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Browse This Issue: September 16th, 2010

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Death Cabaret for Cuties
Swellco & Swellco are biting chickens and killing hookers at the end of the world.
by Holly Otterbein
How do you still shock people, when 9/11 and the Holocaust, rape and murder, have become clichéd joke fodder? When John Waters has conceded that he's too tame for today's 9-year-old? When a thing like the Internet exists? You throw a bestiality-themed party.

Extended, Solo
Philly's last jazz club celebrates a milestone (and double-checks its birth certificate).
by Shaun Brady
With Ortlieb's and Zanzibar Blue gone, Chris' is the only full-time jazz joint left in Philly, but the owners don't see themselves as somehow victorious.

Walk of Life
Spread across Philly, New York City and New Orleans, The Walkmen lighten up and soldier on.
by Julia Askenase
But unlike the old days of late-night meetings on subway platforms to hand off 8-track tapes, they now e-mail MP3s as ideas develop. "Not seeing each other hasn't really slowed things down at all," Leithauser says. "Maybe it has sort of streamlined the process."

Two's Company
A new wave of theater bucks the economic trend.
by Mark Cofta
Philadelphia theater: stronger than ever? Despite the recession, major companies and smaller ones are heading into the fall season with full force, and two new troupes are debuting ambitious productions.

The Art of War
The National Constitution Center assembles 90 years of paintings, straight from the front lines.
by Peter Crimmins
There are almost 16,000 pieces of art in the Army's collection, most never seen publicly. It's a treasure trove by any yardstick, but especially for the National Constitution Center, which normally deals with hoary busts and yellowing documents to showcase the creation and maintenance of American democracy.

Rock/Pop/Hip-hop
by Patrick Rapa
Pavement | No Age | Superchunk/Jenny & Johnny | Titus Andronicus/Free Energy | Vaselines | The XX | Hold Steady | Built to Spill | Scout Niblett | Gorillaz | Thermals | Ghostface Killah | Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan | Corin Tucker | Jedi Mind Tricks | Guided By Voices


Visual Art
by Robin Rice
Manayunk Roxborough Art Center | Fleisher/Ollman Gallery | Proximity Gallery | Philadelphia Open Studio Tours | Mount Airy Contemporary Artists Space/Allens Lane Art Center


Theater
by Mark Cofta
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee | An American Tragedy | Macbeth | Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom | The Early Bird | Rent | The Laramie Residency


Jazz
by Shaun Brady
Marc Ribot | Philly/New York All-Star Band | Amir ElSaffar's Two Rivers | Ari Hoenig Trio | Bobby Hutcherson and Cedar Walton | Cindy Blackman | Andy Laster's Sounds of Cairo | Dave Brubeck | Dave Liebman Orchestra | Curtis Fuller | PanaMonk Revisited | Ches Smith & These Arches | Greg Osby and 9 Levels | Joey DeFrancesco | Dave Holland Big Band | Mario Pavone's Orange Double Tenor | Tomas Fujiwara/Ideal Bread


Roots
by Mary Armstrong
Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole | Sing Out! Sing In | Tim O'Brien & Bryan Sutton | Duo Jalal | Galeet Dardashti | Brian McNeil | Buika | Sarah McQuaid | Battlefield Band | Elaine Hoffman & Susan Lankin Watts | Blinds Boys of Alabama


Classical/Opera
by Peter Burwasser
Verdi's Otello | Tempesta di Mare | Takacs String Quartet with Jeffrey Kahane | 1807 And Friends with Cynthia Raim | Dolce Souno | Philadelphia Orchestra | Dresden Staatskapelle | Academy of Vocal Arts | Network for New Music | Curtis Chamber | Simone Dinnerstein


Dance
by Deni Kasrel
Of Kings and Fools | Paul Taylor Dance Co. | Pennsylvania Ballet | Sharp Dance Co. | FLY: Five First Ladies of Dance | Koresh Dance Co. | Forever Tango | Ballet X | Parsons Dance Co. | Dance Theater X | The nutcracker, Xmas Philes, Philly-Nutt-Crak-Up | Mummenschanz