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Yesterday I posted a letter we got about City Paper's use/misuse of the word "punk." Among the allegations: That we don't know/cover West Philly rock 'n' roll trio Bucket Flush. Guilty as charged. So here's a really well-made documentary on the band uploaded to YouTube in December, 2011. Parts of this might gross some people out, but I have a feeling the Bucket Flush guys will charm you. (And please watch the whole thing before alleging that we're endangering their squatters' lifestyle by posting it.)
To start, there are several stories from Icepack in Print that need immediate follow-up. To go with the fact that Stateside, a.kitchen and Le Bec Fin all lost its chefs one after another in the last several days comes swift news that one has already found its newest kitchen heads. Le Bec promoted its sous chef Steven Eckerd to the exec-chef position with Abigail Dahan as the new pastry chef. Voila.
Then there’s my Michael Singer Rum Bar rumor. Things moved fast from the rumors I heard: the space extensions, the notion that landlord Singer might run his own bar, that several different potential renters from the Mac’s Tavern crew to Jon Myerow would take over the Walnut Street hot spot. Singer found his Rum Bar winner in Myerow, one of his best tenants (Singer owns the 18th Street space that Myerow’s Tria Rittenhouse opened in 2004). The up-n-coming space, Tria Taproom, will serve and lot of pizza and a lot of beer. Myerow’s already got all that cheese at Tria’s other outposts. Might as well bake it up.
Meanwhile, up north in a part of the Piazza at Schmidt’s we believe Bart Blatstein still owns, Brian Nagele’s King’s Oak has a brand new neighbor; Brian Nagel’s Pizza Bar. If only he made pizza bagels. OK you see where this is going.
View galleryLast Thursday we ran a cover story on local band Pissed Jeans by Elliott Sharp. Yesterday we got a letter objecting to our use of the word "punk." Presented without comment. Click here for a larger version.
Local sketch group The Stonewall Players are performing at Philly Improv Theater tonight at 7pm. They've recently released a pay-what-you-want comedy album called "Pretty Goddamn Good." (If you want, you can pay nothing. On behalf of creative people everywhere, I'll go out on a limb and say--if you have a few bucks they'd appreciate it, but if not, they'd still rather you check it out and get a few laughs.) The Stonewall Players consist of Matt Schmitt (writer for PHIT house sketch-group Flat Earth), Andrew Cramcsak, and Joe Pantalone. You can check out an interview with Matt Schmitt over at WitOut.net
Also performing at the show is fellow Flat Earth writer Vincent DiCostazo, known for being auteur of the hilarious, now defunct Philly sketch group The Gentlemen's Rotary Auxiliary. Also a Flat Earth writer, DiCostanzo will be performing his (mostly) one man sketch set "The Clay and Calhoun Sketch Comedierie," which debuted at this year's Philly Sketch Fest. I asked the 35 year old Rutgers History/Film major how he describes his style of sketch-writing. "I generally think in terms of scenarios rather than characters," he admits. "So I'm more likely to put a normal person in a bizarre situation than a bizarre person in a normal situation." Incorporating multi-media, and a hand from Secret Pants' Paul Triggiani, DiCostanzo is ambitious for basically taking the role straight-man in a one-man-style show.
For tickets, visit Philly Improv Theater.
You've seen artist Steve "ESPO" Powers' giant love letters around town, and you saw him on the cover of City Paper just last month. And you know Kurt Vile, Philly's constant rock hitmaker and no stranger to our cover, either. Well, as you might have heard, the former did the cover of the latter's latest record. On a wall. This is Matador Records' promo video for all that.
Here’s a little known fact regarding the murder of famed Navy SEAL, sniper and author Chris Kyle. The U.S. military’s notably most lethal sniper, 38, was killed last Saturday in Texas by a fellow soldier and supposed friend Eddie Ray Routh. Police are still looking at the troubled suspect and his reasons for the slaughter. Lost in the tragedy is the fact that Kyle’s best-selling autobiography, American Sniper, was purchased last year for Bradley Cooper to star in, the first project for Cooper’s Warner Bros.-based production company, 22nd & Indiana. Authors Jason Dean Hall are writing the script with producers Andrew Lazar and Peter Morgan behind Cooper. No word as to whether anything has changed in the wake of the shooting, save — quite sadly — for the ending.
Michael’s Saloon at 12th and Mifflin is white trash. Proudly, I might add. The South Philly dive bar is hosting “White Trash Weekends” with a sonic mix of country & western music and punk rock to go with its $2 brews. Oi.
Monopoly’s newest gamers are obviously pussies. After a month long “Save Your Token” contest thrown by its distribution company Hasbro Gaming, a cat got nominated as the newest Monopoly game piece over the iron. I loved the iron, you fuckers.
I have to stop getting surprised by bands with warm, pastoral three-part harmonies and deliriously catchy guitar hooks being from Philadelphia. I’m not in Kansas anymore (or ever), but instead in an East Coast city with enough Americana heart in its native musicians to make Kansas City (yeah, I know, not actually Kansas) tip-toe home with its tail between its legs. Nobody at The Great Unknown’s vinyl release show on Saturday at Johnny Brenda’s, myself included, will ever forget that again.
Since I'm basically under quarantine right now, doing a z-pak, sipping some juice and googling the symptoms for MacGregor's Syndrome, I've decided to put together a list of some of the web's least timeless single-question-based web sites. Or whatever. I'm sick.
- Is the new My Blood Valentine album out yet?
- Is Shea Weber a Flyer Yet?
- Is the Internet down?
- Is Obama President?
- Is Mitt Romney President?
- Is Rush Limbaugh dead yet?
- Did the world end?
- Is the new Gold Panda album out yet?
- Is Flash dead yet?
- Is Margaret Thatcher Dead yet?
- Is WebOS dead yet?
- Is Friend Feed dead yet?
- Have we found the Higgs Boson yet?
- Are we slim yet?
- Are we fast yet?
Hosted by Hillary Rea and Larry Napolitano, the Veggie Wing Bowl was Sat., Feb. 2 at Adobe Cafe.
Said to be a traditional band from Puglia, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino certainly builds upon the old styles. Pulsing compositions use the traditional instruments in arrangements rather than the jam style, with layers of voices entering and exiting. The official video of “Nu Te Fermare” gives us a clue of what to expect. We see a decrepit building, a handsome young man resting amid the refuse pondering. Cue the music, follow it around the corridor to an arts be-in complete with sculpting and painting on canvas and faces, juggling and of course, dancing -trad and trance- to the sound of the tartantella. It could be two separate songs alternating within one, the parts contrast so strongly, both supported by accordion, bouzouki, violin and bass over ceaseless frame drumming. Your people don’t have to be from the boot of Italy for this to grip your imagination; anybody who loves new acoustic music will get this.
Sun., Feb. 3, 8 p.m., $10, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400, worldcafelive.com.
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