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icepack By A.D. Amorosi
³ FOR PHILLY CINEASTES,autumn holds great certainty: the reopening of Sansom Street’s Roxy, the Philadelphia Film Fest in October and Liam Neeson showing up for the Prince’s Schindler’s List mega-screening. This week started with some mixed messages, though. Sure, the city’s own Lee Daniels — and Lee, as a fellow Philly-ite, can I say I miss your wild hair? — had the top slot with The Butler and its estimated $25 million opening weekend. But the 2012 filmed-in-Philly Paranoia, which opened Friday, was not only the worst debut of the year (hell, I’ve made more than $3.5 million in three days), it came in 13th — the worst opening weekend of Harrison Ford’s entire career. ³ I haven’t been by the ’70s-theme-park-like Fire & Ice on Market Street in Old City yet, but the extra-large nightclub/eatery is hosting a party on Aug. 28 for the just-started local cable television show, Philly Fashion 360. Hosted by Ron Wilch, 360 seems to be lo-fi-local-loco-fashionista fun. OK, I’ll bite. Wilch, however, will postpone his Philly Fashion Expo until February 2014. “Due to a calendar conflict, we as a fashion community will respect and honor our friends in the industry during one of the holiest days of the year, Yom Kippur,” writes Wilch. ³ Readers of Icepack and City Paper in general know how deep my affection and admiration runs for award-winning local poet, caftan-wearer, Absinthe Drinkers collaborator and overall wordsy guru CA Conrad.This week, Conrad drops his new poetry chapbook, Act Like Polka Dot on Minnie Mouse’s Skirt. Available through Brian Teare’s Albion Books, Polka is printed in a radically limited edition, hand-sewn and done up on a handmade letterpress. ³ Marc Vetri is heading to Moorestown Mall for his second (in a series of?) Osteria location soon, but before he does he’ll go rustic and red gravy-y with the anticipated Pizzeria Vetri at The Granary on 19th and Callowhill. Look for it Sept. 6. ³ With the rush of networks running to Philly to strike gold in the reality-television stakes, why shouldn’t Storage Wars hit us up? Rumor has it that the A&E show’s people strolled Cheesesteak Row and headed to Geno’s. If true, that’s gotta mean one thing: Storage Wars went across the street and tucked into the late Joey Vento’s wealth of motorcycle gear, police ephemera and stacks of creepy life-sized cardboard cutout standups of himself. ³ On Aug. 24, The Legendary Dobbs will feel the wrath of Star II Sun, fronted by Jacky Bam Bam’s buddy Rod Templeton. It’s RT’s birthday, by the way. SIIS has been holed up in the studio working on what’s supposed to be an autumn release, The Phoenix. ³ You’ll find lots more wow factors in Icepack Illustrated every Thursday at citypaper.net/criticalmass. (a_amorosi@citypaper.net)
KEEP UPRIGHT: Photos of Kid Hazo’s faux street signs, like this one establishing a unicycle lane, have been making the rounds on the Internet. KID HAZO
[ street art ]
KH: The project was inspired by NYC-based artists TrustoCorp, a
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brilliant duo that created an array of hilarious street signs. They were taken down a few years ago and I wanted to do something similar, but directly related to Philly.
Kid Hazo establishes a unicycle lane and more with absurd but real-looking street signs.
CP: Why were they taken down?
By Jordyn Horowitz
M
any street artists alter existing street signs with paint or stickers. Philly’s “Kid Hazo” (who, like most of his kind, prefers to remain anonymous) creates his own. His installations, generally screwed onto existing city signposts below legitimate signs, mimic municipal design and materials well enough to blend right in if you’re not looking closely. But the messages are absurd: In Love Park, one official-looking sign cautions passersby about vampire squirrels. On a pay phone at Fifth and South, a skyblue sign prohibits the use of the Throwback Thursday hashtag. Another in Center City establishes a unicycle lane, complete with an actual unicycle locked to the signpost. (You can see photos of more of his installations at kidhazo.com.) We talked to Hazo about faking authenticity, Rocky and unicycle spoke cards. City Paper : Let’s start with your name. Where did it come from? Kid Hazo: I loved the idea of the hazard symbol, popping out to
alert you, and I wanted to derive a name from that. “Hazo” came from hazard. It’s totally made up. I Googled it and didn’t find anything, so I decided to use it. CP: How did you come up with the idea for these signs?
KH: If it’s not installed by a specific institution, people sometimes
have a problem with it. Street art has a very short shelf life. CP: Is that the main reason for your anonymity? KH: Whether it’s legal or not, right now, I’m not so sure how it will
Cautioning people about vampire squirrels.
be taken by authorities. I keep my name under wraps for now. If someone does have a problem with it, it will be a little harder to find me. [Laughs.]
CP: You also list Philly-based street artists like yarnbomber Ishknits and Joe Boruchow, who does large, black-and-white paper-cut-looking installations, as influences — what did you take away from their work? KH: I love street art in general as a culture, especially with props. Joe maps his work around certain objects in the city, like mailboxes and doors. He shapes his work around the environment. For Ishknits, she knits work that makes things that are drab become colorful. She involves you, so when you’re walking up to something you have to look twice. I think that’s part of the fun of street art in general — to make sure people aren’t seeing the same >>> continued on page 20