“He’s the most widely known photographer who documents the Asian American community, experience and activism,” said Steve Wong, of the Chinese American Museum, in Los Angeles.

Lee, 64, will have his first Philadelphia exhibit from Tuesday through Oct. 5 at the Asian Arts Initiative, 1219 Vine St. Titled “Into the Picture: Images of Asian Pacific America by Corky Lee,” the exhibit of about 60 photos has some Philly scenes and moments of Asian-American activism.

(via His photos capture Asian American experience)

The “Green Street Shambles” …and how it looked back in the day.

Ostensibly, Pleased to Meet You introduces three new members of the collectively run gallery Napoleon to Philadelphia art lovers. But with a gallery space so intimate and works so disparate, the show feels just as much like a meet-and-greet between foreign objects as it does a salutation to the larger world.

Matt Ziemke’s delicate sculptures stretch shyly off the wall. Fabricated from ceramic, vinyl and wood, his brightly lacquered forms strike an unexpected balance between the handmade and the industrial. Conglomerate No. 2 (2012) fans out in all directions, yet manages to stay poised atop two tiny platforms. Pooling black ceramic paired with orange construction material riffs on oil spills and sites of massive global development; tire-track patterns stamped onto clay; and matchstick-thin scaffolding recall the ground and the structures we build and then leave behind.

Through Aug. 31. Napoleon, 319 N. 11th St. napoleonnapoleon.com

Go See It This Weekend: Veteran Freshman, Better Than Ezra, Aloe Blacc, And Grace Period | Make Major Moves

Go See It This Weekend: Veteran Freshman, Better Than Ezra, Aloe Blacc, And Grace Period | Make Major Moves

“Theater should be ephemeral,” says Mark Kennedy, director of the 2012 Philly Fringe showOthello, Desdemona, and Iago Walk into a Bar. “Shows happen and they’re gone but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make projects and learn from them. It has to be over for it to mean something.”

The ephemeral nature of performance underlies the ad hoc theater group—called [ad hoc theatre project]—that Mark has assembled to produce his contribution to this year’s Fringe. And what he hopes to learn is something about reconnecting the soul and body, by placing Othello in a go-go bar.

“[Actress] Meredith [Sonnen] named it. I asked, what would the punch line be? And that’s what we’re trying to figure out. The play is happening during happy hour—people can order food, it’s a go-go bar, and that’s included in the language of the play. It brings up the consideration of sex objects, black men in that space, the soul. There are a lot of ways that the space itself resonates,” Mark says.

Othello, Mark argues, “is about what happens when you hate yourself, and you can’t figure out how to love yourself. This interpretation says how he’s like that the whole time. I wanted to explore it in relation to the idea of the body and soul as separate.”

After the jump: Schroedinger’s rapist, the Trestle Inn, and ad hocing [ad hoc].

(via For This, For Theater: A Conversation with Mark Kennedy)

Trestle Inn339 N. 11th Street. Featuring burlesque dancers among other old-school entertainment, the recently revamped Trestle Inn is exactly the type of place one would expect to find canned beer, but the range and variety — from Avery Ellie’s Brown to Hell or High Watermelon Wheat — is strictly new school.

(via Roundup: Philadelphia Leads The Way In The Canned Microbrew Revolution; Top Picks For Where To Drink Craft Beer In Cans | Uwishunu – Philadelphia Blog About Things to Do, Events, Restaurants, Food, Nightlife and More)