Philadelphia City Paper, July 9th, 2015 by Philadelphia City Paper

Inside: James Ijames’ ambitious and intriguing new play. P H I L A D E L P H I A

JULY 9 - JULY 15, 2015 ISSUE #1571

NOBODY SHOULD BE HELD IN PHILLY’S HOUSE OF CORRECTION But is a new jail j the answer?

BY JERRY IANNELLI

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p. 8

THE LEFTOVERS “FAMOUS BODY PARTS OF PHILADELPHIA” — this week’s full-page Penn & Ink comic — is all about blood and butts, and related stuff. With steely nerves and whimsical humor, artist Andrea Tsurumi shines a light on a few of this city’s scientific and historical oddities, including brains, a bucket of teeth and one of America’s founding asses. Tsurumi, a cartoonist and illustrator based in New York, posts a diary comic called Eavesdropper on zco.mx.

CP STAFF Associate Publisher Jennifer Clark

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Editor in Chief Lillian Swanson Senior Editor Patrick Rapa Arts & Culture Editor Mikala Jamison Senior Staff Writer Emily Guendelsberger Staff Writer Jerry Iannelli Copy Chief Carolyn Wyman Contributors Sam Adams, Dotun Akintoye, A.D. Amorosi, Rodney Anonymous, Mary Armstrong, Bryan Bierman, Shaun Brady, Peter Burwasser, Mark Cofta, Adam Erace, David Anthony Fox, Caitlin Goodman, K. Ross Hoffman, Jon Hurdle, Deni Kasrel, Alli Katz, Gary M. Kramer, Drew Lazor, Alex Marcus, Gair “Dev 79” Marking, Robert McCormick, Andrew Milner, John Morrison, Michael Pelusi, Natalie Pompilio, Sameer Rao, Jim Saksa, Elliott Sharp, Marc Snitzer, Nikki Volpicelli, Brian Wilensky, Andrew Zaleski, Julie Zeglen. Production Director Dennis Crowley Senior Designer Brenna Adams Designer/Social Media Director Jenni Betz Contributing Photographers Jessica Kourkounis, Charles Mostoller, Hillary Petrozziello, Maria Pouchnikova, Neal Santos, Mark Stehle U.S. Circulation Director Joseph Lauletta (ext. 239) Account Managers Sharon MacWilliams (ext. 262), Susanna Simon (ext. 250) Classified Account Manager Jennifer Fisher (215-717-2681) Editor Emeritus Bruce Schimmel founded City Paper in a Germantown storefront in November 1981. Local philanthropist Milton L. Rock purchased the paper in 1996 and published it until August 2014 when Metro US became the paper’s third owner.

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THE BELL CURVE

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The Art Museum, Barnes Foundation and other Philly institutions will be closed during the Pope’s visit to the Parkway because they’re unable to handle the large crowds. Furthermore, the mayor is asking that we all pretend that the Rocky steps are in front of the Franklin Institute, to save wear and tear.

UPenn receives a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the effect Twitter has on heart health. “Oh shit, remember that proposal we wrote over margaritas at Mad 4 Mex that time? Now we actually have to do it. Ugh. I was going to be a real doctor.”

Pitcher Jonathan Papelbon is the only Phillie named to the All-Star team. He salutes the fans the only way he knows how.

A grandmother in West Chester is given probation for making peanut brittle with marijuana with intent to sell or share. Bell Curve thinks it’s time Grandma came to live with us.

The Philadelphia Water Department pays $63,000 for a new logo, as part of its rebranding as “Philadelphia Water.” That’s $6,300 for each time a consultant pressed backspace.

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After momentarily supporting same-sex marriage, Philly Jesus later tweets that homosexuality is a sin. Nice flip-flops, Mike.

According to the Inquirer, parking tickets are on the rise in the area of East Passyunk Avenue. It started right around the time the PPA launched its brunch blog.

A man in North Philly records what he says was a UFO with twinkling lights. Also declares that this peanut brittle is amazing.

JOHN FL AK PHOTOGRAPH Y

ALEXANDER IZILIAEV

more picks on p. 17

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NERD NITE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY In case you didn’t know, Nerd Nite goes down on the first Wednesday of the month in Fishtown — it’s a gathering of all things great and geeky. (Remind us again of the difference between geeks and nerds?) For this five-year fete, NN is offering “abbreviated reprises of some of the best nerdy talks and talent our city has to offer” along with the requisite beer, pretzels, swag and prizes.Topics include forensic anthropology,Victorian burial practices and steam engines, among so many other things only the nerdiest care about. 7/9, Johnny Brenda’s, philadelphia.nerdnite. com. —Mikala Jamison

QUICK PICKS

BALLETX SUMMER SERIES Summer is about to get even more sizzlin’ when BalletX presents its summer series. The red-hot company continues to raise its profile as a leading American presenter of new contemporary ballet. BalletX’s shows are always well atended here on their home turf, and this production, featuring three works by choreographer Adam Hougland, should prove no exception. There’s a world premiere set to music by sensitive singer-songwriter Chris Kasper (Mashup blends movement, theater and comedy as the dancers take on an array of quirky personas), while Risk of Flight is a stark emotional piece that ebbs and flows from dark to light. Through 7/12, Wilma Theater, balletx.org. —Deni Kasrel

CHRIS BUCK

THIS WEEK ’S TOTAL: -6 // THE YEAR SO FAR: +12

OUR WEEKLY QUALITY-OF-LIFE-O-METER

PLAYPENN CONFERENCE The organization devoted to new play development starts its second decade with free readings of six new plays, each given two performances after 29 hours of rehearsal with professional directors and actors. Philadelphians featured include Genne Murphy and James Ijames. In addition, PlayPenn offers two artist forums and a symposium led, by Kittson O’Neill, called “Cultural Currency: Are Artists Owed a Living Wage?” PlayPenn has an impressive record of sending plays on to regional theater success. 7/14-7/26, URBN Black Box Theatre at Drexel University, playpenn.org. —Mark Cofta

Pope bobbleheads, plush dolls and other papal paraphernalia are already being sold online by the World Meeting of Families and Aramark. “May we recommend our new book, Surviving the Transit Apocalypse?”

NEW PORNOGRAPHERS The New Pornographers may be Canada’s biggest supergroup, made up of Dan Bejar (Destroyer), Neko Case, Carl Newman (A.C. Newman) and more. They’re continuing on the campaign trail for 2014’s Brill Bruisers, a record that recalls the exciting early ‘00 moments of grownup alternative rock. Songs like “Wide Eyes” and “Brill Bruisers” would’ve made the Garden State soundtrack if given the chance, I tell you. 7/12, Union Transfer, utphilly.com. —Nikki Volpicelli THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF BONING The best sex-ed films combine the delightful discomfort of a birds and bees talk with the casual prejudices of a “simpler” time. The Found Footage Festival’s latest program, which features vintage films with hip ‘90s slang and possibly racist animation, allows audiences to relive the embarrassment and miseducation of health class with an added layer of snark commentary courtesy sex blogger/ former sex ed teacher Lux Alptraum and longtime Onion scribe Joe Garden. 7/14, PhilaMOCA, philamoca.org. —Shaun Brady

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THENAKEDCITY

NEWS // OPINION // POLITICS

MORE TRANSPARENCY: Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey says the department will release the names of police officers involved in shootings within 72 hours, unless the disclosure would compromise their safety. CHARLES MOSTOLLER

POLICE

BY JERRY IANNELLI

FULL DISCLOSURE

Philadelphia Police plan to begin releasing names of officers involved in shootings, but the FOP is suing to stop the new practice. IT TOOK EXACTLY ONE DAY for Lodge 5 of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) to file an unfair labor practice charge against Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey after he announced that the Philadelphia Police Department would begin releasing the names of officers who fire their weapons. In a memo sent to the Police Department’s commanding officers on June 30, Ramsey announced that his department would begin releasing the names of officers who discharge their firearms in officer-involved shootings (OISs) within 72-hours of an incident, unless releasing that information would compromise the safety of an officer. “We’re going to take steps to make sure that we are not unnecessarily putting our

officers in jeopardy,” Ramsey told City Paper on Tuesday. He said the department would provide surveillance to keep officers and their families safe after their names were released to the public, and “work with them to take steps to help minimize their social media footprint, and to prevent identity theft.” On July 1, FOP Lodge 5 filed its charge with the state Labor Relations Board, saying that because Ramsey had made the decision without consulting the police union, the policy change constituted a violation of the collective-bargaining agreement. “This unilateral change is contrary to decades of past practice between the parties, where privacy rights of officers were valued and protected,” the complaint, filed by lawyer

Stephen J. Holroyd, said. Responding to the complaint, Ramsey said to City Paper: “I don’t agree with them, but it’s their right to file if they wish.” He added: “This is a policy decision. I think that it’s clearly within my area of responsibility, but I respect their right to disagree.” Multiple calls to both Holroyd and Lodge 5 were not returned. On Dec. 15, two Philadelphia Police officers were involved in a traffic stop that ended in the shooting and killing of 26-year-old Brandon Tate-Brown, a North Philadelphia resident. Tate-Brown’s family members pushed for six months for the Police Department to release the names of the officers. On June 9, Ramsey publicly released their names — Nicholas Carrelli, who shot Tate-Brown, and his partner Heng Dang — as well as a trove of surveillance footage and interview transcripts. Last week’s policy change was not prompted by the Tate-Brown case, Ramsey said, but by recommendations set out by the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services office, which Ramsey approached two years ago for help after shootings by Philadelphia Police officers rose despite an overall drop in crime. In March of this year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued 91

recommendations to the Police Department. Notably, the federal agency found that Philly police did not have clear guidelines for investigating shootings by officers. The DOJ’s report suggested that Philly police should “hold a press conference on an OIS within 72 hours of the incident,” and include more “detailed accounts” of shootings on its website, but did not specifically recommend releasing officer names. Ramsey held off releasing the names of the officers involved in the Tate-Brown shooting, he said, because “there were some threats made. If that should occur again, it would be the same result. Barring that, I believe people have a right to know.” William Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations, said that across the country, it’s common practice to release the names of police officers involved in shootings. “The identities are almost always released,” he said. He noted the events surrounding Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Mo., have pushed police departments nationwide toward greater transparency. “That police department was criticized by different corners of the media for not releasing the name of the officer involved in the shooting.” He also said the change theoretically could have an effect on policing. “For the individual officer involved, it’s a concern,” he said. “They might think, ‘God forbid, what if I am involved in a shooting? There will probably be a very intense critique of what I’ve done, there may be calls for my head, and not just that I should be fired, but threats on my own life or my family’s safety.’” National Association of Chiefs of Police President Jack Rinchich said he believes it’s within Ramsey’s authority to make the change. “When I started in law enforcement, we were able to fire warning shots. Now, if an officer fires his weapon, it’s typically fired for one purpose: To protect life and property. “If there’s collateral damage to property or injury, I think people have a right to know,” he said. (jerry@citypaper.net, @jerryiannelli)

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PARODY

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NOBODY SHOULD BE HELD IN PHILLY’S HOUSE OF CORRECTION But is a new jail the answer? WORDS BY JERRY IANNELLI PHOTOS BY MARK STEHLE

estled just above the visitor’s entrance to Philadelphia’s House of Correction hangs a small wooden sign, painted blue, with “Welcome” written on the front, right next to the image of a grinning snowman. “You’ll see how hot it is when we get inside,” one of the jail’s corrections officers says as he ushers me through the lobby — full of whirling fans — and into Warden William Lawton’s office for a quick chat. Lawton, a large man, is seated at the end of a long conference table, hunched over some paperwork. To his right, a large flat-screen television hangs from the wall, dormant, right next to a floorto-ceiling tapestry of the late comedian Bernie Mac, who is shooting a thumbs-up right back at Lawton. This room, at least, has air conditioning. “My grandson calls this the ‘transformer jail!’” Lawton says. “He says, ‘You’re always transforming things to make them work.’” Lawton, who has worked within the Philadelphia Prison System for 37 years, has been the House of Correction’s warden for the last three. “We’ve converted space for classrooms, for

medical facilities, all of which were not parts of the correctional mindset 200 years ago.” He tells me he’s tired of repairing cracks in the ceiling, tired of sealing leaky pipes, tired of working in a jail built in 1874, then rebuilt using the same bricks in 1927. “Our keys don’t have an automated locking system,” he says. He mimes unlocking a cell door, twisting one of his hands at the wrist. “They’re made out of brass. We have to special-order parts for them.” And, on a steamy almost-summer day like today, he’s tired of the weather: The jail, built along the same floor plan as the fortress called Eastern State Penitentiary, has no central cooling system. “Today, it’s hot, but unfortunately I can’t take my population out to the mall,” he says, chuckling. “And the heating system is quite old, but unfortunately, winter still visits us all.” He swings his hand out and points to a spot on the wall, just behind Bernie Mac. “This wall is 8 inches thick! It’s a real wall,” he says, implying that it’d be nearly impossible to install new vents or pipes. “There’s no fire-suppression system here. If the place were to catch fire, we’d need to unlock each cell, one by one. It’s hard just to provide the humane to people. “There have been plans to replace this place for 15 years,” he continues. “But it just hasn’t worked out.”

awton’s concerns echo, almost word-for-word, those of City Councilman Bobby Henon, who has been trying — at Mayor Michael Nutter’s request — to replace the House of Correction with a brand-new jail. Henon, a sturdy man with a thick helmet of iron-gray hair, was the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union’s political director before winning a seat on Council in 2011. Henon’s 6th Council District includes the neighborhoods of Mayfair, Frankford and Holmesburg, home of the House of Correction. In February, Nutter’s office released its annual six-year capital program plan, which conspicuously included $4.9 million to purchase land for “prison expansion potential.” On April 30 Henon introduced Bill 150406 — which would

let the city spend up to $7.2 million to buy a parcel of land at 7777 State Road, adjacent to the House of Correction. He chose, however, to hold the bill after the City Planning Commission voted 5-0 against the plan. (A number of Holmesburg residents also spoke out against the idea.) Both Henon’s and Nutter’s camps claim now is the right time to get started, mostly because there’s land available: The House of Correction, which housed 1,492 lower-security prisoners as of Sunday, is a crumbling, perennial moneysuck, Henon argues. Rather than spend millions to renovate it, building a new facility on the State Road property (which, interestingly, is owned by a limited-liability company called 7777 Philadelphia Pa Loan Associates, though Henon says the company is owned by BNP Paribas bank) makes far more sense to Henon, both monetarily and from a human-rights standpoint. The House is falling apart and should not be used to hold prisoners, Henon says. (Nutter also asked for $5 million this year to repair the jail’s roof.) Critics have launched a full-scale attack on the plan, contending that building a new jail would likely cost the city between $300 million and $500 million, money City Council can never seem to find when it comes to funding Philly’s impoverished School District. Henon has countered that money for a new

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jail would come from the city’s capital budget, which comes from funds borrowed against municipal bonds, rather than its operating budget, where money for the schools is allocated. Though Henon argues that the capital budget is not funded directly by taxpayers, most of his opponents haven’t bought his logic. Fellow Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. has been, perhaps, Henon’s most vocal opponent on Council: “Yeah it’s two different budgets, but it comes out of your same pocket,” he told WURD 900 AM radio host Solomon Jones. The city’s General Obligation bonds, which would fund a portion of the land purchase, are repaid from the city’s general tax revenues. Likewise, a number of prison-reform advocates believe the city should instead streamline its Department of Pretrial Services. There are currently 8,113 inmates in the Philadelphia Prison System’s six facilities: Besides the 1,500 at the House of Correction (which theoretically is supposed to hold 1,250), about 2,700 men sit inside the city’s largest jail, the Curran-Fromhold Correction Facility, which opened in 1995. Likewise, the 50-year-old Detention Center holds around 1,200; the Philadelphia Industrial Correction Center, opened in 1986, holds roughly 1,000; and the Riverside Correctional Facility, the city’s sole female-only jail, holds 750 women. However, around 6,000 of the 8,000 people sitting

in the Philadelphia Prison System are currently being held pretrial, many of them because they are unable to post bail. “Our position on it is that the House of Correction should be closed,” said civil rights lawyer David Rudovsky, when asked about what ought to happen to the jail. He insisted, however, that a new one should not be built. “If you build it, you’re gonna fill it. That’s how prisons work.” “The jail population can be safely lowered to a point that new beds would not be needed,” he added in an e-mail. Henon could have brought the land purchase to a vote during Council’s final four legislative sessions in May and June but he held on to the bill after protesters, many of them members of the prison-reform advocacy group Decarcerate PA, flooded some of the meetings. On June 17, he sent it back to the Public Property Committee, saying he’d use the Council recess to speak to more constituents before bringing the bill to vote again in the fall. I sat down with Henon in his office on City Hall’s fourth floor on June 29 to parse out what his plans were going forward. “I agree that we need to cut down on the pretrial process, and the incarceration rates,” he said. “Decreasing the population should be addressed. But if you decrease the population from its current number to 6,000, there still will be a need for a House of Correction.” He went on, stressing, as he has on numerous occasions, that his plan does not “add” a prison to the system: “Once the new one is built, the old one will be shut down.” He mentioned to me, however, that the proposed new jail would have 2,500 beds, a 1,000-bed increase over the existing House of Correction. Henon says the bed increase won’t lead to a population increase. He says the new beds should just allow men throughout the system who are being held in triple cells to move to two-man cells in the new facility. But an increase in beds does not necessarily lead to a decrease in overcrowding. The Department of Justice’s Bureau of Prisons increased overall capacity of federal prisons in this country by 8,300 beds from 2006 to 2011, only to see its levels of crowding increase as well, due to an increase in arrests, according to a 2012 report by the U.S. Government

THE TRANSFORMER: William Lawton, warden at the House of Correction, is constantly repairing the jail, originally built in 1874.

TIGHT QUARTERS: Cells that hold three inmates are no larger that a college dorm room.

SEEING DAYLIGHT: In the jail’s central vestibule, sunlight streams through a skylight vaulted two stories above the ground.

Accountability Office. According to a Pew Charitable Trusts report, Philly’s jail population peaked at 9,787 inmates in 2009, before falling to around 7,700 in 2011. The population is now about 400 larger, mainly for two reasons. Mayor Nutter in 2012 asked the city to begin issuing higher bails to those accused of gun crimes, effectively punishing inmates before they’ve been convicted. The second reason has to do with a 2009 Inquirer series about men and women skipping bail in Philadelphia: In response, the city created a Bench Warrant Court in 2012 to crack down on bail fugitives. Earlier this year, the city received a grant from the MacArthur Foundation to look into ways to decrease its jail population. Through everything, one point remains undeniable: Absolutely no one should be sitting inside the House of Correction.

ack out in the main lobby, visitors enter and exit, and guards shout to be heard over the sound of the fans. The air is thick, soupy and stale-smelling. Capt. Joe Browne, one of the jail’s chief corrections officers — tall, with gray hair, a long face and the wide stance of a man prepared to break up a brawl — leads us out of the lobby. We go through a small courtyard wrapped in barbed wire, through a metal || continued on p. 12

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LUNCH TIME: Inmates head down a long hallway to the jail’s cafeteria.

detector and come up to a thick metal gate. On the other side is a hallway with doors to the jail’s schoolhouse, medical center and visitation room. Inmates, clad in blue, line up along the right side of the central hallway as they wait to enter the visitation room. Most stare at the ground. A guard jams a thick, brass key into the door and swings it open with two hands. The visitation room seems standard, if a bit low-budget: Prisoners sit in plastic chairs, arranged in rows and their visitors sit facing them, about 2 feet away, just far enough to make it difficult to touch. “They’re allowed to hug and kiss each other good-bye,” Shawn Hawes, a prison spokesperson, tells me. An airconditioning unit the size of a vending machine drones on, drowning out what is being said.

he original House of Correction was built — ironic as this may now sound — to alleviate overcrowding. In response to a prison system absolutely swamped with inmates, the city in 1861 convened a Joint Committee on the Erection of a House of Corrections, which issued a report that is still available at the Philadelphia Free Library’s Central Branch. James J. Barclay, then the president of the city’s Board of Managers, wrote that in 1859, the city’s prisons were so over-

stuffed with victims of “intemperance” that more than 7,000 people were discharged for “want of room” in that year alone. Sadder still, the system was, even in the 19th century, clogged with inmates being held pretrial: At Moyamensing Prison, which stood at 1400 S. 10th St. from 1835 to 1963, men slept three to five to a cell, and there were “hardly 50 cells to spare for the number of untried criminals alone.” So, to hopefully relieve some of the system’s congestion, the city got to work on the original House of Correction, which opened in 1874. “All through the 19th century, there was this really strong belief that isolation was good,” says Sean Kelley, a prison historian and director of interpretation and public programming at Eastern State Penitentiary. “The model for the original House of Correction would have undoubtedly been solitary confinement.” The House’s board of directors kept detailed records through the jail’s first few years of operation, noting that the facility became overcrowded almost immediately. A year after opening, there were more than 1,500 inmates inside, and board members had already begun petitioning the city to buy more land. “I cannot too strongly recommend the purchase of additional property,” one remarked, after noting that there was not enough farmland surrounding the prison to properly feed the inmates. By 1876, the overcrowding had become worrisome: The facility processed 8,074 inmates, and, at any point in the year, typically held more than 2,000. The building was knocked down in 1925 and rebuilt, opening again two years later. “It’s hard to emphasize enough how much it looks like Eastern State,” Kelley says. “It looks shockingly similar. It’s medieval.” He says, however, that 100-year-old prisons are common across the country. “Nineteen twenty-six is, sad to say, not that old of a prison in the scheme of things.” Kelley adds, “These things are really built to take abuse. They’re built to withstand people who want to intentionally harm them. What they build might be around for the next hundred years.”

ith the door closed, the prison Learning Lab feels like an elementary school classroom. There’s a large teacher’s desk in the center of the room, and the walls, painted a light blue, are covered in bright-colored posters espousing the joys of English and arithmetic. Mid-2000s-era PCs line the back wall. These, I’m told, are used to administer G.E.D. training. “Most of our inmates are testing around the fifth-grade reading level,” says Hawes, the prison spokesperson. Wayne Jacobs, a former inmate who now heads X-Offenders for Community Empowerment, a group that helps parolees find employment after leaving prison, told me he believes the city ought to be relying more on G.E.D. training programs to keep those awaiting trial out of the permanent prison population. “The city should begin to look at those 1,500 prisoners to see how many are willing to go to drug treatment, mental-health treatment, G.E.D. job readiness while they’re waiting to go to court,” Jacobs says. “They can easily send those folks to those particular programs. They should increase their pretrial-

DRIP, DRIP: Copper tubing snakes along the cellblock hallways, as 12 cellblocks come together like spokes on a wheel. In some hallways, the leaky pipes form puddles of water on the floor.

services budget, so they can be able to place people on house arrest in those programs. This way, we will be able to empty out the House of Correction.” Angus Love, executive director of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, which provides legal services to those in prisons, jails and state hospitals, agrees. He believes the city can reduce its population to far fewer than the 6,000 Henon talked about. “New York City reduced its population,” Love says. That city’s prison population dropped from 22,000 in 1991 to 13,200 in 2009, largely because the city reduced the number of people it arrested on drug charges, according to a report compiled by the Vera Insitute of Justice, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law and the nonprofit JFA Institute. By city population alone, Philadelphia ought to have a quarter of New York’s jail population, Love said, “but we over-incarcerate. If we invest in alternatives to incarceration, like mentalhealth treatment, we can bring the population down to three to four thousand, and they could fit inside Curran-Fromhold.” A few feet down the hall, through an open door, sits the jail’s mental-health screening ward. It is, simply put, a paltry || continued on p. 13

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‘If you build it, you’re gonna fill it. That’s how prisons work.’ excuse for an intake center. There are three small desks for the social workers that assess prisoners, and only one desk sits behind a small door that can be shut to preserve privacy. Today, because the door is open, I peer in and an inmate waves at me and shouts, “Hello!” as if we’re neighbors running into one another at the bank. A social worker, who asked not to be named, points to a chair next to her desk. “If I’m talking with a patient, he sits right here, and everyone can hear him,” she says. I ask if she’d prefer to work in a new facility. “Ooh,” she says,

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pausing for a moment. “Actually, no. I believe we need to invest more in schools than in a jail. But I think if we focused more on childhood intervention, we’d keep a lot of people out of this system.”

he jail’s central vestibule sits at the end of the hallway. Standing inside, one gets the sensation of being down in a large pit; the room is semicircular, the bricks are the color of dirt and gray sunlight streams through a skylight vaulted two stories above the ground. Here, 12 hallways arranged like spokes on a wheel meet, each blocked off with an iron gate. We enter one hallway with cells holding 164 prisoners. There’s a ruddy shower room at the beginning of the hall, across from a pay-phone bank that appears to have been cleaned even less often than the showers. Exposed copper pipes snake up and around the walls. As we walk, one of the pipes emits a hiss, and water drips down and collects in a puddle on the floor. The entire floor, for that matter, has a film to it. We pass cell after cell. The doors are neither the slidingstyle seen in cartoons, nor the thick, gray kind used in most maximum-security prisons. They are, instead, short, hobbithole-looking wire grates that may very well have been handassembled. There’s a tiny porthole in each. Some men stick their faces through them to stare at us, while others lay on their bunks, some shirtless to combat the heat, some with

towels over their faces. Browne opens a cell and orders two men out so we can enter. “Relax, they’re not here to search your stuff,” he tells them. About the size of a college-dorm room, the space houses three men. The walls are stark white, and a copy of the Daily News sits on the bed to the left. To the right, there are two bunk beds, each no bigger than the average human body. Wawa milk cartons sit on the windowsill. Above the sink, in one of the corners, the ceiling has cracked and is beginning to cave in. Wire mesh covers the window, and it’s impossible to see anything outside, only whether it’s day or night. The air feels heavy and damp, and it’s difficult to breathe. On the way out, Browne stops to chat with a group of inmates waiting to head to visitation. Most keep their eyes fixed on the ground. “Do you guys have any opinions about the House of Correction?” he asks them. No answer. “C’mon, guys! I’m serious.” “It sucks,” one inmate says. “How’s the food?” Browne asks. “Shitty,” an older inmate leaning against a gate says, without looking up. “See?” Browne asks, turning to me. “No coercion at all.” (jerry@citypaper.net, @jerryiannelli)

PHIL ADELPHIA CIT Y PAPER // JULY 9 - JULY 15, 2015 // C I T Y PA PER . N ET

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT

ARTS // MUSIC // THEATER // BOOKS

SPACE ODDITY: Lindsay Smiling and Jaylene Clark Owens in Orbiter 3’s Moon Man Walk. KATE RAINES/PLATE 3 PHOTOGRAPH Y

ON EARTH AND IN SPACE

Less persuasive for me was a rather Annie Hall-ish romantic relationship, in which the nervous Monarch is energized by a winsome free spirit named Petrushka. It’s not the fault of the actors (Lindsay Smiling as Monarch, Aimé Donna Kelly, both fine) that this seems too familiar. Still, much of Moon Man is ambitious and intriguing. The four-actor ensemble, also including Carlo Campbell and Jaylene Clark Owens, is strong, with Owens doing especially fine, grounded work as the mother and several other roles. Ed Sobel’s production is streamlined and assured, played on a nearly empty stage, yet full of effective stage pictures. This minimalism emphasizes the play’s continuous movement, and also reminds us that we’re in a memory world. But some of the family scenes would benefit from a greater sense of specific context and a less stylized, more realistic approach. Alex Bechtel’s musical score, pleasing on its own, occasionally adds a somewhat formulaic, movie-of-the-week sentimentality. The real music here is Ijames’ words, which is excellent news for Orbiter 3, whose laudable goal is nurturing Philadelphia playwrights. They’re off to a fine start. Through July 19, Orbiter 3 at the Prince Theater, 1412 Chestnut St., 267-239-2941, orbiter3.org.

MOON MAN WALK, BY ORBITER 3 Though both the title of this play and the name of the presenting fledging theater company (Orbiter 3, in its inaugural production) evoke space exploration, James Ijames’ heartfelt, often accomplished new work is set on planet Earth — in fact, mostly in Philadelphia. It’s the story of a young Black man whose existence has perhaps fallen short of the great expectations implied by his given name, Monarch. It’s a quiet life (he’s a librarian) and our sense is that there aren’t many satisfying human connections in it. Everything changes, though, when Monarch’s mother dies unexpectedly, which brings about a literal trip to his family home in Philly — also, a metaphorical one, in which he revisits much of his childhood.

BITTER HOMES AND GARDENS, BY BEARDED LADIES CABARET By nature, I’m more contrarian than agrarian. I’d almost always choose indoors over out, and I spend many of my happiest hours in darkened rooms. (Hey, I’m a theater critic, what did you expect?) Yet, last weekend, I found myself — shock, horror — outside in the daylight, sitting in a Pennsylvania Horticultural Society pop-up garden at Ninth and Wharton streets, watching Bitter Homes and Gardens, the Bearded Ladies’ cabaret tribute to vegetation. What’s more — I had the best time. I must quibble with the title, though. There’s almost no “home” (at least in the “house” sense) in the show, and even less bitterness. The subtitle, “a botanical hoedown,” comes

CURTAIN CALL

BY DAVID ANTHONY FOX

Two local theater productions lend a sense of whimsy to their unique narratives. Perhaps the play is, after all, about space travel, in the sense that the narrative moves back and forth across time —Ijames manages this with economy and elegance. Moon Man is also specifically about space in the form of a family story — a well-meaning fiction, really — that Monarch’s mother told him to explain his absent father. He was, she explains, part of the first moon mission — and was accidentally left behind when the rest of the astronauts returned to earth. The story is both sweet and sad, which is the characteristic tone of Ijames’ writing. The stranded moon man is the play’s best and most original idea, and it brings out Ijames’ loveliest work. There are other good moments, too, in the family drama, though they don’t feel similarly distinctive.

closer to capturing it. The general mood is celebratory, with a parade of plants (all played delightfully by talented human actor-singerdancers) telling us about themselves. Presiding over Bitter Homes and serving as emcee is Jebediah, a farmer and advocate for genetic modification. As played by the wonderful Mary Tuomanen, Jeb is superficially folksy but an iron-willed control freak (think Mike Huckabee crossed with an ear of corn — now that’s my kind of genetic engineering). Jeb would have all the participants advocating a GMO lifestyle, but it’s not so easy — it turns out that vegetables, like cats, will do whatever the hell they want. This charmingly casual piece, directed by Sally Ollove, makes use of several Bearded Ladies’ signatures. One is fabulously whimsical costumes (by Rebecca Kanach). Another is a dynamite cast who sing as well as they act (aided here by a great band, Professor Plum and The Constant Gardeners, led by Heath Allen, who also wrote some of the music). Bitter Homes also uses some familiar music (from Joni Mitchell to Rimsky-Korsakov), fitted here with new, satiric lyrics. In fact, as I watched, I was reminded of The Simpsons. That show, too, does some of its best work in gentle but sly parodies of community presentations — local pageants, high school assemblies and the like. Whatever you end up thinking of, you owe

‘The story is both sweet and sad, which is the characteristic tone of Ijames’ writing.’ it to yourselves to see Bitter Homes, which, by the way, is more than family friendly — it’s downright adorable. Check the website — the show is on an irregular schedule, and it soon will move to the other PHS pop up (on South Street). But I’m glad I caught it when and where I did — It seems so fitting that, wedged between Pat’s and Geno’s, two of Philadelphia’s most famous temples of carnivorous consumerism, we find this tiny, beguiling plea for vegetation. Through July 19, 900 Wharton and 1438 South sts., 215-988-8800, phsonline.org, beardedladiescabaret.com. (d_fox@citypaper.net)

C I T Y PA PER . N ET // JULY 9 - JULY 15, 2015 // PHIL ADELPHIA CIT Y PAPER

PHIL ADELPHIA CIT Y PAPER // JULY 9 - JULY 15, 2015 // C I T Y PA PER . N ET

MOVIESHORTS

FILMS ARE GRADED BY CIT Y PAPER CRITICS A-F.

DOCUMENTARY

EYELINER NOTES: Amy uses intimate early footage of a pre-fame Winehouse to unearth the musician buried under all those tabloid covers.

AMY

/ B+ / Outside her native England, Amy Winehouse’s career appeared to be all fall, no rise. Her breakthrough hit, “Rehab,” came packaged with a built-in narrative of bad behavior, followed by a string of erratic performances and mascara-smeared post-binge tabloid covers that served as fodder for late-night mockery. Asif Kapadia’s documentary seeks to rescue Winehouse from that popular image with intimate footage of the pre-fame singer evidencing her charm and love of the music. The structure of the film echoes that of another recent doc on a fellow member of the 27 club, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck. Both largely (Amy entirely) eschew

FILM SHORTS SELF/LESS // C-

Even if a Tarsem Singh film sucks, at least it’ll look cool! That’s what we’ve been telling ourselves ever since 2000’s hokey but visually arresting The Cell, a reassurance we’ve strung through all the director’s work, from the challenging The Fall to the vapid Immortals. A strange shame, then, that the most stylistically original thing about

Self/less is the rogue forward slash hacking the title in half. Cribbing from brain-augmentation thrillers like Limitless, Lucy and the Bourne movies but failing to glean any lessons about entertainment in the process, Tarsem’s in serious autopilot with this one, and never even gets off the ground. Self/less opens on Ben Kingsley’s Damian, as a Robert Durst-ish real estate mogul succumbing to a virulent cancer. Unbeknownst to his business partner (Victor Garber) and es-

talking heads in favor of personally and professionally shot footage narrated by close companions. But where the Cobain film used home movies and personal recollections to unearth the damaged soul from the tragic rock star image, Kapadia’s film vividly illustrates how a media creation can eclipse a living, breathing human being. In the early going, nearly all of the footage in Amy is of a smiling, personable singer with an enormous voice and a passion for jazz. As her fame and drug use make her more isolated, we — along with her actual friends — become more cut off from the real Winehouse, instead left with funhouse-mirror images of video cameras shooting innumerable flashing paparazzi aimed at a dead-eyed superstar. If you’ve ever wondered how someone can throw away fame and fortune on self-destruction, Amy traces every soul-sucking step along the way. —Shaun Brady (Ritz East) tranged rabble-rousing daughter (Michelle Dockery), the rich dude does what rich dudes do: pays a shady doctor (Matthew Goode) a ton of cash for a second chance at life. After a hilariously simple process involving a couple MRI tubes transferring his consciousness to Ryan Reynolds, Damian’s feeling great, boozing, bedding women and even showing off a nasty mid-range jumper on the basketball court. But all that’s before he learns, via unwelcome flashbacks, that

his new body belonged to an Army man who left behind some serious loose ends. As Damian skips around, fighting randos with the sweet hand-to-hand combat skills that came standard with his upgrade, the only thing that diminishes quicker than his chances at survival is our capacity to care. Whether he’s old, young or in flux, Damian’s ordeal is shockingly dull — and worst of all, which sucks for Tarsem, it looks dull, too. —Drew Lazor (wide release)

Film events and special screenings.

REPERTORY FILM

BY DREW LAZOR

AWESOME FEST AT LIBERTY LANDS PARK

926 N. American St., theawesomefest.com. Roar (1981, U.S., 102 min.): Exotic beasts rule the roost in Noel Marshall’s cult film, infamous for dozens of on-set injuries inflicted by live animals on-set. Fri., July 10, 9 p.m., free. THE COLONIAL THEATRE

227 Bridge St., Phoenixville, 610-917-1228, thecolonialtheatre.com. The Blob (1958, U.S., 86 min.) and Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954, U.S., 79 min.): Two monsteriffic ‘50s B-movies, starting with the Pennsylvaniashot classic that made The Colonial famous. Part of Blobfest 2015, the weekend-long festival culminating in a screaming recreation of the famous theater-run-out scene. Sat., July 11, noon and 3:45 p.m., $10. The Blob and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948, U.S., 83 min.), Sat., July 11 8 p.m., $10. The Blob and The Ghastly Love of Johnny X (2012, U.S., 106 min.), Sun., July 12, 2 p.m., $10. INTERNATIONAL HOUSE

3701 Chestnut St., 215-387-5125, ihousephilly.org. Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery (2014, Germany, 93 min.): Master art forger Wolfgang Beltracchi reveals his impressive techniques — and why he does it. Thu., July 9, 7 p.m., $9. Revenge of the Mekons (2013, U.S., 95 min.): Tracking the career and influence of the Mekons, the unlikely and unpredictable pioneers of punk rock. Fri., July 10, 7 p.m., $9. Nocturna (2007, Spain/France, 88 min.): Trippy, surreal visuals characterize this European animated tale about the strange places we go in our dreams. Sat., July 11, 2 p.m., $5. Salesman (1968, U.S., 91 min.): Documentary about the lost art of the door-to-door sales pitch. Sat., July 11, 7 p.m., $9. Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band (2014, U.S., 70 min.): Documentary on the jazz pioneer. Tue., July 14, 7 p.m., $10. PFS MOVIES ON THE BLOCK

15th Street between Mifflin and Moore, filmadelphia.org/ mob. Brownstones to Red Dirt (2010, U.S., 85 min.): Doc chronicling pen-pal middle-schoolers in Brooklyn and war orphans in Sierra Leone. Sun., July 12, 8 p.m., free. RITZ AT THE BOURSE

400 Ranstead St., 215-440-1181, landmarktheatres.com. The Room (2003, U.S., 99 min.): “You’re tearing me apart, Lisa!” These screenings will feature none other than writer/ director/star Tommy Wiseau in the flesh. Fri., July 10 and Sat., July 11, midnight, $15. THE ROTUNDA

4014 Walnut St., therotunda.org. Chameleon Street (1989, U.S., 94 min.) and UFOria (1985, U.S., 93 min.): Andrew’s Video Vault double feature hosted and curated by Dan Buskirk of Phawker — Wendell B. Harris Jr.’s awardwinning con-man satire and John Binder’s extraterrestrial comedy. Thu., July 9, 8 p.m., free.

: JULY 9 - JULY 15 :

GET OUT THERE

MR TWIN SISTER

This Long Island outfit has always been musically chameleonic — their 2011 LP as Twin Sister hopscotched from wispy dream pop to retro spy soundtrack and spaghetti western pastiche to full-bore disco-funk — so the most striking shift accompanying last year’s name change and eponymous re-debut LP (Infinite Best) was less about sound than attitude: Mr Twin Sister’s elegant, streamlined excursions into laid-back lounge-pop, torchy electro-soul and dark, stylish house reveal a matured, much less cutesy (though still playful) band brimming with confidence, sophistication and poise. You can call them sir now. —K. Ross Hoffman

7.9

NO SEX PLEASE, WE’RE BRITISH

$20-$34 // Through Aug. 23, Hedgerow Theatre, 65 Rose Valley Rd. Rose Valley, Pa., 610-565-4211, hedgerowtheatre.org. THEATER Hedgerow’s annual summer farce is this delightfully silly and harmlessly naughty comedy of errors by Alistair Foot and Anthony Marriott. Panned by critics when it opened in 1971, it nevertheless attracted sellout crowds in London’s West End until 1987. Damon Bonetti directs the adventures of a young couple who order Scandinavian glassware, but receive Scandinavian porn instead, leading to mayhem as everyone from a bank inspector and police superintendent to the man’s mother become involved in a door-slamming, high-speed, balls-out romp. The title says it all: Uptight Brits plus sexy stuff equals hilarity. —Mark Cofta

MUDHONEY/PISSED JEANS/AMANDA X

WAIT WAIT … DON’T TELL ME!

$15 // Thu., July 9, 8:30 p.m., Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St., 215-2322100, utphilly.com.

$40-$75 | Thu., July 9, 7:30 p.m., Mann Center, 5201 Parkside Ave., 215-5467900, manncenter.org.

ROCK The roster reads like some gutsy grungepunk family tree, starting with the gloriously sludgey headliners. Mudhoney’s (pictured) still doing it the way they always did, with fuzzy guitars, fuck-you lyrics and Mark Arm’s blunt, dirty delivery. Their Sub Pop bros in Philly’s Pissed Jeans go for something a little more garagey but no more tame. And Amanda X: They like to color outside the lines in the alt-rock coloring book, like Basquiat doing Velocity Girl. One hundred percent you should show up on time for this one. —Patrick Rapa

QUIZ/NEWS NPR’s kooky current-events quiz show is even more fun on the road. This week, it ditches its Chicago digs to record from the Mann Center, likely with a special local guest. That’s in addition to its always-funny panel of comics and writers, and a crowd that brings tons of energy, no matter how silly things get. —Alex Marcus

ANTIBALAS

$20-$25 // Thu., July 9, 8 p.m., with Son Little, Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, 610-6498389, ardmoremusic.com. FUNK/AFROBEAT This

Brooklyn-based Afrobeat ensemble’s indebtedness to Fela Kuti’s Africa ’70 is well documented, but they’ve learned all the right lessons from the master. That’s evident in their sweat-inducing live performances, given official

imprimatur by their longrunning gig as house band MICHELE ‘MAIKID’ LUGARESI

thursday

EMILY RIEMAN

ROCK/POP/ELECTRONIC

EVENTS

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for Broadway’s Fela! But Antibalas also pays heed to the political intent behind Kuti’s ferocious sound, leveling criticism at Wall Street and other modern-day oppressors. —Shaun Brady

saturday

7.11

BASTILLE DAY CELEBRATION $10-$14 // Sat., July 11, Bearded Ladies Cabaret at Eastern State Penitentiary, 2027 Fairmount Ave., beardedladiescabaret.com. THEATER The Bearded La-

dies take a break from their Bitter Homes and Gardens: A Botanical Hoedown for their annual Bastile Day cabaret — La Fete Nationale, to the French — commemorating the 1789 storming of a Paris prison that sparked the bloody French Revolution. The Bearded Ladies’ irreverent fantasy includes appearances by Edith Piaf, Joan of Arc, Benjamin Franklin and Marie Antoinette as well as music by Tracy Chapman and Beyoncé, watermelon beheadings and wry commentary on Philadelphia issues like education funding, Mayor Nutter’s departure and Pope Francis’ upcoming visit. —Mark Cofta

DUANE EUBANKS

$20 // Sat., July 11, 8 and 10 p.m., Chris’ Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St., 215-568-3131, chrisjazzcafe.com. JAZZ The youngest of Philly’s jazz-royalty Eubanks family, trumpeter Duane dedicates much of his latest, Things of That Particular Nature (Sunnyside Records), to inspirational family

TWINSIES: $12-$14 // Fri., July 10, 8:30 p.m., with Moon King, Boot & Saddle, 1131 S. Broad St., 267-639-4528, bootandsaddlephilly.com. KIMI SELFRIDGE

members. The result has the relaxed, engaging vibe of time spent with close relations, able to plunge into deep emotion or spar sharply at a moment’s notice. Eubanks comes home with a fine quintet, including the album’s Abraham Burton (sax) and Dezron Douglas (bass). —Shaun Brady

PHIL ADELPHIA CIT Y PAPER // JULY 9 - JULY 15, 2015 // C I T Y PA PER . N ET

ROCKERS! JULY

$7 // Sat., July 11, 7 p.m., LAVA Space, 4134 Lancaster Ave., 215-3876155, lavazone.org. ROCK/SOUL/MISC. Since 2007, the monthly ROCKERS! showcase has been bringing together a medley of diverse, genre-bending and political performers from near and far. July’s show features Afrofuturism beat-maker Abdu Ali on tour from Baltimore with Genie — plus local punks Chondria, Palaceburn, Revolution I Love You and Norvis Jr. Moor Mother Goddess, the mystical musical project of Rockers! co-founder Camae Defstar, will open the night with Abdul Kadir. —Cynthia Schemmer

ARCHERS OF LOAF $20 // Sat., July 11, 8:30 p.m., with Dogs on Acid, Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St., 215-232-2100, utphilly.com. ROCK/POP On any given

day in the ’90s, you could undoubtedly catch a teen rocker (me) watching the VHS of Mallrats (again) and waiting to hear Archers of Loaf’s “Web in Front.” The indie rockers disbanded in ’98 and reunited in ’11; this East Coast tour runs parallel to the release of Curse of the Loaf, a double-LP of live songs from their reunion, complete with a DVD of their documentary What Did You Expect? and a replica of an original concert poster. Opening are Dogs on Acid, local rockers who recently signed to Jade Tree and will be playing shows with Spraynard this month. —Cynthia Schemmer

SANDLIN GAITHER

sunday

7.12 JUNGLE BY NIGHT $10-$12 // Sun., July 12, 8 p.m., with El Malito, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400, philly.worldcafelive.com. DANCE/AFROBEAT Holland is pretty close to the bottom of the list of all the places that one might expect Afrobeat’s influence to reach. But if you can get past the blond hair and Nordic features, Amsterdam’s Jungle By Night does the tra-

dition fairly proud. They’ve devised their own variation on the brass-and-groove heavy sound, inflected by the more mechanical rhythms of European dance music. —Shaun Brady

citypaper.net/events

FOOD&DRINK

C I T Y PA PER . N ET // JULY 9 - JULY 15, 2015 // PHIL ADELPHIA CIT Y PAPER

REVIEWS // OPENIN GS // LISTIN GS // RECIPES

BELLY UP: Spanish smoked paprika bacon is one of four varieties of bacon made by 1732 Meats, which is about to expand its line of charcuterie. MARK WEINBERG PHOTOGRAPH Y

CHARCUTERIE

BY CAROLINE RUSSOCK

DREAM PIG

How Ari Miller of 1732 became Philadelphia’s premier cured meats maven. GIVEN THE BACON MANIA sweeping the nation, it’s not too difficult to imagine that Ari Miller, founder of the local bacon and charcuterie outfit 1732 Meats, is truly living the dream. Sitting in the office of his new production space inYeadon, he explains, “I’m the luckiest man on the face of the planet. I have a beautiful wife and amazing children who are so much smarter than me, and I can get up every morning and go to a job that I like doing. You can’t beat that.” Add a few slices of his signature Garlic Insanity bacon, a whiff of the lamb prosciutto that he has curing in the newly opened wholesale production facility, plus a roster of fantastic restaurants that have been using his meats regularly for a while now, it’s not hard to understand where Miller is coming from. But like most people who are living the dream (whether bacon is involved or not), the story and the meats have been in the works for a while. Born in the Bay Area, Miller’s childhood father-son bonding time was spent frequent-

ing farmers markets, searching out the greasiest of greasy spoons and driving to Napa in search of small-production stinky cheeses. With a background like that, Miller’s love of eating percolated on the back burner while he pursued a career in banking. The move to Philly happened in November 1998 by way of his wife and 1732 Meats partner, Elise. “When a pretty lady says she’ll marry you, you move,” Miller says. Back then the food scene in Philly was nothing like it is today. Vetri was in its first years and aside from a handful of major players like Le Bec-Fin and Susanna Foo, the bar was pretty low, at least in Miller’s recollection. “There were five or six restaurants at the top and then there was a precipitous drop to everyone serving bad hoagies and cheesesteaks,” he says. It was around that time that Miller set out to make his first batch of bacon. One fortuitous day a craving for garlic bacon came that he couldn’t shake. It wasn’t a product that he’d sampled before, nor was it available at the city’s small selection of gourmet

One fortuitous day, Ari Miller had a craving for garlic bacon that he just couldn’t shake.

grocers. So in his typically industrious fashion, Miller bought himself a copy of the definitive Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn. After an in-depth search for an essential curing ingredient, sodium nitrite (these were the days before everything-Amazon), Miller’s amateur bacon-making experiment was up and running. Miller says that his wife likes to joke that he doesn’t know how to cook for two or four people; when he hits the kitchen, there’s enough for the whole neighborhood. And after a while, he started getting the response that so many gifted home cooks often receive when friends and family taste their wares: “This is so fantastic! You should really go into business.” Working as a branch manager of a Main Line bank, Miller’s knowledge of customer service and what makes a successful business had been honed well enough for Miller to know that the restaurant business was not for him. But he was looking for a change. He decided to go back to school, not for cooking or hospitality, but for law. About a year and a half into taking night classes at Temple and working full time, he realized that becoming a lawyer wasn’t his calling either. But instead of dropping out, he finished his degree and opted not to take the bar exam. “I graduated in 2013,” Miller says. “And all I could see is massive amounts of free time and I don’t do well with free time. I need something to do.” Miller lives with his wife and two daughters in a Lansdowne home built in 1732 (hence his company’s name) as part of the borough’s founding farm. With a home base like that, his connection to the community runs deep. Seeing a lack of meat vendors at the weekly Lansdowne farmers market, Miller decided that it would be an ideal outlet for his bacon, and a way to combat all of that spare time. When he ran the idea by his wife, she had her fair share of reservations. “Elise said to me fatefully, ‘OK, but we’re going to keep it small.’” Miller explains. “And I said, ‘Absolutely.’” With a 9,100-square-foot plant in Yeadon that opened in April, it’s clear that Miller might not have told the full truth when talking to his wife that day, but that’s not really a bad thing. Currently 1732 Meats makes four varieties of bacon (Garlic Insanity, black peppercorn, jalapeño and Spanish smoked paprika) and is getting ready to roll out a line of charcuterie in the next week or so that includes everything from pancetta to sumac-cured Wagyu bresaola, along with Italian classics like coppa and guanciale. Miller’s meaty dreams are paying off big time. His meats can be purchased at all of the Di Bruno Bros. and Green Aisle Grocery locations as well as at the Fair Food Farmstead at Reading Terminal, and his charcuterie is going to hit the menus of plenty of restaurants in town very soon, including Brigantessa and Capofitto. (editorial@citypaper.net)

PHIL ADELPHIA CIT Y PAPER // JULY 9 - JULY 15, 2015 // C I T Y PA PER . N ET PA W S 4 T H E M O M E N T P H O T O G R A P H Y

BY ADAM ERACE

REVIEW

1ST WARD LEADER 1ST WARD // 100 Morris St., 215-551-8000, 1stwardphilly.com. Mon-Fri, 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Sat-Sun., 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

ADO

FOXY LADY! 2-4 YEARS OLD

I’m Foxy Lady, a sweet and sassy 2-4 year old cat who truly lives up to my name! I landed at the shelter when my owner became ill and could no longer care for me. I enjoy chin scratches and would love to be your new best friend.

Foxy Lady is waiting at: PAWS Northeast Adoption Center 1810 Grant Ave., Phila., PA 19115 · 215-545-9600 All PAWS animals are spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped before adoption. For more information, call 215-238-9901 or email adoptions@phillypaws.org

THIRTY. THAT’S HOW MANY spaces Paul Frost looked at over the course of year while trying to set up his first solo venture, a globally inspired sandwich shop he dreamed up while working at places as diverse at Tangerine, Chifa, Kanella and the Talamore Country Club. Eventually, the Restaurant School grad settled on the cozy red-brick building on the corner of Front and Morris formerly occupied by BYOB Langostino. Done in white vinyl lettering, the catchy logo caught my attention, made me pull over and stare into the windows like a kid peering into a candy store. South Philly isn’t short on great sandwich shops, but they don’t happen to be concentrated in Pennsport, a neighborhood I’m constantly passing through. Frost opened 1st Ward in early June with a menu of riffs on between-bread classics like po’ boys and grilled cheese —“all things I used to make for staff meal,” he says — plus salads, soup and sides. When I popped in for an early dinner after a biblical thunderstorm, it looked sunny despite the gray skies: soft ash floors, picture windows, white wainscoting, local art. But the fried cauliflower dish, tender florets tangy with lemon and sumac, was what really brightened my night. Served with a sidecar of chilled romesco, the perfectly cooked vegetable proved Frost’s skill — and 1st Ward’s ambition. This isn’t your neighborhood hoagie shack. Pork belly braised half a day in hoisin forms the base for the banh mi, one of the two sandwiches I tried. The slices of pork were crispy and gooey in all the right places, their richness balanced by fresh cilantro and threads of house-pickled cucumber and carrot. Washington Avenue diehards might turn up their noses at the lack of pâté, or the predominant sweetness; my only complaint was the lack of fresh jalapeño, which would add a more complex heat than the smear of sriracha mayo. Served open-face on sesame bread, the mozzarellaeggplant sandwich was like a pair of giant bruschetta. Frost made the soft, supple mozz in-house; the wheels of fresh tomato were juicy and sweet, and the crowns of fresh greens streaked in balsamic lent it the vibe of a fresh Italian salad. The grilled marinated eggplant slices bordered on underdone; another minute on the grill, and they would have been perfect. I matched my sandwiches with a cone of slender, skinon fries (crisp and well-seasoned) and a class-defying spring mix salad furnished with Gorgonzola, dried cherries, candied pumpkin seeds and Dijon vinaigrette. I would go out of my way to eat at 1st Ward again. Fortunately, I don’t have to reroute — and soon, that might be the case for sandwich feigns who don’t live in South Philly. Frosts hopes to open locations all around the city. This first one is a good start. (aerace.citypaper@gmail.com, @adamerace)

PHIL ADELPHIA CIT Y PAPER // JULY 9 - JULY 15, 2015 // C I T Y PA PER . N ET

BY MATT JONES RACHEL KRAMER BUSSEL ON SEX OF ALL STRIPES

LET’S GET IT ON

JONESIN ’ “ ENTER THE DRAGON ” I sea what you did there

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“Hey, sailor!” Ambien amount, e.g. Wear away Command represented by an outdated floppy disk Milky gem Radio tube gas Dairy product used to fill a pastry? Car ad fig. Abbey recess 2001 hardware Gold amount Agrologist’s study Round figure? One, in Verdun Not as vigorous Sweet statue of Sean Combs in the late ‘90s? It may be Photoshopped out in school photos 17th Greek letter Strap on a stallion Part of the theme song for Blossom, Bubbles or Buttercup? Like reserved seats Whence farm fresh eggs Name in “Talks” In a class by ___ Improve, in the wine cellar Brick in the organics section He played Jim in The Doors Frivolous article in the middle of the page? Previous conviction,

informally 64 Peas, for a pea shooter 65 Desperate Housewives character Van de Kamp 66 Lots of paper 67 Like 7-Eleven, right now 68 1990s puzzle game set in an island world

DOWN

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Arts acronym Curly-haired Marx brother Hardly in hiding “I approve the motion!” Aural “shift” named for physicist Christian ___ Dei (The Da Vinci Code group) Strongboxes North Pole laborer Let it out Film spool ___ Crazy Summer (Cusack/Moore rom-com) MS-___ Reverse of WSW Hawaii’s ___ Kea Boss Hip-hop trio with Lauryn Hill “Get ___ My Cloud” (Rolling Stones hit) Like some siblings Changed the decor of ___ Mawr, PA Empire builders

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Make a point Without a hitch? “Oooh, you said a swear!” type “Weird Al” Yankovic cult movie Calendar entry, for short Hammerstein’s musical collaborator Practitioner, as of a trade Sheer fabric In a riled state Ask a tough trivia question Not just some They hold kicks together Armada Lepton’s locale “You want a piece ___?” EMT’s special skill Palindromic poetry preposition Boyz N the Hood actress Long Kung ___ shrimp Watson’s creator

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

Melissa Toler

PHOTO BY L AURA EATON

ACROSS

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Rachel Kramer Bussel is the author of the essay collection Sex & Cupcakes and editor of over 50 erotica anthologies, most recently Come Again: Sex Toy Erotica.

DATING: LET THE GREAT EXPERIMENT BEGIN ADMIT IT—at some point, you’ve probably thought, “Dating— what a pain in the ass. Why bother when I could be home bingewatching Netflix?” Well, single Philadelphian Melissa Toler’s been there, and now she’s trying something new: Project 52 Dates (project52dates.com), where she’s committed to going on 52 dates in 2015, and blogging about each. No, they don’t all have to be with different guys — so far she’s gone on about 20 dates with eight different guys. The straight 40-year-old woman set this goal to force herself to completely revamp her approach to dating. “I used to think it was a full-time job,” she explained. “That made it feel like work and I didn’t want to do it. My real goal is to learn how to communicate better with men in relationships,” she explained. “I want to understand them. I want to treat them better. I’ve not been very nice to boyfriends and men in the past and I don’t want to do that anymore.” In the past, Toler thought most men were players, out for sex and little else. “I thought they didn’t have feelings, that they didn’t really care, and as a result I could treat them any kind of way because it wouldn’t affect them.” Now she sees each date as a chance to simply get to know someone new. “I may not meet the one this year or any year, and that’s OK. “My approach is to truly be myself,” she continues. “I don’t have a guard up. I speak the way I normally speak — and that includes profanity. I don’t hold back my opinions.” She expects the same in return, unlike one date where “it felt like he was working really hard to be aloof and cavalier.” Primarily using Tinder and matchmaking friends, she’s gone on dates everywhere from bowling alley Lucky Strike to a cigar bar to Rittenhouse Square park. “People think Tinder is just a hookup site; it’s not,” she said. “I’ve met really good guys. I’ve not encountered anyone who just wanted to hook up, ever.” Toler isn’t afraid to ask a guy out, something her old self would have avoided “for fear of looking desperate.” Recently, after talking on the phone for a few days, she asked a guy to get a drink. Their date was a success, but Toler says, “If I would have waited for him to ask me, I would probably still be waiting.” She’s also broadened her dating pool. Gone is her previous requirement of a college degree, as well as the tendency to discriminate based on height. With that change, “I’ve learned to look at them as whole [people] and whatever they have to offer.” After posting a selfie about the project to Facebook while waiting for one man to show up, only to have him find out and be annoyed, Toler is now completely transparent with dates about her project. After all, the men will benefit in the long run. “It helps the guy I’m with because I’m actively doing work to be a better partner.” While her dream date involves a picnic, white wine and sunshine, the setting is less important than getting past the surface. “[A great date] is totally about the interpersonal connection and the willingness to let our guards down. I’m not talking about sharing your whole life story on the first date, but show who you really are, no pretenses. I used to think I was this great communicator because I was always so direct, but communication is not just talking; it’s also hearing the other person.” Ultimately, Toler says, “I would love to be in a monogamous relationship with a partner, a [man] who is open to learning more about himself.” But right now, she’s simply having fun.

@RAQUELITA rachelcitypaper@gmail.com

PHIL ADELPHIA CIT Y PAPER // JULY 9 - JULY 15, 2015 // C I T Y PA PER . N ET