By the time Bruno Mars got around to singing “It Will Rain” at Lincoln Financial Field on Tuesday, the storm had already passed.
Mars was running late during the first of two back-to-back nights on his “The Romantic Tour,” as he put a meteorological metaphor to music during a piano medley of hits — but through no fault of his own.
Earlier in what turned out to be a wildly entertaining evening with Mars and his high-stepping band the Hooligans — complete with a six-song interlude from Silk Sonic, Mars and Anderson .Paak’s soul and funk supergroup — the South Philly skies opened up.
Sadly, severe weather lit up the night in advance of the fireworks that popped off during Mars’ performance and put the kibosh on the planned opening set by Raye, the British vocalist whose presence made the tour one of the most tantalizing bills of the summer.
Raye was only able to make it through one song — “Beware. The South London Lover Boy,” from her new album This Music May Contain Hope — before a PA announcement urged audience members to flee open seated areas and shelter in place.
A two-hour delay followed, and Raye never returned. That meant fans missed the chance to check out one of the breakthrough talents of the year, hear her hit “Where Is My Husband!” and speculate that she might be on the way to finding him, if internet rumors about dating actor Michael B. Jordan turn out to be true.
Those who spent the interlude seated in stairwells or shopping for “I ❤️ Bruno Mars” merch didn’t seem too let down by that disappointment, however.
The sold-out crowd was a wide-ranging-in-age gathering of Black, white, Asian, and Latino fans of the Hawaiian entertainer of Filipino, Spanish, Askenazi Jewish, and Puerto Rican descent. That was the most genuinely diverse audience I’ve seen this year.
Before Tuesday, Mars — whose given name is Peter Hernandez and was nicknamed Bruno by his percussionist father who thought that, as a toddler, he looked like wrestler Bruno Sammartino — had last performed in Philadelphia in 2018.
Bruno Mars at a date on his “The Romantic Tour” in Paradise, Nevada, in April. He performed at Lincoln Financial Field on Tuesday and was scheduled to perform again on Wednesday.Courtesy of the Artist
That eight-year wait ended a few minutes before 10 p.m., which was only an hour or so later than he was originally supposed to hit the stage, since Raye had been excised from the itinerary.
The show began with a video of Mars praying in church, beseeching the Lord to help him accomplish something well within his abilities — “give my band and I the power and strength to give this city a show they’ll never forget. Amen.”
With that, Mars crossed himself on screen and put on a white cowboy hat and picked up a red rose. As Ennio Morricone-style spaghetti western music played, he materialized in the flesh on stage, ready for romance.
He opened with “Risk It All,” a heart-on-its-sleeve bolero from The Romantic album punctuated by mariachi horns that played a like a vow to a lover — or an audience — to earn their devotion.
“It’s crazy, but it’s true,” he sang. “There’s nothing I won’t do.”
For the next two hours, the lifelong song and dance man — who was 6 years old when he played an Elvis impersonator in Honeymoon in Vegas in 1992 — pretty much made good on that promise.
Backed by a 10-piece band that included Mars’ brother Eric Hernandez on drums and Cuban musician Daniel Rodriguez on percussion, Mars, 40, was every bit the seasoned entertainer. He was an old-school crowd-pleaser with a Little Richard mustache who puts on a boundlessly energetic, tightly disciplined show.
Over the course of the 25-song evening — packed with hits, though he didn’t get to some like “APT.,” his 2024 smash with K-pop singer Rosé — Mars played guitar and congas as well as piano.
Mars is also a nimble dancer, leading the way with a band whose members stay in step with him in loose, limber rhythm. Their movement felt relaxed, without any of the lockstep vibe that can make pop spectacle choreography seem like a militaristic exercise.
Anderson .Paak (forefround) and Bruno Mars of Silk Sonic on the video screen during Mars’ “The Romantic Tour” date at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia on Sept. 1.Dan DeLuca
The early part of the show drew heavily from The Romantic album, which leaned into Latin rhythm, starting with “Cha Cha Cha,” the second song of the night. By the croony third number, “On My Soul,” fireworks were already going off overhead.
“Perm,” from 2026’s 24K Magic, punched up the James Brown funk. And the high point of the first section of the show came when Mars followed The Romantic ballad “Why You Wanna Fight?” by rolling a vintage red Cadillac convertible on stage and sitting on the hood while covering the Chi-Lites’ 1972 “Oh Girl” and Marvin Gaye’s 1973 “Let’s Get It On.”
He paired those with his own “Please Me” (alas, without duet partner Cardi B.) and stood on the hood for his hip-hop soul banger “That’s What I Like.”
The transition to the middle segment as Silk Sonic with .Paak — who had warmed up the crowd earlier as DJ Pee. Wee — was marked by a video introduction by master of funk Bootsy Collins.
.Paak started behind the drum kit, before coming out front wearing shades and a glittering jacket that matched Mars’, to join the singing, dancing, and finger-snapping troupe.
The six-song interlude culminated in the creamy slow jam “Leave the Door Open.” which gave both .Paak and Mars ample opportunity to fall on their knees to please the audience. It also made for some winningly playful competition between the two to see who could best win over South Philly hearts.
First, .Paak gave Birds fans a “Go Eagles!” shout-out, unabashedly flapped his wings and even added that his father came from Philadelphia. Mars shook his head in mock dismay that .Paak would stoop so low to pander, and then one-upped him, albeit with geographical inaccuracy, proclaiming that his “next baby mama” would come from “the great state of Philadelphia!”
After .Paak’s exit, Mars poured on the hits, from the perfect pop of “Marry You,” which ended with him kissing the neck of his guitar, to the piano medley that began with “It Will Rain” and included “Talking to the Moon,” “Grenade,” and “When I Was Your Man.”
People leaving the Bruno Mars concert during a rain delay at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Tuesday, September 1, 2026Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
“The Romantic Tour” is aptly named. Every song is a love song.
Mars is eminently likable on stage and his music is so well-crafted and crisply performed that you don’t really mind, for example, that his “Just the Way You Are,” is even more platitudinous than Billy Joel’s song of the same name.
By the time “Uptown Funk” came around to close out the show, and Mars declared “I got to kiss myself, I’m so pretty,” and that he’s “smoother than a fresh jar of Skippy,” it was hard to disagree.
It was a pleasure to spend a few hours with such a world-class entertainer, even on a thunderstorm-soaked South Philly summer night.
Bruno Mars’ “The Romantic Tour” with Raye and DJ Pee. Wee at Lincoln Financial Field, 7 p.m. Sept. 2, lincolnfinancialfield.com
The unofficial last weekend of Philly’s summer pop music schedule keeps the heat on. There’s Don Toliver and Kacey Musgraves in South Philly, Kehlani in Camden, Lily Allen in Fairmount Park, Los Lobos in King of Prussia, and the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival in South Jersey.
Thursday Sept. 3
Los Lobos
The great Chicano band Los Lobos is the focus of Native Sons, a documentary that is now making the film festival rounds. It shares a name with the band’s 2021 album of songs of Los Angeles. That album was produced by the band’s one non-Los Angeleno: Cheltenham-native sax and keyboard player Steve Berlin. So this Montgomery County gig is a hometown show of sorts for the band that — if justice is ever served — will one day wind up in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 7 p.m., Concerts Under the Stars, 175 W. Valley Forge Road, King of Prussia, concertsunderthestarskop.com.
Don Toliver performs during the BET Awards on Sunday, June 28, 2026, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/John Locher)John Locher
Don Toliver
The Houston rapper born Caleb Zackery Toliver brought his “Octane Tour” to South Philly in May and already, he’s back. It’s the second “Nitrous” leg of the trek for Toliver’s Octane album, which features Teezo Touchdown and The Odyssey actor Travis Scott. Chase B. is also on the bill. 8 p.m., XfinityMobile Arena, 3601 S. Broad St., xfinitymobilearena.com
Friday Sept. 4
Kacey Musgraves
Kacey Musgraves comes back to country on Middle of Nowhere, the Grammy-winning Texas songwriter’s excellent seventh album. Willie Nelson, Billy Strings, and Philly Music Fest headliner Gregory Alan Isakov drop in. Musgraves also finds common ground with fellow Lone Star State singer Miranda Lambert, with whom she had a longstanding beef, on “Horses and Divorces.” Expect this show to turn into a Dolly Parton celebration. Flatland Cavalry opens. 8 p.m., Xfinity Mobile Arena, 3601 S. Broad St., xfinitymobilearena.com
Dan Tyminski headlines the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival in Pilesgove, N.J., on Saturday, Sept. 5.Courtesy of the Artist
Friday Sept. 4 to Sunday Sept. 6
Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival
Founded at the urging of bluegrass titans Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley in 1972, the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival is a Labor Day weekend tradition that endures.
This year’s three days of music kicks off Friday in Salem County in South Jersey with Kathy Mattea, the country-bluegrass singer who hosts public radio’s Mountain Stage, as headliner. Friday’s lineup also includes the Price Sisters — singing Ohio siblings Lauren and Leanna Price — as well as Virginia guitarist Junior Sisk and the Travelin’ McCourys, sons of bluegrass legend and frequent DVBF headliner Del McCoury.
On Saturday, Dan Tyminski gets top billing. The former member of Alison Krauss’ Union Station has had two moments of extraordinary popularity for a bluegrass musician: 2000’s O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, on which he sang “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow,” and “Hey Brother,” an unlikely 2013 hit with Swedish dance music producer Avicii.
New Orleans street band Tuba Skinny at the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival in 2022. The band will return to play the Pilesgrove, N.J., fest on Saturday.Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival
New Orleans ragtime street band Tuba Skinny also plays Saturday, as do Critten Hollow, Danny Paisley & Southern Grass, and the Gibson Brothers. The festival winds down Sunday with Black Eyed Suzies — self-described as “the Bluegrass Ladies of Maryland” — as well as Tennessee quintet Blue Highway, Chicago duo Special Consensus, Boone, N.C., roots band Burnett Sisters, and Nashville quintet Appalachian Road Show. Gates open at 8 a.m. each day. Salem County Fairgrounds, 735 Route 40, Pilesgrove, N.J., delawarevalleybluegrass.org.
Kehlani performing during the second day of The Roots Picnic at the Belmont Plateau on May 31, 2026, in Philadelphia.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Saturday Sept. 5
Kehlani
Kehlani had the biggest hit of their career last year with “Folded,” which was co-written with Philly producer Andre Harris and won two Grammys. The R&B vocalist celebrated with a performance at The Roots Picnic, and now they’re back for a headlining show in Camden on a tour that includes Durand Bernard, TheArti$t, Wahseel, and Dixson. 7 p.m., Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, 1 Harbour Blvd, Camden, freedommortgagepavilion.com.
Lily Allen at the Met Philly in April during her show “Lily Allen performs West End Girl.” She returns to play the Highmark Mann on Sunday.Christina Bryson
Sunday Sept. 6
Lily Allen performs ‘West End Girl’
Lily Allen struck a nerve with last year’s West End Girl, a song suite inspired by the dissolution of her marriage to actor David Barbour, that resonated big time with an audience all too familiar with shady doings by unfaithful partners. Earlier this year, the British songwriter, who has displayed a winningly wicked wit going back to her 2006 Alright, Still?, performed West End Girl album in order in a terrific, if brief, show at the Met. Sunday’s show was scheduled for the Xfinity Mobile Arena but moved to the Mann. 8 p.m., TC Pavilion at the Highmark Mann, 52901 Parkside Ave., highmarkmann.com.
Philly tribute to the Clash
Many, including me, have argued that the four sides of London Calling, the 1979 double album by the British punk band the Clash, add up to the greatest album of all time. One side each goes to a Philly band: Citizens Riot, No Good Crowd, the Big Trip, and 2 Tones Clash. Guests on this tribute show include Hannah Taylor, Spoon Ferguson, John Faye, Cowmuddy, Phil Dunn, and Adam Weiner of Low Cut Connie (also playing a Free at Noon in Ardmore on Friday.) 6 p.m., Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Lancaster Ave., ardmoremusichall.com
Slowey and the Boats
Fab Philly instrumental quintet Slowey and the Boats’ breezy, light-on-its-feet sound is built around steel guitarist Isaac Stanford. The band’s delightful Slowey After Dark swings sweetly, using the Hawaiian origins of Stanford’s instrument as a starting point. 2 p.m. Wissahickon Brewing Company, 3705 W. School House Lane, sloweyandtheboats.com.
Peter Hook & the Light play Union Transfer on Monday.Adam Kennedy
Monday Sept. 7
Peter Hook & the Light
Bassist Peter Hook was a key player in Manchester, England, in the late 1970s and 1980s as cofounder of Joy Division, New Order, and Durutti Column. Since 2020, he’s played the music of Joy Division and New Order, with his bassist son Jack, who frees him up to sing. He’ll perform New Order’s 2001 album Get Ready, plus pull from the JD and NO catalogs. 8 p.m., Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St., utphilly.com
Tuesday Sept. 8
Social Distortion
Longtime Southern California punk band Social Distortion is in fine form on Born to Kill, its first album in 15 years. Leader Mike Ness sounds refreshed after a battle with tonsil cancer, and the band is pushed hard by drummer David Hidalgo Jr., son of the coleader of Los Lobos. Social D’s fellow SoCal punks the Descendents and young Australian punks the Chats also perform. 8 p.m., themetphilly.com
Gary Clark Jr.
At Bruce Springsteen’s Music of America concerts in the spring, Gary Clark Jr. covered “Power of Soul” by Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys and Bobby “Blue” Bland’s Texas shuffle “Further on up the Road.” Those two songs hint at the range of the Austin-based Clark Jr., who has been Texas’ leading guitar hero since he gained nationwide renown with Blak & Blu in 2012. Dumpstaphunk and DJ Kurupt open. 8 p.m. Keswick Theatre, 291 N. Keswick Ave., Glenside, Keswicktheatre.com
DJ Jazzy Jeff performing at The Roots Picnic in Philadelphia, on May 30, 2026.Tyger Williams
Wednesday Sept. 9
DJ Jazzy Jeff
Jeff Townes has had himself a Semiquincentennial summer. At The Roots Picnic, the West Philly-born and -raised DJ put on a turntablism clinic on Belmont Plateau. Then Townes teamed with Will Smith and The Roots to shut down the Philly 250th celebration on the Ben Franklin Parkway in the wee hours of the morning. Now he’ll display his musical mastery at a Longwood Gardens illuminated Fountain Party. 8 p.m.,1001 Longwood Road, Kennett Square, longwoodgardens.org.
New Zealand singer Aldous Harding plays Underground Arts on Wednesday.Emma Wallbanks
Aldous Harding
New Zealand songwriter Aldous Harding is touring behind Train on the Island, the fourth album she’s recorded with PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish producing. The songs are in keeping with Harding’s reputation as an inscrutable, willfully strange songwriter but are also rock solid psychedelic folk tunes. Sam Burton opens. 8 p.m., Underground Arts, 1200 Callowhill St., undergroundarts.org.
After more than five months, 6abc finally has a news director.
The station announced Nneka Nwosu, a Philadelphia native serving as the vice president of marketing and local programming at sister-station WLS in Chicago, would take over running the Action News newsroom.
6abc president John Morris announced the move to staff in an email Tuesday, noting that Nwosu is such a big Eagles fan “their 2018 Super Bowl win may have actually sent her into labor with one of her sons.”
“Running the news department at the station I grew up watching is surreal!” Nwosu wrote on LinkedIn, adding she was “thrilled to be coming home.”
Nwosu spent the past four years in Chicago, previously serving as one of the station’s assistant news directors. Prior to that, she spent eight years at Boston ABC affiliate WCVB.
At 6abc, Nwosu is inheriting the city’s most-watched newscast dating back more than 40 years. Her first day in the newsroom will be Oct. 5, and among her first tasks will be overseeing a new chief meteorologist following the retirement of Cecily Tynan, who delivered her final forecast Monday after more than three decades at the station.
Nwosu is filling the spot vacated by the sudden departure of Tom Davis, who abruptly left in March after more than two decades.
In a note to staff, Chad Matthews, the president of ABC’s eight owned and operated TV stations, wrote Davis “made the decision to leave 6abc” and thanked him “for his years of service to the station.”
Davis could not be reached for comment. He spent 15 years as news director, maintaining the station’s place as the region’s most-watched newscast. He also served as an assistant news director for seven years before that.
In a separate move, Morris also announced Mike Amato had been promoted to the vice president of technology. The Drexel grad has been with the station since 2015, and prior to that he spent nine years at NBC Sports Philadelphia.
It’s unclear if and when the government will take action. The FCC’sfinal deadline for public comments was Aug. 5, and respondents were overwhelmingly supportive of 6abc and the network’s other local stations.
Trump also recently called on the FCC to punish NBC and Philly native Kristen Welker, the moderator of Meet the Press, over a TV segment in which she said the president had “mixed results” backing candidates this election cycle.
Anna Gomez, the only remaining FCC commissioner appointed by a Democrat, wrote “the FCC has no authority to punish journalists this administration doesn’t like.”
There are few Spanish bar snacks as satisfying — or so hotlydebated — as a properly made tortilla Española.
If you’re lingering in the hot southern cities of Andalusia, where the iconic potato-and-onion omelet is typically served room temperature or cold, the eggs are fully set.
“But from Madrid north to Basque Country, it’s traditionally made to order and served warm and custardy,” says Patrick Iselin, 50, the co-owner of BAR ilu, who spent half his childhood in Spain and now splits time between Philadelphia and the Madrid apartment once owned by his grandmother, Iluminada “Ilu” Prellezo Inchausti.
So it follows thatthe eponymousnew cornerbar at Dauphin and Martha Streets — which happen to share the 40th parallel north with Madrid — serves its tortilla Española with a loose and edgy Kensington flair: “runny af,” as noted on the menu. Served as a wedge, with olive oil-fried potato chunks and sweet onion laces bulging from its glossy middle, a warm forkful of this eggy wonder is as transporting as it gets.
Andrew Butler, chef de cuisine at BAR ilu, making the tortilla Espanola.Tyger Williams / Staff PhotographerThe tortilla Espanola at BAR ilu.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Wash it down with a bracingly crisp glass of La Gitana Manzanilla sherry on draft, plus a fistful of crunchy Marcona almonds, a forkful of tangy boquerones, and a crock of olives warmed with orange zest and herbs, and it’s hard to deny that BAR ilu is an appealing development for this rapidly changing corner of Kensington. It is perhaps also a little dissonant for those who know the neighborhood history. Thisstylish Euro concept, complete with its undulating circular bar and foam-topped glasses of vermouth, haslanded in a space previously occupied by the Old Philadelphia Bar, one of the last unreconstructed dive bars from what co-owner Scott Coudriet calls Kensington’s “pre-hip-storic” days.
Coudriet, who owns Fishtown’s Lloyd Whiskey Bar, is also partnered with Iselin at nearby Cormorant bar. Their other partners in ilu are Salvatore D’Amato and Jason Evenchik, whose Vintage Syndicate hospitality group operates Vintage, Starbolt, Time, Bar, three Garage locations, and the Goat Rittenhouse.
This veteran team is keenly aware of the sensitive dynamics of change at longstanding bars. That’s why Iselin was adamant about keeping prices reasonable for Kensington locals — no more than $14 a plate, and $16 for distinctive cocktails that would easily cost a few dollars more in Center City — while building this tribute to Spain in his adopted city.
The outside of BAR ilu on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, in Philadelphia.Tyger Williams / Staff PhotographerThe back bar area at BAR ilu on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, in Philadelphia.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Iselin wanted to craft this 40-seater with as few clichés as possible (no hanging hams, no toro horns, no sangria), but rather the feel of a modern tapas bar he might frequent in Madrid today. He had no idea he was also tapping into the latest evolutionary trend for the Philadelphia bar.
Twenty years ago, the smoky old taverns of yore were being replaced by the gastropub movement of the early aughts, where local craft beers flowed and house charcuterie and pickle programs anchored ambitious seasonal menus that gave a cool new vibe to the neighborhood restaurant. In some cases, they helped redefine the neighborhoods themselves.
Philly’s bar scene is now officially in its grazing phase, with curated drink menus centered around culinary cocktails, natural wines, and nonalcoholic drinks with food offerings often so limited that a hungry fellow like me might need to order three-quarters of the menu to make a meal. Supérette, the charming French wine bar beside East Passyunk’s Singing Fountain, captured this development perfectly in 2025. Owners Chloé Grigri and Vincent Stipo described these snack-centric bars as a “generational thing” for 30-somethings who want a stylish place to hang for in-between meals with friends without committing to an entire evening.
Co-owners Patrick Iselin and Scott Coudriet of BAR ilu, pose for a portrait together on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, in Philadelphia.Tyger Williams / Staff PhotographerThe La Gitana Manzanilla Sherry at BAR ilu on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, in Philadelphia.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
A similar approach is at work through a Japanese lens at Almanac, the cutting-edge Japanese cocktail bar (with Wagyu hot dogs and kombu-cured celery sticks) above the omakase room at Ogawa. The food menu at Chris Kearse’s new cocktail bar in Washington Square West, Known Associates, lists only a dozen items, counting the cool ranch freeze-dried peas. Same with the recently opened Lillian’s Bar in Point Breeze.As Chris Fetfatzes told me about Grace & Proper, the Portuguese-inspired bar with “tasca” nibbles he debuted in 2022, this template — a distinctive drink program bolstered by a small menu that can be produced with limited service and light kitchen investment (i.e. no hood) — makes perfect business sense in the post-COVID era.
Of course, the Spanish have been doing this for centuries with tapas, a light-bite evening repast that reflects their cultural preference for a larger meal earlier in the day. And yes, Amada has been serving tapas here for 20 years, but always alongsidea much broader menu with large plates and paellas.
Considering all the new small-plate projects that have come online recently, including Bar Cicci, Ellen Yin’s all-day aperitivo bar, Philadelphians may have finally embraced the concept on its own snacky terms.
The front bar at BAR ilu, 2118 E. Dauphin St.Michael Klein / StaffThe various plates including The Boquerones, Melon with Ham, the Tuna Empanada, Tomato Salad, Almonds, and Olives at BAR ilu on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, in Philadelphia.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
BAR ilu has a slightly more substantial food menu than most.And part of its appeal is the natural ease with which it blends a Kenzo vibe (seethe mismatched thrifter style of its floral-print wallpaper, black tin ceiling, and teal barstools) with an inventive drink program and classic Spanish plates lightly updated by chef Andrew Butler.
Fig leaf oil adds a shade of coconut-vanilla to a familiar pairing of juicy cantaloupe with shaved serrano ham. Smoked olive oil brings a whiff of earthiness to ripe summer tomatoes with cucumbers and piquillo peppers. A juicy burger topped with Manchego cheese, pickled red onions, and aioli firmly anchors the menu with one can’t-miss comfort option that even the least Spanish-inclined customer will embrace.
But the Spanish flavors, both on the plate and in the glasses, are what have me hooked. Aside from the tortilla, there’s a double-crusted Galician-style empanada stuffed with tuna and cooked-down tomate frito. Plump head-on gambas al ajillo take on a flicker of chili oilheat. Crisp spheres of perfectly fried croquetas harbor lusciously creamy béchamel centers flecked with serrano ham or, my favorite, salty flakes of bacalao.
A Tuna Empanada at BAR ilu on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, in Philadelphia.Tyger Williams / Staff PhotographerPat Szoke, culinary director, and Andrew Butler, chef de cuisine, at BAR ilu.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
There were a few misfires. The patatas bravas were pale and lacking crisp. The flattened confit artichoke heart was mushy. The seared mushrooms were oversalted. But these were minor complaints compared to winners like the crusty bocadillo sandwich overstuffed with paprika-fried baby squid drizzled with lemony aioli and more tomate frito. Along with some tiny olives stuffed with briny anchovy, every morsel seemed deliberately calibrated to stoke a thirst.
I especially enjoyed BAR ilu’screative approach to sherry and vermouth, both in cocktails and poured neat. A crisp Manzanilla, already one of my favorite predinner quaffs in summer, added a bracing dryness to Cynar amaro and gin for Remember the Alimony. Vanilla-scented Licor 43 from Spain pairs with chilled Cafe Bustelo for a carajillo whose pebble ice is dusted with coffee-orange powder, and is now one of my top five coffee cocktails in the city.
The Carajillo at BAR ilu on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, in Philadelphia.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
The Fire Drill is a refreshing tropical blast of passion fruit swirling in mezcal smoke, with an herbal whiff of Lo-Fi gentian amaro to counter the fruity sweetness. A whole Granny Smith apple is juiced to order forthe simpleBooze & Juice, paired with the spirit of your choice (make it mezcal).
Meanwhile, unless you order a glass of dark, sweet-tangy Pedro Ximenez to cap your meal, try the Barquero vermut on draft and top it with orange foam, a combo that tastes like flat Coke dolloped with an orange-creamsicle cloud. There is actual dessert here, too: a perfectly fine almond cake with macerated peaches and cream. But that foamed vermouth was satisfyingly herbal, sweet, and mysterious — and one of the best things I drank all summer.
The Vermouth with Orange foam at BAR ilu on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, in Philadelphia.Tyger Williams / Staff PhotographerThe Bifana sandwich as served at Grace & Proper in Queen Village Wednesday, Mar. 8, 2023.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Grace & Proper
If BAR ilu represents a modern interpretation of tapas culture in Philly, the vintage vibes at Grace & Proper’s Italian Market space reflect a different take on Iberian bar culture, this one influenced by the Portuguese roots of co-owner Chris Fetfatzes’ family.
Fetfatzes, his wife, Heather Annechiarico, and their Happy Monday Hospitality partner Susan Freeman, who also own Wine Dive and Sonnys Cocktail Joint, leaned into the antique charm of the distressed tin ceiling, tiled floor, and exposed brick walls that wereuncovered during renovations of the old pharmacy (and Italian deli) that once occupied this corner space at Eighth and Carpenter. Fetfatzes was hoping to create the cocktail counterpart to Fountain Porter, the 14-year-old craft beer destination in East Passyunk known for its $7 burgers and pickles that, perhaps, helped mark the beginning of the minimalist-nibble bar.
Given Grace & Proper’s compact space, with just 15 barstools and 26 table seats sidled into window banquettes (plus 30 more outside in fair weather), it’s amazing how its 200-bottle collection of amari, vermouths, ports, whiskeys, Madeiras, sherries, agave spirits, and indie Euro wines somehow fits into the tall shelves behind the bar. If you’re a fan of funky Asturian cider, there’s a proper porrón carafe to stream it directly into your mouth from an arm’s length away, ideally while watching Premier League or MLS soccer. Or try the Philly-Portugal Lisbon Wide hybrid, a draft of Super Bock Portuguese lager paired with a shot of ginjinha, a house-made cordial steeped from Morello sour cherries harvestedin Northeast Philadelphia.
The Lisbon Wide is Grace & Proper’s Portuguese twist on a Citywide, pairing Super Bock beer with housemade Ginjinha sour cherry liqueur.Craig LaBan / StaffThe Meat & Chips at Grace and Proper on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.Allie Ippolito / Staff Photographer
Grace & Proper doesn’t post a food menu online, but it’s substantial enough to anchor your table for a couple hours of snacking, from an irresistible pile of truffled potato chips feathered with spicy Calabrese salami to soulful onion soup infused with port and lardo, a crock of white bean stew with kale and breadcrumbs, piri piri-spiked Buffalo chicken dip, and sweet-tart-smoky bacon-wrapped prunes with black garlic aioli.
I didn’t care for the overly firm meatballs and their unbalanced blackberry romesco or, for that matter, the presentation of cheeses as crumbled nuggets. But these are all quibbles. Because there is really a single essential reason to visit Grace & Proper: the bifana, a classic sandwich of wine-marinated roast pork on a molete roll from Teixeira’s Bakery in Newark that comes perched over a paprika-orange pool of zesty gravy. Equal parts lemony, garlicky, winey, and scented with bay, that roasted pork essence is so good, the gravy is also offered as a chaser to the Piggy Backshot (oloroso sherry and Armagnac).
All you’ll need after that is a custardy sweet pastel de nata (also baked by Teixera’s, according to G&P’s recipe) and what might well be the best crema-topped shot of espresso at any bar in Philly. Grace & Proper is one of the precious few that actually adds fresh-pulled coffee to its espresso martinis, but I still prefer this coffee solo. I value the energy boost because, in these days of no-commitment sip-and-nibble bars, I’ve still got places to go.
The Pastéis de Nata at Grace and Proper on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.Allie Ippolito / Staff PhotographerVintage details of the former pharmacy and Italian deli have been preserved to add character to the bar at Grace & Proper.Craig LaBan / Staff
Menu available 4 to 11 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday through Thursday; 4 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. Bar is open 4 p.m. to midnight Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday; 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.
Plates, $4-$14.
Dining room is wheelchair accessible via a ramp off rear of building off Martha Street. Bathrooms are not accessible.
Not ideal for gluten-free diners, aside from some small snacks.
Menu highlights: croquetas (ham and bacalao); anchovy-stuffed olives; serrano ham and chips; tortilla Española; ham and melon; cheeseburger; gambas al ajillo.
Drinks: Cocktails built around sherry and vermouth are the most distinctive opening move, while straight fortified wines on draft, including La Gitana Manzanilla or Barquero vermut with orange foam, are also highlights. There are also 10 affordable Spanish wines by the glass.
Menu served 4 p.m. till midnight Monday, Wednesday, Thursday; noon to midnight Friday through Sunday. Bar is open till 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Plates, $7-$15.
Not wheelchair accessible.
About 40% of the menu is gluten-free or can be modified.
Menu highlights: bifana; bacon-wrapped plums; salami and truffled chips; Porto lardo onion soup; pasteis de nata.
Drinks: The vast 200-bottle collection is a sipper’s delight, from amari to fortified wines, extensive whiskies, and a surprising agave spirits collection. Don’t miss creative cocktails made with the company’s new house-distilled spirits, including a Chartreuse-inspired “Green Monk” or the ginjinha cordial, steeped from Northeast Philly sour cherries, served in the Lisbon Wide as a sidecar to a draft of Super Bock.
One last long weekend. That’s all that’s left before summer gives way to homework, soccer practice, and school-night bedtime.
Luckily, Labor Day weekend is packed with ways to squeeze in one more family adventure. Roller-skate along the waterfront, watch fireworks with Elmo, catch the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, explore a blockbuster museum exhibit, or wander through hundreds of whimsical scarecrows.
Here are the best family-friendly things to do around Philadelphia this Labor Day weekend.
Independence Blue Cross RiverRink Summerfest
Celebrate one last weekend of summer at Penn’s Landing before Summerfest closes for the season. Families can roller-skate, play mini golf, ride the Ferris wheel, visit the retro arcade, and grab classic boardwalk treats along the waterfront.
📆 Through Sept. 7, 📍101 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd., Philadelphia, 🌐 delawareriverwaterfront.com, 💵 Free entry; attractions ticketed
Dwayne King of Philadelphia relaxes in a hammock at Spruce Street Harbor Park.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
Spruce Street Harbor Park
Kick back in colorful hammocks, enjoy waterfront views, or hop aboard a swan boat or Chiliboat adventure at Penn’s Landing. Grab an ice cream, play lawn games, and soak up one more summer day along the Delaware River.
📆 Daily, 📍301 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd., Philadelphia, 🌐 delawareriverwaterfront.com, 💵 Free entry; activities pay as you go
Cannstatter Volksfest
The 154th annual Cannstatter Volksfest celebrates German heritage with live music, folk dancing, amusement rides, games, and plenty of traditional food and drink. It’s one of Philadelphia’s longest-running Labor Day weekend traditions.
Members of the Tamburitzans dance group perform during the 50th annual Polish American Family Festival and Country Fair at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa on Sept. 6, 2015 in Doylestown.Cain Images
Polish American Festival and Country Fair
Head to Doylestown for a weekend of Polish food, folk dancing, carnival rides, live entertainment, and cultural exhibits celebrating Polish heritage. Be sure to save room for pierogi and potato pancakes.
Phillies shortstop Trea Turner watches his solo home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 29 at Citizens Bank Park.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Phillies vs. Braves
Spend Labor Day weekend at Citizens Bank Park as the Phillies host the Atlanta Braves for a four-game series. Choose from evening games Friday and Saturday or afternoon first pitches Sunday and Labor Day.
Mimi Hacking, narrative artist, seen next to the stained glass window made by James Shuster at the Ministry of Awe in Philadelphia on March 11.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Ministry of Awe
Philadelphia’s immersive art experience invites visitors to explore six floors of interactive installations, puzzles, secret passageways, and surreal works by more than 100 local artists inside a restored Old City bank. Older kids and teens will especially enjoy uncovering the venue’s hidden mysteries.
📆 Labor Day weekend (times vary), 📍27 N. Third St., Philadelphia, 🌐 moaphilly.org, 💵 Ticketed
Museum of the American Revolution
Kids 12 and under receive free admission all Labor Day weekend. Families can explore the hands-on Revolution Place discovery center, meet living historians, enjoy crafts and gallery talks, and experience “The Declaration’s Journey,” the museum’s newest exhibition tracing the global impact of the Declaration of Independence.
📆 Sept. 5-7, 📍101 S. Third St., Philadelphia, 🌐 amrevmuseum.org, 💵 Adults $24, Youth 6-17 $13, Free ages 12 and under (in-museum purchase only)
Kame Paige (left) and her aunt Brittiny Stewart have fun at the new exhibit at the Franklin Institute that pays homage to Universal’s theme parks.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Universal Theme Parks: The Exhibition
Catch the final weekend of this world-premiere exhibition before it closes Sept. 7. Families can explore more than 100 artifacts and 20 hands-on interactives that reveal the storytelling, engineering, and technology behind Universal’s iconic theme parks.
📆 Through Sept. 7, 📍The Franklin Institute, 222 N. 20th St., Philadelphia, 🌐 fi.edu, 💵 Included with museum admission
Sesame Place Labor Day Celebration
Celebrate Labor Day weekend with Elmo, Cookie Monster, Abby Cadabby, and friends dressed in their patriotic best for America’s 250th birthday. Stick around Sunday night for the park’s “C Is for Celebrate” fireworks spectacular.
Be among the first to stroll through Peddler’s Village as more than 100 handmade scarecrows go on display for the season. Vote for your favorite creations while exploring the shops, restaurants, and brick pathways throughout the Bucks County destination.
📆 Sept. 7 — Oct. 26, 📍2400 Street Rd., New Hope, Pa., 🌐 peddlersvillage.com, 💵 Free
Philadelphia Labor Day 10 Mile, 10K, and 5K
Make signs and cheer on runners as they race along closed streets through the heart of Philadelphia, starting and finishing at the Rocky Steps. Even if your family isn’t participating, the lively finish-line atmosphere makes this an easy outing to pair with breakfast or lunch nearby.
📆 Sept. 7, 📍Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy., Philadelphia, 🌐 phillylabordayrun.com, 💵 Free to watch; registration required to race
‘Let Freedom Ring’
Visit Cherry Street Pier to see — and hear — Paul Ramírez Jonas’ monumental interactive installation. After a bell tower plays “My Country ’Tis of Thee” without its final note, visitors can ring the 600-pound bell themselves and share what freedom means to them.
📆 Through Sept. 27 during pier hours, 📍Cherry Street Pier, 121 N. Christopher Columbus Blvd., Philadelphia, 🌐 delawareriverwaterfront.com, 💵 Free
Michael Idriss, a historian at the museum, and his character, Cyrus Bustill, at the Museum of the American Revolution on June 18.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
‘The Declaration’s Journey’
Travel through 250 years of history in this multimedia exhibition exploring how the Declaration of Independence influenced more than 100 independence movements worldwide. Families can collect passport stamps, complete a scavenger hunt, handle replica objects, and try on clothing inspired by suffragists and civil rights demonstrators.
📆 Through Jan. 3, 2027, 📍Museum of the American Revolution, 101 S. Third St., Philadelphia, 🌐 amrevmuseum.org, 💵 Included with museum admission
The museum opened in 1828, and moved to its current location on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in 1876. Its last day with regular hours for the public will be Sunday, Sept. 27.
For some, the greatest loss was the sense of wonder children get when they peruse the museum, see bugs squirm, explore enormous nest displays and dioramas and, of course, lay eyes on the gigantic dinosaur skeleton.
“I’ll always remember the first time I went to the museum and I saw the dinosaur bones,” said Sakura Okuri, a 53-year-old retired FBI special agent who grew up in Germantown. “I’m just sorry that young kids aren’t going to be able to have that memory.”
Okuri, who now lives outside Pittsburgh, took comfort in knowing that if he missed something in one of the rich, expansive exhibits he’d have another chance because “it would always be there for me,” he said. “Apparently that’s not the case.”
The exterior of the Academy of Natural Sciences on Aug. 5.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
The news landed hard for 9-year-old Mira Thompson, who was leaving the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Parkway Central branch with her dad Tuesday afternoon when she got word. She’d gone to the Academy museum on multiple school field trips recently and was looking forward to more visits.
“That’s where I learned about pH testing last year,” Thompson said. “I didn’t know how to do that before going. I’m going to miss just being there.”
For many, it was a site of family bonding. Temple University senior Sean McClendon recalled fond memories there with his Opa, his grandfather, who worked at the museum taking care of owls and birds. Michael Ginsberg, a 60-year-old Northeast Philly native, remembers zealously volunteering to hold a hissing cockroach during a presentation at the museum to “get a rise out of my daughter.”
“My wife was not a fan of that,” he recalled. “‘Go wash your hands,’” she instructed.
One of two shell sculptures placed on either side of the entrance on the 19th Street entrance to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Ginsberg’s dad took him there when he was in first grade. Seeing the dinosaur bones in real life was a thrill after only knowing them on the pages of library books. He was shocked to see they were brown and not white like in renderings.
When he became a dad, himself, he started bringing his daughter.
“Dad, why are all the animals dead?” he remembered his then-toddler asking.
“They’re stuffed, hon,” he explained to her. “It’s a really cool art. It’s a way to get you closer. Just trust me, this is really cool stuff.”
The aim , ultimately, is to relocate the Academy’s collections and sell the building, which has a lot of deferred maintenance needs, said a source close to the talks between Drexel and the Academy, who asked not to be identified.
The interactive “Ocean Bound” exhibit at Academy of Natural Sciences in 2023.Courtesy of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
Online, tributes poured in. Some said the museum inspired them to study museum education, others brought their kids there when they learned to walk, they said, or when the air-conditioning in their homes broke in the summer. Some parents considered it a seminal part of parenthood in Philadelphia; others relayed fond memories of bringing their kids with disabilities to the sensory friendly hour.
Kim Lynne, from Drexel Hill, often brought her 18-year-old son, Ethan, who is on the autism spectrum, to the museum starting around age 3. He appreciated the dinosaurs and bugs; she appreciated the discount Ethan’s medical needs access card granted them on the admission fee.
“He loved the third floor where they had the children’s area, the insects,” Lynne said. “He was into it early on.”
Colleen Hall, 45, often marveled at the museum when she passed by it during her years at Community College of Philadelphia. She then ventured in for social events and was wowed by the dinosaurs, butterflies, and polar bears. She enrolled at St. Joseph’s Museum and Cultural Heritage education graduate program in hopes of working there one day.
It’s hard to wrap her mind around the notion that the museum is really closing.
“My brain just isn’t going there yet,” she said when asked how she felt about the closure.
“It’s not the 11th hour yet,” she added.
For longtime Philadelphians, the loss of the museum marks another step in the city losing its character as shiny new facades slowly replace the old and storied institutions closing their doors.
“We are losing some of the things that make us a historic city,” said McClendon, the Temple senior. “I think that’s really something that’s part of Philly’s brand or image, not just cheesesteaks, and I think people might forget how much history there is because it’s so modernized.”
To those who’ve gone with parents and kids like Ginsberg, the facility is a generational treasure and one of the few places that Philadelphians of all ages, races, and socio-economic classes can enjoy.
“Our city is losing abig part of its heart,” he said.
Tony Romo pleaded no contest Tuesday to operating a vehicle while intoxicated and said he planned to return to CBS “in time.”
The Dallas Cowboys quarterback-turned-NFL broadcaster confirmed the no-contest plea and called the incident a “personal failure” in a statement shared on his Instagram account.
Romo was arrested in Wisconsin on July 23 for suspicion of operating a vehicle while under the influence. Body camera video released by the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office showed Romo denying he was drinking while struggling at times to follow the officers’ instructions.
As a result of the plea, Romo will be forced to give up his driver’s license for six months and pay a fine of $784, according to court records. He’s also required to complete an alcohol assessment program and install a Breathalyzer to the ignition of any car he owns.
Romo also admitted to using alcohol to cope with the multiple injuries he suffered during his 13-year NFL career.
“Multiple back surgeries ended my career earlier than I expected and left me with constant debilitating pain,” Romo wrote. “That pain led to a dependence on pain medication, and my efforts to get those medications led to an over-reliance on alcohol.”
“None of this is an excuse,” Romo added. “These are my failures, and I take responsibility for them.”
Romo also asked for privacy and said he was turning his attention to his health, family, and “in time, my return to CBS.”
CBS declined to comment.
Romo is on leave at CBS, and will be replaced by former Houston Texans defender J.J. Watt in Week 1. Replacing Watt in the network’s No. 2 booth will be Eagles preseason announcer Ross Tucker.
The network hasn’t announced its Week 2 lineup.
Tony Romo (right) has been calling games alongside Jim Nantz since 2017. CBS Sports
During a media day event with reporters last month, CBS Sports President David Berson called Romo’s status an “evolving situation” and said there was “no timetable or final decision” on when — or if — the network’s top NFL analyst could be back in the booth.
“Fortunately, we have a very deep bench, and I’m really proud of the way everyone’s stepping up and responding,” Berson said.
Romo isn’t the first high-profile announcer to be involved in a drunk driving incident.
In 2009, former Sixers star and Hall of Famer Charles Barkley spent three days in jail and was suspended six weeks by TNT after pleading guilty to having driven under the influence on New Year’s Eve.
Romo joined CBS in 2017 and immediately became a fan favorite, thanks to his lighthearted tone and ability to predict plays. But in recent years Romo has faced criticism for appearing to be unprepared and chemistry issues with his partner, veteran play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz.
“He was everything we made him out to be in those first three years,” The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand said of Romo on this week’s The Varsity with John Ourand podcast. “He’s gone backward, and we’ve seen things that just haven’t sounded right … The fact is he hasn’t been good, and the work ethic’s been questioned.”
Staff writer Abraham Gutman contributed to this article.
A jury in Las Vegas on Monday found a man guilty of orchestrating the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur, delivering a conviction nearly 30 years after one of hip-hop’s most notorious killings.
Duane Keith Davis, 63, was accused of obtaining the gun used in the shooting and pursuing Shakur during a gang war that had become entangled with a feud between East Coast and West Coast hip-hop labels.
After about three hours of deliberations, the 12 jurors announced they had found Davis guilty of first-degree murder. Members of Shakur’s family who were seated in the courtroom embraced and passed around tissues to wipe away tears.
Straight-faced but agitated after the verdict, Davis addressed the judge to promise he would appeal. He is scheduled to receive his sentence — up to life in prison — on Oct. 13.
In a three-week trial, prosecutors depicted Davis as a shot caller for a group of Crips from Compton, California, who were out for revenge on the night of Sept. 7, 1996, when they happened to encounter Shakur in a black BMW stopped at a traffic light. Shakur, who was 25 and in the prime of his career, was shot four times and died at a hospital days later.
A socially conscious poet who was on his way to becoming a cultural icon, Shakur became only more popular as he was increasingly associated with violence and gang culture. His death turned him into a hip-hop martyr, joined only six months later by Christopher Wallace, the rapper known as the Notorious B.I.G., a onetime friend who turned into a bitter rival.
After Wallace was gunned down in Los Angeles in March 1997, the shootings became twin tragedies that had never led to a conviction, until now.
For years, the Shakur case had languished as important evidence, including the murder weapon, remained missing and key witnesses — including Shakur’s label boss, Marion Knight, known as Suge — refused to cooperate. The standstill turned the case into fodder for true-crime enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists.
Then, in 2008, Davis began speaking to the police in an effort to avoid drug charges that could have put him in prison for life. Law enforcement considered him untouchable because he had shared the information under an agreement that he could not be charged based on it.
But prosecutors changed their calculation once Davis began repeatedly addressing the shooting publicly — in podcasts, a documentary and a 2019 memoir.
“I’m one of the only living eyewitnesses to Tupac’s killing,” read the introduction to the memoir, “Compton Street Legend.”
Under the mistaken belief that he was fully immune from prosecution, Davis effectively handed prosecutors the evidence they needed to bring a case.
After he was indicted on a charge of murder in 2023, Davis, who is known by the nickname Keffe D, asserted that the statements in his memoir and in interviews were fictional stories invented to turn a profit on the hip-hop media circuit.
“Mr. Davis is attempting to escape responsibility for a crime everybody knows he committed — even him,” Marc DiGiacomo, a prosecutor in the case, said in court Monday, “and he admits to it seven or eight times over the course of 30 years.”
Throughout the trial, Michael Sanft, Davis’ lawyer, argued that the prosecution’s case was based on presumptions rather than hard facts, and that it was absurd to rely on Davis’ own statements, which were riddled with inaccuracies and inconsistencies.
“What facts do they have to even put Keffe D in a car in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996? What facts?” he said at the trial.
The two weeks of testimony at Clark County District Court chronicled a story that had long been told in books, podcasts and true-crime specials, but never at a murder trial.
Prosecutors painted a picture of simmering gang tensions in Compton between local sets of Bloods and Crips, the temperature increasing by their entanglement with the bicoastal rap beef of the 1990s.
The Bloods were aligned with Shakur and Knight’s Los Angeles-based Death Row Records, prosecutors said, while the Crips were hired to provide security when New York’s Bad Boy Records, run by Sean Combs, traveled out West.
In 1996, two gang skirmishes sent hostilities boiling over.
There was a brawl over a Death Row chain between young Crips and Bloods at a Southern California mall. Then, in September, both sides converged in Las Vegas for a Mike Tyson prizefight. After the fight, Orlando Anderson, a member of the Crips who had been present at the mall, received a beating by a group of men that sent him to a hospital.
Among the assailants, identified to jurors on hotel security footage at the MGM Grand, were Shakur and Knight.
According to Davis’ account to the police and in interviews, he obtained a .40-caliber Glock from an associate and set out with a group of Crips to find Shakur and his boss. “Them jumping on my nephew gave us the ultimate green light,” his memoir read.
Driving around Las Vegas in a white Cadillac, the group spotted Shakur on the road, visible in the passenger’s seat of a black BMW driven by Knight.
In an interview with law enforcement in 2009, Davis described how his associate behind the wheel made a U-turn to pull up alongside Shakur and Knight’s vehicle.
A woman in a car nearby, Ingrid Stokes, testified that a hail of gunfire erupted. “All hell broke loose,” she told jurors.
The BMW was riddled with bullet holes, the tarmac glinting with spent cartridge cases. Knight had been grazed in the head; Shakur, in far worse condition, was loaded into an ambulance.
Garry Dale, a former police officer who rode with Shakur on the way to the hospital, testified that he had asked him to divulge the names of the assailants but that Shakur had brushed him off.
“We’ll take care of it,” Shakur replied, according to Dale.
Word soon spread in Compton that Anderson had been the person to open fire in retaliation for the beating at the MGM Grand, but other accounts suggest it was Deandrae Smith, who had been sitting next to him in the back seat. Davis is the only person still alive who was said to have been in the white Cadillac.
Although Davis did not testify, the prosecution centered its case on his own words, played for the jury through audio of interviews with police officers, documentary filmmakers and YouTube personalities.
Prosecutors acknowledged that his statements could be inconsistent, and they did not embrace everything as true. His repeated allegation that Combs had offered him $1 million to kill Shakur and Knight, which the music mogul has vehemently denied, was left on the far periphery of the case.
In total, the jury heard more than eight hours of Davis’ voice, according to prosecutors.
“I didn’t tell nobody, nothing, that we killed Tupac,” Davis said in 2009, when he was speaking to the police.
The long-term forecast for 6abc? No more Cecily Tynan.
The beloved meteorologist offered her final weather report on Action News Monday night, capping off a career spanning three decades as one of Philadelphia’s most-watched personalities.
Tynan choked up as she thanked 6abc for giving her a chance nearly 31 years ago and praised her colleagues for letting her be her “authentic self” as she rose up the ranks from weekend weather anchor to become the station’s first meteorologist.
“We’ve been through so much together,” Tynan said before ticking off major storms like the record snowstorm of January 1996 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012. “But after I leave here, that’s not what I will remember the most. I’ll be thinking about just how much fun I’ve had here for more than three decades now.”
“I may be retiring, and you won’t see me here on the news anymore, but I know I will always be part of the Action News team,” Tynan added. “And I thank you for that.”
Tynan devoted most of her farewell message to thanking viewers across the Delaware Valley, who have followed her career — and weather forecasts — for more than a generation.
“I’ve met families who’ve been watching Action News for several generations. Most people in this area can sing the Action News theme song, and I’ve even met several young Cecily’s named after me,” Tynan said. “What an honor.”
Among those on hand to celebrate Tynan’s final broadcast was retired Action News anchor Jim Gardner, a Philly media institution in his own right who trekked back to his former studio to celebrate his former TV partner.
“The viewers will miss her terribly,” Gardner said. “She such a compelling television personality who really owns the screen when she’s on camera. The rest of us just appeared on TV.”
“I’m not sure people give her enough credit for being a scientist, which is what she is first and foremost,” Gardner added. “She’s so committed to keeping viewers safe and informed when the weather presents serious challenges.”
Cecily Tynan, seen here in 6abc’s weather center, has been the station’s chief meteorologist since 2009. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Tynan’s other longtime partner, current Action News anchor Rick Williams, was there in 1995 when she first joined the station fresh off a stint in Las Vegas. Nearly 31 years later, Williams offered a heartfelt goodbye during the 5 p.m. newscast to his “closest friend,” though the two couldn’t avoid cracking a joke or two.
“You’re my work husband,” Tynan said.
“And we’re getting divorced,” Williams shot back.
Despite retiring relatively young at 57, Tynan has no immediate plans, outside of splitting her time between her Delaware County home and waterskiing at her second house in Florida with her husband, Greg. She even turned down a chance to host the Thanksgiving parade one final time so she could spend the holiday with her family.
“We’ve always been in a hotel by the parade route, and I’ve never actually cooked,” Tynan told The Inquirer last month. “This year I was like, ‘No, I’m going to stay home. I’m going to cook Thanksgiving dinner from scratch.’ Hopefully my family appreciates it.”
Tynan’s departure is the latest in a string of exits in recent years by some of the city’s most-beloved and longest-serving media personalities.
“Retirement is a thief, if you ask me,” longtime 6abc anchor Brian Taff joked on social media.
6ABC meteorologist Cecily Tynan grabs a shoe from one of two shoe drawers she has in the weather center.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
6abc hasn’t yet announced who will replace Tynan as the station’s chief meteorologist on the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. editions of Action News. The obvious candidates are 6abc veterans Karen Rogers and Adam Joseph, both of whom have spent more than 20 years on Action News.
“Channel 6 is so much bigger than any individual, and it will continue on with extremely talented people doing the weather,” Gardner said. “But there’s only one Cecily Tynan.”
Pearl Jam’s concert at the Wells Fargo Center in April 2016 is legendary among fans because the band played its 1991 debut album Ten in its entirety.
The performance happened after Eddie Vedder was struck by the idea during the sound check for the show. The venue had surprised him by hanging a Flyers-style banner made by Native Colors Flag Co. in Haddonfield marking the band’s 10th sold-out performance in a South Philly arena.
“I saw that number, and it was like, ‘I think we gotta do it,’ ” Vedder said with a smile that night, after the band had finished playing Ten from start to finish for only the second time in its career.
Now, Pearl Jam is releasing Ten Live, a three-sided vinyl LP that captures live versions of the 13 songs on the album, which includes songs that have long been centerpieces of the band’s repertoire, such as “Even Flow,” “Alive,” and “Jeremy.”
The live album recorded April 29, 2016, in the building that is now known as Xfinity Mobile Arena comes out Nov. 27. That’s Record Store Day Black Friday, the holiday season day on which music retailers put limited-edition vinyl exclusives on sale in shops in Philly and around the U.S.
In 2020, Pearl Jam made a video stream of the entire 32-song 2016 concert available through Philly-based music platform nugs.net. That release was timed to promote PJ Votes, a voter mobilization initiative ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
At the time, Pearl Jam guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready spoke to The Inquirer about the band’s special relationship with Philadelphia. That dates back to a 1991 show at J.C. Dobbs on South Street (now Nikki Lopez), and the final four shows at the Spectrum in 2009 before that venue was demolished the next year.
“I remember playing Dobbs, and it was the strangest stage I’ve ever been on,” McCready recalled. An oversize column on one side of the stage made it difficult to see an entire band at the defunct South Street club. “I’ll never forget that.”
Eagles’ owner Jeffrey Lurie (left) talks with Eddie Vedder (center) of Pearl Jam, and Bradley Cooper (right) before the Philadelphia Eagles play the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle, on Nov. 20, 2016. David Maialetti / Staff Photographer
During the October 2009 Spectrum shows, which ended on Halloween with the band dressing up like Devo and playing “Whip It,” McCready said “in four nights, we tried to play every song we’ve ever written.”
“There’s something about Philadelphia,” Vedder said during the Ten show.
“It seems tough, and intense. I get the City of Brotherly Love. But I also know brothers beat the [stuffing] out of each other! So to see all these intense people … release themselves and open up and celebrate and seem to love each other, it’s really powerful.”
The Pearl Jam banner at the Wells Fargo Center on April 29, 2016.nugs.tv
At one point in the show, Vedder looked up to see the Bruce Springsteen banner in the rafters with a number 56 much larger than Pearl Jam’s 10. He then did an impression of the Boss: “Hey Ed, I hear you’ve got a little banner up there. You’ve got some catchin’ up to do. Call me in 20 years.”
”I think there really is a tangible difference in the level of engagement. I mean, since we started playing Philadelphia and over into New Jersey, it’s … insane. Things are generally sort of twice as big there.
“Some of it has to do with the longevity, I think. There’s a consistency with talking to fans, and then having them turn their kids on to the music. It’s magical, and I don’t want to know too much about it. I just want to honor it. It feels real.”
A version of the 2016 Ten show, which includes covers of Pink Floyd, Wayne Cochran, the Dead Boys, Neil Young, and the Who, can be streamed on YouTube. And a pro-shot video of the concert can be rented or purchased on PearlJam.com, where the Ten Live vinyl can be preordered.
Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam perform during their Dark Matter World Tour stop at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Saturday, September 7, 2024.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
