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Wandering Alice

On Saturday May 9th, this corner of Frankford and Girard Avenue will be hosting Nichole Canuso Dance Company’s (NCDC) first Annual Benefit Cabaret. No joke, a lot of talent will be crammed into one night, including an excerpt from NCDC’s sold-out 2008 Live Arts Festival hit Wandering Alice. The show begins at 8:30 pm and costs just $15.00 if purchased in advance, $20.00 at the door.

NCDC redefines interpretive dance as they showcase the complexities of human emotions and behaviors often left unnoticed in daily life. Nichole Canuso is not only the Artistic Director but choreographer. The benefit proceeds will allow Nichole Canuso Dance Company to continue its mission of supporting the creation of dance projects that exist at the crossroads of movement, visual art, and theater.

The full event concludes with a midnight dance party with DJ Laris Kreslins. Consider your Saturday night taken care of! Featured events to include a Magic Photo Booth by photographer JJ Tiziou, tarot card readings, and made-to-order hand puppets.

Johnny Brenda’s
1201 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19125
(215) 739-9684
www.johnnybrendas.com

Over 240,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with invasive breast cancer ever year. Become one of hundreds to do something great for your body while doing something to help, by participating in this year’s Yoga Unites fundraiser for Living Beyond Breast Cancer.

Living Beyond Breast Cancer’s (LLBC) mission is “to empower all women affected by breast cancer to live as long as possible with the best quality of life.” LLBC assists women through all stages of breast cancer, from diagnosis to recovery with special programs for targeted groups as well as caregivers and healthcare providers.

How do you get involved? Just register for the event ($30 in advance, $40 the day-of) and email your contact list to ask for additional donations. Then join hundreds of participants on May 14th on the steps of the Art Museum for a morning yoga class with the best view in the city. After your sun salutations, fuel-up at the provided light breakfast and check out more ways to make good choices for your body at the Healthy Living Expo.

You can participate solo, or get a team of downward-facing-dog buddies together to raise funds and awareness for LLBC! For more information and registration, visit their official website.

On the surface, it seems like an unlikely scenario: a brooding balladeer from the mid-nineties achieves commercial success by writing sappy love tunes and then disappears only to reemerge on Broadway and win several Tony awards. Sounds like the plot of a bad movie. But Duncan Sheik spent the nineties trying to get kids to make out. Now people pay hundreds of dollars to see it on stage. You could say he has come full circle.

After performing at Glenside’s Keswick Theater back in March, Sheik’s work will return again to Philadelphia as the Academy of Music hosts Spring Awakening. The play, which Sheik wrote all the music for, comes to the Academy for 8 performances beginning on June 23rd. Tickets go on sale today to coincide, fittingly, with the first day of spring.

Spring Awakening is the story of teenage sexual exploration in late 19th century Germany. Angry at their parents and teachers for not properly educating them on the ways of sex, a group of teens set out to learn for themselves.

The soundtrack has drawn crossover interest from fans not usually interested in musicals because of its accessible folk-rock and alt-rock tunes capable of standing on their own, out of the play’s context. It has also reignited the career of Duncan Sheik, who is now on a national tour.

We recommend you get your tickets quickly. This is a limited Broadway Series engagement, with only 8 performances over 5 days. So don’t miss your chance to see Broadway come to Broad Street with Spring Awakening, hitting the Academy of Music June 23rd.

Academy of Music
240 S Broad St, Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215) 893-1935
www.academyofmusic.org

Inside the store

Due to some wallet shrinkage, you may be tightening your belt lately – but hey, it might as well be a fashionable belt.

One of Old City’s don’t-miss shopping destinations, Sugarcube, is hosting their very own stimulus package featuring “SugarBucks”. The trendy indy boutique is releasing their eponymous currency in increments of 10, 25, 50, 75, 100 and 125, which can then be used for future purchases. Buy $100 worth of merchandise, earn 10 SugarBucks, buy $175, earn 25, and so on. Added bonus: bring pals who spend at least $200 each and earn 10 SugarBucks for yourself, per friend, even if you leave without your own shopping bag.

The chic shop, with edgy decor like antlers mounted on brick walls, houses both contemporary and vintage styles for men and women alike. You’ll find lines from both the U.S. and Europe, like Steven Alan, Saja, Bing Bang Jewelry, Wooden Ships and Sid Vintage. The spacious and well-lit showroom packs in an expertly curated collection of clothing, accessories and jewelry. The program is in place until the last day of June, so book it down there.

SugarCube
124 North 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 238-0825
www.sugarcube.us

Pat Steir, Spectrum Painting, 2009, oil on canvas

Washington Square has always been an important site for Philadelphia’s visitors. Besides the beautiful park, it’s a wonderful area for boutique shopping and the arts. For more than forty years, visitors and locals continue to return to Locks Gallery at 600 Washington Square South. Beyond the works of critically respected and international contemporary artists, there is also a wide variety emerging local artists featured in the gallery exhibition program.

Right now the gallery is featuring Pat Steir: Paintings on Painting. This is her third exhibition exploring a history of paint through hard lines of color.

The gallery has always found success in building relationships with native artists and introducing them to a national audience. I’m talking about Thomas Chimes, Jane Irish, Eileen Neff, Stuart Netsky, and one of my pop art favs Edna Andrade. Full-color catalogues including essays by leading critics and art historians are present throughout all exhibitions. Paintings on Painting will remain at Locks Gallery through May 19, 2009.

Locks Gallery
600 Washington Square South, Philadelphia PA 19106
(215) 629-1000
www.locksgallery.com

SoleFood, the Restaurant in the Loews Hotel, is upping the ante, offering a three-course prix fixe dinner for two for just $40.

Considering one three-course prix fixe dinner costs $35 during Restaurant Week, this deal classifies as a definite DEAL.

Each diner gets to choose a first and second course as well as enjoy a chef’s selection for desert.

Bonus: The $40 SoleFood Stimulus three-course prix fixe menu for two people includes a $10 gift card for a return visit

Can you say value?

The spring SoleFood Stimulus menu is below as a PDF.

Click on the image to preview it.

CLICK HERE to view the SoleFood Stimulus menu.

CLICK HERE for more information on the SoleFood website.

SoleFood Restaurant [Gophila.com]

Photo courtesy of Le Bec-Fin

If Pat’s and Geno’s are Philadelphia’s temples of the everyman, then Le Bec-Fin is this city’s Versailles.

The premier French restaurant is as famous as any institution in this city. But, with its near-immaculate reputation, some may assume that those who dine there should be oil tycoons or chairmen of the board of this-or-that. Not so.

Le Bec-Fin recently unveiled a $35, three-course dinner (offered every night except Sunday, when the restaurant is closed). That’s a generous offer anywhere; but here, it’s a scrumptious steal hinting at ridiculous. So on a perfect Spring night, my best friend and I got dolled up and crossed the fancy threshold into Le Bec-Fin, excited to dabble in fine dining without breaking the bank.

Cloaked in crystal chandeliers, the main dining room was delicate with a touch of romance. Our friendly server made every effort to make us feel comfortable, even responding with “Excellent!” when we ordered the least expensive wine.

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Philadanco: at the Kimmel this Saturday

FRIDAY

First Friday
Go out and see art. If the weather holds, drink sangria at Bar Ferdinand or many brews outside at The Sidecar. Pet a dog, ride a bike, drive up and down Roosevelt Blvd with the bass turned up, whatever, it’s summer now. If it rains sit on the porch and let it rain.

Hip Hop Lives
M Room, Frankford and Girard
Not sure whether I know how this night is pronounced – is it like “Funk zombies live” or “Lives of the Lords of Rap” (in my brain it’s the latter)? – but I am fairly certain I know what it contains. Classics blasting from 10pm. $7.

SATURDAY

New Faces: Choreographers for the Future
Kimmel Center, Broad and Locust
Philadanco presents new work by choreographers Zane Booker, Camille Brown, Hope Boykin and Tony Powell. Lois covered it at the link above. 2:30pm Saturday and Sunday. Tickets from $30 here.

Philadelphia Independent Craft Market
941 N Front
Local counterpoint to the Paradise City fest (see below) with 50 odd crafters repping. Buy local. 11am-5pm, free.

SUNDAY

Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Mike Relm, Bukue One
First Unitarian Church, 22nd and Chestnut
The rap titan behind Deltron 3030, Hieroglyphics, the first Gorillaz record and “I Wish My Brother George Was Here,” at the Unitarian Church. Guaranteed to be killer. 8pm, $14.

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First Friday. It’s one of Philadelphia’s coolest traditions. But let’s face it: Old City can get pretty crowded and stuffy on those first Friday nights of every month. Plus, Philadelphia’s got a whole lot more arts and culture that just doesn’t fit into the Old City vibe.

Why not head a few blocks north and check out Kensington’s Frankford Ave. First Fridays? If you haven’t checked it out before, May 1st is the perfect time to start. As the weather gets better and better, Frankford’s First Friday will have more outdoor events going, beginning with some outdoor seating at the green lot by The Cycle Garage, with local music and art performances to follow. Another outdoor space, aptly named The Caterpillar (Frankford and Susquehanna), will host guitarist Jose Diaz this Friday.

You can also check out Frankford’s newest gallery, 2424 Studios, which is hosting the University of the Arts 2009 MFA Thesis Exhibition for book arts and printmaking. Other galleries include Proximity, Goldfish, Highwire and Perpetua, all of which feature a new artist every month (Click here for a complete list of venues and events).

After taking in some art, you can catch some acoustic jams at Walking Fish Theater or some swing music at Memphis Flats, or grab some coffee and more art at The Rocket Cat Cafe.

In an ideal world, it’d be possible to hit up Old City’s First Friday events and Frankford’s happenings, but it’ll take more than one Friday to get through everything Frankford has to offer. Luckily the whole summer is ahead of us.

Frankford First Friday
Frankford Ave., Kensington
www.frankfordavearts.org

Gourmets around Philly can celebrate another option for marketplace shopping. The Marketplace at East Falls has been open only a short time, but has attracted a variety of specialty vendors. Here’s your chance to do some one-stop shopping without having to step foot into a grocery store.

Peruse the isles filled with culinary creations, everything from handmade pasta at Pappardelle Pasta to Crossing Vineyards and Winery, to Brian’s Best Pastries and you’ll have everything you need to make one scrumptious dinner. For those less inclined to cook, grab a good meal from the Plenti Grand Cafe, who boasts menu items from breakfast munchies to specialty sandwiches like the London Broil Panini.

Philly favs like DiBruno’s cheese and Metropolitan Bakery can also be found in this former home of the world’s first business computer, the UNIVAC 1. What could be better than shopping in the Commercial Digital Computer Birthplace?

The Marketplace at East Falls is open Tuesday through Thursday, from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M. and is open late on Friday til 7 P.M. Weekend hours are 9 A.M. to 6 P.M. on Saturday and 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. on Sunday.

The Marketplace at East Falls
3747 Ridge Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19132
(215) 228-0969
www.marketplaceateastfalls.com