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  • Brandywine Valley businesses are getting a Christmas bonus — from Longwood Gardens

    Brandywine Valley businesses are getting a Christmas bonus — from Longwood Gardens

    It’s December, by far the coldest week of the season to date and due to get colder, but to Jeff Hulbert, the Brandywine Valley these days evoke July — July at the Jersey Shore, that is.

    Business has been brisk, and the human traffic thick along State Street, where he and partner Sandra Morris own and operate the popular Portabello’s of Kennett Square restaurant.

    Like the peak summer weeks at the Shore, where Hulbert used to work in Atlantic City, this time of year, the Kennett Square area “is twice as busy.” The reason, in a word, is “Longwood.”

    Specifically, the annual “Longwood Christmas” festival, an “economic engine” not only for Kennett but for other towns in the region, said Cheryl B. Kuhn, CEO of the Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce.

    Longwood has played a “significant role in the area’s growth,” said Nancy Toltain, director of hotel operations at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kennett. Some guests book their reservations a year in advance, she said.

    This year, the merchants on Kennett Street got a jump on the season by turning on the holiday lights and staging the July Fourth-style parade — complete with Mummers and a marching band — on Nov. 22, a week earlier than usual.

    Diners at Portabello’s on Friday evening.

    It was no coincidence that the event coincided with the first weekend that Longwood, four miles to the northeast and about twice the size of the borough, was throwing the switch to illuminate about 500,000 lights for its annual “Longwood Christmas” festival.

    The exuberance is understandable. The Longwood light show is a cause for celebration among the merchants in downtown Kennett Square, a time when business, shall we say, mushrooms in the so-called Mushroom Capital of the World.

    Longwood Christmas is a huge draw — 650,000 people visited last season, which ran from Nov. 22, 2024, to Jan. 11, 2025 — one-third of the annual total. And a whole lot of those who bonded with the plants and the lights ended up in downtown Kennett eating or shopping.

    Moving up the Kennett fest paid immediate dividends, said Daniel Embree, executive director of the Kennett Collaborative, a nonprofit development group that works with Kennett businesses.

    Downtown merchants reported “record-breaking” sales Thanksgiving week, he said, and it gave them five pre-Christmas weekends to make hay, rather than four. They’re planning an encore early start next year.

    Sandra Morris said she and Hulbert will be ready, that in the run-up to the Longwood Christmas, “We know that we need to be staffed up and ready.”

    Local business people and tourism officials say the region’s diverse population and attractions, in addition to Longwood, are tourist draws.

    The Brandywine Museum in Chadds Ford, famous for its Wyeth family paintings, not to mention its elaborate toy train set, and northern Delaware’s Winterthur, with a museum renowned for its Americana collection and its walking paths winding through 1,000 pastoral acres, have long lured holiday crowds.

    But if the area could be likened to a decorated room, Longwood would be the lighted tree with the star on top.

    “If there were no Longwood Gardens, there would be no Portabello’s,” said Hulbert.

    About the Gardens and the Longwood effect

    The theme for Longwood Christmas in 2021 was Fire and Ice, a study in contrasts.

    Longwood Gardens, located on land that Pierre DuPont opened to the public in 1921, is one of the nation’s preeminent horticultural attractions.

    It covers about 1,100 acres, the majority of which is in East Marlborough Township, with the rest in Kennett and Pennsbury Townships. (It has a Kennett Square postal address, but none of it is in the borough, popular perception notwithstanding.)

    About 1.78 million people visited in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, said spokesperson Patricia Evans, more than double the total of 15 years ago. According to its tax filing for the previous fiscal year, it generated about $35 million in admission and restaurant revenue.

    Longwood’s $250 million investment in new buildings and landscaping, part of the “Longwood Reimagined” project, was completed just before last season’s Longwood Christmas, and that likely contributed to a 7% increase in the holiday traffic, compared with last season, Evans said.

    All the land and its building are worth about $160 million, according to Chester County tax records.

    Close to 90% of that is tax exempt, Longwood having won a landmark case in the late 1990s, but local officials and business people say the region has reaped significant economic benefits from the gardens.

    “Longwood is an excellent regional partner,” said Chester County Tourism’s Nina Kelly.

    While the biggest impacts have been on local tourism and hotels, the presence of Longwood probably has given a boost to property values in the area, at least indirectly, said Geoffrey Bosley owner of the local real estate concern LGB Properties & The Market at Liberty Place, a food court and event space on State Street.

    In Kennett Square, aggregate commercial property values have increased nearly 30% in the last 20 years, adjusting for inflation, state tax records show.

    Longwood and Kennett Square

    Portabello’s Restaurant with the owners, Sandra Morris and Brett Hulbert.

    Kennett Square, literally a square mile, is home to many of those who work in the local mushroom industry. Latino residents constitute about half the borough’s population.

    Its median household income, about $75,000, according to Census figures, is among the lowest in Chester County and about half that of some of its wealthier neighboring towns.

    Tourism, particularly Longwood-related, has been a huge boon to the businesses by any measure.

    While the town has just under 6,000 residents, it has a total restaurant seating capacity of 2,000, said Hulbert.

    In all, the downtown has about 150 businesses, said Embree. Part of the allure is Kennett Square’s quaintness and unaffected small-town atmosphere, but Longwood is a huge factor. “That’s why they want to be here,” he said.

    Said Hulbert, “When Longwood Gardens is slow, we are slow. When they are busy, we are busy.”

    While moving up the Kennett Square’s holiday parade gave sales a healthy boost, “I don’t want to overstate the significance of the date,” Embree said.

    Longwood has supported the Kennett Collaborative financially and in other ways, said Embree. The illuminated decorative bunting on State Street was donated by Longwood, a highlight in the conservatory during the 2023 display.

    Said Geoffrey Bosley, “I don’t think you would have as robust a town if we didn’t have a Longwood that would drive so much traffic, especially during the holiday season.”

  • Bouncing between Montreal, Warsaw, and Vienna, star countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński is squeezing in his Philly debut

    Bouncing between Montreal, Warsaw, and Vienna, star countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński is squeezing in his Philly debut

    Countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński is mobilized for operatic stardom, and then some.

    Microphones love his richly colored falsetto voice, magazine covers like his looks. And behind a dense schedule of multiple trans-Atlantic flights, lies a supportive private life that has him rooted in his native Warsaw with fiancée, family, and Labrador retriever.

    The Kimmel Center performances of Handel’s Messiah, Dec. 12-14, come as a curious break from solo concerts and high-profile opera productions. Here, Orliński is an equal partner with three high-caliber soloists plus the Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

    But does he really need to do this?

    Countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński will be making his Philadelphia debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Handel’s “Messiah.”

    “‘Tis the season. I love singing Messiah. It’s one of the best things. That’s why I jumped on the opportunity to sing it with Maestro (aka Nézet-Séguin),” said Orliński, (whose friends call him J.J.) in a Zoom interview from the Montreal airport.

    “This is the third time [the Philadelphia Orchestra] invited me to do something. Two years ago it was the Bach Mass in B Minor, but I was too busy. Now I have the time.” Sort of.

    Within a two-week period, he will bounce between Montreal, Vienna, and Philadelphia. The precedent of a student visa, dating back to his Juilliard School years (2015-2017), makes the immigration process a little easier, saving him from the kind of entry snafus plaguing many Europe-based artists now.

    Passport officials, he says, can’t help chatting him up about Juilliard, even though he has gone on to win numerous awards, is regularly seen in European fashion magazines, has two Grammy Award nominations (among his eight recordings, most of which are on the Warner/Erato label), and generates much comment for appearing shirtless at seemingly every opportunity. And that included his 2021 Metropolitan Opera debut in Eurydice, playing Orpheus’ alter ego.

    Erin Morley as Eurydice, from left, Joshua Hopkins as Orpheus and Jakub Józef Orliński as Orpheus’s Double appear during a performance of Matthew Aucoin’s “Eurydice” at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in November 2021. (Marty Sohl/Met Opera via AP)

    Orliński’s physique gets discussed among concertgoers and critics, much in the spirit of pianist Yuja Wang’s concert attire. Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, now Opera Philadelphia chief, has also appeared similarly exposed at the Met in years past.

    Is this a possible smoke screen for lack of talent? No, because in all their cases, their artistry wins out.

    Lingering criticism stings though, Orliński admits. But his legions of social media followers do generate ticket sales. Shirt or no shirt, he would always have mixed reactions among chronically opinionated operagoers.

    “It’s OK. I am feeling good with what I’m doing and how I‘m doing it,” he said.

    His life resembles that of a rock star but doesn’t sound like one. Well, maybe a little bit on his 2024 album, #LetsBaRock, which has Monteverdi bathed in modern electronic sound. “In the time of Monteverdi, they would change the instrumentation,” he said, “and that’s exactly what we did.”

    Countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński who will be making his Philadelphia debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Handel’s “Messiah.”

    He’s good to his word: The vocal tracks could be lifted out of the electronic context and transplanted exactly into a traditional Monteverdi recording. His recordings (so far) stick close to his home ground in the 18th century, often with worthy pieces previously buried by history.

    Orliński’s Philadelphia stage debut returns him to the scene of an early-career heartbreak when he was fresh out of Warsaw’s Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. “I did audition for the Curtis Institute in 2014,” he said. “Curtis has this incredible focus on the individual because it’s such a small school. Amazing faculty.”

    He didn’t get in for lack of a slot for countertenors — a specialized male-falsetto voice type that has only entered U.S. mainstream opera in the past 30 years, partly thanks to the outreach efforts of fellow countertenor Roth Costanzo.

    Baroque opera, the usual launching point for countertenors, wasn’t often performed in Philadelphia at that time.

    In Juilliard, he studied with the noted soprano Edith Wiens. During his New York years, he sang some of his first Messiah performances in Carnegie Hall. Only a year out of Juilliard, he released his first album, Anima Sacra, in 2018 with a cover showing him with bare shoulders.

    Only a year out of Juilliard, Jakub Józef Orliński released his first album, “Anima Sacra,” in 2018 with a cover showing him with bare shoulders.

    At times, one worries he’ll catch a cold.

    But not Orliński, whose health regimen helps him keep up a daunting schedule that, in the first two months of 2026, has 15 performances in two Handel operas. Among them is a cross-Europe tour in the titular role in Giulio Cesare in Egitto.

    The Philadelphia concerts boast of star soloists Lucy Crowe, Frédéric Antoun, and Quinn Kelsey. Orliński is fine with being a member of this larger ensemble. Though Handel offers no character portrayals to the individual singers, he sees himself and his colleagues as co-conspirators in telling the central story of the Messiah.

    “It’s not just re-creating what was written,” he said. “There are places… where you can write your own cadenzas and ornaments.” Like being a rock star from another century.

    Philadelphia Orchestra performs Handel’s “Messiah.” Through Dec. 14, Marian Anderson Hall, 300 S. Broad St., Phila. $43-$240. philorch.ensembleartsphilly.org

  • Philly wants to keep the Rocky statue atop the Art Museum steps

    Philly wants to keep the Rocky statue atop the Art Museum steps

    » UPDATE: Plan to keep a Rocky statue at the top of the Art Museum steps moves forward

    The Rocky statue sitting atop of Philadelphia Art Museum’s famed steps could soon be there permanently — and the one at the bottom may be going back to the Italian Stallion himself, Sylvester Stallone.

    That’s according to a recent proposal from Creative Philadelphia, the city’s office for the creative sector, which is slated to present its proposal at an Art Commission meeting for a concept review Wednesday. The plan, the proposal notes, is endorsed by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and Art Museum officials, as well as leaders in the Parks and Recreation department and at the Philadelphia Visitor Center, all of whom filed letters of support.

    “This project is about more than relocating a sculpture,” chief cultural officer Valerie V. Gay and public art director Marguerite Anglin wrote in a letter to the Art Commission. “It’s about elevating an artwork that, for decades, has symbolized perseverance, aspiration, and the resilience of the human spirit.”

    The statue at the top of the Art Museum’s steps was set there last December as part of the city’s inaugural RockyFest, which celebrates the Rocky franchise. Initially intended to be a temporary installation, that statue — a replica of sculptor A. Thomas Schomberg’s original, made by the artist himself — was lent to the city by Stallone, who purchased it for about $403,000 at an auction in 2017, The Inquirer previously reported.

    The statue at the foot of the steps, meanwhile, is owned by the city, and has sat there since 2006, arriving after years of controversy and moves since it appeared in 1982’s Rocky III. Stallone commissioned that statue for the film, and later gave it to the city.

    As part of the city’s plan, Philly would swap ownership of the two statues, taking ownership of the statue at the top of the steps, and returning the statue at the bottom “to the original donor’s private collection” following its exhibition inside the Art Museum this spring, the proposal notes.

    The city would then “install another City-owned statue at the bottom of the Art Museum steps,” and move the statue at the top back several feet for its permanent installation.

    The project would cost an estimated $150,000, the proposal notes. It was not immediately clear what statue would be relocated to the bottom of the steps, or what prompted the exchange of statues.

    An Art Commission agenda notes that in its concept review Wednesday, the proposal could receive final approval if it is found to be “sufficiently developed.”

    A history of moves

    The proposed move marks yet another chapter in the Rocky statue’s storied history in town. It arrived for the filming of Rocky III, but when the shoot wrapped in 1981, a permanent location had not been approved, causing it to be shipped back to Los Angeles. It ultimately came back and was temporarily exhibited again at the top of the Art Museum steps before being moved to an area outside the Spectrum at the stadium complex in South Philly, where it was supposed to permanently stay.

    But in 1990, the statue was again temporarily installed at the museum for the filming of Rocky V, reigniting public debate about whether it should remain there. The statue was returned to the stadium complex before being moved in 2006 back to the bottom of the museum’s steps, where it has sat ever since.

    Gay and Anglin seem to reference the statue’s history in their letter, noting that a permanent installation at the top of the museum’s steps could be an “an opportunity to lean into the evolving conversation about what is considered ‘art’ and what deserves a place in our most treasured civic spaces.”

    “The Rocky statue is a clear example of this evolution,” they wrote. “Its artistic significance has not been shaped by institutions, but by the millions of people who engage with it year after year.”

    A third statue

    Philadelphia, incidentally, has a third Rocky statue made by Schomberg. That one is located at Philadelphia International Airport, where it was unveiled late last month in Terminal A-West.

    “Rocky is the DNA of this great city of Philadelphia,” Schomberg said in a statement released with the airport statue’s unveiling. “There’s a little bit of Rocky in all of us. Rocky is not just known here in Philadelphia but is known across this country and the world.”

  • Philly music featuring Jingle Ball, mgk, the Happy Fits, the Starting Line, and Algernon Cadwallader

    Philly music featuring Jingle Ball, mgk, the Happy Fits, the Starting Line, and Algernon Cadwallader

    This week in Philly music features hometown shows by two reunited Philadelphia pop-punk bands in the Starting Line and Algernon Cadwallader, plus South Philly arena dates with the artist formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly and the all-star Jingle Ball tour. Also on tap: Club shows with the Dream Syndicate, Rhett Miller, and Greg Mendez.

    Pittstown, N.J.-born and Philly-based pop-rock quartet the Happy Fits headline the Fillmore on Thursday. The band, fronted by singer and electric cellist Calvin Longman, is on tour for Lovesick, their snappy fourth album, and first since founding member Ross Monteith left the band and new members Nico Rose and Raina Mullen (who sings lead on the title track) joined up.

    The ‘60s and early ‘70s live in the music of the Heavy Heavy, the Brighton, England, duo of Will Turner and Georgie Fuller, whose songs stand on their own while being unashamed for their affections for counterculture-era rock sounds.

    Will Turner and Georgie Fuller of England’s the Heavy Heavy play Brooklyn Bowl on Thursday.

    The band that previously recorded a psychedelic version of Father John Misty’s “Real Love Baby” plays Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia on Thursday.

    JD McPherson’s most recent album of rockabilly and old school R&B-influenced originals was last year’s Nite Owls. Hopefully, the Oklahoma singer-guitarist will dip into his entire discography, but his show Thursday night at Arden Gild Hall in Wilmington is a “A Rock ’N’ Roll Christmas Tour” stop centered on the songs on his 2017 album Socks.

    Algernon Cadwallader play Union Transfer on Dec. 13.

    King Mala is Los Angeles alt-pop artist Areli Lopez, the El Paso native who’s touring behind her Billie Eiish-ish moody full-length debut And You Who Drowned in the Grief of a Golden Thing. She’s at Nikki Lopez on South Street with Dezi opening.

    If Steve Wynn isn’t touring doing solo shows, or playing with indie supergroups Gutterball and the Baseball Project (the latter with whom he was in Philly in September), he’s on the road with the Dream Syndicate, the band that emerged from the 1980s Los Angeles psychedelic rock scene known as the Paisley Underground.

    The band’s 1984 album Medicine Show mixed neo-noir mystery and Southern literary flair on epic guitar tracks like “John Coltrane Stereo Blues.” They’ll open with a set that surveys their career before playing Medicine Show in its entirety at Johnny Brenda’s on Friday.

    Rhett Miller divides his time between the Old ‘97s and his solo career. His ninth Rhett Miller album is the new A lifetime of riding by night, which is a stripped-down affair that was recorded before (successful) vocal surgery and captures him in a reflective, philosophical mood. He plays Free at Noon at Ardmore Music Hall on Friday, then heads down the road to play 118 North in Wayne that night.

    Rhett Miller plays Free at Noon at Ardmore Music Hall on Friday and 118 North in Wayne later that night. The Old ’97s singer’s new solo album is “A lifetime of riding by night.”

    Philly “apocolectric” folk-rock quartet Bums in the Attic celebrate the release of their The Denouement EP at Dawson Street Pub on Friday, with Ms. J & the Cresson Street Band and Anthony Baldini.

    Philly pop-punkers the Starting Line — originally from Churchville in Bucks County — have released only three albums in an initial burst of activity that began with 2002’s release, Say It Like You Mean It.

    Philly pop-punk band the Starting Line’s new album “Eternal Youth” is their first in 18 years. They play two nights at the Fillmore Philly on Friday and Saturday.

    The band went on hiatus in 2008, but has regrouped for several tours throughout the years and got a boost in the pop cultural consciousness in 2024 when Taylor Swift name-checked them in “The Black Dog” from The Tortured Poets Department. Now they’re back in earnest with Eternal Youth, their first album in 18 years, and shows at the Fillmore on Friday and Saturday.

    Jon Langford & Sally Timms of the Mekons return to the charming confines of Harmonie Hall in Manayunk on Saturday. Expect a survey from the 40-plus year career of the Leeds, England-born country-punk pioneers featuring the divine-voiced Timms and offhand brilliance of the prolific Langford, who will be coming back to Philly together with the full-sized Mekons at the Latvian Society in June.

    Detroit rapper Danny Brown plays the Theatre of Living Arts on Saturday. His new album is “Starburst.”

    Inspired and eccentric Detroit rapper Danny Brown plays the Theatre of Living Arts on South Street on Saturday. He’s touring behind his new album Stardust, which vividly chronicles his journey to sobriety.

    Algernon Cadwallader hail from Yardley in Bucks County. But in a world of inscrutable micro-genres, they’re often labeled a “Midwest emo” band. After going their separate ways after their 2011 album Parrot Flies, the band that includes singer Peter Helmis and guitarist and Headroom Studio owner Joe Reinhart (also a member of Hop Along) got back together in 2022. Trying Not to Have a Thought, their first album in 14 years, came out in September, and they’re playing a hometown show at Union Transfer on Saturday, with Gladie and Snoozer opening.

    Machine Gun Kelly gets slimed after performing “Cliche” during the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards on Saturday, June 21, 2025, at The Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif. The artist, now known as mgk, plays Xfinity Mobile Arena on Sunday. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

    Mgk isn’t just shorthand for Philly classic rock radio station WMGK-FM (102.9). It’s now the stage name of the artist formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly, who ditched his previous moniker in 2024 to disassociate himself from gun violence.

    The rapper and singer is touring behind his new album, Lost Americana, which was released in June accompanied by a trailer narrated by none other than Bob Dylan, who is apparently his biggest fan. “From the glow of neon diners to the rumble of the motorcycles,” Dylan said. “This is music that celebrates the beauty found in the in-between spaces. Where the past is reimagined, and the future is forged on your own terms.” The “Lost Americana” tour comes to Xfinity Mobile Arena on Sunday.

    Philly indie songwriter Greg Mendez is playing one more show in the super-intimate side chapel of the First Unitarian Church on Monday. This Mendez and Friends show features guest Amelia Cry Till I Die, Mary St. Mary and Shannen Moser singing traditional folk ballads. Most likely they will be making beautiful music together.

    BigXthaPlug performs during the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn., on June 13, 2024. The Texas country rapper plays the Jingle Ball at Xfinity Mobil;e Arenea on Monday. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)

    On Monday, it’s the Jingle Ball. This year’s iHeart Radio package tour of hitmakers at Xfinity Mobile Arena runs alphabetically from AJR to Zara Larsson. The show presented by Q102 — Philly station WIOQ-FM (102.1) — serves up a crash course in contemporary pop with Alex Warren, BigXthaPlug, Laufey, Monsta X, Miles Smith and Raven Lenae, plus a KPop Demon Hunters sing-along.

  • Your next chance to get FIFA World Cup tickets starts Thursday

    Your next chance to get FIFA World Cup tickets starts Thursday

    The 2026 FIFA World Cup is officially six months away, and Philadelphians’ next chance to buy general admission tickets starts Thursday.

    From Dec. 11 to Jan. 13, fans can enter a lottery for the chance to buy World Cup match tickets, like the two previous lottery phases. The “random selection draw” is the third of several ticket sale phases leading up to the World Cup’s first match on June 11, 2026, in Mexico City.

    During the first two ticket phases, the United States, Canada, and Mexico (in that order) drove the bulk of ticket sales, according to FIFA. Fans in 212 countries have bought tickets.

    However, since the final draw on Friday, the World Cup matchups and schedule have been finalized. This will be the first ticket sale phase in which fans can apply for single-game tickets for exact matchups and teams.

    Next year’s World Cup will take place in 16 cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, including in Philadelphia, where six matches will be played. Powerhouses Brazil and France, home to some of the world’s best players, are confirmed to be playing in the City of Brotherly Love.

    Brazil’s Raphinha (center) celebrates with teammate Vinícius Júnior after scoring his side’s opening goal against Venezuela during a World Cup qualifying match.

    How to enter the random selection draw for FIFA World Cup tickets

    To enter the ticket lottery, applicants must first create a FIFA ID at FIFA.com/tickets.

    The lottery application form will become available on FIFA’s website starting at 11 a.m. Thursday and will close at 11 a.m. on Jan. 13.

    Log in during the application window and complete the random selection draw application form.

    Winners will be selected in a random draw, with notifications starting soon after Jan. 13. Those selected will receive an assigned date and time to purchase tickets, subject to availability.

    Single-match tickets to all 104 games, plus venue-specific and team-specific options, will be made available to choose from. That means fans in the Philadelphia area could buy tickets for matches at Lincoln Financial Field — if selected.

    Fans who have applied to previous ticket sale lotteries must submit a new application form.

  • Jimmy Kimmel signs one-year contract extension with ABC

    Jimmy Kimmel signs one-year contract extension with ABC

    Despite President Donald Trump’s wishes, Jimmy Kimmel won’t be going off the air any time soon.

    ABC announced the network signed a one-year contract extension with the late-night host on Monday.

    Kimmel’s previous, multiyear contract was set to expire in May. The extension means Jimmy Kimmel Live! will continue through at least May of 2027.

    The news comes on the heels of Kimmel’s temporary suspension following remarks he made about the assassination of conservative activist, Charlie Kirk. Trump praised the suspension at the time.

    Following a public outcry, ABC lifted the suspension, and Kimmel returned to the air with stronger ratings than he had before.

    Jimmy Kimmel returns to ABC

    Since then, Trump has continued to take jabs at Kimmel, who has resumed making jokes and digs at the president’s expense, performing a 10-minute monologue on Trump and the Jeffrey Epstein files in one episode and ragging on his approval ratings.

    Kimmel lingered on Trump’s mind Sunday as the president hosted the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington.

    “I’ve watched some of the people that host,” Trump said. “Jimmy Kimmel was horrible, and some of these people, if I can’t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don’t think I should be president.” (Kimmel has never hosted the Kennedy Center Honors. He has hosted the Oscars four times.)

    Trump has continued to set his sights on other late-night TV hosts, including Stephen Colbert — whose show will end in May with CBS citing financial reasons for its cancelation — Jon Stewart, and, most recently, Seth Meyers.

    Stewart will remain at his weekly post on The Daily Show for another year, Paramount, a Skydance Corporation, announced last month. Meyers’ Late Night with Seth Meyers is under contract with NBC through 2028.

    The Associated Press contributed to this article.

  • Philly native Sheinelle Jones will replace Hoda Kotb as ‘Today’ show co-host

    Philly native Sheinelle Jones will replace Hoda Kotb as ‘Today’ show co-host

    Philadelphia native Sheinelle Jones will be taking over Hoda Kotb’s chair on Today.

    Jones will join Jenna Bush Hager as a permanent co-host starting Jan. 12, Hager announced on Tuesday morning, after nearly a year of rotating 60 fill-ins, including Jones, to find the perfect person to fill the shoes left by Kotb earlier this year.

    During her stint as a fill-in co-host in September, Jones exchanged pleasantries with Hager as if it were a first date.

    “Hopefully this will be a date where you walk away and go, ‘OK, hopefully she calls me tomorrow!’” Jones said to Hager on Today.

    “You’re coming back,” Hager promised.

    Today with Jenna & Sheinelle marks a new chapter for Jones, since she joined the chatty morning show in 2014. Before hitting the national stage, she worked at local station Fox 29 for nine years, including as co-host of Good Day Philadelphia.

    Left to Right: Jennaphr Frederick, Sheinelle Jones, and Sue Serio of Fox Good Day Philadelphia backstage preparing for The Career Wardrobe fashion show on Saturday, June 9, 2011, at the Hyatt at the Bellevue.

    The announcement comes just months after the death of Jones’ husband, Uche Ojeh, 45, who died in May while battling an aggressive form of brain cancer. After returning to Today in September, she joined Hager live to share her experiences: “My coach was gone, right? My life partner. The days after my first week were tough. Because it’s my new normal,” she said.

    The two met as college sweethearts at Northwestern University when Jones, a freshman, showed Ojeh, a high school senior, around campus. Married in 2007 at Rittenhouse Square’s Church of the Holy Trinity, the couple would later have their son Kayin, 15, and twins Clara and Uche, 12.

    Jones was on leave since January to care for her family before returning in September to her post at the 9 a.m. show alongside Dylan Dreyer, Al Roker, and Craig Melvin.

    NBC News executive vice president Libby Leist and Jenna & Friends executive producer Talia Parkinson-Jones celebrated Jones’ addition to the show.

    “Sheinelle has been a cherished member of NBC News for more than 11 years,” the executive said in a joint statement. “From standout interviews with newsmakers and celebrities to her iconic Halloween performances as Beyoncé and Tina Turner, she has captivated audiences time and again.”

  • Philly will host a five-week-long arts festival as part of America 250

    Philly will host a five-week-long arts festival as part of America 250

    A new arts festival will launch in Philadelphia in 2026 as one of the major events marking the nation’s 250th anniversary. What Now: 2026 is planned to be a five-week-long festival from the nonprofit ArtPhilly. The festival aims to showcase the city’s artistry and talent for both tourists and neighbors alike.

    Dozens of Philadelphia artists across disciplines will present more than 30 original works, staged from late May to July 2026 in venues around Philadelphia, coinciding with the Fourth of July and FIFA World Cup matches as part of the city’s Semiquincentennial events.

    What Now: 2026 will feature new works by Philly artists such as filmmaker Walé Oyéjidé, poet Yolanda Wisher, opera singer/drag queen Cookie Diorio, photographer and pop-up book creator Colette Fu, and sculptor Pedro Ospina. Institutional collaborators in the region will include BalletX, BlackStar, Philadanco!, the Crossing, and Theatre in the X.

    One highlight is The Basil Biggs Project, a new play from actor and playwright Anna Deavere Smith, an alum of Arcadia University. Her great-great-grandfather was a farmer and veterinarian in Gettysburg who, during the Civil War, took a job disinterring and reburying Union soldiers on the battlefield. Smith wrote the work using archival research on her family’s history.

    The festival is the brainchild of renowned local philanthropist Katherine Sachs, a longtime trustee and benefactor of the Philadelphia Art Museum, and arts administrator Bill Adair, who previously led programs at the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage and the Rosenbach Museum & Library.

    Sachs began planning What Now: 2026 in the winter of 2021 to ensure that the arts remained central to the city’s celebration. She gathered a committee of regional arts leaders including Barnes Foundation head Thom Collins, Mann Center for the Performing Arts president Cathy Cahill, and Mural Arts director Jane Golden to brainstorm meaningful ways to spotlight Philadelphia’s artists.

    “I just thought we could do a better job than we did in 1976 [for the Bicentennial],” said Sachs, who serves as chair of ArtPhilly. “We want people to see what Philly has to offer every day of the year, so they come back.”

    “We’re rah-rah sports. We’re rah-rah about our history and our Independence Hall, and Liberty Bell,” said Adair, ArtPhilly’s creative and executive director. “Those are amazing parts of our identity and who we are, but we know that the arts and culture sector is one of the strongest in the country and the world, and we deserve to be known for that.”

    Part of the duo’s work involved creating the nonprofit organization ArtPhilly, that would provide infrastructure and allow for planning the inaugural festival in 2026 and also future years. Sachs and Adair plan for it to be a recurring festival every two or three years.

    The pair fundraised about $7.5 million for ArtPhilly and the festival with support from the William Penn Foundation and the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage along with private foundations and corporate sponsors. ArtPhilly also received $750,000 from the Philadelphia Funder Collaborative for the Semiquincentennial.

    Working with choreographer Tania Isaac, ArtPhilly’s curatorial and deputy director, they selected 17 Philadelphia curators who proposed 45 projects. The team narrowed down the list to 32 works that received between $20,000 to $400,000 in project funding.

    “Other cities have done [festivals like] this, and the return on the investment is about six times, meaning the economic impact is really pretty great, between the hotels and restaurants, and what the artists have to build and all the people that you have involved,” said Sachs.

    Los Angeles’ Pacific Standard Time festival was a helpful model. Sachs said the result led to increased attendance at institutions in the city, a major goal for Philadelphia organizations that have struggled with foot traffic since the COVID-19 lockdown.

    “Artists are going to interpret this anniversary in a way that no one else can … For us, this festival isn’t a celebration of the anniversary, as much as it is a kind of marking and interrogation of the anniversary. Hence the question, ‘What now?’,” said Adair. “We feel like we’re adding something very important to the public discourse around the anniversary by having artists as the interpreters, but also the provocateurs.”

    What Now: 2026 projects include:

    This article was updated after receiving a revised total for the amount that the Philadelphia Funder Collaborative for the Semiquincentennial granted ArtPhilly.

    This article was updated to reflect Jane Golden’s current title.

  • All the Golden Globe Awards nominees with ties to the Philly region

    All the Golden Globe Awards nominees with ties to the Philly region

    Pennsylvanians know how to bring home a trophy, from the reigning Super Bowl champions to Philly natives awarded an Oscar.

    The Golden Globe Awards on Monday announced its nominees for the best in television and movies, and with it, another chance for victory for regional productions and local actors.

    The ceremony airs Jan. 11 with awards given in 28 categories.

    The Abbott Elementary crew visits the Always Sunny gang at Paddy’s Pub in the “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “Abbott Elementary” crossover.

    In its fifth season, Abbott Elementary has already won the hearts of Philadelphians and three Golden Globes. Still, this wholesome band of teachers, starring Philly-native Quinta Brunson, is up again for best musical or comedy television series.

    HBO’s Task and Peacock’s Long Bright River, two crime thrillers set in Philadelphia neighborhoods and suburbs, both have leading actors nominated for Golden Globes this season.

    Mark Ruffalo as Tom, Alison Oliver as Lizzie, Thuso Mbedu as Aleah, and Fabien Frankel as Anthony in “Task.”

    In Task, Mark Ruffalo plays an FBI investigator hunting down thieves targeting drug houses in Delco. While Ruffalo may not know the definition of “jawn” in real life, his portrayal of a tortured former priest turned agent resonated with critics and earned a nomination for best male actor in a dramatic television series. The Inquirer compiled a list of the real-life locations used in the show.

    Amanda Seyfried (left) and Asleigh Cummings in the Kensington-set Peacock series “Long Bright River,” based on the novel of the same name by Temple professor and novelist Liz Moore.

    Liz Moore’s crime novel Long Bright River turned heads when it was released in 2020, detailing the harrowing story of a Kensington police officer, played in the series by Amanda Seyfried, searching for her sister in a cat-and-mouse chase with a killer targeting sex workers. While the television adaptation was filmed in New York City, the bulk of the show takes place in Kensington and other Philadelphia neighborhoods, with Seyfried grabbing a nomination for best female performance in a dramatic limited series.

    Hometown stand-up icon Kevin Hart was back to his roots with a new comedy special, Kevin Hart: Acting My Age, tackling injuries after 40, Chick-fil-A’s spicy chicken sandwich consequences, and slipping in the shower. He earned a nomination for best stand-up comedy performance on television.

    Host Kevin Hart speaks during the BET Awards on Monday, June 9, 2025, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

    The Golden Globes are introducing a new best podcast category this year, for which Bucks County native Alex Cooper is nominated for her sex-positive show, Call Her Daddy. Alongside celebrity guests like Gwyneth Paltrow, Miley Cyrus, and Kamala Harris, Cooper delves into the taboo of female pleasure and pop culture. She grew the show’s popularity into a $60 million Spotify deal in 2021.

    And through a few degrees of separation, several other nominees can be claimed as Philly-adjacent.

    Hannah Einbinder, whose father is from Doylestown, accepts the award for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for “Hacks” during the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

    Take Hacks actress Hannah Einbinder, who shouted “Go Birds!” during her speech after winning an Emmy for best supporting actress in a comedy series, and was filmed by the evening news crying in the streets of Los Angeles after the Eagles’ 2018 Super Bowl win.

    She may not be from Philadelphia (her father, actor Chad Einbinder, is from Doylestown), but she reps the city. HBO’s Hacks, which follows a veteran Las Vegas comic mentoring a young comedy writer, is up for best musical or comedy television series, with Einbinder and costar Jean Smart nominated for best supporting female actor and best actor in a musical or comedy series, respectively.

    And there are some broader Pennsylvania and New Jersey ties among the nominees.

    The breakout medical drama The Pitt, which takes place in the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Center, depicts a 15-hour shift in an emergency room, split across 15 one-hour episodes. The Pitt’s lead actor, Noah Wyle (known for his role as Dr. John Carter in NBC’s ER), is up against Ruffalo for best male actor in a dramatic television series.

    Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen.

    Jeremy Allen White stars in the latest Bruce Springsteen biopic, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, and is nominated for best actor in a dramatic film. The production was almost entirely filmed around New Jersey — at the request of The Boss — including in Cape May and other parts of South Jersey.

    After a major overhaul of the award show in recent years, including the sunsetting of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association due to ethics and diversity concerns, the new Golden Globe Awards are judged by a panel of 400 journalists from across the world.

    The Golden Globes will be broadcast live on Jan. 11 at 8 p.m. Philadelphia time on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

  • Pew announces a new head of arts and culture and millions in grants for Philly

    Pew announces a new head of arts and culture and millions in grants for Philly

    When Christina Vassallo was head of the Fabric Workshop and Museum, she landed several substantial grants from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

    Now she is moving to the other side of that donor-recipient relationship.

    Vassallo is the newly named executive director of the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, starting Jan. 5, Pew announced Monday.

    “The center embodies everything I value about arts leadership — intellectual curiosity, rigorous support for artists and arts organizations, and a true commitment to public life,” said Vassallo. “So for the center, I’m drawn to its dual identity as a grantmaker and as a hub for ideas, and for the opportunity to connect the arts with civic purpose.”

    Leadership and operational changes at the Pew arts center are closely watched in Philadelphia’s arts and culture community since the center, along with the William Penn Foundation, accounts for some of the largest foundation giving in the area.

    Pew’s center, for instance, also announced on Monday that it has awarded $8.6 million to 44 Philadelphia-area groups — nearly $180,000 to the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra for a project on Black women composers, $360,000 to Monument Lab for the creation of environmental soundworks as a “living monument to Philadelphia’s birds,” and to projects by Mural Arts Philadelphia, Philadanco, Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens, theater companies, dance troupes, and museums.

    The Magic Gardens, April 27, 2022.

    Vassallo, 45, follows Paula Marincola, who retired in October after serving as the center’s first director, since 2008.

    After leaving the Fabric Workshop in 2023, Vassallo became director of the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. Before the Fabric Workshop, she was executive and artistic director of the alternative art gallery SPACES, in Cleveland. She was born in the Bronx and grew up in New York City and northern New Jersey, and holds two degrees from New York University — a bachelor’s in art history and a master’s in nonprofit visual arts management.

    Vassallo arrives as Philadelphia’s arts scene grapples with a number of challenges. Many groups are facing the double whammy of attendance numbers that are still lower than pre-COVID levels, and cuts in federal funding under the Trump administration.

    The Pew arts center specifically has undergone a significant change with the 2024 collapse of the University of the Arts, which had been its operational partner. In June, Pew announced that the Barnes Foundation would take UArts’ place, and Vassallo suggested that the Barnes — which also had a hand in her hiring — could take on a more significant role.

    “I think there is tremendous potential there programmatically beyond their administrative role,” said Vassallo, who called the relationship between the Pew center and the Barnes an “evolving” one.

    Dancers from Philadanco, which received a grant from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

    One significant change has already occurred. Vassallo will report to Barnes Foundation executive director and president Thomas Collins, whereas Marincola reported directly to Pew. The Barnes isn’t seen as getting involved with the Pew center’s grant-making process, but, rather, could work with the center on creating new programming.

    “We could imagine partnerships between the [Pew Fellowships in the Arts] fellows … being able to engage in the collection at the Barnes, for example, we can imagine the center and the Barnes partnering on community conversations,” said Elinor Haider, senior director of Pew’s Philadelphia Program.

    The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage will continue to be based in its offices on Walnut Street, Haider said.

    Vassallo called Philadelphia’s arts scene “incredibly rich and vital.” About its challenges, she said — while noting that she needs to relearn Philadelphia’s arts and culture community — that “we are having to find new ways to fund our work. I have seen this in the form of creating new business models, coming up with innovative ways to increase ticket sales and engage current and new audiences to create new revenue streams.”

    She said she has “always been a strong believer in nurturing the next generation of art enthusiasts, ensuring that kids have access to the arts across disciplines.”

    As for future funding priorities, the center has not yet determined whether it will undertake a strategic planning process, she said.

    “Not only are we assessing feedback from grantees and external parties, but we’re also understanding the state of the city, and then you have the various partners involved — you have Pew, you have the center staff, and now you have the Barnes. So I think within that there’s going to be a very special alchemy that starts to further determine the future of center funding decisions.”

    A complete list of Pew’s latest grants to art and culture groups: pewcenterarts.org/2025grants.