|
|
|
Night Moves
 |
| Penguin, $18 |
Don't know what to do tonight? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
There hasn't been a family that's simultaneously captured America's attention and disgusted us so since the Mansons. In Coll's new book, he outlines the history of the bin Ladens, including the childhood of Osama. Here's what Shaun Brady had to say about the book in this week's Agenda section:
The New Yorker scribe tells that story with epic sweep, exhaustive research and a touch of irreverence, making for a page-turner that is nonetheless crammed with densely packed detail. It reads like a mirror history of the 20th century, alternately reflecting, echoing and rebutting the familiar western narrative. The 54 children of Mohammed bin Laden almost inevitably form a microcosm of Saudi society and undertake the same struggle between the strictures of Islam and the temptations of modernity that define the region.
The tale unfolds as a series of parallels: the rising power of the al-Saud family comes to shape the rags-to-riches journey of patriarch Mohamed bin Laden; his death leaves his sons to trace divergent paths, exemplified by his profligate, freewheeling eldest, Salem, and the black sheep you-know-who.
Tue., March 31, 7:30 p.m., free, Free Library, Central Branch, 1901 Vine St., 215-567-4341, freelibrary.org
Don't know what to do tonight? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
In my ninth grade English class, I got lucky. While my friends' teachers believed that reading Little Women and Wuthering Heights was a good enough introduction to women writers, my own thought otherwise he had us read several works by Joan Didion, including "Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream" and "Goodbye to All That." The first inspired me to pursue journalism (which, at the time, meant writing articles about why the drinking age should be lowered to 18); the second made me want to pack up my bags and move to New York City.
Didion's great strength is being able to write beautifully about the darkest aspects of life, without being macabre or exploitative in her coverage of a small-town murder in "Some Dreamers...," she somehow employs symbolism and foreshadowing into a news piece without it appearing forced. She's also got a knack for extraordinary, biting sentences, like "It is the season of suicide and divorce and prickly dread, wherever the wind blows." At tonight's reading, though, she likely won't be discussing her '60s and '70s works. Instead, I bet she'll read from her book The Year of Magical Thinking, which covers the untimely deaths of both her husband and daughter. Always a tough broad, Didion shows her unyielding emotional strength in this work which, contrary to my initial guess, is far from depressing.
Mon, March 30, 6:30pm; Tue, March 31, 10:30am, free, Kelly Writers House, 3805 Locust Walk, 215-573-WRIT.
Don't know what to do tonight? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
 |
After you've downed a couple brewskies, frolicked in the warm weather and maybe even rolled down a few hills because of all Vitamin D-happiness you're enjoying, you should consider heading over to The Rotunda. The Penn Queer Student Alliance is putting on their annual drag show as part of Q-Penn Week, which celebrates the "best, brightest and queerest at Penn's campus," as intern Katie Karas says.
As far as we know, the folks in drag will be students which is unique because, let's just be honest here, most drag queens have long since reached drinking age. (Not sayin' that's a bad thing, of course. Just a different vibe.) The afta-party is at X.O. (1418 Rodman St.), which will top off the week with a candy-themed blowout. Yum.
Fri., March 27, 7 p.m., $5-$7, The Rotunda, 508 S. 5th St., 215-413-0999, therotunda.org.
 |
| Eh, I still buy it. |
I have to agree with the Republicans on one thing the country's love for President Obama is sometimes a little, um, cult-y. As Matt Dineen, a Philadelphian and founding collective member of Aid and Abet, a cooperative booking agency for radical activists and artists, says, this poses some challenges:
How do movements for social change express their visions and concerns without alienating allies in D.C. and around the world who would be joyfully celebrating on January 21st? As Obama began announcing a number of neoliberal, Clinton-era cabinet appointments to ostensibly offer their expertise in solving the worsening financial crisis and faltering wars abroad, discussion began of strategically voicing dissent at the inauguration and beyond.
In Dinnen's discussion tonight, he will address how the lack of dissent at Obama's inauguration is both a good and bad thing it means that we've got more people on our team, but don't know how far left we can push them until they quit the game completely. Check out Dineen's article on it here. Or just go to the discussion tonight. You can't call yourself an activist if you just sit at home reading all the time.
Thu, March 26, 7-9 p.m., free, Wooden Shoe Books, 508 S. 5th St., 215-413-0999, woodenshoebooks.com.
 |
| St. Martin's Griffin, 432 pp., $14.95 |
Don't know what to do tonight? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
It's no secret that here at City Paper we love the best mythological creature around: zombies. Because we love books a great deal too, Jonathan Maberry's undead tale Patient Zero: A Joe Ledger Novel seems like something out of our wildest, most night terror-inducing dreams.
Well, OK. It's like any other zombie narrative Joe Ledger has to keep terrorists from unleashing a bio-weapon that transforms ordinary people into zombies. But honestly, the zombie formula is pretty hard to mess up.
Plus, it's a bit like a cross between The Wire and 24: "Joe Ledger is a Baltimore detective who has just been secretly recruited to deal with the problems that Homeland Security can't handle." Am I stretching it? Maybe. But what can I say? I'm part of the elite, zombie-biased media.
Tue., March 24, 5:30 p.m., free, Barnes & Noble, 1805 Walnut St., 215-686-1776, jonathanmaberry.com
 |
| flickr.com/photos/geminiimatt |
| A veg! |
Outside of PETA protests and Trader Joe's, it's probably pretty hard to meet a fellow vegan. (I wouldn't know I was a vegetarian in a past life, but I never could give up cheese.) That's what prompted New Yorkers to form Vegan Drinks, a nationwide meet-up of all sorts of veggies, including the veg-curious, animal rights lawyers and run-of-the-mill vegans (if there is such a thing).
Tonight's event is the second Vegan Drinks to be held in Philly. The first one, held last month, was such a success that Horizons decided to open up the entire restaurant to accommodate all the animal lovers under one roof. Philadelphia Brewing Co.'s veg beer, Walt Wit, will be on tap, along with drinks from Chaddsford Winery and Philadelphia Distilling. And the food is far better than a Morningstar burger, if you happen to be doubting the scope of vegan eats it includes roasted exotic mushrooms with truffle oil, fried pickles with jalapeno beer batter, edamame hummus, Vietnamese bruschetta and buffalo seitan tortilla pizza. The raffle, from which you can win a $50 Whole Foods gift bag, a reiki session and a signed copy of This Crazy Vegan Life, allows you to put your money where your mouth is proceeds go to Humane League of Philadelphia and Chenoa Farm Animal Sanctuary.
Mon., March 23, 5:30-9:30 p.m., free, Horizons, 611 S. Seventh St., 216-923-6117, vegandrinksphilly.blogspot.com
 |
I've always loved the idea of science and art colliding like two supernovas. Like our own CHF's exhibits or National Geographic's photographs, it just feels nice and interdisciplinary when the two get together.
In Miro Dance Theatre's dance performance Spooky Action, the company is doing just that. Inspired by their time at the Fermilab national accelerator laboratory, choreographer Amanda Miller and her troupe see quantum entanglement not as a boring, esoteric subject you'd read about in a textbook but as a love affair between two particles.
Viewing it this way allows scientific ideas to spread to the masses or if not to the masses, at least to people who wouldn't usually read up on physics. Rebecca Davis Dance Co. recently worked on a similar concept but instead of focusing on the hard sciences, they found inspiration in economics so I hope it's a growing trend. Perhaps someone can write a soundtrack to the Big Bang next?
Thu., March 19, 6:30 p.m., free, Miro Studio, Girard College, 2101 S. College Ave., 215-962-4773, mirodancetheater.org
Don't know what to do tonight? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
 |
If you're curious but a wee bit nervous about attending L'Etage's Erotic Literary Salon, consider this: Susana Mayer's 91-year-old mother will be there. And if she's got the, ahem, balls to do it, then you should too. Taking place for almost a year now, the event features discussions on how to sell and write erotica. And, of course, it's a space to read your favorite erotic pieces or your very own dirty works out loud. Tonight, Deborah Castellano will be on hand to chat about writing hot-under-the-collar works for a living. Think that "erotica" won't be racy enough for your pornographic mind? Mayer says otherwise. "Not everybody claims that erotica arouses them," she says. "But to me, unless you're writing and you're getting aroused, it's probably not erotic."
Every third Tue, 7:30-10:30pm, $8-$10, L'Etage, 6th & Bainbridge sts., 215-592-0656, creperie-beaumonde.com.
Don't know what to do tonight? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
Contrary to what its hippie-dippie name suggests, the Flower Travellin' Band does not perform shitty classic rock covers in Allentown. Oh, no. It's a '70s psych-rock band from Japan actually, it's the '70s psych-rock band from Japan. Imagine if Led Zeppelin reuinted (and John Bonham never died), and the members decided to play in a tiny ass venue, and you'll begin to understand how enthusiastic you should be that the Flower Travellin' Band is performing at JB's. Think that psych-rock is only for burnt-out Phish fans? The Japenese do it quite differently. Unlike, say, Pink Floyd or Grateful Dead, which are brilliant but often mopey and mellow, the Flower Travellin' Band is feverish and strongly influenced by early metal. As Grace Slick might say, it's like American psych-rock being shot through a cannon.
Mon., March 16, 9 p.m., $13-$16, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 215-739-9684, johnnybrendas.com
Don't know what to do tonight? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
You like freaks, beasts and fiends, right? Of course you do. You're a Philadelphian. We live (or should I say die?) for the weirdos. This weekend's Monster-Mania Con, which kicks off tonight, will feature of a slew of them including Alice Cooper, the cast from Friday the 13th and the Wild World of Wrestling fighters. I'm guessing lots of comic books, Texas Chainsaw Massacre posters and leather will also be available at the conference. Not to mention a bevy of kick-ass masks for next Halloween. Between this and William Shakespeare's Land of the Dead, Friday the 13th is far from being "so last month." I don't know what you're talking about, Eichel.
Fri., March 13, 6-9:30 p.m.; Sat., March 14, 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Sun., March 15, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m., $20-$200, Crowne Plaza Hotel, 2349 W. Marlton Pike, Cherry Hill, N.J., 888-444-0401, monstermania.net
- ActiVman
- adventures
- Arts
- Ask A Man-About-Town
- Award Tour
- Awards
- Bad Idea Factory
- Beer
- Below the Curve
- Bikes
- Booze
- Brian Hickey
- BRT
- Budget
- Budget Fuss
- Business
- Casinos
- City Council
- City Hall
- CouncilMANIC
- CP Abroad
- CP in the Community
- Criminal Justice System
- Day Tripper
- Death and Taxes
- Delaware River
- Design
- DROP
- Drugs
- Dubious Distinction
- Elections
- End of Days
- Environment
- Fashion
- Film Fest
- Financial Meltdown
- FrackTrack
- Free Library
- Gambling
- Gay Stuff
- Get Lit
- Greenstorming
- guns
- Hall Monitor
- Health
- Health Care
- Hello, Kitty
- Holidays
- Ice Cubes
- Iggles
- Immigration
- In Memoriam
- Labor
- Lawsuits
- Letters
- LGBTQ
- Maps
- Marcellus Shale
- Media
- MMA
- Mummers
- Music
- MUST READ
- Mysterious Mysteries
- Nation
- News
- Non Sequitur
- Opinion
- PA politics 2010
- Parking Wars
- Parks and Recreation
- People Send Us This Stuff
- Philadelphia Police
- Philadelphia Union
- Philaphemera
- Philly From Scratch
- philly madness
- Photos
- Poverty
- PPA
- President Obama
- Print Edition
- Prisons
- Protest
- Readers Write
- Real Estate
- Rock Bottom
- Schools
- Science
- Screwing Philly
- SEPTA
- snow
- So Lush
- Soccer
- Sporting Life
- Sports Complex
- State Politicians
- State Politics
- Street Art
- Strike
- Stuff We Like
- Taxes
- Taxi Drivers
- Tech Fetish
- television
- The Budget Crisis
- The City Paper
- The CLOG
- The Human Condition
- The Mayor
- The Phightin Phils
- The World
- Things that make you go hm
- Tinfoil Hats Off
- Under the Table
- Under the Tables
- Urban Development
- Urban Planning
- urban wildlife
- Video Poker
- We Call Shenanigans
- Weather
- Web Junk
- Weekend Omnibus
- White House
- What We've Found
- Women's Issues
- Flyered Up!
- How 'Bout That Weather?
- it's always sunny in philadelphia
- Stu!
- Shopping
- get out
- 10-track mind
- ArtsFlash
- Bloggity
- Bruce Being Bruce
- Colleges
- Comedy
- Gigantic Surprises
- Hello Canary
- Hello Puppy
- errata
- get lost
- Inside The Fishbowl
- Library Closings
- Local Support
- Movies
- Murder
- Night Moves
- Recycling
- radio
- Scientology
- Sex
- Sixers
- Skeeze Police
- State Politicians Screwing Philly
- That's a cool stencil!
- Theater
- Things We See
- This Week
- This Week in Oates
- University City
- WIN
- What we don't heart
- trailer!
- what we heart
- Feeling Guilty
- Askadelphia.
- Broke in Philly
- Contest
- Dance
- Dear Paper Doll
- Do A Good Thing
- Education
- Film Fest Schism
- G20-20 Vision
- Goodbye
- Gossip
- Great American Heroes
- PATCO
- Pearl Jam Week
- Puppy
- Stars of the Photostream
- sustainability
- Lower Merion Webcam-Gate
- The Cycle
- Equality Forum
- Bureaucrat of the Week
- Animals
- ElectionEar
- Photostream
