Results tagged “themanhattan”

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Bring a Flashlight: Winter Nighthike for Adults sponsored by Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, 5:30PM. Call to pre-register and to learn the meeting place (215-482-7300). $7 Solstice Film Series 07: First installment of the Solstice Film Series, a showcase for short independent films, at National Mechanics (22 S. 3rd), 8PM. Free The Campbell Apartment: The Campbell Apartment, Griz, and The Goodnightlights at The Manhattan Room (15 W. Girard),...

For a band with only a three-song EP to its name, Vampire Weekend sure has polarized the indie rock blogs. It’s like a cage match between hype and backlash: on one side you’ve got a long line of critics and fans hailing the New York band’s refreshingly polyrhythmic, Afro-pop sensibilities, while on the other, there are just as many people resenting the mounting hype or their sunny tunes or both. (You can sample some of that criticism, which ranges from “What’s the big deal about this band?” to “They’re the Jimmy Buffetts of indie rock,” here.)

Mr. McFeeley: Not the Mr. Rogers delivery man, but William S. McFeely, the award-winning biographer, discusses a local painter whose work is much in the news these days: Thomas Eakins. 7PM at the Central Library (1901 Vine Street). Free.

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

Phillyist has to admit, we had to gag our inner fan girl and stick her in the closet in order to compose this post. She's convinced if we put the word out that author Neil Gaiman (squueeeeee!) will be speaking at Temple University's Mitten Hall (1913 North Broad Street) at 8PM on Thursday as part of their Poet and Writers Series, that there would be a sort of fantasy lovers stampede that would prevent her from getting to see him speak. I assured her that there's likely enough Gaiman goodness to go around. For the love our comics, please don't prove us wrong.

Sure, the new movie is coming out on Friday - but for you hardcore fans who can't wait for your wizard fix - Harry Potter themeband, Harry and the Potters will be at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut Street) Wednesday night at 6PM. For a suggested donation of $5, see brothers Paul (Harry, year 7) and Joe (Harry, year 4) DeGeorge perform such songs as "Wizard Chess," "Save Ginny Weasley" and "The Wrath of Hermione."

This Saturday night the folks of Plain Parade will be packing the intimate The Manhattan Room (15 W. Girard) full of indie music. Performing will be Philly's own post-rock National Eye , as well as pop-rockers (and bloggers) The Spinto Band , popsters Pas/Cal, and Illumina - " a collective of eight musical friends " who, according to their domain, love you (or maybe they love us; that part wasn't clear). Whether Illumina (and the other bands) love you personally or not, you can see them all for a mere $7. And although our affections can't be bought, we must admit a $7 cover charge with no drink minimum kinda makes us love them, and Plain Parade too.

Art Spiegelman, author and artist behind the ground-breaking, best-selling, Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel , will be speaking about the history of comics and their changing role in society and popular culture. (And, we hope, explaining why he insists on spelling the word "comics" as "comix." Phillyist is a fan of Speigelman and has great respect for him as a storyteller and innovator - but we're not altogether sure that his Pulitzer gives him the right to change the spellings of words willy-nilly.) The program starts at 8PM, and costs $8 ($5 for students).

Continue reading "Frugal in Philly - Im Cabaret, au Cabaret, to Cabaret"

"It's like American Idol, without the jerks!" This is how David Cassanova described last night's Puppet Karaoke Red Hot Royal Rumble at The Manhattan Grill in Fishtown. Phillyist is more like to compare the Puppet Karaoke experience to accidentally finding oneself at open mic night on the set of HR Puff N' Stuff; but no matter which way you choose to look at it, Puppet Karaoke is loads of fun. Part cabaret, part karaoke, part arts-and-crafts extravaganza; Puppet Karaoke pits the quirky, professionally performed puppets (Colonel J Hammer, Fruitwa, Mr. Big Boss, Sork the 500 Foot Astro-Polyp and others) against each other and puppets made and performed by the audience. Puppets can be brought in from the outside - but Phillyist noticed it was a more popular option to storm the table of paper bags, markers and assorted other do-dads (nicknamed the "Emergency Puppet Construction Zone" or "EPCZ") and create puppets stage-side. Some show-goers who were too shy to sing took advantage of the EPCZ to create paper puppet undies to toss on-stage during songs. (It was that kind of crowd.) We don't care how old you are: the lure of brown paper and safety scissors is difficult to resist. The evening was moderated by nice-guy emcee Cassanova and his lounge-lizard counterpart Carmen Martella III (Martella can also be seen performing around town as himself, Salvador Dali, Tony Clifton, Rip Taylor and (our personal favorite) Skeletor), who introduced the acts, chatted with all the puppets and kept the audience entertained with vaudeville-grade groaners as performers crawled in and out from behind the stage. This is karaoke - but make no mistake - the puppets are the stars. All puppeteers - professional and amateur alike - spend their song time crouched beneath the stage with their lyrics and microphones while the puppets enjoy the glow of the spotlight and garner all the applause. Phillyist may be biased as we grew up watching on healthy-doses of Sesame Street - but we fail to see how anyone can have a bad time watching puppets sing and dance. It's funny. It's fun. And luckily - it's once a month (every third Thursday) at the Manhattan Grill.

Phillyist has six words for you: Puppet Karaoke Red Hot Royal Rumble. Personally we don't see why you need any other information (we're talking puppets performing karaoke, people) but in case you do: