Icepack

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

by A.D. Amorosi

In this final All-Obama week — the run-up to his wacky half-hour TV spectacular, the last chance for the press to not bother him with hard questions — you can sense the tensions of the long run for the White House. Not Barack. He's as cool as a silk-cravat-wearing clam and twice as chilled. It's youse who's bouncing around like super balls. Buying cup after cup of 7-Eleven coffee so you can go home, run your mouse over each state and check how PA is holding up against the competition like you're selling Girl Scout cookies. (What the hell am I talking about? Go to 7-election.com.) Or running from rally to rally like lapsing alcoholics looking for an AA meeting. Phil Berg's not as jazzed. He's the MontCo lawyer whose federal court complaint that Obama was born in Kenya got shut down. Berg's as popular as herpes on a Tampa Bay Ray. Hi, Phil. Say hello to the rest of Philly. They're all about BO. Philly's "wasssup"-screaming friend Scott Martin Brooks made a pro-BO flick that's all over YouTube with zero regard for typecasting. King Britt is all over New Orleans' Voodoo Fest reliving his Sister Gertrude Morgan Experience with samples of Obama speeches in his mix.

► But between an Obama victory and a Phillies victory, I hope y'all didn't forget about Halloween. CA Conrad's Halloween Poetic Performance charity bash for Philabundance, featuring Adam Meora and candy, happens at Robin's Bookstore on 13th Street. A.D. 's all-night costume happy hour with the Strawberry Mansion DJs starts at 6 p.m. at Glam on South Second Street. The foundation for Breast & Prostate Health's Give the Shirt Off Your Back! Gala and Brian Kappra bring a Venetian masked ball to the Rittenhouse Hotel on West Rittenhouse Square. But we all bow to Henri David when it comes to the H-word. David, 60-ish, has been throwing Halloween (beyond it being the name of his Pine Street jewelry shop) better than all of us ever could for 40 years. Fact is, Henri's theme-ing his Ball at the Sheraton Center City Hotel his "fourth decade of decadence" soiree, and no doubt it'll be an outrageous glam mess. Having just returned from Vatican City ("now there's a man with some costumes," he quips) and preparing for a trip to China, David has been up all night sewing his outfit when we chat. "It's never about being scary. It's about being fabulous." He won't tell me what he'll be, save that it'll make him much taller than mere high heels. "Way bigger than I'm comfortable being," he laughs. One thing David hasn't been up all night doing is worrying about the competition — like Elvira's party at Park Hyatt at the Bellevue. "People spend outrageously on that night. I have people flying in from other countries to be with me. People will go to all the parties that night. Elvira? She and I are old friends. We already spoke on the phone about this. As soon as she cashes her check, I hope she'll come over to my party."

► The Baptist Preachers' John Cecil Price knows how to make his birthday cinematic. Yes, the guitarist/Preacher's debut CD Nekkid is getting re-recorded by a new producer, Andy Kravitz. "The first mix got corrupted in our computers," says JCP. So he's celebrating twice: once after the last Philadelphia screening of Character Driven Films' The Wages of Spin at the Trocadero Oct. 30, the second time during the Greg Giovanni/Big Mess film fest at National Mechanics Nov 3.

► WHOWHATWHERE: Hip-hop chart ruler T.I. did a last-minute community service/surprise visit at Roxborough High School the morning of his Powerhouse gig at WachCenter. Later the Atlanta rapper was seen hanging with Philly's own Eve in the parking lot before show time. Why were Ray Romano and Phil Rosenthal on my former home block of Letitia Street over the weekend? Looking to film Everybody Loved A.D. When He Used to Live Here? Nah. They were at Franklin Fountain for a creamy nosh. Everybody's fave sport agent, Craig Kaplan, and his most famous charge, John Runyan, will be part of Philly mag's November issue. Allure's November ish features Philly's fave new hair cutters, Adrienne Rogers and her husband, Carlos, who own-n-opened Bang in Old City above Sweat gym a few months ago. Adrienne is from Cutler Salon in Manhattan where she still trims.

HALF OFF DEPOT

Why live life at full price?

► Alfa on 18th has a fun idea brewing: a chalkboard where you can buy someone a drink and leave them a note telling them so. Could be a pickup move or an icebreaker. You could buy a drink tomorrow and they can pick it up in June of 2010. Vango on 18th Street has a somewhat more patriotic free-drink plan. On Voting Day Tuesday, if you bring your voter registration card, you'll get your second drink free. That's Democracy at its finest.

► Stephen Starr may've bought chandeliers from the Fontainebleau Miami for his new Butcher & Singer. But his ex-chef Jose Garces is opening an Amada at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas next year, we hear. Speaking of B&S, when I was there the other night, Starr's left-hand woman, director of creative services Randi Sirkin, reminisced about having GM-ed that same Walnut address when it was Striped Bass under Neil Stein. Now that it's changed concepts and GMs (welcome to town, Jeanna Chandler), Sirkin smiled and said, "It's nice to pass that particular torch." Starr Corp. is heading to Miami to open a space in that town's new W. hotel.

► More passing of ladles? More Than Just Ice Cream has been a longtime fave of mine for deep dish apple pie and yummy brunches since it opened on Pine Street in 1975 and moved to Locust in 1998. Brian Daly, who's owned it since 1990, just sold it to Rachelle Capistrano-Sorg and Dalton Castano who've been working MTJIC since the move. Glad to see it'll stay in great hands.

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)