its always disgusting bathrooms to snort coke in when Dobbs’ powder rooms were full.
When the big beautiful Pennsylvania Burlesque Festival hits TLA Saturday (June 30) keep your eye on its judges, tassle-swinging icon Jacqueline Hyde, Daily News columnist Dan Gross and guitarist/developer David Grasso. Feel free to ask that Grasso how involved he is with the other Grasso (brother Joe) on the proposed live club at ye old Egypt. We haven’t heard much about David G’s NoLibs’ live venue/parking lot with Live Nation in awhile.
“Frankly I’m pissed off,” said Gordon Dinerman during the soft-opening of his new Old City restaurant Barra (the Third and Chestnut hot spot is now open for dinner, lunch and happy hour). Why would the former nightclub manager (Revival) and Starr employee (Barclay Prime) be angry after building-out a tony downtown version of his East Passyunk pizza/Italian beer joint, Birra? “The new coal oven makes a better pizza at Barra. It’s just superior. I got to work on that at Birra to even things up.” Along with hosting new menu additions not available at Birra — bruschetta, polenta, white mussels calamari, fish and chips, branzino, filet, all pastas, Italian Market pizza, fresh pappardelle with Maine lobster, filet mignon with heirloom tomato caprese — Barra plays into Dinerman’s skills as club guy with a tony update on his old pal/new partner Rob LaScala’s locations Rocchino and Azione. Barra is loungier, livelier with haute cocktails rather than beer as the focus, mood-swing lighting and DJs, Thursday to Saturday. Having known Dinerman since we both ran Revival, I can say that I’m sincerely proud of him. His dad and step-mom must be proud as well as they made the trek to Barra.
Before Making Time makes merry for its 12th anniversary in July at Morgan’s Pier, David Pianka brings in the chipper, chilly Tanlines to the Bamboo Club July 3.
Dead Milkman, Burn Witch Burn-er and CP columnist Rodney Anonymous joins Y-Not Radio for a new show Tells You How to Live. Rod’ll Play whatever he feels like every first Friday at 9 p.m.
At this week’s Ginger Coyle/Thom McCarthy/Kate Foust show at the Balcony, we found out that TMc will start recording his second ever album this weekend at Turtle Studios and that Foust, just late of Lady, will be heading into an electronic direction with new tracks to come shortly.
WHOWHATWHERE: Q-Fest got ready for its 18th annual LGBT film affair this July with a Havana Room/North Shore Beach Club Smirnoff Whipped n’ Fluffed bash that included Fox morning guy/host Mike Jerrick, yours truly and his blogging missus Glamorosi as judges and 12-count-em-12 bartenders from AC (Pro Bar at Prohibition) and Philly (Uncles) making two-oy-two drinks each. After 24 shots anyone could’ve been the winner of Madonna tix, but indeed Jazz from iCandy and Patrick Curtis from Tashan snagged the big prizes. Congrats. The pop sloppy Jon McLaughlin hit up Radio 104.5 FM in Bala before spending a night on the town at World Café Live. Actor Clifton Powell did the same when he stopped by WDAS down the hall in Bala to talk shop. New York-via-New Jersey Mob Wife Drita D’Avanzo stopped by The Coastline in Cherry Hill not to cause trouble but to have a few cocktails and chill. We love Drita, no doubtabout it, but where’s Big Ang? Lastly, crews from Channel 4 in the UK and its Real Stories series at The Box will be in Philly this weekend to shoot everything-and-anything (including a chat with me, A.D.) that was and is the story of Pink, Philly’s pop-hop superstar who not only got her start at Club Fever but did her first-ever interview with me.
When Cuba Libre co-owner/chef Guillermo Pernot held his Pop-Up Paladar on Tuesday he didn’t just forge a tasty authentic meal of olive-raising paste, crab-meat-stuffed corn-pasta cannelloni and picked cod-n-lamb tongue. Pernot gave Cuban chef Alain Rivera Santana of Havana’s Doctor Café his first shot at cooking outside his homeland. (Pernot did a Paladar with Chef Lucio in January and will hold another in October with Chef Angel Rafael Roque Gomez). To an audience including members of the cultural tour that Pernot led throughout Cuba in April (with their photos on the walls) Rivera said that the most exciting thing about coming here was learning that not all of us were bad (he should stay longer!), that the pop culturalism of our streets was dizzying and that the variety of food stuffs and spices in Philly was amazing. After telling me how much different Rivera was from Lucio (“night and day in their methodology”), Pernot revealed that Cuba Libre specially built a charcoal grilling oven like the one Rivera uses in Havana for their swell smoky grilled yellowfish tuna with ruby red grapefruit. Hot cha.
Thom Cardwell gave Icepack the exclusive on the dates (July 12-26) for the gay/lesbian/trans QFEST film extravaganza months ago. They announced its honorees — actor David W. Ross, director Rose Troche, activist Ellen Ratner. Why not have a party with the fest’s first-ever Q-Challenge Rockstar Bartender Competition hosted by Fox 29 fox Mike Jerrick where barkeeps win Madonna’s M.D.N.A. tour tix? That’s June 26 at North Shore’s Havana Room with yours truly and his blogging missus Glamorosi judging.
Last week I mentioned that Philly party planner Lindsay Furman was a new bad girl on NBC’s Love in the Wild. She wasn’t so bad but she did get dropped from the outdoor matchmaking show as did Manayunk’s Jenny Blatt. Too many bugs anyhoo.
Theresa Rose, Renee Archawski and Sandy Upton are three of the newest names added to Nick Stuccio’s Live Arts Festival and venue. Whee.
Krautrocking and crucial — that’s Philly’s Arc in Round who drop their eponymous debut album, June 23 at Johnny Brenda’s with Pet Milk and Tadoma in the haus. Arc in Round features guests Kurt Vile and Pattern Is Movement.
EaterPhilly came up with a sad but interesting notion: Could ex-Top Chef Jen Carroll be taking her Concrete Blonde concept elsewhere? I heard that the location she was readying for the ex-Marathon spot at 13th and Chestnut fell through because investors couldn’t agree on money. Carroll mentioned to me at Marc Vetri’s Great Chefs event that she had new cool investors — but for what city? Stay tuned.
As a Godly man, I can recommend June 26’s Ritz East (7 p.m.) screening of NJ filmmaker/New Testament scholar Rob Orlando’s A Polite Bribe (The Paul Story). The documentary about the life and teachings of Christ’s main-man Paul won’t be out until autumn so this preview is truly cool. Whether you believe or not is between y’all and Paul but the film is great and learned men agree.
Speaking of Jesus and Mary, the noisy Chain held by the Brothers Reid just announced a rare booking at Philly’s Union Transfer for Sept. with tix selling shortly.
?uestlove, Philly pal Will Smith and Jay Z will take the Tony Award-winning Fela! musical off the road and put it back on Broadway for a summer run. The three are producers and not just some guys muscling in on the AfroBeat action.
Mr. and Mrs. Prensky, Jen and chef Mitch hold a kinky Fifty Shades of Grey dinner at Supper on South St. June 23, taking the Masked Ball sex scene and re-doing the book’s decadent menu.
WHOWHATWHERE: Lots of celebs hit the local radio stations this week. Australian sensation Cher Lloyd visited with DJ Maxwell at the Saturday Night Online iHeart Radio Performance Theater in Bala, with soul-pop singer Kimbra, pop-punks Silversun Pickups and sweet hardcore goofs Circa Survive hitting up Radio 104.5 FM’s studios. The Circa cats even got to hang with fan/photog Scott Weiner’s daughter Mariel Weiner who shares a b-day with me, her godfather. Philadelphia Style publisher John Colabelli, whose next Style party is a private 4th of July weekend one at MIXX in the Borgata with John Oates and ?uestlove, was the main attraction at last week’s opening of The Latham Hotel, its new swank rooms and handsomely appointed restaurant. Columnist Stu Bykofsky and his new goatee were at the Latham cork-popping as were lawyers such as Chuck Peruto Jr., Justin Wineburgh and Lauren O’Dorisio, the very new wife of Colabelli. Congrats.
Jose Garces may be busy at the Kimmel Center, readying his work-in-progress restaurant on the first floor for early autumn. But rumor has Jose eyeballing a tony taco-teria for North Broad Street near the Vie/Alla Spina/Route 6 complex. Stay away from Cobra. They ain’t looking for company.
Crooner Eddie Bruce will host the 10th Gary Papa Run for Prostate Cancer, June 17, at Philly’s Museum of Art. “Gary was special,” says Bruce who has done the honors three years running.
Philly event planner Lindsay Furman is now on NBC’s Love in the Wild, dropping into the action last Tuesday after the jungle dating show started weeks previous. Wish Furman would take the host gig from Jenny McCarthy. Too annoying.
Last time we saw Wes Pentz — Philly’s Diplo to you — he was at the Roots Picnic debuting new Major Lazer tracks (like “Bubblebutt”) and whipping off his shirt (Dip needs a workout for that flabalanche he’s having). Catch him debuting his solo EP Express Yourself and talking about it on NPR's All Things Considered here.
Old City’s 32 Degrees — the first bar in Philly to do that bottle service thing — closed over the weekend after a solid 10-year run. You could joke that there goes the neighborhood, but Barry Gutin and Larry Cohen (profiled as part of last week’s cover story on Delaware Avenue) own the swellegant Cuba Libre restaurant next door, the block’s last true remaining tony outpost. (Then again, who knows what Joe “Dog” Schultice has planned for his take-over of 32’s downstairs neighbor, Nick’s Roast Beef, a longtime grog-n-gravy-soaked respite of mine when I lived across the street.) It may have been a minute since I’d been to 32 but there were good druggy times had (by me and mine when me and mine still imbibed) and weird introductions made in the VIP section with Kiss’s Gene Simmons, a tight-assed Jeremy Piven and Mark Wahlberg just-barely-out of his Marky Mark phase.
As I mentioned several weeks ago in Ice Ill, Harrison Ford will be in town for filming purposes. The reason: Paranoia, a tale of corporate intrigue filmed by a British production company co-starring Liam Hemsworth, Embeth Davidtz and Gary Oldman. Hemsworth is busy getting engaged to Miley Cyrus and lensing Empire State in New Orleans. Oldman is ready to bask in the glow of The Dark Knight Rises along with heading into preproduction on RoboCop, Monster Butler and Motor City. And Ford is currently wrapping up 42 where he’ll play legendary baseball scout Branch Rickey. “We’re expecting a late July start in Center City mostly for Paranoia,” says Sharon Pinkenson.
Can’t lie won’t lie. I miss Espers, the most sensuous entry in the nu-folk movement that just happened to come from green Philadelphia. Cellist and singer Helena Espvall was an Espers as who also spent time with The Valerie Project, Sharron Kraus/Meg Baird’s act and did sessions for Masaki Batoh. Currently she can be found with Brooklyn improvisationalists Azure Carter and Alan Sondheim, making a sci-fi-gypsy album called Alan Sondheim/Helena Espvall/Azure Carter Trio (through Philly’s Majuma Music label) and debuting its wiry songs with Dan Joseph on June 9 at Highwire Gallery, 2040 Frankford Ave. Go and get mesmerized.
And speaking of Philly girls making experimental music, West Philly’s Cheshire Agusta — the goddess of pummel for Stinking Lizaveta — got swiped on her bike quite badly the other day, smashed up to the tune of a fractured tibia for which she had surgery earlier this week. One: pray. Two: Get ready to cough up some money for her. She’s going to be off the metal drum stool for a minute.
On the first and third Sundays of the month, starting June 3, West Philly’s Cafe Clave (4305 Locust) gets a blast of skronk-ity plink-plonkity avant-jazz called Rip Rig (what no Panic?). The whole affair comes courtesy Philly’s own free-free-free Modern Music (bass clarinetist Watson, trumpeter Ryan “Hrw Sbkra” T. Frazier, drummer Drew Rinaldi), noisy South Philly guitarist Alban Bailly’s multi-member Yapp (they’re dropping their debut CD ASAP) and hipster-handsome six-stringing guy Mike Gamble from outta-state.
Johnny Brenda’s isn’t just a pretty brickface with goofball live bands. It’s a brew manufacturer apparently, as owner Will Reed has concocted Johnny Berliner, a German Weiss, with Scott Morrison of Dock Street. They cracked the first keg before Memorial Day.
Brat rat Jess Conda needs you, oh, 200+ dancers of all ages, shapes, sizes, ethnicities and experience levels, to prance it up along the steps of the Art Museum for the Live Arts Festival — this work in particular. “It’s going to be an epic hunt to find these dancers but this is my charge,” says Conda who is working with LAFF to recruit people to perform in the piece. The next recruitment session is June 6. Check that link.
No sooner has dapper Chris Malcarney of The Donuts and cLone Justice played his first several gigs of 2012 with the large scale Philadelphia Ukulele Orchestra, he goes and does something way intimate. “I recorded a micro album entirely on my iPhone available for free download,” says Malcarney of Small World, available here. cLone Justice plays KFN in June.
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