Dear BSR Subscriber,
Welcome to the latest exclusive monthly tips for our subscribers!
Well, that was quick: it's time again 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 become a Local Media Champion. Send an article to a friend. Check out our latest Stories on Instagram. Are you caught up on our podcast? Feel free to email me with your own March picks!
Read on for March's inside scoops.
Sincerely, Neil Bardhan BSR executive director
Find Us!
As usual, you'll see some familiar institution names alongside new ones. We cover a wide range of experiences in our region. Read on, and be sure to tell us what you're seeing this month.
FIND US The 2024 Philly News Awards WHEN: Now through Tuesday, March 5 at 11:59am WHERE: Online WHY: BSR editor-in-chief Alaina Johns and BSR writer Cameron Kelsall are both nominated for The Pen & Pencil Club's Philly News Awards! You can go vote right now. It takes only a few minutes. We're overjoyed to see our work highlighted this by, and among, so many local journalism colleagues.
FIND DAVID BLOCK Help the Blind Filmmaker Join the 21st Century GoFundMe campaign WHEN: Happening now! WHERE: Online WHY: David Block is an author, filmmaker, and BSR writer. He’s also blind and on the autism spectrum. “Throughout my life I had to prove to professors, coaches, school administrators, and interviewees that my disabilities were not synonymous with inability,” he writes in his new crowdfunding campaign to digitize his award-winning films, previously available only on TV, film festivals, and DVDs. “I am determined to make the leap to the digital domain so that my work might impact many more people and expand awareness of the challenges and triumphs that people with disabilities have achieved,” he says. He’s raising $5,800 toward creating a new digital platform to promote his work and make it accessible to more people. This is a great opportunity to directly support an artist in the BSR community.
FIND NEIL Otherworld Philadelphia WHEN: Ongoing WHERE: 2500 Grant Ave., Philadelphia WHY: Dedicated readers of this space know that I love an immersive experience. I’m curious what Otherworld holds. The “large-scale interactive art” installation makes use of a former retail space. I’m going in with an open mind and open senses.
FIND ALAINA The 2024 Philadelphia Flower Show WHEN: Running March 2-10, 2024 WHERE: The Pennsylvania Convention Center WHY: I’ll be checking out the Flower Show media preview this week so that I can bring it to the BSR Instagram feed. We also have some coverage on deck by BSR writer An Nichols – look out next week. This year’s theme, according to Philadelphia Horticultural Society creative director and Flower Show VP Seth Pearsoll, is “United by Flowers”, and it’ll showcase “all the ways that we build community with one another.
FIND ALAINA The Philly stop of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain US tour WHEN: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 at 7:30pm WHERE: The Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall (which is becoming the Marian Anderson Hall in June) WHY: I’ve enjoyed hearing Yannick Nézet-Séguin at the helm of the Philadelphia Orchestra many times, but I’ve never heard him with his home orchestra, which will be visiting next week as part of its second US tour. When I found out that Canadian pianist Toni Siqi Yun will be performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto no. 2, I put it on my calendar.
FIND NEIL Guess My Blood Sugar: The Drinking Game Show WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 2024 at 7:30pm WHERE: Plays and Players, 1714 Delancey Pl., Philadelphia WHY: Patric Ciervo runs a game show that brings together his comedian friends and education about type 1 diabetes: Ciervo is a comedian and type one diabetic, so he knows what he's talking about! To be clear, I will be competing in the show, and there's a non-zero chance I'll be doing a shot of hot sauce. There's an even better chance that I'll learn something about diabetes.
Embracing the Light WHEN: Saturday, March 16, 2024 at 2:00pm and 6:00pm WHERE: FringeArts, 140 N. Christopher Columbus Blvd., Philadelphia WHY: Through my work at First Person Arts alongside Mural Arts Project staffers, I've helped plan this collaborative storytelling performance. It brings to stage numerous stories of Philadelphians' experiences surrounding suicide. I have not been close enough to the creative process to hear these stories, so I look forward to seeing the show live.
Flowers at a previous Philadelphia Flower Show (Courtesy: PHS)
FIND NEIL: Astral Artists Spring Showcase Gala WHEN: Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 6:00pm WHERE: World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., Philadelphia WHY: Astral Artists has been producing classical music concerts for over 30 years, and I realized recently I haven't knowingly attended one such performance, despite over a decade myself performing solo and chamber classical music. (Did you know I played viola in my youth?)
FIND ALAINA East Passyunk Restaurant Week WHEN: February 26-March 8 WHERE: East Passyunk Avenue WHY: I live in East Passyunk. What a neighborhood, especially when it comes to food. For my local Restaurant Week, I’m jumping on the chance to eat at Perla, a Filipino spot founded in 2016 by Chef Lou Boquila. The special menu includes sinigang, lumpia, whole fried Pompano, and more. Lots of great local restaurants are on the list, with menus ranging from $20-$55 per customer.
FIND C.M CROCKFORD Birdsongs: Poems 2020-2023 WHEN: Publication date March 2, 2024 WHERE: Order your copy here WHY: C.M. Crockford, an autistic/ADHD writer who is also a BSR theater critic, is excited to announce the publication of this paperback poetry collection. It’s “an ode to present-day Philadelphia and a punk-rock past, filled with nostalgia and form-play.
Neil's nod of the month:
I look forward to Mike Fisher's review of The Angry Grammarian. Jeffrey Barg used to write the grammar column at The Inquirer. More recently, he co-wrote this new romcom with playwright David Lee White. Pier Players Theatre Company presents this world premiere.
Welcome to iPad Land
Roz Warren
View
Roz Warren's essay about the balance between reading and screen-time came across my desk recently. I spend a lot of time thinking about this balance in my life. Arguably, I spend more time thinking about my habits and my desire to examine them than doing anything concrete. I keep saying I want to spend more time reading books, off of screens. But I need to give myself credit for how much reading and thinking I do on screens, not just in ebooks, but in emails, essays like this one, and numerous other formats.
Now that you've found us, fund us!
Stay in touch,
Neil & Alaina & Kyle
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