The opening concept of the DN piece on the cultural activities in U City may or may not hold water--what, exactly, does it mean to be Philly's Brooklyn anyway? But the piece itself has some good information about the Fringe Festival heading out here and about the use of the old Cinemagic theaters for a dance performance.

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/12503390.htm

The most dramatic space is the Rotunda, at 40th and Walnut streets, the former Church of Christ, Scientist, built in 1909. Though the church's social hall had been used for events programmed by the Foundation Community Arts Initiative (an organization dreamed up by Penn's Zitcer when he was an undergrad), the main building had lain essentially dormant since the university acquired it a decade ago.

Now Siobhan Davies Dance Company, an acclaimed British troupe, will give the U.S. premiere of "Bird Song" in the soaring space. The piece requires a projector to be mounted overhead, so a heavy chandelier had to be removed from the high ceiling. An architect was hired to draw up plans to level the space - the floor was slightly tilted. A wooden deck and spectator seating were installed, and a generator brought in to bring electrical standards up to snuff.

"That's for four hours of entertainment," Stuccio said during a tour of the site. "But we're convinced it will be priceless entertainment."

Popular local artist Brian Sanders' dance piece "Patio Plastico," originally performed outdoors at the Fringe in 1999, will be reimagined in Cinemagic, a former three-screen movie theater that Penn owns (the cinema closed earlier this year). The tag line of the piece is, "What would happen to the Brady Bunch if they followed Alice through the looking glass?"

With its five dancers moving through a synthetic world, the piece was a good match for the strip-mall look of Cinemagic. A recent visit revealed that in one of the theaters, the screen and 80 seats had been removed, a large stage built, and white corrugated plastic applied to the walls. The piece will feature water slides, a tire swing and hammock (which required that a dropped ceiling be removed) and a treadmill in the floor of the stage.

Finally, Philly's New Paradise Laboratories' "Planetary Enzyme Blues" will debut at the Episcopal seminary. Based on interviews with 50 Philadelphians prominent here during the '60s - including a jailhouse interview with murderer/guru Ira Einhorn - the piece, which McLaughlin calls "phantasmagoric verite, a documentation of dream life," will feature a 27-foot radio tower, a geodesic yurt, a bamboo grid and trap doors in the floor. Audience seating had to be installed around the perimeter and electricity upgraded.

Brooklyn - home to Bed Stuy, historic home of NYC's commuter black working/middle class

Brooklyn - home to Williamsburg/Greenpoint - GenX and younger hipster enclave mixed with established thnic enclaves

Everyone I know who moved from the West Coast to NYC in the last decade moved to Brooklyn. When I am in NYC for social reason I never leave Brooklyn or go above 14th St. on the island. I remember tellingthat to a college professor in MI who had lived in NYC for many years in the 60's and 70's and he was simply astounded. I also know folks who live in Queens but nobody who lives above 14th on the island. I think literally about half of the hipster hood of my youth, SF's Mission, moved to Brooklyn - its creepy to walk around Greenpoint and Williamsburg actually -like its the same neighborhood but some alien switched all the Mexicans and Central Americans for Poles.

I imagine it was a combo of Brooklyn's hipster "cool" and multicutural mix that they were trying to convey with that statement.

Coming from an SF perspective I actually often describe West Philly as Philly's East Bay (i.e. esp. Berkeley, East Oakland and West Oakland all rolled into one) more than I would call it Philly's Brooklyn.

Right.

Can't say I know much about SF -but the Brooklyn comparisons lack the looming college/university "area" component.. Unless, like you said, include below 14th st.. But you can't do that and still say "Brooklyn"..

Like I said, I don't know much about "Frisco" (I know y'all hate that - it's all love..) but I get the (ignorant, uninformed) feeling that Philadelphia has as much in common with SF as it does NY - would that be a mistaken hunch?

You mean like very, very few of those claiming to be from SF are actually "from" SF - yes SF and NYC are very similar in that regard and different from Philly in that respect. Very expensive cost of living - similar. Self-perception that your city is the only city that matters culturally on your coast - similar - only slightly more justified in NYC's case.

I would say that Philly in general has lot more of Oakland's more blue collar vibe and West Philly esp. a whole lot more of West Oakland's demographics than one matching SF's.

I also find striking cultural parallel's between West Philly anarchist/activist circles and folks I knew from Berkeley a little further away from the University, say near the Shattuck BART stop and the many funky communal houses around MLK in lower Berkeley. Actually it seems like a lot of people in those circles have spent a fair amount of time traveling with long extended stops in both the East Bay and West Philly. I think the parallels are not exactly accidental - often the same people have lived for a while in both places. Just my personal impression.

UC Review article on the topic of Fringe coming West.
http://www.philly1.com/story2090705.html

On the subject of culture in UC, there's a theater group moving into the Calvary church space, as well.

While I think front-page coverage for West Philly Fringe events is great, this intro bothered me. To me it's pretty flippant and makes Fringe work sound shallow and ungrounded. I'm sure there is some that is shallow and ungrounded, but most of what I've seen and been involved with deserves to be described in respectful terms as well-crafted art and expression--not just "mad puppets" and ****ing "movement to the color orange." And what was up with setting up the story to sound like the Fringe now takes place in U City, punctuated by Nick Stuccio defensively denying that they're moving? Where did that idea even come from?

Go Fringe. Go West Philly. Go, arts journalism that tries to stay connected with the people making art.