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The first time I tried sake, I was 23 and out to dinner with my boyfriend and his father. Trying to hide my inexperience, I took my first sip with an assumed air of sophistication and then totally blew my cool when I exclaimed over the flavor, which was unlike anything I’d ever tasted.

If you’ve never had the opportunity to be wowed by sake, your opportunity is just around the corner. On Tuesday, April 7th, the Loews Philadelphia Hotel will be hosting the 5th Annual Sake Fest, as part of the Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival of Greater Philadelphia.

Participants will have the opportunity to experience dozens of sake varieties and learn how to pair them with any type of food. Samples of both Japanese and American brands will be offered, as well as sakes from regional brewers. Local chefs will serve a selection of appetizers, designed to compliment the various sakes.

The Sake Fest runs from 6:00pm to 8:30pm.  Tickets for the event are $55 per person in advance online and $75 at the door (cash only).  All net proceeds benefit the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia.  Participants must be 21 years or older to attend.  Click here to purchase tickets.

Vibraphonist Khan Jamal, playing at Dahlak on Friday night

Jazz and more… Where I’ll be and where you should be…

TUESDAY 3/31/09
Lucky Thompson & the Budesa Brothers’ Blue Tuesday Open Mic & Jam Session
Leroy’s Showcase Lounge, 4912 Baltimore Ave.
Veteran drummer Lucky Thompson has played with greats like Nina Simone and Patti LaBelle during his long career and led jam sessions all over the city (including at Natalie’s Lounge, where he was the music director for more than 10 years). Lucky and brothers Rich Budesa on keys and Rob Budesa on guitar are single-handedly keeping Philly’s great organ trio tradition alive. If you haven’t heard them play at the Showcase, a neighborhood bar with a friendly staff and a welcoming vibe, then you’re missing out on an essential part of Philly’s jazz scene.
8 p.m., FREE

WEDNESDAY 4/1/09
Ellipsis
Tritone, 1508 South St.
Ellipsis (John Stenger on keys and Justin Leigh on drums), with Mike Taylor (of the Chance Trio) on bass this month, is back at Tritone for their monthly show. This month… Nirvana’s “Nevermind.”
9 p.m., $5

THURSDAY 4/2/09
Dan Blacksberg’s Synthesis Music
Chris’ Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom St.
Trombonist Dan Blacksberg is to be admired for the sheer quantity and variety of his musical projects. He’ll be playing his original jazz compositions tonight, with Carlos Santiago on violin, Leon Boykins on bass, and Dave Flaherty on drums. The trombone-violin combination works surprisingly well.
8 p.m., $10 ($5 for students)

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Last spring when I was touring the Eastern State Penitentiary with friends, we asked a lot of questions about the restoration process. They told us for the upcoming year, they would be working on the Alfred W. Fleisher Memorial Synagogue. This early nineteenth century Quaker-inspired facility not only was one of the first buildings to include indoor plumbing, but also accommodated Jewish living inside the facility.

Saturday and Sunday April 4th and 5th, the completely restored synagogue will finally open its doors to the public. Some workshops next to the synagogue have also been converted into an exhibit on the synagogue’s history and Jewish life over the institution’s 140+ years in operation.

Why see this exhibit on the first weekend in April? You’ll have the esteemed opportunity to meet with the curators and conservators responsible for this magnificent work. Plus, you’ll be part of the first public tour group to see the site in person!

Eastern State Penn
2124 Fairmount Ave, Philadelphia, PA”Ž
(215) 236-5111
www.easternstate.org

 

Got a sweet tooth? Want to find out how people in old times appeased theirs, before they had the ability to indulge in our contemporary cornucopia of sugary options — from gummy worms to Mars Bars to fill-in-your-own-most-disgusting-secret-candy-craving-here?

You can learn all about candy making and eating in the early 20th century by touring Pennypacker Mills between April 1 and October 31, when the historic manor will be supplementing its usual fare with a two-gallery exhibition about chocolate and other assorted wonderfully delicious nutritional garbage that surely made children of that era freak out like little goblins on speed just as much as it does today.

The exhibit will contain five or six hand-cranking machines and other tools used to make and buy candy in the home and in small shops, including clear candy molds and tins and receipts from Whitman’s Chocolates and local confectioner Wilbur, once famous for its Hershey Kisses-like “Buds.”

On June 27th, make candy yourself at a taffy pull from 1-4pm.

The taffy pull and the exhibit are free but the candy you can purchase in the gift shop and the calories you’ll ingest are not.

Pennypacker Mills — Something Sweet: The Confectioner’s World of 1900
5 Haldeman Rd, Schwenksville, PA
(610) 287-9349.

BalletX dancers working on Edwaard Liang’s new ballet. Photo courtesy of BalletX.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I don’t care how much you think you don’t like ballet. You haven’t seen BalletX.

Think of all the adjectives that come to mind when someone says the word ballet: boring, slow, traditional (it’s ok to admit it.) Then, throw them out the window, because BalletX is nothing like the community dance group’s production of The Nutcracker –and is much, much better.

An experimental, Philly-based dance company looking to “bring ballet into the new century”, BalletX fuses classical and modern dance with new music and new culture, for a result that’s interesting, engaging, creative and tuned-in.

Their Spring 2009 series “” a trio of short ballets by resident and guest choreographers “”is no different. Magic and whimsy get things started in The Striped Hat, a delightful, humorous interpretation of The Cat in the Hat, as imagined by artistic director Christine Cox.

Next up is world-renowned choreographer’s Edwaard Liang’s Philadelphia debut “” the details of which are currently a secret (an exquisite secret, if I may venture a guess.)

Finally, co-artistic director Matthew Neenan closes things out with Wonder Why, a moving piece set to the music of the Sinead O’Connor.

The show runs for one week only at the Wilma Theater “” and we’re not joking when we say you should get your tickets early, before they sell out. Because unlike The Nutcracker, this show won’t come around again the same time next year”¦

BalletX Spring Series 2009 at the Wilma Theater, April 4-11, 2009
265 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA
(215) 546-7824
www.balletx.org

The latest iteration of documentarian/survivalist tramp/Guggenheim filmmaking fellow Bill Daniel‘s traveling art show, “The Great Depression,” is showing in April at the Space.

Daniel (b. Dallas TX 1959) is a self-taught filmmaker who came up in the early 80s Texas punk world, which he extensively photographed and documented in his book Texas Punk Pioneers. Since, he’s been active in recording radical and outsider lifestyles and practices, most notably hobo train graffiti.

For “The Great Depression,” Daniel’s covering the Space in photographs, found objects, and travel debris from his sailvan and projecting video onto the assemblage. Taken together, the mess asks visitors to consider “social and environmental collapse at the end of the petroleum era.” The work also throws light on the secret, dirty worlds that Daniel has long occupied, and serves as a great document to the free-flying American wilderness that, I suspect, many people forget still exists.

The opening is on Friday the 3rd at 6pm; there are performances on Saturday at 7pm by Sweatheart and The Extraordinaires. The latter costs $5.

Space 1026
1026 Arch St, Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 574-7630
www.space1026.com

Bryce Dessner and his brother Aaron

Abraham Lincoln’s been getting a lot of attention lately. President Obama brings up honest Abe every chance he gets and a new book depicts Lincoln’s First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln, as a Paris-Hiltonesque Paparazzi queen. Plus, this year is Lincoln’s 200th birthday.

To celebrate, The Rosenbach Museum and Library has created 21stCenturyAbe.com, an interactive website filled with cool stuff about the former President.

One of the coolest elements is a musical project spearheaded by Bryce Dessner, songwriter and guitarist for the rock group The National. Dessner wrote a series of songs called Lincoln Shuffle. The songs are inspired by popular music from Lincoln’s era and include variances on his first inaugural address and Lincoln’s favorite song, “Dixie.”

Dessner will perform the songs with a few other acoustic musicians at the Rosenbach on April 2 at 6:30, reservations required. Sure, you can listen to songs on 21stCenturyAbe.com. But hearing the pieces live, on acoustic instruments is the authentic way to do it “” it’s how Abe would have done it.

Lincoln Shuffle @ The Rosenbach
Thursday, April 2, 6:30 p.m
Tickets: $12/members, $20/non-members

Rosenbach Museum & Library
2008-2010 Delancey Place, Philadelphia, PA
(215) 732-1600
www.rosenbach.org

Whether you always admired those couples shaking it up on Salsa rhythms at Cuba Libre and Brasil, or you want to impress your friends and family at the next wedding outing with a sultry Tango, dance lessons might be something you’ve been thinking about for a while without ever taking the first step.

How about giving it a shot for free? Tempting, right? And this April, absolutely possible at Society Hill Dance Academy! The “Best of Philly” winner dance studio is giving you up to 6 free passes to try out their group lessons. From Salsa to Swing, Waltz to Tango, Argentine Tango to Hip Hop, the open class calendar has something for you!

How to? Easy! Stop”"by their Center City (corner of 2nd & Pine Street) or Manayunk (at Beat Street Station) location during the whole month of April, and roll the big red die. The number you get is the number of free lessons you’ll be able to take. Right on time for wedding & beach holiday season!

Check out the class calendar at www.societyhilldance.com

Society Hill Dance Academy
401 S 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA 19147
(215) 574-3574
www.societyhilldance.com

Stephen Colbert

News flash! Tune in to The Colbert Report tonight at 11:30 p.m. (ET) to catch Philly astronomer Derrick Pitts.

Pitts, the Chief Astronomer at The Franklin, will be talking about Galileo, the Medici and the Age of Astronomy, the world-premiere exhibition debuting April 4.

For the uninitiated: The Colbert Report is on Comedy Central and is ridiculous in all the right ways. Don’t you dare miss it!

UPDATE: Video below.

Photo by J. Smith for GPTMC

Started as the Philadelphia Book Festival in 2007, this year’s Free Library Festival marks the third year in which the Central Library opens its doors and spills out onto the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for a grand, two-day celebration of the written word.

Festivities begin promptly at 11 am on April 18th and fill the daylight hours on both Saturday and Sunday. With more than 50 writers and artists participating, as well as 100+ exhibitors setting up in the Street Fair and Literary Marketplace, this is a must-attend for book lovers and ravenous readers alike.

Some of the event highlights include readings by Susan Orlean, Joyce Carol Oates and Philly’s own Solomon Jones. Musical performers include Kristin Chenoweth, Peter Yarrow and Trout Fishing in America. There’s a full day of kid-friendly programming scheduled as well, making it a perfect city day-trip for suburban families. The events on Saturday are capped off by a Philly vs. Chicago Story Slam, sponsored by First Person Arts.