5:40 pm

It looks like the Fish Guys will be rolling in with re-enforcements later on tonight, but first we’ve got The Empty Nest with Marian Sandmaier and Jan Constantine:

Marian Sandmaier and Molly Layton

6:08

Nice warm crowd gathering here in the Cafe at the Painted Bride.  It’s a great space for a reading.  I’m already looking forward to Kinky Gazpacho tomorrow night!  (6pm and also FREE)

8:00

Okie Noodling 2′s on, and the Fish Guys are here.  Check out their site for all Philadelphia Anglers.  Salon starts in a little over half an hour or so.

8:24

Everyone’s sticking around for the Salon in a few minutes.

Do not be dissuaded by this rain.  It’ll make the Painted Bride that much cozier!  Plus, we’ve got cupcakes, Kettle Corn, all manner of snacks, and beer pouring all night long.  Really, you might as well just put your pajamas on under a raincoat and join us for the duration:  

Tonight: 

6pm: Empty Nest–FREE

7pm: Okie Noodling 2–$10

8:30pm: Salon du Festival–$15

After the Complaint Choir tonight, the winners from the 2008 Best Impressions competition show their stuff.  Check out Nicolas Silberfaden‘s work that turns the tables on the Paparazzi.  Or see the big-screen premieres of  the prize-winning films, among them Mr. America by J. Michael Whalen:

Tickets for tonight are no longer available on-line, but you can buy them at the door.  Come early for the Philly Complaint Choir performance and stay after for Underground America!

Rick Nichols, food writer for the Inquirer, led an enthusiastic gaggle of diners up and down East Passyunk Ave last night taking in some of the fantastic new restaurants and saluting the classics.

The night started at Paradiso (1627 Passyunk Ave, right near Tasker) with a melt-in-your mouth short-rib braciola over polenta with a veal stock gravy.  Chef and owner Lynn Rinaldi noted that the veal stock gravy was a departure from her mother’s traditional red.  We were upstairs for the event, and it easily accommodated our crowd of almost 60 people!  The downstairs dining room was lovely and quiet except when we were hauling our gear in and out…Sorry if you were eating there last night.

From there, the scrum moved down the block past Izumi–a Sushi restaurant on Passyunk!–and made a quick stop at Artisan Boulanger Patissier at 1648 S. 12th St.

We breezed through the delightful Cantina Los Cabalitos at 1651 E. Passyunk.  Chef Christian Decker piled tortillas wilth barbecued goat, cilantro and lime for the meat eaters and offered a vegetarian taco with roasted corn, calabasa, mushroom and a pickled onion Salad.

Moving south towards Tre Scalini (1915 E Passyunk Ave), the crowd peeked in the windows at Marra’s, and Rick Nichols was heckled by a passer-by for not stopping in for pizza (Marra’s was closed, or we would’ve!).   Fortunately, it was resolved that Marra’s had the “best pizza in town” before the situation escalated.

At Tre Scalini–a Molise restaurant–Chef Mara treated us to an eggplant neopolitan, her signature broccoli rabe over poleta and plenty of wine!

Next was a quick jog up the street to Phil Mancuso’s cheese shop, Lucio Mancuso & Son (1902 E. Passyunk Ave).  We were worried he might not be open, but within moments he was ready for us with a taste of the unbelievable Ricotta cheese he makes in these enormous copper-lined vats in the basement.  As it turns out, Phil’s also an accomplished opera singer who holds forth from time to time at the High Note Cafe.  Judging from a brief impromptu aria, that’ll be worth checking out at some point.

For our second-to-last course, we shambled on down to the stunning Le Virtu at 1927 E. Passyunk Ave.  Occupying something like four lots, the grounds include a grassy picnic area, an expansive terrace, and two separate dining rooms inside.  Absolutely lovely.  Chef Luciano Spurio specializes in cuisine from the Abruzzi region of Italy which last night included fried meat-stuffed olives (chicken, beef AND pork) and a light timbali similar to a lasagna but made with crepes instead of pasta.  As a special treat, the band Discanto (on tour from Abruzzi!) serenaded the assembled tour.

And finally, we moved on to the last stop of the evening at the beautiful and newly expanded home of Philadelphia Scooters!  Running the gauntlet of scooters outside the new spot at 1735 E. Passyunk made it feel like we were ending up at a great little Italian sidewalk cafe, and the coffee and mini canoli completed the effect.  If you thought Vespa was the only scooter in the game, you have to check out the variety they’ve got here, in some pretty cool colors.  Apparently, the shelving and decorations will go up today, so swing by soon to get the full picture, and you can keep up with them on their blog!

Thanks to everyone who came out for Edible World: East Passyunk!  If you’d like to reproduce the experience yourself, here’s Rick Nichols’ crudely drawn map of our travels, replete with gravy stain:

Tonight, the First Person Festival moves to the Painted Bride at 230 Vine Street.  Online ticketing is closed for tonight’s events, but tickets will be available at the door:

The Complaint Choir performs at 6pm FREE

Best Impressions showcases our national memoir, documentary and photo competition winners at 7pm ($10)

Actors perform the stories of undocumented workers in Underground America at 8:30pm ($15) followed by a discussion with writer Peter Orner and a panel of experts.

Tonight is the first event of the 2008 First Person Festival–our sold-out food tour, Edible World: East Passyunk–but the festival begins in earnest at the Painted Bride tomorrow with a performance of the Philadelphia Complaint Choir followed by Best Impressions–showcasing the winners of our national competition–and Underground America–a dramatic reading of stories from undocumented workers in the United States.

We’ll be updating daily with posts about festival events and any last minute discounts.  If you’d like to stay up to the minute, you can follow us on Twitter.

Amy Childs, Happiness Consultant, came to her first Story Slam and became a First Person Arts Member right off the bat!  She gave it to us short and sweet last week, wearing her “I Am Judging You” Story Slam t-shirt:

She fell just short of the Grand Slam, losing to Tree, but she’ll be at the Festival for sure.  Remember, the Grand Slam theme is Champs and Chumps!

Davy Rothbart, the…founder of Found Magazine, will perform at the First Person Festival on Friday November 14th from 7-8pm.  You can get tickets here.

If you’re a lover of Found items, we’ll have a box for you to share your stuff at the festival.  In the meantime, let us know what you’re finding.

Tracy chronicles her finds in a flickr set: shoes, hair, notes and a pretty nifty looking clock.

Here’s a collection of objects found in Malcolm X Park in West Philadelphia.

Katie‘s a devotee of the blown out umbrella.

And here’s a shoe Vicki found on her way into work one day:

Affixed to the bottom was a note that read, in part, “Congratulations!  You picked up a piece of trash.  Clearly you are a person who cares about their world. [ed. note:  and pronoun-antecedent agreement!] You are 1/2 way there.  You have succeeded in cleaning.  Now succeed in beautifying.  Don’t just throw this shoe away.  Resurrect it….[something something something]…Your Brother in Resurrection.  T.O.R.R.”

Kind of snooty, right?

Whatever your motive for collecting Found items, it’s a habit common to many Philadelphians.  As part of Davy Rothbart’s appearance at the First Person Festival, we’ll have our very own Found Box to collect your stuff.  We’ll add them to our display and then submit them to Found Magazine for consideration.

Davy Rothbart and Found
Friday November 14th
Time:7-8pm
Cost: $10 (Buy Tix!)

Right after Kinky Gazpacho (Free!) and right before Swallow Your Pride ($10)

Okie Noodling 2 and Salon du Festival

Thursday 7-8pm (10$) and 8:30-10:30pm (15$)

Philadelphia SHOULD be a river city.  It’s surrounded by rivers, and to get almost anywhere worthwhile you’ve got to cross at least one of them.  But you could live in this city your entire life and never get up-close and personal with either of the big rivers in town.  Odd that.  Sure, fishing’s not for everyone, but more people do it than you might think, and they do it in places and ways you might never have imagined.

On Thursday, November 13th, we’ll be screening Okie Noodling 2, a documentary by Brad Beasley (with music from the Flaming Lips) about a particular kind of fishing that requires its practitioners to jam their hands into the fish’s burrow encouraging it to bite down on the offending limb!  It’s brutal, hilarious, and well, kind of enticing:

Interestingly enough, the Flathead Catfish has recently become an invasive species in our own Schuylkill River, and the folks at the Philadelphia Anglers Club have reported catching enormous specimens.  There have not yet, however, been reports of noodlers in the Schuykill.  Stick around after the screening of Okie Noodling 2 for the Salon du Festival and a short documentary about Philadelphia’s fishermen and women called Hooked: Philly’s Urban Anglers.

(And check out who else is going to be at the Salon!)

Heroes of Grand Slam brings you the cast of Story Slammers you’ll see go head-to-head at the 2008 First Person Festival Grand Slam on Saturday November 15th from 9-11pm.  This one will sell out, so buy your tickets right away! You can make a day of it and check out Girls Rock from 3-6 pm and Doubletime! from 6:30 to 8:30pm.

Here are our heroes, and these are their stories:

Sandy Beaches, winner of March’s “The Road Not Taken”

Kevin Lee, winner of April’s “The Awkward Pause”

You’ve got one more chance to get into the pantheon of Philadelphia storytellers next week at L’Etage.  The last regularly scheduled slam of the season will be “Strange Coincidence” on Tuesday, October 28th.  Doors open at 7:30 and the slam begins at 8:30.

Heroes of Grand Slam brings you the cast of Story Slammers you’ll see go head-to-head at the 2008 First Person Festival Grand Slam on Saturday November 15th from 9-11pm.  This one will sell out, so buy your tickets right away! You can make a day of it and check out Girls Rock from 3-6 pm and Doubletime! from 6:30 to 8:30pm.

Here are our heroes, and these are their stories:

Kendra Gaeta, winner of January’s “Good Intentions”

Ingrid Wiese, winner of February’s Brotherly Love (and Sisterly Affection)

You’ve got one more chance at admission to this pantheon of Philadelphia storytellers next week at L’Etage.  The last regularly scheduled slam of the season will be “Strange Coincidence” on Tuesday, October 28th.  Doors open at 7:30 and the slam begins at 8:30.