The Social Diary of Philadelphia. Gossip, Tidbits, Celebrity & Philly Famous Sightings. Follow me on Twitter @iphillychitchat EMAIL ME Buzz@ phillychitchat .com
Ori Feibush, a real estate developer, has turned a trash-strewn
city-owned lot — vacant for roughly 30 years — into a welcoming spot for
customers of his month-old corner cafe, where they can enjoy their
fair-trade organic java and pastries from local bakeries (WaPo). But the City of Philadelphia wants him to return it to the mess it used to be and I guess today at 4PM we're going to hear why.
Last night was a busy busy busy night, between the PhillyStyle Mag party, The FBH Kick Off Party, the "Open Air Debut" and a big scene being filmed at the Franklin Institute for the TV show "Do Not Harm". Let's briefly check in with a few of the events I went to starting with the Rittenhouse Row Fall Fashion Show.
It was a smashing success. I was pleasantly surprised that the crowd was plentiful, and fashionable considering all the other events in town that night, but the Rittenhouse Row events have a stellar reputation of putting on a good party with lots of fun people. Check out Jesse Rendell strutting his stuff on the "runway" in Duke & Winston. Check out my column in Philly Mag Online on Monday for who else was there, what were they wearing and favorite moments of the night.
I was feeling a little under the weather last night, so I headed home instead of going to any of the other events (today I feel better after piling on the vitamin C. I have no time to get sick, but for the next week or so it's air kisses for me or Howie Mandell fist bump hellos.) I found out on Tuesday that the TV show "Do Not Harm" was going to film a big black tie soiree, so that evening I started to do a reconnaissance checking out large, grand halls on where they could possibly hold such an event with 300 extras. The Franklin Institute had signs up, but I did think maybe the Kimmel Center or event the Please Touch Museum. When I realized it was the Franklin Institute I thought maybe because of the "Open Air" light show they choose that place.
I realized I was wrong. That was the most insane part about picking the Franklin Institute, an additional 1000 people wanting to watch the scene being shot, and you know what
no problems. In fact the producers thanked the crowd for letting them film in their City, and how much they're enjoying themselves. He was glad we were able to watch what it takes to make the TC show, and hoped we would all tune into the mid-season show, which starts after football season in January. No flash photography, and none at all during the shooting of the scene, which had
Steven Pasquale (in tux) running down the Franklin Institute stairs screaming after "Olivia" played by Ruta Gedmintas as she crosses the street and enters her waiting limo.
She looks like she has flats on. I wonder if that changes in the TV show and they digitally put stilettos on her.
This is the duo walking back up the stairs to do the scene again. I completely forgot to bring my zoom lens so we must do with these long shots. After shooting this scene for an hour or so, they shot interiors with the 300 extras; then it was back to work today in the hospital (ie the School Board Building on Broad Street, where they spend most of their time filming.)
I did get to see "Open Air". The Association for Public Art's major world-premiere project this fall, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's OpenAir,
debuted last night on Philly's Ben Franklin Parkway; thousands were in
attendance to see performances and presentations from the artist, Mayor Michael Nutter, human beatbox Rahzel, extreme vocalist David Moss and more, as the project went live and the full set of 24 searchlights lit up the night sky.
The project continues through October 14, with local community groups kicking off each evening; in addition, Rafael will talk about OpenAir at select special events throughout the project's run, including Sept. 22 at the Philadelphia Museum of Artand Oct. 2 at the Franklin Institute's "Planetarium on the Parkway." - It was much more quiet than I thought. I'd like to see it on a cloudy day, also from a distance like the Camden Waterfront, 42Expressway right as you hit the crest in the road where Philly comes into sight and from Cooper River Park.
SCHEDULE OF SPECIAL EVENTS
Performing Freedom: Art, Spectacle and Agency in Public
PennDesign, University of Pennsylvania, Meyerson Hall, 210 S. 34th St.
In
conjunction with DesignPhiladelphia and PennDesign, Richard Sommer,
Dean of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of
Toronto, in conversation with Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.
In
conjunction with the Franklin Institute, this interactive presentation
of Philadelphia's night sky is hosted by Chief Astronomer Derrick Pitts,
who will direct the robotic searchlights to highlight salient stellar
objects viewable from the Parkway. This is a free event, and amateur and
budding astronomers are welcome to bring their telescopes.
Thanks to you my readership is up this year. I just checked my stats and hit 1.2 million viewers as of 10AM this morning.
Tuesday was a big day for Michael Vick and his newly created "Team Vick Foundation". First he attended the dedication of a rundown football field in Philadelphia's Hunting Park section, where he contributed $200,000 as part of a multi-million
dollar project, led by the city's Fairmount Park Conservancy, to
transform Hunting Park, a blighted crime haven, into a safe, positive place to play, Vick told me. The new field will be called Team Vick Football Field. Afterwards he headed over toaloft hotel at the Philadelphia Airport to celebrate with fans.
Who started to arrive hours earlier for the festive all day long party.
There was delicious food by Sarcone's Deli, The Jughandle Inn and The Fresh Works to name a few
Q102 and Power 99 Hosted a "Battle of the Bands"
There were lots and lots of fans eager to meet their hometown sports hero
Michael Vick, here with Nina Timani, Director of Sales and Marketing, aloft PHL. I have to hand it to Timani, the first charity fundraiser for the Team Vick Foundation could have been held anywhere, but Vick and she became fast friends 3 years ago when he first came to Philly. He stayed at aloft while negotiating his contract and the rest is history. (You recall I shot the first photo of him when he was in town at that time too.) This is the 3rd large Eagles player charity event that aloft has hosted, all arranged by Timani; first was DeSean Jackson in 2010, then last year Vince Young and now this year Michael Vick.
The new Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Trent Edwards can be seen in the background, as Vick signs for a fan.
These folks drove up from Dover, De to meet Michael Vick
Kathryn Ott Lovell (center), executive director of the conservancy, heard Vick speak last year to a high school audience. "I was completely blown away by this guy," she said. "Hunting Park is
his story. This is the story of second chances. This about the
redemption and rebirth of a park and an entire community." Francesca Gunning, Meg Holscher, Anna Stormer, Meghan Mallouk - The crew is holding Michael Vick's new autobiography "Finally Free"
Philadelphia Eagles long snapper Jon Dorenbos wows the crowd with his magic tricks
Matt Minichino, Director of Operations HQ at Revel Resorts, Gina Gasparre, Alp Aktan, Director of Nightlife at Royal Jelly Burlesque at Revel Resorts, and Jon Dorenbos
Eric Parker, Two Affix, LLC and Christine Krzyzanowski Senior Partner at Two Affix, LLC
There was a table at the event with Michael Vick signed memorabilia. $200 for a jersey. i thought that was pretty good and picked up one for my charity auction.So new is Team Vick foundation, the website is just being perfected and soon you will be able to buy memorabilia from the site yourself.
Durrell Bottoms, co-owner of Sigma Sound, Aveci Smith, Thomas Weir, Stephen Sirochman, Chriss Boyle and Colin Hicke, make up the band "Modern Colour"
DeSean Jackson keeping it shady. The night after his victory against the Ravens, he headed to DelFrisco's for a feast fit for a king. He tweeted out a photo and I've been hankering for a steak ever since.
Brandon Graham
Vick is being interviewed by Mike Missanelli from 97.5 The Fanatic along with Nina Tiami, PR Director of Aloft Hotel, who co-hosted the event. (Here's the interview)
Kurt Coleman signs Gregory "Fitz" arm
but in a twist on the norm "Fitz" isn't getting it tattooed, instead he'll take a photo of the signatures and post in on his FB page for permanency.
Kijafa Vick and Mike's mom, Brenda Vick. Kijafa, wearing her PNK Elephant jewelery, left in the middle of the day to go pick up the kids from school and brought them back. They were cute and adorable, but they're kids so I didn't take their photos.
Brenda Vick drove up from Virgina with her kids Courtney Vick, and Christine Vick, and nephew Terrance Vick.
And the battle of the bands begin, first in the tent adjacent to aloft, but then that torrential storm blew in and quick thinking and a little bit of organization brought the whole outfit inside.
Beautiful songstress Angela Dipersia killed it with Adele's "Rolling in the Deep." She later went on to win the whole competition which included a weekend of free recording time at Sigma Sound Studios, and a weekend stay at aloft hotel. Angela manager Wanda Mora/Mora Management tells me that Angela will be performing tomorrow at the 2012 PhiladelphiaHero Thrill Show ( THE
MISSION OF THE HERO THRILL SHOW IS TO RAISE MONEY TO PAY FOR THE
COLLEGE TUITION FOR CHILDREN OF PHILADELPHIA POLICE OFFICERS AND/OR
FIREFIGHTERS KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY.)
The whole gang who participated in the Q102 and Power 99 "Battle of the Bands", hosted by Andre The Giant (with the Vick 7 on) and Grouchy Greg Watkins (making the moves down front). 2nd place winner with 12hrs of Signma Sound Studio time, and a weekend stay at aloft hotel, was the cool Dinosaur Jr/Greg Allman inspired "Still Moon", which performed last. After calculating the scores all day it's nice to know that if you perform last you can still be a contender. What an epic day at aloft. The party started at 2PM and I rolled out of there about 8:30PM, fun times. Can't wait to see what Nina Tiami has in store for us next year.
Team Vick - Michael Vick announces his first major donation from his foundation Team Vick. The $200,000 donation will help revitalize a Hunting Park Recreation field says Kathryn Ott Lovell, Executive Director, The Fairmount Park Conservancy. Team Vick field joins the Ryan Howard Baseball Field, which is in the same park. Sounds like a win win.
With so much to choose from on last night's Philadelphia Fashion Collection calendar, it was no surprised that Sharon Phillips Waxman's Phashion Phest was a packed house full of fun; and it should be, it was the very first Philadelphia fashion showcase (inception 1994) and deserves accolades for blazing the trail for what is now an entire month where Philadelphia celebrates fashion and it's retailers.
"Fashion Follies." Now in its 19th year,
Phashion Phest featured a high-energy runway show, dazzling salon
presentations, creative student designs, a fabulous silent auction (I went on a shopping spree for my silent auction, my Gilda's Club Annual Event is coming up on 11/19 at Flemings in NJ.) and a
lavish open bar cocktail reception all under one roof at the Shops of Liberty Place.
Phasion Phest is similar to what you would find under the tents during NYC's fashion week, it brings vendors together for the guests to check out what are the hottest trends in fashion before the start of the runway show. I also love love love this venue for the fashion show, as well as any event. The Shops of Liberty Place (one of my advertisers btw) has a huge rotunda and can hold several hundred people. You can bring your own caterer in to provide food, there's electricity. Years ago I attended a charity event here, a dance event, it was fabulous, people step up and hold your next fabulous event here. OK I digress
Phasion Phest was created by Sharon Phillips Waxman (center) to showcase great fashion retailers in Philadelphia as well as in the Delaware Valley. During the 90 minutes before the runway fashion show, is when the guests visited salons to check out the latest in hair trends, shopped at retail pop-ups, and networking, as I mentioned earlier, while enjoying lite bites and Skinny Girl cocktails. Sharon's model worthy kids kids Mackenzie Drew and Zachary Waxman (missing pop Brad Waxman)
Melissa Lampman, Ginna Zaha and Amanda Snyder enjoy another year of Phasion Phest.
Songstress FIYA is "Wishing You Home" For the Holidays, as her new CD states. Here she was belting out a few Whitney Houston tunes during the VIP cocktail party
who were enjoying delicious bites from one of my fav restaurants "Rouge" on Rittenhouse Square. Leanne Marie, Bob Valerno, Samuel Noh (Executibe Chef), Rob Elsen and Felipe Rincon.
Kristie Gibson, Alyssa Bellano, Genvieve Haney, and Krystin Kaiser
Victoria Lam, Kate Maklys - Philly PR Girl, Michelle GBoyes, South Philly Fashionista and Diana Tutko, who drove in from Boston this week to shoot for the South Philly Fashionista blog.
Jordan Liss and Lianna Christine, Production Assistant at RAW: natural born artists. RAW is coming up on October 4 at G Lounge, my buddy Maria Papadakis hosts the event, and one of my favorite bands, TaraGirl will be performing. (Did you know I am Maria's Man of Honor at her wedding. OMG and it's less than a month away. Honestly, it's too much of an honor for me.)
Dayan McNew and Laura Weinberg of Fire and Ice
Queen B of Belle Salon with her hair models
Representing and supporting, the 2nd longest fashion event held in Philadelphia is by these two guys: FBH's Philadelphia Fashion Week's Kerry Scott & Kevin Parker Tonight is their kick off partywill Tonight is their kick off party at Commerce Square and then a weekend of Philadelphia Fashion Week Fall 2012 Ready to wear Runway show Sept 21, Location: 2424 Studios. More than a dozen designers will
be showing their spring 2013 collections.
Sponsors: All Event Party Rental, Center City District, Eventions,
Parker & Partners, The Philadelphia Collection, Philadelphia Style,
Philadelphia Weekly, Philly2night, The Shops at Liberty Place, Southern
Wine & Spirits
Queen B of Belle Salon hair raising hair models - Jessica Saint of the Haus of Styledelphia, Taylor Horne, Photographer/Stylis and Toni Burke
The next generation of models, movers and socialites. Savannah Gaeckler, Ian Michael Crumm (wearing vintage Versace) and Brianna Bruner. Ian is the assistant to Sharon Phillips Waxman and really helped execute one of the best shows I've seen so far this year. I love the staging this year. Brilliant. If you missed the show, then you missed something special.
With the fashion photographers in place it was time to start the show....
at first the crowd seemed taken aback by the fur on the runway, which by the way is in every Phasion Phest show, but they came alive when the men strutted their stuff bare chested and haute hot
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