MUSIC | Rich Medina’s origin story is so deeply woven into a golden era of Philly nightlife (see also: King Britt, Back2Basics, Black Lily, Vagabond) that sometimes, it’s easy to forget that he’s really belonged to the world for decades now. The fairly omnivorous but always groove-based DJ (sample some mixes here) regularly tours internationally and has a present home base of Dante’s HiFi in Miami. But this weekend, he’ll be back for HOME, his every-other-month-on-3rd-Fridays at residency at Silk City, focusing on house, rare groove, and garage classics. Friday, April 17th, Silk City, 10pm, tickets here.

CINEMA | The further the culture at large gets away from seeing movies in theatres, the more it feels like the Philadelphia Film Society is really out here doing god’s work — not just in their big annual festival and ongoing work like rescuing the Ritzes and the Prince, but even/especially with their mini-fests like SpringFest, going live this week. There’s nearly two dozen offerings over the next week, but if you want a cheat sheet, here’s our top 3:

• I Want Your Sex, Greg Araki’s rom-com about Cooper Hoffman getting freaky with Olivia Wilde, Charli XCX, and… Johnny Knoxville?

• Mile End Kicks, also a rom-com but this one starring Euphoria’s Barbie Ferreira and set in Montreal at the height of the indie sleaze era.

• The Furious, a proper kung fu epic by Kenji Tanigaki.

April 17-23, various times and locations, full info here.

HANGS |  On Saturday afternoon, there’s West Philly Bizarre at Clark Park and Stress-Free RSD at 48 Record Bar; on Sunday, do enjoy Sunday Jazz at the Rail Park; a big vintage clothing market in Fishtown both Satuday and Sunday; there’s a new Monday night hang at Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar with DJ Robert Drake; and Drink & Draw is now every Tuesday night at Love City. 

ART | Philly 250 spoiler alert: So much of it is going to be so wack, but Freedom Dreams at the Barnes Foundation won’t be. The Barnes is in a great era of special exhibitions these days, and this one — largely video installation-based — feels only tangentially related to all of that stuff. The show is “a meditation on the memories, dreams, and histories of America, featuring moving-image artists Arthur Jafa, David Hartt, Garrett Bradley, Ja’Tovia Gary, and Tourmaline,” and it’s co-curated by Maori Karmael Holmes, Chief Executive and Artistic Officer of BlackStar Projects, and James Claiborne, Fleischner Family Deputy Director for Community Engagement at the Barnes. Open now through August 9, Barnes Foundation, more info here.

BOOKS |  Christian John Wikane is on an author tour of his most recent book, A Night At The Disco, and he’ll be touching down at Giovanni’s Room, whose very location is smack in the middle of quite a lot of Philly-based disco history. He’ll be chatting with The Ritchie Family members Cassandra Wooten and Cheryl Mason-Dorman, actual disco royalty.
Friday, April 17, Giovanni’s Room, 6pm.

Philly 311 app submissions, that venerable source of neighborhood tea and grievance, are no longer public. But it’s not because the City stopped being an agent of chaos on your street; rather, it’s to protect their staff’s well-being. “We’ve seen a large number of anonymous submissions with inappropriate content,” the City says. We bet you have. [phila.gov]

The Attic Youth Center is moving to a new home — its future location will be at that groovy mod building at 1206 Chestnut St., and it will be nearly triple the size of its current spot as the non-profit for LGBTQ+ kids in Philly staffs up and expands its work. [PGN]

Gentrifier slop isn’t just the defining aesthetic of most new Philly neighborhood construction these days — it’s also an accompanying lifestyle. “The gated communities of today don’t have physical gates. The lifestyle havens aren’t far-flung places. Instead, people are opting for more commonplace “bourgeois bunkers” in their homes.” [Phila Citizen]

Philly City Council Minority Leader Kendra Brooks and Councilmember At-Large Rue Landau have a three-tiered program where you can help them keep ICE out of Philly: There’s a petition, ongoing City Council hearings, and community trainings.

Go To Esposito’s & Ask For The 5 Lb Bag Of Meatball Mix

For decades, I struggled to replicate the godlike animal/spiritual elevation that was my Mom-Mom Julia’s gravy and meatballs; she passed before I truly learned how to cook, and there was no record of her technique. But sometime a coupla years back, I cracked the code, and ultimately involved two things that now seem obvious: 1. Use canned tomatoes and crush them with your hands, and 2. Get the meatball mix (beef, pork, veal) from an honest-to-goodness butcher. 

They don’t come more honest than Esposito’s, nestled in the heart of 9th Street. But you may notice that they don’t usually have the mix out in their cases — you need to ask for it. Now, they will grind it for you on demand if you ask, but they also make the mix regularly for restaurants and keep it backstage, in 5-pound packs. You also have to ask for that, but you should. For under 30 bucks, you are making hero-quantity meatballs in the way it was done a century ago. So do that. The first time I did it this way, it finally hit Mom-Mom level; reader, I wept. I can’t imagine cooking them any other way.

Here’s an utterly classic spring indie show line-up: Snail Mail, the shape-shifting dream-pop-to-pop wunderkind with strong ties to Philly; Swirlies, the legendary/original New England shoegaze band that has been melting minds since the 19-patchouli-90’s; and Sharp Pins, the new mod revivalists that had the hottest ticket in town last time they played Jerry’s On Front. They’re all playing The Fillmore tomorrow night (Thursday), and we’ve got tix to see ‘em! Subscribe today to enter!

Some of you may know Wesley Stace as either the critically acclaimed singer-songwriter fka John Wesley Harding, or as the best-selling NYT author, or simply as the strange English gentleman you see kicking around Mt. Airy, where he has resided for some years now. But what you may not know is that Stace is also a mega jazz nerd, who amongst many other super-specific loves, is an aficionado of Philly Hammond organ players of mid-Century soul jazz. Back in the day, Philly boasted dozens of tiny corner jazz haunts where national acts like Billie Holiday, John Coltrane and Jimmy Smith would woodshed for months at a time. Next week at 48 Record Bar, Stace will play nothing but this style of Hammond-based jazz in all of its soulful, funky, party-friendly glory. We asked him his top five Philly organ records, and here’s what he told us:

• Charles Earland, Black Talk (Prestige, 1970)

• Jimmy McGriff, Electric Funk (Blue Note, 1970)

• Shirley Scott, Something (Atlantic, 1970)

• Jimmy McGriff, Fly Dude (Groove Merchant, 1972)

• Charles Earland, Living Black (Prestige, 1971)

Happy digging!

Good News, Nice Things, Metaphysical $1 Dogs 

• Just so you know: Monday is the best day of the week to go to Grace & Proper, sip Super Bocks, and proceed with your life unperturbed.

• We are lonnngggg overdue to visit Not So Latin, “the Tiny Desk of South Philly.” Have you been?

• After a rocky few years, Philly Pride seems like it’s back in gear; it’ll be taking over the Parkway this June. 

• Have you got a yes-chef dream? Take a bite outta life and take over the kitchen at The Pen & Pencil!

• Re-forest Kensington!