Friday, November 20 2009, 11:02 PM | Partly Cloudy, and 47° F | Tomorrow: High: 61 F Low: 43 F Sunny to partly cloudy

OPINION: Philly's Couch Problem

Local design costs less to maintain.

The Clog

CP Abroad: Better biking in Chile

by Brian Howard

7 hours ago

Friend of the Clog/CP contributor Jesse Delaney sends this photo from Santiago, Chile: Which leads us to wonder why even countries in the »»

The Clog Weekend Omnibus: Almost Turkey Time Weekend

by Molly Eichel

9 hours ago

Friday: Thanksgiving may seem close but it's actually six excruciatingly far days away. The Down Home Diner gives you your Turkey Day feast early in anticipation »»

Meal Ticket

IN PRINT: Meal Ticket tackles Autumn 2009

by Drew Lazor

6 hours ago

If you picked up a copy of City Paper this week, you probably already peeped out our fall '09 Meal Ticket supplement, which features features, »»

Check out Meal Ticket's Felicia D in Grub Street's Bartender's Bible

by Drew Lazor

9 hours ago

You may not know this, but Meal Ticket's very own Felicia D is also a badass bartender/font of boozy knowledge at the Belgian Café. Grub Street »»

Creepy Puppet Films

Fri., Nov. 20, 8 p.m., $7, Moore College of Art & Design, 1920 Race St., 215-965-4099, thesecretcinema.com.

The title says it all. Puppets? Fucking creepy.

Philcon

Fri., Nov. 20, 6 p.m.-mid.; Sat., Nov. 21, 10 a.m.-mid.; Sun., Nov., 22, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; $25-$60, Crowne Plaza Hotel, 2349 W. Marlton Pike, Cherry Hill, philcon.org.

Philcon, an annual conference held by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, tips its hat to all of sci-fi's offshoots.

Joker

Fri., Nov. 20, 9 p.m., $12-$15, with Nomad, L-Vis 1990, Bok-Bok, Kingdom, DJ Sega, Dirty South Joe, Flufftronix and Lady Prowl, Mad Decent Mausoleum, 531 N. 12th St., radsummer.com.

As dubsteppers go, 20-year-old Liam McLean (aka Bristol producer Joker) seems nearly as focused on sparking dancefloors as he is on inducing woozy, head-nodding hypnosis.

Multimedia

Opinion

Loose Canon

Philly's Couch Problem

Local design costs less to maintain.

by Bruce Schimmel

No matter how many throw rugs and designer tchotchkes you buy, if you have a ratty couch, your living room will always look like a dump. The same for holds true for Philly and its bus shelters.

Feedback

Letters to the Editor

What You Say

"Maybe you should spend five years ruminating on how big a douchebag you look like for writing that article."

Food

Percy Me

Where there's smoke, there's Philly's first Texas barbecue joint.

by Drew Lazor

The challenge, at least in the eyes of these restaurateurs, is twofold — endearing Philadelphians to this specific style of cooking, where meat is encouraged to be capital-letter MEAT; and putting in the work necessary to ensure they don't cause the Texas pit bosses of yore to roll over in their smoke-stained graves.

Father's Day

Paul BYOB

by Trey Popp

Paul opened this summer with no fanfare, but there’s ambition burning in the kitchen. Often that leads to a fussy show of sparks. Here it kindles nothing but cozy warmth.

What's Cooking

Get Out!

by Erin Mae Szrankowski

Thomas Keller at Williams-Sonoma | Thanksgiving at Down Home Diner | Second Annual Greensgrow Whole Hog Event | Thanksgiving Supper at Supper | 8th Annual Taste of Success

Recent Restaurants

These restaurants are recently added or updated

Joey's Stone Fired Pizza | 517 South St.
Average entree $10 - $20

Retired schoolteacher Joey Rocco opened this South Street thin-crust pizza spot, where he does 12- and 16-inch pies with toppings ranging from Fiorella's sausage and imported Italian meats to house-roasted hot and sweet peppers and imported anchov »»

Con Murphy's | 1700 Ben Franklin Parkway
Average entree $10 - $20

Tir Na Nog founders Maurice Collins and Liam Kelly have taken over the corner restaurant space at the Windsor Hotel for Con Murphy's, a tri-level pub serving breakfast, lunch, brunch and dinner. Chef Todd Butler, who specializes in "international »»

Coup de Taco | 40th and Locust streets
Average entree under $10

Coup de Taco is a lunch-truck venture from longtime friends Peter Berman, Jeff Henretig and Richard Lopatin, who first met as classmates at Lower Merion High School. The trio currently offers three fresh-made taco varieties — chicken in a sweet Th »»

Jolly's Dueling Piano Bar | 2006 Chestnut St.
Average entree $10 - $20

Jolly Weldon's dynamic 125-seat piano bar features a happy hour from 6 to 8 with $3 beers, wines, bites and cocktails. Chef Brendan Smith of (Smith's Restaurant | Lounge, B*Smith's Gourmet Catering) designed the finger-food-friendly menu, which featu »»

Photo Galleries

Robin Rice : Re-View : 2009/11/19

Percy Street Barbecue : 2009/11/19

Sketch Book Reporter : 2009/11/12

Shopping Spree : Apocalypse Chic : 2009/11/12

Arts

Re-View

Life as a House

Robin Rice on Visual Art: Treacy Ziegler: Before an Ocean

by Robin Rice

Like the gallery itself, Ziegler's paintings are approachable and have an integrity that rewards thought.

Arts Picks

Creepy Puppet Films

Fri., Nov. 20, 8 p.m., $7, Moore College of Art & Design, 1920 Race St., 215-965-4099, thesecretcinema.com.

by Molly Eichel

The title says it all. Puppets? Fucking creepy.

Arts Picks

Falstaff

Sat., Nov. 21, 7:30 p.m., $45, Central Bucks South High School, 1100 Folly Road, Warrington; Mon., Nov. 23, 7:30 p.m., $48, Haverford School, 450 W. Lancaster Ave., Haverford; 215-735-1685, avaopera.org.

by Peter Burwasser

Even when Giuseppe Verdi was not directly adopting Shakespeare for the operatic stage, his work was Shakespearean in dramatic depth and characterization.

Agenda

Agenda Lead

Strapped for Cash

Why won't anyone take money donated by the fetish ball?

by Kristen Humbert

These fetishists are quite giving. All ball proceeds, typically totaling more than $10,000, have gone to local charities, including Action AIDS, MANNA and the Woodhull Freedom Foundation. Regardless of the fetish ball's raison d'être, each charity has taken the money — until now.

Agenda Picks

Philcon

Fri., Nov. 20, 6 p.m.-mid.; Sat., Nov. 21, 10 a.m.-mid.; Sun., Nov., 22, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; $25-$60, Crowne Plaza Hotel, 2349 W. Marlton Pike, Cherry Hill, philcon.org.

by Nicole Saylor

Philcon, an annual conference held by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, tips its hat to all of sci-fi's offshoots.

Agenda Picks

Tellabration 2009

Sat., Nov. 21, 2 p.m., $8-$10, Church of St. Martin, 8000 St. Martin's Lane, 215-275-9324, patchworkstorytelling.org.

by Julia West

It takes cajones to be an good storyteller. Each year, Tellabration is celebrated to honor these brave souls and their fans.

Half Off Depot

Why live life at full price?

CP Photostream

User Photos
Submitted Through Flickr.

Centre Square's Clothspin Sculpture

Philadelphia autumn gold

Colors of the Schuylkill

Serpent

career decision retrospection

Submit your image to
the CP Flickr Pool

Critical Mass

THE SCENESTER: Howling at the New Moon, Blinded by the white and more

by Molly Eichel

6 hours ago

Admit it, you want more from this week's Movies section. The Twilight Saga: New Moon — C New Moon didn't screen in time for publication but Drew »»

Philadelphia Art Hotel to hold benefit exhibit at Walking Fish Theater

by Holly Otterbein

6 hours ago

We told you about the Philadelphia Art Hotel, a super-short, quirky artist residency that breaks all kinds of rules, this summer. PAH's proprietors, »»

Cover Story

The Man Who Brought Philadelphia to Its Knees

The SEPTA strike, according to Willie Brown.

by Jeffrey C. Billman and Isaiah Thompson

Since the union boss said so little to the press during the strike, we thought it was high time to find out why. On Nov. 12, City Paper sat with Willie Brown for nearly two hours inside his North Second Street offices.

News

Medical Tourist

A Penn grad student seeks an experimental stem-cell treatment in China that he can't get here.

by Julia Harte

If Ford successfully raises the money on his own, he'll be just one in a nationwide pool of "stem-cell tourists" — Americans who leave their homeland to seek adult stem-cell treatment that doctors are too skeptical, unwilling or (according to advocates) simply intimidated to perform here.

Man Overboard!

I, Ishmael

Finding fallacy in the SEPTA strike.

by Isaiah Thompson

There's this part in Moby Dick — bear with me — where Captain Ahab whips his crew into booze-fueled cheers to kill the white whale.

A Million Stories

Music

Share the Land

Local folkie Joshua Marcus gets technical in his plea for environmental justice.

by John Vettese

The songs on Joshua Marcus' new album are preceded by interviews with the subjects who inspired them.

Music Picks

Joker

Fri., Nov. 20, 9 p.m., $12-$15, with Nomad, L-Vis 1990, Bok-Bok, Kingdom, DJ Sega, Dirty South Joe, Flufftronix and Lady Prowl, Mad Decent Mausoleum, 531 N. 12th St., radsummer.com.

by K. Ross Hoffman

As dubsteppers go, 20-year-old Liam McLean (aka Bristol producer Joker) seems nearly as focused on sparking dancefloors as he is on inducing woozy, head-nodding hypnosis.

Music Picks

Hamiet Bluiett/Kahil El'Zabar

Fri., Nov. 20, 8 p.m., $12, Philadelphia Art Alliance, 251 S. 18th St., arsnovaworkshop.com.

by Shaun Brady

It's a meeting of two of the most influential regional collectives in free jazz history — both born of the relatively barren Midwest — when these two join forces.

Movies

Rashômon

City Paper Grade: A-

by Sam Adams

Akira Kurosawa's four-way account of a man's murder, re-released on a new print, has become so associated with its central device that it requires an effort to see it only for itself.

Repertory Film

Your weekly guide to local film events, festivals and under-the-radar screenings.

Send repertory film listings to molly.eichel@citypaper.net.

Movies In Theaters

(Untitled) (R) [C-]

2012 (PG-13) [C-]

Astro Boy (PG)

The Blind Side (PG-13) [D]

Disney's A Christmas Carol (PG) [C-]

An Education (PG-13) [B]

The Fourth Kind (PG-13) [C]

Gentlemen Broncos (PG-13) [D]