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Archive: November, 2009
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| Matt LaFleur |
We here at Critical Mass are big fans of the boutique/gallery/booze proprietor Art in the Age (116 N. Third St., 215-922-2600). (Have you been to their First Fridays? Dudes do not skimp on the ROOT cocktails. It's hard not to like 'em after a few.) So we're happy to hear that this Fri., Nov. 6, the store will be celebrating its first birthday, with a party from 6 to 8 p.m. featuring complimentary ROOT drinks, the opening of the "Impermanent Bliss" exhibit (see above for one of the featured works), and many giveaways. Art in the Age's Laura Price tells Critical Mass that said giveaways include goodies from "our vendors like Billy Kirk, NSF, Popomomo, Gitman Brothers, Lauren Moffatt and free tickets to any R5 show in November." Word.
Amorosi on the news, nightlife, gossip and bitchiness beats. Right now.
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| CREDI' Scott Weiner / Retna Ltd. |
| 50 Cent after screening his directorial debut, Before I Self-Destruct at the AMC Neshaminy 24 on November 3, 2009. |
Curtis James Jackson III, aka 50 Cent, was at the Neshaminy Mall in Bensalem, PA yesterday stomping for his new movie, Before I Self Destruct. But I'm not here to review the Jamaica, Queens-native's directorial debut or his album of the same name that comes out this month, both of which have faced crazy delays ("Get Up," the first single featured in the trailer below and produced by native son Scott Storch, first came out in 2008). I just give you the facts.
Fiddy wasn't there to say much about the murder-fueled, revenge-heavy flick or his anger-pumping performance in it. 50 was there to pretty much get out of the limo and back into it. Check out the trailer below:
But, topped with a Phillies cap and a smile, he did stop for a snap from my pal, rawk photog Scott Weiner. This First Friday, Weiner will have an exhibition and sale of his work in Old City at Patou (312 Market St., 215-928-2987), with musical accompaniment from Caterpillar and Sweetie. Rock on.
Read more celebri-gossip at citypaper.net/icepack.
Holy tentpole release, Batman! In what crazy, fucked-up universe are we to believe that the very anglo Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton were born in a thousand-mile radius of Persia/Iran? Also, why is that in historical epics ' terribly fake looking (i.e. this one) or not (i.e. Gladiator) ' everyone feels the need to speak in a British accent? I think I would rather watch the computer game on the original 1995 PC my parents had then this movie. Sigh, Jake. What happened? You spent so long building up all that cred, stayed away from romantic comedies and garnered critical acclaim. Sure, Ben Kingsley's in this but he's allowed to be because he holds ultimate badass status. You don't. You're just not that kind of guy. Must I remind you of Bubble Boy '
Jake Gyllenhaal is ANGLO? FYI, Jake Gyllenhaal is JEWISH!
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| Courtesy of Paleface |
Don't know what to do tonight? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
' Dance from the Paleface show at the M Room (15 W. Girard Ave., 215-739-5577) at 8 p.m. to The Very Best show at Johnny Brenda's (1201 N. Frankford Ave., 215-739-9684) at 9 p.m. The total cost will put you out about $18, but jigging from Paleface's scruffy-voiced bluegrass to The Very Best's groovy African pop will put you in that unstoppable dance-party high for hours.
' Eddie Sarfaty, a gay writer and comedian who just released the book Mental: Funny in the Head, has been called the next David Sedaris. Which is kinda like being called the next gay God. He's performing tonight at L'Etage (624 S. 6th St., 215-592-0656) at 8 p.m. for $20.
' It's no mistake that that David Swanson published Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union, a book that criminalizes the Bush administration, in September of this year. He argues that Bush & Co. did such damage to our Constitutional rights that there's still a whole lot of work to be done to get them back, even with President Obama in the house. He'll be reading from his book tonight at Villanova University (800 Lancaster Ave., 610-519-6000) at 7:30 p.m. for free.
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| Todd Marrone |
Every Tuesday, Critical Mass sifts through the art blog world so you don't have to.
' Local music blog Phrequency reported yesterday that it just turned one, and will be celebrating its time on this cyber Earth with a party at Kung Fu Necktie (1248 N. Front St., 215-291-4919) on Wed., Nov. 11 at 8 p.m. McRad, Dragonzord, Deep Possum and DJ PHSH will be performing, and it's free. Not including the present.
' If the steep decline of This Is It ticket sales is any indication, MJ hype may have reached its d'nouement. Or not: The Piazza offers its own take on "Thriller" with a video of the world's largest simultaneous performance of the dance, which took place last Saturday. The scene is especially set 'cause all the Zombies are wet.
' The medium for most reviews is words, but local artist Todd Marrone expresses his impressions through art produced during a performance, or what he calls 'sketchy reviews.' His newest is a rather enthusiastic portrait of Kyp Malone from his set at Johnny Brenda's.
' PW Style did the leg work for fashion-conscious fans and found a strange/fun 'Phil-box' hat on a Japanese Web site. PW also featured a T-shirt tribute to Utley's beating of New York last night. His new nickname should be King Kong.
Thanks for the e-nod!
Since 1968, the Henri David Ball has been the most fab Halloween party in town, hosted by the now 63-year-old Henri David and attended by Philly notables like Gov. Ed Rendell and ' the Snuggie Twins (see above). Our associate Web editor Neal Santos attended the freak show, shot this video and some photos, and came back relatively unscathed.
If you're curious about the man behind the ball, this Philly Mag piece really breaks it down ' dude lost his virginity at 12, is BFFs with John Waters and makes jewelry for Stevie Nicks. Jealous?
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| Photo | Mark Stehle |
If your weekend went from celebratory to bleak at the flick of a wrist and a missed pitch, things were worst elsewhere. Rumors ran rampant about a suicide attempt at The Fire (true, according to Fire boss Derek Dorsey who said 'an individual who was not a regular patron at The Fire made a tragic attempt on his life near closing on Saturday night, he died later at the hospital') without any further confirmation. There was an injury to a member of Black Landlord (true, but only bad enough to miss the AfroPunk fest). The least physically painful of the rumors was the one that found 941 Theater in Northern Liberties closed due to violations from an incident last week where the venue had allegedly served alcohol.
941's Doug Sakmann, fresh from setting up a benefit the benefit for his theater/live venue ' which will take place November 21 at the Starlight Ballroom (460 N. 9th St.,' 215-769-1530) ' told me there was beer served and L& I indeed did shut them down. Temporarily of course, unless they can't raise enough money for the violated codes or catch up on the monies missed (not to mention operating expenses like rent or electric). Still, all of November's shows as well as Halloween's gig were canceled.
It's been rumored that 941 had been in danger of closing for a little while due to the costs associated with keeping the facilities up to code and the licenses up to date. But things are tough all over.
'Not wanting to see this happen, before we got shut down we had recently come up with a better business plan and were working on ideas for a fundraiser,' says Sakmann who says that some of 941's permits had expired and that they were in the process of renewal.
'The building is zoned for industrial use so we have to apply for a use permit for commercial zoning variance, which has to be approved by the Northern Liberties Neighborhood association. In order to regulate our operations and approve this, the NLNA sets forth a number of provisions and restrictions including a one year variance at a time that has to be renewed annually, and also regulations on our liquor policy. Not wanting to see another bar in Northern Liberties, the NLNA did not allow us to apply for a liquor license. But we agreed we could occasionally give out beer or liquor at 21+ events as long as we were not charging for the alcohol, similar to a First Friday type event," says Sakmann. "We were unaware however that by charging a cover charge at the door, the Liquor Control Board construes that as technically charging for alcohol, even if it is being given out for free. Apparently in order for us to give out alcohol, the event would have to be totally free, which we did not know and obviously we can not afford to do. So the Liquor Control Board got wind of an event we were doing with free beer and sent in undercover cops. They shut us down due to the beer we were giving out and then saw that our permits were not up to date and slapped further violations on the premises, forcing us to close until our permits are processed again which is at the end of November.'
And now, 941 is not able to do business for a month, in addition to mounting legal fees for processing and expediting the permits. 'If we don't pay the city's expedite fees we wont be able to open until February, keeping the fire security and other aspects of the theater in good standing so we pass inspection when we do reopen along with all of our other weekly and monthly bills associated with running the theater,' says Sakmann. Either way, Sakmann adds, it all adds up to a lot of money ' like $12,000 before the end of the month.
The aforementioned November 21 benefit takes place from noon to 6 p.m. at the Starlight Ballroom. It's still in the planning stages but bands will definitely be on the bill. Previous to that Sakmann says: 'Anyone who wants to lend a hand, donate money or has any ideas on how we can raise more money can contact us at booking@941theater.com.'
RELATED: 941 Theater in danger of closing
I wanted to be clear that the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association has been one of the biggest supporters of the 941 Theater and we would not be open with out them. They are looking out for the best interest of the neighborhood and we respect that. We do not want this article to be misconstrued as the NLNA being the cause of closure for 941. I misspoke when I said "Not wanting to see another bar in Northern Liberties, the NLNA did not allow us to apply for a liquor license." In our original conversations with NLNA, we came to the conclusion that it would be not a viable option for us to have a liquor licence for several reasons, one of which being that we were opening a theater and not a bar. We then worked out the terms of our liquor policy with the NLNA based on this. It was our misunderstanding of that policy that caused the Liquor Control Board to come down on the 941 Theater. In any case, we now have a much deeper understanding of the Liquor Control Board, Licenses and Inspections and the general laws of Philadelphia. We hope to have the 941 Theater open again in December, bigger and better than ever, but it's going to take a lot of time, effort and money to do so. We are working towards a fundraiser for November 21st, details to follow. In the meantime, you can donate money to the cause at: http://www.projectedarts.org/donate.htm If you have any further questions or would like to be involved in some way, please contact us at: BOOKING@941theater.com - Doug Sakmann, 941 Theater
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| Jeff McComsey |
Don't know what to do tonight? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
The last time you saw Night Moves, it was a different time. And a different place. But I promise that here, at Critical Mass, is where I'll stay ' forever. Now onto tonight's options '
' If you haven't been to the free Science on Tap series at National Mechanics (22 S. Third St., 215-701-4883), you should go ' it's like a good, toasty conversation with a very intelligent friend. Tonight at 6 p.m., Flashpoint Theatre Co. director Noah Herman, along with several of his actors, will discuss their current show boom. And what does it have to do with science? Sez the press release: "Playwright Peter Sinn Nachtrieb is a former bio major who examines science through the lens of theatre. The darkly funny play imagines the creation story of the next form of life on Earth."
' Today marks the beginning of J. Karma's (62 N. Third St., 215-627-9625) annual jewelry exchange, in which you give up your gently used shoes, handbags, scarves and jewelry to The Career Wardrobe, and the boutique gives you $10 off your next purchase of $50 or more or $20 off your next purchase of $100 or more. Like a pawn shop, but cuter. J. Karma's open until 7 p.m. today, and the exchange lasts until Nov. 30.
' The Showdown's Catherine Grubb says you should go to tonight's 7:30 p.m. World Caf' Live (3025 Walnut St. 215-222-1400) show to see Heavy. I say go to see local indie act Illinois, despite their confusing name. It'll cost you $10.
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| Jason Hackenwerth |
I went to the opening reception for Jason Hackenwerth's exhibit, "The Titan and the Fireflies," at 2424 Studios (2424 E. York St., 215-423-1800) this Friday. And I worried. (For some reason, senior editor Patrick Rapa didn't.) Making Time Halloween was going to be held there the very next night, and Hackenwerth's enormous, fragile pieces are made completely out of balloons. Sweet, tempting, pop-able balloons. Surely some drunk Where the Wild Things Are character would wreck the whole thing. Which would be a shame, because the work is weirdly cool. The pieces look like giant underwater creatures, or something Wayne Cohen would whip out at a show ' and when you look inside them, it's like peering into something's guts.
Thankfully, the folks over at 2424 Studios have some sense, and lifted the artwork via pulley away from all the dancers' grubby hands. "We raised them completely, so nothing happened," leasing manager Jessica Ruck told Critical Mass.
The show will be up through Nov. 28.
And if you're curious about how the hell Hackenwerth creates these huge balloon specimens ' let alone what art class he took to learn such things ' the video below helps.
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