Archive: July, 2010
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Five years ago, in the aftermath of Radio One's earthshaking move to eliminate the Y100 format at 100.3 FM. station honchos Josh T. Landow and Jim McGuinn launched an online alt-music station called Y-Rock. A year later, WXPN picked it up and branded it as Y-Rock On XPN, adding over-the-air programming to its online component.
Then came sweeping layoffs last month at WXPN, and seven employees including Landow were riffed. (McGuinn had since departured for a radio job in Minnesota.)
Landow, whose last XPN broadcast was July 8, is back in the Internet-only indie/alt-music game with a station called YNotRadio.net, staffed by a volunteer staff -- Y-Rock hosts Adrienne, Andre, Cat, Heather, Jeff St. Pierre (Noise Complaint), Joey O, Liz Romaine, Matt Summers, Matt McGrath, Ramon Martinez (Rock Internacional), and Rob Huff (The Circuit).
Michael Klein, Philly.com
CBS3 has hired Jericka Duncan, last at the CBS affiliate in Buffalo, N.Y., as a general-assignment reporter.
Duncan, 26, is a second-generation TV newsie, as her dad is veteran sports anchor Ronnie Duncan of WAAY in Huntsville, Ala.
Duncan -- and her first name rhymes with "Eureka" -- has been in Buffalo for three years after two years at a smaller station in Elmira, N.Y. She has a B.S. in communications from Ohio U and considers Cleveland her hometown -- though her bio points out that she has lived in seven states (now eight) because of her father's career.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Drawing mobs wherever he went yesterday, actor Zac Efron did a Philly media whistlestop to plug his flick Charlie St. Cloud, which opens July 30. (Sample of his ordeal: Jennaphr Frederick grilled him on Fox's Good Day.)
The end of his trip had him visiting Jim's Steaks on South Street.
Asked to compare a steak with provolone and onions to one with Cheez Whiz and onions, Efron said he preferred the Whiz.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
To celebrate the Phillies' three consecutive walk-off wins, Comcast SportsNet will replay them for three days, beginning today. All games will start at 2:30 p.m.
The fun part will be about 5 p.m.
- Monday (today): Phillies vs. Reds from Thursday, July 8. Phils won 4-3 Brian Schneider hit a walk-off homer in the 12th inning to lift the Phillies past the Reds
- Tuesday: Phils vs. Reds from Friday, July 9. Phils won 9-7 Ryan Howard hit a two-run home run in the 10th to give the Phillies a 9-7 win.
- Wednesday: Phils vs. Reds from Saturday, July 10. Phils won 1-0, Jimmy Rollins' single to right scored Carlos Ruiz, giving the Phillies a 1-0 win in 11 innings.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Nothing like a few restaurant openings to make life in July a bit more interesting.
Days old, and opening for lunch Monday (7/12), is the rustic Timber Wood-Fired Grill, across from Abington Memorial Hospital in the former Inn Flight/WingWalker (1301 Old York Rd., Abington, 215-884-7932). Here's the menu.
Wednesday (7/14) marks the debut of Radice, the Italian farmhouse concept in Blue Bell from the operators of Moonstruck in Fox Chase. (Read more here.) This slice of Central Montco has been in flux of late, with the closings of the short-lived Domenico's and Alison two.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Toto Schiavone of Fox Chase's Moonstruck is looking at a Wednesday (July 14) opening of Radice, an Italian country-farmhouse-style restaurant in Blue Bell's Village Square (722 Dekalb Pike, just north of Route 73, 610-272-5700).
The sunny decor is a marked contrast from that of the space's previous occupant, Bourbon.
The project was long known as Beccofino, but Schiavone realized that the concept was based on his farm village roots in Badalto on the Ionian Sea, where his family cooked food in a wood-burning oven. So there's a wood-burning oven in the main dining room.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Organizers just announced that a foot injury will keep Serena Williams from playing her scheduled World TeamTennis matches this week, including games at Villanova University on Tuesday.
Her team, the Kastles, will still play the Freedoms, but the injury means that the celebrity half-time match, in which she was to partner with Comcast SportsNet's Michael Barkann and face Philadelphia Flyers' Scott Hartnell and WIP's Howard Eskin, has been scuttled.
Update: Hartnell and the Freedoms’ Noppawan Lertcheewakarn will compete against Preston Elliot of WMMR and the Freedoms’ Courtney Nagle. Tickets: ComcastTIX.com.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
There's a big, rather stylish "closed" sign on the website of Kong, the "Hong Kong street food" restaurant that Michael O'Halloran opened last August in Northern Liberties.
The joint was greeted by only tepid reviews.
I'll update when I hear back from O'Halloran, currently working on an expansion of his Bistro 7 in Old City.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
In this post, I'm going to think small, with regard to new restaurants.
- Dasiwa is under construction in the old corner store at 26th and Aspen Streets -- a scone's throw from the back of the Art Museum's Perelman Building in Fairmount. It'll be a morning coffeeshop/pastry cafe that will segue into sushi service from 11 a.m. on. Owner Tom Kim, who owns Trust Deli up the block at 26th and Brown Streets, translates Dasiwa as "come again" or "come back." And here's a bit of trivia for you Independence Mall-ers: Kim and his brother owned Benny's Place, the coffeeshop in the Lafayette Building at Fifth and Chestnut, for many years. (Update: Sushi service begins Monday, July 19 at 11 a.m. Coffee starts later in the week.)
- Grant Brown (ex-Blue Horse in Blue Bell, ex-Meritage in Graduate Hospital) has surfaced in the bosky burb of Cedars (near Skippack in Central Montco) in the tiny space that housed such spots as Alison at Cedars, Cafe at Cedars, and Restaurant Rosalie. It's called 19 Bella (610-222-8119), and the 20-seater (plus 22 outside) does a Mediterranean menu with tapas-sized plates, BYOB, open for lunch, weekend brunch, and dinner.
- Break out the Union Jacks. The family from the British-theme gift shop English Gardener in Haddonfield has ventured across the street with a fish-and-chips shoppe cleverly called the British Chip Shop (146 Kings Highway East; 856-354-0204). It's open morning till after dinnertime. Menu is here.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
This weekend (noon to 7 p.m.) marks the grand opening of the Market at the Piazza, in which 200 vendors will go into business in the Piazza at Schmidt's, just south of Second Street and Girard Avenue in Northern Liberties.
Tower Investments, which owns the development, intends this as a year-round venue. I hear that an indoor space is being prepared for fall.
