Starting off Icepack with a happy victory lap and Andy Reid at Sunday’s Super Bowl:
How is it that he managed to look the same bushy age he is now when he coached our Philadelphia Eagles starting back in 1999? Is there a mustachioed Benjamin Button Effect at work? Maybe that was his trick all along – that Andy would stay agelessly gruff and absolutely in tune with his players, even if the team that finally brought him victory at the Super Bowl was a Kansas City team. Congratulations to Reid for winning the big game. Sorry it wasn’t us. Seriously.
The 1990s return
Wait, wait, wait. Now that I’ve mentioned Reid and his time in Philly, a lot of this week’s comings and goings have the feel and smell of the Nineties. I can see you all in your crushed velvet and your acid wash getting excited about just seeing J-Lo, getting all viral and meme-ish about that Shakira tongue wag. Being forced to think about old school abusers such as Russell Simmons and Harvey Weinstein – ‘90s.
The thriving of “Bad Boys,” and with it everything Martin Lawrence AND YES, Overbrook’s own Will Smith – ‘90s. Bill Murray and Puxsutawney Phil reliving their roles in “Groundhog’s Day” for a truck ad – ‘90s? Allen Iverson hanging in downtown Philly with a backpack full of gemstones – ‘90s. Impeachment trials with no clear victory, despite the historic end game? ‘90s. Fuck… OK. Think. Yeah, it’s a ‘90s kind-of Icepack this week.
So.
“I can see you all in your crushed velvet and your acid wash getting excited about just seeing J-Lo, getting all viral and meme-ish about that Shakira tongue wag.”
Signing off
Kal Rudman, founder-publisher of the famed Cherry Hill-based Friday Morning Quarterback (FMQB) radio-industry tip sheet retired that title after 52 years, and sold off its assets to the mag’s one-time exec, Fred Deane, whose own Deane Media Solutions opened earlier in January. Fact is, Rudman has retired from music all together. The business has changed. What do professional tips mean when you have Instagram tastemakers? Besides, Kal and his wife are more interested in giving, philanthropically, to Philly police and fireman, through their long held Kal and Lucille Rudman Foundation.
And Rudman is not leaving the radio business, as he and endocrinologist Dr. Joseph J. Fallon host “Inside Medicine,” a weekly program airing on Philadelphia radio stations operated by Beasley Media Group.
Reebok’s back
Colorful Reebok sneakers were a thing in the ‘90s, and they’re a thing now, now that Philly graffiti artist-turned-painter-turned-sneaks designer Distortedd has released her first joint: a deconstructed Reebok Instapump Fury that launched at REC Philly late in January as part of the sport shoe brand’s “It’s a Man’s World” (designed by women, in this a male-dominated industry) line.
Public television
Remember when global fusion was a food thing in the ‘90s and Aquavit chef Marcus Samuelsson was its avatar? Even acting as the opening chef at Stephen Starr’s long-closed Washington Square, the space Starr re-did with Aimee Olexy as Talula’s Garden? Samuelsson just returned to the scene of his crime on Monday as he filmed the premiere of the second season of “No Passport Required!” at WHYY Studios with “You Oughta Know” host Shirley Min and “Check, Please!” Philly host Kae Lani Palmisano. Public television too – so ‘90s.
‘90s music
Along with having to get excited again about another set of ‘90s grunge-era champions making a record (a new Pearl Jam album, “Gigaton,” will be released in March, after taking part in Verizon’s new 5-G “quiet” advertising), one of this summer’s biggest tours touches down at Citizens Bank Park on July 8 when Guns N’ Roses pretty much perform the same set list they did in 1996. Which is exactly what you want. Tickets for that go on sale this Saturday.
Comedy legends
Comedy is not immune from all things ‘90s. The very fact that standups still prefer brick point backgrounds in comedy clubs is a big hint to throwback culture.
Cherry Hill native Joe Matarese is coming back to the roost on Feb. 14 (at Scottish Rite Auditorium in Collingswood) with a “Remember When Tour” whose very premise is based on growing up absurd in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s in South Jersey. With that, the ‘90s most Nineties comedian, Andrew Dice Clay, just booked a date at Parx Casino in Bensalem for March 21.
Fabulous Fabrika
You know what had its VIP opening last week that really has no one culture or time frame it can throwback to? Fishtown’s The Fabrika Philly dinner theater from owners Lasha Kikvidze, Ylia Dzlieri, Alex Gritsyuk and Boris Khanataev. Yes, the whole thing is being called a modern-day cabaret, but from the lighting to its menu (Stuffed Turnip, several kebabs) to its live entertainment focus on jugglers, fire eaters, belly dancers and such, there is nothing modern about this at all – save for the weird industrial/goth vibe of some of the performers, which yes, does have that ‘90s feel – which is SENSATIONAL. I can’t wait to sit and check out the full Fabrika floor show.
