As mentioned last week at the Palomar Hotel’s Earth Day Happy Hour, I spotted some of the Mural Arts Program and the Department of Streets departments Solar Powered Compacting Trash and Recycling Bins wrapped in the new designs done by artists Ben Woodward, Thom Lessner, and students from the Big Picture art education program In 2009, as part of a city-wide initiative to reduce litter, the City rolled out 500 of these efficient cans that double as solar powered trash compactors. The Big Picture program has taken this effort one step further by decorating 50 BigBellies with graphic vinyl wraps, turning them into playful “garbage monsters” and “litter bugs” that provide both kids and grownups with a fun incentive to properly dispose of their garbage. Lessner and Woodward visited students one a week to help them imagine their three-dimensional creatures through two-dimensional drawings. The final designs are almost entirely kid-created with each student contributing a piece of their art to the designs. The BigBelly project was made possible by the City of Philadelphia Department of Human Services in partnership with the Department of Streets.The litter critters are an extension of Mural Arts’ Design in Motion recycling truck project completed in April 2010, wherein 20 city recycling trucks were decorated with artwork created by Big Picture students in response to their study of textiles; each vinyl wrap features elements drawn from The Design Center’s textile collection.Big Picture provides young people ages 10 to 14 with mural training and visual arts education through four sessions beginning in October and running through August. The first three sessions (Fall, Winter, and Spring) focus on community and social responsibility. Students concentrate on foundational art skills, mural design, and small indoor or outdoor murals. The fourth session (Summer) focuses on job training. Students are involved in large-scale mural or mixed-media public art projects with professional artists, and receive a modest stipend.
Stop by Headhouse Square on Wednesday, April 27 from 4-5 p.m. as Mural Arts officially dedicates the litter critters. (I shot these on Easter Sunday as this man was installing one at I think this was 8th & South Streets.)

I’ve always wanted to go to the South Street Easter Parade, but am usually out of town. This year I wasn’t. I woke up early, put on my Easter Bonnet and ran down to the parade route. Then I woke up realized I was late and grabbed a cab and made it just in timeto see these two bikers with their Flat Stanley posing with the end of the parade.
But was there to see CW’s Kharisma McIlwaine and MC Mr. Halloween Henri David greet the guests for the 2011 Easter Parade and prepare them for several contests that they were going to have.Here’s the winner for the best dressed baby, together now awwwww. Really adorable. This dog won best dressed dog.
Not sure if these two entered the best dressed Easter costume, but they would definitely have won for best Original Couple from South Street, which in it’s hey day was Philly’s Haight Asbury. Happy 420 last week.
Phillies Phever: The Philadelphia Phillies with the best record in the MLB
Hand puppet rabbit. I think he might be an original South Street resident too.
Cute dogs. Now we’re talking high fashion Easter: love her gloves.
Check out the guy on the right shooting a photo with his IPad. This dog came in third. The women on the far right with the peach hat won best dressed women at the promenade.
Next year you can adopt this cute pit bull from PAWS to enter into the pet contest
Crocs are back, or did they never go away?
I ran into Ernie, who for years played his flute inside the hallow halls of City Hall courtyard. Says he misses Greta Greenberger and will return soon.

Friday night Questlove and The Roots rented the entire Union Trust restaurant to celebrate band member

Kamal Gray’s birthday. The party started about 10PM with the guests rolling in closer to 11. They partied til about 2AM. Then a few folks headed to the Vault for an after hours party. (Sunday night Philadelphia Eagles Michael Vick and his fiance Kijafa, PNK Elephant Jewelry, were sighted at the Vault.)I didn’t hit that party, but I headed further down the street to the Tin Angel (it was packed) and caught
“Karen Gross Presents The Black Cat Cabaret,” the first in an ongoing series featuring the Philadelphia area’s best cabaret performers and comedians. In addition to singing and emceeing the evening with her signature sassy humor, Karen also hosted three of Philadelphia’s most accomplished performers: cabaret icon Eddie Bruce, celebrated pianist/vocalist Tom Adams and acclaimed comedienne Jennifer Blaine. Love love love Eddie Bruce. He is Mr Cabaret, and a great story teller. I last saw him perform at the Rittenhouse Ball last June. When he’s not performing at events, he’s doing a concert somewhere in the Tri-State area. Catch him, it’ll be great, fun and romantic if you want. Check out his website.
Eddie Bruce and Karen Gross closing the show. It was the first time I caught Karen’s show, although I have heard her sing at various events throughout the City and I met her about three years ago when she was the editor of Where Magazine. (and she is also a PhillyChitChat advertiser so I really love her lots). I really enjoyed it, and look forward to her future cabaret shows and am excited someone is reviving cabaret in Philly featuring various entertainers. Years ago I enjoyed the American Music Theatre Festival which was a cabaret series that played at the Barrymore Room at the Bellevue where XIX is currently located. It then moved to the Prince Theater in the 90’s but ceased to exist after the Prince hit financial bottom. Anyway, looking forward to Cabaret’s return to Philadelphia.

BTW I recently wrote that a sneaker store has been nipping at the heals to own the Prince Theater property, but someone informed me that the University of the Arts, as well as Temple University would love to own the property. That would be awesome cause I want it to remain as a theater, don’t you? How can we get this done. The thing is on it’s last legs?

It’s been 20 years since his group, The Roots, graced the sidewalks of South Street and he hasn’t come up for air yet. In an entertainment world where success seems to come sooner then later, HE is truly the”hardest working man in the business”. Its the Life Creative is proud to present Inside the Studio with Questlove!

On Sunday, May 15th at Inside The Studio, Laiya st Clair sits down with the man who has “done” it all and still manages to stay loyal to his home town of Philly, Questlove aka Ahmir Khalib Thompson. To guide this experience, Inside the Studio consists of resident deejay, DJ Afrodjiak, a well known selector on the Philly scene who will provide tribute music; and host, Laiya St. Clair, a Philadelphia radio and television personality who uses her passion for arts and culture to guide us through the layers of each artist. And last but not least, Flygirrl is the executive producer of the event and the visual artist’s curator. Tribute visual art will be by Freek Ugly, Tone Kasso, Flygirrl + more!

http://insidethestudiowithquestlove.eventbrite.com/

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I know this is going to make Brian happy:

Elizabeth Berkley
Ask Elizabeth: Real Answers to Everything You Secretly Wanted to Ask about Love, Friends, Your Body and Life in General – Tuesday 6PM Barnes & Noble 18th & Walnut Streets

Do you Watch Medium, Do you believe in Spirits, Guardian Angels? My Family was witness to an amazing miracle…

(Written March 23, 2005) Last Thursday, on St. Patrick’s Day, we celebrated my father’s life by spreading his ashes about 2 miles off the Florida Keys (he had died unexpectedly the year before in an accident at his house in Florida – 5/2/04.) It was a beautiful ceremony. We had a St. Patrick’s Day memorial party in the afternoon at the house as dad had requested.
In the evening (about 9PM) the family (including the under 15 set who were not at the house during the day or all week.) gathered on the patio to enjoy mom’s key lime pie and other desserts by CANDLELIGHT. My nephew Kevin was the only youngin’ to join us on the patio as the other kids ate inside watching TV. Kevin is a little over 2 years old (he had only met my dad about a handful of times as his family lived in another state) He doesn’t really talk yet, as they say he is a slow learner and at the time we thought he was autistic, but he can usually put a word or two together once in a blue moon, and knows sign language for the important words like Eat, Food and Drink. Otherwise he talks gibberish as his speech teacher has told my sister.He’s never been to my parents house in Florida, and he was never in the backyard before this night (we all rented houses on a different parts of the island and had dinner at one another’s house the previous nights, [he never saw my dad on a boat, we only have one photo of Kevin and my dad together, he was 1.5 years and when my father died and he had only met him a handful of times as my sister lived out of state.] We sat around the table on the patio that evening, and after about 20 minutes of eating and chatting KEVIN stands up and points into the darkness towards the water where my dad’s boat use to be docked (as it was sold after dad died) and states “POP-POP, boat.” He says this a few times. He goes on to say Pop-pop, minnow. “Pop-pop, home” “Pop-pop hello.” “No bait to fish”

A very emotional Mom then asked me to go get a photo of dad and give it to Kevin’s dad. His dad, Frank says to Kevin, “Who is this? Kevin said Pop-pop.” Kevin where is pop-pop? And then Kevin pointed towards where the stern (back) of the boat would be, and where my dad spent many hours tinkering (the boat was 30 feet long and has a definite stern, middle and bow section). (I removed this picture – house and boat that I took on the day dad died when I flew to the Keys to see dad in the hospital before he passed. We were all sitting to the left, at the far right in the darkened part of the patio is a hammock that dad spent lots of hours on reading and snoozing)As time went on, things got quiet and Kevin went back to gibberish, my sister Tracy said to me that it was like the movie the Sixth-Sense, I leaned over to her and said “Can Kevin see dead people?”. (I don’t think Kevin heard me, but his mother came over and tapped me on the head and looked at me with a disapproving look.)

About 5-10 minutes later, and just as some of us were getting ready to go home for the night, Kevin stands up and happily states, as he was raising his arms in the air like he was going to do a cheer, “NO ONE is DEAD,” “NO ONE is DEAD,” “Don’t Be Sad, No one is Dead,” Don’t be scared, No one is dead.” After about a minute or two he stopped and began playing patty cake with Pop-pop?. Then he played hide and go seek, even stating BOO a few times. Then he walked to the far (and less lit) side of the patio, about 25 feet from where we were all sitting, to where the empty hammock was. He then started pushing the hammock with TWO HANDS gleefully squealing “WHEEEEEE WHEEEEE ISNT THIS FUN….” Finally running back to where we were sitting stunned, Kevin stated one last time “NO ONE IS DEAD, DON’T BE SAD” “Pop-pop HOME”

At this point Kevin went on to play a game of stepping on someone’s toes, and then someone trying to step on his toes. This was a sight to see as he was clearly communicating and playing with someone (Pop-Pop?) as he was squealling in laughter and looking up. After a bit, as we were all sniffling and in a bit of shock, Kevin’s frazzled dad Frank said it was late, and time to go, at that point the usually mild manner boy just burst out crying and actually threw himself on the ground backwards (not violently though). As his dad picked him up, Kevin turned 180 degrees towards the water, where the stern of the boat would have been, where my dad spent so many hours, and said bye pop-pop, bye as he blew Pop-pop a kiss good-bye We all know how blessed we are to have had this amazing experience. And for months following this incident, Kevin would occasionally see Pop-pop and announce it to his mom and once had his mom call Nana to tell her, but no sightings occurred after that first year, and once in awhile when I see Kevin I ask him if he has seen Pop-pop, nowadays he has no idea what I am talking about, and that is just fine with his mother, as she doesn’t want Kevin remembering seeing Pop-pop after he had died, so please don’t tell him!

Sometimes you can be too thin too. Although I don’t have that problem. Team Derek at a signing a week ago.

Iron Hil is going over the top with their celebration of Burger Month so they deserve a posting just for that effort. Some of my favorite burgers in the City are Rouge, of course, 500 Degrees of course, Lucky Strikes and Butcher & Singer. I like McD’s burgers too. Here’s the list for Iron Hill’s burger of the day in May.

May 1 – Napa Valley Burger with Cabernet onions, black pepper chevre, tomato and arugulaMay 2 – Au Poivre Burger with gorgonzola, caramelized onion and mushroom spreadMay 3 – Black and Blue Burger blackened burger with gorgonzola, caramelized onions, tomato and baconMay 4 – Carolina Burger with bacon, coleslaw, red onion, American cheese and yellow mustard May 5 – South of the Border Burger with sautéed onions and poblano peppers, bacon, guacamole, Monterey jack and spicy chipotle ketchupMay 6 – Brewmaster’s Burger with beer-braised onions, bacon, Swiss, cheddar and roasted garlic aioliMay 7 – Hickory Burger with house-smoked pulled pork, sharp cheddar and barbeque sauceMay 8 – Mom’s Burger with exotic mushrooms, brie and vine-ripened tomatoMay 9 – Grilled Cheese Burger with fried onions, mushrooms, tomato, Swiss and cheddar on ryeMay 10 – New Mexico Burger with roasted green chile relish, Monterey jack, salsa verde, lettuce and tomatoMay 11 – Saltimbocca Burger with prosciutto, provolone, sautéed spinach and caramelized onionsMay 12 – Yogi Bear Picnic Burger with onion rings, bacon, BBQ sauce, potato salad and American cheeseMay 13 – South Philly Burger with garlicky broccoli rabe, roasted long hots, provolone and Asiago May 14 – Pizza Burger with pepperoni, mozzarella, Asiago and tomato sauceMay 15 – Reuben Burger with shaved corned beef, sauerkraut, 1000 Island dressing and Swiss on ryeMay 16 – Hell Fire Burger with fried green chilies, onions, pepper jack cheese and chipotle ketchupMay 17 – Jammin’ Marley Burger with pineapple chutney, bacon, sharp cheddar and Jamaican BBQ sauceMay 18 – Green Bay Burger with cheddar, Swiss, provolone and Boursin, lettuce, tomato and red onionMay 19 – Ode to Jerry Garcia Burger with mushrooms, Monterey jack, caramelized onions and roasted garlic aioliMay 20 – French Onion Burger with Gruyere, caramelized onions, bacon and French onion dipMay 21 – Bistro Burger with Boursin and herb-roasted exotic mushroomsMay 22 – Big Haas Burger with Haas avocado, Monterey jack, red onion and roasted garlic mayonnaiseMay 23 – Paris Burger with brie, sautéed apples, rosemary onions, bacon and spinachMay 24 – London Pub Burger, a double-decker burger with caramelized onions, mushrooms, sharp cheddar and house brown gravy on the sideMay 25 – California Burger with Haas avocado, cucumber, pea shoots and wasabi aioliMay 26 – Whiz Kid Burger with sauteed peppers and onions and Cheez WhizMay 27 – Caprese Burger with fresh mozzarella, vine-ripened tomato, balsamic glaze and basil pestoMay 28 – Catamount Burger with Vermont white sharp cheddar, applewood-smoked bacon and maple glazeMay 29 – Chicago Burger with sweet pickle relish, onion, pickled hot peppers, tomato, celery salt and mustardMay 30 – Red, White and Blue burger with vine-ripened tomato, sliced onion, gorgonzola and baconMay 31 – Jalapeno Popper Burger with deep fried jalapeno slices, cream cheese and bacon

A proud recipient of LEED Gold Certified, the Hotel Palomar Philadelphia incorporates eco-friendly actions and amenities throughout their boutique hotel. Everyday they participate in actions that go towards saving our planet like placing in-room recycling bins for easy guestroom recycling, they’ve created a comprehensive recycling program for cups, clothes hangers, batteries through out the hotel and are using Organic and/or fair-trade coffee and tea. Did you know that Hotel Palomar rewards guests who drive hybrid vehicles by providing discounted parking prices for these vehicles at the hotel. Yeah.

So what better place to attend a celebration of Earth Day Happy Hour, or Earth Day eve as it was, then at the hotel itself which is exactly what I did yesterday. Above is one of the auction items at the Party for the Parks all of which utilized recycle material. There’s a bug in this babble.
That trench was designed by SA VA, who creates sustainability fashion here in Philadelphia
( today), and is a recycled banner from the 2009 Philadelphia Library Festival, and next to it is a cute welded bulldog made of recycled tin door signs by artist Leo Sewell.
Hosted by Palomar GM Nick Gregory with special guest Amy Johnston from Mural Arts, Nick explained the steps that the hotel greets the guests and tells them about the commitment Hotel Palomar and the entire Kipton Hotel chain goes through to be green. This past week they had a recycle station in front of the hotel, they also turned down the electricity in the lobby during the day and worked with the natural light shining through the window. He was excited to have this happy hour celebrating Earth Day and raising money for The Trust for Public Land. Natavan Weborck and artist Gunel Rzayevatell me that they saving the earth is important to them and they recycle everyday, especially by re using shopping bags. Gunel is from a small country in Eurasia on the Caspian Sea, and is a Communitcations major at the University of the Arts. She’s titled this piece “Preserve Yourself”.
Barry Garozzo here with another friend Victoria Sabatino. You’ll recall we photographed him a month ago with his friend Amanda and they stressed they were only friends, and of course Meg Ryan did believe that opposite sex folks could be friends.

BFF’s Nicole Cashman and Sabrina Tamburino.
Sharon Gerber, Natasha L, Jason Duran, Casey Anderson and Suzi Stein.
Casey and Jason are getting ready for their June wedding. The two met through friend Sharon, she went to U of P with Casey, then went on for her medical degree at Temple where she met Jason. Look for those social photos to grace this page in June.

A family staying at the hotel joined the festivities. The Hjorth family is from Sweden. L-R daughter Maria Laura, mom Lotte Erfur and Dad Jacob.

I love this gum wrapper satchel snatch up at the silent auction by Laura Burkhardt
who was there with Mickey Rowley. Both were then headed over to the sold out show by Les Nubians – The self-described ‘Afropean’ hip hop/rhythm and blues duoconcert at the Kimmel Center as part of the PIFA moment.
Adam Spivak in the meantime was making his way home with his newly acquired art piece by Julie Yosen called “Feed Me”, which is made up of material found inside the Kimpton Hotel. I recognize a bathrobe.

Artist Sam Kelly next to her “Breaking Ground”. Sam says it’s an homage to film photography and how with the explosion of digital cameras, film is basically a wasteland. Note mushroom cloud. All in all a great time for a good cause. Happy Earth Day!! (PS Thanks to http://inliquid.com/ for their support of the art show.)

Paul Simon performed at the Academy Ball last January, and even did a duet with the great American Soprano Renee Fleming. He’s returning to Philly on June 4th & 5th, this time at the Merriam Theater. Philly is his last stop before his “So Beautiful or So What,” tour heads overseas.He hopes you’ll come out and see him. Tickets on sale soon as the ink just dried on the contract yesterday.
Flyers teammates Mike Richards and Jeff Carter were at Union Trust last night. Carter was in a brace as it was just reported yesterday that he is on the injured list for a few games. You’ll recall Mike appeared in a photo/sponsor page in the Academy Ball with me that honored the late Linda Creed and my sister Judy Wilkins which promoted their cancer charities. Which reminds me…
I was at Sigma Sound, where the above two photos were taken, and where Charles Dutton’s movie “Must Be The Music” was filming for the past two weeks. Next week members of the Stylistics will be in a few of the scenes. The above gold record is for one of the Stylistics biggest hits “Betcha By Golly Wow” which was written by Linda Creed. Happy Earth Day. At about 10AM the Earth Day Party to the Parks will go live on PhillyChitChat. Mural Arts director Jane Golden was scheduled to speak at the event, but she broke her arm earlier in the day and sent Amy Johnston in her place. We wish Jane Golden a speedy recovery. She’s a terrific lady.