91FM Arts and Culture Reporting

Pepon Osorio
For his latest work Trials and Turbulence, installation artist Pepon Osorio spent three years as artist-in-residence at Philadelphia's Department of Human Services. Then he created an artistic critique of how the foster care system works -- and how it doesn't. WHYY's Joel Rose reports. [Listen] (11/5/04)

Jersey Devil
Scotland has its Loch Ness monster and the Pacific Northwest has its Sasquatch, but New Jersey has its own mythical monster whose legend continues today. WHYY's Megan Curran ventures into the depths of the Pine Barrens in search of the Jersey Devil. Want to see the Devil Hunters' account of that night? Visit their website. [Listen] (10/28/04)

(enlarge) Track of the Rainbow Serpent online.

Aboriginal Art, From the Edge In the middle of a desert in Australia is a massive meteor crater. It was discovered by a U-S geologist, who then promptly became lost in the outback -- saved only through the goodwill of local Aborigines. Thirty year later that geologist's daughter is now an anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania. She returned to Australia recently -- and unearthed the aboriginal culture's religious myths about the crater. [Listen] (10/22/04)

Exhumed Films
With Halloween just around the corner, it's horror film season. A group of South Jersey residents have taken a love of slasher flicks and turned it into a local cult film institution. WHYY's Megan Curran reports. [Listen] (10/21/04)

National Flatpicking Guitar Contest
This weekend in Winfield, Kansas, judges will decide the winner of the National Flatpicking Guitar Contest. Phil Anania, a Philadelphia resident, is going to see whether he can play his way into the annals of bluegrass guitar. WHYY's Sam Briger reports. [Listen] (9/17/04)

Barnes Neighbors
The Barnes Foundation is back in court next week, asking permission to move its multi-billion dollar art collection from Lower Merion to Center City Philadelphia. The Barnes has feuded with its neighbors for years. Lower Merion Township imposes strict limitations on how many people can visit the cash-strapped foundation. Now, on the eve of the hearing, the neighbors may be changing their tune. WHYY's Joel Rose reports. [Listen] (9/17/04)

The Jungle
The Secret Cinema brings rare films about Philadelphia back to the silver screen. This Saturday, it's a triple feature called "The City of Brotherly Crime" -- including a film written and produced by members of a North Philadelphia street gang. WHYY's Joel Rose reports. [Listen] (9/10/04)

Fringe Breaks New Ground
Philadelphia's Fringe Festival is now two festivals. Beginning today, the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and the Philly Fringe present two weeks of performance art in and around Old City. Many of those performances take place in unconventional spaces. As WHYY's Joel Rose reports, site specific work has its hazards as well as its rewards. [Listen] (9/3/04)

Acting Presidential
The Republican National Convention in New York City is more than a week away. But political junkies in Philadelphia can get their fix early. A series of films about the U.S. presidency opens tonight at International House in West Philadelphia, as WHYY's Joel Rose reports. [Listen] (8/18/04)

Orchestra Contracts
Contract negotiations between symphony orchestras and their musicians are rarely easy. In 1996, the musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra went on strike for two months before signing a contract. But observers say this year's negotiations are among the most difficult -- and the most public -- the orchestra has ever seen. WHYY's Joel Rose reports. [Listen] (8/13/04)

Beenie Man
Tonight's Philadelphia appearance by Jamaican reggae artist Beenie Man is causing concern among local gay rights activists. They say the dancehall singer's lyrics advocate violence against gays and lesbians. An apology from Beenie Man's record label has done little to quiet those concerns, as WHYY's Joel Rose reports. [Listen] (8/6/04)

School Art Dilemma
The Philadelphia School District is trying to decide what it will do with an art collection worth an estimated 30 million dollars. For security reasons, the district says it's removing some paintings from the schools where they've hung for decades. That has angered parents and teachers, as WHYY's Joel Rose reports. [Listen] (7/30/04)

Brewing Controversy
Philadelphia area beer brewers are holding their fifth annual festival Saturday, but controversy is brewing over one of the brewer's business practices. WHYY's Megan Curran reports. [Listen] (7/15/04)

Eyes Wide Open exhibit
Those passing by Independance Park in Philadelphia today will notice an unusual site: over 850 pairs of combat boots laid out as if in a military cemetary. The boots are part of a travelling exhibit called Eyes Wide Open and presented by the the American Frieds Service Committee, who are a Quaker pacifist group. Each pair represents an American soldier who has fallen during the war in Iraq. WHYY's Rachel Buchman reports. [Listen] (7/2/04)

Chess in the Park
The World Chess Tournament continues this weekend at the Adam's Mark Hotel. As the largest public chess tournament in the world, it brings together thirteen hundred competing chess players from across the U.S and twenty-two countries. Here in Philadelphia, Clark Park has hosted an informal gathering place for chess players since the late 1950's. Susan Phillips has the story. [Listen] (6/30/04)

Lipchitz in Philadelphia
Jacques Lipchitz liked to call himself Philadelphia's "pet sculptor." Although Lipchitz never lived or worked here, Philadelphia is home to many of his most important works. WHYY's Joel Rose reports on the exhibition opening this weekend celebrating the connection. [Listen] (6/25/04)

Jack Rose
Philadelphia guitarist Jack Rose blends Ragtime, Indian music and avant garde composition into his own intensely personal music. WHYY's Joel Rose -- no relation -- has this profile. [Listen] (6/16/04)

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Yarn Painting The Indians of Northwestern Mexico have long used peyote, as part of their religious rituals. A current exhibition showcases art made under the influence of this hallucinogenic cactus. WHYY's Aries Keck reports on the exhibit -- and on how some scientists go beyond mere observation of native cultures. [Listen] (4/16/04)

Philadelphia Film Festival
More than twenty journalists have been killed since the beginning of combat in Iraq over a year ago. But it's not just war correspondents who risk their lives for a story; one watchdog group estimates that over 300 journalists have died on the job in the last decade. Two of their stories are told in a pair of new documentaries, showing this weekend in the Philadelphia Film Festival. WHYY's Joel Rose reports. [Listen] (4/9/04)

Drown'd In Mine Own Tears
Philadelphia performance artist Martha McDonald finds much of her material in classical mythology. Her latest work - premiering tonight at the Prince Music Theatre in Center City - updates a pair of Greek myths for the 21st century. WHYY's Joel Rose reports. [Listen] (4/2/04)

Lingua Cosmica
The Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft -- launched in 1977 -- are now approaching the edge of our solar system. They are the farthest human-made objects from Earth. And they're the subject of a new art installation in Philadelphia, as WHYY's Joel Rose reports. [Listen] (3/10/04)

Ideal City
It's been nearly 20 years since police bombed the West Philadelphia row house of MOVE, a radical back-to-nature organization. A new exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts aims to reconsider that tragedy, and its place in the city's history. WHYY's Joel Rose reports. [Listen] (2/25/04)

Violet Fire
Inventor Nikola Tesla -- who helped create radio and alternating current -- is now the subject of an experimental opera. "Violet Fire" has its first staging tonight and Saturday night at Temple University's Tomlinson Theater, as WHYY's Joel Rose reports. [Listen] (2/13/04)

Nickel and Dimed
In 1998, writer Barbara Ehrenreich went undercover. Posing as an unskilled homemaker returning to the workforce, Ehrenreich tried to find out how low-wage workers make ends meet. The resulting book "Nickel and Dimed" is a best-seller. And it's now been adapted into a play, opening this week in Philadelphia. WHYY's Joel Rose reports. [Listen] (1/23/04)

Do Barnes Numbers Add Up?
A proposal to move the Barnes Foundation's treasured art collection from Lower Merion to Philadelphia would not guarantee an end to the institution's financial problems. Skeptics say that plan would leave the Barnes Foundation in a precarious situation as it tries to carry out the mission of its founder, Dr. Albert Barnes. WHYY's Joel Rose reports. [Listen] (12/18/03)

Stephen Starr
In November, Philadelphia restaurant Steven Starr opened his ninth location -- The Mexican-themed 'El Vez' at 13th and Samson Streets. On the same day (Friday 11/07) he submitted one-point-three million dollar bid to buy Striped Bass -- the nationally known Center City restaurant. Starr's bid has the support of Striped Bass's management. The seafood spot has long been an anchor of Philadelphia's "restaurant row" at 15th and Walnut Streets. If the bid is accepted, it will be Starr's tenth place in Philadelphia.

WHYY's Aries Keck sat down with Starr to ask about the perfect formula for running a restaurant -- and his plans to expand outside of Philadelphia. (11/03/03)

Story update: On Wednesday, December 3, a U.S. bankruptcy judge approved Starr's bid to take over Striped Bass.[Listen]

Art on Wheels
Public art in Philadelphia usually means outdoor sculptures, or murals on the sides of building. But one West Philadelphia man has put accidental art on wheels. WHYY's Brad Linder reports. [Listen] (11/26/03)

Philadelphia's Mural Arts
Since 1984, Philadelphia's Mural Arts program has led to completion of more than 2300 murals on walls, bridges and buildings. WHYY Morning Edition's Brenda Jorett talked with Kathy Harris, community mural director and muralist Don Gensler. Pictures of some of Don's murals are on this site, including the latest at Lincoln Financial Field. [Listen] | [View images] (10/21/03)

Einstein Artifacts at the Princeton Historical Society
The tub chair Einstein's sitting in was one of the 65 pieces of furniture from his home that was donated to the Princeton Historical Society. This week, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ emptied a storage room -- and donated 65 Einstein artifacts to the Society. WHYY's Aries Keck reports. [Listen] | [View more images] (10/10/03)

Juneteenth
Juneteenth commemorates June 19th, 1865, the day black slaves in the American south learned the Emancipation Proclamation had freed them. The Walt Whitman Center in Camden will celebrate Juneteenth tomorrow with a performance by the Lawnside All Stars ... men and women who played jazz at the one-time famous clubs in the historically black town of Lawnside, New Jersey ... just a few miles east of Camden. WHYY's Rachel Buchman explains the clubs were once central to local jazz and local black histories. [Listen] (6/13/03)