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CONTACT: Corie Moskow, Gloss PR,
215.518.5526 or corie@glosspr.com

On Jan. 10, four GLBT community members signed up to participate in a project to lose weight
and raise money for the GLBT community.

Micah Mahjoubian, CEO, Soapbox Solutions (Fusion Cross-Training). Debbie Spadefora (12th Street Gym), Administrative manager, Woody’s and Voyeur, Franny Price (Optimal Sports Health Clubs), Executive director, Philly Pride Presents and Dan Calhoun (Move Forward Fitness) Director of advertising and marketing, PGN

I’ve known Debbie Spadefora (r) for about 25 years, and Frannie Price for 20 years. It’s really inspirational for me to see them do so well. After three months, both ladies lost over 40lbs, and its Each one is relishing in the joy of their new found energy, the support they are getting and the weight they have shed. It’s a real inspiration for me, someone who as you know really has to get on the ball and put my health first and lose some serious poundage.  BTW The guys aren’t too shabby either with Micah losing 38lbs and Dan at 22lbs. Together they have raised $12,500.  These days Frannie walks the block and a half to the bank, when the old Frannie would have just go in the car.  Frannie went on to talk about the many things we as fat people must do to just do every day things, it’s difficult to hear, but is a reality, like going to restaurants that have booths were the tables are fixed to the wall (ie Little Pete’s on 17th Street) and making sure they chairs will hold our weights. It’s hard to fathom why we let ourselves get to that weight, and then stay there. Ugh

The proceeds from the loss poundage will be evenly distributed among Philly Pride Presents, The Attic Youth Center and the William Way LGBT Community Center.

 Carrie Jacobs, The Attic Youth Center, Michael, William Way, and Denise, Philly Pride Presents

Read more: PGN-The Philadelphia Gay News. Phila gay news. philly news – Weigh It Forward
Check out my Philly Mag column yesterday for the Girard College Gala I attended over the weekend.

Last night a few hundred of Ryan Dorsey’s besties attended a 3 Nerd Birthday Party for him, with proceeds from the door going to the Hamels Foundation.

RYAN DORSEY – The Ultimate PARTY BOY

DJ’s keeping it real last night.
@djnemysis @DjAktive @djmontone and of course #djryanmichael

I love all the clubs I write about, but Recess is special cause either everyone knows each other, or by the end of the night you will. It’s a friendly club, great bartenders, doorman and staff.
Scott and Drew from Del Frisco’s Steak House

Brett, Justin and friends One of the DJ’s was genius in how he kept threading “Can We Get Much Higher” in and out of the music for an hour.

Checkered shirts and bow ties were in honor of The Three Nerds and clever branding by them

Kristyn Aldrich and Adrienne A Diaz – Earlier in the night Kristyn and I headed out for what’s turned into our Thursday night date night, to Sampan. Great new menu items, included an unbelievable dessert S’Mores, which is served as a tart. Marshmellow, chocolate, peanut butter with a chocolate crust. i don’t love chocolate, believe it or not, but it was outta of this world. You have to go try it. Created by Karla Torres.

Thanks for all your support. I was feeling the love last night at Recess

so many people last night knew me from  PhillyChitChat.com
Philly Mag – The Post and 
watching me on
Fox 29 Phila Good Day Show thank you for all the kind words and support.  I need to go out more. I hadn’t been to Recess since last December. It’s a late night club, but so much fun.

I love these rules. Always interesting.

Dennis and Dana so much fun

Another successful party by GN Kang, Director of Operations for the Hamels Foundation . It’s really amazing as she was a radio DJ on Wired 96.5 for 8 years and has really flourished in her role at The Hamels Foundation. Created charitable events that result in changing & improving a child’s life. Kudo’s girlfriend. xoxo

Phillies Marketing Peeps: Michael Harris and Kevin Gregg

Madonna’s MDNA CD is a failure because it’s silly & childish/ Seems like she missed the days of “Who’s That Girl”. This is a little ditty that sums up most of the CD, but it’s affectious in it’s lyrics.

As is the norm for Recess after Midnight the place really stared rolling

Haynie Ahn and Alison Moore

Happy Birthday Ryan Dorsey. (it’s my dad’s bday too, he never quite had a party like this, but we’re Irish so it was fun.)

“I can now retire from politics after having had Happy Birthday sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way,” – JFK

Happy Birthday Mr Presidentttttt (what the heck is happening behind you on the left?)

PhillyChitChatter:  Ahh so busy this week. Thanks to my readers Larry Giuffra and Elise Garber (Leeza) for the photos I used on Fox 29 Philly Good Day yesterday of Colin Farrell. I finally had a chance to go out and shoot him.

Eating Out:

Flyers coach Peter Laviolette and two friends were at Davio’s 111 S. 17th Street last Thursday for dinner.

Phillies closer Jon Papelbon and his wife Ashley Papelbon had dinner at Buddakan on Monday night.   

The Hamels Foundation dinner with Celebrity Chef Jen Carroll, I wrote about it on PhillyMag.com yesterday. 

While I was shooting Cole & crew, all this happened: 
 
Steve Harvey and Tony Danza having dinner at Capital Grille on Tuesday night, but not together. Harvey was in town promoting his new movie “THINK LIKE A MAN” at the Ritz East earlier in the evening.  Not sure why Danza was in town, but after dinner he headed over to McGillin’s Olde Ale House (1310 Drury) for a beer. 

Colin Farrell and Starr Restaurants, he finally broke his streak and ate at one. He was at Barclay Prime on Tuesday night.  (Check out the shot I got of Farrell yesterday, and the link to another shot and article on Philly Mag, at the bottom of the page.)

The Miami Marlins ate at D’Angelos on Tuesday night, and had a film crew with them. Are they doing a reality show for Bravo too? 256 South 20th Street.

Wednesday: I had lunch at Schlesinger’s Deli (fka Kibitz Room) again yesterday. Did you know for their dinner menu they use the same steak purveyor as the one that Barclay Prime uses. I really need to have dinner there. 

****************************************  
Center for Literacy Benefit at the Suzanne Roberts Theater

 Monday night I was over at the Suzanne Roberts Theater to hear one of my favorite cabaret singers, Eddie Bruce perform. He was lending his talents to a really great cause, the “Center for Literacy”. The concert was sponsored by FirstTrust Bank, and was called “A Tribute to Tony Bennett in Words & Music.” Above JoAnn Weinberger, President/Executive Director, Center for Literacy greets the crowd and thanks them for coming.

Richard Green, Firsttrust Bank stresses that the bridge to success is built on education.

Christine Gayle, a student from Center for Literacy, highlights what the program has done for her and is now on her way to college.

 Eddie Bruce takes the stage

 After the concert there was a dessert reception. I ran into an attorney I used to work with at Berger Montague. It’s always fun to see people from my former life. Julie Colton and Eric Cramer, Esq

 John Ward, Dan Digregorio, Amy Pulliam and Fareeha Ashad, enjoyed the concert.

 At one point during Eddie Bruce’s concert, he did a Q&A with WRTI’s Bob Perkins (L) about Tony Bennett and his music. Co Chair of the event, Carol S. Saline, with crooner Eddie Bruce. Carol co-chaired the event with her husband Paul Rathblott.

Liz Matt and Sharla Feldscher, President Sharla Feldscher Public Relations. These two know you would love seeing the hysterically funny – Defending The Caveman April 18 – May 13, 2012 performances at The Prince Theater $39.50

Sara Garonzik, Producing Artistic Director, Philadelphia Theatre Company with Larry and Harriet Weiss

Randi Harris and Gordon Barron with their books by Bennett Biographer, Author David Evanier “All the Things You Are: The Life of Tony Bennett.

Laurie Huggins and former candidate for City Council, real estate agent, Barbara Capozzi

Author David Evanier “All the Things You Are: The Life of Tony Bennett signing copies of his book on Tony Bennett.
 
Check out Philly Mag for the story on Colin Farrell yesterday and the
shots I got. Note the bodyguard/trainer lets Farrell walk out ahead of
him when he exited this building. Read doorman drama HERE

Fans Dana Socha and Caitlin Beasley

At the top of these stairs, 4 stories up, is the James Oliver Gallery which held the first professional exhibit of art by Bam Magera called appropriately “Bam Magera and Friends”

Bam and the Friends Justin Muir, Red_Hawk, Phil Margera (dad), April Margera (mom), Bam Magera, Nikki B and Ryan Gee

Nikki B and a few of her hot shots taken in a Las Vegas hotel room with Bam. She used a remote to trigger the shots.

I could feel the passion in the paintings that Bam created. He painted his pain onto the canvas after experiencing a few difficult years, including the death of his good friend Ryan Dunn.  Many of the paintings depict women in various states of undress, others are painted on maps with the words of places he visited, Madrid, Lisbon and London. Others had great titles like “Dead Lovers Lane”, “Paris Kills” (which is about the city not the person,) “And She Never Returned” and my favorite “I Need Time To Stay Useless.”

Many of the paintings were done while Bam traveled the world.  Then they had to be shipped back to West Chester, Pa to be stored.  His mother April shared with me a few stories about the complexities of that, especially when there was a language barrier.

But the stories I enjoyed were the ones about how Bam didn’t always put enough sheets down to protect the hotel room from paint splatter.  Many hours were spent trying to remove the oil based paint, although there are several hotel phones that could be called Bam Margera masterpieces.
 

James Oliver and Uri Pierre Noel, Executive Director James Oliver Gallery

Sometimes the paintings would have painful quotes like “If the Phone
Doesn’t Ring, That’s Me Calling,” the reason he would give his mom for
not calling on her birthday or holidays. She did say he would call a day
later and express his well wishes.

“Hot Air Buffoon” and “New Orleans is a Dying Whore”

Vanessa, Marilyn and Nina – Fans, loved Bam’s big heart.

Taker and Ingrid Brown

Pop artist James Eucles and Amanda Frain

Nadia Kunz and Lilliana Didovic – Her “Philadelphia Tales, The Art of Lilliana S. Didovic” just published in January

Urban Dictionary: The Heartagram defining the balance between good and evil, and life and death. A mixture of the pentagram and heart.
Logo for the Finnish rock band, HIM. Also used by Bam Margera to show his love for the band.

Red Hawk and his girlfriend who is also the subject of the photo he took

Many of Bam’s art work sold. I have a feeling he priced it very reasonable for his family, friends and fans.  Some paintings sold for as little as $200, many just a little above this price, and a few at $2,000

Philly in Focus is an open, social environment supported and populated by loca organizations to showcase the real people, communities and passions that make Philadelphia a great place to live, work and play. Working in close partnership with local groups, Philly In Focus is designed to complement any current local efforts to highlight the unique personalities of the City Through video and interactive media.

George Cummings, Sharon Powell-Lee, Director Government & Regulatory Affairs, Comcast, Paul Gluck, Associate Professor in School of Comm. & Theatre at Temple Universityand Sheila Willard 

STYLISH: Naoko Masuda and Sam Margulies

The Greater Philadelphia Film Office Crew: Joan Bressler, Yusef Dingle, Gillian Procopio (@GPFO) and Nicole Giles

Kerri Kennedy, Executive Director, Women’s Campaign International,
Lyndsay O’Herrick , Senior Coordinator, Government Affairs at Comcast
Cable and Ruth Billebault, Executive Assistant at Versus

Event speakers included Mayor Nutter’s wife, Lisa Nutter and Jeff Freidman, the City of Philadelphia’s (From the Mayor’s Office on Philly In Focus)
Manager of Civic Innovation and Participation. The crowd also heard
from civic content partners, Kerri Kennedy of Women’s Campaign
International (WCI on Philly In Focus) and Gretjen Clausing of PhillyCAM (PhillyCAM on Philly In Focus).
Representing the many people at Comcast working on the initiative were
Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs, Sharon Powell-Lee, and
Director of Local Media Development, Paul Wright. The event featured a number of videos from thePhillyInFocus.com including a welcome video about the new initiative and several others from content partners such as Love Philly Food and My Take’s Great Moments in Philadelphia History.

Working in the Control Room Ryan Saunders, Jihad Ali, Anotoinne Haywoo. Jihad Ali was selected as PhillyCAM’s January Member of the Month. He dedicated much of his time to participating in production workshops and
improving his camera skills by working on his own projects and
volunteering as a crewmember for others. Since becoming a PhillyCAM
member, Jihad has been able to tell his own story and “produce quality
video on any subject matter with quality sound and proper lighting.” He also appreciates accessing equipment to provide assistance to others who are not members of PhillyCAM.

Jessica Sharp, Sarah Casey and Kate Leonard,- Maven Communications

Learn more about Philly In Focus online (www.phillyinfocus.com), OnDemand (within the Comcast digital cable system, go to the ‘Get Local’ folder and select ‘Project Open Voice’), on Facebook and Twitter (@PhillyInFocus). If you still can’t find what you’re looking for, contact Philly In Focus at info@phillyinfocus.com or by clicking here.

  Friday was a beautiful day out. I was on Fox 29, and I usually take my good old time getting back home to work. ie I usually don’t work on those days if it’s beautiful out since there are usually many beautiful things to shoot.

 Like this falcon near the Curtis Building on Washington Square West. 

 Honestly this shot confirms my fear of heights

 Just because.  Tomorrow I plan to write about people who were at Bam Magera’s art opening, and the god awful steps you have to climb to get to the show. It’s a 4 story walk up.

 IN this month’s Where Magazine, Reading Terminal’s GM Paul Steinke writes about the 35 places he loves in Philly. This is one of them.

 Sometimes the gates are open and you can sit on this bench.

 Pine Street

 Hedging their bets as they have posters in the window supporting both candidates Brian Sims and Babette Josephs “Sims to challenge Babette Josephs in 182nd Dist”.  I think it’s time for a change.

 I see a greeting card here. I think when I get my life in order I’m going back to making photo greeting cards too.  THIS is on Camac Street. The only street in Philly that you can spell backwards and forward.

 OMG Brian Sims and his furry dog who I can’t remember her name. It took a couple shots to get the dog to somewhat face forward.  It’s like a child. That’s why I shoot adults.

 Dining out for Life 4/26/12

 The new Boiler Plate changed the color of the building from Blue to Brown.

Note the man’s arm near the policeman’s yellow jacket. He’s saying “I was just upstairs for a minute,” explaining why he parked in the handicapped tow-away-zone. 

 Occupying Joan Shepp’s Bench

 You can donate your old shoes at Joan Shepo

 Cooper River Park

 My nephew Timmy and niece Ella

Sometimes I get gift bags with shirts in them. I thought this would be perfect for my 8 year old niece. Then my sister explained to me why it wouldn’t be. Opps.

My sister Crista, with Mimi, Bo and Michael. Back row: Hubby Michael and father in law: Mr Bateman.  See you tomorrow.

Adesso 80s Dance Party
Special Appearance by Local Legend Jade Starling Performing Catch Me I’m Falling
Hosted by Celebrity Photographer HughE Dillon

Philadelphia, PA (March 27, 2012) – On Friday, April 13, 2012, the who’s who of Philadelphia
will celebrate a favorite era of music and entertainment at the Adesso 80’s Dance Party, with a
performance by 80s icon Jade Starling of Pretty Poison and hosted by Celebrity Photographer
HughE Dillon. Adesso is located above Il Portico Ristorante at 1519 Walnut Street, Philadelphia,
PA 19107.

Jade Starling, who grew up in Philadelphia and now resides in New Jersey, is thrilled to come
back to her roots to make this special appearance to promote her new album, “Captive,” due
out summer 2012. Starling will perform “Catch Me I’m Falling,” and her new single, “Dance
Revolution.”

“We have been extremely fortunate with Catch Me I’m Falling – I want to send love to our fans
and DJs who made the song part of the fabric of the 80s,” said the singer/songwriter who is
gearing up to start touring on the West Coast for “Captive.” “There is no place like home – and
sharing our new project with Philadelphia first feels amazing.” “Dance Revolution” is available
now on Google Play.

Philadelphia’s own paparazzo HughE Dillon will host the Adesso 80s Dance Party. Dillon is
debuting his Philadelphia Magazine column and will have April issues of the publication for
party-goers. Known for his stellar coverage of celebrity sightings and party pics, Dillon is the
editor of PhillyChitChat.com and a weekly contributor on FOX TV’s Good Day Philadelphia.

“Catch Me I’m Falling” was co-written by Starling’s partner, Whey Cooler, and reached
Billboards #1 Dance, #8 Pop and #13 in R&B. The song continues to appear on countless
compilations as well as a number of films including the 80s cult classic “Hiding Out” starring
Jon Cryer, “Kickin’ Old Skool” starring Jamie Kennedy and Adam Sandler’s “Don’t Mess
With The Zohan” and most recently on AMC’s Emmy Award winning “Breaking Bad.” Pretty
Poison’s “Catch Me I’m Falling” was also recognized by VH-1 on its Top 100 1980s Countdown
coming in at #47 for the entire decade. Starling, a gay-rights activist, performs on behalf of many
GLBT benefits around the world.

The Adesso 80s Dance Party begins at Happy Hour with DJ Jimmy DePre spinning favorites.
Cover is free until 8 p.m., after which a $10 door charge will go into effect.

Adesso, is located upstairs from Il Portico Ristorante at 1519 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
19107. The main number is 215.587.7000.

Like Jade Starling on FB http://facebook.com/jade.starling or follow her on Twitter

Like Adesso on FB http://www.facebook.com/#!/ilporticophiladelphia. For more information
including Il Portico menu and directions, go to http://www.il-portico.com.