Icepack

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

by A.D. Amorosi


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Published: Jul 14, 2010

Philly has its mysteries. What historic artifacts are buried below SugarHouse? How can people stand It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia? What the hell happened to the Paul Green School of Rock (see Critical Mass )? What does Michael Vick have on Jeff Lurie that he deserves this kind of job security? And the biggest mystery of the moment: Who is Kar Vivekananthan, and what's the deal with that swanky bistro Adsum on Bainbridge that he and ex-Lacroix-chef Matt Levin are opening this week? Well, KV is an A/V specialist who founded OhmComm Inc., a communication services enterprise servicing Starr, Vetri and Garces. He's previously been in Icepack for taking a piece of the Divine Lorraine space and helping to open hot spots backinnaday from Guru (whoa) to Osteria. "Plus I got bored," laughs Kar. "I know what to expect. I've closed restaurants that I helped open. I've never witnessed a good restaurant with a good business plan fail." KV's secret for Adsum: consistency. "And we're not fancy schmancy — we have great price points, a great location and the best fried chicken." Mystery solved.

► Heather Henderson, filmmaker/one-time-Peek-A-Boo-er/Soulamite-r, leaves Philly for Hollywood at the end of July and is holding a going-away go-go burlesque jamboree to help her cobble together funds July 21 at the Troc, Philly's original haus-of-burlesque. We'll miss Heather.

► Megan Wendell of Canary Promotion + Design (they do sites and PR for the Wilma and the LiveArts/Fringe fests, along with site design for Colbert Report and a zillion others) lost her husband/web-design partner, Mason. Not in marriage — Mason just got a massive gig with Zivtech as creative director of its new design department. Zivtech specializes in complex web aps/content management systems on the Drupal tip. So Mason won't be able to design sites through Canary. "It is a big change, but I think it's a good move for all involved," says Megan. "Perhaps Mason and I can find time to make music together again soon."

► Painter Inga Kimberly Brown's annual all-day Brown Bear Art & Music Fest at Clark Park is on for July 17 with Big Unkle, Last Barbarians, Surgeon and an after-party at The Tiberino Museum. Wee.

► Aloha Roy's, Philly's lone Hawaiian corporate-owned restaurant. We saw your closing from the mainland ages ago. While we know that building owners David and Joe Grasso (of Del Frisco and Union Trust, respectively) are opening a saloon/raw bar at that 15th Street space — hopefully by 2010's end — rumors are rampant that they're also looking for a clubbier space in the same neighborhood. There's even talk of live music involved. P'shaw.

►There are three reasons for me to like the new book from which Philly author Thom Nickels will read on July 24. One is that Nickels is a good man with a solid local journo reputation. Two, his set-in-Philly new novel’s name is Spore, which sounds seriously sci-fi but actually has to do with a man whose family life falls apart so much so that street-living and preaching seems a better option. Three, Nickels will sign and read at AxD Gallery, which never fails to crack me up because I’m 9 years old.

HALF OFF DEPOT

Why live life at full price?

➤ Want to scope the new School of Rock logo without Paul Green’s name? After relocating themselves to the North Seventh Street building that houses Larry Gold’s studio and the Bryan Dilworth booking plaza, the School of Rock is playing Electric Factory (electricfactory.info) on Aug. 14. We hear the kids miss Green. ➤ Icepack told you about Apple coming to 16th and Walnut, and when they were holding job interviews. Now listen here, iPhonies: The doors open July 23 or 24.

➤ WHOWHATWHERE: The singer who nearly killed Van Halen, Gary Cherone, was spotted at Raw with director Tigre Hill. Hill’s upcoming flick, The Barrel of a Gun, features Cherone doing the theme song that the vocalist just shot a video for in Philly with Hill behind the camera. For the sadly uninitiated, Hill’s incendiary Barrel is about the Daniel Faulkner 1981 murder case and convicted killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. Both Meatloaf and Queen’s Brian May (the latter in town for a Free Library book signing for Village Lost and Found) were spotted in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton — not together. Jake Gyllenhaal was spotted at El Vez. I would’ve paid money to have seen it if the Jake-off was wearing his Prince of Persia hair and biceps. Speaking of biceps, Mario Lopez hosted a mur.mur party at the Borgata in Atlantic City for its seventh anniversary and was spied supping at Bobby Flay’s steak-haus there. Herbie Hancock was in Old City over the weekend, sporting a Kangol and pinstripe pants, when he ran across Baptist Preachers’ John Cecil Price playing guitar on Chestnut. Hancock tipped Price a buck. Price — who didn’t recognize Herbie at first — said thanks and joked, “Who says people don’t like jazz no more?” To which Hancock replied, “If you knew me you’d know how I feel about jazz,” and walked away with a smile. How does Hancock feel about jazz? One dollar’s worth. Rockit. Manchester United soccer folk got invited to a Concha y Toro wine tasting dinner at Capital Grille. When I was in my wine-o phase years ago, the CyT merlot was the tastiest, most inexpensive wine you could buy. Have they raised their price points or was I so drunk back then, it didn’t seem like a lot of money? Plus for the finale of QFest, Thom Cardwell — Q exec and co-screenwriter of the fest’s headliner, You Can Have It All — made good on the promise of bringing its star, Wendie Malick, to town. Brava to both.

➤ We liked the old Zot space on Headhouse Square and all the ships who sailed her because the Australian/New Zealander dude who owned it was hilarious and never ceased to offer hard-shelled things of some kind when I stopped in. I was sad that he sold it to a craft-beer lot, The HeadHouse, but figured it was in good hands and who doesn’t lurrrrv crafty beer? Right now, no one in that neighborhood, as the new spot just closed operations for the summer with no word yet on its return.

➤ The much-loved Delaware Destroyer and friend to old Dobbs-rocking South Street, George Thorogood plays the House of Blues in AC July 23 with hot-shot c+w/blues guitarist and Jersey Outlaw Jimmie Lee opening the show. And who is in Lee’s band? None other than one-time producer for The Roots (and more, Lee included) David Ivory, Rocco Notte (of The A’s) and much-loved drummer Richie “Yvonne” De Carlo. No, that last joke never gets old. See their George Manney-directed video here: youtube.com/watch?v=JCC0mE9TmNk.

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)