Icepack: A.D. Amorosi on the news, nightlife and bitchiness beats

Let’s cut to the chase. This is the last Icepack you’ll see in City Paper. When you look online, you’ll see the last Icepack Illustrated. Don’t get excited. Everything is amicable between CP and me, and I will have plenty of music and arts features to come in these pages. As far as Icepack’s A&E news, faces, food and gossip go, CP and I are going in different directions. With that, I will be writing a gossip/scene column in Metro Philadelphia — it will have a new name and publish on Wednesdays to start — to go with my other new work to be found in Where and Geekadelphia, along with my usual daily work in GlamorosiMagazine.com and the Inquirer and its websites, monthly in Icon, and bi-monthly in Philadelphia Style. Phew. Now that that’s out of the way, I can tell you what a great time I’ve had doing Icepack in CP for nearly 25 years. That amount of time alone is reason for CP and me to want to freshen up. I’ve done a lot of good and a lot of bad-good in this column. I met my wife, Reese (aka Glamorosi), through Icepack. I’ve walked my dogs Spundie, Brownie and Django through Icepack. I’ve introduced the cliques I’ve had and the friends I’ve made since through this column and we became a community. I made my dad (Alfonso) and mom (Eda) proud, despite this column’s onetime reliance on f-bombs (I told Stu Bykofsky that I wouldn’t use the f-word after my mom died, and I believe I’ve only slipped twice). I’ve made enemies of people who eventually became pals (not always; trust me, grudges run long and deep in Philly), hated on politicos and artists who thought they were more fabulous than they really were, and generally made a nuisance of myself. I’ve dropped more exclusives — weeks, months, even years ahead in some cases — than most columnists, even when I didn’t get the credit. And you loved every minute of it. Me too. We’ll continue loving all that at the Metro. Still, CP was Icepack’s first home, a once truly weird home considering the alt-news world when I started (that world has changed, many ways for the better, some for the worse) and the personalities that I’d like to think I helped build this paper with, supportive guys such as Bruce Schimmel, David Warner, Paul Curci and Sonny Vellozzi. There have been Icepack editors I’ve loved, some I didn’t, with plenty who didn’t like me. Then there’s you, Icepack’s readers, whom I love and appreciate, from your shouts on the street to your texts and tweets. Of course, I want you to follow me to Metro Philadelphia, as well as my continued exploits in CP. But Icepack and I had fun at City Paper for a good, long time. Thank you.