Welcome to the latest exclusive monthly tips for our subscribers!

Alaina and Neil met up to chat about the end of the year; dog friends joined in!

It's time for our monthly BSR in the Wild update! The first Friday of every month we bring you our hottest tips on what's on our radar, through three sections: Find Us!, Neil's Nod of the Month, and Recommended Reading.

Find Us! is exclusive subscriber tips on which events and exhibitions our staff is heading to in the coming month. There's a lot happening, this month as always, and we love to provide these tips.

Neil's Nod of the Month is a look forward to the upcoming BSR story or review I'm most excited to read.

Finally, Recommended Reading is a quick, subscribers-only tip to contextualize the work we have coming up, placing upcoming articles in dialogue with past stories, because our arts and culture scene is an ongoing citywide conversation that you're a part of, too.

If you're enjoying this series, let us know! And don't forget, as a reader you can support our writers in multiple ways. Be sure to support our staff with a donation. Send an article to a friend. Follow our dynamic content on Instagram.

Read on for January's inside scoops. And if, like editor-in-chief Alaina Johns and I did, remember to get a photo when you see us out and about!

Sincerely,

Neil Bardhan
BSR executive director

Find Us!

Alaina & I found some fun connections in our calendars when we put this list together. Read on to find what I mean.

FIND ALAINA

Jagged Little Pill
WHEN: January 3 - January 15, 2023
WHERE: Academy of Music at the Kimmel Cultural Campus
WHY: BSR critic Cameron Kelsall and I attended this last night, and it's running through January 15. When we heard it was coming to Philly, we both jumped at the chance to check it out. I'm a teenager of the '90s, and I'll probably still be singing along to "Ironic" and "You Oughta Know" when I'm 90.

Trio Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute
WHEN: January 11, 2023
WHERE: The Curtis Institute's Field Concert Hall
WHY: On January 11, The Curtis Institute's Field Concert Hall promises "an electrifying recital" from the internationally touring Trio Zimbalist, made up of three recent Curtis grads: Josef Špaček on Violin, Timotheos Gavriilidis-Petrin on cello, and George Xiaoyuan Fu on piano. The program includes composers Lera Auerbach, Mieczysław Weinberg, and Dvorák. While it's not my wheelhouse, I enjoy classical music, particularly live string trios and quartets, and I'm looking forward to this. Trio Zimbalist is currently sold out (you can get on the waiting list), but if you want to catch another Curtis concert before the month is out, see a pick from Neil below.

FIND NEIL
Eric Smith and Cast Members from Jagged Little Pill: The Musical
WHEN: January 13, 2023
WHERE: A Novel Idea
WHY: Philly writer Eric Smith has written the novelization of the stage musical Jagged Little Pill. He'll be in conversation at a favorite South Philly bookstore with some of the show's cast members, and I can't wait to see what this looks and sounds like!

Perry, Tchaikovsky, and Sheng
WHEN: January 29, 2023
WHERE: Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Cultural Campus
WHY: I don't take nearly enough advantage of the world-class offerings from Curtis Institute musicians. A matinee premiere of a viola concerto caught my eye, though, as I studied viola in my youth and am always curious about contemporary composition.

Demystifying Diversity launch party
WHEN: January 30, 2023
WHERE: Fox School of Business at Temple University
WHY: BSR writer Daralyse Lyons hosts a thought-provoking podcast series called Demystifying Diversity. The upcoming third season includes Temple's Center for Ethics, Diversity and Workplace Culture as a sponsor. Daralyse is an engaging speaker and connector. I know that this gathering will be an important combination of local folks who work meaningfully.

Neil's nod of the month:

The January editorial calendar starts the year with theater, orchestra, poetry, and beyond. I look forward to Jake Foster's review of Selections from the Archives, an upcoming solo exhibition at the William Way LGBT Community Center. The artist Rami George engages with the Center's John J. Wilcox Jr. Archives to create site-specific art on topics ranging from everyday queer life to the Center's own history. I'll be curious to learn more from Jake's review!

Recommended Reading

Each January, I find myself aiming to spend more time outside, not necessarily during the remaining months of winter, but sure, why not them too? Anndee Hochman wrote for us in early 2022 about how walking around, all the way around, Philadelphia, had her thinking about comfort zones of all sorts and how places stir memories. The specific event she took part in may not be available right now, but perhaps this piece will inspire all of us to explore outdoors and invisible lines we've drawn.