This Fourth of July seemed more packed with events than any in recent years. Philadelphia's only getting better at making this the city for celebrating our nation's birth (Chris Satullo's suggestions to abstain aside). Here are just a few highlights from Culture Vulture's experience this week:
Yo-Yo Ma visited Philadelphia on Monday night to kick off the Philadelphia Orchestra's summer program. Although not officially related to Independence Day, the fact that Mr. Ma, as I like to call him, appeared with our very own orchestra and that the fates conspired to make it a lovely evening for this open air event at the Mann Center made me proud to be not only an American, but a Philadelphian. He only played one song - Saint-Saens' Cello Concerto No. 1 - but he made it count. His fingers were all over that cello neck, and he made it seem almost effortless. But what I was most impressed by was his humility. You would think an international star like Yo-Yo Ma would have an ego the size of Texas, but he redirected all of the applause to the conductor, Rossen Milanov, and the whole orchestra. Now that's true star quality.
On the actual Fourth, I eshewed the crowds of the city for the traditional-style Southampton Days celebration in the Philadelphia suburbs. The parade had just about every fire engine in Bucks County present, but it also had flavor. The bands were on point, and the floats creative. I was also pleased to see the Democrats - Patrick Murphy among them - represented for once, although appalled at the silence of the Republican crowd. One Culture Vulture, however, managed to make up for the quiet of others. The parade was followed by special events at the carnival (cow chip bingo, anyone?), and a complete fireworks display at nightfall. Sometimes it's nice to get out of the city and have a real down-home holiday.
I couldn't stay away from Philly for too long, though, and I found myself lured yesterday by the Super Scooper all-you-can-eat ice cream festival at Penn's Landing. The $5 proceeds went to the Joshua Kahan fund, and in case that wasn't incentive enough, there were representatives from all of the major ice cream producers - local, national, and international. The only problem, however, was that it was a mob scene. There was a very long line to even get in, and once inside only the aggressive ate ice cream. Culture Vulture went into take-no-prisoners gear, and boy, we ate ice cream. I must say, Bassett's is still my favorite (and apparently also has the highest fat content, according to a recent documentary), but we have a lovely selection of ice cream here in Philadelphia.
Finally, a heads-up about some events Culture Vulture will be attending during the post-Fourth recoup week:
First, Tuesday night there will be a free outdoor screening of Orpheus in the Liberty Lands Park (3rd and Poplar) at 8 p.m. This is the 1950s, psychological version, with the setting transplanted to France just after World War II. Because who couldn't use a little Greek tragedy to ward off the mid-week slump?
Secondly, and I am very excited about this, the Kimmel Center is kicking off its Global Grooves series on Thursday night with Algerian musician Rachid Taha performing at 7:30 p.m. in the Perelman Theater. Going on throughout the summer, Global Grooves is a series of peformances by world musicians with the Perelman transformed into a dance club with a cash bar. So no more quiet finger drumming at the Kimmel when you really want to be shaking it (it has been a problem for me in the past). Tickets are $20 and available at www.kimmelcenter.org. And with Taha self-decsribed as "Clash meets Cramps meets Egyptian strings back beat," I don't think anyone will want to miss this starter.
