Ah, the humble grilled cheese sandwich. Long a staple of the college diet, it’s best known for being easy to make and equally easy to scarf down. However, Say Cheese, a food truck located on 33rd Street between Market and Arch streets that serves “gourmet grilled cheeses, sandwiches and steaks,” hopes to add a bit [...]
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‘To Fool The Eye’ lacks full potential
“To Fool The Eye,” 1812 Productions’ adaptation of Jean Anouilh’s “Leocadia” by Jeffrey Hatcher, does admittedly feature visuals worthy of the play’s title. A rotating backdrop, clever lighting, quality costume design and a variety of visual gags are all executed very well and contributed a great deal to the production value of the show. However, [...]
‘Shaking Through’ event disappoints
Johnny Brenda’s featured a fundraiser Jan. 12 for Weathervane Music, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit known for producing the Web video series “Shaking Through,” which documents “the birth of a song.” More specifically, up-and-coming artists write and record a song in two days, and the whole process is filmed, recorded and released for free to the public. [...]
Passion Pit entertains fans despite dull performance
A challenge that many bands are facing as of late is how to translate electronic music into an entertaining live display. While an energetic light show certainly does not hurt, I have personally witnessed a great number of electronic acts hampered by their reliance on keyboards, which keep the audience hopelessly in the dark on [...]
Han Dynasty’s Sichuan cuisine is triumphant
Chinese food has, ironically enough, become a staple for Americans everywhere. However, the food has become an unrecognizable shadow of its true self — everything is fried, sauces are thick and bland, and the food imparts feelings of lethargy and self-hatred when consumed in large quantities. Han Dynasty, which recently opened a location on 38th [...]
New Bistro is a unique dining option
I’m going to go out on a limb here and state an opinion that may be entirely too controversial for an upstanding publication like The Triangle to publish: I think that it has been really hot lately. And while it may just be me, I also find it rather unpleasant to be outside in the [...]
The Roots Picnic impresses fans
The Roots Picnic, a music festival curated by The Roots, returned to The Penn’s Landing Festival Pier June 2 for its fifth year. The picnic has become known for its eclectic lineups, and this year it ran the gamut from underground hip-hop (Danny Brown, Mr. Mutha—–n’ eXquire, Shabazz Palaces), old-school favorites (De La Soul, Mos [...]
SquareBurger proves to be overhyped
Franklin Square is one of the more whimsical destinations in Philadelphia. Between the carousel, the prominent fountain, and the miniature golf course featuring replicas of notable Philly monuments, an establishment like Stephen Starr’s SquareBurger fits right in. Situated in a stand near the middle of Franklin Square, SquareBurger, thanks to its fanciful location and indulgent [...]
Rittenhouse Tavern serves up elegance and unique delicacies
With spring fully in bloom and the weather (finally) starting to warm up, now is as good of a time as any for a date out to beautiful Rittenhouse Square, which has sprouted abundant foliage and shaken off the dull lifelessness of winter. If you feel like impressing your date with a bit more than [...]
Rittenhouse Tavern serves up elegance and unique delicacies
With spring fully in bloom and the weather (finally) starting to warm up, now is as good of a time as any for a date out to beautiful Rittenhouse Square, which has sprouted abundant foliage and shaken off the dull lifelessness of winter. If you feel like impressing your date with a bit more than [...]
Fanfarlo promote album, overcome technical glitches
London’s Fanfarlo played March 8 at Union Transfer in support of their thoroughly enjoyable second album, “Rooms Filled With Light.” It was a fairly large step up in terms of the size of venues that they had played previously (the band described Union Transfer as “the nicest place we have ever played”), but they were [...]
Walkmen make their mark in Philadelphia
After spending 10 years as a band and releasing six well-received studio albums, The Walkmen embarked upon the “An Evening With The Walkmen” tour, playing shows in Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto and Philadelphia to commemorate their 10th anniversary. Philadelphia, something of a home base for the band (three of its members hail from the Philadelphia [...]
Art auction raises funds for grad participation at Arts Advocacy Day
The Arts Administration Graduate Association at Drexel University hosted the 9th annual Art Auction Feb. 17 in the Papadakis Integrated Science Building. In addition to spotlighting the AAGA, the auction raised funds to send graduate students to Arts Advocacy Day in Washington,D.C., where students will personally appeal to senators to maintain funding for the arts [...]
Jeff Mangum performs rare concert in New Jersey
Jeff Mangum, reclusive frontman and songwriter of beloved indie band Neutral Milk Hotel, played a rare concert Nov. 6 at The Landmark Loews Jersey Theatre in Jersey City, N.J. Mangum is notorious in music circles for shying away from fame after releasing his magnum opus, “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea,” in 1997. Since disbanding the group [...]
The Shins, Pretty Lights’ shows unaffected by last-minute move
POPPED! Music Festival, which took place Sept. 23-24, did not occur under ideal circumstances. While the event was originally slated to take place in Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park, which had room for a planned three stages, stand-up comedy and many food vendors, poor weather conditions forced the planners to move the festival to Temple University’s [...]
Death Cab pleases crowd with unforgettable set
Critically acclaimed indie band Death Cab for Cutie came to the Trocadero Theatre Saturday, June 4 on a tour of smaller venues in support of their new album “Codes and Keys.” Because of the significant decrease in size from Death Cab’s usual venues (they’re coming back to Philadelphia in August to play The Mann Center), [...]
Fleet Foxes grows older in sound and material
The beard-clad folk band Fleet Foxes are back with their new album “Helplessness Blues,” their first since their highly acclaimed self-titled effort. Since the success of their first album, they have recorded and scrapped an entire album’s worth of material and spent two years writing the songs featured on “Helplessness Blues.” However, was this extraordinary effort [...]
TV on the Radio’s ‘Light’ is slower, but a solid effort
TV on the Radio, the Brooklyn-based afro-synth-funk-soul-indie-art-rock-whatever group, is back with their new LP “Nine Types of Light.” This album, their first since the 2008 acclaimed album “Dear Science,” shows a band displaying a slower, more mature effort. The lyrics are far less abstract, instead being primarily about love and relationships, a change that works [...]
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