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Archive: July, 2012
Before The Tallest Man on Earth’s Kristian Matsson scurried alone onto Union Transfer’s stage, techs brought out his equipment: guitars, piano, and a chair. The small number of items on stage was a stark contrast to the 1,200 people in attendance for the sold-out show. Even the balconies were teeming with people craning their necks and standing on their tippy toes to glimpse the young Swede.
The entire venue roared when Matsson made his entrance. He opened with “To Just Grow Away,” the first song off of There’s No Leaving Now. Matsson is touring in support of this new album, but his set list including material from every one of his major releases — including fan-favorites “The Gardener” and “King of Spain.”
Matsson spent most of the night finger-picking his way through songs, stopping occasionally to play a piano ballad. Mid-way through his set, he recited a spoken word version of the Fresh Prince theme song. He explained that this was how “Swedish people learned to speak English.”
Welcome pandering aside, it was refreshing to hear songs that rely on raw musicality. In the age of autotune and MPCs, musicians who use their natural voices and traditional instruments seem like quaint anachronisms. But Matsson plays with such unadorned passion that it’s hard not to be moved by his live show. A few simple instruments are all The Tallest Man on Earth needs to become larger than life.
Another South Philly afternoon. Another day of shooting for the film Paranoia. Only this time, it was my 
block, the 10th and Carpenter area and the boccie-ball-friendly Bardascino Park, which doubled for Brooklyn and “Old Library Park” in the corporate thriller filming throughout the city through September. For this scene, the area was quieted (no simple feat according to the crew, but more amenable were we than the crowd at last week's Fifth & Morris locale) and the immediate blocks barricaded as Liam Hemsworth, wearing a blue-on-blue-suit-and-shirt combo, stood and spoke with an insistently slouching Richard Dreyfuss, who mostly sat on a park bench.
While conflicting reports have them staying in Bard Park for another day, the Paranoia team is supposed to film a few scenes farther down in the Italian Market in the next several days. And while Hemsworth and his fiancé Miley Cyrus can be seen eating at a.kitchen (Cyrus alone has popped into Morimoto and Butcher & Singer) when they’re not posing with fans. Also, be on the look out for a bald man with an angry leer. That’d be Harrison Ford who left Los Angeles this weekend and shaved his head for his role as a corporate CEO raider type in Paranoia, according to this.
(a_amorosi@citypaper.net) (@adamorosi)
Photo by Glamorosi
This isn't really a video, but I've always liked this song. Here's something City Paper's ex-arts editor Lori Hill wrote about Doss just before The Sunshine Fix played The Khyber in 2002:
Make what you want of a guy who’s taken to calling himself "The Bill Doss," but this is someone in love with musical instruments. Ever since Olivia Tremor Control emerged from its cubist castle, giving birth to the Elephant 6 phenomenon, Doss has wanted to create surreal landscapes and soundtracks to unmade movies. Now, with The Sunshine Fix, it seems that choosing a subject like the sun — literally — was the focus he had been looking for all along. [Read the rest here.]
The news was tweeted by Flagpole earlier today. (h/t Maria T)
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is now offering a $5 discount to its current special exhibition "Gauguin, Cézanne, Matisse: Visions of Arcadia" for all visitors to the recently debuted Barnes Foundation. Special exhibition tickets will include access to Main Building, the Perelman Building and the freshly spruced-up Rodin Musuem.
The offer stands until Sept. 3, the last day of "Arcadia," and is being held "in celebration of the opening of the Barnes Foundation on the Parkway and the shared artistic vision between the Barnes and the Philadelphia Museum of Art."
Every week, Brittany Thomas rounds up the week's sure-bet live shows. This week: Punch, Far-Out Fangtooth, Sons & Heirs and more.
Wednesday: Far-Out Fangtooth, Philadelphia's own band of ambient punk splendor, will be celebrating summer with a psychedelic BBQ performance featuring veg-friendly foods and mind-bending video projections, all set in Philly's favorite mausoleum. 7:30 p.m., $7-$10 donations, PhilaMOCA, with Dope Boy, Wet Hair and Acid Kicks, 531 N. 12th St., confirm on facebook.
Out of everything he gave to the literary world, it's Charles Dickens' characters that continue to amuse and inspire audiences. Fagin and Dodger, David Copperfield and Tiny Tim have become prototypes against which we judge other literary personalities. His creations have infiltrated our language: The unenthused Christmas guest is a regular Scrooge, and what little kid hasn't asked for seconds, jokingly reaching out his hands with the phrase “please sir, I want some more”?
This Wednesday, the Rosenbach Museum (2008-2010 Delancey Place) invites guests to uncover the source of these timeless characters with a closer look at their original depictions. Through manuscripts and letters, a guided tour (3 p.m.-4 p.m., free with admission) will chronicle Dickens' rise to fame from an ambitious amateur to a world-renowned storyteller. The Rosenbach Museum and Library is internationally recognized for its extensive collections of original English manuscripts, making it an essential visit for Dickens fans the world over, and an ideal setting for shedding new light on a classic author.
While Philadelphia’s unemployment might have dropped slightly from the 9% high of January 2010, there are still many in great need. Non-profit Career Wardrobe is helping women get back to work by providing the proper clothing needed to score a new job. In 2011 alone, they helped over 5,000 ladies build a career-getting wardrobe, in addition to teaching interview practices and providing tips on how to make effective résumé revisions. As far as clothes are concerned, suits, dress shoes, coats, blazers, blouses, skirts, pants and accessories are all accepted. Think dressy to business casual. Tax receipts are available, and clean items in decent condition are collected year-round.
This summer, a number of locations will be open for drop-offs, including Career Wardrobe’s office at 21 S. 12th St. Wardrobe Boutique, at 1822 Spring Garden St., also takes donations and donates regular sale proceeds to aid Career Wardrobe's mission. Boutique Wearhouse (5001 West Chester Pike), carrying designer apparel in Newtown Square, is a partner of the operation, offering easier access to suburbanites. Other, more unconventional sites are also taking donations this year, including Ready, Willing & Able, provider of transitional services to homeless men, Susquehanna Bank (1845 Walnut St.), The Residences at Dockside (717 S. Columbus Blvd.) and Falls Presbyterian Church (3800 Vaux St.). Call or check their websites for hours of operation.
In trying to understand the mood of Cairo since the uprising that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak, Amira Hanafi finds herself in a fairly good position to explain the cultural shift: A writer and artist, Egyptian and former Philadelphian, Hanafi has lived in Tahrir Square since before the uprising, observing and documenting the events as they've unfolded around her.
She's returned to Philadelphia for the summer as a visiting artist at the University of the Arts, providing an excuse for her former employer, the Penn Book Center, to invite her to share some of her experiences Sun., July 29 at A-Space (4722 Baltimore Ave.). The free event will begin at 7 p.m. with Hanafi's poetic essay inspired by the July 8, 2011 sit-in, followed by a discussion of broader shifts in Egyptian politics and society.
James Hesky has been helming "The Monthly Hour" at Philly Improv Theater since February, when Chip Chantry retired his "One Man Show (with Special Guests)." In addition to Hesky, Philly comedy-faves Jim Grammond, Darryl Charles, Mary Radzinski, Pat House and Mikey Gleason write and perform a mix of current-events-mocking and hilarious characters for each show, which occurs the last Monday of every month.
Says Hesky, "It's been a lot of fun to work on it. It’s basically an excuse for me to work with some of the 
funniest people in the city. I get to meet and exchange emails with a group of comedians trying to find a way to take current events and make them funny. Then after the show is over we throw it all away and start fresh."
The Monthly Hour crew writes about half of the show — about 25 minutes of material every month — and has guests on for the other half.
"It wouldn’t work without the mix of people that we have. Mikey is amazing at editing and directing our video sketches. Mary came up with this great character “the Advisor” (pictured right with Hesky) who gives awful advice with way more confidence than any person should have. Darryl is the best actor out of all of us by far, and Jim and Pat have really helped with monologue jokes and shaping our sketches. It’s just a great group."
As the U.S. Mail system slowly becomes obselete, local artist Matthew Ross Smith is finding new ways to make use of the classic postcard in one of his most innovative community-art projects to date.
His plan, entitled "The Spaces Between Your Fingers", is to have participants write a short message or memory on an old-fashioned postcard. In place of a signature, each writer will end the card with a tracing of his hand, highlighting the analog human-ness of postcard exchange. The project returns to the digital era when these postcards become archived in the Free Library's “wisdom library,” where they can be searched by age, location, subject or even a matching handprint. Using the library's archival resources, this is a way to record the tradition of the postcard and share in the diverse wisdom of our community. Saturday's event is a chance to learn more about the project and become an official postcard participant. Read our Q&A with Smith's mom, who received the onslaught of postcards in her mailbox, in this week's A&E section, or by clicking here.
Free and open to anyone interested, the session kicks off at 2 p.m. at the Library's Central Branch (1901 Vine St.).
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