|
|
|
Archive: June, 2012
Only a year after Philly AIDS Thrift (full disclosure: I volunteer there) moved from Bainbridge to a larger Fifth Street home, expansion plans are in the midst again. To help fund the acquisition of over 3,000 more square feet of space in the former Kroungold's building, the store hosted the Summer of Love benefit party at Philadelphia's Magic Gardens last Friday evening.
Volunteers, staffers and customers filled the Garden to socialize, dance to DJ Trans Am's tunes and bid in the silent auction. Prizes included a Mütter Museum gift set, a trip to Hell's Kitchen in New York City, a limited-edition pair of Doc Martens and gift baskets from a variety of local businesses. Dangerous Ponies played through an energizing set of dancey psychedelic songs to finish off the evening. It was lots of fun; even Isaiah Zagar cut a rug (see last photo)!
The air conditioning unit went kaput at the Ritz at the Bourse recently, so the popular Old City flick spot is going black. Though she couldn't confirm a reopening date, a rep told me they're expecting to be closed for four weeks to replace the entire system. The snafu stood in the way of one opening this week, Gerhard Richter Painting, a doc about the famed German painter, and pulled an early plug on recently opened films like Peace, Love & Misunderstanding, Headhunters, Hysteria and Where Do We Go Now? But the rep says, until Ritz at the Bourse fires up its reels again, upcoming new films will be split between the Ritz East and Ritz Five.
Local filmmakers Tony Trov and John Zito are about to wrap up post-production on their locally shot, Kickstarter-funded horror flick Alpha Girls, which follows, as the duo describes on their Facebook page, "a bunch of sorority girls performing demonic rituals in the nude covered in blood."
To drum up hype, South Philly seven-piece rock 'n' roll outfit Southwork recently recorded the film's soundtrack at Eastern State Penitentiary. Here's a vid of the first song, "Love Her 'til the End." I'm digging those colorful outfits!
With every Pride Parade comes an eclectic mix of outfits and costumes. Some are completely outrageous, some are painstakingly elaborate and others are endearing for their simplicity. Whatever the case, here is a small sampling of the interesting looks at this year's festivities.
View gallery
Looking for a character-driven drama that doesn’t involve the undead? Well you’re in luck. Dallas, the original appointment television, reboots tomorrow night on TNT and there’s nothing like good old-fashioned money, sex and intrigue to keep you engaged. TV trivia fans already know that before The Wire or West Wing, the original Dallas introduced cinematic scripting and cultural commentary to the small screen with the depiction of villainous oil tycoon J.R. Ewing at a time when energy crises, economic turmoil and political corruption had just ravaged America. Given the parallels it’s no surprise Dallas is back and, like the original, it easily transcends the schmaltz of other soaps.
Just as the original produced innovations like the season cliffhanger (a la “Who Shot J.R.?”), the new Dallas is unique in that it picks up the series thread within a pre-existing storyline surrounding the third generation of Ewing men assuming their daddy’s roles in the unending family rivalry. While John Ross (played by sexy Josh Henderson) schemes to rebuild the Ewing oil fortune, Christopher (Desperate Housewives’ Jesse Metcalfe) aims to redeem his family’s name by taking on a more eco-friendly trade and just maybe making up for that time his uncle bombed that Arabian country to spike oil prices (paging George W.).
While the presence of many original characters (pictured left), including J.R., Bobby, Sue Ellen and Cliff, make the show 
fun for original fans, new viewers will enjoy the complex plot twists and dynastic power struggles. Unfortunately, what’s missing is the glamour of the original: Thirty years ago the Ewings clinked cocktails before dinner, today they sip coffee at the kitchen counter overlooking the family room. (Yes, grandma, the Ewings have a family room now.) Though most modern viewers probably won’t notice these changes, having been in-utero when the show last aired in 1991, the collision those Ewing family dinner scenes provided is still palpably lacking. If the new series plans to compete with today’s cable programming it should try looking backward in time and get everybody an office, an accent and, for God’s sake, a wet bar, because that is how things are done on Dallas!
Every Monday, Brittany Thomas rounds up the week's sure-bet live shows. This week: Toy Soldiers, Sweatheart, Dan Sartain and more.
TUESDAY: Yes, they’re named after the creature from Gremlins. But don’t confuse Mogwai's lighthearted name and nature with the raw intensity of its heavy, elaborate, distorted instrumentals. When you take that and put it beside guttural yet soft Scottish vocals, you have yourself a beautiful rock ‘n’ roll lullaby. 8:30 p.m., $20, Union Transfer. 1026 Spring Garden St., 215-232-2100.
Every second Friday of the month from May to October, the Squidling Bros. Circus Sideshow hosts its underground party of outlandish performance art featuring an array of local circus, burlesque and musical acts. The show isn't for the faint of heart, but surely worth seeing if you're intrigued by flame tossing hoopers, sword swallowers, masochists and such. I stopped by to scope out the scene and get some pics at this past week's party.
When a singer is still performing after four decades, you have to wonder if the audience knows about the 
the artistry and pizzazz of his former days, or if the show will be a pity party with murmurings of “it's so great he can still stand on stage ...” At 62, Jonathan Richman certainly ran the risk of falling into that latter category, yet his performance at Union Transfer possessed all the energy and wit that has earned him a cult following since his days with the Modern Lovers. In a loose green linen shirt and his signature goofy smile, he looked the part of an improv dance instructor; a dorky but likeable sage whose eager stare dares you to loosen up and get far outside your element.
His booming, elegant voice suggests he's avoided the pitfalls of many in the rockstar life, providing the youthful sound to match his equally vibrant delivery. Beyond his voice, Richman's timelessness can be attributed to the off-the-wall style he's always brought to his songwriting. Whereas most singers stick to the tried-and-true topics of heartbreak, love and longing, these topics grow old, particularly from the voice of an older man. Richman stands apart in that he's always known that the human experience offers a far wider variety of song material. With titles like “Lonely Little Thrift Store,” “Salvador Dali” and “Weeds Breaking Through the Concrete,” Richman's songs can feel like children's stories, appealing to the full scope of human imagination.
We are creatures of habit that need signals — the closing of a door, the word “goodbye,” the train leaving the station — to tell us when something's coming to an end. And when that end decidedly comes, we use it as cause for reflection, transition and ultimately a new beginning. In her new book Exit: The Endings That Set Us Free, renowned scholar Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot examines the role of endings in our lives, studying the patterns we rely on to let us know when something is over.
A storyteller by nature and a sociologist by training, Lawrence-Lightfoot has achieved the kind of cultural theory writing that is both complex and accessible. Known mainly for her work on the sociology of education, her book The Good High School: Portraits of Character and Culture earned her an Outstanding Book Award from the American Educational Research Association, one of countless prestigious awards she's received over the course of her career. Her tenth book, Exit, aptly marks her own kind of transition, away from education theory and toward a broader study of cultural phenomena. Tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at the Free Library (1901 Vine St.), guests can get the opportunity to hear excerpts from the book and share in a conversation with one of the foremost cultural thinkers of our generation. Free.
- Activism
- Arts
- Arts Events
- Books
- Dance
- First Person Fest
- Last Chance
- Museum
- On the Fringe
- Philly Artists
- The Curator
- Theater
- Visual Art
- Arts News
- Artist Profile
- Arts Preview
- Street Art
- Been There, Done That
- Big Ups
- Comedy
- LOL With It
- Stand-up
- Critical Mass
- DVD
- Events
- Friday Fill-in
- Ice Cubes
- In Memoriam
- Interview
- Just Do It
- Just Opened
- Kaleidoscopic
- LGBTQ
- Art Phag
- Mailbag
- Movies
- Film Fest
- Movie Review
- On set
- Scenester
- screening
- trailer!
- Music
- 10 Track Mind
- Album
- Album Review
- Concert Review
- DJs
- Local Support
- Now Hear This
- One Track Mind
- Philly Bands
- Show
- Somebody Else Was There
- Song
- The Showdown
- concert photos
- jazz
- DJ Nights Blogged
- Night Watch
- Now See This
- Poetic License
- Printed Matter
- Radio
- Shopping
- Coveted
- Fashion
- What We Heart
- TV
- 24
- Idol Hands
- Mad Men
- ProjRun
- True Blood
- Useless Lost Recaps
- Couch Potato
- Shore Trash
- Turned ONN
- TopMod
- Video Games
- Free Online Game
- PSP
- PlayStation 2
- The 1-Upper
- Wii
- Web Junk
- CAGE MATCH
- Free Online Toy
- Weekend Omnibus
- Win
