Standing outside of Angie Brown’s, the eight-month-old New Orleans-style restaurant at 300 West Mt. Pleasant Ave. (where Goat Hollow used to be), Susan Darrow of North Wales was gushing about the dinner she and her husband had just enjoyed last Friday night. She was as animated as a cat tied up in a bag.
“My son, Jeremy, plays bass and mandolin in a band called Brazen Hussy, which will be performing later tonight at the Mermaid Inn,” said Darrow. “We asked him for a good place to have dinner not far from the Mermaid Inn before we go to see him play, and he said, ‘Go to Angie Brown’s.’
“So we had dinner tonight at Angie Brown’s, and we absolutely loved the restaurant. The place was so crowded that the service was a little slow, but the food was well worth waiting for. (Ed. Note: There were not enough servers because Angie did not anticipate such a beehive in July — every table occupied by 8:30 p.m., as well as every seat at the bar.) We love the atmosphere, and the servers were very attentive and helpful ... I have a small management consulting company, and we will definitely be having our Christmas party here.”
Chestnut Hill student in London reports on bombing aftermath
by JUDY JARVIS
LONDON—There are daily dorm room cleanings here at Middlesex University in London, so I’ve become accustomed to hearing people bustling about in my hall during what college students consider the wee hours of the morning—from 9:30 a.m. on. Students are given laminated cards that say “Please Do Not Disturb” to paste on our doors on the days you’d rather sleep than have your floor vacuumed. My mustard-yellow sign was posted prominently on the door, but still a knock and a British, “’Ello?” came through at about 11:15 a.m. on Thursday, July 7.
I attempted a “one moment, please,” but my raspy morning throat garbled it, and I just opened the door to see one of the university’s administrators, Toby, standing with a clip board. He asked for my “surname” and explained they were checking to make sure everyone was accounted for. I immediately thought the worst and guessed that a student had been murdered and they were trying to identify the victim. Toby seemed ready to hurry on to the next aqua-colored door, but I asked “what happened?” and he answered that there were some explosions on “The Tube,” London’s underground subway system, as well as on some buses in central London. He moved on to rap at the next door.
New Chestnut Hill Gallery a Star
by PAT STOKES
Owner Catherine Starr calls her new shop at 8401 Germantown Ave. a gallery, and this title covers a pastiche of vintage and almost-vintage clothing, art, furniture, handmade jewelry and decorating collectibles. (Photo by Pat Stokes)
As you may recall, vintage fashions were so very “in” during the ’60s that the excitement over them extended into a whole lifestyle: to furniture, loft living, even cars. Well, surprise, or maybe you’ve noticed, vintage is back, big time, and again has become a lifestyle for some.
Let me tell you, Chestnut Hill shops and their owners are right there in front of this reflowering, as reported in this column over the past few months. Vintage fashions can be seen at Pink Peony in Erdenheim, Fashion Forward on the Hill and sometimes even at long-loved (usually conservative) Monkey Business.
Brass band a big hit in Pastorius Park concert
by MICHAEL CARUSO
Sometimes tradition can be innovative, just as innovation can occasionally appear to be traditional. This is how it was last Wednesday evening in Chestnut Hill’s Pastorius Park when the Chestnut (Street, not Hill) Brass Company performed a delightful yet challenging program for an audience that filled the park’s natural amphitheater, listened attentively and expressed its approval enthusiastically.
The Chestnut Brass Company is composed of Bruce Barrie and John Charles Thomas on trumpets, Marian Hesse on horn, Larry Zimmerman on trombone and Jay Krush on tuba. Together, they produce some of the most euphonious tones imaginable — and theirs is one of the sounds that best suit outdoor concert settings anywhere.
In historical fact, it’s been brass bands or full concert bands leaning heavily toward the brass timbres that have traditionally been at the center of series of outdoor concerts. Brass instruments tend to suffer less pitch damage in the out-of-doors humidity as well as offer the most powerfully projected tones of all the orchestral instruments. Even so small a number as five players can produce enough sound to reach the back rows.
Her seafood will reel you in