Icepack

Amorosi on the news, nightlife, gossip and bitchiness beats.

by A.D. Amorosi

Now that we know Ben's controlling the monster and that Sawyer's probably the next to die (four seasons of those friggin' sloped shoulders) all of this post-primary recapitulation/post-sweeps-week TV is a moot point. So let's make our own sweeps. We've got Dining Out for Life coming to good restaurants near you May 1 and the Live Arts/Fringe Fest freaks into first gear at F.U.E.L. same day with Kate Watson-Wallace's Car — is it a PhillyCarShare auto or a Scion? I'm looking for promotional tie-ins — to kickstart it. We'll get some nu-media nods what with a new FM community radio station WPEB, 88.1, up-jumping the boogie May 17 from le corner of 52nd and Hazel with the peeps from Scribe Video, Prometheus Radio and Philadelphia Independent Media Center running it. Then, Marc Brodzik's long-rumored Scrapple.tv vid-blog will debut (hopefully) before June (plus with chunks of the filmmaker's Collateral.blip.tv with partners Bryan Sacks and Jeff Toner thrown in for good piggy measure). Anyone who's seen Brodzik's ads for roast pork king Tony Luke where the actor/sammich guy busts head to a Sinatra-soundtrack knows the director has an eye for pork product. Dur.

► Wanna hear what the next Knife & Fork Band CD sounds like before producer Brian McTear finishes fiddling? Wanna hear Baptist Preachers' howlingly punk-funkish gospel debut Nekkid before it's unwrapped? Want to pretend you're at Cinco d'Mayo without the funions? Those bands'll be at the Troc's Balcony, freely playing pre-release material Mon., May 5. Olé.

► Rumor has the Monkey Bar's brothers (Stavros and Alex Vasiliadis) monkeying around with a bigger dance club idea around Rittenhouse Row, and selling their Walnut Street boite soon.

► 76ers Andre Iguodala and Willie Green, Brian Roberts and the Ace of Cakes — they all hit G lounge last week. So did Banyan Productions; they're doing a dating-show scheme (gphillydating.com) with G as its meeting place.

► WHOWHATWHERE: NBC-10's John Clark was all up in Denim's fifth anniversary VIP Section. Is Amanda Lepore coming? Or their pals from Nudie Jeans? It's clothier/lifestylist Matthew Izzo's b-day party at Lee Jones/Michael Anderer's Vango Wed., May 7. What the hell do you buy Izzo?

► DJ-jawns: If you're Blue Ball-ing and Emerge-ing for the LGBTQ crew this week, see Philly ex-pat Cozmic Cat and Just Jess at Transit May 2. Meow. If you're in that Sorted! mood but want to stay in Rittenhouse, check out the return of legendary DJ Bobby Startup at O.N.E. May 2 for the first of his First Friday monthlies. He was illin' for a minute. But the DJ who made Revival, Electric Factory and Bar Noir a rock-o-phonic spree is healthy 'n' stealthy.

► Did you know Stephen Colbert's Web-making buds — Philly Canary Promotions — will unveil a massive Future of Music Coalition site soon?

► When you check out composer Joseph Hallman's May 3 Ethical Society recital with the youngest of the Philadelphia Orchestra's tuba players — 23-year-old Carol Jantsch, its first female tuba-iste — know that Joe has a fun new tale to tell. Hallman's gal pal Kathleen Supove of Title This will première his Suite for Boombox and Piano, May 10 at Flea Theater, NYC. She also plays for a game show on Italian TV, and one night guest Michel Gondry (Hallman's fave director) joined Supove on the third movement from the Suite, playing drums. Hallman's overjoyed.

► I keep hearing the 13th and Spruce building that once held a United Way office is being looked at for a club space. Where there's a will.

► Paul Eaton — the Kelis guitarist who put the P.M. in P.M. & the New Breed — brings his Phunky Man with singer/wife Dora to Doc Watson's May 3.

► In between opening for avant-classical guitarist Linda Cohen at Tin Angel and leaving for their first West Coast tour, psych-folk goddess Margaret Wienk's Fern Knight will perform live at South Fourth Street's Evangeline May 1, simultaneously taking part in Providence, R.I.'s WBSR-FM "Phoning It In" program.

HALF OFF DEPOT

Why live life at full price?

► Artsy-farting this week? Check out "Cliffs, Bluffs and Steamy Lowlands" May 2 at Vox Populi from Print Liberation honcho Nick Paparone. That sounds nothing like his usual graphic stuff. You can check out Crane Building-ite Kevin Kernan's newest batch of "Monsters in Repose" with his Crane pals at Glam's First Friday soiree, May 2, with me, A.D. , as its host. Or you can hike to NYC to check out former Lineage Gallery (it closed Dec. 2007) owner Joshua Liner's new self-named space. Joshua Liner (548 W. 28th St.) hosts Crash One, Futura, Naoto Hattori, Tomokazu Matsuyama, etc., for its first exhibition.

► It seems like just yesterday these two were honeymooning at Kate Pierson's Love Shack in Mount Tremper, N.Y. Now Magnet editor Matthew Fritch and his wife Grace just released their newest EP — baby Benjamin John Cannon Fritch. Congrats.

► Time (formerly Ludwig's) on Sansom has got a private third-floor house music Absinthe bar with Lucid brand green fairy juice and absinthe fountains for two.

► With concert promoter AEG purchasing the Keswick and Jon Hampton booking its shows, now's as a good a time as any to take note that Bill Rogers (who once did Keswick events on his own) is working with his old pals at Live Nation for a few gigs, like May 3's Dolly Parton show at the Borgata. Welcome home, Bill.

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)