Mariposa Food Co-op is hosting a screening of the documentary Queen of the Sun tomorrow, June 23, at 7 p.m. at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut St.). All proceeds will go toward the co-op’s expansion.
The film, directed by Taggart Siegel, offers an insightful look at the global bee crisis. It explores the disappearance of bees and bee colony collapse disorder, which has dramatically increased since 2006. The authors try to find explanations and solutions to the crisis by interviewing beekeepers, scientists and philosophers and venturing into a wonderful and mysterious world of the beehive.
Here’s the thing; bees are directly responsible for producing a whole lot of the food we eat through pollination. They’re disappearing and we need to figure out why so we can help bring them back. This film goes a long way to highlighting this issue.
In addition to the Queen of the Sun screening, “West Philly Grown,” a short documentary about Mill Creek Farm will be shown.
We are all getting used to fun stuff happening every weekend here in West Philly, but here’s something to enjoy in the middle of the week and for a very reasonable price. Penn Museum (3260 South Street) presents a series of concerts this summer (through August 24) every Wednesday night from 5 to 8 p.m.
All performances take place outdoors, in the museum’s Warden Garden, so you can enjoy some fresh air after long hours at work. Refreshments can be purchased at the venue. Tickets are $5, which includes admission to the museum.
This week “Summer Nights” features Baris Kaya and his band, Barakka, who mix Turkish folk, Middle Eastern and rock music.
John Legend performs at the Calvary Baptist Church. See a video of the full performance below.
Folks at West Philly’s Calvary Baptist Church (6122 Haverford Ave.) got a sweet surprise when Grammy Award winning singer John Legend swung by to sing a tune during Sunday’s service.
Legend, who was in town to perform with Sade at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday night, returned to his gospel roots and belted out Aretha Franklin’s “How I Got Over” with the help of the Calvary Baptist choir.
Some in West Philly may remember Legend when he was John Stephens (his given name), an a cappella performing University of Pennsylvania undergrad in the late 90s.
The video of the performance below, which was posted on Legend’s Facebook page yesterday, is fairly polished so this wasn’t a spur of the moment thing. But it’s still very, very cool.
Fellow West Philly residents Andrew Simonet (choreographer) and Manfred Fischbeck have helped put together a fascinating dance show, which begins at Drexel’s Mandell Theater (3300 Chestnut St.) tomorrow, June 17.
Sam-Gam Bam! (“sam-gam” means “flow together” in Sanskrit) is a collision of classical and experimental American and South Indian dance, a blend of traditional and modern. A classical Indian dance form, Bharatanatyam, which is featured in the show, began 2,000 years ago and represents divine mythology in performance.
The show is a product of collaboration among three Philly-based dance companies: Group Motion, Headlong, and Three Aksha. The companies are quite distinct in style, but find common ground through this presentation of dance.
The shows schedule:
June 17, 18, 23-25 – 7:30 p.m.
June 19 – 2 p.m.
Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. To buy tickets click here.
This might be the easiest thing you could ever do to help out an important West Philadelphia organization. A click. That’s it. There are only four days left (until June 17) to vote for West Philly’s Community Education Center (CEC) to help them get a $50,000 grant from Maxwell House. The center is competing against nine other community organizations across the country and only top five vote-getters receive the money.
The CEC is a non-profit community based center with the focus on arts programming, music, dance and theater for people of differing backgrounds and cultures. You can read more about the center here.
You have a chance to see two gems (as in “a person or thing considered to be outstandingly good or special in some respect”) of the West Philly music scene in an intimate setting Friday night. Musicians Joshua Marcus and Emily Bate are combining for Sweet Sound of Music at Studio 34 (4522 Baltimore Ave.) beginning at 8 p.m. The suggested donation for the show is $8 and sweet teas and simple infused syrups are on the house.
Here are Emily and Joshua’s backgrounds (from the Studio 34 website):
Joshua Marcus lives in Philadelphia, PA and has produced nine recordings under different bands and monikers in the last nine years, including Fan of Friends. This spring Marcus will release his newest recording, Reverse the Charges, on Chicago’s Contraphonic and Philadelphia’s High Two record labels. Joshua is currently working on a collaborative project to produce a folk recording dealing with current U.S. social and environmental justice struggles.
Emily Bate’s spent 10 years performing, recording and touring, and singing sweetly about complicated things. She’s released three full-lengths and an several EPs. She is one half of the drag cover cabaret band Gender Mountain, with Dave End, and plays with lots of other buddies in West Philly. On this special occasion, expect some ukulele shredding, fingerpicked electric guitar, and big singing.
Mariposa Food Co-op is hosting a screening of the documentary Queen of the Sun tomorrow, June 23, at 7 p.m. at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut St.). All proceeds will go toward the co-op’s expansion.
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