Icepack Illustrated: The Last Straw
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.
This is it.
Since this is CP’s last Icepack in print before I go gossip for Metro Philly, this must be Icepack Illustrated’s grand finale. This week, like all the weeks of Icepack Illustrated that have passed, was jam-packed with old friends and new ones, big bolded names and intimate friends. Let’s start with a song: Meek Mill may be busy unsuccessfully trying to hold the Philadelphia Police Department accountable for ruining a nice drive and making him miss out on a deal with Puma but won’t stop him from working his rap game. He hooked up with his label boss Rick Ross and Kourtney Kardashian’s boyfriend French Montana for a verse on Jay Z’s newest Drake dis via DJ Khaled’s “They Don’t Love You No More.” Hear it here and play it loud.
Sounds as if there’s much fun to be had on the upcoming Frankenfood at Spike TV, the reality series judged by cheesesteak king and thespian Tony Luke Jr. and Josh Capon with guest judges such as Philly’s Bobby Fisher, chef of Molly Malloy’s in the Reading Terminal. While the show premieres June 8 at 10 p.m., we’re hearing a weird rumor that one of the show’s local contestants (remember the show was taped a while ago) now works at Molly Malloy’s. This could be a chef from an episode separate from the one that Fisher happens to be on. The rumor could be completely unfounded and untrue. Odd though, that the rumor just started to float around right before Spike TV dropped clips this week.
Matt Willard, one of the organizers of December’s annual Running of the Santas is behind this weekend’s World’s Largest Bar Crawl and its attempts to break the Guinness World Record for said crawling. So far, Willard and his pals predict that “15,000 people with over 100 participating locations” will be part of the crawl, and “all for a good cause,” says Willard of May 3’s The Crawl for Young Variety — The Children’s Charity and the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #5 with a portion of the event’s proceeds benefiting each charity. Willard also reminds me that the current crawl Guinness World Record is held by Kansas City, MO, with 4,885 participants. We can beat that cold. Visit thecrawl.com for info or tickets ($10 GA, $25 VIP tix).
May 3 is a pretty big day when you consider it happens to be the very same afternoon as the all-day, annual South Street Spring Festival/German Maifest block party as well as Rittenhouse Row’s tony Spring Fling for which I judged a cocktail contest at The Rittenhouse (I too voted for the winning cocktail, Rouge’s Bees In The Trap made with Captain Morgan White Rum, with Sbraga’s TBD a close second.
Which reminds me, I thought their sign was trying to say something about a new restaurant. Turns out I was very close, as Kevin Sbraga just inked a deal with developer Carl Dranoff for a rotisserie chicken shack at his new Southstar Lofts on Broad at South which had its big opening party Wednesday night). If the whole South Stree/Rit Row thing sounds like a Downtown vs. Uptown thing, don’t worry. If you’re doing The Crawl and you’re wearing the right shoes, my bet is that you can hit all three and make it to Saturday’s Thorazine reunion thing I featured in CP early enough to catch their opening acts Baptist Preachers and Lisa Sunshine’s new band Bushmaster with Preacher John Cecil Price. See them roar here.
And speaking of me judging things, I’ll join judges Aideen O’Malley, Van Neistat and host Elizabeth Coffey (the star of several early John Waters films, and best friends with one of Philly’s favorite couples Henri David and dancer Paul Struck) for Saturday’s Miller Rothlein’s annual fundraiser pairing Philadelphians with MIRO dancers in a dance competition for big prizes, glamour, glory and good old fashioned philanthropy. This year’s event, Sinco de MIRO, features live music from TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb, and the whole shebang starts at 6:30 p.m. at the William Way Center, 1315 Spruce St.
You don’t often hear about Miner Street Studio clients not immediately connected to producer/owner Brian McTear, but here’s a good one: Fishtown’s James Reddington IV, who goes by the professional name Junior Fourth just recorded his sweet, atmospheric Beck-like debut EP Broken Down Parade at Miner Street “I did all the instruments myself, and spoke with Brian to set up the recording session,” says Reddington IV. “He was very helpful and informative — a real asset to Philadelphia music — but I recorded the music with producer Matt Schimelfenig, an engineer at Miner Street who can be seen in the latest Shaking Through episode.” Other moody pop songs on the EP include “The Beautiful Ones,” and “Past the Last Stop,” all of which you can hear here.
Iron Chef and Chestnut Street restaurateur Masaharu Morimoto isn’t in Philly as much as we’d like him to be, so Su., May 4 is a treat: At his namesake restaurant in Philadelphia, Chef Morimoto will demonstrate breaking down a hiramsa (wild yellowtail) and a hIrame (Japanese Fluke) while offering guests the fruits if his labors. Morimoto’s execchef Benjamin Dayag will also give up samplings of new, seasonal dishes including Wild Arctic char with fresh peas, Diver Scallops, and more. You have to act fast, as there’s only two seatings for the butcher demo and spring tastings 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. 215-413-9070.
I nearly forgot to mention that after all the exclusives that I lent to its opening dates, I finally made it by the Rex 1516/Jet Wine Bar family’s new morning Mexican luncheonette Café Ynez’s pre-party last week. The 20th and Washington spot has a quaint mod ’60s-ish décor, some damned fine brunch-able huevos and a homemade Mexican Bloody Mary mix if you’re up for toting bottles of vodka and tequila with you in the morning.
Speaking of Icepack exclusives: David Lynch. Not so long after I reported that Lynch had shown up at the London Grille on a grey afternoon, I wound up on the phone with him to discuss his then new album. It was there that he told me about a full-blown retrospective of at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, his alma mater. While that same exhibition has been announced for Autumn 2014, Lynch wound up at BAM the other night where he again talked about the dismal weirdness of Philadelphia in his past.
One-time CP graphics guy and bassist Kevin Kernan got married to his longtime love, longtime graphics girl Gina Karlowitsch this past weekend, at the Brossman Center in West Mount Airy. located on the campus of The Lutheran Theological Seminary. “It was a beautiful day and an awesome night,” says Karlowitsch.
The sold out Cyndi Lauper and Cher show at Wells Fargo Center had a great guest list, including Carson Kressley, Patti LaBelle, Joan Shepp, Jay McCarroll and Michael Kors, the latter of whom made his last day count by hitting the Patrick Kelley Runway of Love exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Macy’s, his own soon-to-come Walnut Street salon, as well as the Cher show. This is what a person should do while visiting this lovely city: make the most of it.
And I…
am…
out.
Thanks everyone for a wonderful time allowing me to Illustrate all these Icepacks.
