Concert Previews John Train John Train is the Philadelphia roots quintet that is the Americana outlet for skilled storytelling songwriter Jon Houlon (who also fronts garage band The Donuts). The band has just released A Wig and a Wonder (Chapter 7) its first album of new material in six years. Produced by Dobro player Mike "Slo-Mo" Brenner and John Anthony the accomplished 12-song set covers Kenn Kweder's "A Girl Like You Around" and Bob Dylan's "Born In Time." >> read more or comment
Thanks for Four Years of Awesome It was a (presumably) cold November day in 2006 when I made my humble debut on Phillyist with a post called Elevating My Frustration. It was about elevator etiquette. I've come a long way since then. I featured interesting Twitter users and hope some of them will follow us into the future at @keypulp. I wrote not one but two posts on the mysterious Toynbee tiles. The local sleuths who spent years investigating them were the subject of a Sundance-winning documentary called Ressurect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles. [ more › ]
A Little Friendly Advice For Our South Philly Neighbors As we make our way to work in the aftermath of yet another winter storm with no running buses many of us will be digging out cars and braving the treacherous streets of Philadelphia. Later upon returning home from work far too many people will be faced with the reality that some a-hole stole their perfectly sculpted parking space during the day forcing them to park presumably near the Sports Complex. [ more › ]
ArtIST: Mami Kato As this is Phillyist's last ArtIST post we're pleased to be ending the series with artist Mami Kato. A Japanese citizen Kato was born and raised in Japan before coming to Philadelphia to attend the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts) on a transfer program. After moving back to Japan for a spell she relocated to Philadelphia permanently eighteen years ago. For more insight into the career of this artIST keep reading. [ more › ]
The 2011 State of the Union Under normal circumstances we here at Phillyist post a video each day that in some way pertains to Philadelphia or its surrounding area. Since all that's really going on today is snow snow freezing rain and more snow we're going to go national instead and share last night's State of the Union address in its entirety in case you missed it or wish to argue with your computer monitor a little more. Whether you're Democrat Republican Independent or a Teabagger take a look. Even if you don't agree with what's being said it's important for you to have an understanding of the political atmosphere in this country right now if only so that you can go complain to Twitter about it later. [ more › ]
En Garde! This past Saturday Penn hosted the Philadelphia Invitational a season-opening men's and women's fencing event that saw fencing squads from schools such as Duke and UNC don their plastrons and knickers and do sabered battle in University City. Penn's men's team ranked seventh nationally was totally dominant. They went a perfect 6–0 on the day only coming close to defeat against Duke. Here's a quick video recap with an interview with Penn junior Vidur Kapur. Errol Flynn ain't got shit on these bucklers of swash. [ more › ]
Yo Philly In the News Local student gets to sit next to Michelle Obama local community group wins a grant from the Dept. of Education and more in this morning's news! [ more › ]
Phillyist Playlist: Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield at World Cafe Live What better cure for the Monday blues than a little alt-rock fantasy soap opera of sorts at the World Cafe Live? Tonight we have Evan Dando [MySpace] and Juliana Hatfield [MySpace] two former poster children of the grunge movement with a lot of history together. Both from Boston Hatfield and Dando have gone through various iterations of living together rumored knocking boots (Hatfield says she belongs to "a distinguished though probably small group of girls who can claim the distinction of having said no to going all the way with Evan Dando ... I lost my virginity to Spike Jonze") breaking hearts and making music over the last twenty-five years. They recently reunited for two shows in New York City which then inspired a small fall tour through the East Coast that continues into University City tonight. [ more › ]
Current Exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art:
Journeys to New Worlds: Spanish and Portuguese Colonial Art from the Roberta and Richard Huber Collection February 16 2013 - May 19 2013: With a rare group of paintings decorative arts and sculptures from the collection of Roberta and Richard Huber Journeys to New Worlds explores the artistic exchanges between Spain and Portugal and their colonies in the Americas and Asia during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/777.htmlFebruary 16 2013 >> read more or comment
"Great and Mighty Things": Outsider Art from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection March 3 2013 - June 9 2013: The power of self-taught artistic talent the drive of the human spirit to create and the wonders of highly original inner worlds revealed. These are just a few of the reasons why the Philadelphia Museum of Art is proud to debut the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection a promised gift to the Museum of more than two hundred works by self-taught artists.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/768.htmlMarch 3 2013 >> read more or comment
The Art of Golf March 16 2013 - July 7 2013: The Golfers (1847) an iconic work by Scottish painter Charles Lees (1800–1880) is the centerpiece of The Art of Golf an exhibition celebrating what has been called “a game of considerable passion” on the occasion of the U.S. Open Championships which will be played in June at the Merion Golf Club in Ardmore Pennsylvania.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/782.htmlMarch 16 2013 >> read more or comment
CandyCoated Wonderland May 4 2013 - November 17 2013: Multimedia artist Candy Coated blends nineteenth- and twentieth-century children's fancy dress costumes from the Museum's collection into a rich wonderland of colorful vinyl decals ceramic wall gems hand-screened fabrics and wallpapers in the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building's Joan Spain Gallery.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/785.htmlMay 4 2013 >> read more or comment
Cy Twombly: Sculptures April 14 2012 - May 27 2013: Taking cues from the Dada movement andfrom the work of Swiss sculptor AlbertoGiacometti Cy Twombly (American 1928–2011) created poetic objects whose serenewhite surfaces and allusive forms seem torecall remote worlds of myth and the ancientpast. After reaching an indisputable maturityin his early sculpture created from 1946 to1959 Twombly returned to working in threedimensions in the mid-1970s and continuedto cast new works up until his passing in 2011.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/771.htmlApril 14 2012 >> read more or comment
Notations: Sean Scully July 28 2012 - July 14 2013: Sean Scully’s paintings speakeloquently to the history ofabstraction engaging in apassionate conversation withthe legacies of Abstract Expressionismand Minimalism whileoffering new models for thecontinuing role of nonfigurativeart.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/769.htmlJuly 28 2012 >> read more or comment
Photogravure: Master Prints from the Collection May 11 2013 - August 11 2013: Photogravure a printmaking process that combines elements of aquatint etching and photography was a prized medium among artist-photographers of the late nineteenth century who labored over their hand-pulled prints.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/789.htmlMay 11 2013 >> read more or comment
Starting from Scratch: The Art of Etching from Dürer to Dine May 11 2013 - August 11 2013: Starting from Scratch showcases more than seventy of the Museum’s finest etchings demonstrating the ways in which some of history’s most famous artists have embraced the medium to create original and dynamic works of art.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/790.htmlMay 11 2013 >> read more or comment
Homage to Ellsworth Kelly April 27 2013 - August 25 2013: Presented on the occasion of the artist’s ninetieth birthday this installation brings together a selection of four works that span Ellsworth Kelly’s prolific oeuvre. One of the most prominent artists of the postwar period Kelly is known for his explorations of contrasting formal relationships: flat color versus depth shape and scale.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/792.htmlApril 27 2013 >> read more or comment
All Dressed Up: Fashions for Children and Their Families December 21 2012 - December 1 2013: All Dressed Up: Fashions for Children and Their Families focuses on clothing from the late eighteenth through mid-twentieth centuries comparing and contrasting adults' apparel with children’s smaller styles.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/786.htmlDecember 21 2012 >> read more or comment
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