|
|
|
|
|
|
Local Life
by LEN LEAR Charles Weston wants you to see the world but not just its museums and cathedrals. Weston is the Godfather of ‘edge.’ David Letterman would probably call him exotic-orific. He wants you not just to experience something compelling but to go through the looking glass. In fact, the exciting adventure trips he promotes (he will not do corporate travel because “I do not want to be re-doing their plane tickets all the time”) remind me of this wry observation about camping: “You work hard all year so you can go away for one week and act like a homeless person.” Weston, 61, a resident of Flourtown, owns and operates Carlson Wagonlit Travel (“Wagonlit” is the misspelling of a French word for Pullman car), which has been at 8138... Hill conservator restoring murals in Capitol Building by ED MAHON Chestnut Hill art conservator Steve Erisoty never had his fingerprints taken or his background checked until his latest job in Washington D.C. For a week at the end of June, Erisoty worked with five art conservators to restore murals in the Washington Capitol Building. Erisoty, wearing a magnifying visor and holding a surgeon’s scalpel, chipped away repaint, discolored varnish, and dirt from a mural by the 19th century painter Constantino Brumidi, known to historians as the “Michelangelo of the Capitol Building.” The work was at times challenging, and also dangerous. Because the originals were done with lead paint, Erisoty had to wear a dust mask, rubber gloves, and a Tyvek... ‘Beautiful’ Irish music draws biggest summer crowd ever by MICHAEL CARUSO Perhaps it was the weather that drew the largest crowd in the history of the Pastorius Park summer concerts last Wednesday evening — not just balmy, but nearly sparkling in its crisp clarity. Perhaps pent-up frustration from the previous two weeks’ displacement to the Springside School’s auditorium contributed to the general incentive for Chestnut Hillers to join with their neighbors for a night of outdoor music. Perhaps, but I like to think that the principal draw was the music, itself — provided by the incomparable traditional Irish music ensemble, Solas — that drew a crowd that flowed out beyond the natural confines of Pastorius Park’s amphitheater and spilled out onto the broad expanses of lawn. It was an audience that numbered into the many hundreds even by the most conservative of judges, the local police officers with whom I spoke. If pressed to choose one word to describe Solas’ music and the way... Hill’s ‘inveterate student’ guides Art Museum guides By MARIE FOWLER Chestnut Hill resident Susan Mooers, 56, was at the end of a long shift as a membership volunteer at the Philadelphia Museum of Art a few years ago, when a visitor approached with a request. “You’d better get up there and dust those frames,” the gentleman scolded. “They’re dirty.” Ever gracious, Mooers simply smiled and assured him, “I’ll see that’s done, sir.” Mooers, recently selected as the new chairman of the weekend guides, has served the museum as a volunteer in many capacities, beginning as a teen docent while still a Girl Scout. Working closely with the division of education, Mooers fielded visitors’ questions at the information desk. Years later, in 1991, Mooers noticed a call for membership volunteers in the museum Members’ Bulletin. She applied, was accepted and joined the program, relishing the interaction... Chef’s perfectionism leads to Bliss for customers By LEN LEAR Even among the professional cooking fraternity, where relentless labor and perfectionism are as essential for survival as oxygen, Francesco Martorella stands out. If you’ve eaten at any of Philadelphia’s finest restaurants in recent years, you’ve probably tasted his food, even if his name is not familiar to you. The South Philadelphia native, who spent his summers growing up in Italy’s Abruzzi region, watching his grandfather make fresh pasta and olive oil, has been a chef at the Four Seasons Hotel, Ciboulette, Brasserie Perrier, Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Stephen Starr’s Pod and Avenue B. “He is a very demanding boss,” said Angela Shapiro, co-owner (with husband, Ken) of Maya Bella, Conshohocken’s hottest new restaurant, who worked for Francesco at Brasserie Perrier. “Once when I was still new, I did something wrong, and he was so tough... |