In his typical dry and funny style, Doug takes what could be a simply sentimental story about the search for his birth mother and makes it both touching and hilarious.


See more of Doug when he hosts our next StorySlam, Monday, February 8th at World Cafe Live. More info at storyslams.firstpersonarts.org.

Don’t miss Dianna Marder’s piece in today’s Inquirer on Ed Tettemer and the dinner he cooked for First Person silent auction winner, Karyn Scher.


As part of the silent auction at our 2009 First Taste Dinner with Ruth Reichl, Karyn won a dinner cooked by Ed for her and a party of friends. While Karyn thought she was getting an accomplished chef, in reality she was getting an avid amateur with a sincere zeal to cook for others. Ed prepared an Asian-inspired meal that included apple Thai squash bisque, chili and garlic shrimp stir-fry and pan roasted aromatic airline chicken breasts (recipe below). I’m actually thinking I might make the chicken this weekend while holed up at home in the snow!


Pan Roasted Aromatic Airline Chicken Breasts
Makes 4 servings


2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon dark brown sugar
Peanut oil for searing
4 chicken breasts on the bone, with skin and first wing bone still attached (see note)
A healthy splash of white wine (at least ¼ cup), for deglazing
Juice of one lemon (or lime)


1. Prepare the dry rub, combining the first six ingredients and using some of the oil to bind the mixture so it will stick to the chicken better. Rub it all over the chicken and under the skin. Let the seasoned chicken soak up the flavor for several hours (or overnight) in the refrigerator.
2. When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 450 degrees and set the rack in the middle.
3. Heat the peanut oil in a heavy, ovenproof skillet. Two skillets may be necessary if the chicken pieces are large.
4. Add the chicken skin side down in the sizzling oil. Let the chicken sear 3 to 4 minutes on each side until golden brown and aromatic.
5. With the chicken skin side up, put the hot skillet in the oven and roast until just cooked through, about 15 minutes. (Caution: The breasts will snap and pop in the oven and it may get a bit smoky. That’s OK.)
6. Use your meat thermometer to test for doneness. The chicken is ready when it reads 165 degrees and the skin is crisp.
7. Put the hot skillet back on the stove on a burner set at medium-high. Remove the chicken to a warm serving platter and deglaze the pan with the white wine. Stir, getting all the crunchy brown bits off the bottom of the pan. If you want, add a little butter.
8. Add the lemon juice and stir another minute or so.
9. Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve immediately.


- Ed Tettemer, ed@tettemer.net

So yesterday morning was a big day for Philly arts and culture. In addition to JJ Tiziou’s superhuge mural announcement, the Kimmel Center officially unveiled the Philadelphia International Festival of Art (a.k.a. PIFA). The multidisciplinary arts festival will take place April 7 thru May 1, 2011. And in addition to such amazing Philadelphia performers/institutions like The Roots, the Pennsylvania Ballet and the Philadelphia Orchestra, First Person Arts will be getting into the act too!


Dan, Vicki and I were there yesterday for the unveiling, which brought together art and culture makers/supporters from across the city.


Stay tuned for the official announcement of programming on April 7th and how First Person Arts will be involved in the “Collaboration, Creativity and Innovation” of PIFA!

First Person Salon Presenter JJ Tiziou is making big news in Philly today! His photography of Philly dancers will be the basis for an almost 50,000 square foot mural on the parking decks facing I-95 at the Philadelphia International Airport. How Philly Moves builds off of JJ’s piece in the 2008 Philly Fringe Festival, in which dancers of all ages, experience levels and styles came in for a dance/photo session with JJ. They brought the music and the moves; JJ documented it all in typical JJ style.


On March 5-7, you can dance and possibly become a part of the mural. Anyone can join in! Sign up to participate by February 19th on the How Philly Moves website.





JJ isn’t alone in this massive undertaking. He’s partnered with The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, Philadelphia International Airport, and the Philadelphia Park Authority.

First Personalities is a series on the First Person Arts Blog where we check up on and catch up with past Festival and Salon presenters and participants.


When I got my blogging assignment this week to cover an illustrator, an author, a TED speaker, a designer and a New York Times columnist and blogger, I thought it was awfully ambitious to be covering so many artists in just one post. Imagine my surprise when it turned out that these are in fact the many hats worn by one very busy and very talented artist. I am writing about none other than Maira Kalman who, in addition to the myriad accomplishments listed above, was an artist in our 2007 First Person Festival, presenting her book “The Principles of Uncertainty,” based on a column she wrote for the New York Times. An illustration from the book is immediately below.


Her next book, “And the Pursuit of Happiness,” will be out in October of this year, based on her New York Times blog by the same name. To find her elsewhere around the web, check out everything from her illustrated edition of Strunk and White’s classic The Elements of Style to her children’s books and New Yorker covers. I also highly recommend the video of TED talk; her humor and storytelling style make me think we should get her out to compete at our next StorySlam in February!

Here’s another illustration; this one is from her illustrated “Elements of Sykle,” illustrating the line “His first thought on getting out of bed—if he had any thought at all–was to get back in again.”
You might ask, with all of that and having already announced her upcoming book release, what else could she be up to. Well, January 15th saw Maira Kalman: Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World) open at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at the University of Pennsylvania. This will run through June 6th and is scheduled to tour in San Fransisco, Los Angeles, and New York. It is the first major museum survey of Maira Kalman’s work and we are thrilled and proud to have it open right here in Philadelphia! Finally, on Wednesday, February 10th at 6:30 PM you will have an opportunity to see Ms. Kalman live at the ICA. Whether you loved her at the First Person Festival in 2007 and want more or are just discovering her now, we hope you’ll attend!


- J. Rudy Flesher