Icepack

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

by A.D. Amorosi

September 11 is as good a day as any for me to ask you to say hello to my li'l frens, Philly's newly mentionable folk. There is mourning to be done on this day. We will do so. But you can't help but feel that an America reborn from those gray ashes is all about a fresh start, a furious start. So start it. And expect to see these names bolded again. Like Rachael Yamagata. The dusky-throated songstress moved to Philly about a year and a half ago and her new Mike Mogis-produced mini-opera Elephants ... Teeth Sinking Into Heart (A Record in 2 Parts) is a grand doozy. It comes out Oct. 7 and gets a live local airing at Johnny Brenda's Sept. 24.

► I've been paying attention to producer Gloria Esposito and David "Scoops" Dyer's newish vid-web channel streettalkin.com throughout the summer, and I think the channel is cute and that Dyer, Jess Conda (from Brat and Pig Iron), Antoinette Tien and the rest of the walkers have the TMZ-y lingo down cold. Brrr.

► Philly's freak-a-deaky avant-geeks King God are made out of people: Human People. That's their new name and don't wear it out.

► Les Schwartzberg may be from Tejas where it's nothing but lean jeans and cowboy boots. But when he got to Philly, he got all swanky and opened Les Richards Menswear at The Shops at Liberty Place, where he's selling boy-goods from Ben Sherman, Kroon and BCBG. Yum.

► Speaking of boys and what they wear, it's what they don't have to wear at Woof that makes them fab and furry. When Upstairs at Sal's turned/changed concepts, it went from hipsters to gay bear boys and the hirsute sorts who love 'em. No more shaving your back — hang at Woof.

► TLA Video just hired Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Fest-ex Carol Coombes as its managing editor to help grow its catalog of lesbian flicks and DVDs. Oh lady. And oh brother, rumor at TLA Entertainment has Richie Wolff — director of acquisitions and one of the company's longtime partners — leaving to start his own film production arm. Or wing. Or leg. This should be fun.

► Here's something that went from rumor to fat fact fast after we ducked our head in: The high-ceilinged space at 2010-2012 Sansom is the long-hidden new home of Melograno, the famous Italian restaubar whose old address at 22nd and Spruce is chef David Katz's new Mémé. Sept. 16 is Melograno time. And what of this fun rumor on that same Sansom row?: We know Jose Garces is putting something in the old Crimson Moon at 20th, next to his own Tinto. But why was/is he looking at the Griffin Café on Market and Bank streets in Old City?

► Who is photographess Jonene Taddei and why is she gathering together King Britt, Jazzy Jeff, Ahmir, Diplo, Cosmo and Bobby Startup together for an A Great Day In Harlem/Gordon Parks-like shoot?

► After having lensed such a nice film on Charlie Gracie (Fabulous), what the heck is Coatesville's Character Driven Film Productions (Conrad Zimmer, Shawn Swords, Paul Russo) doing ripping Dick Clark a new asshole in Wages of Spin about the payola scandals of the '50s and '60s? Find out when they screen it at the original Bandstand Studio at 46th and Market, Oct. 18.

► What the hell is Commander? It's the new CD from Philly's just-barely-in-the-door robo-punks Mose Giganticus who, with their syn-pop buds The Emotron, played Alaska and lots of other cold places for the last six months. They toured Sarah Palin's home in a vegetable-oil-fueled bus, their beards got long and now both acts play the Fire Sept 12. Somebody kiss those boys for me.

► The Moshulu hosts the Friends of Children's Crisis Treatment Center's "Cruise for the Kids" Sept. 11. Pay up. Or get wet.

► Now that there's good resolve/deal done between sommelier Marnie Old and Union Trust (did anybody think perhaps she was pissed at U-T because someone else other than she might be buying their wine?) there's a new foodie hassle with Brendan Hartranft and Leigh Maida (Memphis Taproom) doing a craft-brew joint at the same address with the same name Owen Kamihira (Bar Ferdinand) had — Local 44 at 44th and Spruce. I wrote ages ago Kamihira was doing a gastropub. He's not and he's annoyed. Long-story-short: A biz relationship between landlord Guy Larens and Kamihira (who, with chef Michael Thomas, came up with its name and concept) broke down (but not fatally, thought Kamihira) over the agreed-upon price. One day, several weeks ago, Kamihira got a phone call from Maida who mentioned (according to Kamihira) that she leased the same space and was calling it Local 44. "It seemed like they wanted my blessing for my name," says Kamihira. Now Kamihira is pissed off. Not at Larens ("These things happen," says Owen) but rather Maida and her husband. Kamihira feels it's an offense, a "name grab," between one little local restaurateur and another. Like adding insult to injury. "It was a situation where we came up with the name at our own speed and we wanted to be the ones who told him," says Hartranft of the conversation between the two parties. Hartranft and Maida'll go forward with their hard-drinking 44. Owen is moving on to open El Camino Real and its two-bar BBQ saloon in NoLibs within four weeks and away from a name and concept that was site specific and now unusable. "It's just bad karma, really," says Kamihira. "Hurtful personally — not professionally."

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)