Icepack

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

by A.D. Amorosi

It's not my birthday yet so don't start sending presents. CP's already pissed I don't pick up my mail, and I still have invitations to stuff like the opening of Tangerine (RIP) in my box. Give my gifts a sec. What I'm talking about now — and August homeboys Buddy Greco, Tim Picunis, Joe Tayoun, Classic Mark Sheldon, Grayson Horan, Asher Roth and Comcast-Spectacor's Peter Luukko can back me up — is that there are a few cool Leos of note. Barack Obama and Melvin Van Peebles are rad. Steve Martin, too. But Leo's also got Spencer Pratt, Christian Slater, Brody Jenner — too douchey for words. Rick Springfield hurts, you know. So fellow Leos, hype our Bill Clinton and forget Hayden Panettiere. We'll feel better.

► Sweet sorrowful partings? Juanita & Juan's bookstore/perf-space at 11th and Cherry (once the Megawords storefront) looks empty, with the building for sale. Where'm I buying my lefty lit? And 1020 RPM Studio? Word has it the space (renamed Columbus Rehearsal Studios) that local bands circa 1985-99 used for beer-teary rehearsals may be shuttering. This'd make their black-lab mascot, Canon, sad, so say it ain't so.

► Wanna catch up to Philly drummer Jon Langmead? The skins-man pounds for both Jennifer O'Connor and the three-city-dwelling Choo Choo la Rouge whose punk-Randy Newman-like debut CD Black Clouds comes out Aug. 18 on O'Connor's Kiam label. Choo plays Johnny Brenda's that night.

► Jen Zavala, the rock 'n' roll chef who opened El Camino Real with owner Owen Kamihira, quit the Mex-Tex Liberties Walk BBQ hall right before her boss was (maybe) readying a big-screen viewing party for her debut on Bravo'sTop Chef (Aug 19). Is Kamihira still doing a screening? "Nah," says Kamihira. "It'd be weird celebrating somebody who isn't with us anymore." Besides, he's not so sure he was ever doing it. Though the other Philly cooker on Top Chef (Jennifer Carroll of 10 Arts) is getting feted, Bravo frowns on screening parties. Plus, said Kamihira, "Jen's leaving wasn't 100 percent unexpected to begin with. She gave me her notice two weeks ago." Kamihira is sad the tumultuous relationship is finis, but he'll drown his sorrows in sangria and paella at Aug. 21's third anniversary bash for Bar Ferdinand.

► The Spectrum got a reprieve from the wrecking ball — by a few days. Along with Oct. 22's Leonard Cohen show, Pearl Jam's two-day October run is extended with shows Oct. 27 and 31. Tix go on sale Aug. 14.

► Where's the beef? At fwts.net, a blog run by "burgerbaroness" (her Twitter name) Jessica Rossi Ward, whose monthly online burger club is meant to guess the best and worst of the local meat patty debate. August's blog's about: PYT.

➤Grubstake’s odd-tuned guitarist Patrick McHugh and Mummers accordionist Charlie Mayer test their soon-to-record circus song-y Roots Project with foodie gigs at Ugly American (Aug. 22) and my night at National Mechanics (Aug. 17) with Bruce Lucy (featuring members of Misstallica), Steve Goldberg’s Arch Enemies and Saudi.

➤ WHOWHATWHERE: Post-Comedy Central roast-ed Joan Rivers was her usual can-we-tawk self, screaming at crowds on Independence Mall, trying to nab man-on-the-street interviews for her TV Land series How’d You Get So Rich? But Joan? Canary yellow. Oy. Tony Danza and at least one of the A&E network producers on his Philly-filmed reality show (the one where he learns to teach or teaches to learn or something) have, according to a few sources, taken up residence at the Piazza at Schmidts. Apparently they even sampled some of Darling’s Diner’s new customized room service that started Aug. 14 — delivery available to those who live within The Piazza and Liberties Walk. Debbie Harry was spied twice at the end of last week, once at the Ritz Carlton Hotel and once ducking in to Joan Shepp. Hey, wasn’t she at Silk City not so long ago, too?

➤ The boys and girls of FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and their mock-rock-opera staging of “The Nightman Cometh” sold out their Tower Theater date Sept. 17 in mere minutes. MINUTES I TELL YOU. We’d like to think it’s DeVito.

➤ MLK/West River Drive on Sun., Aug. 16, 9 a.m.: Wake up and be part of Pink Paws for Life, Linda Hogan’s walk for pet cancer that Echochic’s Jen Ramsay is pushing here at pinkpawsforlife.org.

➤ Legendary everything-DJ Robbie Tronco is doing Thursdays at the old Legends space the kids call Bennie the Bum’s, where he’ll spin and chew on DiNoble’s until the disco ball stops spinning.

➤ University City District (Ars Nova Workshop-er Mark Christman’s other gig) just got $113,000 for two commercial projects from the city’s ReStore Philadelphia Corridors Fund. (Hmm. That sounds narrow.) UCD got $75,000 for greening and beautification of Baltimore Ave.’s 47th Street traffic triangle, and $38,000 for Corridor Incident Management System, a computer-thing to track the condition of buildings for maintenance purposes.

➤ Trojan Condom’s new “Vibe for her Pleasure” needs couples to audition Aug. 13. “Nothing dirty. Fully Clothed. 8 couples, age 25-40, are picked and each couple chosen gets 1k” reads the e-mail from Shadowbox Pictures. But you gotta go to Yardley. Get Jason Pinardo at jpinardo@mac.com to tell you more.

➤ Philly ORK (original rockabilly king) Charlie Gracie is heading into the studio in a few weeks with Graham Nash, Al Kooper, Keb Mo, Dennis Diken and Peter Noone singing and playing behind him and producer Quentin Jones. Kooper will mix the record and PBS will be on hand to document the proceedings.

➤ Ever say to yourself, I’d like to get on a bus with apocalyptic metal guys wearing death makeup and armor? Your lucky day is Aug. 13 as Marduk and their promo peeps at Team Earsplit hold a listening party in a tour bus just blocks away from Johnny Brenda’s (sounds like a scene from Goodfellas, “yeah the stolen dresses are over there”) at 6:45 p.m. That’s just a few hours before their gig at JB’s. But you’ll want to hear Wormwood up-close-and-personal, bus-style.

➤ Eric Wareheim’s week includes not only releasing Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Season 3 on DVD. But a video he shot for Diplo’s Major Lazer duo and its “Pon De Floor.” “If there was an emoticon for ‘dumbfounded astonishment’ I would use it,” writes Wareheim of his dancehall-daggering thing.

➤ Naeemah Z. Maddox — that’s the new-wave soul sonic songstress “Naeemah” who dropped that CD through Curve Dominant who we haven’t seen around town in a minute — plays Connie’s Ric Rac Aug. 14. Make her feel welcome.

➤ Le Bec Fin, still serving up deal meals at your price, just got named a top-10 French eatery by USA Today in partnership with Saveur mag and Top Chef Masters judge James Oseland.

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)