Category: Philadelphia

Yesterday I trekked up to Invincible Pictures in Fishtown to shoot the behind the scenes of a commercial for FlixFling. FlixFling allows you to watch their movies on your iPhone (through their app), Android (app), iPad (app), computer, FACEBOOK!, or TV (if you have an internet enabled TV like Google TV, or Apple TV or a Roku box for a regular TV). It streams movies on pretty much any device you want to watch them. Invincible Pictures is one of two large scale production studios in our area. Above Brad Heffler and Tom Ashley, who operate the Invincible Pictures. “We offer filmmakers a one-stop shop, from production support, studio access, equipment rentals, post services and distribution. We can help filmmakers maximize their budgets and enhance production value while giving them the peace of mind that their film will have solid distribution options available. We also help filmmakers navigate through the various PA tax incentives. Filmmakers who use our production services are never obligated to use our distribution services”
In the studio I found Jackie “The Joke Man” Martling, formerly of the Howard Stern show, and Angel Porrino, from E!’s “Holly’s World”.
Happy Birthday Brad. No doubt with the success of this studio has some of his wishes come true.
I love their “green room”
Craft Service Table. A full lunch was served. We had pulled pork and bean salad, delicious.
Outside Studio A where the commercial is being filmed. Tune into my celebrity segment on NBC Philadelphia’s -Nonstop Ch 248, over the air 10.2 on Thursday at 9:30PM for the rest of the scoop on this behind the scenes at Invincible Pictures. I think you’ll like it. Lots of fun tidbits.

Philly FLASH MOB, er I MEAN DANCE MOB AT 30th Street Station
I heard there was going to be a Flash Dance Mob at 30th Street Station in conjunction with The Philadelphia International Festival of Arts, who is kickin it with PR. I quickly ran down there to catch the action with my video camera.
But once there I thought let me shoot it with my still camera cause one of the things I wanted to capture was everyday people catching the flash dance. I love their expressions and reactions.
First I looked around to try and figure who might be participating in such a thing, it’s not as easy as picking out who was going to participate in the huge public pillow fight at Washington Square on Saturday.
the station was busy on this 79F degree, where was everyone going? Hope they’ll be back on Thursday for the kick off of the PIFA. BUT don’t miss the 4/30 street fair.
There’s a great schedule for events kids will love
hmmm
this was suspicious
it beginsa few more people join along, by the end their were over a dozen dancersand many more spectators

a little confused
dance, dance, dance, dance
bystanders
another photographer was on the scene so look for his photos too
There are a lot of dance events during the 3 weeks of of PIFA, check out the schedule here

I ran into a reader who recognized she reada me Stacy Sulima about the event and works nearby. She loved it and hopefully will catch a few events during the month of April.

March 25, 2011 at the Hyatt Penns Landing was the Inaugural Lime Light Gala of the The HEADstrong Foundation for blood cancer is committed to finding a cure for all blood cancers. The foundation is dedicated to its founder Nicholas Colleluori. The foundation strives on Nick’s quote, “Making use of the time you have and don’t stress the little things. Have a smile and enjoy what you can get out of life.”celebrating the life of Nicholas “Head” Colleluori, as well as other who have been affected by blood cancers. (Leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma are all types of blood cancer). Nicholas Colleluori #27 graduated from Ridley High School in June 2004 as a three-sport athlete and joined the Hofstra lacrosse team the next fall. With hard work and determination, Nick earned a role on the team in the spring of his freshman year. He was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in September, which started a brutal 14-month battle with cancer, which he lost on November 28, 2006.
PR Maven Stylist Sarah Doheny and John Soden giving us some style at the gala. Sarah was instrumental in assisting the family with personal details in executing the gala, including bringing Tony Luke on board with a very generous donation.
The MC for the evening NBC10 sports anchor/reporter John Clark. Ed and Fran Zimmerman, Mike and Linda Missanelli and Bill and Fay Jones
Tom Collins and Georgine Brown
Mariana Viss, is an associate in the Litigation Department and a member of the Consumer Financial Services Group at Ballard Spahr and Jeff Goldberg

Before this gala was conceived, the first HEADstrong Foundation campaign was created by Nick himself which was selling green shoe laces to support research for the blood cancer disease, which also recently claimed the life of the first female VP nominated Geraldine Ferraro.
The also hosted the annual Nick Colleluori lacross competitions. The first one in October 2007 and was successful in generating over $75,000 towards blood cancer research. In October 2008, with the help from the teams and the community, the tournament was able to raise over $150,000 for research and begin a family assistance program.
Brenda Kyle and Sherri Jones
Tony Luke and one of the winners of the charity auction of Tony cooking 20 cheese steaks in the winners house as well as copies of his movie The Nail and a whole lotta other fun stuff.
Marc Seelagy and Dawn McCloud
WMMR’s Casey Boy, Jessy Kyle, Philadelphia based soul/pop/jazz singer, songwriter (& a survivor of blood cancer.) and Janine Jordan, Associate Director at Penn Medicine Office of Development and Alumni Relations .
Pat Colleluori (brother), Cheryl Colleluori (mom), and Harry Giordano, City of Hope
next week is their big fundraiser the popular Let Them Eat Cake;
Alex Gort and Ashley Schaffer of Cashman & Assoc.
Check out the interview with Michael Colleluori & Cheryl Colleluori on NBC10’s The Ten Show
Jason Kilpatrick and Sarah Bergan
An honoree of the night was Dr. Stephen J. Shuster of the Abramsom Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

All in all it was a very successful evening and everyone looks forward to another successful gala next year. To read more about the organization and Nick’s story click here> The HEADstrong Foundation

Here’s The Situation at Parx Casino the other night
Guido’s and Guidette’s were in full force welcoming their Jersey Shore king to Parx Casino and Club 360 for a Jersey Shore throw-down
Arriving a tad late as The Sitch was probably getting his GTL on after his state store visit, no he wasn’t picking up a bottle of his own Devotion, just getting graphs on at a local state store.
Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino attended the Devotion Vodka launch party at Parx Casino in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, the Jersey Shore star happily posed for pictures on the red carpet before heading inside to party it up. Here he is with Devotion representative Drew Adelman
It’s a family affair: Brother Mark Sorrentino, Mike Sorrentino and Frankie Sorrentino and sister Melissa Sorrentino with the cool Christian Louboutins.
Parx Casino’s Vatche Manoukian surrounded by a few Parkettes
Maria Laina – Parx 360/Three Sixty’s Hot Hawt House DJ with the Situation and
doing her magic on the stage. When you go to Parx 360 club, you can dance or you can dance with Maria who’s on stage. She’s the sexy hostess cheerleader with the mike helping everyone get their groove on. The Situation checks out the situation. He was a really nice guy calling up a few fans to party with him on the VIP stage, he was very accommodating when I needed him to pose with a few people, and moving freely in the VIP area, which was packed by the time I left at 1:45PM. Well I didn’t really leave I went to my favorite gaming machine and quickly made my donation. (The women next to me won about $20000 pennies. I was playing the SATC machine. I just love picking out Charlotte’s shoes.
Is this the way Jersey Shore fans say hello? He’s not really reaching into the beer cooler, Mike Sorrentino has an Elvis habit. Elvis, I hear, used to wear scarves and as his concert went on he would discard them into the audience. Sorrentino does the same thing now but with jewelery (luxerylaces.com). He walked up and down the VIP stage and tossed a few into the audience. I don’t blame that guy for rummaging through the ice, cause the pieces all run for $100.
Parx’s Public Relations Director, Carrie Nork Minelli , The Sitch and Diana Martinelli.
Not afraid to show their devotion Many fans told me they liked his swagger, the way he tells it like it is and dedication to living the good life.

Parx’s 360 club is always hopping through out the week. Parx’s casino is looking towards the future and expanding the casino as well as opening more restaurants and clubs. I noticed the landscaping outside had been upgraded, it looked good before now it’s great. Inside, the place was packed, even til 2AM when I left.
The Situation Posse. Look for The Situation clothing, hopefully it will include colors, but that doesn’t seem to be the situation here.
More Devoted fans, a lot of guys look up to him as their role model on how to live their lives and get a little snookie.
For those who didn’t get to take home a Situation there was always a photo to be had.
Dino Minnelli Sales at Southern Wine & Spirits and associates
The Situation looking to get in a situation?
Sporting his Luxury Laces cross jewelery hoping The Situation will flash his six pack, but maybe he’s taken a note from Marky Mark and decided less skin might be better for his career. He doesn’t want to be type cast as he makes his transition into movies.
Darlene Monzo, VP of Marketing, Parx Casino and Jim Gabriele

As I was leaving I saw Kristen bring up a late night snack for Mike and his friends, lemon bars, cheese cake and pound cake yum. Now that’s a situation I would have liked to have been in. See you in Italy Jersey Shore. Look for Mike Sorrentino to be around longer than his rumored 15 minutes, when not in character he’s a nice guy and much better looking than on TV and without those glasses (see first photo).

Acclaimed drummer, Jimmy Fallon’s house band, DJ, producer and member of the The Roots – Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson hosted a cook-off and private dinner at Time Restaurant, Bar and Absinthe Lounge (1315 Sansom St., BTW 13th & Broad, Philadelphia) last night, Sunday, April 3rd in his hometown of Philadelphia, PA. This dinner is the first in a series of new food ventures ?uestlove is launching. Additional announcements will follow in the upcoming weeks.Sunday’s cook-off event treated 25 special guests to a five course, family style dinner prepared by nine hand-selected chefs. The chefs competed against each other with one hour to shop for ingredients at South Street’s Whole Foods Market, then just three hours to prep and serve their dishes. In addition to their creative family style meals, chefs will also have to include the signature dish of the evening; ?uestlove’s drumsticks (I’m craving chicken now, friend chicken please. Why are the KFC’s disappearing?) The winner of the cook-off will have the honor of cooking for The Roots backstage at their 4th annual Roots Picnic on Saturday, June 4th at Festival Pier in Philadelphia.
Chefs competing at the cook off:· Kenny Bush – Philadelphia, PA· Nick Wilson – Fitchburg, MA· Scott Shroeder – Philadelphia, PA· Elita B – New York City, NY· Clara Park – Philadelphia, PA
· Jennifer Zavala – Philadelphia, PA (Above) · Anthony Leo – Philadelphia, PA · Brian Tucker – Philadelphia, PA · Eric Paraskevas – State College, PA (below center)
Thanks for letting me come in for a couple minutes to shoot the fun and excitement. This kitchen was small, and you can imagine the tension especially after Eric asked me what time it was and the chefs realized they had one hour left. Excuse me while I go in the kitchen & look for some chicken.
When did Phillies hats start coming in different colors. So confusing.
Elita B from New York City, NY in tong action
The table settings were beautiful and I did a quick check to see who would be attending by photographing the place cards. Let’s see there’s Patricia Washington, and Homer Jackson, Richard Nichols, Mercedes Martinez, and Junior, Drew Lazor, Patricia Washington, Chris Pow, Dan Gross, also spotted Danya Henninger taking shots for Zaget so look for them, and now for the judges Jazzy Jeff zilch canceled at the last minute, no problem we still have stellar judges like Audrey Taichman, Drew Lazor, Marcos Espinoza (or as he likes to be called Fidel Gastro <Sasha Gray and ?uestlove. By the way I ran into Jackie Baik entering Time, who you might remember from last weeks Shuck Off at the Oyster House on Samson, she tells me that she’s decided to stay in Philly and work on the exciting Cook project with Audrey Taichman. So excited, she’s very sweet.This is what you call GOOD BRANDING Hair Pick & Drum Sticks = Acclaimed drummer, DJ, producer and member of the The Roots – Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson

Donn T and @questlove ; Donn T is ?uestlove’s singing sister and will be at the Trocadero this Friday, so go check her out.

Never-mind I just checked it’s Sold outPATRICK STUMP Donn T / Nikki Jean doors 7:00pm / show 8:00pm / all ages SOLD OUT

guest, Questlove, actress Sasha Grey, guest
A few of the guests that I didn’t mention above Alicia and Kelsey. They’re Phila Eagles Cheerleaders, they don’t give out their last names, I think it’s a policy.
Amanda Dardis, Associate Art Director, UX at Comcast Interactive Media and Dan Olsovsky, some peeps call him Dan O, but not because of Hawaii Five-O, am I dating myself again?
Top Cheftestant Jennifer Carroll and Fidel Gastro. (I eat Jen Carroll’s fried chicken at least once a month.) My agency in NYC, where I send my “celeb, notable shots for magazine and blog publication, wrote me after I submitted the pixs, where is a Jennifer Carroll solo shot. Silly me I just think of Jen as my good friend, I forgot that she is a “celebrity chef” HughE #Fail. I remember when I first met her I would just drop by 10 Arts and get shots to send to WENN, but

All the shots that do not have the PhillyChitChat.com watermarked were borrowed from Twitter. If Twitter or it’s owners would like them removed I would be happy to oblige. Did you know that WENN has an agreement with Plixi pixs on Twitter. That means if you are a celebrity, Plixi, like Twitter owns your photo and has licensed it to WENN to sell. That is crazy and smart. I use Plixi in hopes of getting discovered someday and making it in some glossy mag, even the National Enquirer. Have they ever seen my dental exam photos?
Enjoying the good food last night @nikkijean, Montez and @215tayyib Impresario, change agent, artist conduit, Ambassador of the City of Brotherly Love, publisher at two.one.five magazine & @215mag, Insider @Philly360 http://littlegiantcreative.com/
The end. That’s it, I don’t know the results, but I do know that Drew Lazor tweeted near midnight…@drewlazor Wait…it was 54 total dishes in the @cook4quest competition, not 48. #notallasiansaregoodatmath- and that’s a lot of food dudes. (Click on Home above on left after 9AM and check out the Situation entry for Monday, who was at Parx’s Casino. He’s got some crazy devoted fans.) Oh Wait Update: Kenny Bush, sous chef at Bistro La Minette (623 S. 6th)

Fairmount Park in Philadelphia has posted the days and times of event closures on MLK Drive, Kelly Drive and Ben Franklin Parkway and for the first time alternate routes to use when the drives are closed. Every Weekend MLK King Drive is closed for recreational use between 6AM to 5PM. Click on each document to make them bigger.

2011 Ben Franklin Parkway Event Closures

2011 Martin Luther King Drive Event Closures
2011 Kelly Drive Event Closures
Here’s the link to the Fairmount Park site with this information.

APRIL FOOLS, I think. But if it is delayed go drink, you were planning to today anyway. God help the Phillies if they lose today. The City is so riled up for a win, especially for a World Series in 2011

In this entry check out Philadelphia’s charitable Phillies. Both the Utley’s and The Hamels appeared at events to support charity causes. Monday Shane Victorino joins Cole Hamels at the Cherry Hill JCC to raise money for a good cause.

Phillies in the News:
Another shot of Chase Utley and his wife Jennifer Utley (Utley Foundstion) who are joined forces with the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program to promote the proper care and treatment of animals in the heart of the community at the Anna B. Elementary School yesterday.

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Also on Thursday was the 95.7 BEN-FM Woman of the Week Luncheon at Villanova Conference Center in Radnor, PA. with keynote speakers Deborah Norville (host of Inside Edition, weekdays at 6:30p on Fox 29 starting 3/21) and Heidi Hamels (co-founder of The Hamels Foundation) at the invitation only. The luncheon was hosted by BEN-FM’s Morning host Marilyn Russell. Russell also hosts BEN’s weekly Woman of the Week radio program on Sunday mornings. PECO and Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

The theme of The Annual Woman of the Week Luncheon ties directly into
March being Women’s History Month. The event celebrates women and
recognizes how important it is for women to support each other. I hear the women were paying lots of attention to Cole, and really half of you don’t blame them.
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Monday meet Cole Hamels & Shane Victorino as they make an appearance at

The Katz JCC, 1301 Springdale Road, Cherry Hill, NJ 7PM
An evening featuring keynote speakers Philadelphia Phillies Cole Hamels and Shane Victorino, dinner, sports and memorabilia auctions, and recognition of community leaders.
Cost $75.00 For tickets and more information contact Brian Adler at 856 424-44444 x1283 or http://www.katzjcc.org

Last night I headed over to Mitchell & Ness’ Spring Fashion 2011. Although the store features authentic Jersey of your favorite teams, hats, shirts and all the cool kids are wearing, it also features vintage sports inspired clothing. Now more than ever Vintage-inspired casual wear is hot for men and women this spring, especially during baseball season!
As is Tastykakes, hmmm. Get them at the ball park this year!
Lauren Urban, Lynn Bloom, Heather Snowman, Alyson McCully and Sondra Murphy
Cardigans are currently one of the hottest fashion trends in menswear. And now, Mitchell & Ness is giving you the opportunity to get them with your favorite team logos. Our cardigans are made in soft slub knit cotton jersey with signature details such as elbow patches, wood buttons, patch pockets, and chenille embroidered logos with either a baseball, football or hockey metal tack pin (remember those from your high school and college years? Yup, we brought them back.) Above: Sean McKinney, the former Sixers ball boy, Malvern Prep student and St. Joe’s baseball player became president of 106-year-old sporting-goods giant Mitchell & Ness (source) Kathie Gilberi, Michele Mechetti and Joanne Graham
Marisa Magnatta and Matt Cord. You can find both of them down at the CBP at McFadden’s as Matt hosts a party there. Hmm maybe I’ll hit it before I go shoot The Situation at the other Parx
Show your team spirit with a Phillies jacket; pair with vintage-style jeans and a lightweight plaid shirt for a winning combination! L-R Caroline Bean, GPTMC, Linda Huss, Cathy McVey and Kevin Palmer
Sean McKinney and Scott Palmer, Phillies Director, Public Affairs
Lynn Bloom and Zoe Strauss. Zoe tells me she is working on her Philadelphia Museum of Art show opening January 2012. This was the first time I met her. I am in awe of her photography work.
Jamie Brandenburger, Former Flyers Brian Propp and Paige Propp. Paige was awarded the Ocean City Yacht Club Sportsmanship Award for her overall season performance in 2010, and I’m sure looks forward to sailing in 2011. Jamie was invited onstage by the “Cake Boss” to showcase her skills with cupcakes last November at the Merriam Theater.
Carrie Moten and Gn Kang, The Hamels Foundation Director of Operations (Carrie’s twitter bio: Mother, Part-Time Wizard, Radio Chick, Kangaroo obsessed and a fan of anything Rubbermaid. Oh, and my Summer home is in Rivendale.)Mark and Renata Lindsay. Mark tells me he follows me on twitter and then rattled off how I misplaced the Former Da’s biz card again, which I tweeted earlier. She wanted me to write her. Ugh. Anyway it’s always embarrassing to me to meet my twitter followers as I do a lot of Tweeting or micro blogging with that social media, and sometimes I drop some good gossip I don’t include on PhillyChitChat. So if you Tweet you might want to join the other 4,000 peeps that follow me, I can be crazy, but I most of the time I have good info for you to use. (iphillychitchat is my twitter name.)
Carol Dooling and Ruth Auslander of Phila Daily News with WMMR’s Marisa Magnatta

Style Award of the Night: Natasha Redd, Curran J, Yaya and Jones B. Jones B makes those cute lego jewelery pieces, but he didn’t have a biz card so I don’t know how you’re gonna get ahold of him. But they are fierce!!
Seth Brian and Justin Rentzel, of PhillyIn.com

Jay

Check out the Cashman Girls above sporting the vintage Phillies – Play Ball!!
Jacklin Rhoads, Lauren, Kaitlyn McCrea, and Ashley Schaffer Check out Mitchell & Ness: Here’s their deets: