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Category: Entertainment

  • The Fire, the Northern Liberties music club long touted as the city’s only woman-owned venue, is closing

    The Fire, the Northern Liberties music club long touted as the city’s only woman-owned venue, is closing

    The Fire, the Northern Liberties music venue that played host to an illustrious list of Philadelphia and national touring acts in the 2000s and 2010s, will shut its doors this week.

    Karen Lauria Saillant, the owner of the club at 412 W. Girard Ave. that is housed within the Philadelphia Bar & Grille, announced in a Facebook post that the music venue and the bar will close permanently on Wednesday.

    “I am not able to continue after the death of my beloved son, Christian Bygott, who was our manager & our backbone,” she wrote, citing the reason for closure.

    Bygott, who had been the club’s talent buyer and was also, like his mother, an opera singer, died in 2024 at age 41.

    Saillant, who has long touted the Fire as Philly’s only fully woman-owned music venue, purchased the Philadelphia Bar & Grille with her husband, Bernie Bygott, in 1988.

    In Jonathan Demme’s 1993 AIDS drama Philadelphia, starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, the exterior of the bar is shown in an opening credit sequence while Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia” plays.

    After her husband became severely incapacitated in 1999, Saillant founded the Fire. In the decades that followed, many rising stars played there, particularly in the years between 2003 and 2017 when Philly music manager and talent buyer Derek Dorsey ran the venue.

    Acts that played at the Fire and went on to big things, include John Legend, Rilo Kiley, My Chemical Romance, Amos Lee, Maroon 5, Kurt Vile, Alex G, Jason Mraz, Modern Baseball, Hop Along, Damien Rice, Santigold, Iron & Wine, Cold War Kids, and more.

    In 2022, Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance — who played the Fire in 2002 — gave the venue a shout-out in a show at the Wells Fargo Center.

    In 2023, a Mural Arts mural of Legend, painted by Philadelphia artist and clothing designer Alloyius Mcilwaine was added to the building. The mural also includes a depiction of Japanese singer Yasko Fujiì, who starred in several operas produced by Saillant’s International Opera Theater of Philadelphia company, which was headquartered upstairs at the Fire. The opera company has productions in the works through the end of the year, but its office will no longer be in the Fire building.

    On Wednesday, the final show at the Fire is scheduled to be Philly hip-hop and R&B artist Deek Westside, celebrating his new album, Everything Is Different. It’s billed as “a Fire celebration for a fire artist.”

    Saillant wasn’t immediately available for comment.

  • Saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, an Upper Darby native, gets a MacArthur ‘genius grant’

    Saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, an Upper Darby native, gets a MacArthur ‘genius grant’

    Upper Darby native and saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins is among the MacArthur Foundation’s 20 “genius grant” recipients for 2026, the foundation announced Tuesday.

    In more official terms, that makes Wilkins, 29, a MacArthur Fellow — the youngest member of his class. All fellows will receive $800,000 in unrestricted funding over the next five years, with the awards giving financial flexibility to recipients for their artistic and scholarly visions.

    Wilkins, in an interview Tuesday with the Associated Press, said he received word that he had been named a MacArthur Fellow while traveling from New York to Philadelphia.

    “I was just outside,” he said. “Which was nice because then I could yell as loud as I wanted to and celebrate.”

    In a video introducing the 2026 fellows, Wilkins described himself as a saxophonist and composer who anchors “original compositions in history and spirituality.” He added that as a performer, he was “looking to escape the gaze that might be on me and direct my creative energy inwards and upwards.”

    Widely considered a leading contemporary jazz musician, Wilkins was joined by jazz great Odean Pope for “RECESS,” an immersive musical experience staged at the Power Market, a former Peco electrical station in North Philadelphia. Pope, 87, and Wilkins met when Wilkins was a young student at the Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts, and Pope took him on as a mentee, The Inquirer reported.

    Presented by Ars Nova Workshop, “RECESS” featured the musicians playing on a stage modeled into a combination playground and bandstand, which Wilkins earlier told The Inquirer was a way to inspire “radical play.”

    “I started thinking about the landscape of Philadelphia as functioning as a kind of abstracted play space,” Wilkins said in a May interview.

    Wilkins’ debut album, Omega, was released in 2020, and connects the 1918 lynching of a pregnant Black woman, Mary Turner, to the 2014 fatal police shooting of a Black teenager, Michael Brown. The abstraction of music, Wilkins told the AP, allows him to represent these stories without “recreating the violence of them.”

    “Although it is some of the most painful material, the music itself feels so good,” Wilkins said in the MacArthur Foundation clip.

    Most recently, Wilkins released Immanuel Wilkins Quartet: Live at the Village Vanguard Vol. 1, a three-volume recording of performances at the iconic New York City jazz club.

    In addition to Wilkins, two other MacArthur Fellows this year have ties to the Philadelphia area. Both are Princeton University professors.

    Ellora Derenoncourt, an associate professor in the university’s economics department, told the AP that she would use the award to translate issues of economic justice for the broader public and interested policymakers. And Elizabeth Ellis, an associate history professor, hopes to support research projects focusing Native American history, the university said.

    This article contains information from the Associated Press.

  • Jeff Scott, award-winning TV writer and former Bucks County journalist, has died at 72

    Jeff Scott, award-winning TV writer and former Bucks County journalist, has died at 72

    Jeff Scott, 72, formerly of Hilltown, Bucks County, longtime award-winning TV and video scriptwriter, director, and producer, former columnist and editor at the Quakertown Free Press, and green-thumb gardener, died Saturday, Sept. 19, of pulmonary fibrosis at Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington, N.J.

    Born in Philadelphia, reared in Hilltown, and a graduate of Pennridge High School, Mr. Scott turned his lifelong interest in sports, affable collegiality, and writing, reporting, and editing skills into an award-winning career as a TV and print journalist that spanned more than four decades.

    For 32 years, from 1983 to 2015, Mr. Scott wrote scripts, directed talent, and produced shows for TV, film, video, radio, and DVDs. He worked for Major League Baseball Productions through Phoenix Communications from 1988 to 2015 and wrote more than 1,000 TV show scripts for ABC, NBC, ESPN, Fox, and other networks, including 176 episodes of ESPN’s Major League Baseball Magazine and 450 consecutive episodes of the popular This Week in Baseball.

    His dramatic scripts detailed many memorable baseball seasons, went behind the scenes with championship teams, and shared stories about star players on and off the field. They were narrated by iconic announcers such as Mel Allen, Curt Gowdy, Bob Costas, and Harry Kalas, featured thousands of players, coaches, and managers, and earned 16 New York Emmy Awards.

    Mr. Scott earned 16 New York Emmys.Courtesy of the family

    Former colleagues at MLB Communications posted a video tribute to Mr. Scott on X and noted his “indelible impact” on This Week in Baseball. Buzz Brainard, a former narrator for This Week in Baseball, said on Facebook: “Honored to bring his words to life every season for 11 years.”

    Earlier, from 1983 to 1988 at the old Halcyon Days Productions, Mr. Scott wrote scripts for the weekly This is the USFL for ABC and other shows about John Madden, Mike Schmidt, and other sports and entertainment notables. Sports reporter Jayson Stark said on X: “You may not know the name, Jeff Scott. But you should.”

    Why did best-selling author Carol Saline email The Inquirer’s obit writer?

    In print, Mr. Scott was a columnist and weekend magazine editor for the Free Press in the early 1980s. In the 1970s, he was sports editor and a features writer for the Perkasie News-Herald, and a part-time sports reporter for the Doylestown Intelligencer.

    At the Free Press, he won awards and covered all kinds of local stories, including his publisher’s triple-bypass heart surgery. At the News-Herald, he wrote a sports column called “Time Out” and a news feature called “Know Your Community.”

    To know Mr. Scott, a friend said, “was to like him.”Courtesy of the family

    In 1976, he opened a News-Herald sports story with: “Some would call it luck. Some might call it breaks. And some might even consider the fact that somebody upstairs is carrying the fate of the Pennridge football team this year. We prefer to call it pure, unadulterated hustle.”

    A former Pennridge baseball player said in a tribute: “It always was a big deal when he came to our games.” A former colleague at the Free Press said: “He made me feel important, and he made sure I knew that he was my friend.”

    Survivors give advice about mourning their loved ones, as told to The Inquirer’s obit writer

    Other former colleagues praised Mr. Scott’s “sense of humor,” “warmth and kindness,” and “quick wit that never waned” in online tributes. “To know Jeff was to like him,” longtime friend and colleague Jim Burger said. “To know him well, which I had the good fortune to do, was to love him.”

    Jeffrey Llewellyn Scott was born Nov. 18, 1953. He played street hockey in Hilltown and baseball at Pennridge, and attended what is now West Chester University.

    Mr. Scott wrote a sports column in Perkasie in the 1970s.Newspapers.com

    After college, he drove a truck, worked as a disc jockey, and traveled across the country. He married and divorced Lorrie Greenly and Amber Hudson.

    He met Lenore Homeward on vacation in Tobago, and they married in 1991 and lived in Manhattan and Pittstown, N.J. He created seven flower beds on their property and tended many flower pots. “It was like a full-time job,” his wife said.

    Surviving spouses always remember how they met their mate. Here are the meet-cute stories told to The Inquirer’s obit writer.

    Mr. Scott enjoyed music and followed the Phillies, Eagles, 76ers, and Flyers. “He was a homebody,” his wife said.

    His niece Shanice said: “My uncle Jeff had a big heart and meant the world to me.” A longtime friend said: “The world will be a less warm and kind place without him in it.”

    Mr. Scott enjoyed time with his family.Courtesy of the family

    His wife said: “He was loyal, funny, humble, and compassionate. He had the ability to see the better in people. He was friends with everybody.”

    In addition to his wife and niece, Mr. Scott is survived by a sister, Kathleen, and other relatives. Three brothers and one sister died earlier.

    Private celebrations of his life are to be held later.

  • Phoebe Bridgers’ phone-free ‘The Lost Tour’ stop at South Philly was the balm we needed for the Eagles loss

    Phoebe Bridgers’ phone-free ‘The Lost Tour’ stop at South Philly was the balm we needed for the Eagles loss

    On “Garden Song” from her 2020 album Punisher, Phoebe Bridgers sang: “When I grow up, I’m gonna look up from my phone and see my life.”

    When she sang that lyric on Monday in South Philly, she didn’t have to take her eyes away from her mobile device because, of course, she was on stage and didn’t have it with her.

    But what was different about The Lost Tour — the concert trek that brought Bridgers to the Xfinity Mobile Arena along with her nine-piece band and her opening act, Havertown’s own Alex G — was that none of the other 20,000 or so people in the room had their cell phones with them either.

    Or rather, most had them in their possession, but the phones were locked away in Yondr pouches attached to lanyards around their necks, and thus inaccessible for the combined three-hour duration of Bridgers’ 26-song headlining set and Alex G’s 19-tune opener.

    So: No photos, no videos, and no Instagram until after the show was over. What a concept: Does an actual shared experience even happen if it can’t be immediately shared virtually?

    And perhaps more importantly, how are you supposed to know the Eagles score if you can’t constantly check your phone? Though that turned out to be a blessing, considering the Birds’ abysmal Monday Night Football performance.

    Bridgers’ performance, on the contrary — as well as the impressive and imaginative staging of the singer-songwriter’s inaugural arena tour — was exemplary.

    Phoebe Bridgers at Xfinity Mobile Arena in South Philly during The Lost Tour on Monday night.Wes Ellis / Courtest of the Oriel Co.

    The show drew from her grief-stricken, joyous, emotionally complex, darkly funny, and musically varied new album, Lost Weekend, as well as Punisher and her 2017 debut, Stranger in the Alps.

    It also looked really cool. This summer, in the run-up to the release of Lost Weekend, Bridgers stoked the ardor of her fan base first with a series of no phones pop-up shows around the country, and then Lost Weekend listening parties staged in planetariums.

    The Lost Tour recreates that sparkly star-filled aesthetic in an arena setting. Bridgers began with the main stage covered by a dome that looked like a giant cloche — one of those plate covers that a server lifts to reveal a dinner plate at a fancy restaurant.

    The first song “Outside,” also the opening track on Lost Weekend, was played by musicians not yet visible under the dome. In its first verse, Bridgers’ heavily processed voice cracked a macabre joke about the funeral of her father, who died in 2022: “Crying in a suit and tie, but you should see the other guy / One more time for old time’s sake, I’ll watch him get carried away.”

    Then the dome slowly lifted to reveal the dressed-in-black band. The ensemble, which excelled at folk-pop but also moved into more electronic and noisy textures, included a four-person string section, plus multi-instrumentalist Melina Duterte, who performs under the stage name Jay Som.

    As it hung overhead, the dome then tilted back to reveal outer space imagery — the surface of the moon, or what looked like Jupiter — in its circular core while sky-high back and white visions of Bridgers were projected on curtains on either side of the stage.

    The action began with Bridgers’ “Motion Sickness,” about an abusive relationship (“I hate you for what you did, and I miss you like a little kid”) and kicked into gear with the new album’s earworm “Lost Boys,” about men behaving badly, again.

    Alex G with Phoebe Bridgers at Xfinity Mobile Arena in South Philly during The Lost Tour on Monday night.Wes Ellis / Courtesy of The Oriel Co.

    Bridgers rose to popularity as an unstinting and artful chronicler of her interior life not only with her solo work, but also with Better Oblivion Community Center with Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes and especially boygenius, with bandmates Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker.

    The trio broke through to mainstream popularity in 2023, when it sold out the Mann Center in Fairmount Park. That fan base of teenage and older women singing along to every word was in force on Monday, when the merch line was even longer than the queue for the men’s room at Willie Nelson and Neil Young’s show at the Mann last week.

    Boygenius reunited at Bridgers’ shows in Brooklyn this month, but her bandmates didn’t make the trip down the Jersey Turnpike to Dacus’ former hometown. Not to worry, though: Bridgers had a special guest at the ready in her opening act.

    In her own set, she brought out “my friend Alex G.”

    The singer whose last name is Giannascoli cowrote two songs and co-produced 11 on Lost Weekend. It’s no surprise he and Bridgers are simpatico, as his music bears the influence of Elliott Smith, one of Bridgers’ songwriting heroes.

    Many of Bridgers’ songs — catchy as they are, and sung in a sweet upper register — can be heavy going, even when she makes not really light-hearted jokes like in “Governor’s Waltz,” about “hiding in the bathroom, like Shelley Duvall” in The Shining.

    But her music also rocks out with ecstatic release. As it did on Monday with “Bobby,” a euphoric tune about her partner, comedian Bo Burnham, who cowrote it.

    She then brought out Alex G and his band, including violinist Molly Germer, for a duet on his song called “Bobby,” a country lament from 2017.

    “I’ve been wanting to do that for a decade,” Bridgers said.

    Much of the most memorable action happened on the second, satellite stage. Bridgers played a six-song set there, at some points solo and others accompanied by her string players.

    Alex G with Phoebe Bridgers at Xfinity Mobile Arena in South Philly during The Lost Tour on Monday night.Matt Grubb / Courtesy of the Oriel Co.

    She sang the devastating “Funeral,” and thanked fans for putting phones away, as part of a trend that’s also seen artists like Jill Scott go the Yondr route to create a more present, in the moment experience.

    Nothing stood in between Jilly and Philly during Jill Scott’s four-night stand at the Met

    Some fans in other cities had cut the pouches open with knives, Bridgers said, but joked “they have to live with who they are.” Creating a phone-free experience, she said, “is actually no more thought out than it’s really nice.” Which it was.

    Before “Still Standing,” a song about domestic violence, Bridgers, 32, talked about her complicated relationship with her father, and how satisfying it’s been to talk to fans and friends who’ve had similar experiences.

    “I used to think that artists had traumatic lives,” she said. “Now I realize it’s just that artists sing about it. Really, it’s everyone. Everybody deserves their own documentary.”

    Alex G played his entire set from the second stage, which was lit by light saberlike sticks that made it appear that he and his band were performing from inside of a light bulb.

    Philly indie-rock star (Sandy) Alex G: ‘I want to make good music that people can listen to 100 times’

    The prolific musician who has moved into film scoring, most recently stretching out as a composer with his work on Jane Schoenbrun’s horror rom-com Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, was in fine form.

    His economical set courted Bridgers’ fans early on with melodic nuggets like “Gretel” and the grabby “Runner” before moving into more gnarly territory.

    Coming on stage as a recording of “Here Come the Sixers” played, he let his subtly appealing music do the talking, but also charmed with awkward, blurted out stage patter.

    “It’s good to be back in the greatest city in the world,” he said, adding “I can’t think of anything else to say. Is everybody excited about LeBron James?”

    And after thanking everyone involved in the show, from Bridgers to his driver, he ended with the words that all Philadelphians understand but which did no good on this particular evening: “Go Birds!”

  • Let’s talk: Drexel University responds to William Penn’s offer on the Academy of Natural Sciences

    Let’s talk: Drexel University responds to William Penn’s offer on the Academy of Natural Sciences

    Even after a massive wave of love and a crescendo of protests over the weekend, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University museum won’t be getting an immediate reprieve.

    Philadelphia’s beloved gateway to the natural world will remain shuttered after Drexel University released a statement Monday in response to an offer from the William Penn Foundation to temporarily underwrite operating costs and keep the doors open.

    Drexel’s statement neither accepts nor rejects William Penn’s offer. Rather, it suggests that the university is open to talking.

    Drexel says that while it appreciates the William Penn Foundation’s “public suggestion that it assist in temporarily keeping the Academy’s museum open,” they have “not received a formal proposal with a defined level of financial support.”

    With that in mind, Drexel linked the William Penn offer with keeping both the museum and collections in the current building and what it says is a substantial amount of money that would be needed to bring the building at 19th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway up to snuff.

    Drexel said Monday that it looked forward to “continuing to explore the possibility of Foundation support — alongside the considerable commitment Drexel has already made to preserving the research and education missions of the Academy — as we consider the substantial financial and operational challenges, including significant deferred maintenance needs associated with keeping the Academy of Natural Sciences’ collections at their current location.”

    “We believe that we are all working toward the same goal, which is to ensure that the treasures of the Academy remain accessible here in Philadelphia over the long-term,” said William Penn executive director Shawn McCaney in a statement Monday. “There are many considerations to determine the best path forward, and our offer of support is intended to help keep the museum open while a plan is developed.”

    No meetings between Drexel and the Foundation were scheduled, a Drexel spokesperson said.

    “Drexel intends to continue conversations with the William Penn Foundation to better understand and evaluate its offer,” said a Drexel source familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly about it.

    Visitors at the dioramas in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University on Sunday, the last day the museum was open to the public.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    The nearly two-century-old natural history museum closed to the public at 5 p.m. Sunday, and while the Academy‘s research and collections remain operational, leaders have said they intend to sell the building and move the collections at some point to an as-yet undetermined location. A public-facing museum experience of some kind is being envisioned elsewhere, but no details are set.

    Academy board chairperson Suzanne Biemiller on Monday did not immediately offer a comment.

    Citing a challenging financial picture and attendance trends, the Drexel and Academy boards on Sept. 1 abruptly announced the museum’s closure in 30 days without first coming forward with a public appeal for funds to help keep it open. Public demonstrations attracted hundreds at first, and in recent days online petitions topped 100,000 signatures.

    With the closure date fast approaching, William Penn last week extended a hand, offering to cover the cost of the operating subsidy Drexel has been providing to keep the museum open for at least another year, “so that the full range of options for the future of the museum could be properly explored, and to provide time to test the interest of other funders and supporters who have not been engaged so far,” said McCaney in a statement.

    One of the North American dioramas at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University just before the museum closed on Sunday.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    The William Penn offer was intended to help float the Academy’s museum operations while due diligence was done on answering a number of questions about the Academy’s viability. Among them are determining the costs of addressing deferred maintenance in the building and gauging the level of philanthropic support that could be counted on to fund the museum on an ongoing basis.

    Biemiller said last week that the Academy was supportive of the idea.

    A Drexel spokesperson said that the Academy board and leadership team undertook an “extensive planning process” throughout much of 2024 and 2025 to identify a path toward long-term financial stability. The effort included an assessment of the Academy’s business model and explored options for a more sustainable financial and operational model, including the level of ongoing support required from Drexel.

    Although the university did not publicly reject the William Penn money last week, it said that “no proposal has been presented that would provide a permanent, sustainable path forward for the Academy’s museum.”

    Pressure intensified over the past few days, with politicians and activists asking why, if the hurdle was financial, Drexel would turn down such an offer.

    “We urge Drexel and the Academy to jointly agree to accept the William Penn Foundation’s gracious offer and keep the Academy of Natural Sciences open for the public to continue to enjoy,” wrote City Councilmembers Nina Ahmad and Jeffery Young Jr. in a statement Saturday.

    “Anything else is a clear abdication of their public duty, and a demonstration of their contempt for this priceless cultural resource.”

    Visitors left love notes inside the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Sunday.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    Drexel says it has contributed $49 million toward the Academy’s budget since the two formed an affiliation announced in 2011. Yet, the institute has still struggled.

    “If somebody came in today and said, ‘here’s all the money you need to do all of the deferred maintenance, to do what needs to be done to the building to make sure that you can care for all of the collections and all of the research,’ and it’s feasible to do it there from an economic perspective, which would be wonderful, then I think we would be very open to it,” said the Drexel source. “But we probably still would have to keep the museum closed for a bit, just to be realistic because what needs to be done may not necessarily be able to be done while the museum’s open.”

    In the weeks since the impending closure was announced, attendance has soared, and revenue along with it. Estimated ticket revenue for September 2026 alone nearly matched the total ticket revenue for all of 2025, a Drexel spokesperson said.

    The Drexel and the Academy boards are in the process of renegotiating their affiliation agreement, brokered in part by David L. Cohen — the onetime Comcast executive and U.S. ambassador to Canada — at the behest of Gov. Josh Shapiro and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker.

    “That agreement includes a process for evaluating the future of the collections and the museum,” said Monday’s statement from Drexel. “Until that agreement is fully executed and approved by both boards, we do not intend to alter the plans that the Academy’s board and Drexel have agreed to.”

    The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance on Monday lauded the William Penn Foundation’s “generous offer” and said it deserved consideration, but added that responding to one crisis won’t be enough.

    “Philadelphia must make a stronger, sustained commitment to the cultural institutions that are fundamental to our civic life,” said the GPCA statement.

  • The best things to do in Philadelphia this week

    The best things to do in Philadelphia this week

    Explore all of the best things to do in and around Philadelphia: From upcoming events and art installations to the most picturesque date spots, we share all you need to know to make the most out of your week in Philly.

    You can always find our favorite activities of the week at inquirer.com/things-to-do. Have an event you’d like to feature in the Inquirer? Submit an event to our calendar.

    Sound Bath Rest & Reconnect

    (Community) Need a calming moment to reconnect with yourself? This sound meditation aims to help you do just that by releasing the tension in your body and regulating your nervous system. The meditation combines singing bowls, gentle instrumentation and guided breath and body awareness to provide you with true rest and relaxation.

    ⌚️Sept. 30, 7-8p.m., 📍179 W. Berks St., Philadelphia, Pa, 19122, 🌐 eventbrite.com, 💵 $22-33

    Design Philadelphia Festival

    (Community) This annual festival is one of the oldest of its kind in the country and highlights the design excellence and innovation of architects, designers and creative professionals. The festival includes a range of events including tours, programs, and workshops all over the city where you can learn about a wide-range of topics.

    ⌚️Oct. 1-11, 📍Various locations, 🌐 designphiladelphia.org, 💵 Varies

    Reel October

    (Movies) This year, the Philadelphia Film Festival is celebrating its 35th anniversary with a two week showcase of films on 35mm. These two weeks will highlight and honor cinemas past, present and future and allows viewers to really enjoy the magic of film.

    ⌚️Oct. 1-14, 📍1412 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pa, 19102, 🌐 filmadelphia.org, 💵 $8-30

    Proximity: A Street Photography Exhibition

    (Community) This exhibition allows you to step into the photographers point of view, and features work by Public Ledger members Dan Eshleman, Eric DeJesus, Fernanda Gándara, Mekhi Greene, Nazir Wayman, Roshan Basil, and Sammy Rivera. You’ll experience just how close the photographers were to the moments they captured, and the role of community in there surroundings.

    ⌚️Oct. 2, 6-9p.m., 📍121 N. Colubus Blvd., Philadelphia, Pa, 19106, 🌐 cherrystreetpier.com, 💵 Free

    Philadelphia Regatta Cup

    (Community) More than 30 sailboats will be hitting the Delaware River this weekend for an annual race. Grab a good viewing spot to take it in or grab a ticket to the evening reception at the Independence Seaport Museum to keep the celebration going all day.

    ⌚️Oct. 3, 10:30a.m. start, 📍Various locations, 🌐 philadelphiacupregatta.com, 💵 $0-60

    The PPPA Championship

    (Community) Do you think your parallel parking skills are top notch? Come put your park job to the test as you battle it out with other contestants for the championship spot. The highest score walks away with the championship title.

    ⌚️Oct. 3, 1-4p.m., 📍Headhouse Plaza, S 2nd. St., Philadelphia, Pa, 19147, 🌐 philaparallelparking.org, 💵 Free

    Roxtoberfest

    (Community) It’s time to celebrate fall and Oktoberfest in Roxborough. You’ll enjoy three stages of live entertainment, delicious food and drinks from some of your favorite local spots, family-friendly activities and so much more.

    ⌚️Oct. 3, 12-6p.m., 📍Ridge Ave. from Lyceum Ave. to Leverington Ave., Philadelphia, Pa, 19128, 🌐 roxborough.brightrtravel.com, 💵 Free admission

    Revolutionary Germantown Festival

    (Community) Here’s your chance to travel back in time to 1777 and explore Germantown during the Battle of Germantown. Through living history interpreters and hands-on activities, you’ll get a glimpse at what life was like in the Germantown area during this historic time. This festival is free and open to all.

    ⌚️Oct. 3, 10a.m. – 4p.m, 📍6402 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, Pa, 19144, 🌐 cliveden.org, 💵 Free

    Fleurs de Villes The Gilded Age

    (Community) HBO’s hit original series The Gilded Age is being brought to life through vibrant florals at Lynewood Hall. This fresh floral mannequin exhibition transforms one of the country’s most remarkable Gilded Age estates into a celebration of flowers, fashion, history and storytelling.

    ⌚️Sept. 25-Oct. 4, 📍920 Spring Ave., Elkins Park, Pa, 19027, 🌐 lynnewoodhallpreservation.org, 💵 $30.50

    In Community Exhibition Opening

    (Art) This group exhibit features work from eleven artists from the Joined Hands Collective. The pieces span watercolor, collage, mixed media, ceramics, fiber and photography. The exhibit explores how individuals, communities and shared environments intersect, showing the many ways we are all connected.

    ⌚️Sept. 5 – Oct. 10, 📍601 W. Allens Ln., Philadelphia, Pa, 19119, 🌐 allenslane.org, 💵 Free

    Workshop of the World Exhibition

    (Community) The Philadelphia Museum of Art is hosting an exhibition to showcase the region’s historic arts and crafts works, in honor of its 150th anniversary. The exhibit features 250 objects from ceramics and furniture to textiles and stained glass, that tell the story of Philadelphia’s Centennial Exhibition.

    ⌚️July 5 – October 18, 📍2600 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy., Philadelphia, Pa, 19130, 🌐 philamuseum.org/, 💵 Free with museum admission

    The best events for kids in Philly

    “The Addams Family: The Musical”

    (Theater) It’s been a few years since sourpuss teenager Wednesday Addams became America’s sweetheart. At the Walnut Street Theatre, this musical send-up follows her latest predicament: She’s fallen in love with a perfectly respectable “normie,” and now their two very different families have to meet. Ages 12 and up.

    ⌚ Through Nov. 1, times vary, 📍825 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19107, 🌐 walnutstreettheatre.org, 💵 $28–$130

    50th Birthday Weekend

    (Community / free) The Please Touch Museum turns a half-century old with two jam-packed days designed for its youngest fans. Expect toddler sing-alongs, storytimes, juggling, music and dancing, art-making, bubble play, a fashion show, and the museum’s traditional end-of-day parade. Reservations recommended. Ages 0–8.

    ⌚ Oct. 3–4, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., 📍4231 Avenue of the Republic, Philadelphia, Pa. 19131, 🌐 pleasetouchmuseum.org, 💵 Free

    Revolutionary Germantown Festival

    (History) Cliveden travels back 249 years to the Battle of Germantown with a rain-or-shine day of living history. Meet historical figures and a blacksmith, tour the 18th-century house for $5, and learn about an unusual exchange between George Washington and British Gen. William Howe involving a lost dog. Ages 5 and up.

    ⌚ Oct. 3, 10 a.m.–4 p.m., 📍6401 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19144, 🌐 cliveden.org, 💵 Free

    Tacony Creek Park Music & Arts Fest

    (Community / free) Tacony Creek Park’s Big Field fills with reggae, bomba, bluegrass, Mexican folk dancing, arts and crafts, and nature games for this annual fall celebration. Families can also join guided bike rides along the trail and refuel with cider and doughnuts. All ages.

    ⌚ Oct. 3, 1–5 p.m., 📍East Olney and East Clarkson avenues, Philadelphia, Pa. 19120, 🌐 ttfwatershed.org, 💵 Free

    Make Some Noise: Family Festival

    (Music / art) The Philadelphia Museum of Art gets loud for a family day celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month through music and visual art. Customize castanets, design tiles, hear live music, and explore the connections between what we see and what we hear. Ages 2 and up.

    ⌚ Oct. 4, 10 a.m.–3 p.m., 📍2600 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy., Philadelphia, Pa. 19130, 🌐 philamuseum.org, 💵 Free / pay what you wish

    St. Nicholas of Tolentine Italian Festival

    (Community) “St. Nic’s” celebrates its South Philly roots with an afternoon-into-evening block party on South Ninth Street. Expect Italian and Philly-made foods, the City Rhythm Orchestra, New York tenors, local DJs, family activities, and, of course, Mummers. All ages.

    ⌚ Oct. 4, noon–8 p.m., 📍1700 S. Ninth St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19148, 🌐 stnicksitalianfestival.com, 💵 Free entry / pay-as-you-go

    Parks on Tap

    (Community / free) The city’s roaming beer garden is back, offering drinks, oversized games, and plenty of room for kids to run around all summer long. All ages. Visit Parks on Tap’s website to find the location each week.

    ⌚ Though October 11, Wed.–Fri., 4–10 p.m.; Sat.–Sun., noon–10 p.m.; more locations through Oct. 11, 🌐 parksontap.com, 💵 Free entry

  • The best things to do in Philadelphia this weekend

    The best things to do in Philadelphia this weekend

    Happy Friday! Below are some of our favorite things to do in the Philadelphia area this weekend. We put out new Philly weekend plans for you every week, so you’ll always have something to do on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

    You can always find our favorite activities of the weekend at inquirer.com/things-to-do. Have an event you’d like to feature in the Inquirer? Submit an event to our calendar.

    Design Philadelphia Festival

    (Community) This annual festival is one of the oldest of its kind in the country and highlights the design excellence and innovation of architects, designers and creative professionals. The festival includes a range of events including tours, programs, and workshops all over the city where you can learn about a wide-range of topics.

    ⌚️Oct. 1-11, 📍Various locations, 🌐 designphiladelphia.org, 💵 Varies

    Reel October

    (Movies) This year, the Philadelphia Film Festival is celebrating its 35th anniversary with a two week showcase of films on 35mm. These two weeks will highlight and honor cinemas past, present and future and allows viewers to really enjoy the magic of film.

    ⌚️Oct. 1-14, 📍1412 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pa, 19102, 🌐 filmadelphia.org, 💵 $8-30

    Proximity: A Street Photography Exhibition

    (Community) This exhibition allows you to step into the photographers point of view, and features work by Public Ledger members Dan Eshleman, Eric DeJesus, Fernanda Gándara, Mekhi Greene, Nazir Wayman, Roshan Basil, and Sammy Rivera. You’ll experience just how close the photographers were to the moments they captured, and the role of community in there surroundings.

    ⌚️Oct. 2, 6-9p.m., 📍121 N. Colubus Blvd., Philadelphia, Pa, 19106, 🌐 cherrystreetpier.com, 💵 Free

    Philadelphia Regatta Cup

    (Community) More than 30 sailboats will be hitting the Delaware River this weekend for an annual race. Grab a good viewing spot to take it in or grab a ticket to the evening reception at the Independence Seaport Museum to keep the celebration going all day.

    ⌚️Oct. 3, 10:30a.m. start, 📍Various locations, 🌐 philadelphiacupregatta.com, 💵 $0-60

    The PPPA Championship

    (Community) Do you think your parallel parking skills are top notch? Come put your park job to the test as you battle it out with other contestants for the championship spot. The highest score walks away with the championship title.

    ⌚️Oct. 3, 1-4p.m., 📍Headhouse Plaza, S 2nd. St., Philadelphia, Pa, 19147, 🌐 philaparallelparking.org, 💵 Free

    Roxtoberfest

    (Community) It’s time to celebrate fall and Oktoberfest in Roxborough. You’ll enjoy three stages of live entertainment, delicious food and drinks from some of your favorite local spots, family-friendly activities and so much more.

    ⌚️Oct. 3, 12-6p.m., 📍Ridge Ave. from Lyceum Ave. to Leverington Ave., Philadelphia, Pa, 19128, 🌐 roxborough.brightrtravel.com, 💵 Free admission

    Revolutionary Germantown Festival

    (Community) Here’s your chance to travel back in time to 1777 and explore Germantown during the Battle of Germantown. Through living history interpreters and hands-on activities, you’ll get a glimpse at what life was like in the Germantown area during this historic time. This festival is free and open to all.

    ⌚️Oct. 3, 10a.m. – 4p.m, 📍6402 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, Pa, 19144, 🌐 cliveden.org, 💵 Free

    In Community Exhibition Opening

    (Art) This group exhibit features work from eleven artists from the Joined Hands Collective. The pieces span watercolor, collage, mixed media, ceramics, fiber and photography. The exhibit explores how individuals, communities and shared environments intersect, showing the many ways we are all connected.

    ⌚️Sept. 5 – Oct. 10, 📍601 W. Allens Ln., Philadelphia, Pa, 19119, 🌐 allenslane.org, 💵 Free

    Workshop of the World Exhibition

    (Community) The Philadelphia Museum of Art is hosting an exhibition to showcase the region’s historic arts and crafts works, in honor of its 150th anniversary. The exhibit features 250 objects from ceramics and furniture to textiles and stained glass, that tell the story of Philadelphia’s Centennial Exhibition.

    ⌚️July 5 – October 18, 📍2600 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy., Philadelphia, Pa, 19130, 🌐 philamuseum.org/, 💵 Free with museum admission

    The best events for kids in Philly

    “The Addams Family: The Musical”

    (Theater) It’s been a few years since sourpuss teenager Wednesday Addams became America’s sweetheart. At the Walnut Street Theatre, this musical send-up follows her latest predicament: She’s fallen in love with a perfectly respectable “normie,” and now their two very different families have to meet. Ages 12 and up.

    ⌚ Through Nov. 1, times vary, 📍825 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19107, 🌐 walnutstreettheatre.org, 💵 $28–$130

    50th Birthday Weekend

    (Community / free) The Please Touch Museum turns a half-century old with two jam-packed days designed for its youngest fans. Expect toddler sing-alongs, storytimes, juggling, music and dancing, art-making, bubble play, a fashion show, and the museum’s traditional end-of-day parade. Reservations recommended. Ages 0–8.

    ⌚ Oct. 3–4, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., 📍4231 Avenue of the Republic, Philadelphia, Pa. 19131, 🌐 pleasetouchmuseum.org, 💵 Free

    Revolutionary Germantown Festival

    (History) Cliveden travels back 249 years to the Battle of Germantown with a rain-or-shine day of living history. Meet historical figures and a blacksmith, tour the 18th-century house for $5, and learn about an unusual exchange between George Washington and British Gen. William Howe involving a lost dog. Ages 5 and up.

    ⌚ Oct. 3, 10 a.m.–4 p.m., 📍6401 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19144, 🌐 cliveden.org, 💵 Free

    Tacony Creek Park Music & Arts Fest

    (Community / free) Tacony Creek Park’s Big Field fills with reggae, bomba, bluegrass, Mexican folk dancing, arts and crafts, and nature games for this annual fall celebration. Families can also join guided bike rides along the trail and refuel with cider and doughnuts. All ages.

    ⌚ Oct. 3, 1–5 p.m., 📍East Olney and East Clarkson avenues, Philadelphia, Pa. 19120, 🌐 ttfwatershed.org, 💵 Free

    Make Some Noise: Family Festival

    (Music / art) The Philadelphia Museum of Art gets loud for a family day celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month through music and visual art. Customize castanets, design tiles, hear live music, and explore the connections between what we see and what we hear. Ages 2 and up.

    ⌚ Oct. 4, 10 a.m.–3 p.m., 📍2600 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy., Philadelphia, Pa. 19130, 🌐 philamuseum.org, 💵 Free / pay what you wish

    St. Nicholas of Tolentine Italian Festival

    (Community) “St. Nic’s” celebrates its South Philly roots with an afternoon-into-evening block party on South Ninth Street. Expect Italian and Philly-made foods, the City Rhythm Orchestra, New York tenors, local DJs, family activities, and, of course, Mummers. All ages.

    ⌚ Oct. 4, noon–8 p.m., 📍1700 S. Ninth St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19148, 🌐 stnicksitalianfestival.com, 💵 Free entry / pay-as-you-go

    Parks on Tap

    (Community / free) The city’s roaming beer garden is back, offering drinks, oversized games, and plenty of room for kids to run around all summer long. All ages. Visit Parks on Tap’s website to find the location each week.

    ⌚ Though October 11, Wed.–Fri., 4–10 p.m.; Sat.–Sun., noon–10 p.m.; more locations through Oct. 11, 🌐 parksontap.com, 💵 Free entry

  • A rural transgender story of love and acceptance unfolds on the Avenue of the Arts

    A rural transgender story of love and acceptance unfolds on the Avenue of the Arts

    A rural Pennsylvania tableau is laid out across a stage on South Broad Street for the Wilma Theater’s latest production.

    There are fresh green cornstalks in the foreground, and the sky glows violet behind them as the two main characters of Horsegirl & Cowdaddy take the stage.

    Horsegirl, played by Samora de la Brisa, is a trans woman in her 30s, living and working near a farm in an unnamed southern Pennsylvania town with Cowdaddy, her father, played by Mount Airy’s Lindsay Smiling.

    Horsegirl, it turns out, told her father she was trans years earlier, and while he’s still a bit confused by pronouns, his daughter’s identity is not an issue.

    “I thought she was just, er, you know, gay,” Cowdaddy says in a scene, explaining to his daughter’s love interest the day Horsegirl came out to him. “But then she said, she told me, ‘I’m a girl,’ er, and I thought, ‘well.’”

    The Wilma Theater’s production of “Horsegirl & Cowdaddy” runs through Oct. 4.JOHANNA AUSTIN

    Writer DJ Hills, a Queen Village resident who grew up in rural Western Maryland, said one of the goals for their play, which had its world premiere at the Wilma on Friday, was to show that rural America isn’t always a hellscape for queer people.

    “I don’t think that there was ever a moment of my life when society didn’t see me as queer in some way,” Hills, 31, said at Wilma on Thursday. “I was really cared for by my family, even when they didn’t always have the language or an understanding of who I was; there was always a lot of care, my grandmothers in particular.”

    A 2019 report by the Movement Advancement Project, a Colorado nonprofit focused on LGBTQ equality and democracy, found that approximately 16% of trans Americans live in rural areas. The nonprofit said this population faces unique challenges, including higher poverty rates and “increased visibility.”

    “There’s a present-day myth that trans people can only find happiness in metro areas and cities,” said Samora de la Brisa, who is trans. “We are everywhere. We exist in multitudes.”

    Samora de la Brisa (far left), starring as Horsegirl, Lindsay Smiling (center), as Cowdaddy, and Ni-Ni (right), as Bethel, go over staging before their third preview inside the Wilma Theater on Sept. 24.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer

    In 2023, The Inquirer spent several months chronicling the lives of two transgender women making their way in rural Dauphin County. One woman — Stephanie Fritsch — wanted to stay there. The other, Billie Jean Williams, wanted to get to Philadelphia or another city.

    “You know, I want to be happy, she wants to be happy, and I want people to be happy with their lives. That’s pretty simple, right?” Williams told The Inquirer. “I don’t know what happened in America that made that so difficult.”

    In the play, Horsegirl faces a difficult decision about where to live, whether to follow a love interest across the country or stay in rural Pennsylvania with her father. Cowdaddy struggles with past losses and, possibly, future ones, worrying about how his daughter would be treated in a new place.

    “Folks here know her,” Cowdaddy says.

    Smiling, who was recently named artistic director at the Wilma, said he empathized with the character Hills created.

    “He’s got his issues but [is] a very loving father, a patient father doing the best you can for his kid,” Smiling said. “He’s human, just like us, and one of the wonderful things about the play is there are no villains.”

    DJ Hills stands for a portrait on the stage inside the Wilma Theater on Sept. 24. Hills’ production “Horsegirl & Cowdaddy” premiered on Sept. 22 and will last until Oct. 4.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer

    Hills said Horsegirl & Cowdaddy was inspired by a simple conversation they had with their father one afternoon in Greencastle, Franklin County, during the pandemic. While the play will be heading to New York City next year, Hills would like to have a run in Pittsburgh and, perhaps, rural settings.

    “You can’t call yourself an American playwright if you’re only interested in New York, speaking to New York audiences,” they said.

    “Horsegirl & Cowdaddy” plays through Oct. 4 at the Wilma Theater.

  • ESPN’s Joe Buck on softening Eagles fans and a possible future without Troy Aikman

    ESPN’s Joe Buck on softening Eagles fans and a possible future without Troy Aikman

    Do Eagles fans actually like Joe Buck?

    Buck has had a lot stacked against him in Philly during much of his broadcasting career. Eagles fans have hated Buck because of his association with Hall of Famer Troy Aikman, who led the Dallas Cowboys to three Super Bowl victories. Phillies fans felt like he was rooting against their team because they were used to hearing fan-friendly announcers like Harry Kalas and Tom McCarthy.

    “Philly fans are at times hard to please, and that’s what makes them great,” Buck said. “They demand effort and excellence.”

    A good example of the divide was 2008, when Buck was broadcasting the Phillies’ World Series victory on Fox while Kalas provided the radio call.

    Kalas’ passionate call of the final out, a strikeout by closer Brad Lidge, still gives goose bumps to Philly sports fans: “Swing and a miss! Struck him ooooooooout! The Philadelphia Phillies are 2008 world champions of basebaaaaaaaall!”

    Buck’s call, by contrast, was dry and direct: “Phillies are world champions.”

    “I was raised in a house where I was taught to dislike Joe Buck,” Kylie Kelce said last year on her husband’s short-lived ESPN late-night now. “It seemed as though he was always cheering for the other team,”

    But these days, Buck has noticed less venom from Philly sports fans, especially compared to 2015, when he quit Twitter for more than a year over harsh criticism during a Phillies game against the Boston Red Sox.

    Buck’s voice is one of the few in the sports world that signal a big game, and fans have come to view him and Aikman as one of the best broadcasting duos in the league. This year, the two will be back calling the Super Bowl, their first together since 2020 at Fox.

    Joe Buck (left) and Troy Aikman have been calling games together since 2002. ESPN Images

    Buck isn’t sure what to attribute his newfound respect from Philly sports fans to. Likely it has something to do with Aikman being far removed from his playing days with the Cowboys, but the more likely culprit is that he no longer calls national baseball games.

    “Everyone is listening to every tone that comes out of your mouth and assigning some rooting interest that just doesn’t exist,” Buck said. “There would just be no reason why I would root against Philly. It’s just silly stuff.”

    Count Angelo Cataldi among Buck’s fans. As the morning host of 94.1 WIP for more than three decades, Cataldi was never afraid to rip into announcers, whether it was Philly native Dick Stockton or celebrated play-by-play voice Al Michaels.

    But Buck never ended up in Cataldi’s crosshairs.

    “I think people have come around on Joe over the past five to 10 years,” Cataldi said. “He’s always accused of rooting for the opposite team, but if you listen to his broadcast, it’s right down the middle.”

    In his fifth season on ESPN’s Monday Night Football, Buck won’t have a rooting interest when the Eagles take on the Chicago Bears. But his stat guy in the booth will.

    Ed Sfida, a Villanova grad, has worked with Buck and Aikman since 2003, dating back to their days at Fox Sports. They’ve become so close Buck invited Sfida to his wedding when he married Michelle Beisner, who now works alongside her husband at ESPN.

    “Back at Fox, if the Eagles were playing the same time we were doing another game and scored a touchdown, we’d look down in the corner of the booth where Sfida stands and he’s doing the Eagles’ wing flapping thing,” Buck said. “He’s the best.”

    Buck doesn’t see himself following in Merrill Reese’s footsteps

    Merrill Reese is in his 50th season as the radio voice of the Eagles. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Buck is in his 33rd year calling NFL games in a career that dates back to Fox acquiring TV rights to the league in 1994.

    That’s a long time, but he has a ways to go to match Eagles radio announcer Merrill Reese, who is in his 50th season calling the Birds, easily the most-tenured announcer in the league.

    If Buck were to make it to 50 years, he’d be 74. So does he seem himself lasting in the booth that long?

    “The answer to your question is no,” Buck said. “It’s just amazing to me, whether it’s Merrill or Al Michaels, the mental clarity and strength it takes to find your way through these games and not say something ridiculously stupid.”

    That doesn’t mean Reese or any other veteran broadcaster is perfect. Just last week, Reese mistakingly thought a Tennessee Titans interception of Jalen Hurts had been returned for a touchdown. But he rebounded to offer a vintage call of Hurts leading the Eagles to a last-minute comeback victory.

    “I’m just blown away by Merrill and how smart and clear and energetic is he,” Buck said.

    A future without Troy Aikman at ESPN?

    Troy Aikman’s ESPN contract expires at the end of the season. Jayne Kamin-Oncea

    Buck recently signed a contract extension reportedly worth more than $100 million that will keep him at ESPN through the 2032 season. But Aikman hasn’t and reportedly won’t until after the season ends, after he and Buck call the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium in February.

    There’s been uncertainly about the longtime duo before. When Aikman signed with ESPN in 2022, Buck had a year remaining on his deal with Fox, but executives let him out of his contract early so he could move to ESPN with Aikman.

    Buck hasn’t spoken with Aikman about his plans, but he hopes the two will remain together at ESPN and keep the NFL’s longest-running TV booth going.

    As for Aikman, there could be plenty of options. With uncertainty at CBS due to Tony Romo’s arrest and subsequent suspension, Aikman could solidify their No. 1 booth ahead of their Super Bowl next season. There’s also Amazon Prime, where Thursday Night Football announcers Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit have contracts that expire at the end of the season.

    “I’ve been in this business long enough to know nothing is a guarantee,” Buck said. “So my only answer to any of that is we’ll see.”

  • 10 books with deep Philly connections for your fall reading lists

    10 books with deep Philly connections for your fall reading lists

    Blistering satire, bromance in Brazil, and short stories about women on the brink are among the selection of buzzy fall reads written or set in Philly.

    History plays a particularly important role in these Philly-centric books. They shine a light on little known facts, examine the city historic block by historic block, or tell stories of nature discoveries in faraway lands.

    As the days shorten and the winds cool, snuggle up with a mug of hot chocolate and one of these picks.

    Temple University’s writer-in-residence Camille Acker’s debut novel, “A Very Special Episode,” is a modern day satire about Washington’s Black eliteElizabeth Wellington

    ‘A Very Special Episode’ by Camille Acker

    Random House, $28

    Within the first few pages of Camille Acker’s satirical debut novel, A Very Special Episode, it’s clear D.C.’s high-profile Black elite are under interrogation. But West Philly-based Acker doesn’t forget to pay reverence to the legacy of the city’s Black institutions and its people.

    At the center of the 285-page novel is the Tenth, a fictional private club and reference to W.E.B. Du Bois’ Talented Tenth theory. Nina, the protagonist, shares a name with Du Bois’ daughter, Nina Yolande Du Bois. Her boyfriend is Booker T. Bruce — whose name is a nod to formerly enslaved 19th-century leaders Booker T. Washington and Blanche K. Bruce. These homages and juxtapositions are doubly interesting, considering Du Bois’ and Washington’s philosophy were at odds.

    Acker is a Temple University writer-in-residence known for the biting short stories in Training School for Negro Girls. However, much like those works, A Very Special Episode is grounded in the present. We are with Nina as she tries to keep the Tenth relevant, a darn near impossible job in today’s world in which Jim Crow manifests as gentrification and police brutality. And affluent African Americans willingly don the shackles of material wealth.

    A Very Special Episode was released Aug. 18.

    Former Philadelphia Inquirer journalist Natalie Pompilio and PBS’s “Antiques Roadshow” print and map expert Christopher W. Lane teamed up for this illustrated text “Historic Maps of Philadelphia: A History of the City of Brotherly Love in Rare Maps.”Reedy Press

    ‘Historic Maps of Philadelphia: A History of the City of Brotherly Love in Rare Maps’ by Natalie Pompilio

    Reedy Press, $42

    Former Inquirer journalist Natalie Pompilio combines her affinity for Old City and walking tours in this 176-page hardcover exploring Philadelphia’s past through historical maps.

    Historic Maps of Philadelphia: A History of the City of Brotherly Love in Rare Maps is an illustrated topographical study co-written with Christopher W. Lane, cofounder of the Philadelphia Print Shop and PBS’s Antiques Roadshow’s print and map expert.

    The maps in this book date to the 16th century when Philadelphia was home to the Indigenous Lenape tribe. They weave through colonial, antebellum, and early 20th-century Philadelphia and ends in the mid-20th century with highways that eased drivers’ trips and decimated historic neighborhoods.

    Historic Maps of Philadelphia was released Sept. 1.

    West Mount Airy award winning short story writer Kathleen Furin’s first bound collection of short stories, “The Loneliness of Glass” centers strong, resilient, complex women who overcome the odds and learn to love themselves.Cornerstone Press

    ‘The Loneliness of Glass: Stories’ by Kathleen Furin

    Cornerstone Press, $24.95

    West Mount Airy-based book coach, equity and inclusion consultant for Germantown’s Just Strategies Hub, and award-winning short story writer Kathleen Furin will release her first bound collection, The Loneliness of Glass, in November.

    On Furin’s website, she describes her work as stories about strong, resilient, complex women who, through overcoming odds, learn to love themselves.

    The narratives in this 220-page paperback reflect that and include a piece about a young woman who loses her half sister in a tragic murder, and a woman in an interracial marriage who is forced to confront her preconceived notions about race when she visits her hometown.

    The Loneliness of Glass releases Nov. 3.

    Louisville, Ky.-based psychiatrist Jess Wright explores psychosis in early 20th-century Philadelphia in “Dance in a Madhouse,” the first installment in the Owen Townsend mystery trilogy.Montague Books

    ‘Dance in a Madhouse’ by Jess Wright

    Montague Books, $19.99

    Owen Townsend is a promising young medical school intern in 1905 Philadelphia when he gets locked up in the fictional Fairmount Lodge Asylum. Did he really lose his mind? Or, was he set up? Those questions are at the center of noted Louisville, Ky.-based psychiatrist Jess Wright’s mystery Dance in a Madhouse.

    Wright, a native of Hollidaysburg, earned his medical degree at Jefferson Medical College in 1969 and interned at Lankenau Medical Center in the early 1970s. This 288-page thriller is set against the backdrop of the Museum of Art when it was located in Memorial Hall and Boathouse Row, the library of the College of Physicians, and Jefferson Medical College. Dance in a Madhouse is the first book in a trilogy of Owen Townsend mysteries.

    Dance in a Madhouse was released Sept. 8.

    Central High School graduate (Class 255) Cristina O’Keefe Aptowicz’s historical nonfiction drama of William Parker, an enslaved man who emancipated himself from a Maryland plantation as a teenager in 1839, created a new life for himself as a free man in Christiana, Pa. His freedom is threatened when his former enslaver was killed tried to re-enslave him.Simon & Schuster Books

    ‘The Ballad of the Fugitive William Parker: A True Tale of Love, Murder, Treason, and Ordinary Folks Who Saved America’ by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz

    Simon & Schuster, $31

    Poet, historian, New York Times best-selling author, and Central High School graduate (Class 255) Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz’s latest work, The Ballad of the Fugitive William Parker, is the true story of a self-emancipated formerly enslaved man’s fight to remain free in early 19th-century Pennsylvania.

    Her 2014 steeped-in-Philly-history nonfiction book Dr. Mutter’s Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine spent three months on the New York Times’ bestsellers list.

    Shortly after her mother died, Aptowicz began exploring her mother’s side of the family tree. She discovered her maternal ancestors were seamstresses for the Underground Railroad, sometimes sewing new outfits for entire groups of freedom seekers in a single night. In her research, she kept coming across the names “William Parker” and “Christiana Riot,” names she, a lifelong Philadelphian, had never heard of before.

    The Ballad of the Fugitive William Parker is Aptowicz’s “best attempt to resurrect this important and necessary story and bring it back into the national spotlight where it belongs.”

    The Ballad of the Fugitive William Parker was released Sept. 8.

    “Winterset Hollow” is a fantasy book within thriller book by Allentown resident and social media sensation Jonathan Edward Durham.Union Square & Co.

    ‘Winterset Hollow’ by Jonathan Edward Durham

    Union Square & Co., $19.99

    When Diana Gabaldon — author of the Outlander novels that inspired Starz’s popular time-traveling series of the same name — refers to your book as “astonishingly powerful and multilayered” declaring it among the most interesting books she’s read in years, you might have written a literary winner.

    Such is the case for Allentown writer and social media content creator John Edward Durham, or @thisoneoverhere on Instagram, where he has 419,000 followers.

    Durham’s Winterset Hollow follows four fictional friends visiting the island that inspired their favorite fantasy novel, also named Winterset Hollow. But when they break into the writer’s abandoned estate, they discover that the truth behind their favorite adored book is dark, dangerous, and terrifying.

    First published in 2021 by Credo House Publishers, Union Square and Co. — a subsidiary of the New York’s Hachette Book Group — will release the new edition in October featuring the fictional book Winterset Hollow within Durham’s book.

    Winterset Hollow releases Oct. 6.

    Robert McCracken Peck, a retired senior fellow of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, spent close to 50 years as the Academy’s official historian and photographer. “Travels on the Edge: A Naturalist’s Notes from the Back of Beyond” is a collection of essays and photos chronicling his adventures.University of Pennsylvania Press

    ‘Travels on the Edge: A Naturalist’s Notes from the Back of Beyond’ by Robert McCracken Peck

    American Philosophical Society Press, $29.95

    Retired senior fellow of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, author, and Chestnut Hiller Robert McCracken Peck spent close to 50 years traveling the world as the official photographer, historian, and chronicler of scientific exhibitions for the academy.

    He discovered three new frogs in the Andes, collected several previously unknown species of fish on the Orinoco River, and studied rare insects in Africa and the Caribbean. He’s been on expeditions to Mongolia to study wildlife, witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall, and traveled the Gobi Desert.

    Travels on the Edge: A Naturalist’s Notes from the Back of Beyond is the scholar and adventurer’s collection of essays accompanied with lavish illustrations and Peck’s original photographs. In 240 pages, readers are transported to the most remote parts of the world to witness the joys (and challenges) of scientific research.

    Travels on the Edge: A Naturalists Notes from the Back of Beyond was released Sept. 15.

    Ashton Lattimore’s “Runner” follows lady rumrunners from Martha’s Vineyard into Boston and down through New York City during the Harlem Renaissance.Penguin Random House

    ‘Runner’ by Ashton Lattimore

    Penguin Random House, $31

    Shortly after Ashton Lattimore completed the 2024 award-winning novel All We Were Promised, centering an enslaved women in antebellum Philadelphia searching for her freedom, she began writing Runner from her Bryn Mawr home.

    Lattimore has since moved to northern New Jersey, but her ties to Philadelphia’s historic organizations run deep.

    Runner follows lady rumrunners from Martha’s Vineyard into Boston, and down through New York City during the Harlem Renaissance. Will the protagonist Lena Jameson discover who killed her father? Will she be able to skirt the authorities on her tail during Prohibition? Or, will she lose it all simply because she’s a woman?

    Runner was released July 28.

    Omar Tyree’s latest book, “Touchdown in Brazil,” is a bromance between an Eagles fan from South Philly and a Green Bay Packers fan in Brazil during the 2024 game between the two teams. It was the first NFL game played in South America.Dafina, an imprint of Kensington Publishing Corp.

    ‘Touchdown in Brazil’ by Omar Tyree

    Dafina, an imprint of Kensington Publishing Corp., $37.99

    West Philadelphia native and veteran author Omar Tyree’s latest novel Touchdown in Brazil centers a Philadelphia Eagles fan who travels to Brazil in 2024 to watch his beloved Birds play the Green Bay Packers in the NFL’s first game played in South America.

    The protagonist, named Tony Costa, is an amateur sports better looking for a break from his wife and hoping for a win with the Birds. The Eagles win. But whether Costa — who befriends other husbands and fathers including a Packers devotee and the owner of a local sports bar during his trip — will learn to appreciate his family and take home the ultimate win, is up in the air.

    Touchdown in Brazil releases Sept. 29.

    Hilal Isler’s first short story in her collection, “Khadijah Number 2,” is set in the working class neighborhood in West Philly and comes to a climax in the opulent Rittenhouse Square.Northwestern University Press

    ‘Har Mar’ by Hilal Isler

    Curbstone Books, Northwestern University Press, $24

    Author Hilal Isler set “Khadijah Number Two,” the introductory yarn in her debut collection of short stories Har Mar, among the rowhouses of West Philadelphia and the luxe lofts, expensive gastropubs, and overpriced yoga pants on Rittenhouse Square.

    The story centers 25-year-old Turkish server and borderline alcoholic Ayla Erdoğdu. The devout 50-year-old Muslim woman Khadijah picks Ayla because she’s young, pretty, and flaky — just the energy she needs to sell her book. And she’s right. Khadijah’s novel is a hit and Ayla gets lost, becoming a second edition of Khadijah.

    Many of the selections in Isler’s 16-story debut work feature women of color. Some of are Muslim, some are not. But all of them are complicated and have a salty vibe.

    Isler attended the University of Pennsylvania and currently is an associate professor at the University of Austin.

    Har Mar was released July 15.

    An earlier version of this story listed an incorrect publisher for Robert McCracken Peck’s new book. It is the American Philosophical Society Press.