Icepack

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

by A.D. Amorosi

When good fortune smiles, you give back. Me? I'll give what Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet called a love letter — "a bullet from a fuckin' gun, fucker." Local foodie overlords Michael Solomonov (Zahav), Audrey Claire Taichman (eponymous hot spot) and Stephen Starr (everyplace else) give less graphically when it comes to Live Arts/Fringe. Hence, the Feastival at the fests' NoLibs Hub, Sept. 15. The idea for Feastival came when Nick Stuccio and Richard Vague (founding producer and board prez of LA/FF, respectively) asked Taichman to join their board in 2009 and if she had ideas about raising money and awareness to a different demographic. "I said, 'Let's have a party,'" she says. She quickly brought in her restaubar compadres and chefs for the charitable event. "That's how it started. My industry employs so many struggling artists. It was a no-brainer to collect my colleagues to help support those artists." As Vague says, "World-class cities need world-class culture. Feastival celebrates two great economic engines that push Philly forward." So far this year, Taichman has seen Sanctuary by Brian Sanders ("goosebumps"), will see Lucinda Childs' Dance, and is hoping to catch El Conquistador! by Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental. Want more on Taichman and the Feast? Check CP's A&E blog, Critical Mass, next week. Tix? phillyfeastival.com.

► G. Rich Goldberg and his investors didn't buy the RUBA Club so they could have a place to drink Ukie beer. They got a new sound system and brought Joe Tayoun to book and oversee renovations. His first order of biz: Middle East reunion, First Fridays. Hummus for everyone.

► When Jezebel reported that American Apparel was near-doomed due to lousy biz practices, we went looking for Dov Charney's fave model/rent boy/adopted son, Philly's Jonny Makeup, late of VIP. Nothing yet. Jonny, phone home.

► Bloodhammer Mgmt has got a restless sleepover planned for the Troc, Sept. 11-12, what with Big Crowd Popular and Brick+Mortar's pajama party the first night, and a True Blood finale-fest with Baptist Preachers' new lineup, Emerson B and Mirrors&Wires the next.

► When Andy Hurwitz isn't busy with H&M, Alex's Lemonade and King Britt (all part of Sept. 12's Baby Loves Disco Lemonade Tour dance party at Shampoo), he's helping Philly's Kuf Knotz find his boom box. The loquacious rapper — who's signed to Hurwitz's MAD Dragon with a due-soon CD, Boomboox Logic — lost his aged legendary stereo. "Someone stole it from Kuf in South Philly," says Hurwitz. "We wanna do a reward thing or something."

► Saw two fine pork-related tweets: Adsum's twispers of homemade corn dogs at the bar, and Swift Half Pub's pig-out with bacon ice cream chipwhiches.

► The aforementioned Stephen Starr was busy over the Labor Day weekend opening his Philadelphia Museum of Art Francophile boite Granite Hill during the finale of "Late Renoir" and conjuring up a chef for his new 18th Street shoes tore/gastropub in Britain’s Robert Aiken, bro of chef Tom Aiken. Pip pip, old chaps.

► A lunar pattern is forming over Kung Fu Necktie: While my fave Philly splice-n-dice band Moon Women play there this week, Moon Duo (featuring Ripley Johnson of Wooden Ships) plays the Fu Sept 16.

► Remember we told you on Aug. 25 that Jose Garces’ Guapos Tacos truck would make its debut on Amis’ industry night (Sept. 6)? It did, and crowds ate it up. Snarf. Now, I Meal Ticketed the answer to the question "Is Garces Trading Co. becoming a restaurant and not a prepared-food market?” what with all the talk and signs of reservations being taken and liquor licenses applied for. The answer is no. “We’re not turning into a restaurant,” says exec chef Adam DeLosso. “We’re a store first. We want to increase what people know about what we make and what we sell. And we just want to make it easier for people who want to dine here to know they have a seat waiting.” That’s good. I can never get a seat there. Plus they’ll serve glasses of wine, mixed booze pitcher drinks and beer. Check the rest of DeLosso’s GTC answers on Meal Ticket.

► WHOWHATWHERE: I’m coming off a holiday weekend where the only celeb in town was Kendra? She was all over, having dinner with her husband/Eagle/meal ticket Hank Baskett at Davio’s, bowling at Lucky Strike, reality show shooting. Classy stuff. That was no holiday for me. Luckily, Charles Barkley and Georges Perrier ate together at Del Frisco’s. Stone Temple Pilots did a stellar show at the Borgata where they brought their children on stage and had a sweet opening act in someone else’s kids — Tab the Band, which happens to be Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry's children, Adrian Perry (lead vocals/bass) and Tony Perry (guitar). The next night, Sean Kingston ("Beautiful Girls") was all over Dusk. He just finished a string of dates with Justin Bieber and surely everyone had questions about lesbian haircuts. While we were busy on Labor Day, laboring, the Tropicana in Atlantic City held its reunion show for Season 2 of the cast of Jersey Shore in its Royal Swan Ballroom. They weren’t allowing cameras in side but we’ll get something next Sat., Sept. 18, in Delaware when Vinny Guadagnino hits the Dizzy Bulldog with guys from one of MTV’s Real World programs, aight.

► Hey, LaSalle Hotel Properties from Maryland bought the Westin Philadelphia and Embassy Suites, both from HEI Hotels & Resorts.

► Talking about hotels, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire (that’s Martin Scorsese, Mark Wahlberg and Steve Buscemi, folks) will hold a Depression-themed screening and Prohibition Eve party at Caesars Circus Maximus Theatre and the Pier Shops at Caesars on Sept. 16. It’s alllllllll invitation-only. Dusk will hold the after-party.

► When David E. Williams finishes doing the books at his bookshop, GERM, on Sept. 12, he’ll close early (4:30) so he can perform at another bookstore, Molly’s in the Italian Market, for her “Jubilant Thicket” poetry series at 7 p.m.

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)