Icepack Illustrated: I am not an animal

I have certainly spent a lot of time discussing the merits of salon culture and intimate live home spaces in the area. Not so long ago, we reported the first chink in an already fragile armor when The Psalm went through its trouble with neighbors bugged out by noise. Now, Andrea Clearfield, she the longtime operator of Center City’s The Salon whose address we cannot print (better than any faux speakeasy and twice as secretive), is facing a problem that she has long known would happen, in that the owner of her Salon house has decided to put that very same on the sales market in mid March. “Now is the time to find a solution,” says Clearfield who goes on to say The Salon, held in her home for 27 years, is going strong and programmed through January, 2015, with performers on wait lists for every month, some coming from great distances to perform. “It has sparked a growing community throughout Philadelphia and beyond and it has become a beloved local cultural institution,” says Clearfield. “At the moment, we are interested in either a single buyer who would purchase the house as an investment for themselves and allow me to continue to rent, or a partnership of investors.” I’ll have more info soon. Look her up here and start gathering cash.

You know, when Live Nation mentioned they were having a press conference for an artist playing Citizens Bank Park this summer, I thought Eminem (who is rumored to be going the stadium route) or Bruce Springsteen (who is dying to start selling those live show .mp3s, see here). Nope. I was wrong. Philly’s favorite piano man Billy Joel will play the Bank Sat., Aug. 2 (tix go on sale Fri., Jan. 31).

This might be a restaurant space’s fastest ever turnaround: The SoWe gastropub at 918 S. 22nd St. closed its doors on Monday, did PR for the new name and concept The Strip Joint — “for the love of steak” and its inexpensive taste of prime cuts on Tuesday, and will open for biz (unless my hearing is bad or the paint doesn’t dry fast enough) this Sunday. Dag.

The good, the bad, and the ugly: Oscar nom, Philly boy Bradley Cooper is heading to Broadway this autumn, reprising his role as John Merrick in a revival of Bernard Pomerance’s The Elephant Man that he started at the Williamstown Theatre Festival says Entertainment Weekly. David Lynch and Mel Brooks did the movie. David Bowie and Philip Anglim have both played Merrick, so Brad’s in good company.

Philly’s Patti LaBelle has been telling any one who would listen (especially writers at PrideSource) that the word “diva” is mis-used and misappropriated by “little heifers” who can’t sing. Uh oh.

And Philly’s favorite father (ugh, not really) unfunny comic Bill Cosby will get another shot at NBC and family sit-comedy sooner than we’d all like.

Sara Sherr’s Sing Your Life Karaoke will do some good tonight, Jan. 23, at Tabu Sports Bar when it hosts a benefit for the season’s Philly Queer Media Activism Series featuring authors, filmmakers, musicians, and such. Tabu is on S. 12th. Give till it hurts.

Another fine sporty benefit with more puck (dur) is Jan. 26’s Flyers Wives Carnival at the Wells Fargo Center starring Philly’s own Bones-er David Boreanaz, and will hosts a dunking booth starring Comcast-Spectacor’s VP of PR Ike Richman. Congrats all around there.