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ISSUE . November 29th, 2007
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Cover Story


Lord, I've Been on Fire
He's checked in to a mental institution and conquered England with an album nobody in the States has heard. It's been a hell of a year for pop genius Brian Christinzio.
by Patrick Rapa
Brian Christinzio, is standing alone in the kitchen of his South Philly apartment. The room is dark except for the playback screen on the camcorder in his hands, which casts a harsh glow on his face. His expression is one of perplexed curiosity. He's watching a tape of himself he's never seen, from a period in his life he can barely remember, though it was only about nine months ago.


Opinion


Editor's Letter:
Hate Mail
"This came with two bullets. Should I throw them away?"
by Duane Swierczynski
I wish I could tell you that, in that very moment, I knew exactly what to do. But I'll admit it: I was a little flummoxed. It wasn't as if the sender was threatening the newspaper, or anyone in specific. Was this something I should bother the police about?

Slant:
War of the Words
The real meaning of the "War on Terror."
by Michael Washburn
After removing an automatic rifle from his duffel bag, he ordered all of the other men in the room to leave. Then he opened fire on the women and went on a rampage through the building, killing a total of 14 women and injuring 10 more before taking his own life.

Loose Canon:
Instant Orchard
Among tree-planting peers, no other nonprofit markets quite so aggressively.
by Bruce Schimmel
To make an Instant Orchard, you take a small unused lot, mulch it heavily and cover it liberally with fruit trees, berry bushes, edible shrubs and herbs.

Feedback:
Letters to the Editor
What You Say
Too bad Matthew Sullivan didn't take his own advice and take time to more accurately research Republican Presidential Candidate Dr. Ron Paul. | Unless Sullivan's choice is Paul, Mike Gravel or Dennis Kucinich, he is supporting an establishment presidential candidate who will most assuredly not stop war. | I never received "thousands of dollars" from any immigration client.


Naked City


Naked City :: Picket or Pick ItPicket or Pick It
Seventy-five, shmeventy-five. This is the 20th anniversary of the '87 Scab Eagles.
by J.F. Pirro
"It was pretty weird, almost surreal, because a lot of people — including Buddy Ryan — thought our games wouldn't count, but they ended up costing them," Repko says. "He let his assistants do all the work, and didn't say two words to us. He was a figure head."

Icepack
Amorosi on the news, nightlife, gossip and bitchiness beats.
by A.D. Amorosi
I'll be a crepe hanger — lead with the sad, head toward the cheery. Not the merely sad like 104-year-old newscaster Marc Howard's retirement, or the frank finality of the Eagles' season. (I love reading about how good Howard and A.J. Feeley look, though.) Or how L&I ripped through Old City T-Day Eve and screwed e'rybody's drink-on — Dirty Diamond/Khyber fans in particular who wanted free dildos.

Fine Print:
One Old Bird
We caught up with Herman Bassman, the Eagles' 1936 "publicity stunt."
by J.F. Pirro
HB: Sammy and I were post-game radio guests, and we missed the [team] bus. It was the Depression, so we didn't have a cent between us. We had to hitchhike.

Web Exclusive
But Will There Be a Concierge Decathlon?
A peek inside the seventh annual Hotel Olympics.
by Dana Henry
For the "Fajita Flip," participants were given a shallow stir-fry bowl for catching while their partners threw plastic veggies and a large rubber chicken over their shoulders with a skillet. Then, there was the "Martini Dash," a server's worst at-work nightmare. Participants carried a full tray of martini glasses filled with coffee beans through an obstacle course of bright yellow Caution — Wet Floor signs while wearing goggles and flippers.

Running Numbers
A scholarly look at the digits that matter.
by Nick Norlen
The Running Numbers Holiday Gift Guide for all the sports fans, theater geeks, art snobs, active types and do-gooders on your list. Finally you won't have to rely on your own terrible ideas.


News


News :: Battle Lines: Exiting Iraq: Now or Never?Battle Lines: Exiting Iraq: Now or Never?
A multipronged look at where America stands in its latest Middle East war.
As Congress began taking stock of the surge, Mother Jones asked more than 50 policy and military experts their opinions and predictions on when the United States could — and should — start withdrawing from Iraq. What follows is a sampling of those varied opinions — provided to City Paper by the magazine as a public service to our readers — as well as a look at the state of the Iraqi family, the gap between the truth and truthiness in Ramadi and several other facets of a war issue that will only intensify as the presidential election nears.

Out Now, Ask Questions Later?
Six things for the anti-war contingent to mull.
After American troops withdraw, will the violence in Iraq escalate? "I don't even think it is a fair question. There is no guarantee with anything

Miracle In Ramadi?
The Bush administration says the recent "Anbar Awakening" heralds a new way of winning in Iraq. The truth, with all due respect to Stephen Colbert, is more complicated.
TRUTHINESS: Anbar is evidence of the surge's success and that of Gen. David Petraeus.
THE TRUTH: Bush benefited from lucky timing. Sunni tribes fed up with al-Qaida's extremism began an anti-AQI campaign in September 2006, four months before the surge was even announced. As things improved, the White House eagerly took credit.

Family Snapshot
Odds that a member of an Iraqi family ...
  • has died as a result of the war: as high as 1 in 38 ... and died violently: 1 in 2
  • doesn't get enough food: 1 in 6
  • has access to clean water: 1 in 3
  • has been displaced within Iraq: 1 in 11
  • has left Iraq: 1 in 12

The Bell Curve
When news breaks in Philadelphia, we make jokes.

City Council votes to require seat belts on public school buses. And delicious candy rainbows for everybody who's having a bad day. Plus 8


Philly Blunt:
Outside the Lines
Disappointment over Reid not getting his much-needed big win gets lost when a foe is murdered.
by Brian Hickey
Even though he played for the rival Washington Redskins, Sean Taylor's tragic, untimely demise — he was 24 — was sure to garner much more local attention. Another cold reality.

Political Notebook:
Rudy Makes the Rounds
Rudy stops by; Oh, David; Party season
by Mary F. Patel
Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani was in town Monday for several campaign stops. | David Oh has been making noise that he intends to contest election results. | The annual Pennsylvania Society confab in New York City is right around the corner.

Underworld:
War Crimes
Does the local VA hospital enable thieves to victimize vulnerable veterans?
by Gabriele Valentine
Some live in wheelchairs. Others spend their days and nights bedridden with old combat wounds from World War II Korea or Vietnam. And then there are those who suffer from disabling diseases that make unassisted living an impossibility.


Arts


Arts :: Home Grown
Art:
Home Grown
West Philly's Pentridge Children's Garden reaps what it sows.
by John Vettese
One picture showed rows of sunflowers tended by a child about a third of their height. "This one kid, Q, just shook his head. 'That's not our garden. No way.'"

Culture Shock:
Things That Matter To People Who Matter
TM Sisters | Autumn colors | Winesburg, Ohio | Urban legends
The TM Sisters — Tasha and Monica López De Victoria — create video-game art, complete with an interactive floor pad, a limited number of lives and that fateful screen, "Game Over."

Re-View:
Monster Magnate
SunKoo Yuh: Along the Way
It almost seems as if SunKoo Yuh unpacked his dreams and nightmares and stacked their contents higgledy-piggledy in the Art Alliance.

Theater:
Christmas Pass
Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge is all downhill after the clever title.
by Mark Cofta
Christmas in theater falls into two categories: A Christmas Carol, and everything else. It's chumps against the eternal champ. If any American playwright could break Dickens' spell with sardonic parody, one might think it could be Christopher Durang.

Simple Pleasures
50 West 50, a new musical by Bill Felty, is as stripped-down as it gets.
by David Anthony Fox
Some people love musicals for their lavishness, but for me it's often the opposite: Nothing raises the stakes like a few people in an intimate space, creating theater without any extra bells and whistles.

Good Booty
by Mark Cofta
"I'll say 'ahoy,' then you say 'ahoy,'" the cast instructs. A moment later, Tom Teti's loopy Squire Treelawnee urges, "Put your hands in the air — c'mon, this isn't the Walnut!"

Arts Picks:
Age of Arousal
Dec. 5-Jan. 6, $37, Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St., 215-546-7824, wilmatheater.org.
by Steve Cohen
Canadian "fabulist" Linda Griffiths' new play, Age of Arousal, shows the uncensored world of loosened corsets as five women pursue a new age where erotic and economic freedom emerge in 1885.

Dave Isay/StoryCorps
Tue., Dec. 4, 6:30 p.m., $15 (reservations required), National Constitution Center, 525 Arch St., 215-409-6600, constitutioncenter.org.
by Carolyn Wyman
Telling the stories of ordinary people is traditionally the job of journalists. But StoryCorps Project founder Dave Isay discovered the stories are even better when the questions come from someone who really cares.


Arts Agenda


Arts Agenda :: Last ChanceLast Chance
Catch it or Regret It
by Holly Otterbein
In Transit: Katherine Kurtz's acrylic paintings capture the dread, loneliness and rage felt while commuting through the city. | Resilient Soul: Jeff Alexander traveled to Cambodia in 2005 and documented the nation's economic, political and cultural reconstruction. | Quantum Creativity: Relics of the Old Physics and the New Art: Using bones, crucifixes and other artifacts, Gerard Di Falco creates mixed-media works that question modern theology and ancient mysticism.

Arts Agenda Picks:
Just Do It
Michael Grecco, Fri., Nov. 30, 6:30 p.m., $20, Robin's Bookstore, 108 S. 13th St., 215-735-9600, robinsbookstore.com
by Shaun Brady
Subtitled "An R-Rated Look at an X-Rated Industry," Naked Ambition compiles Michael Grecco's portraits of porn personalities, onstage and off.

On The DL
Schuylkill River Secrets, Mon., Dec. 3, a la carte dinner 6 p.m., storytelling 7:30 p.m., free, reservations required, White Dog Café, 3420 Sansom St., 215-386-9224, whitedog.com
by Tami Fertig
Early Philadelphians couldn't get enough of the untouched, unspoiled Schuylkill River. They built their homes near it, went swimming and fishing in it, planted exotic gardens overlooking its banks. But the fun didn't last long.

Galleries
Galleries are usually open Tuesdays through Saturdays; please call the gallery for exact days and hours. Receptions are denoted with Reception 222 GALLERY , 222

Museums/Exhibits
Museums and exhibits have varying schedules; please callfor exact days, hours and prices. ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES , 19th St. & the Parkway, 215-299-1000. BUTTERFLIES!,

Performing Arts
dance Please call the phone number listed with the venue for specific dates, times and ticket information. FLAMENCO DEL ENCUENTRO This traditional flamenco cuadro is

Readings/Book Signings
AMY CHUA The best-selling author reads from her new book, "Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance — And Why They Fail." In


Movies


Movies :: Shot Through the ArtShot Through the Art
How the Nazis looted and destroyed Europe's cultural treasures.
by Shaun Brady
In the opening moments of this dense, compelling documentary, an interviewee poses the question: Which is more valuable, a work of art or a human life?

Dream Come True
The title of Daydream Nation may refer to Sweden's penchant for surrealistic diurnal imaginings. But the immediate reference is to Sonic Youth's landmark 1988 album
by Shaun Brady
Most of the videos are as DIY as the bands themselves, though the Concretes' "Chosen One" is a fun technical show-off, structured as a single zoom out from pictures within pictures within dollhouses. It feels like something that MTV would've introduced with that "Breakthrough Video" opening several years back.

Screen Picks
by Sam Adams
Peter Greenaway has vanished so thoroughly into self-willed obscurity that it's hard to remember he was once discussed with the attentiveness that contemporary scholars of gnomic, overstuffed cinema lavish on Guy Maddin.

Repertory Film
Your weekly guide to local film events, festivals and under-the-radar screenings.
Send repertory film listings to tami.fertig@citypaper.net.


Music


Music :: Mob RulesMob Rules
For jazz rock vets Sex Mob, the whole world is Downtown.
by Shaun Brady
"It's such a slow creep that some people don't even realize it, but it's getting out there in a small, subversive way. We don't have a center anymore, but I feel like we've disseminated into the world."

Hang The DJ:
Way Too Important
Jay-Z, American Gangster
by J. Edward Keyes
It's a cliché, sure, but it's true — if the movie American Gangster didn't exist, Jay-Z would have had to invent it. In a way, he already did.

Music Picks:
Celebration
Sat., Dec. 1, 8 p.m., $10, with Dragons of Zynth and Nouveau Riche, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 866-468-7619, johnnybrendas.com.
by Justin Bauer
Katrina Ford's caterwaul is the biggest and easiest thing to grab onto when you're hit with the wave of sound her band, Celebration, puts out.

The Clean
Sun., Dec. 2, 8 p.m., $10, with King of Siam and Times New Viking, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 215-739-9684, johnnybrendas.com.
by Brian Howard
The Clean have got three dates at the Cake Shop in New York, one in Philly, and then who knows when Dunedin-dwelling David and Gothamite Hamish will cross paths again?

Dueling Orchestras
Philadelphia Orchestra, Nov. 29, 8 p.m., $10-$88, Verizon Hall, Broad and Spruce streets, philorch.org. Kirov Orchestra, Nov. 30, 8 p.m., $33-$115, Verizon Hall, 215-893-1999, kimmelcenter.org.
by Peter Burwasser
The Philadelphia Orchestra has honed a sound that is prized for exquisite sonority combined with dazzling agility. The Kirov Orchestra of St. Petersburg is perhaps the most idiomatic iteration of the classic Slavic school of music making; wildly careening virtuosity, explosive color, go-for-broke energy.

Redman
Fri., Nov. 30, 8 p.m., $25-$28, Trocadero, 1003 Arch St., 215-922-5483, thetroc.com.
by Deesha Dyer
In the eyes of hip-hop fans, New Jeruz MC Redman can do no wrong.

Richard Swift/Cold War Kids
Thu., Nov. 29, 9 p.m., $15, with We Barbarians, Fillmore at the TLA, 334 South St., 215-336-2000, ticketmaster.com.
by A.D. Amorosi
Best double bill of the month, this.

Santogold
Sat., Dec. 1, 8:30 p.m., $20, with M.I.A. and the Cool Kids, Electric Factory, 421 N. Seventh St., 215-627-1332, livenation.com.
by John Vettese
When Santi White fronted the under-appreciated art-punk combo Stiffed, the Philly native — now living in Bed-Stuy, New York — countered her bandmates' reggae grooves and explosive guitar energy with melody.


Food


Food :: Bourd StiffBourd Stiff
Anthony Bourdain's been around the globe. But he doesn't know much about Philly.
by Nick Norlen
On a spotty cell phone connection from San Francisco, Anthony Bourdain puts me on the spot. "Is there a show to be done there?" he asks, beating me to my own question.

Feeding Frenzy
Restaurants opening, closing and pending
by Drew Lazor
>> Now Seating: Tortilla Press Cantina 7716 Maple Ave., Pennsauken, N.J., 856-488-0005 >> WAITING LIST: ¡Cuba! 8609 Germantown Ave. | Hamifgash 811-813 Sansom St.

The Luxx Life
Novelty rarely strikes in the Philly bar scene.
by Trey Popp
This is a place where virtually everything is available by the taste. Wine comes by the ounce, beer by the beakerful, cheese by the slice, chocolate practically by the chip.

Puppy Grub
Two Philly sisters come up with a healthier way to plump up your pooch.
by Felicia D'Ambrosio
Cooking dinner for your best friend doesn't usually involve butchering injured or sick cattle, mixing in liberal amounts of synthetic preservatives and dehydrating the whole mess into convenient pellet form.

Small Bites
Little Vittles
Catfish Po'Boy at Down Home Diner | The Burnt Turkey | Latkepalooza | The Batter Blaster

Top 5:
Must-Visits for Mr. Bourdain
Yo, Travel Channel!
by Drew Lazor
1 Ninth Street (The Italian Market) | 2 Drag Night at Bob & Barbara's | 3 Little Korea | 4 Reading Terminal Market | 5 The Mütter Museum

What's Cooking:
The Week In Eats
Get Out!
by Felicia D'Ambrosio
Christmas Cartoon Trio | Simply Manischewitz LIVE Cook-Off | Truffle Tasting at Little Fish | Rogue Ale Redux with DiBruno Bros. Cheese | 8 Nights of Hanukkah at Ansill

You Ask We Answer
Culinary Mysteries Solved
Q: My parents and I are trying to find a company or restaurant in the Philadelphia area that makes and sells authentic, fresh English pork pies. I'd sure like to surprise my mother with some this Christmas and hope somebody can help me in my quest.


Agenda


Agenda :: Black Marketing
Agenda Lead:
Black Marketing
Michael Ian to the Rescue
by Ben Kharakh
MIB: No, I don't really feel any responsibility, but I have no conscience. So, I would probably be more like Topher Grace's character in Spider-Man than the Peter Parker character.

Agenda Picks:
Just Do It
Northern Lights — An Eco Solarbration, Sat., Dec. 1, 4:30-6 p.m., free, Liberty Lands Park
by Monica Weymouth
The holidays are about as good for Mother Nature as Black Friday was for your savings account. (It's only been a week — time heals all Bloomingdale's bitch slaps.)

Phillyanthropy
Get Up, Get Out, Get Invovled
by Dana Henry
Tabby's Place | Romanian Folk Art Museum | Rubye's Kids Holiday Party | Barnstormers Theater | Help a Senior Stay Warm Day

Just Do It
Philly Loves Palestine
by Will Dean
Ever feel that the United States is on the wrong side of almost every international conflict (except that time we beat the Nazis)?

Just Opened
Spectrum Scientifics, 4403 Main St., 215-667-8309, spectrum-scientifics.com
by Ptah Gabrie
Between the smog, high-rises and daily light show that is the Cira Centre, finding stars in the Philly sky is never going to be easy.

In The Event That...
You Can Pop and/or Lock
by Aly Semigran
Brian Sload has an unusual addiction. "If I'm not doing flips or spinning on my head, I'm not happy."

On The DL
Evolved Fighting Championship
by Felicia D'Ambrosio
Even for a married couple, Angel and Khara Cartagena fight quite a bit.


 
 
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