Icepack Illustrated: ACHIEVEability does it. St. James & the Apostles warm it up. Spike spikes it.
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
News, gossip, goings-on,
Saturday night’s ACHIEVEability Food for Thought festival was indeed an experience. First and foremost, the evening at the Navy Yard’s Urban Outfitters building dedicated to low income/single parent/homeless families’ education and nutrition grossed nearly $270,000 according to ACHIEVEability’s rep Evon Burton. Sensational! Beyond the great cause and the good will amongst its attendees, there was plenty to think about and nosh on at Food for Thought what from the wealth of local chefs’ culinary contributions. If I were to hazard a guess about what was best, I’d say it had to be a tie between Brauhaus Schmitz/Jeremy Nolen’s chili-marinated pork shoulder atop Cope’s Corn, lima beans and polenta, and Rex 1516/Justin Swain’s smoked pork shoulder sandwich with a bread-and-butter pickle.
OK, let’s cling to the idea of charity for the moment. To celebrate Philabundance’s 30th anniversary, Philly’s legal-est eagle-est law firm Zarwin Baum DeVito Kaplan Schaer Toddy P.C. held their 12th annual March Madness event with 2,000 guests, 1,500 pounds of food collected, and $45,000 raised, with Philadelphia Eagles Brent Celek and Todd Herremans, 610 WIP host and ex-Eagle Mike Quick and politicos such as District Attorney Seth Williams, Councilwoman At-Large Blondell Reynolds Brown, Councilman David Oh and Senator Larry Farnese holding court at the Crystal Tea Room.
Jamie Mahon’s blustery psych-bluesy St. James & the Apostles is going the residency route every Wednesday at Ortlieb’s, starting April 2. “We’re definitely going to premiere some new material, as well as warm-up for some out of town shows that we’ve got planned,” says Apostle Mike Kiker, who goes on to say that St. James’ new tunes will wind up on their second, as-yet-un-named album due this autumn. “The best thing is that they’re all free shows, except for the last one on May 7, where we’re opening for Little Barrie, the guitarist from Primal Scream’s solo band.” Stand up and support the Saints.
Congrats to Howard Eskins’ doggone kid, Spike Eskin, for getting the gig at WIP SportsRadio’s as its new program director. The younger Eskin knows that station’s ropes as he has been acting as a kinda-sorta PD for some time.
Tearing down paradise (our old pal Joe Grasso’s towering but now sadly crumbling Union Trust building) and putting up a parking lot? Not necessarily. Philadelphia parking garage magnate Joe Zuritsky is taking over Chestnut Street’s U-Trust (he has the lot next door) for some-sort-of culinary concern. That’s cool, but I want to know what Grasso’s next move is.
If you’ve ever thought, “hey wouldn’t it be great to see the Dead Milkmen at the Valley Forge Double Tree Hotel,” then thought better of it, you’re dreamy dreams can come true if you wish hard enough. Rodney Anonymous’ crew, along with personal Philly faves Live Not on Evil and the Young Werewolves, play the Villains & Vixens confab (?) this weekend (March 28-30) at the same Valley Forge sleepover. Whattayagonnado?
Fette Sau likes its pigs and likes its whiskey and on April 1, no fooling, Stephen Starr’s Frankford Avenue meat-ery hosts a dinner with pairings from High West Distillery with Sau-chef Jason Goldman doing an all-new menu the highlight of which features whole suckling pig soaked in whiskey jus. I’m buzzed just thinking about it.
Art Machine Productions tattoo-ist Tim Pangburn returns to TLC’s America’s Worst Tattoos series tonight (March 27) at 10:30 p.m.
After telling Bravo that she’ll probably no longer be part of the Real Housewives of New Jersey, Jacqueline Laurita set up a chat with professional life coach and TV/radio personality Dr. Jo Anne White for Power Your Life with Dr. Jo Anne White at WMCN-TV (Channel 44) for an autism-themed episode airing April 2 at 8 p.m.
WHOWHATWHERE: While Upper Darby native Todd Rundgren drove a little further along the highway to sell out the Sellerville Theatre last night, U-Darb got its own share of selling out when 2 Chainz packed the Tower over the weekend. R5 isn’t just a local production company, it’s the name of a nice, blonde family pop band (brothers and sister whose names all begin with the letter “R”) who visited Q102’s performance theater in Bala. That same Bala venue got drop-ins from Switchfoot, Little Daylight and my faves, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., to its Radio 104.5. studio. And good morning and good night to Fox29’s Shenielle Jones who said goodbye to her morning show and to Mike Jerrick to go back to civilian life this week. She is to be commended.
