FRIDAY:
>>> Wake up, Philadelphia! It’s the First Friday of September! WHY ARE THERE NOT MORE PARTY PARTIES GOING ON TONIGHT? Is it ‘cos half the venues in town are still ass-draggin’ to get their calendars out? I don’t know, bro, but it stacks the deck mighty high for Andy Pry/Meg E. Mitch/Darklord’s University of Excess party at Medusa tonight. You can pretty much connect the dots here: Back to school theme, free “tuition” and free champagne while supplies last. Just make sure you peep the graffiti: Julian gives good head and is dead. Little light reading for ya there.
>>> My Morning Jacket at Festival Pier in the last Pier show of the summer! Afterparty at Silk City. Jersey Dan is building a gravity bong as we speak. Maybe summer’s not over, yo?
>>> Stragglers: Tricky! Still alive! At the Troc. [click.] at the Barbary! And veteran nu-ska survivors The Slackers play at the First Unitarian Church. Ooh, look at you, acting like you didn’t go through a ska phase. Please. Really now.
SATURDAY:
>>> Everybody wants to know: Is the Red Bull Soap Box Derby still happening in Manayunk, even with the STORM OF THE SEPTEMBERENTURY and all? We just made a call, and… IT’S ON, rain or shine! What’s up, health insurance? So nice to see you in the pile of broken wood and wheels and my face on the side of the Manayunk wall. Weee!
>>> Attn. unapologetic fans of Dido: Your new one, Natalie Walker, will be awaiting you, fresh and new, at the M Room. She’s actually kinda better than Dido in a Music For Airports kinda way.
>>> Scuzzers! Scuzz the night away with me at The Tough Shits/The Jellyhearts/Music for Headphones/The Rosehips at Tritone. Solid, solid rawk show here, people.
SUNDAY:
>>> Is it safe to go outside yet? Wait, do I have to go outside because Hanna blew the roof off? Wouldn’t that make me already outside? Ponder it over dranqs at Agnew and Bushy’s Sunday eve 610 thing at Loie, which we guarantee will be THEE Eagles destination of the new season.
They’ve survived their brush with L&I, and at long last, this afternoon, the Happy Meals shall flow once again like runners in tranny stockings. More at PhillyMag.
Since it debuted back in 1997, Nick Stuccio (pictured) has been the mindcog at the center of the spinnin’ wheel that is the Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe. Over the years, the festival has morphed and shaped not just with the changing times, but also in an effort to balance its ego — the Live Arts part — and its perhaps more infamous id — the Fringe. Through it all, Stuccio has maintained a cool face on what has sometimes been a hotly debated enterprise. While you were Labor Day-ing, the fest has already been underway for about a week, brandishing a slimmed-down Live Arts lineup, conversely one of the biggest Fringe lineups we’ve ever seen, and a new after-show nightspot replacing the old Cabarets of yore. After the jump, we corner Stuccio for some answers. (more…)
Look outside. Beauteous, no? Well, enjoy it. Because come late tonight, all of us East Coast Elites are sure to feel the wrath of an angry, vengeful God that will turn each home in the area into its own Superdome for at least 24 solid hours, producing no less than 5 inches of rain and 55mph gusts of wind. And that’s not in the suburbs, where they fucking deserve it, either; it’s right here in Philly! Fuck! We’re all gonna die! So plan ahead:
· Cram in as much fun as you can after work: First Friday (see below), My Morning Jacket at Festival Pier, what have you. Weekend picks will be up in an hour or so.
· BUT BEFORE YOU DO, make sure you get enough food and booze in the house to make the rest of the weekend not suck. You’re not going to want to go out in this.
· Plan alternate forms of entertainment because there is at least some likelihood that your cable, satellite or Internet will get blown out. Don’t ask me what people do without these things. Ghost stories? Reading the Bible? You’re on your own.
But seriously, be careful out there. Or in there. Not to be alarmist, but this looks like it’s going to be a mess.
· Philebrity Interns Tell All: The New Temple Cafeteria Looks Awesome But Still Blows Chunks
· South Philly Tap Room’s Zulli Days Go The Way Of The Buffalo
· In The Kitchen At The New Home Slice Pizzeria In NoLibs
· And, our fave post of the week: You’re Not Allowed To Know What John McCain Ate At The Devon Seafood Grill All this and more — plus the Phoodie Restaurant Guide and Phoodie Event Calendar on Phoodie.info, the new food and drink blog from Philebrity.
>>> Hands up who else thought that the RNC was, in total, one of those most freaked-out, out-of-touch, hateful, lying-liarfests ever propagated on the American people? Yep, that pretty much makes all of us. So much for the earlier McCain plan of catering to the center, you know, especially after Mitt Romney accidentally left his funny hat and robe (pick any ensemble) at home. EASTERN ELITES REPRAZENT! (Video here.) But here in Philly, as you know, none of this really matters, as we secretly seceded both the state of Pennsylvania and the Union sometime in the early 80s. Yet we still get to vote! We’re like Puerto Rico! Weee! And better still, WE’RE GETTING RID OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ENTIRELY! Fuck yes! [TheClog]
>>> By the way, if you’ve been wanting to ponder your GOPTalken on the local, do check in with WHYY’s “It’s Our City” project, which basically picks up where the Next Mayor project left off. [WHYY]
>>> Oh, and before we forget, ex-member of The Ladies/eternal Philebrity Cute Boy Alert/all around sweet dude Brendan Newnam was actually at the RNC, doing coverage for Minnesota Public Radio. (We have no idea how he gets these gigs, or when he’s moving back here. All we know is, one day, HE WILL. You hear me, Newnam?) Here’s video of him (flirting?) with Reihan Salam, Associate Editor of The Atlantic (at right), and here he is on the scene at the Police arrests following the Rage Against the Machine concert. [YouTube]
Our art listings are ready and available for your perusal on this, the first big First Friday of the new season. Fresh video on Vox Populi and Copy Gallery coming up in a bit…
>>> In case you needed a reminder that the Earth still believes it’s summer on the East Coast (all cultural signifiers aside), smell your pits and stick your arm out the window. Nasty. And while the listings magic 8-ball still says “City still decidedly in post Labor Day shock-suck,” head up Rittenhouse way for Dirty South Joe’s dirty, sweaty weekly at Bar Noir, and play around-the-block-party with Fast Times At The Raven Lounge, that particular dive’s homage to all things shoulderpadded. Oh, and by the way, are you feeling our new Google-fied listings steez? We’re just trying it on, you know. Exploring. Experimenting.
EAGLES: Are you ready for the football drama? Cornerback Sheldon Brown (pictured, note to couriers: not your beloved bike guru) has spoken out and, in not so many words, called super-agent Drew Rosenhaus a dick. Rosenhaus, of course, was major player in the T.O. hullabaloo following the Eagles loss in Super Bowl XXXIX. He’s now fueling the fire with his latest Eagles client, Lito Shepard. Brown says agents like Rosenhaus “ruin players’ careers” and that not agents but “players get deals done.” What probably set Sheldon off was Rosenhaus complaining that Shepard has to play third string, behind Brown, though he says, “[Drew] hasn’t followed my career and he has no film… it’s completely irrelevant.” Ouch. That’s one player Rosenhaus won’t coerce into thinking he can get a better deal made. But hey Drew, I think Swoop’s unhappy with his contract… [Philly.com]
Coming up: The Eagles season opener is on Sunday at 1pm, versus St. Louis at The Linc. If they can get through it without fumbling any returns, it’s already an improvement over last year.
After the jump, the latest on the Phils, Sixers and Flyers…(more…)
As we noted earlier this week, we were totally looking forward to Amy Quinn aka Citizen Mom’s new column in the City Paper. We shouldn’t have. In one of the more baffling opening salvos we’ve ever seen, her debut today is straight off the Sarah Palin playbook: A fear-based diatribe/defense of why she’s raising her kid in the suburbs and not in the city with you, the poors and (it’s pretty much the elephant in the room here) the blacks:
“You want to know why? Let’s start with two words: persistently dangerous.”
You. Have. Got. To. Be. Fucking. Kidding. Me. Quinn’s a native ‘Yunker, and should know that (everybody else knows) this is codespeak for present day white flight. It’s fucking sickening and I hate this already, but please, do go on with your justifications:
“Philadelphia’s public schools are seen as institutions of last resort, for folks who can’t afford anything else or whose kids aren’t smart or lucky enough to get into Masterman.[...] But I still don’t see many families with school-aged kids. By the time kindergarten looms, they’ve safely decamped to Havertown or Collingswood or Glenside.”
This ignores most of what we know to be anecdotally true about pretty much every one of our friends who’s had a kid in the last few years, who have stayed and raised their kids here, not just because their lives are here, but because they also wanted to raise their kids to be citizens of the world and not of, well, the mom. Quinn also glosses over the major uptick in new charter schools here that are making a dent in finding ways around the dreaded Phila. public school system. We could paste more quotes, but honestly, every time we do, we start shouting and throwing shit around the office. Argh.
Now, we’re not going to say that if you’re living/raising a family in the suburbs, you are a de facto racist or xenophobe or just have no balls. You’re just doing it wrong. The suburbs are great for old people, Philistines and the odd brave soul who wants to bring decent coffee or tapas to Haddonfield, as well as being a place to dip into for a year or two when the city just has you totally freaked out. (Ask Sweeney, he knows all about this.) But please, do not use the city’s admittedly shit-tastic school system and your own distaste for seeking out alternatives to justify why you want to play mommy in the burbs during the week and then revel with us savages on the weekends. It’s patronizing, it’s basically a lie, and it tells us more bad shit about you than we ever, ever wanted to know. CP: Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash
· As we told you a little while back, Shari Roulin’s Reward is Old City is shaping up to be something of an über-boutique. After not a little breathless hype in this space, Reward opens up for First Friday tomorrow, featuring fab gear from Tsumori Chisato, Henrik Vibskov, WoodWood, Lover, Opening Ceremony, Karen Walker, Ksubi, April 77, Repetto, Surface 2 Air Paris and more. Do check it out on your monthly search for free wine and cheese. [RewardProject]
· And while you’re amblin’, check out rockabilly maestro Greg Phoenix performing at the appropriately vintage Sazz. Surely, my brother, with fall coming, you need scarves and corduroy. As much as possible. [MySpace]
· Finally, we know, we know: You’re dying to see the new TRKFLD bags. Stalk them with us on the TRKFLD blog. Sigh. [Wordpress]
Got a fashion/retail tip for Phashionista? Let us know: tips[at]philebrity[dot]com. And read more Phashionista here.
We’re sure that the Nutter family didn’t know the can of worms when they opened up when they made a bona fide philebrity out of Olivia Nutter in the run-up to last year’s election. But now the dust has settled and, here she is, accompanied by, according to Clout, two SUVs, three cops, and her dad, The Mayor, showing up for her first day at Masterman. Groan. Can you imagine? Quoth Pops:
“She insisted that I not go into school with her. That was about 15 minutes of negotiation.”
Dad, you cannot be serious. And the rest of you TV newsfucks covering this: Leave the girl alone! Because everybody knows that when you pay too much attention to a kid, it can only go in two directions: Haim, or Feldman. Clout: Wait Until Everybody Forgets It’s Her 16th Birthday
UPDATED: Barack Obama Returning to Pennsylvania
Thursday, Sen. Obama will hold a discussion on the economy in York and later speak at Buchanan Park in Lancaster
PHILADELPHIA - Sen. Barack Obama will return to Pennsylvania tomorrow for two days of campaigning. On the same day that John McCain accepts the Republican nomination and gives his speech promising more of the same, Barack Obama will hold a discussion on the economy at a hydro plant and then speak at Buchanan Park in Lancaster. The event is free and open to the public. He will outline his plans jumpstart our economy, provide middle class tax relief and get America moving in the right direction again.
Of course we’ve never been to Swanky Bubbles, the apotheosis of Old City Secretaries-Gone-Wild culture and ostensibly the only spot in town still rocking that ’90s Swingers/cocktail scene. (Click on that website, go ahead: It’s like a time machine!) But you can’t say it wouldn’t have wrapped things up all neat and tidy for a certain chapter of Old City if the joint met an equally Five Spot-ish fate, and for a moment yesterday, it looked like that may be the case. But just like you can’t take your Reeboks off and put your heels on until you get to the office, you also can’t keep the city’s leading champagne bar down. According to Open Table, reservations are still being accepted. We highly recommend you try the, er, champagne.
Sometimes when trolling for Noontime Nuggetz we uncover things that can only be described as ricockulous. Possibly ridonkulous. Today we learned that Philadelphia YouTube channels include the Archdiocese, Philly Fringe (well, from ‘06, anyway), and…trailers for a few of Philly’s sex workers. So, what’s the story with YouTube ads for the Philly sex trade?
Some theories:
YouTube is the new Craigslist v.1: Remember when cops discovered that people were offering sex for money (or blow, but mostly money) on Craigslist? Like, two years after you stopped doing it (phew)? Well, you can totally send messages to your new YouTube buds, and we’re sure they would like to hear from you if you can help with their tuition.
YouTube is the new Craigslist v.2: Remember when all the daily papers cried about how Craigslist was cutting into their 35% profit margins? Somehow, sex trade ads still fund the endeavors of your favorite alt-weekly print papers, but with the video and social networking elements, we’re thinking you might hear Tim Whitaker explaining why the listings have been outsourced to Hyderabad soon.
YoTube is just a cover for johns sharing tips. [Note: we are explicitly not implying that any of the people in this video or associated with the YoTube gathering solicit prostitutes. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Now you can't sue us.]
Actually, that’s all we got. So after the jump, let us reward these enterprising (and mildly NSFW) entrepreneurs and introduce you to… (more…)
Philebrity is a cityblog covering the arts, gossip and media in Philadelphia. We've been here since October 2004, and we'll be here long after you move back to New York. Got a tip? Send it to tips[at]philebrity.com.
NOTICE:Interns wanted.
FRIDAY:
Since it debuted back in 1997, Nick Stuccio (pictured) has been the mindcog at the center of the spinnin’ wheel that is the 
Look outside. Beauteous, no? Well, enjoy it. Because come late tonight, all of us East Coast Elites are sure to 
EAGLES: Are you ready for the 
As 
· As we told you a little while back, Shari Roulin’s 
We’re sure that the Nutter family didn’t know the can of worms when they opened up 
Of course we’ve never been to 
Sometimes when trolling for Noontime Nuggetz we uncover things that can only be described as ricockulous. Possibly ridonkulous. Today we learned that Philadelphia YouTube channels include the 
