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Icepack Illustrated
The singularly named Lee of Hop Sing Laundromat texted me last night to say that while he was considering 11/11/11 for the loud opening of his quietly approaching bar, it just didn’t seem right — a leak amongst those closest to him (he wouldn’t say — he’s too gentlemanly for that) had announced it to way too many people. He joked (we hope) about going on vacation in Europe before he was truly ready to pop the cork. As always, stay tuned. HSL passed its health inspection last week and awaits inspection from the Liquor Control Board. Across town, John Longacre’s American Sardine Bar at 18th and Federal passed its health inspection, waits for LCB to inspect and should open before next weekend.
Philly’s TV Casualty starring Brian Sokel (Franklin), Atom Goren (Atom and His Package), Andy Nelson (Paint It Black), and Chris Wilson (Ted Leo’s Pharmacists), just released a vinyl slab of Misfits covers to benefit Center City’s LGBT-specific Attic Youth Center (matadorrecords.com).
On Tuesday’s Dancing With the Stars a costume contest got announced — one where two of the show’s prancers would dress up and be voted on. Five finalists were announced including Amanda Wolff from Dresher, PA. a costume apprentice at the Walnut Street Theatre. Vote before midnight tonight.
I’ve heard rumblings in my neighborhood about Avram Hornik’s plan for the Boot & Saddle at Broad and Ellsworth not being up to South Broad Street Neighbors Association’s liking. They want things nice and quiet — whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? — and may put up a stink when the liquor license transfer comes-a-courtin’. It’s Broad Street, folks, not a residential block. Don’t make me put a boot up your saddle. Be nice.
Remember I said all those swell things about Roger Waters when he got all Pink Floyd-y at his big The Wall showcase at Wells Fargo? Surely, I’ll have bigger better things to say when he plays on July 14 at Citizens Bank Park. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday through ComcastTix.com.
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Here’s something you can never try at home — thirty five courses. Only a protean chef and a willing audience with elastic waist lines can accomplish the feat of what the Italians (normally in two day stretches, with more courses) call La Panarda. This exquisite and rare decadent dining occasion dates back to the 14th century with its foodie events tied to a moneyed capo or signore’s new family addition or overly-grand wedding celebration. When Le Virtu (1927 East Passyunk Ave.) held La Panarda, a likely first in the area, it was for its fourth anniversary of serving the singular Abruzzese cuisine. Some 14 brave diners including myself and my wife — but not counting the gentlemen who provided the eight wine courses from Abruzzo’s distinguished Cantina Frentana’s collective of growers — spent eight and a half hours supping on chef Joe Cicala’s menu of scampi with chickpeas, a serving of layered Timballo (kind of like what Stanley Tucci served up in Big Night without the kettle drum effect), pastas rife with lamb ragu, black truffle and boar, whole roasted turbot, coniglio (rabbit) and a massive dry-aged pork rib roast amongst other succulent things. The whole menu can be viewed here. And it is my understanding that I got through nearly all; my “understanding” as I think I blacked out. Was it the best meal I ever had? I would prefer not to hurt any other chef’s feelings. The Le Virtu La Panarda was certainly the grandest meal of mine or most anyone’s life. Request they do another: 215-271-5626.
Filmmaker turned malito, Les Rivera — a.k.a. electronic Latin hip-hop magician El Malito — has had many a gig since starting his theatrical act with merry odd music produced by Aaron Levinson. El Malito has never played a show in the Latin/Mexican heavy South Philadelphia area and he has never held a Halloween event. Until now: Oct. 27 at Eighth and Fitzwater’s Little Bar. Some folks will say, “That’s really cool they dressed up to do a Halloween show,” notes El Malito of the wild dressy affair. “But the truth of it is, we always dress up. And we want you guys to come dressed up.” See it here and hear it here.
The always-inviting Arch Street BYOB Chloe is celebrating its eleventh anniversary. Yay you. The only thing better than their continental Indonesian, Italian and Moroccan-tinged fare is the fact that the happy couple who run the joint, Philly restaurant vets Mary Ann Ferrie and Daniel Grimes (who is the hospital this week for minor surgery — get well fast) are celebrating their twelfth wedding anniversary at the same time. Double yay you.
Their Second and Arch restaurant is thisclose to getting the one-time Trenton China Pottery spot, the legendary Old City locale that just got a recommended approval from Philly’s Architectural Committee of the Historical Commission to go mixed-use while retaining the faded paint signage on its Second Street wall.
Soft openings and Design Philadelphia events aside, events manager Shannon Niland reminds me that this Sat. Oct. 29 is the true and real grand opening of the Eraserhead-neighborhood’s favorite go-go, whiskey bar, and noshery, The Trestle Inn. I dunno. Those other events were pretty damned grand.
Putting on a show, getting a silo, it comes naturally to our first guests. David Sweeny, better known to Rat Pack aficionados and coke heads as Johnny Showcase, will finally drop his debut soul cabaret funk mess Love is the Message, on Oct. 21 with a party at Underground Arts to show for it. It’s not just a speed-and-sweat hdriven disc or a wonky one closer in his sprit to his Lefty Lucy luaus despite the inclusion of his Parliament-ary “Cocaine Sandwich” and the freak-a-deaky “Love is the Message (For Miles Davis)”. The whole affair was co-produced with producer/engineer Henry Hirsch who has twiddled the knobs for Lenny Kravitz, Madonna and Mick Jagger. “Johnny’s a fiction, but the funk is for real,” says Sweeny of his exy dance debut. “At first I was doing Johnny as a tongue-in-cheek lounge cabaret act, playing upon mediocrity and cheesiness. But I got totally transfixed by Miles Davis’ electric transformation in the late ’60s/early ’70s (hence the title track) as well as Dylan’s electric transformation in ’65. Both were creating outside of the comfort zone of their audiences. I decided to do the same thing, and it totally changed the game, creatively. I built myself a funk band, The Sons of Thunder, and started making any kind of music I wanted, because they could play whatever I asked them to.” As for working with the legendary Hirsch, Sweeny was in awe of the master, one of the last men standing to champion analog recording. “He would listen to a demo, and say something like “Hmm, it sounds like you want Led Zeppelin-type drums on this one. Ok, give me an hour.” Within the hour, simply by manipulating drums, microphones, and the console, Henry would have achieved that John Bonham sound. We all walked away stronger musicians.” If by some dumb chance that you miss the Showcase/Sweeny Underground Arts extravaganza, catch up with Johnny when he hooks up with Martha Graham Cracker for their double-teamed Halloween soiree at Milkboy Chestnut Street on Oct 29. If Martha takes a break ask Dito von about the book he’s working on (Pig Iron: Three Plays, due out in December) and his role in Act II’s Irma Vep opening Oct. 25.
Want more show people? Take the wizardress/true star that is Jess Conda. She just finished playing the haughty Mae West in Looking Pretty and Saying Cute Things at the Adrienne Theater, and now the Brat-artist-in-residence has began work on her own Halloween cabaret. A is for Anaconda at the RUBA Club (Oct. 27-29 with a special preview of Madi Distefano’s Meanwhile on the first two nights) is a little Edward Gorey, a little heavy metal and, in the tradition of Brat stuffs like Haunted Poe and Carrie. “Plus my band is the boys from the Martha Graham Cracker cabaret, sans Martha,” says Conda. Take a rock show, dress it up in Victorian finery, cover it in blood and blast it with bombastic vocals. Perfect Halloween fare. “This show tells the story of the corruption of my rock ’n’ roll alter ego, Anna,” says Conda. “It’s inspired by the cult favorite poem, The Ghastlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey. I was curious if I could stage the world of that poem in a rock context. Can Victorian school children get down to Iron Maiden? Can the spectacle of a rock show feel like true theater?” Sure can.
Popping pop up fresh: Stateside on the 1500 block of E. Passyunk Ave. didn’t just get a chef, ex-Barbuzo mate George Sabatino. It’s got a five-course soft opening pop-up at South Philly Green Eggs (13th and Dickinson) on Oct. 29. The Green Eggs folk, along with Bill Bonforte and Stephen Slaughter are responsible for Stateside which will open soon after the pop. Up.
If Laurie Anderson can show at Fabric Workshop, Karen Finley can work at Kelly Writers House. The yams-and-yowling performance artist will be a Kelly Fellow at UPenn this up-coming season. Mazel.
As someone who has written about parties for his entire life, I’m saying, right here right now, that no party — not Vagabond, not stuff at Catacombs and Second Story, not Rock Tits or Making Time, or any bash I’ve ever thrown — ever had me laughing at the shock and awful feeling of thinking about Mummers having sex every Tuesday at the Downtowners Fancy Brigade clubhouse at Second and Snyder. With prostitutes. And one free beer. And access to food after paying the $30 cover charge. A Mummer fucking with a plastic cup of Bud in one hand and a half-a-hoagie in the other. Thanks for the image, boys.
Let’s change the photo in my mind: How about floating chicken. That’s the snap that came with a press release regarding the opening of the fried chicken and donut shop that’ll pop its top at 7 a.m. Oct. 17: Federal Donuts on 1219 S. Second St. Man, is Two Street busy. The Fed is owned by Zahav/Percy St. BBQ-ers Steven Cook and Michael Solomonov, BODHi Coffee owners Thomas Henneman and Bob Logue, and City Paper contributor Felicia D’Ambrosio. We think the photo hovering over our heads is that of “the Glazed” traditional Korean style birdie.
Where’s my copy, damn it? As I previewed exclusively back in August, Eric T. Miller’s Magnet print mag (born in 1993, moved onto the web-only in 2008) starts its new monthly run NOW with a Wilco cover and my feature on Philly’s Spank Rock. Hit the newsstand.
The other most wonderful man from SouthWest Philly (after me), precious Precious director/producer Lee Daniels has enlisted W. Merritt Johnson (Temple Grandin screen writer) to film an original drama series for Showtime based on African-American and Latino competitive drag ball culture in New York City’s LGBT communities. Hopefully, he’s almost done with post-production on The Paperboy, his next film based on Pete Dexter’s book with Nicole Kidman, John Cusack and Zac Efron.
When I ran into Top Chef champ Kevin Sbraga at Jen Carroll’s 10 Arts bye-bye that I covered at Meal Ticket, he told me that he was opening his self-named S. Broad Street restaurant within like two weeks. He wasn’t kidding. Sbraga (440 S. Broad St.) starts its $45 four-course, prix-fixe dinners this Saturday, Oct. 15. His wife Jesmary is making the desserts.
Run don’t walk to your nearest Pitchfork to hear the new single from Diplo and Switch’s Major Lazer (“Original Don”) and see the news of a second Lazer album’s contributions from Vybz Kartel, Bruno Mars, Sean Paul, Dirty Projectors singer Amber Coffman, and cats from Vampire Weekend.
The absolutely smashingly subtle and innovative brass and string arranger Joshua Stamper (see his credits on records by Danielson and Twin Sister) brings similar chamber/jazz stylings to his own music (Interstitials) and his live performance at this Sunday’s Andrea Clearfield Salon (Oct. 16).
Because it was a friend and family night and I met them once very long ago, that makes me family, right? So I stormed into the soft opening of The Trestle on S. 11th to greet Josette Bonofino and Ian Cross, the owners of the once-and-present go-go spot, soon to come with a full menu, weekend DJ nights and by January 2012, drag and burlesque shows. Man, is it dark in there — painted black and everything. I dig it.
The Philly chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International hosts a scholarship fundraising dinner at Susanna Foo Gourmet Kitchen in Radnor on Oct. 16. Everyone attending gets a copy of the new book, Susanna Foo Fresh Inspirations, wines from the Wente Vineyards, the sponsor of Les Dames nd the feel-good vibe of kicking into a fund benefitting women seeking education in the culinary and hospitality fields (ldei.org).
Here it is autumn and Bill Ricchini’s Summer Fiction has a new single he calls “cool in a Gram Parsons meets Donovan kind of way” called “By the Sea.”
Going up and down East Passyunk to see if Gordon Dinnerman’s Bierra Italiano hot spot had opened yet (end of October) and to sneak a peak at Stateside from ex-Barbuzzo chef de cuisine George Sabatino (duck sausage? Can’t wait) I happened on to Medium Bob’s Curiosity Shop a block off Passyunk at Mifflin. There’s cool men’s and women’s vintage clothing, shoes and jewelry to be found at Bob’s as well as swanky odd housewares.
WHOWHATWHERE: Jennifer Lawrence, currently filming Silver Linings Playbook in Upper Darby should be appearing Oct. 20 at the Philadelphia Film Festival’s Zellerbach Theater opener, Like Crazy, you know, since she’s in it. Singer Erika Schiff’s birthday party at Rogues Gallery got a visit from Schoolly D, John Bolaris, Tony Ward and Stu Bykofsky. Wait? Huh? Really. When he isn’t filming Entourage, Adrian Grenier is a terrible dresser as you can see from his outfit at the Pool at Harrahs in Atlantic City. John Lithgow stopped at Barnes and Noble in Princeton, NJ to sign copies of his book Drama and hang with lots of dramatic types. Banned-in-Delaware radio sensation Tyrese made a splash at WDAS FM’s studios in Bala Cynwyd where he is welcome anytime.
The electrical inspection is finished, the health inspection is next and the mysterious “Mr. Lee” called me to say he’s got a Twitter account at @Hopsinglaundry. Now if Lee will only open that laundromat.
The last time we saw Erika Schiff was at a screening of the I Married a Mobster television episode she starred in, in some Soho NYC nightclub, and a bunch of the Mob Wives were in tow. This Saturday it’s her birthday, she’s screening it again at Rogues Gallery on South 21st and all she’ll get is Schoolly D spinning the gig. Hah! Maybe a Mob Wife will show. Rogues co-owner and old pal David Carroll (who recently hosted his buddy, ex-police chief John Timoney at the Gallery) will host the bash.
Take a run at the Palm Restaurant when you get a chance and look at the wall of fame and caricature. I didn’t realize this before but the Philly Style cover image of Nicole Miller is right by the drawing of Philadelphia mag boss Herb Lipson. Oops.
This weekend, South Street’s annual Running of the Punks is two days long with a concert thingie at Dobbs Oct. 7 with old people Bunnydrums, Dixy Blood, Pure Hell and the Prisoners as well as a cocktail mixer at Tatooed Mom’s on Oct. 8.
When Playloop’s Justin Paul does his Trentemøller show on Oct. 13 at TLA, congratulate him for getting his production/label’s release of The Model’s "I Won't Be Hanging Out Anymore" placed on a Virgin Airlines commercial. Then ask him where PEX’s big Halloween party is going to be. I hear it’s a secret battleship down on the Delaware.
Every couple years somebody kinda-anonymous comes along and shakes up their insular self-congratulatory community. Surely you remember the single-paged (both sides!) Xeroxed anti-fanzine broadside Cherry Coke which, during its brief tenure, dissed Philly music clowns hard? That was a decade ago. Ah, memories. This year it’s a blog and not a photocopy and food rather than music that’s had Philly’s cooking-circle’s panties bunched: Staphmeal.com. Anonymously, the writer charged George Perrier with racism, Bryan Sikora with dick-ish-ness and Stephen Starr and Jose Garces with nabbing tips. Perrier even got a lawyer on the case which led the anonymous chap to outing himself. So welcome Joshua Scott Albert, a 25-year-old ex-employee of Amis (whose Marc Vetri he’s hated on), Zavino and a.kitchen who has a funny YouTube vid of himself getting arrested for being drunk outside Barbuzzo. Yowsah.
They may be scuzz punks but they know their way around a nize melody: Philly’s psych-garage faves Far Out Fangtooth release their vinyl wonder Pure & Disinterested on the grand-just-grand Siltbreeze label Oct. 1, at Kung Fu Necktie. Do that.
Space 1026-ers Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Rose Luardo and Ted Passon just made themselves a children’s television program — Joke Summer School — and have placed it on a Comcast On-Demand channel Activity TV. The sketch and joke show for kids finds Passon behind the lens, directing while “Rose and I write and star in the show,” says Wright, crediting other writers Thom Lessner, Doogie Horner and Laris Kreslins, as well as local comedians in the show, like Carolyn Busa and Sidney Gantt. Check an episode online here. Meanwhile, there’s a huge buzz going about N.E.R.D. Pharrell Williams coming to Philly’s Comcast Center to discuss Karmaloop TV, the mini-TV network/on-line site dealing with slightly older adults.
If Suburgatory was a live gig it would be the klatch of weird-area suburban punks playing at the Balcony at the Trocadero Oct. 4: Get Railed (from Delco), Acidfinger (from Levittown) and KMX (from King of Prussia). Oink.
The Philadelphia Collection fashion freakout starts Sept. 12 (through the 24th) and we’ll be at a bunch of those events. Philly Style’s 2011 Fashion Issue night, Sept. 12, with cover star Nicole Miller at The Palm kicks it off and honors the restaurant’s 85th anniversary with a show off of its newest caricature (Miller). That should be cute.
When the Squidling Brothers Sideshow — Carnivolution — does its usual Friday at the Tiberino Museum compound on Sept. 9, it will welcome back its legendary bald center piece Jelly Boy. “On July 2, Jelly Boy was caught in a house fire in Queens NY and was in an ICU at New York Presbyterian Hospital for six weeks on a respirator to support his badly burnt lungs,” says Matterz Squidling. “Two months later Jelly has made a miraculous come back.” Congrats to all.
Since April, the NoLibs DIY concert repository Bookspace has thrilled yon teens with its booking, its heights and good raw vibe. No more. At least for now. L&I and other city code officials made like the Clash and did a clampdown on the not-altogether-licensed live library. Fingers crossed they get their books in order. …
Filter, the S. 10th-off-Italian-Market coffee and tea shop opens its doors this week in limited hours, 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. When the hot food/breakfast nook is ready, Filter will move to regular hours 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Speaking of tea, on Sept. 4, Philly jewelry designer Glamorosi (aka Mrs. A.D. Amorosi) was awarded first prize in the Verdant Tea company’s Tea as Art competition. Glamorosi’s entry was a handmade bronze and aventurine chainmaille bracelet inspired by Tieguanyin oolong. Brava. We’ll both be stopping at this weekend’s World Tea East event — the Comic Con of Tea — at the Pennsylvania Convention Center with a full report to follow in next week’s Icepack Illustrated.
Rogue’s Gallery on S. 21st and Ludlow is beginning its food program this week.
“Does anyone buy CDs anymore?” laughs JG, the main man of the Philly disco band Pink Skull who finally releases (’twas supposed to come out in June) its new record Psychic Welfare on RVNG (Matt Werth and Dave P’s label) with a digital and vinyl rollout and a foldout poster along with a party thrown by their buds in Broadzilla at Kung Fu Necktie on Sept. 10
Bocce. Yes. Bocce. Italians play it. Young-professional wanna-be Italians play it in Bardascino Park. Now there will be Bocce matches and teams on Saturdays in autumn at Starr Garden Recreation Center at Seventh and Lombard. Registration closes this Friday. You must be 21 and older (really), have health insurance (how rough does this get?) along with forking over the $45 fee.
Speaking of faux-Italians, the hair-product soaked lot at Jersey Shore and MTV have teamed up with CheaterVille, Inc., a Las Vegas online social media company that provides information about alleged cheaters, for a molto grande global anti-cheating campaign. Hmmm.
Some of your fave indie weirdo theaters of Off-Broad Street will move into a new performance and administrative space at the First Baptist Church this fall, at 17th and Sansom. The new spot will include rehearsal space alongside the new 100-seat performance space for Ego Po Classic Theatre, Azuka Theatre and Inis Nua with the latter two sharing the performance space for November season openings. After that other members of the Off-Broad consortium, 11th Hour Theatre Company, BRAT Productions and Mauckingbird Theatre Company will join in the fun. Azuka kicks off its season with the Jordan Harrison’s Humana Festival hit, Act A Lady in November.
For those less inclined toward avant-garde theater but don’t mind making a horse’s ass of themselves, on Sept. 8 at 7 p.m. Parx Casino’s 360 Room hosts the Parx Got Talent competition for prancing, singing, juggling contestants in front of a live audience. $7500 in cash prizes will be awarded after 10 weeks of silliness. The PGT finale is Thursday, Nov. 17.
I’m talk this up and talking this up plenty, so beware: 102.9 WMGK-FM and the American Red Cross are teaming up to host the Inaugural Rock and Roll Up Your Sleeve Blood Drive Oct. 1, at the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees. Stay tuned.
I’ll have more on this next week but allow me to whet your imagination with the simple phrase: Lucky Old Souls just bought a food truck. LOS is the tag that Matthew Feldie Feldman uses for all of his jazz operations including his night at Moonstone and his under-construction club at 17th and McKean. Add to that a brand new food truck that will launch sometime between the second and third week in September. Though Feldman hasn’t told me yet what food stuff will be sold, I’m hoping for a jazzed up menu of Monk Meatballs, Frank Weiss Franks and Hamiet Bluett Hamburgers.
On Sept. 6, Philly’s Geoff Gordon, Live Nation mid-atlantic president, along with Sands Bethlehem pres. Bob DeSalvio, Bethlehem’s Mayor John Callahan and Jeff Trainer, co-founder of Vision Entertainment Group will gather at the Sands Bethlehem Casino Resort to discuss the Event Center, a live venue with 5,000+ square feet of meeting space (roomy) and Emeril’s Italian Table (ugh). Keep it classy and not cheesy and the SEC could be a contender. Book Childish Gambino and not Carrot Top and we’re fine.
COOK, that Audrey Claire Taichman takeover of the Snackbar spot on Rittenhouse hosts winners of The Festival on the Square auction on Sept 6. The next day, COOK is open to the paying-public (well, 16 seats) for Philly chef private events, scientific and educational purposes and parties dedicated to hallah. Hooray.
On the good news bad news tip: Red Flag Media will open the books for Magnet Magazine, the Philly-based indie rock print quarterly run by Eric T. Miller that turned into a web-only outlet at the dawn of the 2000s. The new Magnet will be monthly for the first time since 1994. Bad news is that Magnet replaces Cowbell, the 17 issues-old indie mag run by CP’s one-time honcho Brian Howard. The ish that hits newsstands in the next few weeks — Beirut’s Zach Condon on the cover — will be the last time the Cow’s bell rings. Parting. Sorrow.
Shank's Original is gearing up to celebrate their 50th anniversary with retro priced sandwiches in September. For instance, a roast pork sandwich for 79 cents, rather than its usually priced $6. Bring back the tripe and we’ll talk.
The Parade with the Miss Rockaway Armada that I wrote about here lifts its sails on Sat., Sept. 3 at Broad and Spruce at 5 p.m. and lands at Clark Park at 6:30 p.m. with performances galore.
WHOWHATWHERE: Forgot to mention in my Rachael Ray Icecubes that while we were hanging back in the trailer area at Wharton and Percy, Patti LaBelle and Mr. Cuddles, her white shih tzu, met me and my black greyhound Django. “That’s a greyhound?” asked Patti. “Such a beautiful dog.” Django says thank you. Our intrepid photographer Scott Weiner did his weekly radio station snaps and caught Kicking Daisies at Q102's performance theater, C J Hilton at Saturday Night Online and the holy rolling Switchfoot performing at Radio 104.5 in Bala.
On Tuesday night I was walking my greyhound past Geno’s when news of Joe Vento’s passing made the loud block louder still. You might not have agreed with Vento’s sense of social conscience, an oddly brazen kinda-racist stance that made him an object of controversy on the left and the right. But he certainly worked hard and stood his ground, figuratively and literally as he made mornings at Geno’s his daily pulpit. He’ll be missed whether you like admitting it or not, especially by PECO for his addiction to light bulbs and to workers he employed to repaint everything bright orange.
Then there are the flowery murals lining the walls of the long-empty lot across the street from Pat’s. At first the neighbors heard it would be a pop-up florist stand which sounded quaint. Next thing we gathered is that the murals are for that Rachael Ray Great Philly Grill-Off event we wrote about in Ice and that the floral element of the gardens being planted will become a communal one and open to all who sign up, before the event and forevermore. Word has it the gardens will open to the public August 30. Ahhh, the life cycle right there on Ninth Street amidst the smell of grease and meat.
Got to admit, this sounds like fun — two one-time Philebrity worker-bees Kristian Almgren and Aaron Fisher-Cohen met up with ever-loving odd-ball candidate Jimmy McMillan of “The Rent Is Too Damn High” fame, filmed a documentary called Damn! and will host a screening at the Troc on Aug. 29 with McMilllan in the house.
The Twisted Tail in Head House Square officially popped its cork with a press event on Tuesday where house band Mikey Jr. & the Stone Cold Blues, a bourbon-heavy cocktail menu (have the mint julep), shuffleboard and chef Michael Stevenson’s fabulous Southern smoked meats took precedent. Funny that Twisted CEO George Reilly isn’t even from the South, not even south England. He’s a Northerner just hours form Hartleypoole, who’s lived in American for 12 years and loves his Juke Joint culture what from the two floors of the double-T. Yeehah.
Tandoor titan Munish Narula (Tiffin fame) is readying his new Tashan on 777 S. Broad St. is going through the procedures of health inspections this week. Soon, very soon.
So I’m running through Manhattan on a gorgeous Tuesday. The weather from day into night was perfect — a lovely breeze, a nice drive, a great sojourn through the city to get to Hammerstein Ballroom for The Big Lebowski Fest anniversary that finds John Turturro, Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, John Goodman, T. Bone Burnett and Steve Buscemi reunited for the first time to discuss the film with rabid fans. Yet as I run, I keep getting a weird mix of texts: the Trocadero just went into Chapter 11, Jen Carroll’s leaving her chef post at the Ritz-Carlton’s 10 Arts. Back and forth, back and forth. Texts came so fast I couldn’t respond and I’m pretty fleet with the thumbing. Why I’m saying this has something to do with my split loyalties between music and food, gossipy stuff about chefs versus news about artists. What text to answer first? Neither. I just watched Bridges be The Duderino and had fun. That said: Jen Carroll is a queen and she hinted during that recent Kiehls motorcycle charity jawn a few weeks back that upwards-and-upwards movement was in her immediate future. So no surprise but still something to consider when making reservations for the next dozen+ Fridays until she leaves 10 Arts in October. The Troc? Look, people are allowed to be spiritually bankrupt and morally bankrupt and nobody bats an eye. But use the “b” word in regard to money and polite company gets frowny-faced and everybody goes anarchically wacked out. Joanna Pang’s move is a restructuring one and she hates Ticketmaster. Yeaaaaah. Take it to the streets, JP. Ladies, ladies, not to get all Barry White here but I love you and everything’s going to be alllllright.
Hey, in Icepack in print we talked about the closing of the last TLA Video store on 15th Street and how mournful I am. How does corporate handle their grief? With TLA Ready Disc, an operation where you the would-be/wanna-be porn star or director can get yer flaccid pricks and faux-tits produced, packaged and sold by the biggest name in red-light releasing, TLARAW.com. “This program connects adult performers and producers’ content to a paying audience, enabling them to make money on its DVD sale,” goes the press release. Do it do it do it.
There’s some old school hip-hop in the house this coming week. Rap radio mistress Lady B celebrates her 30th anniversary in the biz this Sun., Aug. 21, at the Dell with Big Daddy Kane and Public. Yet the biggest story is the rumor that not only will M. Night Shyamalan’s best bud, Will Smith, show up like he did at Nas last week (see Icepack Illo, Aug. 11) but that Philly’s Fresh Prince may reunite with his DJ partner Jazzy Jeff for some “Summer-Summer-Summertime.” This time around, parents will indeed understand. Then on Aug. 25 at the Troc (see, everything’s hunky dory) Verses in the Blink of an Eye’s competition for freestyle rap battling youth gets judged by Bun B, Redman and Philly’s own Schoolly D who’ll do double duty as judges and performers. If Schoolly’s reeeeeeaaally good, can he take home the gold?
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