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Last Night
Fiona Apple played the Tower last night to a crowd of extremely devoted fans. My boyfriend went along with me and observed in the intermission after an opening set by guitarist Blake Mills that it seemed like a lot of the men there were in his shoes—no particular opinion about Apple other than "Hey, 'Criminal' was a pretty good song," just there to accompany a female partner.
But when the lights went down and Apple came out, though the screams of the general crowd were definitely female-heavy, the occasional superfan yells of "WE LOVE YOU, FIONA" and "MARRY ME, FIONA" were from male voices as often as female ones. (One particular guy on the left cracked up the crowd with an enthusiastic "THAT WAS THE SHIT!" after "Daredevil," off her new album The Idler Wheel, and then cracked Apple herself up by howling a sincere "THANK YOU FOR PLAYING MY FAVORITE SONG!" into the quiet ending of (I believe) "Paper Bag."
One thing you can definitely say about Apple is that if she's sick of playing old hits like "Sleep to Dream," "Shadowboxer" and "Criminal" off her 1996 debut, Tidal, she does an admirable job of disguising it. (It probably helped that the crowd wasn't any less enthusiastic about songs off Extraordinary Machine and Idler Wheel than it was about her big radio hits.) She's an amazing stage presence that made me wish for a better camera lens—her wavy, sinewy body movements onstage don't vary that much, but the amazing faces she makes while singing and playing gave me serious camera envy of the dudes next to me with telephoto lenses who could actually capture them. One day.
The night ended in Apple's equivalent of an encore—Apple never plays the "OK, everyone keep applauding for five minutes and I'll come out again" games that have become standard—with a great slow-triple-groove cover of Conway Twitty's "It's Only Make Believe" with celesta and a sweet-ass slide guitar solo from Mills—a song which someone was kind enough to upload to youtube already:
Then she thanked the crowd for cheering her up and bounced. Here's some of those photos I shot, some of which went up on City Paper's Instagram last night. Did I mention our Instagram account? It's @phillycitypaper, and I'm having way too much fun with it. Be our friend.
View galleryHealth-care and pharmaceutical marketing agency Digitas Health opened its doors last night for an idea-sharing session as part of DesignPhiladelphia. Noting Philly’s long history with innovation and creation — holler, Ben Franklin! — Digitas Health went with a rapid-fire technique, attempting to plug 100 ideas in 100 minutes. OK, so it ended up being more like five solid ideas in 90 minutes, with one important question in mind: What can we do better through design?
The majority of speakers came from Digitas Health’s own employee lineup, noting the problem-solving nature of their positions as advertisers. The first speaker noted how good design through presentation and the correct use of technology (no reading off your PowerPoint slides for two hours!) can transform outreach and communication. The second speaker, Brendan Gallagher, spoke about four things in Philly that could be solved through good design. First was SEPTA. Archaic in design and technology, this whole system could use a redo. Second was the solar-powered trash compactors you see throughout the city. A great idea, but often hard to use. Next, he noted how much Occupy Philly could use good design. (It’s ridiculously hard to navigate through that mass of tents!). Finally, Gallagher presented a solution to the U.S.'s obesity epidemic. Gallagher suggested using technology to help, noting a new iPhone app, Zombie Run, that layers gaming on top of your run schedule. It’s a fantastic idea, but often the people with the highest incidents of obesity are at the lowest income levels and thus gaming and iPhones seem a little far-fetched. Here’s to hoping, though.
Other presenters spoke about green design, artist innovation, the old/new architecture of Philadelphia and saving places like the Divine Lorraine. While all of the talks were interesting, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the space’s interior, designed by award-winning architects KlingStubbins — a perfect spot for creative thinking.
In last week's Agenda section, Kala Jamison wrote about the Meet the Onion Editors discussion at Drexel. This week, Ryan Carey went to check it out.
Onion editors Chad Nackers and Joe Garden gave a presentation at Drexel's Bossone Mitchell Auditorium last night. The chat consisted of two parts: (1) a slideshow featuring images and video from The Onion and its various outlets, and (2) a half hour Q&A.
The slideshow churned up LOLs, especially with their cocky Joe Biden series (pictured). However, it was basically just a comedy PowerPoint presentation, featuring material that much of the audience has already seen. The more interesting insight came at the Q&A.
I asked them whether they view their role as editors of The Onion as either a reflection of the zeitgeist or a nihilistic joke machine for cash.
Garden replied, "I think at The Onion we're cynical, but at heart we're all sort of optimistic. We don't trust anything really and we don't have a lot of faith in authority, but at the same time we want things to work out for the best and we want people to get along." Nackers added, "Sometimes our optimism comes out in a story, when we say the worst thing ever is gonna happen or things have gotten SO bad... to kinda show that it really hasn't. I think it is a reflection of the zeitgeist, since it's not really a tight news cycle. We kinda go with the ebb and flow of what's happening and we try to capture that more than specific events."
Garden slipped in, "We're not nihilists, we don't reject everything, but we reject a lot of things..."
For those who missed it, the event was filmed and will be aired on DUTV soon.
I didn't expect John K. Sansom to seem so stage-averse. But there there he was, eyes closed, face downturned, a giddy smile, in photo after photo after photo as I scrolled across my memory card; isolating shots where his corneas were actually visable was a small chore. Sansom's body language carries this air of reluctant euphoria, perhaps that of a guy who absolutely loves to play his music for people, but holy crap, feels kinda weird playing in front of *this* many people. So he retreats into shyness, well befitting the bookish rock he creates with The Weakerthans. Lyrical references to parallelograms? Check. Song told from the point of view of a neglected housecat that embraces larger themes of squandered human potential? You bet, two of 'em. Odes to "the fine sport of curling?" Most definately. So I'm perched above the stage, bobbing my head, singing along and silently wondering how this reserved, geeked-out dude ever managed to squeeze aggressive political punk out of his wiry frame a decade back when he played in Propaghandi...it seems such a far cry to imagine the person onstage today mustering it, even given the passage of time. Then The Weakerthans kick into one of their super-speedy rockers, "Over Retired Explorer," or maybe "Aside." Whichever it was, the stage suddenly became in flux with the commotion of Sansom slamming into wily bassist Greg Smith, lead guitarist Stephen Carrol ripping this Pete Townshend windmill out of freaking nowhere, strutting between thumping drums and colored lights. The show was pretty alive to begin with, despite Sansom's aloof demeanor (he later blamed the alcohol), but this is like some kind of aristeia, culminating in all three bearers of stringed instruments hopping over the monitors and arranging themselves in assault formation above the front row of happy faces. Sansom's progression from aggressive punk to tentative troubador made a lot more sense now; there's no aversion to the spotlight, he just needs to ease into mugging for it. More photos under the jump.
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| deesha dyer |
Last night, the Urban League Young Professionals hosted Philly Mayoral candidates Michael Nutter and Al Taubenberger at the PECO Building in a friendly conversation that was led by media personalities Colby Colb (100.3 The Beat) and Natasha Brown (CBS 3/CW Philly 57). The room was set up for about 100 or so people, but at best, 50 bodies filled the venue. The pre-determined questions were a bit predictable ranging from the Philadelphia educational system, SEPTA, affordable and quality housing, customer service within the city, and retaining students after they finish at an area college. Nutter seemed to have the best answers for everything, even prompting Taubenberger to piggy back on his opponents' answers by simply replying to half the questions as "I agree with Mike", before adding his own commentary. The funniest part of the night came when an audience member stated, "I wanna know who is getting fired -because in order to fix things, the people at the top have to change." While comical, there was much truth in that statement. Nutter was honest in saying that he expects significant amount of changes, but also added, "This isn't the Donald Trump show. This is a city with a million and a half people that needs support and I take that seriously." Taubenberger's answer wasn't memorable or good enough to write down. Click below to see some boring pics, Al and Mike websites, and to read a brief outline of things discussed. Don't get too excited though -it was a basic and clean discussion, that even prompted Colby Colb to remind the candidates that they are allowed to disagree. I was quite surprised about the lack organizations represented. I do know there are a million and one debates or conversations happening like this before election day, but I figured the motivation from Sunday's 10,000 men Call to Action would have spilled over and some would have came out last night. Guess not! Both candidates agreed that SEPTA needs an overhaul and that if we are paying the most for service in the country, the transportation should be the best. Nutter plans on attacking this issue by re-opening the office of transportation in the city, and having more discussions with political leaders in the city who help choose the SEPTA appointees to make a clear and informed decision about who they choose. Taubenberger spoke of getting more input from riders to make them comfortable. As far as affordable and quality housing, Nutter made the point that half the property the city owns, it has no idea what to do with it. He would like to have the perspective communities work with developers to figure out what will and won't work and he wants to diversify construction contracts. He also said that if the city can build luxury condos in no time, then why is it that we haven't figured out how to build affordable housing for low-moderate communities across the city? As far as the customer service that is lacking in public service offices like L&I (the most obvious), Nutter said that he wants to have every public service employee go through extensive training while Taubenberger said he would have constant audits and more input from city residents. When the topic of retaining college graduates was posed, Nutter stated that he thinks the city should encourage more to go into public service and have incentives for such like help with college debt reduction. He also spoke of more internships, fellowships and mentoring programs that could happen at Philadelphia businesses and such that could influence students to stay here. Taubenberger agreed. The issue of violence wasn't mentioned and I chalk that up to people sick of hearing about what 'might' happen to curb it. Now that I think about it, the topic was indirectly addressed through discussion on jobs and education. The candidates were whisked off to another forum at around 730 p.m., clocking their appearance at about an hour. Above is just an outline and I suggest if you want to know more, then check out the candidate links below or email them (Taubenberger - mayoral2007@comcast.net, Nutter - info@nutter2007.com). They said they will get back to you. Good Luck with all of that. FYI - Voting takes place on November 6, 2007. More pictures from Conversations with the Candidates Michael Nutter website Al Taubenberger website The Next Mayor website
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| deesha dyer |
| I don't wanna ill, I just wanna chill... |
I just got in a few hours ago, but can't sleep, so why not post this up now at 4:07am? Tonight, I was one of many bodies that packed intimate Fluid to witness Large Professor, who is not just a DJ, but producer and responsible for discovering the lyrical genius known as Nas. Hard to believe he has been around for an estimated 18 years and this was his first time spinnin' in Philly. Large Pro took the shine playing old to new school, R&B to soul, and mainstream to underground cuts. Ones that I remember are Common's "The People" (that is currently my favorite album, so I was hype), 'White Lines" by Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel, some song by Remy Ma, and ATCQ's "Find My Way". There were many more obviously, but hell...it's 4am and that is what I can recall. The club was packed, free vodka was flowing and everyone was gettin' down with the get down on the dancefloor, while some dudes held up the wall nodding their head and rhyming word for word with the tracks. I left still wanting to dance and listen to more of Large Pro, but I'm not 21 like I used to be and my party meter expires at 130am. Large Pro showed us how he does it worldwide, which was returned by Philly showing him how we can rock a party and rock it right. Oh and, much respect to DJ Ultraviolet for hooking the event up for her Living Legends series. Spinderella is on the decks next month! More pictures from Large Professor Party Large Professor MySpace DJ Ultraviolet MySpace
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