Pick the studliest man around at Shmitten Kitten's Mister America Pageant, with help from the ladies of the local blog and former CP listings editrix Monica Weymouth, among others. Want more? Check out Julia West's story on p. 52. 9 p.m., $5, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 877-435-9849, johnnybrendas.com. —ME

The "an evening with" concept is a vague and funny thing. What can we expect at An Evening with New Kids on the Block? Fireside storytelling? Juicy tell-all anecdotes? Or just five ex-pinup boys dancing in sync, a little too slowly? Fri.-Sat., May 28-29, 8 p.m., $89.50, Borgata Event Center, 1 Borgata Way, Atlantic City, N.J., 866-692-6742, theborgata.com. —PR

 Ever seen that psych study where little kids think the black Cabbage Patch is "bad" and the white one is "good"? Teach those racist toddlers what's what at the Philly Black Doll Show and Sale. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., $7, Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1101 Arch St., 215-787-0226, philadollmuseum.com. —PR

Not to be outdone by its craft-fair competitors, the Piazza at Schmidts is launching its thrice-annual Piazza Flea weekends, open to anyone who wants to sell, well, anything. Apply for a table ahead of time or just show up with your junk, and let the swap-meet begin. Noon-7 p.m., Piazza at Schmidts, 1050 N. Hancock St., 215-467-4600, marketatthepiazza.com. —CH

Univox

[ rock/pop ]

When Univox released its eponymous debut CD last month, one question immediately came to mind:

What took so long?

"When you're striving to survive, the years just fly by," laughs Josh Jones, guitarist and baritone singer.

Univox, the brusque Philadelphia art-pop quartet known for its lush four-part harmonies, has been around for five years and counting.

That's a long time to sit on music like this. Each and every song the band — that's principal songwriters Jones and Joe Bonaventura III (guitar/alto singer) along with Rob DeCarolis (bass/tenor) and Kent Boersma (drums/soprano) — sets its mind to is contagious as hell. Their crusty power-driven pop, which incorporates the noisily melodic elements of Sonic Youth with the frenetic splintered pace of The Stooges and a touch of Motown swing, is easily imaginable coming from car windows on a summer's night.

If that sounds a bit fractured, it leads us to the real reason it took Univox so long to release a full album. "It was essentially done piece by piece," says Bonaventura. "The time between sessions for this record is literally years."

Jones has known Boersma since childhood. They drew together, made movies together and, at age 15, started writing and playing music together. "We were a twosome," says Jones. "I played guitar and Kent sang. Our first show was with Joe's band, Fuzzbucket. They really blew up our heads. They were our age, but they were doing a full-on Sonic Youth pastiche, with the alternate tunings on every song, and anti-chorus/verse/chorus songwriting structure."

"Fuzzbucket was more about a 'sheets of sound' idea, in that guitars would cascade and rise in a fury of fuzz with feedback squalls and atonal harmony," recalls fan and friend Bonaventura, talking about what s...]]> http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/27/free-energy http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/27/free-energy

[ rock/bang/pop ]

Nikola Tesla has been called "the father of free energy" for his utopic (but ostensibly viable) scheme for worldwide wireless power transmission. Wittingly or not, sparky Fishtown-based rock 'n' rollers Free Energy seem like Tesla's spiritual sons, poised and fully capable of completing the inventor's vision of global electrification, with nothing more than blazing power-pop riffage, dream-kissed classic rock vibes and heart-searing lyrics — hell, even song titles: "Dream City," "Young Hearts," "Light Love," "Hope Child" — testifying to the boundless potential of youth and joy and (brotherly) love.

At least, it all feels entirely feasible while you're listening to their pop-perfect DFA debut, Stuck on Nothing, whose title nicely sums up its infectious sense of limitless possibility. Actually, the band was stuck on something when I chatted with lead singer Paul Sprangers last week — their tour van, en route to a gig in Maine, had just caught a flat — but it hardly seemed to deflate his spirits.

Minnesota transplant Sprangers was stuck on nothing but love and enthusiasm for his adopted city and home for the past two years: "I love Philly, man! No one even knows why they love Philly, but everybody does." And for the ongoing adventure of growing and learning as a performing musician: "Every night is a chance to get better. I feel like there's so much to learn and figure out, and you can only do that by doing it. ... I'm happy to be humbled and play to nobody, because I know it's part of t...]]> http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/27/survival-of-the-dead http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/27/survival-of-the-dead

[ City Paper Grade: C ]

George A. Romero's budgets have often been at odds with his ambitions — witness the compromised Day of the Dead, vastly scaled back from the apocalyptic finale the director had planned for his initial zombie trilogy. Offered the chance to finally realize that climax via the FX-helper of CGI, he came up with Land of the Dead, a clumsy if entertaining jab at the Bush administration. He then rebooted his zombies in Diary of the Dead, where the shortage of funds led to a cynical exploration of new media mixed in with the gore. But in the series' sixth installment, it's inspiration that is the resource most lacking, and the corpses are the only thing animated.

For the first time, Romero follows characters introduced in the previous film, a rogue military group who appeared briefly to hold up Diary's Winnebago-driving crew. The soldiers now find themselves on a small island off Slaughter Beach in Delaware, where two feuding Irish clans bring the proper handling of the menace into their perennial animosity. It's an excuse to basically remake William Wyler's The Big Country with zombies standing in for water rights, but as realized, none of the elements gibe — the anachronism of cowboy standoffs coexisting with iPhones is never resolved, and thus feels like (at least) two movies uncomfortably stitched together.

The strength of Romero's zombie films, as opposed to those of his legions of gore-hound followers, has been that the horror takes a back seat to some for...]]> http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/20/philadelphia-newspapers-llc-brian-tierney-severance-pay http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/20/philadelphia-newspapers-llc-brian-tierney-severance-pay [ the end of an era ]

At The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, the transition from the old ownership to the new comes with a price tag of at least $300,000.

That's the amount of severance pay that departing Philadelphia Newspapers LLC CEO Brian P. Tierney negotiated from the new owners of the two daily newspapers, according to two sources familiar with the deal. Tierney had sought as severance a year's salary, or $618,000, the sources tell City Paper, but settled for about half of that.

Tierney, scheduled to leave the papers this Friday, will be paid $300,000 in exchange for his services as a consultant after the newspapers formally change hands in June, the sources say. In addition, the new owners agreed to pay at least two months salary to 21 top managers who served under Tierney, the sources say — some of whom will likely remain with the company under the new ownership.

The $300,000 amounts to a final payday for Tierney, who, until the consultant agreement, had been engaging in brass-knuckle bargaining with the new owners, a group of senior lenders headed by the New York investment firm Angelo, Gordon & Co. that won control of the papers at an April 28 auction for $139 million.

(Tierney led a group of local investors that purchased the papers in 2006 for $515 million, but filed for bankruptcy in February 2009.)

While Tierney had pledged a smooth transition, union leaders and a lawyer for the new owners publicly claimed that he had been playing hardball.

On May 12, The Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia put out a bulletin alleging that Tierney had "blocked access" to financial information that the guild had been seeking to present a contract proposal to the new owners.

Per the Guild's version of the story: "Further hampering productive negotiation, Mr. Tierney will not allow Philadelphia Newspapers' human resources executives to attend bargaining sessions with the incoming ownership group, despite his pledge for a smooth transition."

This month, Tierney's lawyers filed a motion in bankruptcy court seeking more documents...]]> http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/20/making-time-10th-anniversary-philadelphia http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/20/making-time-10th-anniversary-philadelphia

[ history in the making ]

On the verge of Making Time's 10th anniversary, we asked Dave P, the impresario of Philly's long-running rock 'n' roll dance party, to run down 10 defining moments.

1. May 25, 2001

The one-year anniversary of Making Time, at Transit. We had The Strokes playing. I had first heard The Strokes at a house party in New York. A guy who later became their manager had played me a demo tape — yes, a tape — of some of their recordings and I freaked out. I told him about Making Time and that we had our one-year anniversary coming up. I basically booked them right there. The night of the party was magical. I remember watching The Strokes from the DJ booth, which was above the dancefloor facing the stage. They were the perfect band to play the party — the entire crowd was dancing and it was most peoples' first time ever hearing them. It was apparent at that moment that this band was going to be huge.

2. Nov. 2, 2001

Very similar to the night with The Strokes. DJ Mike Z had been given some of Interpol's demos from a friend. I remember the day he played them for me at the Last Drop Coffeehouse, while I was working. We realized they'd be perfect for the party and we booked them. The response was mixed, to be honest, but I knew someday people were going to look back at that night and be stoked that they got to see this band at Making Time before they blew up.

3. Feb. 1, 2002

At the time, this was the biggest Making Time with over 1,200 people. We weren't used to having crowds like this and neither was the club. It was one of those nights that any moment could have turned into a complete disaster. While The Faint were playing, the main dancefloor was literally buckling. People in the...]]> http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/20/looking-for-eric http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/20/looking-for-eric

[City paper Grade: B+ ]

The story of Eric (Steve Evets), a depressed Manchester postman whose guardian angel takes the form of soccer star Eric Cantona, Looking for Eric returns director Ken Loach to the heights of Riff-Raff and Raining Stones — winning stories of working-class life whose politics were integrated rather than smeared on top. A devoted Man. U fan, albeit one who can't afford tickets anymore, Evets' Eric is a good-natured but weak-willed single father, plagued with panic attacks and a tenuous sense of self. But when he's at a particularly low ebb, Cantona appears in his bedroom, dispensing French proverbs and helping Evets take back the reins of his life. The conceit could be irreparably coy if Loach didn't play it absolutely straight, and were Evets not such a lovable screwup that we're happy to see whatever he sees. Eric's life is full of ordinary but draining complications: two stepsons of different races — the elder of whom treats him with open contempt, a difficult relationship with his adult daughter, an infant granddaughter whose existence forces him to interact with the woman he impregnated and left years before. These are problems only the greatest center forward can solve. With an uncharacteristically light touch, Loach mixes a dash of Capra into his hard-bitten social realism. Cantona is an unlikely phantom, his wisdom only slightly more articulate than the man who dreamed him up. His presence is treated matter-of-factly, and...]]> http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/20/alex-gibney-casino-jack http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/20/alex-gibney-casino-jack

[ reel talk ]

"Documentaries are much more exciting than most fiction films," says Alex Gibney. "I think most documentary filmmakers are loosening themselves up, they're doing stuff that's much more interesting in stylistic terms." Gibney is at the forefront of this advance. The director and producer of the 2007 Oscar-winner Taxi to the Dark Side, he pushes past conventional documentary structures and expectations to tell stories in new ways.

The stories that interest Gibney the most concern power and corruption. From Taxi to Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008) and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) to his new films, Casino Jack and the United States of Money and his upcoming, still-untitled documentaries on Eliot Spitzer and Lance Armstrong, Gibney's movies focus on survival and failure, education and ambition. As wide-ranging and volatile as their subjects may be, the films are consistently smart and provocative. We discussed Casino Jack, about former lobbyist/current jailbird Jack Abramoff.

City Paper: How did you decide to structure the film?

Alex Gibney: The story is really complicated, but at the center you have a great character, so you kind of can't lose. The trick in the movie was to find a narrative that could be contained, because he was so all over the place. You look for really interesting material and you fashion it in the cutting room into a story that resembles a fiction film, rather than just doing a report. There comes a point in every documentary I do where there are all sorts of things I want to say, or there are some important thematic issues I want to get into, interesting sidelines. But at some point, like a little gremlin in the cutting room, the story peeks up and says, "Pal, you better follow the story or you're cooked." That's usually the how we end up cutting down: We take out most everything that's extraneous to that story.

...]]> http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/20/delaware-riverkeeper-maya-van-rossum http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/20/delaware-riverkeeper-maya-van-rossum

By: Thomas Pitilli

Maya van Rossum was a second-grader at Ithan Elementary School in Villanova when she waged her first environmental battle.

Birds kept crashing into the art room windows with a disquieting thud, yet no one bothered *to collect their remains, much less figure out how to keep them from flying into the windows in the first place. Van Rossum remembers how upset she — then a headstrong blue-eyed girl with short blond hair who preferred trousers over dresses — became trying to persuade school authorities to give her a shovel so she could bury the birds herself. She was distressed, she says, because no one seemed to care.

Those who know van Rossum might guess how the story ended. Her persistence paid off: She got the shovel, and the birds got a proper burial. Eventually, she says, "people wised up," and the school put a visible barrier on the windows to deter the birds.

Van Rossum has fought for environmental causes ever since. Anyone who's followed the controversy surrounding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' plan to deepen the Delaware River's shipping channel knows her name. As the Delaware Riverkeeper, van Rossum is the face of the opposition. She is the head of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network (DRN), a nonprofit environmental organization that seeks to protect the 330-mile-long river and its 13,539-square-mile watershed, which includes 260 direct tributaries in four states. The longest undammed river east of the Mississippi, the Delaware starts in New York and flows through Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware to the Atlantic Ocean.

"My perspective is that I really am speaking for the river," says van Rossum. The Delaware, she figures, is an irreplaceable resource for Philadelphia — and now its vitality is threatened. The Corps' dredging project — the first phase, called "Reach C," began in early March, and will be co...]]> http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/06/jeff-cressman http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/06/jeff-cressman Six years ago, Jeff Cressman was a pot-smoking, beer-drinking, 200-pound former band member with an arthritic knee. Today? He fights professionally at 135 pounds. That knee has stopped bothering him.

After blowing out his knee touring with his band, Cressman gained weight and lost direction. When his doctor told him he had to get active in order to recover, he found MMA. He started picking things up, quickly improved, and soon was competing in the cage and augmenting his salary as that nice young man helping grandma with her prescriptions with pro fights under Brad Daddis at Daddis Fight Camps.

...]]> http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/06/mitch-kerr http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/06/mitch-kerr If you're looking for an anecdote to explain how the new face of MMA differs from the stereotype, consider this: Mitch Kerr had to miss our training photo shoot in order to take the CEO of Home Depot out to dinner.

Kerr, a suit-and-tie guy by day, took a well-traveled path to the world of MMA — he ran out of other challenges. "A couple years out of school I got into triathlons, and then did an Ironman in 2004," he says. "Then I needed something to do."

With endurance sports conquered, he stumbled onto MMA, and soon he was training five days a week. He'll never be a pro fighter — "It doesn't pay as well as my other job" — but he's not getting away from it, either. "I love running a mutual fund and the benefits are great," he says. "But long-term, I'd love to be a 60-year-old guy with a black belt teaching classes somewhere."

...]]>