Metro, October

This month: A piece untangling the snarled saga of the 18 1/2 Philadelphia Film Festival; and a look at the Rosenbach's Hand-On Tours of Bram Stoker's notes for Dracula.

Metro, September

This month: An interview with The Books, a look at the Rosenbach's Where the Wild Things Are exhibit; a piece on Melvin Van Peebles' new graphic novel; and a peek into the Michener Museum's wonderful Jim Henson exhibit.

Metro, August

Just three stories this month: an interview with author Richie Unterberger about his exhaustively researched Day-By-Day account of the Velvet Underground; a piece on drummer/DJ duo Fraction Theory's debut at the Philly Folk Fest; and a peek inside the Art Museum's detailed exhibit tracing the history of Marcel Duchamp's final masterpiece, Etant donnes.

Space (and ICA) is the Place

On June 30, the Daily News ran my feature preview of the ICA's exhibit "Pathways to Unknown Worlds: Sun Ra, El Saturn & Chicago's Afro-Futurist Underground, 1954-1968," focusing on Sun Ra and the Arkestra's early days in Chicago and NYC, before their permanent move to Philly. It also included this sidebar on performances and screenings associated with the exhibit.

Metro, December 08-January 09

Rounding the new year corner at Metro:

A piece on Penn's exhibit of alum Steven Rothman's comic book collection; Exhumed Films' double feature of Killer Santa flicks; my interview with former Inky columnist Steve Lopez, whose book The Soloist is this year's One Book, One Philadelphia selection and soon to be a film; a profile of the Daedalus Quartet; a look at the Art Museum's exhibit of Japanese Crafts; a preview of Orrin Evans' DVD shoot at Chris'; a review of the ICA's three new exhibits, including the work of Anthony Campuzano; an overview of I-House's Frank and Eleanor Perry film retrospective; and a preview of Chamber Music Now!'s risque show "Love Machines and Shameless Hussies."

Metro, December 8-12

Over the past week in the Metro: a preview of the Franklin's "eductional" (ahem) new Chronicles of Narnia exhibit; a piece on the Prince's live radio play adaptation of It's a Wonderful Life; and a look at Penn Museum's exhibit Iyare!, with art and artifacts from the kingdom of Benin in Nigeria.

Citypaper, December 11

In this week's CP, my feature review of Ron Howard's adaptation of Frost/Nixon, a preview of Jason Moran's new commission from the Art Museum based on their Gee's Bend quilt exhibit, featuring Bill Frisell, a pick for Ron Horton's performance of Andrew Hill's Passing Ships, and Soundadvice blurbs for mi3 and the duo of Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid.

Citypaper Catch-Up

Foremost among the pieces I've written for the Citypaper over the past few months was the Fall Guide feature on Dear Old Captain Noah, for which I got to go hang with the Captain and Mrs. Noah at their house in Gladwyne, with a sidebar on the new Please Touch Museum. I also did features on bassist Todd Sickafoose, documentarian Frederick Wiseman, Germantown's Beyer Stained Glass Studio, guitarist Marc Ribot, Dean Ween's fishing show, Canadian banjo picker Jayme Stone, The Residents, and West Chester's Guerrilla Drive-In; reviews of CSNY Deja Vu, Bottle Shock (including an interview with filmmakers Randall Miller and Jody Savin), Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Hamlet 2 (including an interview with Steve Coogan), What We Do Is Secret, I Served the King of England, How To Lose Friends and Alienate People (including an interview with Simon Pegg), and Oliver Stone's W.

Metro, February 18-22

This week: a preview of I-House's annual selections from the Human Rights Watch Film Festival; and my piece on the PMA's stunning Frida Kahlo exhibit.

Metro, February 11-15

This week, a preview of the Franklin Institute's "Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination" exhibit, which really strains the Franklin's science-based mandate to squeeze in lots of ticket-selling movie memorabilia.

Metro, November

Not nearly as busy as last month, November's Metros had: interviews with two horror-metal bands to wrap up October - Finnish monster-rockers Lordi and Brit death-metal ghouls Cradle of Filth; a piece on the Amaryllis Theatre Company's production of "Molly Sweeney"; an interview with German cabaret revivalist Max Raabe (which doesn't appear to be online); a piece on the opera-performing puppets of the Salzburg Marionettes; a story about the Martha Graham Dance Company's career-retrospective show coming to Philly; a piece on the feminist-gorillas Guerrilla Girls, which I can't seem to find and may or may not have run; a piece on I-House's Shohei Imamura retrospective; one on the Philly-based Courtyard Dancers, which isn't online; an interview with Senagalese superstar Youssou N'Dour; and a story on the Rosenbach Museum and Library's new Maurice Sendak gallery, kicking off with an exhibition devoted to "Really Rosie", Sendak's musical-TV collaboration with Carole King.

Metro, October

Ok, deep breath; this'll be a big'un. Over the course of the tenth month, I had an interview with Robert Benton which ran on 10/1 (issue not online); an interview with King Buzzo of The Melvins that got cut (I'd post it here, but it wasn't that good to begin with; somebody bug me if you'd actually care to read it); a piece on Slought Foundation's exhibition of video work from the collection of the Kunstmuseum Bonn; pieces on This Ambitious Orchestra's cabaret-inspired show and prog-poppers Pinback; a preview of the Philly Zine Fest; a piece on the Art Museum's Renoir Landscapes show; my interview with Sandra Bernhard, prior to her conversation at Penn with Camille Paglia; pieces on Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, appearing at the Kimmel, and George Manney's doc on Philly jazz bagpiper Rufus Harley; a preview of Philadanco's annual experimental show, Danco on Danco; an interview with Mostly Other People Do the Killing's Moppa Elliott; a piece on Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, appearing at the Zellerbach; pieces on James Scruggs' one-man multi-media show "Disposable Men" and the American Composers Orchestra's "Hybridity" show, featuring pieces by Susie Ibarra and Steve Coleman, in the 10/19-21 issue, not online; an interview with James McNew of Yo La Tengo about their Freewheeling tour; a preview of the Beijing LDTX dance company at the Annenberg; and (finally) an interview with Scott Kettner of the maracatu-meets-American-folk band Nation Beat. Whew.

Massive Post-Vacation Daily News Update

Ok, this one's not so massive, since I didn't feel like seeking out all the picks, but hey, I had a theme going.

Besides the usual weekly jazz picks, I did feature stories on violinist Jenny Scheinman and The Stoogeum, the hidden treasure of the Philly area, an appointment-only Three Stooges museum.