Welcome to the City of Brotherly Love, for IMS 2018. What is with the slogan, "Brotherly Love"? Back when Pennsylvania was a province of England, William Penn himself picked out that name, Philadelphia, which means love (your) brother in Greek. Penn was a Quaker, loving thy brother is an obvious religious connotation. In the late 1970s, Pennsylvania's license plates and tourism ad campaign stated "You've got a Friend in Pennsylvania". This is a more obvious reference to Quakers, the "Society of Friends". I have nothing against Quakers, being the son and grand-son of a dues-paying members. But it seems like a violation of Church and state to me. That ad campaign and license plate tagline have long been abandoned.
Here's some thoughts on what to do and see.
Starbucks
We could not resist this temptation. Recall that a certain Starbucks in Philadelphia was in the news for not showing brotherly love. Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson were arrested for waiting in the Starbucks. Protests the next day caused the coffee shop to lock its doors. The CEO of Starbucks personally apologized to the two men. On May 29, 8000 Starbucks stores will close for training in the Golden Rule. Let's see what they've learned.
That Starbucks is very close to the Pennsylvania Convention center. There is a Dunkin Donuts nearby. Why not pick up a Dunkin Donuts beverage, then visit Starbucks and use the restroom?
Rocky statue
Rocky was a great movie, more about the backstory than the thin plot. Sylvester Stallone wrote the screenplay after seeing Chuck Wepner get pummeled by Muhammad Ali for fifteen rounds back in 1975. Ali died in 2016 but Wepner is still alive and has moved on to the liquor industry, in spite of all the punches he took to the face over a long career.
If you fast forward to 4:45 in the video below you can see Ali get knocked down. Wepner was standing on Ali's foot when he hit him, all it did was make Ali mad. Wepner was paid $100,00 to Ali's $1.3M. We don't condone sports that exploit the underclass and cause physical injury. It is unlikely that an engineer would want to volunteer for a brain injury, so why would you want to pay to watch other people get hurt? The film below represents a worst-case scenario for a six-figure employment opportunity.
Bayonne's Best versus Best of All Time
Back to that statue, which was a prop from the move "Rocky II". After a lot of arguments, it was placed in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where Rocky trained by running up the 72 steps. Cue the music... gonna fly now... a song which was composed in Philly, and hit #1 on the Pop Charts in 1977. If you go to a Phillies game (playing the Rockies during IMS!) you will likely hear this well worn tune.
Revolutionary war stuff
You can certainly get your fill of the birth of the USA throughout Philadelphia. It's not worth it to wait in line to see the cracked Liberty Bell. How about visiting Betsy Ross's house, she was the designer/fabricator of our iconic flag? Extra points if you visit on June 14, which is Flag Day. Or head to Franklin Park and see the lightning bolt.
Cameo Parkway and Dick Clark
Dick Clark was well-known as the American Bandstand guy. The original TV show was taped in Philadelphia at 4548 Market Street, across the Schuylkill River from the convention center, too far to walk.
Originally a low-budget show, American Bandstand depended on local talent. What a coincidence, there just happened to be a record producer right in town! Cameo Parkway was a record label in Philly in the 50s and 60s, right in the middle of the "dance craze". Most notably, they produced Chubby Checker's Twist. Located first on 1405 Locust Street and later at 309 S. Broad Street, both addresses are a short walk south from the convention center and close to the Starbucks/Dunkin Donuts. We might head over and see if there is a Cameo Parkway plaque/Poke Stop...
Cameo Parkway signed 15 year old Dee Dee Sharp, and teamed her with Mr. Checker, to record Slow Twisting, which is a sheer exercise in carnality and perhaps inappropriate given her age at the time There's a youtube video of Slow Twisting, but that's not Dee Dee doing the lip synching. So far, the only video that has appeared of her in her prime is Mashed Potato Time, filmed on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. In the video below she is 16 or 17 years old.
Mashed Potato Time by Dee Dee Sharp
In the video, the dancer on the right is actually doing the mashed potato, it's all in the footwork. Here's how you can do it.
Another Cameo Parkway group, the Dovells, produced "Bristol Stomp". Maybe you thought this was a British band talking about Bristol in England. They are referring to Bristol, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia. Bristol Stomp would have been a great selection for Sarah Palin's daughter when she was on Dancing with the Stars.
Briistol Stomp by the Dovells
The Orlons are an R&B act that had three hits for Cameo Parkway. "Orlon" is a tongue-in-cheek jab at another group, the Cashmeres... Orlon being a brad name for a man-made fabric. Possessing talent and not taking themselves seriously, we need more people like that today.
Wah Wahtusi by the Orlons
407 South Street
Today's Philly music landmark is the now-iconic Giant Ants building. According to Atlas Obscura (a GREAT site for off-the beaten track info):
"The enormous ant sculptures that crawl up the facade of 407 South Street mark the former site of Zipperhead, a punk rock clothing and accessory shop that opened in 1980. The store was immortalized by the Dead Milkmen in their song “Punk Rock Girl”: One Saturday I took a walk to Zipperhead / I met a girl there, and she almost knocked me dead."
Mutter Museum of the Physicians College of Philadelphia
The Mutter Museum is a museum of medical history. It goes by the tagline "Are you ready to be Disturbingly Informed?" The current exhibition is "Woven Strands: The Art of Human Hair Work", but they've also got lots of other things on display, including skeletans and instruments and jarred body parts and part of Albert Einstein's brain.
Check out the Unknown Editor's amazing archives when you are looking for a way to screw off for a couple of hours or more!