tourism : In The News

The New York Times reports on the not-quite unanimous move to file for bankruptcy and the spirit of playing on as the Philadelphia Orchestra regroups.

The Philadelphia Orchestra's program Saturday night was to include music from the Berg opera "Lulu," and the ensemble hopes to avoid the protagonist's tawdry end. The board of the Philadelphia Orchestra's program voted Saturday to file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11. Unlike Lulu, who died at the hands of Jack the Ripper, the orchestra will live on, rehearsing and continuing to give concerts while a bankruptcy court judges considers the case.

Source: The New York Times
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The Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts is worth a trip to experience the French Arts connection, according to the Baltimore Sun.

If you want to spend April in Paris but can't afford it, a short hop to Philadelphia may at least give you that French feeling.

After nearly three years of planning, the city kicks off the first Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts this weekend, featuring 1,500 artists and 135 exhibits, performances, lectures and films, all paying homage to Paris.

Source: The Baltimore Sun
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Art commemorating the significance of pigeons comes down, while its counterpart, Mobile Museum of Pigeon Culture and History, remains in place at the University of the Arts, according to the UPI.

A display honoring the significance of pigeons in Philadelphia will start coming down Saturday.

Matt Zigler, a North Carolina resident attending the University of the Arts, erected the display in recent weeks, including a shrine-like series of boldly rendered depictions of the birds, where passersby are encouraged to make an offering of bird seed.

Nearby, the "Mobile Museum of Pigeon Culture and History" is still set up, all part of a project tied to Zigler's master's thesis.

Source: UPI
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The USA Today reports the young professional population is on the rise in urban centers, especially in Philadelphia, which saw a 57 percent increase among college-educated 20- and 30-somethings.

In more than two-thirds of the nation's 51 largest cities, the young, college-educated population in the past decade grew twice as fast within 3 miles of the urban center as in the rest of the metropolitan area - up an average 26 percent compared with 13 percent in other parts.

"This is a real glimmer of hope," says Carol Coletta, head of CEOs for Cities, a non-profit consortium of city leaders that commissioned the research. "Clearly, the next generation of Americans is looking for different kinds of lifestyles - walkable, art, culture, entertainment."

Source: USA Today
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Philadelphia singer-songwriter Amos Lee talks about writing and recording Mission Bell in an interview with the Boston Globe.

A certain cookie maker isn't the only entity making the name Amos famous these days. Over the past six years, Philadelphia singer-songwriter Amos Lee has built a following for his beguiling mix of folk, pop, soul, and roots music. That following includes admirers like Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, and Willie Nelson.

Lee is currently touring for his fourth album, "Mission Bell,'' which debuted at number one on the Billboard albums chart last month, and features contributions from Williams and Nelson as well as friends like Sam Beam of Iron & Wine, Priscilla Ahn, and veteran timekeeper James Gadson (Marvin Gaye, D'Angelo). We recently chatted with Lee, who plays a sold-out show Sunday at the Wilbur Theatre, by phone from a Michigan tour stop.

Source: The Boston Globe
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Philadelphia born author David Sirota returns home to talk about his new book, Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now, according to USA Today.

PHILADELPHIA � David Sirota is tooling around his hometown, giving what he calls "his '80s tour." He points out a billboard for the Philadelphia 76ers that boasts the basketball team's logo. One recycled from the 1980s.

He then swings by the steps in front of the city's famed art institute.

"There's '80s synergy right there," he says, nodding to the 1980 statue of boxer Rocky Balboa of Rocky fame.

Source: USA Today
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The East Wing of Reading Terminal Market is getting an overhaul, with five new stalls and a demonstration kitchen planned, according to uwishunu.

Established in 1892 at 12th and Arch Streets, beloved local icon Reading Terminal Market is the nation's oldest continuously operating farmers' market. The always-abustle market sells everything from Amish baked goods and deli fare to city specialties like cheesesteaks and Famous Fourth Street cookies, while events and cooking classes showcase Philadelphia's vibrant dining scene. Given its storied history and constant usage, it's no wonder that the market is due for an exciting renovation.

Source: uwishunu
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The Los Angeles Times is the latest major media outlet to question the move of the Barnes Museum from suburban Merion to Center City Philadelphia.

Is the new Barnes Museum headed for disaster? Designed to house the art collection of the Barnes Foundation, with its hundreds of Cezannes, Renoirs, Matisses, Picassos and other early modern masters, a new building is under construction in downtown Philadelphia where the collection is scheduled to move from its current home in Merion, Pa. Yet serious questions remain about the rationale for the move and the museum's long-term sustainability.

Source: Los Angeles Times
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The Baltimore Sun writes about the can't-miss-this quality of this year's Philadelphia International Flower Show.

Feeling a little winter-weary? Escape from the season of snow and ice to a refreshing look at spring at "Springtime in Paris," the 2011 Philadelphia International Flower Show that begins today at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

Featured in "1,000 Places to Visit Before You Die," Philly's flower show is a must-see for flower and garden lovers. Each year, at least 60 florists, professional landscapers and horticultural and educational organizations create breathtaking, full-scale gardens and floral displays. Many have taken as long as 18 months to prepare.

Source: The Baltimore Sun
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A new exhibit about bad guys in history at The National Constitution Center is worth flying east for, according to the Los Angeles Times.

If your knowledge of spies and terrorists is limited to the names of Benedict Arnold, Timothy McVeigh and Osama bin Laden, visit Philadelphia this spring and learn about anarchists and traitors that have haunted America since its birth.

On March 4, "Spies, Traitors & Saboteurs: Fear and Freedom in America" opens in the National Constitution Center's new exhibition space in the Center's lower level. Created by the International Spy Museum in Washington, the exhibition combines artifacts, multimedia elements and interactive exhibits to reveal tales of espionage, treason and deception in the U.S. from 1776 to today.

Source: Los Angeles Times
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Dust off that old dirigible. The first-ever Steampunk Expo comes to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center March 5-6, according to The Princeton Packet.

Imagine a computer desk, for example, that's made from an antique organ frame with the pipes still protruding from the back. Where there used to be a musical keyboard, there now sits a computer keyboard. That's Steampunk!

Produced by Bruce Rosenbaum of ModVic (Modern Victorian) and Jeff Mach of Anachronism, the exposition, called "Back Home to the Future," presents more than 75 of the country's top Steampunk artisans and related antiques exhibitors. They will present what many are now viewing as one of the most unusual and refreshing home d�cor, fashion and lifestyle trends to come along in decades.

Source: The Princeton Packet
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In conjunction with the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, a new exhibit showcases paintings and sculptures by Marc Chagall, according to Luxist.

A new exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia explores the legacy of Marc Chagall and his artist compatriots. "Paris Through the Window: Marc Chagall and His Circle" runs from March 1 to July 10 and focuses on the work of Chagall and others in Paris in the early 1900s.

The museum website has a series of podcasts devoted to the exhibit which offer a comprehensive roadmap to all that is going on in a Chagall painting. For example, in the painting shown above, the artist's double-faced self-portrait in the lower right hand corner is a representation of the two sides of his spirit, looking back toward his homeland but also forward toward Paris, Cubism and a world of changing ideas and ideals.




Source: Luxist
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 Philadelphia's Continental Midtown is one of the top ten rooftop bars in the United States, according to USA Today.

Global tapas are on this menu at this stylish lounge a few blocks from Rittenhouse Square. The bar, operated by Stephen Starr, the celebrity chef behind some of the city's top restaurants, has heaters to keep things warm and stays open year-round. "It's one of those places that has incredible views," Gerber says.

Original Source: USA Today
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A forgotten masterpiece is rediscovered after languishing in the bowels of the Philadelphia Museum of Art for three decades, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Most museums keep many more works in storage than they do on display. The downside of this practice: Sometimes a masterpiece gets buried--and forgotten--in the basement.

That was the case with "Twilight on the Campagna" by George Inness, who in the late 19th century rivaled his contemporaries Winslow Homer and James McNeill Whistler in fame. Then the world almost forgot him, and "Twilight," one of Inness's major paintings, languished on a storage rack at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for three decades. Ironically, the decades of neglect of "Twilight" may have saved it from being damaged by the less sophisticated restoration techniques of the past, says Mark Mitchell, head of the Center for American Art at the Philadelphia Museum.

Original Source: Wall Street Journal
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One the oldest child mummies ever is coming from Peru for an exhibition opening June 18 at the Franklin Institute, according to Andina.

A 6,420-year-old child mummy from Peru joins an astonishing collection of mummies and related artifacts in the Mummies of the World exhibition.

Mummies of the World is the first exhibition of its kind to be showcased at The Franklin Institute, portraying both naturally and intentionally preserved mummies from around the world in a never-before-seen collection unlike anything else that has ever toured the Northeastern United States.

Mummies of the World is the largest exhibition of real mummies and related artifacts ever assembled, featuring an astounding collection of 150 artifacts and real human and animal specimens from South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania and Egypt.

Original source: Andina (Peru)
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