Icepack

by A.D. Amorosi

When I started writing this column, the one thing my mom, Eda, asked me to do was tamp down all the foul language. "People will never take you seriously if you keep it up with the "f" word," she said. Stu Bykofsky told me the same thing, too, so I knew that advice was just plain weird. HEY-O. That said, I'm pretty sure I made my mother really proud of me. I may not be certain as to how exactly she was made proud by my gossipy rants, my bitchy asides and my unending stories about punks, trannies and assorted whiners — but hey, she watched me grow up. How much different could a column written by her only son be? I say all this because my mom died last Friday night right before Independence Day. I, like the rest of my family, am heartbroken beyond belief because the person we loved the most has left us. But the interesting thing that death does is alert you to how other people outside your immediate circle thought of your loved one. The bank teller, the neighbors far and near, the postman and the doctors — they all weigh in, show woe and shed copious tears. And for that, I am grateful. Not because I enjoy seeing people wet and smearing their mascara: It's just so nice to know that people may have loved her nearly as much as I and my family. Say a prayer for Eda before you go to sleep, dear readers. And thanks.

► Good friends are a good thing to have; not only at a time of bereavement, but anytime at all. That's why AEG Live's Jon Hampton (a former Troc booker), band manager and label owner Paul Conroy (late of Tidewater Grain, now of Channel Zero Entertainment and Ferret Music) and big tour operator Tim Borror (he reps Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God) are doing this thing called Ten for Ten July 9 at the Troc. These three guys are old-school buds, old-time hardcore punk fans with an eye for saving a buck. Plus, as Hampton told me, if this "workingman music" thing succeeds July 9, they'd like to tour it around the country. Now start crying.

► Marc Vetri of Vetri and Osteria fames just snagged a long vacant spot at 13th and Waverly for something called Amís. It has nothing to do with the English author with bad teeth, apparently.

► Speaking of respecting the dead, the Needles Jones' monthlong birthday celebration begins at his weekly hosting gig at National Mechanics July 13, when he does his annual Nico imitation in full — based on his 1983 heroin-filled exploits booking the Velvet Underground chanteuse in NYC — with doom-keyboardist David E. Williams, director Norm Macera's Luncidal, a dark comedy that just won an outstanding achievement award at the Terror Film Festival and the not-too-macabre from Chicago-by-way-of-Drexel U performance-art-demonstration The Dollar Store Show.

► Through the grieving process, it is both funny and sad to hear the pitches made and things whispered in one's ear — namely mine. So with that, I'll just give you snippets of stuff I've gathered at my mom's funeral and such. Like the fact that Oceanaire on Washington Square went down while the rest of the Minneapolis-owed chain hit Chapter 11, which means maybe I can move to its old PSFS building space. I like high ceilings. Soon to reopen is my onetime favorite location, the garden gnome-y Restaurant M at the Morris House Hotel also at Washington Square. Owner-ops Gene Lefevre and Michael DiPaolo (will he keep the painting of himself in the hotel?) are doing a booze-n-vino-centric M and will get their food fare from chef Pascual Cancelliere of 943 fame. 943's the Italian-Argentine BYOB in the Italian Market that has yet to open but has a nice black-n-white tile front. Plus — another Square, another dollar — I fully expect Stephen Starr's Squareburger to open in Franklin Square Monday, July 13.

► If you want to dance with American Bandstand stars and hear the Orlons for a good cause (the Save the Bandstand Floor Campaign), go to 4548 Market on July 15. That's the home of the original Bandstand studio where, on that day, they'll start auctioning off '50s rock 'n' roll memorabilia.

► Director James L. Brooks will be bringing Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson to Drexel University soon as part of his still-not-really-named comedy co-starring Reese Witherspoon and Jack Nicholson.

► Want to know what Yanni and Alexi Papadopoulos (of Stinking Lizaveta) and Calvin Weston (Ornette Coleman's band, etc.) are doing this coming week? Rehearsing with ParliamentFunkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell for The Bernie Worrell Adventure. This funk-metal outfit will appear Aug. 8 at Johnny Brenda's. Prepare.

► With all this time and all this energy given over to the passing of Michael Jackson, it is crucial to note that Fayette Pinkney — of the Three Degrees — passed away at age 61 a few weeks ago. With Shirley Porter and Linda Turner, the three Philly songbirds made hits in the '60s such as "Gee Baby (I'm Sorry)" and "Maybe" before signing with Gamble & Huff's Philadelphia International Records in 1973. Pinkney left the Degrees in 1976, and released a solo album, One Degree, in 1979 after which she changed her career path and earned a degree in psychology from Temple and a master's in human services from Lincoln University. That's an amazing story.

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)