ICON Magazine City Beat August 2015
A visit by the Queen of England or an after
death visitation by John Lennon would not rival the September visit of Pope
Francis. SEPTA’s railway, bus and trolley routes will be altered, and Mayor
Nutter has warned Philadelphians to “be prepared to walk long distances.” This
might be a good time to get out of town. The prospect of 1.5 million visitors
crammed behind a partial fence in Center City
When we went to the premier of
Magic Mike XXL at the Prince Theater we noticed a lineup of ushers and glum-looking
men in suits. The suits were arranged widthwise across the floor like a chorus
line of border guards. We’ve never seen a lineup of suited security at The
Ritz, and we’ve certainly never had a pre-movie pat down and a “head to toe”
sweep with a counter-terrorism radar brush. Were they checking for weapons,
bombs or tubes of nitroglycerin? The suits went about their job with the unfeeling
precision of TSA agents. Additional security lined many
of the aisles inside the auditorium. During the movie (about a tribe of
overbuilt beefy male strippers who talk like Rocky Balboa), a suit aimed a flashlight
over a certain segment of the audience. Was something amiss? Did they find that
nitroglycerin, or was he checking on potential cell phone violators filming the
Warner Brothers production with an iPhone? Do audiences of mainly well behaved
young women really need this kind of security? What has happened to the venerable Prince? Has
it turned into a frog? Or has it, unbeknownst to us, merged with Philadelphia International Airport
The Plastic
Club is a Paris salon in the heart
of Philadelphia . Founded in 1897 as an all woman’s arts club
(men were admitted in 1991), early club members included Violet Oakley, Cecilia
Beaux and Elizabeth Shippen Green. The word ‘plastic’ refers not to that infamous
line in The Graduate, but to
unfinished art, though all the pieces on the wall at PC’s July The Models
as Artists Show seemed complete to us. The marathon event transformed a
dull Sunday into a four hour art and fantasy fest complete with belly, fan and
hoola hoop dancing plus a poetry reading that touched on the meaning of
Father’s Day. In this age of minimalist art events where less is considered
more (“Care for a pretzel stick with that thimbleful of chardonnay?”), the
Plastic Club stands shoulders above its (often) less than generous competitors.
Some of the winners in the Models Show were: First Prize, Jenn Warpole; Second,
Veronica Meekins; Third, Maria Singer, and Honorable Mentions Rachel Glidden,
Nellie Carnes and Anna Romaniuk. On Sunday, August 23, PC will host its Annual
Summer Dinner; check out the Website at http://www.plasticclub.org/
We never
understood the attraction of Philly Jesus even when he was everyone’s favorite darling.
When Philly Jesus said he used to love gays but now he’s not so sure, we were
not surprised. Heroin addicts, ex or current, are often opportunists and go
whichever way the wind blows. When Mayor Nutter posed with Philly Jesus for the
local paparazzi we saw this as a further dumbing
down of Warhol’s fifteen minutes (of fame) to single digits. It irked us
that so many media types gave Philly Jesus publicity, either by snapping his
picture or by including him in interviews. Philly Jesus is proof, as if we needed any,
that commercial media will suck the udders of any fly- by- night oddity deemed
hot by inept culture vultures.
