Archive: September, 2010

THE SHOWDOWN: "I kinda know Zooey Deschanel!"

POSTED: Monday, September 6, 2010, 6:00 PM

Filed Under: Music The Showdown

Monday: Labor Day means not having to do things. At all. Tuesday: If you haven't yet seen the Pixies documentary "loudQUIETloud," you might want to save your viewing until after you catch them at the Tower. Still, a performance of their classic Doolittle album (which turned 20 last year) transcends the demystified squabblings of the iconic quartet, who have finally come around to giving fans what they want. This would also be your chance to fill your Kim Deal quota in case you missed The Breeders last week. w/ Fuck Buttons, 8 p.m., $62.45 - $84.25, Tower Theater, 69th St. & Ludlow St., 610-352-2887. Wednesday: Dirty Projectors have not only made the transition from bedroom recording project to full-on band, but from underground outsider art to, well, rather popular outsider art. Leader Dave Longstreth remains unendingly productive despite his newfound success, collaborating with Bjork and preparing for an expanded release of last year's Bitte Orca. Opener Owen Pallett has quite the resume too, having served as orchestral arranger to Beirut, Arcade Fire and Grizzly Bear. w/ Owen Pallett, 7:30 p.m., $15 - $17, Trocadero, 10th St. & Arch St., 215-922-6888. Thursday: Before the Old 97's hit the road again in support of their new album, check out a solo set from frontman Rhett Miller. Miller's fans might be drawn in by his scruffy good looks, but it's his catchy and emotional songs that win them over. Aside from his main band, Miller has put out a handful of modest solo albums, but is always good about throwing in an acoustic rendition of a 97's song here and there. w/ Adam Taylor, 8 p.m., $25, Sellersville Theater, 24 West Temple Ave., 215-257-5808. Friday: As leader of Pittsburgh's premier experimentalists, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Tobacco creates his own little world everywhere he goes. Through loops and projections, Tobacco and his band (which often includes members of BMSR) will feature selections from his new album, though experiencing the elusive performer's live show undoubtedly trumps simply grooving to his intricately-constructed recordings. w/ Junk Culture & Dreamend, 8 p.m., $12, First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St., 215-563-3980. Saturday: Get ready for an invasion of the pop kind. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin have a new disc that combines the peppy sounds of their first two albums with a slight alt-country inflection. Seattle's Telekinesis offer similarly jumpy musical confections. The connecting thread here is Death Cab For Cutie's Chris Walla, who produced both bands' most recent albums. If he makes it to the Barbary show, he'll be the one in the back shouting, "Hey! I kinda know Zooey Deschanel!" w/ Telekinesis, 6 p.m., $10, The Barbary, 951 N Frankford Ave. Sunday: Usually, when a band plays continually for 10 hours, it's called "excessive" or "Emerson Lake & Palmer." Bang On A Can's finest know how to carry a marathon performance. After all, they've been staging these kinds of shows for over 20 years, with this marking the first time it's done in Philadelphia. Music composed by Frank Zappa, Charles Mingus, Thurston Moore and other eclectic luminaries has highlighted past performances. As always, a single ticket entitles you to come and go as you please throughout the show. 2 p.m. - Midnight, $15 - $25, World Cafe Live, 30th St. & Walnut St., 215-222-1400.

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NOW HEAR THIS: Belle and Sebastian, "Write About Love?"

POSTED: Monday, September 6, 2010, 2:00 PM

Filed Under: Music Now Hear This

Posted by Patrick Rapa @ 2:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

ON THE FRINGE: The Tell Tale Heart

POSTED: Sunday, September 5, 2010, 1:03 PM

Filed Under: Arts | On the Fringe Theater

Every night, we're hitting the Live Arts/Fringe fest like a pack of culture-hungry wolves. Every morning, we're howling about it at citypaper.net/fringe. Every afternoon on Critical Mass (pretty much), we're rounding up the previous night's reviews.

photo by Domenick Scudera

John Zak in The Tell-Tale Heart

WE SAW IT YESTERDAY >> The Tell-Tale Heart

What's so Fringe? Nevermore Theater's production of The Tell-Tale Heart is Poe's classic, as it's meant to be done. The marvelous John Zak is by turns empathetic and twitchy as he relates the murderous chain of events that led him to stand before us, straitjacketed and unnerved, in just enough light to suggest the gravity of what he's done. Like any good psychopath, he's charming at first — despite that gleam in his eye — making the horror pay off when he takes his leave and you're left alone with your own guilty conscience. —MJ Fine

WE ALSO SAW >> Cankerblossom >> Edgar Allan Poe Comes Alive! >> Freedom Club >> Takes >> Goose Feathers: Nursery Rhymes for Kids Over 18! >> Sanctuary >> Tales >> Wawapalooza 4: Damaged Goods >> First Love by Samuel Beckett >> Hello from the Children of Planet Earth >> Dead Air: The Final Broadcast of the Zombie Apocalypse Think our reviews are so right? Or so totally wrong? Visit citypaper.net/fringe to leave a comment. But don't forget that we are wolves.

Posted by Patrick Rapa @ 1:03 PM Permalink | Post a comment

ON THE FRINGE: Thom Pain

POSTED: Friday, September 3, 2010, 8:00 PM

WE SAW IT YESTERDAY >> Thom Pain: Based on Nothing

There's little common sense from Will Eno's smarmy, scruffy, sadsack Thom Pain (no, not Thomas Paine). His everyman anti-hero — gloriously played by Christopher M. Bohan with twitchy, bouncy abandon — conducts a disturbing yet mesmerizing self-vivisection. When he says "If I were you I'd be sick of this already," accept the challenge and stay; the harrowing story he disgorges in all his desperate showiness (there's a raffle — no there isn't!) and messy non sequiturs ("I have that same shirt!") is gut-wrenchingly cathartic. Though Luna tries too hard (awkward life-size cutout?), by this wild hour's end, forgiveness feels right. —Mark Cofta

SEE ALSO >> Dracula Think our reviews are so right? Or so totally wrong? Visit citypaper.net/fringe to leave a comment. But don't forget that we are wolves.

hermes belts

Posted 2010-09-27 03:15:43

Very interesting post. Thanks again.. Please Keep it Up!!

Posted by Carolyn Huckabay @ 8:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

INTERVIEW with CHARLIE DAY: "I threw Chase Utley a knuckleball that blew his mind."

POSTED: Friday, September 3, 2010, 7:00 PM

Filed Under: Interview | Movies | TV

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

Charlie Day as Dan in Going the Distance

The main goal of Going the Distance (in area theaters today) is to be anything but the typical romantic comedy: The lovelorn leads (Drew Barrymore and Justin Long), stuck in long distance relationship, speak in expletive-laced sentences rather than amorous cliche. Many thanks are due to Charlie Day, who plays Long's roommate Dan, and steals every scene he's in — whether it's giving heartfelt relationship advice while taking a dump or soundtracking Long and Barrymore's first tryst with "Take My Breath Away." But, of course Day is a scene-stealer; you've watched him do the exact same thing for six seasons as Charlie Kelly on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. We called up Day to chat about Going the Distance, the new season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Thu., Sept. 16, FX, 10 p.m.) and why the ladies love Charlie Kelly. City Paper: I think a lot of romantic comedies live or die on the role you play in Going the Distance — this quirky best friend to the bland romantic lead. It can be the best part of the movie... Charlie Day: Or the worst. CP: Like Bruno Kirby in When Harry Met Sally... CD: I definitely wasn't thinking about being the next Bruno Kirby. I thought about the part the I was doing and just thought about doing the best that I could. But I also thought about making him real, and making him a guy you like so he wasn't just some stereotypical sidekick. I thought it was good that Jason Sudeikis was there too, so it was the two of us and not just about one guy who is always there to be the shoulder to cry on. CP: You're working with Jason Sudeikis again in your next movie, Horrible Bosses. CD: So far so good, obviously I haven't seen anything cut together but what we're shooting is certainly really, really funny. Boy, I hate to see how they mess that up. CP: Did you just fall in love with Sudeikis' Tom Selleck mustache? Was that it? You just couldn't get enough of it? CD: That was it. And I had him on the set of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia this year this will be third Sudeikis-Day joint you can see. CP: As a Philadelphian and representative of our illustrious ilk, I do have to ask about the next season. Can you give me any hints? What can we expect? CD: There's a lot of good stuff, we've got some great guest stars: Dave Foley from Kids in the Hall, he comes on and he's super great; Tom Sizemore did a funny little thing. We did some really good episodes. Put it this way, Charlie and Dennis actually make it out of Philly for a little bit of an adventure. CP: You're leaving us?! CD: We're not leaving! We're just going on a little bit of a jaunt to Atlantic City and it makes a really great episode. CP: If there's one place that you could make look worse than Philadelphia, it's Atlantic City. Did you guys go there? CD: We actually shot it in Philly, in the Harrahs Casino in Port Charles [Port Charles is where General Hospital is set, so we think he meant Chester]. CP: Did you get to gamble? CD: I did not, I did a lot of acting. It was a long day. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard were in that episode, and they're really funny. CP: I've read that you were a baseball player in college. How strong was your desire to just play catch with them all day? CD: We did get to. In the scene, Dennis has a catch with Chase Utley and I asked if I could get in it for a sec and I threw him a knuckleball that blew his mind. CP: So we should we expect you batting in Howard's spot soon? CD: I could come in for a few relief innings but I don't think I could get a bat on the ball. CP: One of the similarities you see between your Going the Distance character and Charlie Kelly is this certain sweetness. It's kind of like you've both been dropped on your heads a couple times but it only served to make you a nicer guy. What makes you gravitate toward these sweet-dunce roles? CD: It's definitely like that in Horrible Bosses too. The simple answer is that's part of the reason I got cast in that role. But also the sweetness comes out to make him real, and not a total cartoon character. You have to believe in the person as a real person and what helps me as a performer is knowing what the character is in love with or cares about. With Charlie Kelly, it's the Waitress and with Dan it was Garrett [Justin Long]. CP: The male bonding you get in this movie is so much more than in most romantic comedies, and director Nanette Burstein lingers on you more than she has to. CD: Yeah, I think that was in an effort to not be a totally stereotypical rom-com. And also in an effort to make it funny for both the girls and guys, and it's not just following that love story for the entire time. You're flushing out the world so they're not just these cartoon characters that you go for a joke or two but you get to live their world for a minute or two and see that, for lack of a better term, they're real people. CP: I've met an inordinate amount of girls who say they would sleep with Charlie Kelly. Not you, not Charlie Day. CD: I think it's a fine line. CP: You say it's a fine line. But I don't think you're sleeping in your long underwear with Danny DeVito every night. CD: I've noticed a change in the last couple of years. I don't know whether it's sympathy or there's just a sheer animal attraction to a man in long johns.

Posted by Molly Eichel @ 7:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

MUSIC MADNESS: Win tickets and an autographed poster courtesy of the Dirty Projectors! -- WE HAVE OUR WINNER!

POSTED: Friday, September 3, 2010, 6:00 PM

Filed Under: Critical Mass

Want to get down with David Longstreth and his merry band of art-poppers? Here, we'll give you a hand by not only hooking you up with two tickets to see the Dirty Projectors at the Troc on Wed., Sept.8, but also handing you a signed DP poster! All you have to do to win the goods is e-mail molly [dot] eichel [at] citypaper [dot] net the answer to the following trivia question.

The Dirty Projectors recently collaborated with everyone's fave Icelandic pixie-girl, Bjork. They drew her attention by covering what song?

Congrats to Chad A. who answered correctly with "Hyperballad"

The Dirty Projectors, Wed., Sept. 8, 7:30 p.m., $15-$17, w/Owen Pallett, The Troc, 1003 Arch St., 215-922-6888.

Posted by Molly Eichel @ 6:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

CRITICAL MASS WEEKEND OMNIBUS: Fringe Funk Weekend

POSTED: Friday, September 3, 2010, 5:00 PM

Filed Under: Weekend Omnibus

Neal Santos

Charlotte Ford' CHICKEN

It's Fringe time so whip out that GCal, 'cause Mama Omnibus is about to give you the hook up. Friday: Fringe/Live Arts vet Charlotte Ford is back again, this time serving up a meal of her new show CHICKEN. Then head to the Piazza to have some knowledge dropped, with Rooftop Films' presentation of Josh Fox's Gasland. Saturday: What the fuck is Flugtag?! Let our girl J. West answer that for you, because you'll most certainly be waiting on the Camden waterfront to get a piece of the action. Then it's off to the Mutter Museum for a production of Philly Boy Poe's classic Tell Tale Heart. Sunday: Take your pick of the Fringe today: May Mama suggest Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? Or the The Madwoman of Chaillot or how about any of the other million and six shows playing tonight? Or if you're looking for some spazzy rock 'n' roll, then it's off to the North Star for some Hot Hot Heat. That's the news, Little Omnibussers. Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow.

Posted by Molly Eichel @ 5:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

LAST CHANCE: "Late Renoir" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

POSTED: Friday, September 3, 2010, 4:00 PM

Filed Under: Arts | Arts Events Visual Art

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Heads-up: This weekend marks the tail end of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's "Late Renoir" exhibit — they're opening museum doors all day Monday in the hopes that Labor Day wanderers find their way down the Ben Franklin Parkway. Here's what Matthew Cahn had to say about the exhibit back in June:

Pierre-Auguste Renoir spent most of his life making a name for himself as an Impressionist in Paris — and making little to no money doing so. But at the pinnacle of his career, he moved toward the coast and away from the movement — which is where the Art Museum's spring exhibit "Late Renoir" takes off. The exhibit spans the last three decades of the artist's life, during which the blissful delirium of old age (and arthritis) began to take its toll. As a result, the 80-plus works on display are opulent and cosmetic yet wholly classical. But just because they're pretty doesn't mean they're without effect: The influence of Renoir's late style becomes discernible when juxtaposed with works by later artists; landscapes by Bonnard, portraits by Picasso and nudes by Matisse all seem more lucid when seen in the light of Renoir.

Oh, and P.S. — don't forget that the PMA is still "pay what you wish"* on the first Sunday of every month, which means you can get in on the cheap at the very last minute. Which is exactly how we roll. (It should be noted that ticketed shows like the Renoir exhibit are off-limits to the pay-what-you-wishers, so you've still gotta shell out $24 to see Pierre-Auguste's work up close and personal.)

Through Sept. 6, $24, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Ben Franklin Parkway, 215-763-8100, philamuseum.org.

Gary Arseneau

Posted 2010-09-03 18:59:18

September 3, 2010

It is very troubling when the news media is informed to the contentious issues of authenticity with 18 non-disclosed forgeries misrepresented as sculptures by Pierre Auguste Renoir in The Late Renoir exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and their is no inquiry, much less interest.

Someday, museums, like the Philadelphia Museum of Art, may be held accountable for their "knowing concealment of a material fact or misrepresentation of the truth to induce someone to his or her detriment" which is one legal definition of fraud but what will the news media's excuse be when it is documented they continue to shill for an exhibition despite being informed on these contentious issues of authenticity?

Gary Arseneau
artist, creator of original lithographs & scholar
Fernandina Beach, Florida

Posted by Carolyn Huckabay @ 4:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

ON THE FRINGE: Win two tickets to see Tribe of Fools' Dracula

POSTED: Friday, September 3, 2010, 3:00 PM

Filed Under: Critical Mass

There's something intriguing about a show so spooky, they make you sign a waiver (for real!) before you sit down. Dracula, playing Sept. 2-6 and 8-11 at St. Stephen's Theater, is such a performance, and we're dying (get it?!) to go.

Here's what Molly Eichel had to say about the show, in her monster-riffic Fringe roundup:

Instead of some clichÃ©d BÃ©la Lugosi knockoff, Tribe of Fools is digging deeper, focusing on the brain fever suffered by hapless solicitor Jonathan Harker from Bram Stoker's OG novel. "The stuff that we're playing with comes from us doing about a year of research about fear — both the psychological and biological mechanisms," says Tribe artistic director/Dracula director Jay Wojnarowski. The idea is to work your amygdala over pretty good.

To win a pair of tickets to the 7 p.m. show this Saturday night (Sept. 4), answer me this:

What are two real-life conditions that are sometimes described as brain fever?

E-mail me at carolyn.huckabay@citypaper.net for a chance to win. [UPDATE, 11:17 a.m.]: Big ups to CritMass reader Carrie, who correctly identified the conditions as meningitis and encephalitis (though she points out, "Brain fever sounds much cooler. I put it up there with crotch rot, square dancer cancer, and the hippie hippie shakes.") We couldn't agree with you more, Carrie.

Posted by Carolyn Huckabay @ 3:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

POETIC LICENSE: Horoscopes, Sept. 3-9

POSTED: Friday, September 3, 2010, 2:00 PM

Filed Under: Poetic License

Critical Mass welcomes devoted poet/avid concert-goer/nerd-grrrl extraordinaire Jane Cassady to the fold; her weekly horoscopes will run in this space every Friday morning.

Who Watches Giles? Virgo (Aug. 24-Sept. 23): Write out your 10 birthday wishes in sparkle-icing on a sheet cake. Learn to make frosting roses — it's about time. Count your hopes in sugar petals. Avoid red food coloring. It's bitter. Libra (Sept. 24-Oct. 21): By way of alleviating stress, call up 10 people you love and say nice things about them. Be emphatic. Your aches and pains will decrease. Scorpio (Oct. 22-Nov. 22): The motto of Harry's Occult Shop over on South Street is "We aim to help." You get the feeling that by "we" they don't mean "We the guys behind the apothocary counter," but more like "We and all the unseen forces of the universe." Ask for that kind of help. Sagittarius (Nov. 23-Dec. 22): This week, be like Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Be a Watcher to every wild force for goodness, every supernaturally strong slangy archetype. Don't wish you were somewhere else. Capricorn (Dec. 23-Jan. 20): You are a calendar of how to make strawberry shortcake. On Monday, decide biscuits or sweet sponge cake. Tuesday, slice the strawberries, etc. Aquarius (Jan. 21-Feb. 19): How to have a lovely Baroque-pop catharsis: 1. Set up Google Chrome as your browser. 2. Close all other windows. 3. Go to thewildernessdowntown.com. 4. Type in your first address. 5. Search. Pisces (Feb. 20-March 20): It might be difficult for Mad Men to make rock bottom look stylish. Luckily, you have no such worries. You are as fresh and bright as a new hat. Aries (March 21-April 18): This week, a guru of mine very quickly became an un-guru when she made fun of a man who kept his dog on a very long leash. This is at least a failure of imagination. Taurus (April 19-May 18): I forget the name of the artist who installed a tree branch over the gate at Dia:Beacon as a piece of art. Turning the branch upside-down fooled it into thinking it was alive and blooming one last time. Gemini (May 19-June 21): Something I learned while napping to Radiolab: Until very recently, like the 1970s, zoos were nothing but wire cages and concrete. Be like whoever it was who came up with naturalistic animal habitats — still a zoo, but still. Cancer (June 22-July 23): In her poem "Other Prohibited Items," Martha Greenfield lists items confiscated at airport security, including a sentimental wrench, rare rosewater, breast milk still warm. What should you travel with? What should you risk? Leo (July 24-Aug. 23): Some ponderings about Gretchen from Project Runway: 1. Do you think she knows she'll be edited this way? 2. She's just saying out loud what our Monkey Mind is always yammering about. 3. How does one go on after having been yelled at by Tim Gunn? PREVIOUSLY >> POETIC LICENSE: Horoscopes, Aug. 28-Sept. 2

Posted by Jane Cassady @ 2:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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Q&A with SHARI SOLANIS: "The goal isn't pornography"
What we're trying to do this weekend
SEXY TIME Q&A: I've never had an orgasm during sex with a man — and I'm 30!
Coming soon to Philly: Two cockamamie movie promotion schemes
ICE CUBE: In Memoriam: Joe Tartaglia
Q&A with Tony Goldwyn: "Life is gray, and relationships are, too"
CONCERT REVIEW: Primus (3D & quadraphonic sound) @ The Tower 10/17
NOW SEE THIS: Transit cop arrests marijuana activist for alleged disorderly conduct.
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: The Archbishop meets the Geator, the Mayor goes suit shopping, Le Bec Fin fin.
NOW SEE THIS: Tim and Eric direct Terry Crews for Old Spice

About this blog

Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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