the list VALLEY
CITY — GEOFF GEHMAN
Ralph Nader famously declared the Corvair “unsafe at any speed.” Ah, but how would the consumer warrior judge a Corvair pickup outfitted as a boat? This one-off folly, handsomely painted white and fireengine red, highlights the many magnetic attractions at America on Wheels, a candy store without cavities. The museum offers a welcoming, surprising tour of domestic transportation—trucking to mountain biking, Model As to motorcycle rockets. Sleek treats include a 1933 Hupmobile Convertible Coupe, a two-tone sculpture styled by Raymond Loewy, who designed the Coke bottle. Sexy treats include one of 419 1961 Corvettes painted Jewel Blue with white coves, towing a kindred speed boat with tail fins. History is elevated by ads, photo murals, toys and a garage-like space documenting the restoration process. Allentown is splendidly exhibited as a vehicular ground zero: a former hot spot for hot rodding; the 19th-century birthplace of the Nadig, arguably the first horseless carriage. Loads of exquisite details--the skyscraper grille of a 1937 Hupmobile Rumble Seat Coupe; a 1969 Buick Sport Wagon’s greenhouse windows—trace the long-lost days when cars were aesthetic experiences and epiphanies. (5 N. Front St., Allentown, slightly north of the Hamilton Street bridge over the Lehigh River; 610-432-4200; americaonwheels.org) Anthony “Tunsie” Jabbour’s mother taught him to treat pretty much everyone, especially strangers, as long-lost relatives. He practices his mom’s open-arms preaching at the Lafayette Bar, his casually cosmopolitan jazz joint. Set in a low-rent hotel, it hosts high-rent improvisers in a long rectangular room with a tin ceiling, walls festooned with beer memorabilia and a high-voltage bar. A dark space has been lit up by pianist David Leonhardt, who gigged with vocalist Jon Hendricks and saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman, and soprano saxophonist Dave Liebman, a former Miles Davis partner and NEA Jazz Master. Resident bassist Gene Perla accompanied Frank Sinatra and leads a quartet with singer Viktorija Gecyte, a Lithuanian native who in 2005 launched the bar’s jazz series while studying at Lafayette College. Extra added bonuses include affordable beers from all over the map; a United Nations crowd, and Jabbour, an irrepressible saloon/salon keeper. The Easton native wears a fez (“People think I’m a Shriner”), tells spicy stories (“I like to say I push buttons”), and spouts jazzy mantras (“Jazz is a feeling: you either feel it, or you CONTINUED
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Geoff Gehman is a former arts writer for The Morning Call in Allentown and the author of five books, including Planet Mom: Keeping an Aging Parent from Aging, The Kingdom of the Kid: Growing Up in the LongLost Hamptons, and Fast Women and Slow Horses: The (mis)Adventures of a Bar, Betting and Barbecue Man (with William Mayberry). He lives in Bethlehem. geoffgehman@verizon.net 14
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N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 2 | I C O N D V. C O M
— A.D. AMOROSI
In November, everyone is thankful and not thankful all at once. Happy to eat the T-Day meal that brought America together (well, Plymouth Rock, at the very least) in the first place but not does much else to get us to such a state of grace and appreciation. That’s OK. I’m tired of turkey anyway. Which is funny because, once upon a time, white linen and fast-casual restaurants in the area never touched a meal with that bird and didn’t stay open for Thanksgiving—think Jean Shepard’s racist A Christmas Story where everything was closed save for Chinese restaurants. Now, there isn’t a place that isn’t ready for the hungry Thursday with all the niblets and giblets you can eat. The elections are November 8. That’s a thing. I’m trying not to care because I don’t really like or trust anyone running for anything save for Josh Shapiro, and I’m only for him because he is pro-women’s bodily rights and against all things Larry Krasner. Both are reasons enough to vote, so yeah. Did you know that the Kimmel Campus Presents is hosting a pairing of Pink Martini and The Philadelphia Orchestra featuring China Forbes at Verizon Hall on November 3? This is where kitsch and Yannick meet for the bubbliest silliest orchestration since Esquivel met Mantovanni courtesy of forever Pink Martini label boss, arranger, curator, and arranger Thomas Lauderdale. Can I admit something to you, confidentially, that I’m hoping that Ralph Macchio will clear up for me when he gets to Philly’s Parkway Central Library on November 10? I don’t get the popularity of him and The Karate Kid and the whole Cobra Kai thing at Netlfix that came of its popularity. Not in 1984 when it first dropped, not when slap-happy Will Smith and his kid Jaden took a crack at it in 2000, and certainly not when Netflix extended its legend (?!) with Cobra Kai’s now multiple seasons arcs—all of them at Number 1 in the streaming network ratings. Is it a kid thing? No, I was a kid when it came out the first time and the whole “wax on, wax off” and “sweep the leg” bits were a frigging mystery to me. Maybe Macchio will explain as he discusses his new autobiography Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me (WHICH IS CONTINUED
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A.D. Amorosi is a Los Angeles Press Club National Art and Entertainment Journalism award-winning journalist and national public radio host and producer (WPPM.org’s Theater in the Round) married to a garden-to-table cooking instructor + award-winning gardener, Reese, and father to dogdaughter Tia.
