In Between is a semi-autobiographical one man show that portrays the complexities and contradictions inherent in Palestinian-Israeli identity.  On the precipice between two cultures stands Ibrahim Miari, son of a Palestinian Muslim father and Jewish Israeli mother.  During an interrogation by Israeli airport security, he recalls his childhood in Acco, memories of his Jewish and Palestinian grandmothers, of war. Questions surrounding his identity become even further complicated by his imminent marriage to a Jewish American woman.

Written and performed by Ibrahim Miari

Directed by Elena Araoz

Based on original workshop and staging by Christine Hamel 

Music by Ben Shcwedener

Dramaturgy  by David Gram

Sponsored by the Joseph Alexander Foundation & the Mackler Family, and co-sponsored by the Penn Jewish Studies Program and the Penn Theater Arts Program. This is the Jewish Studies Program's 29th Annual Joseph Alexander Colloquium.

...HERE WE HAVE A DRAMATIC PIECE THAT MAKES A VALUBLE CONTRIBUTION TO OUR AWARNESS OF THE KIND OF ISSUE WHICH WE ARE SO OFTEN ONLY TOO HAPPY TO INGNORE..."  - Jewish Telegraph, Leeds UK

'In Between' An Acting Tour de Force (4 Stars)...Miari is astonishing to watch" - boston events insider

"Ibrahim's "In Between" is educational, riveting and provoking. With deft and charm, he transcends todays political distractions and reminds us of the deeper inner struggles that link all of humanity."  - Michelle Nhuch, Director of Public Programs Center for International Studies at M.I.T

Admission is FREE

Ballrogg

Ars Norge

Klaus Ellerhusen Holm, reeds, electronics + field recordings

Roger Arntzen, double-bass

Ivar Grydeland, guitar, pedal steel guitar + banjo

Ars Nova Workshop welcomes Ballrogg, a Norwegian trio that defines itself by inviting the influence of styles as varied as Americana and neo-classical.  “This is panoramic music,” writes Jazzwise, “restrained and expansive; maybe it doesn’t matter if the landscape it overlooks is coated in sand or in ice.”

Beginning as a duo, Klaus Ellerhusen Holm and bassist Roger Arntzen previously released two albums on Bolage, drawing influences from both the European and American contemporary and avant garde scenes. Klaus Ellerhusen Holm studied at the Trondheim Music Conservatory and before Ballrogg, led the Klaus Holm Kollektif (awarded Young Nordic Jazzcomets 2003).  He has played with the Norwegian quartet Murmur and with artists like Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Ingar Zach, Jim Denley, Raymond Strid, Axel Dörner and Mattias Ståhl.  University of Oslo and Norwegian Academy of Music alum Roger Arntzen, known for his work in the award-winning trio In the Country, has also performed with ensembles like Chrome Hill and the Håvard Stubø Trio and artists like Mark Ribot, Bob Hoffnar, Sidsel Endresen, Susanna Wallumrød and others.  Guitarist Ivar Grydeland’s contributions on guitar, pedal steel and banjo skew towards the direction of Country and Western, a sound he’s contributed to other ensembles including Dans les arbres, Huntsville and the Norwegian Singer Hanna Hukkelberg.

Ballrogg’s most recent recording, Cabin Music, was released on Hubro in 2012. 

Admission is FREE

(nearly every last Thursday) 

 9pm-1am

 Established in 1996, The Gathering is the longest/strongest-running truly Hip Hop event in Philly. 

The Gathering IS b-boys/b-girls, pop-lockers, emcees, graffiti writers, DJs, men, women, and children of all ages enjoying an organic, community-based celebration of The struggle, the Love, and the culture of Hip Hop. DJs spin Hiphop, breaks, and funk all night, and there are open cyphas, a tag wall, and a featured performance and graffiti panel each month. 

Admission is $5

Please join us for a vegan potluck. 

Bring your family and friends. Children are welcome and encouraged to come. 

This is open to absolutely everyone but we are especially interested in connecting vegans to each other and to providing non vegans with delicious food and easy recipes. 

 Please bring a small vegan (no animal ingredients of any kind) dish and a card or sheet of paper listing all of your ingredients. The Rotunda will provide cups, plates, napkins, and utensils. Admission is FREE.

Event Horizon Series

presents

Jesse Sparhawk - Jesse Sparhawk is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser whose instruments include harp, guitar, and electric bass. He studied harp with principal harpist of the New York Philharmonic, Myor Rosen and Eastman School of Music’s Kathleen Bride between the ages of 10 and 17 and performed at New York City’s Carnegie Hall at the age of 15. He has over 40 independent recording credits to his name performing various instruments. He has toured the US and Europe as a solo artist, and with several singer-songwriters and bands including Fern Knight, The Valerie Project, Timesbold, Marissa Nadler, and Greg Weeks (of the Philadelphia-based band Espers). Sparhawk has performed at other notable venues including The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, The Castro Theatre in San Francisco, and The Royal Festival Hall in London. He can also be heard performing on the original soundtracks for the independent feature films "Tarnation" (2003), "The King" (2005), and "Home Front" (2006). In 2009, New York-based singer-songwriter Larkin Grimm invited Sparhawk to play harp on her 2012 self-released album "Soul Retrieval" in an ensemble including Tony Visconti (producer / arranger of T. Rex / David Bowie). In late 2010 Jawbone Press released the book Seasons They Change by Jeanette Leech which featured sections about Fern Knight, The Valerie Project, and other artists with whom he has collaborated. 

Sparhawk's instrumental guitar composition, titled "Light Cycle / Tetrahedra," was released in 2006 on Tompkins Square Records Imaginational Anthem Volume II compilation. 2011 saw the release of 'or Kestrel', his debut solo instrumental guitar LP and 'Raptor Attention,' a four-song EP.  

Sparhawk toured Europe with Philadelphia-based guitarist Eric Carbonara to support the release of 'or Kestrel' and the Spring 2011 vhf records release of their duo album, 'Sixty Strings', just before embarking on the BalletX / Wilma Theater performance of Proliferation of the Imagination, an inter-disciplinary production combining ballet, dialogue and live music, as part of the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts in April 2011. He performed both with Carbonara and the Duane Pitre Sextet at the Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh, NC in September 2011. In January 2012 Sparhawk performed with Brooklyn-based This Ambitious Orchestra and Lady Circus at the grand opening of the Beauty Ballroom in Austin, TX, where the orchestra accompanied Daniel Johnston. Sparhawk played harp on Duane Pitre's Important Records release "Feel Free," which made Wire Magazine's Top 50 releases of 2012. Since 2010, Jesse has performed "Feel Free" in Brooklyn, San Francisco, and London. Jesse finished a collaborative EP with Barcelona singer-songwriter Alberto Montero, and spent 2012 making guest appearances on several local Philadelphia artists upcoming releases. Carbonara and Sparhawk released the follow up to "Sixty Strings," titled "Tributes & Diatribes," in March 2014. Sparhawk released his first recording of solo harp improvisation titled, "Peace Peace Peace," on Psychic Troubles Tapes in the Fall of 2014.

George Wallace - In live performance, multi-instrumentalist George Wallace presents a dazzling array of wondrous, imaginatively crafted soundscapes bound to delight fans of deep ambient, techno-tribal, and spacemusic.George is a seasoned performer, having spent years with bands playing various permutations of rock, jazz, and popular music. But for the past few years he’s been on hiatus from playing out, mainly producing studio recordings of his own compositions, with recent forays into making music for film and television.He has recently risen to the challenge of engineering a way to deliver his particular brand of ambient music - inherently layered and complex - in such a way that its live performance is faithful to the sonic dimension and depth of the recorded version. During the course of a given set (anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours, depending) audiences will experience something akin to hypnosis as our senses are immersed in music fed by George’s fierce, spontaneous inspiration and tempered with his keen feel for rhythmic and dramatic flow.In addition to the synthesizers he plays onstage, George uses guitars both acoustic and electric, Native American flutes, rainsticks, bells and rattlers, and even a Tibetan singing bowl to round out the sonic palette. His musical program consists of pieces both old and new; a few older favorites culled from his several ambient releases are woven in with newer, as-yet unrecorded pieces, most of which are essentially structured improvisations based on predetermined soundstages, the end result being that no two performances are exactly alike. Naturally this calls up a certain amount of audience engagement (and lots of fun for all) as George often says he likes to read – and get energy from – the audience he’s playing for.  Adding to the mix is his occasional blending of natural ambiences such as forest sounds, night sounds, wind…and a few which might be best described as unearthly. These aural treats serve as the ‘ear candy’ which help to put the whole thing over-the-top.Despite his 

affable stage demeanor, the intensity of the music itself makes it evident that George likes to play deep. Through his magical musings, we are invited to discover a new access to our true Selves, from the deepest regions of our souls to the ecstatic, sublime worlds of our highest potential. Presented here is wild, enriched sound, simultaneously borrowing from the primal past and the celestial future, creating an inspiring, cleansing, memorable experience of exotic places and times well beyond this one.‘…go as deep as you can go…’ 

Chuck Van Zyl

Best known as host of STAR'S END (WXPN's renowned radio program of space music dreamscapes) and as coordinator of The Gatherings(Philadelphia's premiere concert series of innovative music), Chuckvan Zyl has also been making his own unique style of electronic music since 1983.

During the mid-90's Centaur Discs of Scotland released CelestialMechanics (1993) and The Relic (1995). These albums compiled many ofvan Zyl's early cassette releases onto compact discs. In autumn of1994 Synkronos Music released "Regeneration Mode" (1994), the famous collaboration between Chuck van Zyl and The Nightcrawlers founder Peter D. Gulch. In 1992, Chuck van Zyl founded the group The Ministry of Inside Things. Along with guitarist Art Cohen, they performed dozens of live concertsin various venues and unique spaces and released three live CDs on the Synkronos Music label: "Everlasting Momen"t (2003), "Contact Point" (2006) and "Ambient Elsewhere" (2008). Recent activity includes a number of live performances both solo andin collaboration with Terry Furber, Mike Hunter and Jeff Coulter, as well as recording and production sessions with Jeff Towne - which resulted in three full-length studio albums. For his 2014 concert at Event Horizon Chuck van Zyl will be joined by synthesist Mike Hunter. Sometimes referred to as "the children of space", Chuck van Zyl's generation of musicians are more than just carrying on an earlier tradition. Seeing creativity as a component of his own personal spirituality, van Zyl's musical realizations are fueled by everythingfrom music technology to a greater cosmic awareness. His musical sensibilities evoke a sense of discovery, with each concert marking anew frontier of sound.

"Rituals" is the forthcoming solo CD by Chuck van Zyl. A follow-up to"MemorySpace" (2010) and "Cenotaph" (2012), "Rituals" (2014) is scheduled to be released by Synkronos Music on 15 November 2014 to coincide with his performance at The Gatherings Concert Series.

Admission is FREE

This is a special edition of The Gathering!!

Floor Games 5 VS 5 Elimination All-Styles Battle 

$25 per member to battle | $10 to watch and Party

Here are the RULES, PLEASE READ:

-Each battle will last 5-7 min or Until each member of the losing team is eliminated

-(Tag Team)2 man routines will only be allowed once per battle

-5 person routines will be allowed once per battle teams that make it to the semi finals and finals will have to start the round with a 30-60 sec routine

-Crews will have one member battle at a time (EX.club style or like You Got Served), the judge will then eliminate the losing member from the entire battle, the team with the most crew members left by the end of the time limit will be declared the winner. Or once the winning team can eliminate their opponent.

-In the event the judge ties the dancers that just battled, both dancers stay in the battle. And another member may go.

-Dancers can only be revived into the battle if the last surviving member can eliminate two members from the opposing team consecutively,if successful only one member will be allowed to re-enter the battle

-All Crews MUST sign up through our website, No sign ups at the DOOR! Sign up at :http://www.battleforyourlifetour.com/#!crewbattle-registration/c1m76or Email: entries@battleforyourlifetour.com 

-Only accepting a max of 16 teams, All crews must be signed up in full by Nov 30th deadline on our WEBSITE. Facebook does not count.

-$25 Per member to Enter | 1st Place $1000 Cash Prize winner takes all. 

Judges: Gator, Ynot, Diddy, Tiger B,TBA, TBA

DJs: Lou Nitro Green and Emilio Austin Jr Full aka Buddha Stretch of Elite Force Crew and MOP TOP

Dec 18th 2014 | The Philly Gathering 

Registered Crews:

1.The Expandables

2.Project positive

3.1080p

4.Underforce fam

5.Battlefest 

6.Studio 860

7.Side Street

8.Rep Ya Style

9.EC Fam

10. Alphas

11.Alien Mob

12.Hall of Fame 

13.BIA CREW

14.X-Men

15.Dynamic Rockers

16.

Bowerbird

presents

A NIGHT FOR JACK 

remembering Jack Rose

featuring performances by 

Glenn Jones

Nathan Bowles

Daniel Bachman

Chris Forsyth

Megajam Booze Band 

plus DJs Ian Nagoski and Michael Chaiken

and exclusive video of Jack performing

The only thing more monumental than Jack Rose's personal presence was his talent. He was one of those preternaturally gifted guitar players who make you believe in pacts with the devil under a full moon. But of course we know now that these gifts only come with years of practice, just as we know that Jack was all too human. He was just a guy who knew bullshit when he saw it. He was a friend. And although Virginia born, he made Philadelphia his home. For evidence, look no further than his signature tune, Kensington Blues. That said, the title of this concert is a misnomer. It's not for Jack. It's for us. It's for anyone who felt the force of his friendship or his music. It's a reflection on a man five years gone. It's not a definitive statement on the life of Jack Rose. It's a celebration. It's a chance to hear some of Jack's closest friends and collaborators play music. Music that would not be the same if they had not come in contact with Jack Rose.For this event we will be joined by Glenn Jones (Cambridge, MA) frequent touring partner and scholar of American Primitive guitar, and Nathan Bowles (Blacksburg, VA) collaborator and co-member of Pelt, as well as guitarists Daniel Bachmann and Chris Forsyth. The evening will also feature music and discussion from DJ Cutiepie and DJ Jenkins (Ian Nagoski and Mike Chaiken), both close friends of Jack's who influenced and were influenced by his music. The evening will also include video of Jack performing by Jesse Sheppard (director of the performance DVD The Things That We Used To Do). 

Admission is FREE

YOUTH NIGHT OPEN MIC & POETRY SLAM

 (nearly) Every 3rd Saturday of the month, except August, PYPM hosts a youth-led open mic and poetry slam for teens to come and share their work in a safe, uncensored environment at The Rotunda. Young people from all over Philadelphia come to express themselves in front of a supportive audience where they can grab the microphone and be heard! 

***Interested in slamming or signing up for the open mic? See Slam Rules/Schedule, and Registration for full details. Date: Every 3rd Saturday from September through June Time: 6PM sharp (doors open at 5:45PM) PYPM YOUTH SLAM TEAM & BRAVE NEW VOICES Teens who participate in the slams earn points to qualify for the semi-final and final slams to make the PYPM Slam Team. Each year PYPM sends a Youth Slam Team to represent Philadelphia at The Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival to compete against over 50 other poetry teams from around the world. The festival is held in various cities across the U.S giving teens an opportunity to travel, from Los Angeles to Chicago. Youth poets earn their spot on the team by competing in Youth Night Slams. PYPM won first place at Brave New Voices in 2011 and 2007. Admission: $7 youth and Students with ID / $10 Adults / ($5 for students who attend workshop that day)

Saturday December 27 and Sunday December 28, 10am-11pm

WEBSITE: http://takii.pdnmz.com/

REGISTRATION: http://takii.pdnmz.com/registration

INTERACTION: http://takii.pdnmz.com/interaction

EMAIL: info@takii.pdnmz.com

ABOUT THE ASIAN KARAOKE IDOL INVITATIONAL (TAKII)

Established in February 2006, The Asian Karaoke Idol Invitational is the world's most extreme Asian culture fusion festival. Featuring 2 main seasons & numerous other co-branded events & performances throughout each year, it's filled with a diverse multitude of "Festivities" well-suited for people from all walks of life & fandom. With maverick innovations, such as "Project "DATTE"" ("Delivering Assistance To The Extreme"), the Team TAKII Coalition (a distinguished group of our most passionate supporters & outreach volunteers), & the TAKII World Tour (a traveling & customizable entertainment experience for individuals & organizations alike), it entertains, inspires, & enriches the lives of its fans worldwide on a continuous basis.

ABOUT TAKII 18 ~BRAND NEW WORLD~

Boldly going where no convention has gone before. "The world's most extreme Asian culture fusion festival" does it again with a fresh new season known as TAKII 18 ~Brand New World~! Debuting in Philly, PA's The Rotunda on December 27th & 28th, 2014 (10:00am - 10:00pm both days), it will be the strongest testament to-date of The Asian Karaoke Idol Invitational's much-touted expansion. And with the help of our BRAND NEW venue partners, unique to this season will be special editions of our TAKII World Tour (highlighting each fusion festival aspect we will be enhancing). We've spent the last several years taking our flavor of Asian culture fandom to the streets (changing minds & touching hearts), waiting what seemed to be a lifetime for a momentous occasion such as this.

Saturday December 27 and Sunday December 28, 10am-11pm

WEBSITE: http://takii.pdnmz.com/

REGISTRATION: http://takii.pdnmz.com/registration

INTERACTION: http://takii.pdnmz.com/interaction

EMAIL: info@takii.pdnmz.com

ABOUT THE ASIAN KARAOKE IDOL INVITATIONAL (TAKII)

Established in February 2006, The Asian Karaoke Idol Invitational is the world's most extreme Asian culture fusion festival. Featuring 2 main seasons & numerous other co-branded events & performances throughout each year, it's filled with a diverse multitude of "Festivities" well-suited for people from all walks of life & fandom. With maverick innovations, such as "Project "DATTE"" ("Delivering Assistance To The Extreme"), the Team TAKII Coalition (a distinguished group of our most passionate supporters & outreach volunteers), & the TAKII World Tour (a traveling & customizable entertainment experience for individuals & organizations alike), it entertains, inspires, & enriches the lives of its fans worldwide on a continuous basis.

ABOUT TAKII 18 ~BRAND NEW WORLD~

Boldly going where no convention has gone before. "The world's most extreme Asian culture fusion festival" does it again with a fresh new season known as TAKII 18 ~Brand New World~! Debuting in Philly, PA's The Rotunda on December 27th & 28th, 2014 (10:00am - 10:00pm both days), it will be the strongest testament to-date of The Asian Karaoke Idol Invitational's much-touted expansion. And with the help of our BRAND NEW venue partners, unique to this season will be special editions of our TAKII World Tour (highlighting each fusion festival aspect we will be enhancing). We've spent the last several years taking our flavor of Asian culture fandom to the streets (changing minds & touching hearts), waiting what seemed to be a lifetime for a momentous occasion such as this.