Icepack

Amorosi on the news, nightlife, gossip and bitchiness beats.

by A.D. Amorosi

I'm more tore down than the Civic Center and twice as imploded inside. Not because the networks'll cancel Knights of Prosperity while giving It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia another go-round, but because Tony Sparacino died last week after a two-month struggle with sepsis. And he fucking had to pass before Mr. Gay Philadelphia this coming weekend — upstaging it. Now, you might ask if I'm having a laugh. Damn skippy. Because Tony Sparacino was the type of hairpin who loved a giggle; loved to bitch and get bitched at. Serious businessman? Yup. As long as I've known Sparacino (not Frank, his La Tazza-owning bro from DogBeans), Tony was about getting things done. He booked shows at Temple U (that's where I met him); busted his ass doing the Sioux Zanne Messix shop in Old City as well as his own Sparacino clothes spot; did Sparacinos on Bainbridge and Rittenhouse Square when neither spot was ready for his vision; and was smart enough to take on Tony Goldman's vision of 13th Street before B3. He did Lucky Lounges and other boy-themed club nights. But as a regular old dude, he had a scathing wit and a sassiness to match his design/style sense (Helmut Lang didn't send flowers to Tony's memorial just because Sparacino was a good businessman!) and could bitchily read your beads before you had your gun out of your holster, honey. I'll miss him. Tony's partner, Mark Toscani-Sparacino, will miss him. Philadelphia's badly dressed straights will miss him. Homo-delphia will miss him. Tony Sparacino was Mr. Gay Philadelphia, y'all. And it sucks that he's gone.

► Tony would love this: We hear the Mansion dropped DJs Jon Gill and Lee Jones for playing house music. The apres-heure joint apparently don't even like vocal house. Horrors! 

► Another gay-thing: Remember that no-new-clubs-welcome-in-the-Gayborhood rumor? I hear there's special dispensation — like what the pope doles — for two club-a-dubby spaces already holding on to permits from before anti-club meanies ruled the B3. 

► Know what's good in the Gayborhood on Mondays? Elegant transgender doyenne/makeup artist Kalina Isato's weekly T-girl early-bird supper special and late dance party at Tavern on Camac. March 12 is "Pink" night. It'll be hard for tranny-loving comedian Danny Ozark to tear himself away from Isato's jam so to start his once-monthly open mic comic event March 12 at The Balcony. But Ozark'll manage — even if he has to wear pinkish undies under his wigga-thug gear. Speaking of things funny, frilly 'n' thrilling: My rumor was real that Peek-A-Boo Revue moves to Tin Angel monthlies, March 31. "It'll be a MODified version HOsted by Christa D'agger; a 'Boo, yet more of a cabaret," writes Scott Johnston. 

► Ooh, know what else's on Mondays? Amos Lee can be found at Connie's Ric Rac. No formality. Just shows 'n' jams. Maybe he's cleaning up after Connie's March 11/Mike Harrington-booked punk show wit' Loafass and Blessed Muthas. Harrington tells me they might do a Sunday series at Connie's. Plus da Ric Rac hosts March 10's debut of punk-space power trio Apogee featuring fam from Bunnydrums, Scareho and Radio Eris. 

► Due April, the Borishes do their eighth Marathon bar-grill at what we're calling the "Midtown Village" at 10th and Walnut. But I'm hungry now. So why not go to DJ Robert Drake's BIG Brunch March 11 at Vesuvio? It's a Sunday. And he'll serve up potato hash. Just in time, too, to do his Annual Potato Party later that afternoon (3 p.m.) at Tattooed Mom. And what goes great with 'taters? Ketchup. Dr. Ketchup: horn men Lou Fuiano and Chris Aschman's dippy modal-moody longtime instrumental ensemble who'll launch its sweet 'n' sour Modern Savages CD at Tritone March 10. 

► WHOWHATWHERE: In L.A., TLA legal eagle Justin Wineburgh (o' Cozen O'Connor) met Suge Knight at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons for pomegranate margaritas and Sunset Strip clubbing. Were they discussing TLA Releasing's Pervert!? Something heavier? That was Souf Philly wrestler Eleanor Kerrigan posing as — no, acting as, in real life — Andrew Dice Clay's fiancee in VH1's weekly Dice Undisputed. We can't believe Vivica Fox (shooting the on-the-down-low Cover) has handlers and that they had to whisk her into Swanky Bubbles. She popular enough for handlers? Handle this or fondle them: Want Mr. Gay Philadelphia judges Frank deCaro, Michael Musto and host Reichen Lehmkuhl after March 10's contest at Mask and Wig? Wait till the curtain goes down — there's a VIP hang so that you can go down, too. That same March 10 at TPDS, A.D. (meeee) and J.D. will spin for Tracy Buchholz's "Action" girls' partaay. 

► Philly ain't the only place to get gear nabbed. Greg Lyons of Eastern Conference Champions wrote to tell me they got ripped off in L.A. during a Silverlake Lounge gig. "It's been a bummer seeing articles written on how bands were scared to play Philly and about tours skipping our city. But getting gear ripped off can happen anywhere. This time it happened to a band from Philly who was nowhere near Philly at the time." Greg'll want all the love you can muster when they book their show March 21 at an undisclosed location. 

► He's a rambler, a gambler (having worked at Oddjack as well as Black Table where I wrote with him for a hot minute), and he's back in Philly. Folks, it's A.J. Daulerio — writing for Philly Mag ("Sports, maybe? Features nobody else wants to cover?" he jokes) and living with his parents in Ambler. "Until I'm 40, probably." But his folks'll be away Saturday and he's having a kegger in their basement. "Hey, call me for directions. 917-854-3630." G'head.

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)