Better Late than Never

It's been a very busy holiday season for this philly girl. I spent the better part of the last month being eaten alive by every flu, cold and sinus infection that came to town, fretting over work, and stressing over choosing the perfect gift for each of my various in-laws. But all's well that ends well, and now on a rainy and hung-over last Sunday of '07 I have some time to reflect on the season's activities. I did manage to make it to a few lovely holiday events and while it does little good for you readers to hear about them after they are over, for next year's holiday cheer I highly recommend the holiday home tour through Elfreth's Alley. For one evening in early December the residents of this, the nation's oldest continually inhabited residential street, open their doors to the public to tour their adorable and historically significant humble abodes. The houses are all dressed up for Christmas, trees trimmed and fires blazing in each living room. There was even a slight snowfall for effect. And Elfreth's is just a stone's throw from The Race Street Cafe, which has a great cozy ambiance and creative beer selection, a perfect winter warm up spot.

One more recommendation that maybe some last-minute types such as myself can take advantage of for one more week - not a holiday theme but certainly a nice family-friendly outing if you have guests coming in from out of town or if you're just looking for a worthwhile way to spend an afternoon. The Renoir exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art is really spectacular. It takes you through his life and loves and his experiences of Paris, London, and his travels through the coast of Italy, Algiers, and other colorful and lively destinations. You see paintings of every day life, of young men having drinks or his good friends painting in their back yards. Nevermind that his best friend just happens to be Monet.

The exhibit is here through to 01.06, so you still have time! Run the Rocky stairs straight into Renoir's world.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art
Benjamin Franklin Parkway
www.philamuseum.org

Haunted Happenings

Looking for something scary to do before Halloween? Well my game night crew (yes, I realize how awesome this makes me sound) and I went to the Sleepy Hallow Haunted Hayride in Newtown this weekend. The Hayride alone is $15, but you can also get a bundle package which includes the hayride, clown vortex, haunted house and corn maze. Oh and yes you read that correctly, a clown vortex. When we got there at about 9 on Sat, the line was insanely long. I didn't think we'd even be able to make it on the ride, but we were told if we wanted to pay $10 more we could buy "RIP" tickets which bring you directly to the front of the line. Well worth the extra money. The hayride, while cheesy at times actually had a lot of legitimately scary moments. I may have jumped onto the calm little girl sitting in front of me and I think I have prevented one of my friends from having children. After the hayride's over, there are plenty of bonfires around and a band. So we broke out our smore paraphernalia and natty's (it's byob) and went to town.

Aside from the couple with their tongues down each others throats on the ride (sometimes a fake chainsaw just gets you in the mood). And the fact that when the band played Cotton Eye Joe, everyone else there knew some sort of line dance, I would highly recommend as a good night out with the friends.

Grab your wieners and your natty's and get to hayridin'.

See It!

Philly's movie scene is growing by the minute! Not only is "Lovely Bones" kicking off this week in the 'burbs (sorry Colleen! I am sure Ryan will find you some day), but "Bella," a locally produced and financed independent film that is winning awards left and right, makes its debut this weekend.

Bella is a heartwarming story about life, family, and our capacity for love in the face of the unexpected. It has a beautiful cast (hello Eduardo Verastegui!) and an even more beautiful message about relationships, redemption, and the power of the human spirit. It lives in good company as a Toronto Film Festival People's Choice Award Winner, with the likes of Hotel Rwanda, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and my personal favorite, Life is Beautiful.

Bella is only around for 2 weeks and is in very limited locations. Check out the theater options at http://www.bellathemovie.com/.

Restaurant week, why do you mock me so?

Last night, as I lugged my bags of dirty laundry in my left hand and detergent in my right, I passed young couples in love dining outdoors and came to a realization. I have clean underwear now and they don't. They will waste a lovely Sunday day/ evening, sorting their lights from darks, while I sip wine at the Wine, Arts and Food festival at the Mann. I think it's a fair trade.

Anyway. This week is chock full of Philly happenings. I'm plan on enjoying them with friends, but will make an effort to strike up a slightly intoxicated convo with choice passersby. My first date with the Italian taught me that talking to new people is fun, and to just be open to it. It doesn't have to be awkward and painful. (oh, I think we're going to try for a second). Tomorrow night I'm going to the Inliquid Silent Auction with some people from work. Art + open bar = many emo men just waiting for my shameless flirting. To give me an edge, I'm thinking of wearing my beret , black turtleneck and painting on a little goatee. Friday, my sister and I are going out for a chick night of shopping, drinks and pampering at Shecky's girls night out. Word is I can get some free jawn there. Saturday is Oktoberfest and Madonna Michael Prince at the M room. Ohhh that sounds like a little slice of heaven, doesn't it? Aaaaaand I just realized I should just go ahead and marry a gay man.

In other news, I'm very proud of myself. Kind of. Putting myself Out There is stressful. And this week I regressed back to being a 13 year old girl. Back story: When I get in from nights on the town, MySpace is not my friend. I contact anyone and everyone I have come in contact within the past 10-12 years. One poor unfortunate soul wrote me back. We emailed back and forth, but in all honesty, I hadn't talked to him since grade school. He gave me his phone # via email and told me to call him for a good time. Megan told me I had to. Even though this could be (and probably is) purely platonic, it was very hard for me to take that leap from Myspace stalking to real life interaction. So Monday night after a glass of wine, I did it. I picked up the phone and... left him a voicemail. Did you know you can do that? Yes, from your voicemail you can leave someone else a voicemail without them ever knowing. God, I'm good at being crazy. I was planning on saying "Oh, it just went straight to voicemail", but when I called it turns out he was asleep and just assumed he missed me. Long story short, he called back last night and we're gonna get together for a drink next week. Should be fun to catch up.

Wow, that was a whole lot of rambling. Good day.

Dealing With Your Quarter-Life Crisis

Oh the quarter-life crisis! I’ve had a tough time these past couple of years transitioning from college life to real life. I’m pretty sure that I’m getting dumber every day. (And my horrendous addiction to Nicholas Sparks novels is not helping the case.) Some days, I have the “I should go to graduate school” discussion with myself. And then other days, I can’t muster up the motivation to walk to Superfresh for groceries.

Last winter was particularly hard for me so I decided I could use a little personal enrichment, and not in the form of a pedicure or shopping spree (shocking I know, but I needed to branch out). So I enrolled in a continuing education course at the University of the Arts. I took a screenwriting class. It was a great way to expose myself to something new and challenging, as well as, meet new people. It was a little expensive ($325), but well worth it when I thought of the money I spent on clothes, shoes, hair, etc. all the while wallowing in self pity. The only other drawback to the class that I can think of is that a couple of my classmates were middle age men who really loved to hear themselves talk about any and everything, all the time. Everybody else in the class was great. And, one of these days, I’m going to finish that screenplay I started. In fact, I plan on asking for another class for Christmas this year.

University of the Arts. http://www.uarts.edu/continue/edu/index.cfm

Try it. You might like it.

I went to a show last night and I’m not sure why but just how wonderful it was surprised me. It was the Joanna Newsom show at the Sanctuary at the First Unitarian Church, and there probably isn’t much of a better place to see her in Philly. The small audience was deadly silent and spilled out to seating in the aisles and in front of the stage. I was right at the back but still close enough that my $15 standing room ticket now seems ridiculously cheap. So thank you R5.

She was accompanied by four other people to play her new highly orchestrated album in its entirety. I couldn’t really get over her stamina to play her harp for these seven minute long songs and singing along while hardly taking a breath. You may be able to tell from my glowing adoration here that I am now a Joanna groupie type and seeing her live has given me a greater appreciation of her albums.

Sadly, her tour is now moving south and then across to the west coast. And then to England where she’ll play with full symphony orchestras, which I would now KILL to see. Her voice is a bit of an acquired taste so this album really isn’t for everyone. So maybe give her a bit of a looksee and tell me that you’re not a little big enamored now. And then buy her new album and get all swept away.

Joanna Newsom, http://www.dragcity.com/bands/newsom.html

R5 Productions, www.r5productions.com/shows.html

Culture File: Papa Sal

This weekend I was on a quest to find a new Saturday night "spot". I was going to find my Peach Pit if it killed me. And if Dylan McKay walked out of the bathroom and in to my heart, that would be ok too.

Sure, there are places that I've had some fun at, but nothing that really hit home. L'Etage, on Bainbridge Street, used to be fun, but I've grown tired of waiting in line to get in, then paying a cover, then fighting for air to stand, let alone dance, not to mention, the horrendous bar service. So L'Etage and I are officially dunzo. The 700 Club in Northern Liberties is a good place except that the cab fare there and back is like a slap in the face when you're already broke. (ok and I may have been the tacky girl that made out with some guy on the dance floor last week and, therefore, am too embarrassed to go back.)

After some serious My Space stalking, I found a new place to try, Upstairs @ Sal's on 12th and Walnut. The convenience of a place so close to my pad could not be beat. So I rounded up my people and trekked out to Sal's around 11ish. It was like a small dance party in Grandma's attic. There is no cover. The service at the bar is excellent and cheap. And the DJs don't suck. They take requests and even come out and groove with you. It was not at all crowded and everybody looked to be having a great time. If you're looking to change up your Saturday night location, I'd highly recommend you and yours check out Upstairs @ Sal's.

Upstairs @ Sal's. 12th and Walnut St.

Lady Sovereign Ain't No Pikey

Don’t ever give a teenager a microphone. Especially, Jay-Z protégés named Lady Sovereign a.k.a. Louise Amanda Harman.

Last night, I went to the Starlight Ballroom to see British phenomenon, Lady Sovereign. In truth, I was excited for the possibility of standing witness to another one of her infamous Philly meltdowns. As usual, a really shitty band opened that made your ears want to bleed. When that was over, I figured Lady Sovereign would take the stage in the next 20 minutes. Not so much. She sat in a booth to the side of the stage with an entourage and chain smoked. I resisted the urge to call out- “Lady Sovereign, your lungs!” The girl is Polly pocket size. Seriously, I wanted to scoop her up in all of her baggy pants, ponytail to the side, and 2 different color eyes glory and put her safely in my pocket.

Eventually she did go on. And I have to say I didn’t love her new album right away, but seeing her perform it live, I was into it. I think I’ll give it another shot. She addressed the incident from last year, where she stormed off stage, and apologized, saying that she watched the You Tube footage of her antics. It was nice to see her poke fun at herself, as she doused the meager audience with beer, flipping us off every 3rd second. She even talked about her menstrual cycle and called everyone pikeys. I mean if that’s not rock star material- I don’t know what is.

Check out Lady Sovereign’s debut- Public Warning.

http://www.ladysovereign.com/

And the guitarist wore Sevens....

There is nothing I love more than my ladies, gangly boys with shaggy hair, alcohol and a dance party. When you combine them all, it’s a guaranteed good night. This was the setting last night at the Ben Kweller concert at the Electric Factory. Ok, so what if my friend won free tickets and we weren't die hard Ben Kweller fans? We knew he was pretty to look at and that makes it all the better.

The night started off a bit bumpy. We had a cab incident where we forked over $20 for a $10 ride. The driver announces that he has no change. We read our passenger rights as posted in the backseat- clearly we are entitled to change of $20. And so we tell him 50 times. There’s some bickering. Yada yada yada, he gets out of the cab and gets change. Eventually, things are resolved and we wander over to the doors of the Electric Factory. After my semi-erotic pat down by the ladies at the door, clutching“the wand” (not the good kind of wand), we enter. Sweet lord, there were a lot of shaggy hair boys in there, bopping around. Three vodka cranberries later, it’s a full fledged dance party. Every teenybopper girl is dancing up a storm, singing along to every word, not to be outdone by a whole bunch of prepubescent guys not ready to come to terms with their inevitable homosexuality. If they’d just come out now, they’d have prom dates. Everybody loves the cute gay boy! Alright, maybe not all of the boys were gay, just the dude behind us in his Ben Kweller t-shirt, perhaps. The band was fun, not too chatty. I was also really impressed that everybody played a variety of instruments. In addition, I certainly (most importantly) noticed that the guitarist wore women's Seven jeans.

New York based Ben Kweller was adorable and we spent the night thinking he was 17, only to be gravely disappointed to later Google him and find out that he’s actually 25- way less exciting. But, he looks 17! He was dreamy in his little indie, red hair bliss. Sigh…Anyway, be sure to check out his latest album, simply titled Ben Kweller.

Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers Dance Party Extravaganza

Ok so ya know when your friend calls you up and says, hey my friend’s band is playing tonight, you should come- they’re really good. And normally you cringe and think crap, how do I get out of this one? Well, this is exactly what did not happen to me last night. I went to see Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers play at the World Café Live. Other than a bitchy waitress, it was really fun.

The Kellogg crew, from Northampton, MA, consists of some very fine looking, lanky, young fellas, which in truth is enough to get me through at least one song. But to my delight, these boys were actually really good and incredibly entertaining! My favorite part of the performance was the acappella rendition of Queens “Fat Bottomed Girls” with complete jazz hands incorporated. The night was chock-full of pop culture references which is enough to make this Girl about Philly swoon. (I mean calling Ashley Simpson- Trashley and dedicating a song to the love match that is Jessica Simpson and John Mayer- c’mon my heart full on flutters!) Ok and even their serious and sappier songs were good and made the World Café dinner/comedy club vibe thing bearable. All in all, it was a great time and I conclude that maybe you should say yes when your friend wants to drag you out to a show. You too may find a band that references In Touch Magazine during their set. Oh heaven.

www.stephenkellogg.com; www.worldcafelive.com

Coffee and Art Galore at Chapterhouse

Sure, everybody has their favorite coffee shop where they can set up shop to scrutinize and mock the wedding pages of The Times (ok, maybe that's just me), as well as, enjoy coffee and pastries. But, this Girl About Philly has found a way to combine both my love of coffee and my utter and sincere devotion to shopping at Bella Vista's Chapterhouse Cafe and Gallery.

Chapterhouse, which is remarkably bright and uncluttered for a coffeehouse, serves organic fair-trade coffee and delicious pastries- (hello awesome cupcakes!) However, I think their real claim to fame lies in all of the art for sale that adorns the walls. Many talented Philly artists are featured and everything is very reasonably priced. The art changes every 2 months. The only drawback is that it takes a couple of weeks for your order to come in so don't wait until the night before your best friend's birthday to buy her that nintendoish looking print that would look super cute in her otherwise fugly bathroom.

Be sure to visit Chapterhouse and check out all of the funky art that is sure to appeal to even the most fickle collector.

Chapterhouse Cafe and Gallery. 620 S. 9th St. (between South and Bainbridge Streets). www.chapterhousecafe.org

Get Your Read On at Joseph Fox Bookshop

In honor of Banned Books Week (September 23-30th) and for all you literary junkies, I decided it’s the perfect time to write about the very picturesque Center City, independent book store, Joseph Fox Bookshop. A small book store, with a prominent focus on art and architecture, the Joseph Fox Bookshop is a haven for anybody who could spend their entire lunch hour (and then some) tucked in the corner of a cozy shop flipping through books. The staff is helpful without being the slightest bit pushy. Anything not available in the store can be ordered. There is even an impressive children’s section nook in the back. The shop also sponsors special events like readings, signings and lectures. Do your part people about Philly, and support the little guy. (You can get your frappuccino and In Touch Magazine on the walk home.)

Joseph Fox Bookshop, 1724 Sansom St., (215) 563-4184, www.foxbookshop.com