icepack

by A.D. Amorosi

It was a bad week for Philly media: Local boy David Morse’s Philly-filmed Hack is rumored to be no more (yet CBS is giving Philly’s Kim Delaney a September slot with Sudbury. Ugh). Preston & Steve hosted a gay wedding on Y100 -- love gay weddings, hate exploitation. Yet, it was MTV's Real World leaving town that had you mourning. You wanted them back. I heard you whining all weekend. Well, it looks like you got them back. As of Monday, Bunim/Murray Productions and this city's union heads appeared to be making nice. Who cares? We could have come up with our own World. TV-friendly slackers? We've got them skating at Love Park (though maybe not for long, as Managing Director Phil Goldsmith wants illegal skate parks squashed for good). "Reality" producers? Throw a rock. Philly's Banyan Productions is Ambush Makeovering all over. NBC has Eulogy chef Sean Pashley in the wings for his second shot at Average Joe. (Plus, Eulogy owner Mike Naessens is brother to Glen of Real World season two fame. Discuss.) VH-1 (who filmed the Philly Soul with Jon Bon Jovi last week) and MTV (who will shoot Paul Green School of Rock at the Troc, March 27, for TRL) are still here. Besides, it seems to me there's no real money involved with Real World shooting in town. If Continental 2 takes them on, as rumored, no money changes hands. Surely, Real Worlders will get in clubs free. "MTV is notoriously cheap," says pop art painter John Stango, who was asked by producers to provide art for the Real World house. (No word on whether he's still in.) This city doesn't need publicity. It needs money. After MOVE, Allen Iverson and nearly killing a Supreme Court justice last summer, we don't need publicity. And what happened to Austin, Texas, RW's alternative to Philly? I nominated Atlantic City: It's corporate, whorish, needs publicity, has that "not Vegas, but …" allure and guys with funny Josh Duhamel hair. Meanwhile, J.J. Jackson, MTV's first VJ, died last week -- is crying. Is this what he toiled for? … Though he's got a hit on the charts ("Limbo Rock") and gigs as Chubby C, Chubby Checker still has time to gripe. Chubb stood outside last week's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame awards in Manhattan bitching about not being inducted, telling anyone who'd listen that he wants his photo placed at the entrance of Cleveland's R&R Hall. Can't wait until Aug. 22 -- my birthday! -- to see a real inductee? Then go see a preview of Prince's upcoming Philly tour stop at the Riverview, March 29, live via satellite from L.A. … While rumors run rampant that the former Borders space at 18th and Walnut may get a national fooderie, Michael Ault -- owner of Manhattan nightspots Pangaea and Nocturne -- has discussed putting a Pangaea in Philly. … Parting is sorrow: Bill Ricchini is moving to NYC to pursue "the music thing" he started with Ordinary Time. "I'll miss South Philly but I think good times are ahead of me," says Ricchini, at work on his second CD. When The Preacher Curls played March 5 at The Fire, it was their last gig. "It's time to go before we burn out," says Jesse Lundy. "We're proud of what we did." After 50 years as doorman at the Warwick Hotel, Gus Casciato, 77 years young, is retiring. So get your own cab! After watching Enya Buttox smear chocolate on his naked self in tribute to Karen Finley at Bar Noir, Noir owner David Carroll closed another of his locations, Magazine. Not because he's going into the chocolate biz. Magazine is totally redoing its decor and menu with a new chef and more for an April 1 reopening. CP marketing manager Rachel Furman will leave City Paper to "pursue my mission as a marketing super-hero." She'll take on PR for restaurants North and Next and help Paperstreet with an '80s Ball Delilah's, April 20. … WHOWHATWHERE: We missed Neil Young at Sansom Street Oyster House. But it was prettier watching Avril Lavigne gig at Franklin Mills, where she riffed through acoustic takes on "Sk8er Boi." While Bette Midler bowled at Playdrome in Cherry Hill, shared appetizers with a friend at Sawan and held a bash with Larry Magid at Alma de Cuba, her choreographer, Toni Basil, hung with FiSo DJ Rahsaan at the CEC on Lancaster Ave. Rahsaan was rehearsing his percussion show. Basil was taking an African dance class. "We rode the El and never once mentioned "Mickey,'" says Rahsaan. While Y100 hosted The Vines at Indre Studios, WYSP brought Jet into their studio for an acoustic jam before both groups hit Electric Factory. DJs Jackie Bam Bam and Cousin Ed, and Eagles' mascot Swoop (without his head) hung backstage at the show, where Ed got a belt buckle he ordered on Jet's fan site -- six months ago -- directly from Nic Cester. … Happy b-days to Binge-boy Peter Breslow, Psy-Ops' Sean Adamz, ass-kicking Sony marketing gal Nithya Rajendran, soulster Glenn Lewis (who'll host a birthday bash with Andre Harris and Vidal Davis at Beat Street Station in Manayunk on March 26) and Premiere Sports and Entertainment, which will celebrate both its fifth anniversary and the birthdays of Justin Fine and Brett Perloff on March 25 at 32°.

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