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5 / CITY BEAT
worked the crowd of mostly Penn students and West Philadelphians as volunteer Penn bartenders poured fortified Portuguese Madeira, favorite drink of French novelist George Sand and Frederic Chopin as well as the Founding Fathers—George Washington drank a pint a day—while a few teetotalers stuck to cranberry juice. When we looked around for Center City people we were told that The Woodlands is still too much of a secret in Philly, but she hopes to change that. We wondered how this could be, given the mansion’s spectacular setting and history. On hand was the Dill Pickle Old Time Orchestra (610-4361000) featuring Charley Handy, Zach Say, Brenden Skire, Nikoli Fox, and Eliza Jones (of the award-winning group Buried Bed). The band played a mixture of American old time string band music, Tin Pan Alley and 18th century fiddle tunes, not quite causing the dead outside to awaken, but almost. When we heard that local author Sarto Schickel was going to speak about his book, Cancer Healing Odyssey (Paxdieta Books) at the First Unitarian Church in Center City, we headed over with a few friends. Schickel, who is tall with mesmerizing eyes, told us the story of his wife, Sun Hee, diagnosed with ovarian cancer and a collapsed lung, but who has been possibly cured through a macrobiotic diet, a touch of chemo, along with a trip to the Gerson Clini in Mexico, where cancers tend to disappear after extensive juice therapy and coffee enemas. If this sounds to you like Sci-Fi, we recommend Schnickel’s book as a sturdy case study. In fact, Schnickel’s presentation was so good we decided it was PBS-worthy and wondered why he wasn’t doing this on television. By the end of Schickel’s presentation, we weren’t even all that spooked by the coffee enema thing, even if we prefer Starbucks to “down there” injections. We headed to the Radnor Hotel on the Main Line to help celebrate Bernie Robbins Jewelry’s 50th anniversary, but arrived late, just after the winner of the first annual Student Design Contest was announced—Raymond Hakimi, from New York’s FIT. Students from fashion schools and colleges were invited to submit three pieces in September. A Facebook vote was held with the finalists going before Robbins’ executive team and a panel of celebrity judges, one of whom was Ivana Trump. We learned from Cashman and Associates’ Laura Krebs that the owners, Harvey and Maddy Rovinsky, do know a lot of high-end celebrities. Yet Harvey and Maddy weren’t obsessing on star power that night but on Hakimi’s win and the presence of their infant granddaughter, their first, bundled up in a portable mini crib set atop a jewelry case, a juxtaposition proving that life’s real jewels are not the ones under glass. We spoke to winner Hakimi, whose design will be produced and sold in all seven Bernie Robbins stores. Also on hand was Ilaria Lanzoni, one of the celebrity judges, whose Hearts on Fire jewelry design company in Boston has taken that city by storm. “I met Ilaria at the Trevi Fountain in Rome,” Harvey said, his eyes lighting up like sapphire diamonds. The Trevi Fountain—can anything be more fortuitous? Today’s 20-something’s will never know the eclectic mix that was the 1960s and 1970s, when life, politics and art had a special kind of power. There was Andy Warhol riding his bicycle through the streets of Manhattan, Allen Ginsberg chewing on his harmonica, Yoko Ono in a box and Ed Sanders and the Fugs providing musical accompaniment as thousands shouted, “Hell no, we won’t go.” Posters, illustrations and other ephemera linked to the years around the counterculture can be found in the Collab Gallery in PMA’s Perelman Building. Titled Double Portrait, famous husband and wife team, Paula Scher and Seymour Chwast, fresh in from New York City to receive the annual Collab Design Excellent Award, led us around the gallery where we were hit with more images than we could process. On display was Chwast’s best political work of the 1960s, antiwar posters like “End Bad Breath” (1968), created to protest the U.S. bombing of Hanoi and “War is Good Business: Invest Your Son” (1967). Paula, who describes herself as “a designer who illustrates,” met Seymour when she was an art student at Tyler School of Art. Who knows why Philly journalists didn’t show up for the Double Portrait preview in droves— any hints as to what motivates them? Chwast’s posters speak to a kind of genius in this age of mouse-controlled digital Photoshop “art” which can only hope to ascend to the heights of the work of real graphic designers. Then again, Paula would castigate us for this sentiment. “You can’t be a designer and say, ‘Oh, this is timeless.’ Nothing is timeless,” she’s been quoted as saying. And she’s right. ■ 8
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5 / BACKSTAGE WITH BRUCE KLAUBER
portunities for singers like him dried up, and he seemed to have fallen off the radar. But it’s nice to have discover that he returned to the scene not long ago. He now lives in Florida, works frequently at the many theaters there, and will be making his grand return to AC at Resorts Casino/Hotel on select dates from Jan. 8 through Feb. 13. And Boardwalk Blues The news is not so rosy for AtC’s newest hotel/casino, the $2.4 billion Revel. Generally ill-conceived, built at the wrong time, in the wrong neighborhood, and geared to a market that only exists in someone’s dreams, Revel’s future is iffy at best. We’re told that Revel’s trendy HQ nightclub is doing some business, but the rest of the facility is a virtual ghost town. According to the Inquirer’s Suzette Parmley, the future of Revel is uncertain. In August, she wrote that if Revel didn’t turn things around quickly, there would be trouble ahead. “Despite massive state subsidies, it is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy,” Parmely wrote. “Some blame the casino's poor timing, coming on the scene amid a still-weak economy and bruising competition from surrounding states. Others say it has simply overreached, trying to be too like Vegas in a middle-of-the road, drive-in market. And still others are turned off by its lack of buffets, its no-smoking policy, and its dearth of moderately priced restaurants. “For whatever reason, it’s a formula that is just not working.” The big question is, if bankruptcy happens, and that appears to be likely, what will happen to this 20-acre, 1,400-room facility, and the 2,800 full-time and 1,000 part-time workers employed there? Book Beat The late, eclectic jazz genius of the baritone saxophone, Pepper Adams, may be a name known only to aficionados, but he was and is important enough to be the subject of a book. “Pepper Adams: Joy Road” (Scarecrow Press) a comprehensive bio-discography by Gary Carner that lists virtually every recording Adams ever made—as well as the stories behind many of them—is an outstanding project that will prove to be essential to jazz scholarship. Carner told me that almost 30 years of work went into this. It paid off. The listings of recordings are so extensive that on page 243, for example, a private session featuring Adams jamming in a Philadelphia club—circa 1973—is detailed, and the small print confirms that the pianist on that date was our friend Andy Kahn, and that the drummer was a young kid from Overbrook named Klauber. Jerry Blavat: The Geator Turned Author Broadcasting pioneer Jerry Blavat, a.k.a. “The Geator with the Heater,” is not often thought of as a literary figure or best-selling author. However, Jerry’s office reports that his autobiography of last year, “You Only Rock Once” (Running Press), is going into its third printing and is now in a Kindle edition via Amazon.com. I read, re-read and reviewed Blavat’s work and I loved it. Until something else comes along, “You Only Rock Once” stands as the definitive history of the rich world of the Philadelphia recording, music and entertainment worlds, charmingly and honestly told by someone who was there, was and is a part of it, and helped shape it. The Geator continues to be busier than ever with his incredible, six-nights per week personal appearance and broadcasting schedule. Among other things, he’s headlining on New Year’s Eve with The Trammps at the new Valley Forge Casino/Resort, and will present “The Divas of All Time” show—which includes legendary singers like Darlene Love, Candi Staton and Freda Payne—at the Kimmel Center on January 26. Academia: For Arts’ Sake If it has to do with art in the Greater Delaware Valley, Toni Nash is often on the scene. Since 1998, Art Sanctuary has been devoted to utilizing Black American art—from established and aspiring artists—“to transform individuals, unite groups of people, and enrich and draw inspiration from the inner city” by way of its innovative and inspiring educational programs. Ms. Nash has let us know that founder/director Lorene Cary, also an acclaimed author and Senior Lecturer within University of Pennsylvania’s English Department, has stepped down as Executive Director after 12 years. The baton has been handed to Valerie V. Gay, an Assistant Dean at Temple, a lecturer, writer, and activist with a Bachelor of Music Degree in Voice Performance from University of the Arts. For information on the essential programs offered by Art Sanctuary, visit ArtSanctuary.org. Though Drexel University does not offer a music major, its music program is, in the words of newly-appointed Music Program Director Luke Abruzzo, “robust,” with, among other things, “18 music ensembles.” Abruzzo succeeds Drexel’s Myron “Mike” Moss, a master teacher and beloved educator who suddenly passed on July 2. We’ll have much more detail from Luke Abruzzo about present and future plans for Drexel’s music program in the next “Backstage” column. Right now, he wants to emphasize that Drexel “does not conduct fund drives, and that the vast majority of the school’s concerts are free.” So what about support? Abruzzo replies: “The only support we need is an eager audience. Join Me Backstage I welcome you to be a part of this space. Please email your items to DrumAlive@aol.com. And in the meantime, I’ll see you backstage. ■ Bruce Klauber is the biographer of jazz great Gene Krupa, writer/producer of the Warner Bros. and Hudson Music "Jazz Legends" DVD series, CD producer for the Barcelona-based Fresh Sound Records, Public Relations Director of the Philadelphia non-profit, Jazz Bridge; a working jazz drummer and entertainment industry professional since childhood. He received his Bachelor's Degree from Temple University and an Honorary Doctorate from Combs College of Music for his "contributions to music scholarship and jazz performance."
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