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Archive: December, 2011
Each week, Francesca Crozier-Fitzgerald puts together a rundown of book-centric events that’ll keep you “lit” like a roasted chestnut all week long.
[ tonight ]
➤ Pre-Solstice Poetry
If you are among the millions of Americans that suffer from seasonal depression, the Winter Solstice is a 
day for celebration. It’s the shortest day and longest night of the year, so if you delve deep enough to scoop up some positive thoughts, today marks the beginning of the end — the end of premature darkness. Rather than spending it at home counting the hours till daybreak, join the Poets and Prophets at Moonstone to read the prose you’ve been writing on those darkest of days. 7 p.m., free, Moonstone Arts Center, 110 S. 13th St., 2nd floor, poetsandprophets.com.
[ wednesday ]
➤ You little SPITfire, you
Your friends are back in town for the holidays but the routine bar-hopping idea doesn’t seem too appealing anymore. Congratulations, you are growing up. The REEF Lounge will be hosting the season’s most innovative poetry night, with special guest poets from the tri-state area. It’s listed as “Truly grown, classy and entertaining,” so your pals are sure to be wowed by your knowledge of Philly’s local art scene. Go ahead, take full credit. 7:30-10:30 p.m., $5 with RSVP, free with 3+ guests, REEF Restaurant & Lounge, 605 S.Third St., PhillyReef.com.
[ thursday ]
➤ Every kiss begins with books
Gifting books is always a hit. It’s personal, cheap, available and there is always a plethora of corny, romantic explanations to explain one’s decision for sharing: “I read this the night we started dating, it’s our book” or “I fell in love with the main character and then realized, baby, it’s you.” If you’re feeling extra emo, you may even throw out the ol’ “If you get this book, you’ll get me.” Mostly Books, in its recently expanded space, provides endless racks of carefully organized books, all waiting to be assigned to their rightful owner. Their torn covers will mask your sin of last-minute shopping. 12-7 p.m., free, mostlybooksphilly.com.
Sports nut Massimo Pulcini rounds up a week of everything Philly sports. Tackle!
EAGLES ROUTE JETS, KEEP THINGS INTERESTING IN A TIGHT NFC EAST
In many ways, the Eagles and Jets are similar teams — both crowned themselves as Super Bowl favorites in the 
pre-season, both loaded up on talent in the off-season, and 15 weeks into the regular season, both find themselves scrapping to remain relevant in a crowded post-season. While both teams know they should be better, on Sunday it was apparent who takes the cake. In an important inter-conference game with heavy playoff implications, the Eagles stomped the New York Jets, 45-19.
It was hard-nosed, ball-hawking defense that led to the Eagles first two touchdowns in the first quarter. The Birds opened scoring when Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes fumbled the ball and Eagles end Juqua Parker scooped it up and rumbled into the end zone. Another Holmes’ miscue — a drop on a perfect pass that ended up in the mits of Eagles cornerback Asante Samuel — resulted in an Eagles interception. Quarterback Mike Vick would then connect with tight end Brent Celek (pictured) for a 26-yard TD pass to put Philadelphia up 14-0. Celek made a great catch on an overthrow, tipping the ball to himself with his right hand before rounding it up and tumbling into the endzone for the score. Celek would finish with a career-high 153-receiving yard on five catches.
Our Top 21 Albums issue comes out Dec. 22, but that doesn’t come close to telling you what 2011 sounded like. To help find the devil in the details, we’ve asked City Paper’s critics, friends and family to name some of their favorite songs — be they secret gems on terrible albums, sleeper tracks you missed, huge pop songs that need defending, or just plain good songs everybody already knows and loves.
R.E.M. were always at their best as mythmakers and unravellers. With “Blue,” as the exclamation point on their last album Collapse Into Now, they stack Michael Stipe’s spoken-word mode between the haunting chords of their darkest meditative selves and the jangly resuscitation of the album’s opener “Discoverer.” Patti Smith enters, stage left, “I saw your face…” Stipe, self-effacing, self-reflexive, sends shudders with his “ha-has,” “blue, blue,” and the desire for the fable of the past to continue: “20th century collapse into now.” Mike Mills harmonizes in the raw, Peter Buck packs a final Rickenbacker wallop. The end of their finest album post-Automatic for the People and they know it. Not to scuttle in a dirge forever, the final words of their last album track have so much hope: “discoverer.” Yes, we found you and you found us. And the world of music will never be the same.
Reporter Meg Augustin takes you inside some of Philly's most fab dwellings to showcase our city's unique grasp on design and architecture.
Artists are known to get inspired by a variety of things. Nature. History. Regrettable moments in pop culture. The same holds true for furniture makers. For designer Tim Lewis, inspiration is what takes the trade from ordinary to original. “I’m often inspired by built works,” he says. “The forms and structure that occur in man-made finds is what interests me.” You can see it in his work, too. Lewis’ brilliantly crafted pieces all seem to remind you of something else — something familiar. Take his popular strap chair that made an appearance on Apartment Therapy (and subsequent designers’ wish lists) in early 2010. The interlaying fabric strips were reminiscent of the cheap, aluminum lawn chairs most middle-class families have stacked up in their garages. “Certain old items have feelings … attached to them,” says the UArts grad. “It’s interesting to reinvent with something so familiar.”
Currently, Lewis creates out of a Kensington studio space (1811 N. Howard St., 267-240-2763, 
timlewisstudio.com) with three other furniture makers. The grownup play space, converted from an old textile building, is part of what should be called Woodworkers’ Row. A string of cabinet and furniture craftsman, including the popular Rossi Brothers, litters an unassuming but up-and-coming area. The community may offer further inspiration to Lewis’ structure-loving creativity. Thirteen years in the business, Lewis has performed all types of feats of woodworking magic. Originally working under Jack Larimore for a number of years, he created pieces under his direction while dappling in his own creative process. The experience not only gave him insight into furniture making but the business aspects of running your own woodworking studio. Today, Lewis creates commissioned work for numerous clients ranging from everyday homeowners to museums and galleries. While he quickly creates self-designed items like his new bentwood desk, a mid-century-inspired coffee table inspired by the common “In” and “Out” paper boxes. Lewis also creates many built-in pieces, like an elaborate library in a Fairmount home or a vanity with marble in-lay. And then there are the many “play” items he has about — artistic moldings of wood that keep his ever-going imagination appeased.
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Every Monday, CP music critic Brian Wilensky rounds up the week's sure-bet live shows.
Monday: Get angry with Ryan Harvey, a Baltimore riot-folk singer who was arrested last month while occupying Wall Street. He just wants some anarchy. Is that too much to ask? 7 p.m., free, Wooden Shoe Books, 704 South St., 215-413-0999.
Tuesday: Old Man Cactus results from combining country twang, a little sax and pop-rock radio vibes. According to their website, they’ve had more lineup changes than this year’s Flyers roster. But by the sounds of it, the current configuration seems to be working. 8 p.m., $5, with The Workmen, Gavilan & Orion Freeman, The Grape Room, 105 Grape St., 215-930-0321.
Wednesday: The post-jazz rock moments with Mi Hed Ur Hed include mildly distorted guitar that head in an indie direction. The real jazz moments are storyteller-ish, by way of mellow drum brushing and even accordion, before showing that they’re unafraid to take angular steps onto the free-jazz path. Remember, there is composition in improvisation. 8 p.m., with Otto Von Walmart & Starwood, Kung Fu Necktie, 1248 N. Front St., 215-291-4919.
Man Cave is a testosterone-laden Monday feature that highlights the weekend haps of a pop culture-loving Philly dude.
There's a gentleman here in the Philly area who LOVES Nickelback. His name is Paul Tsikitas 
(pronounced sick-EAT-us), and, yes, you read that right: he loves Nickelback.
Generally speaking, Tsikitas is an Arcade Fire-loving, craft-beer drinking, independent film-watching hipster. However, if there's one thing he loves without discrimination, it's rock music. And when it comes to his favorite rock bands, he holds no prejudice against throatiness from the north.
This Saturday night, I managed to witness Tsikitas — the former lead singer of South Jersey-based band Noringo — proclaim his love for Nickelback in a very public fashion. I will protect the name of the venue, due to the local unpopularity of Nickelback (but you can figure it out pretty easily). Tsikitas found a stage, a band and an audience with which to dramatically sing his love for Chad Kroeger.
Our Top 21 Albums issue comes out Dec. 22, but that doesn’t come close to telling you what 2011 sounded like. To help find the devil in the details, we’ve asked City Paper’s critics, friends and family to name some of their favorite songs — be they secret gems on terrible albums, sleeper tracks you missed, huge pop songs that need defending, or just plain good songs everybody already knows and loves. (Ignore the video, this is about the audio.)
Mirror Mirror (Domino), the fourth release from Scottish quartet Sons and Daughters, wasn’t an entirely successful stab at Joy Division/Siouxsie-style goth. But there were a few brilliant moments, none more so than the second single “Rose Red.” On this track, the band perfectly combined their new, retro sound with the punkabilly noir of their earlier work. As with many of Sons and Daughters’ songs, the scenario described here is sinister and bleak. (And the video proves that singer Adele Bethel makes a pretty good femme fatale.) “So let’s beat, beat, beat/ And tell them they want some more,” Bethel shrieks disturbingly on the chorus. But her hard brogue locks in with the band’s relentless charge, creating a melody that’s just as infectious as the rhythm.
Time to honor another pioneer of the Folksong Society and Folk Festival, Stretch Pyott. He was a jovial man, always ready with a joke. Gene Shay, noted for some of the worst groaners ever foisted on music lovers for the sake of stalling during set change at the festival, recalls that Stretch would bug him to collect those bad puns into a book to sell at the festival, "You'll make a lot of money!" was the constant jibe.
"Now," says Gene, "If I ever do write that book, it will be dedicated to his memory."
Reflecting some more, "He and his wife [Teresa] were good friends of folk song, folk dance and folk tales." Caryl P. Weiss who formerly performed with Teresa in several groups, wrote a private email ennumerating some of the fun Stretch created — among the earliest concerts at Penn's Landing, on the deck of the Gazella Primera. Others state he was a father of the old time music scene. Stretch served on the board of the Folksong Society for years, several of them as president. His personal warmth naturally drew others to participate in all his volunteer activities.
As published in Inky:
HOWARD R. "Stretch", Dec. 13, 2011, age 83. Beloved husband of Teresa (nee Mingle); dear father of Richard (Roana), Susan (Michael) Siropaides, Mary (Damian) DiEuliis, Christopher (Barbara) and the late David; loving grandfather of 5 and great grandfather of 6. Relatives, friends, retirees of Rohm & Haas, and Phila. Folk Song Society are invited to his Funeral Sat., 8:30 A.M., ROSE FUNERAL HOME, 2616 Bridge St., (Bridesburg) Phila. with Funeral Mass at 10 A.M., All Saints Church. Int. Resurrection Cem. Friends may call Fri. eve. 7-9 P.M. Memorials in his name to All Saints Church, 2651 Buckius St., Phila., PA 19137 would be appreciated.
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