Philadelphia Weekly

Broadcast plays Sunday at First Unitarian Church.

Wednesday Oct 14

Where The Wild Things Are:Hands-on Tour
And now, let the wild rumpus start! To celebrate the release of the Where the Wild Things Are movie next month, the Rosenbach Museum & Library—which author Maurice Sendak personally chose as the permanent home of his original artwork—is hosting a wealth of Sendak-themed events and exhibitions now through October. Among them is the Wild Things Hands-On Tour, where visitors will get to read early drafts of the story from Sendak’s notebooks (including a hand-written copy of the story in its earliest form) and handle original drawings of the Wild Things. You’ll also get to look through some Sendak family photos, and if that doesn’t sound like much fun, you have remember that it was Sendak’s aunts and uncles who inspired the Wild Things, and its their namesakes that roared their terrible roars, gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws and made us fall in love with them. Matt Soniak
3pm. $10. Rosenbach Museum and Library, 2008-2010 Delancey Place. 215.732.1600. rosenbach.org

Om + Six Organs of Admittance
Heavy comes in many forms, two of which will command your senses this evening. There’s the psych/doom-metal duo Om—featuring
ex-Sleep frontman Al Cisneros on bass and vocals, and Emil Amos (of Grails) on drums—which doesn’t exactly bash you over the head but lumbers ominously, creating dirgey, trance-like soundscapes with their thick rumble and monastic vocals. And there’s Six Organs of Admittance—the solo moniker of accomplished guitarist and vocalist Ben Chasny—whose Fahey-influenced acoustic drone-folk is lovely but can lead you to some fairly shadowy places, where dreams turn to nightmares and the weight of the moment is palpable.
Michael Alan Goldberg
9pm. $12. With Lichens. Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave. 215.739.9684. johnnybrendas.com

MacHomer
It’s the Bard meets the Bart. While fans have seen many incarnations of The Simpsons over the years, (3-D Homer, anyone?) everyone’s favorite yellow brood is getting yet another makeover—this time, a Shakespearean one. Performer Rick Miller uncannily imitates over 50 of the series’ most memorable characters in the one-man show, MacHomer, which retells the story of MacBeth. Miller channels Springfield’s finest to take over the roles of all the characters including Marge as Lady MacBeth, Mr. Burns as Duncan King of Scotland, and Homer as the title character. Well, sort of. That is, if MacBeth liked jelly donuts, worked in a nuclear power plant and once had a crayon embedded in his brain. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself quoting “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble,” in the voices of Patty and Selma afterwards. D’oh-eth! Aly Semigran
Wed., Oct. 14, 6pm. Through Oct. 17. $20. Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 3680 Walnut St. 215.898.3900. annenbergcenter.org

Thursday October 15

Feel Your Boobies
Do your boobs hang low? Do they wobble to and fro? Well, maybe it’s time you got in touch with them. Ladies, it’s not just Breast Cancer Awareness Month. According to the aptly named Feel Your Boobies Foundation, this week is solely dedicated to feeling your own breasts. MINT Lounge, encouraging this titillating cause, hosts a benefit reminding women that even a simple grab or two can be as effective as breast exams when detecting potentially cancerous lumps. So get to feelin’ those girls, because deflated fun bags do not a happy woman make. Nina Sachdev
6pm. $10. Mint Lounge, 50 S. Second St. 215.829.1128. mintoldecity.com

Trick Baby
Photographs are fine and dandy, but nothing captures a place and time quite like a movie. If it’s the look and feel of early ’70s Philadelphia you seek, consider Trick Baby, a conman misadventure that offers up such Philadelphia locations as Strawberry Mansion, 52nd Street and Center City as they looked in mean, dirty 1972. Adapted from a novel by a former pimp, the so-called Iceberg Slim, Baby also bottles up the period’s racial politics: our black grifting antiheroes—a wise old-hat and his young apprentice—play their white marks by preying on their racial fears, then pulling them in. Complement your soaking in of the era with the Print Center’s current exhibit, which presents photos of Philadelphia streets from 1970 till 1985, roughly from pre-Rocky till the MOVE bombing. The Secret Cinema event also features words by the great Irv Slifkin while the beer, courtesy Victory Brewing Company, is stone cold free. matt prigge
7pm. $8. Print Center, 1614 Latimer St. 215.735.6090. thesecretcinema.com

Friday October 16

Industrial Jazz Group
Soon after Keith Jarrett famously cursed out photographers in Italy, Andrew Durkin orchestrated the whole tirade for the singers and players of his acoustic 17-piece Industrial Jazz Group. That’s Durkin’s specialty: arch, knowing humor delivered with uncommon skill. The self-described “hack composer and pseudo-intellectual” from Portland, Ore., has assembled just the sort of traveling circus to carry this out. Their live gigs, represented on the 2008 disc LEEF, include sung narration between numbers, visual aids, audience prompts and so forth. Amid all the zaniness lurks a subtlety and precision-tooled ensemble. Not industrial, certainly not pure jazz, but as Durkin puts it: “Were the Beatles really insects?” David R. Adler
7pm. $5. With Agent Moosehead + Gina Ferrera. Green Line Cafe, 4426 Locust St. 215.222.0799. industrialjazzgroup.com

Blues Control
At first glance, you might think that Russ Waterhouse and Lea Cho of Blues Control play guitar and keyboards. Fundamentally, though, their music comes from the stacks of amplifiers and effect boards that mutate conventional rock band sounds into eerie washes and bludgeoning beats, ghostly whispers and cathedral-sized surges of organ. Their new album Local Flavor sports a clean, machine-tooled gloss that is far different from the sludgy guitar blues of the debut. Yet either way, Blues Control can be overwhelmingly loud in person. The band piles beautiful noises into strata that shift like tectonic plates, creating seismic waves of sound that pummel your innards and stir your hair. J.K.
8pm. $8. With Puerto Rico Flowers, Watery Love + Her Dead Twin. Pilam. 3914 Spruce St. myspace.com/thepilam

J-Luv’s House Party
It’s cool to call him by his first name when he’s not performing but once Jaamil Kosoko hits the stage, you can call him “J-Luv.” With co-host Megan Mazarick as “Dixie Crystal,” the comedic duo presents the first of a seasonal performance series by Jaamil’s Kosoko Performance Group. The dance company brings its signature innovation and culturally diverse interpretations into the spotlight with special guests, including Da.Da. Dance Project, Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre and React/dance, Gemini Wolf and Lillie Ruth Bussey. In the three years since its formation, Kosoko Performance Group has already won both local and national recognition—including appearances at the American Dance Festival and the nEW Festival. If you miss this show, you’ll have to wait for “J-Luv’s Winter House Party,” which is slated to return in early 2010. sherri hospedales
Fri. Oct. 16, 9pm. $10-$15. 1714 N. Mascher St. 267.679.9168. kosokoperformance.org

Saturday October 17

Home Movie Day
Chuck Klosterman once posited a fantasy wherein people can watch their dreams—but only in the company of a room full of strangers. Given that so few people have their own film projectors these days, that’s roughly the experience offered by Home Movie Day. Ocurring in dozens of American cities, as well as 10 other countries, the event offers the chance to dust off any 8mm or 16mm film reels wasting away in a closet or a basement, have them thread up and then watch them projected. At long last your neighbors can see footage of you as a muttering toddler, or of a long-missed grandparent recounting a meandering anecdote. Of course, HMD isn’t just a celebration of captured memories, but also of celluloid—splotchy, dirty, corroding, beautiful celluloid. The farther we get into the video era, and its accompanying manic oversharing, the more your filmed antics and embarassments start to look like museum-worthy art. M.P.
Noon-4pm. Free. International House, 3701 Chestnut St. 215.387.5125. homemovieday.com

Squidfire Art Mart
Sick of seeing Ed Hardy T-shirts? Us too. Enter Squidfire, the Baltimore-based design duo whose quirky hand-drawn and printed apparel involve more than just flaming skulls and hearts (think: octopuses and tigers). What’s more, the two are bringing their love of unique artistry to our fair city with their first Philadelphia-based Art Mart. After noticing a lack of showcased crafts in the area, designers Jean-Baptiste Regnard and Kevin Sherry decided to create an “indie shopping mall.” Join more than 40 vendors offering everything from Sugar Paperie stationary to Vervain Savon bath soaps, from homemade honey to dog treats and more at the Old Pine Community Center. Emily Freisher
11am-6pm. Free. Old Pine CommunityCenter, 401 Lombard St. squidfire.com

Peoplehood Parade and Pageant
Long gone are the days of equating puppetry solely with childhood classics like Sesame Street and anything from the mind of Jim Henson. Today’s enchanting figureheads are advocates of progress, eliciting social change and prompting civic responsibilities within the community. (Think: Avenue Q with slightly less Bush bashing.) This message is delivered through Spiral Q, Philly’s own puppet theater/do-gooder organization. The culmination of Spiral Q’s mission is Peoplehood, an annual pageant and parade featuring papier-mache creations from community members and local organizations like City Year and Build On. Now in its tenth year, the parade winds its way from the Paul Robeson House to Clark Park, where the pageant—featuring over 200 performers—is held. Join them throughout the West Philadelphia maze, or hop in once they get to the park to see this year’s performance, an exploration of community responses to a falling economy. It’s like seeing Sesame Street Live—with a little more substance. E.F.
1pm. Free. Begins at Paul Robeson House, 4949 Walnut St. 215.474.1378. spiralq.org

Sunday October 18

Broadcast
It’s been more than four years since we’ve heard from the Birmingham, England, electro-pop outfit Broadcast, which some 14 years after forming is now down to vocalist Trish Keenan and multi-instrumentalist James Cargill. Endlessly compared to Stereolab due to their retro-futuristic steez—a collision of ’60s psych-pop, post-rock and ambient textures, unearthly synths and samples, and Apollo-era science motifs—Broadcast boasts an edgier and more cinematic feel than that Anglo-Franco outfit. As if she was starring in a David Lynch movie, Keenan twists her sweet vocals into something deliciously darker. A new Broadcast LP is on the way so chances are good you’ll hear some new grooves. M.A.G.
7:30pm. $13-$15. With Atlas Sound + the Selmanaires. First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St. 866.468.7619. r5productions.com

Biketoberfest
The Naked Bike Ride is so six weeks ago. It’s time for Philly bikers to celebrate cycling with their clothes on. Rock a pair leiderhosen or a dirndl at this year’s Biketoberfest at Dock Street Brewery. Ten dollars (or eight if you’re a good little event planner) gets you in and all proceeds go to the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, an org doing cool things like advocating for filled potholes. Enjoy the sweet sounds of local faves Grandchildren and Pony Pants while munching on German cuisine and specially brewed Biketoberfest beer. Neighborhood Bike Works provides complimentary bike valet. Just don’t drink and ride. Erica Palan
2pm. $8-$10. Dock Street Brewery, 701 S. 50th St. 215.BICYCLE. bicyclecoalition.org

Monday October 19