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ISSUE . March 25th, 2010
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Cover Story


That New-Decade Look
With the aughts in the rearview mirror, what fashion statements will emerge in the 2010s?
by Josh Middleton and Julia West
In order to get a better read on what elements will influence the look of tomorrow, we assembled an elite task force of Philadelphia's fashion forecasters. They helped us generate a list of factors they believe will carry fashion into the coming years.

Donja Love + Kiesha K.
Styling themselves — and each other
by Felicia D'Ambrosio

Carrie Collins
Dressing herself and Jeff "Brown" Cuellar
by Felicia D'Ambrosio

Linda Smyth + Tina Nguyen
Dressing sisters Kimia and Manna
by Felicia D'Ambrosio


Opinion


Editor's Letter:
The Wind-Up
This year's Phillies spring training has been boring, and that's a good thing.
by Brian Howard
Not a goddamned thing is happening — at least nothing particularly interesting is happening — at the Carpenter Complex this year.

Loose Canon:
Tax the Sugar Pushers
This is not your typical sin tax.
by Bruce Schimmel
What's ironic about taxing sugary drinks is that the federal government actually underwrites the stuff they're sweetened with: high-fructose corn syrup. So we pay once to produce this crap, and pay again when people get sick. In effect, then, the city's tax would be recovering federal dollars wasted upstream.

Feedback:
Letters to the Editor
What You Say
"But guess what, Isaiah: This is everyone's problem."


News


News :: A Million StoriesA Million Stories
All the news we care to print.
by Jeffrey C. Billman, Holly Otterbein and Eric Pettersson
Attention Philadelphians: Do you love your city? Do you have a passion for creative writing, and perhaps a gift for wordplay? Would you like to win such fabulous prizes as "one tulip and Daisy fruit arrangement courtesy of FruitFlowers" or "four vouchers courtesy of The Bourse Food Court & Specialty Shops"?

Smarty Pants:
One-State Solution
Peace prospects between Israel and Palestine are dimmer than ever.
by David Faris
The recent kerfuffle over the announcement of new settlement construction in East Jerusalem obscured a much more serious problem: the growing infeasibility of the two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Soapboxer:
Fear And Loathing
Overheated rhetoric fails to live up to expectations.
by Jeffrey C. Billman
That's it. No killing grandma. No government credit card for Planned Parenthood. None of that nonsense. In the end, none of the dire predictions the right wing has made will come to pass.

Man Overboard!:
Fast Movers
The School District is only efficient when it wants to be.
by Isaiah Thompson
What about the whole flimsy web? Why was Hao Luu suspended without being interviewed? Why did officials try to transfer him to an alternative school? Why did they say he was in a gang in the first place?

The Bell Curve
City Paper's Quality-o-Life-o-Meter
When news breaks in Philadelphia, we make jokes.


Arts


Arts :: Take Me Out
Art:
Take Me Out
After years of angsty feelings for the Phils, Ronnie Norpel's back to rooting for the home team.
by A.D. Amorosi
Norpel's debut novel embodies the mixed emotions that drive our national pastime. It's even got a bit of insider intrigue: She begins dating an unnamed Phillies player (in what, she says, is a fact-based part of the book).

Last Chance
Catch it or regret it
by Holly Otterbein
Temple Gallery | Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts | Print Center

Theater Review:
Miss Halfway
THEATER REVIEW: The Gndiges Frulein
by David Anthony Fox
I am an unapologetic collector of Tennessee Williams' oddities — and they don't come any odder than The Gndiges Frulein.

Arts Picks:
Fallen Angels
Ends May 2, $10-$60, Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St., 215-574-3550, walnutstreettheatre.org.
by Mark Cofta
The staging of Noel Coward's Fallen Angels as a genuine theater event — a rarely produced Coward romantic comedy given the sumptuous Walnut mainstage treatment.

Re-View:
Dual Diagnosis
Robin Rice on Visual Art | The Hermaphrodites: Living in Two Worlds
by Robin Rice
Bonus Web Content
The pieces in this show might be described as decorative art or fine art. Most also address human physiological ambiguity, perhaps as a metaphor for all dilemmas of duality.

Kaleidoscope
Undeclared | 1992 Party | Panic Years | Breaking Bad

Arts Picks:
NY Dance Exchange
Sat., March 27, 8 p.m., $12, Community Education Center, 3500 Lancaster Ave., 215-387-1911, cecarts.org.
by Deni Kasrel
The Community Education Center's NY Dance Exchange is a mutual-appreciation affair: New York artists travel to Philadelphia to share a bill with local dancemakers, and vice versa.

Stories Left to Tell
Thu.-Sat., March 25-27, 8 p.m., $25, Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St., 215-925-9914, paintedbride.org.
by Josh Middleton
When he died, Spalding Gray left behind a journal full of tales that never made it into his repertoire of autobiographical monologues.


Movies


Movies :: The JerkThe Jerk
Ben Stiller plays an asshole Peter Pan in Noah Baumbach's Greenberg.
by Shaun Brady
In his former life, Greenberg was a musician whose self-destruction scuttled an opportunity at success. His return home is an attempt to unmake his bad decisions, wholly tone-deaf to the fact that everyone else involved having moved on with their lives renders that impossible.

Chloe
City Paper Grade: B-
by Cindy Fuchs
It's in stories that Chloe suggests we make ourselves, as well as others.


Music


Music :: Five Shows That Ruled SXSW 2010Five Shows That Ruled SXSW 2010
by Patrick Rapa
Quasi | Superchunk | Best Coast | Hole | Slow Club

Music Picks:
Last Emperor
Tue., March 30, 8 p.m., $10-$12, with Sadat X, Pack FM, Substantial, Icon the Mic King, DJ Jay-Ski and DJ
by Deesha Dyer
Just when we were starting to look for his recording career on the side of a milk carton, longtime Philly MC Last Emperor is back with a mix tape.

Love is All
Tue., March 30, 7 p.m., $12, with Japandroids and The G, The Barbary, 951 Frankford Ave., 877-435-9849, r5productions.com.
by K. Ross Hoffman
This Swedish fivesome is neither romantically idealistic nor as simply sappy as its moniker might suggest, but Love Is All is pretty darn lovable nevertheless.

Lawrence Arabia
Wed., March 31, 8 p.m., $14, all ages, with Fanfarlo and Robert Francis, First Unitarian Sanctuary, 2125 Chestnut St., 877-435-9849, r5productions.com.
by John Vettese
Even for such a huge payoff, it's a long wait.

Aid or Invade:
Brazil!
Whatever Hawking said, it always came out sounding like Kraftwerk.
by Rodney Anonymous
In the early '90s, eminent physicists Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose found themselves in a heated debate over whether gothic/electronic music would be more appealing if the lyrics were sung in Portuguese.

One Track Mind:
JJ
"My Life"
by K. Ross Hoffman
JJ strips Weezy's auto-tuned chorus down to nothing but brooding piano and Elin Kastlander's laconic, reverbed dream of an alto.

Album Reviews:
Tressel In
CD REVIEW: The Tressels' Bourbon Legend
by John Vettese
Self-effacing Catholic guilt is a big part of Drexel Hill's The Tressels.

Music Picks:
Wye Oak
Sun., March 28, 9 p.m., $10, with Shearwater and Hospital Ships, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 877-435-9849, johnnybrendas.com.
by Patrick Rapa
Baltimore folk-pop duo Wye Oak knows when to get pretty and when to go full-on gorgeous.

Sugar Town
Sat., March 27, 9 p.m., $7, with Gemini Wolf, Attia Taylor, Lillie Ruth Bussey and DJ Jem, Tritone, 1508 South St., 215-545-0475, tritonebar.com.
by John Vettese
For their new Rare But Serious Side Effects, impossibly creative Philly dance duo Gemini Wolf told some friends to turn their songs inside-out.

Miles Kurosky
Thu., March 25, 9 p.m., $10, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 877-435-9849, johnnybrendas.com.
by Lori Hill
Six years of bated-breath waiting later, Beulah fans can sink right into The Desert of Shallow Effects like the couch they've had since college.


Food


Food :: House RulesHouse Rules
Avenida serves home-style cooking you can't get at home.
by Trey Popp
Even if the chefs weren't married with children, or the bar had more than three wooden stools, or the dining room's stone hearth weren't half-blackened with soot, Avenida would still feel as much like somebody's home as a restaurant.

Thai Fighter
Thai Singha House To Go
by Drew Lazor
Can you really get tasty Thai for less paper than a pack of cigs?

What's Cooking:
The Week in Eats
Get Out!
by Alexandra Harcharek
Oyster Shucking Contest at Oyster House | Celiac Awareness Dinner at Sauté | Passover Dinners at Zahav | Vino Vitae at the National Constitution Center | Seder Dinner at Supper

Feeding Frenzy
Restaurants opening, closing and pending
by Drew Lazor
Dmitri's | 500° | Bodhi Coffee | Unitea | Cups & Chairs Tea Café | Mugshots


Agenda


Agenda :: Muddy Waters
Agenda Lead:
Muddy Waters
Cult director and pop culture fanatic John Waters trashes Bryn Mawr College.
by Shaun Brady
"Filth to me is joyous humor based on subject matter that you never condescend to, you look up to in wonderment, at extreme behavior that you yourself may not be capable of living."

Agenda Picks:
Ses Voyages Sauvages
Thu., March 25, 8 p.m.; Mon., March 29, 6 p.m.; Fri., April 2, 10 p.m.; Sat., April 3, 10 p.m. (sold out); $10, for more information, e-mail appliedmechanicstheatre@gmail.com, appliedmechanics.blogspot.com.
by Emily Currier
After taking over a bar in their Philly Fringe production, Applied Mechanics theater company will now conquer an entire West Philly apartment.

Icepack
Amorosi on the news, nightlife, gossip and bitchiness beats.
by A.D. Amorosi
Question about flash mobs: If these things can be so quickly organized by tweet and text to enact all levels of messiness and destruction with no ground zero and no easy point of origin, couldn't the same power be used to do good? Like specifically for me?

Shopping Spree:
Fabric Horse Moves
Fashion > Forward
by Felicia D'Ambrosio
Fabric Horse will move out of NoLibs' Piazza at Schmidts at the end of the month. But the move, executed just as the retail climate warms with the weather, was not her idea.

Agenda Picks:
April Fools' Fest
Thu., April 1, 9:30 p.m., $5, Khyber, 56 S. Second St., rarebirdshow.com.
by Mandy Bee
Improv group Rare Bird Show brings together a comedy bonanza for April Fools' Fest.

Home: Far and Near
Thu.-Sun., March 25-27, and Sat., April 3, 7:30 p.m., $10-$40, Asian Arts Initiative, 1219 Vine St., 215-557-0455, asianartsinitiative.org.
by Julia West
Home: Far and Near brings together Asian performance artists for a three-day fest of solo shows, then throws them in a melting pot to come up with a new collaborative piece.

Absurd Commentaries: A Partiformance
Fri.-Sat., March 26-27, 8 p.m., $10-$15, Arts Parlor, 1170 S. Broad St., 215-670-9901.
by Mandy Bee
Absurd Commentaries combines party and performance into one night of interactive dance in which four local artists perform original dances focusing on absurdity.

Tony On Third's Trash & Treasures
Sat., March 27, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sun., March 28, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; free (purchases are cash only), Tony on Third, 47 N. Third St., 215-592-8669, tonyonthird.com.
by Emily Currier
Prepare for a boutique battle at Tony on Third's second annual Indoor Yard Sale.

Linux Install Class
Sun., March 28, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., $30 (or pay what you can), Hive 76, 915 Spring Garden St., Suite 519, 215-765-1463, hive76.org.
by Tom Tiballi
Linux: The great frontier of operating systems that Macintosh doesn't even have an official snarky campaign against.




 
 
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