Quinta Brunson wants you to dig into your pocket to make free field trips possible for Philadelphia students.
The actor, writer, and comedian — along with Philadelphia School District officials and the leader of the district’s nonprofit arm — announced the “Quinta Brunson Field Trip Fund” on Tuesday.
District teachers and administrators will be able to apply for money for field trips by completing a short application subject to evaluation by an independent, internal group of educators. Field trip grants will be made twice a year.
“They opened my world, sparked my creativity, and helped me imagine a future beyond what I saw every day,” Brunson said. “Going somewhere new shows you that the world is bigger and more exciting than you believe, and it can shape what you come to see as achievable. I’m proud to support Philadelphia students with experiences that remind them their dreams are valid and their futures are bright.”
“Abbott Elementary” star Quinta Brunson watches the Phillies play the Atlanta Braves during a taping of the show in Philadelphia in August.
Every Abbott Elementary season has featured a field trip episode, including visits toSmith Playground, the Franklin Institute, and the Philadelphia Zoo. Brunson’s fund “will remove the financial barriers that too often limit our children’s access to these enrichment opportunities,” officials for the Fund for the School District of Philadelphia said.
The GivingTuesday launch kicked off with an unspecified donation from Brunson herself.
Kathryn Epps, president and CEO of the Fund for the School District of Philadelphia, said getting students out of their classrooms is crucial.
“We are honored to partner with Quinta to expand these experiences for children in Philadelphia’s public schools, helping them to envision and realize any future they desire,” Epps said.
Tony B. Watlington Sr., Philadelphia School District superintendent, said he was grateful to Brunson.
“We want our students to venture out and bridge what they’re learning in the classroom to engaging, real-world learning experiences,” Watlington said. “This commitment to equitably expanding opportunities for students to have experiences outside of their classroom will help accelerate student achievement and we are becoming the fastest improving, large urban school district in the nation.”
The holiday concert season in Philly is in full swing, with touring acts and local musicians capping off the year with plenty fa la la la la from now until Christmas Day.
This list of recommended shows includes pop, rock, R&B, country, hip-hop, EDM, gospel, and jazz, all in the end-of-the-year business of spreading musical holiday cheer.
Jane Lynch
Dec. 2, Keswick Theatre
Glee and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel actor and comedian Jane Lynch put out an album called A Swingin’ Little Christmas in 2016, and she tours regularly in the holiday season. She sings along with The Office’s Kate Flannery and Glee vocal arranger Tim Davis with a 1950s and ‘60s Frank Sinatra-Andy Williams style Christmas repertoire. 8 p.m., keswicktheatre.com.
Aimee Mann and Ted Leo’s Christmas Show comes to City Winey Philadelphia on Dec. 3.
The Aimee Mann & Ted Leo Christmas Show
Dec. 3, City Winery
This offbeat music and comedy holiday duo teams up top shelf songwriter Mann, who released the excellent melancholy holiday album, One More Drifter in the Snow in 2006, and punk rock veteran Leo. They have a history of performing and recording together as the Both, and will be joined by Philly-born comic Paul F. Tompkins and utterly charming cabaret singer Nellie McKay. 8 p.m., citywinery.com/philadelphia
LeAnn Rimes
Dec. 6, Keswick Theatre
Veteran country singer LeAnn Rimes — who released her first album in 1991, when she was 9 — is on a Greatest Hits Christmas Tour. That means she’ll be singing Christmas songs from her multiple holiday albums, plus her biggest hits. 8 p.m., keswicktheatre.com.
Don McCloskey
Dec. 6, Brooklyn Bowl
Philly songwriter Don McCloskey is known for his 2008 Phillies fight song “Unstoppable,” his association with the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia crew, and most recent album The Chaos and the Beauty. He and his eight-piece band — including singers Hannah Taylor and Sarah Biemuller — throw their annual “Holiday Office Party” in Fishtown. 8 p.m., BrooklyBowl.com/philadelphia
Work Drugs
Dec. 6, Double Nickel Brewing Company
Work Drugs, the smooth, soft rockers who self-identify as “Philadelphia’s premier bat mitzvah and quinceañera party band,” is throwing its 14th annual Holiday Spectacle, and has just released a cover of Alexander O’Neal’s ”Our First Christmas.” They’ll be joined by opener Nero Catalano for a free show at Double Nickel Brewing Company in Pennsauken. 8 p.m., dnbcbeer.com
V. Shayne Frederick performing at the University of the Arts in 2022. The jazzman will sing at South Jazz Kitchen on Dec. 6 and 7.
V. Shayne Frederick
Dec. 6, 7. South Jazz Kitchen
In 2022, Philly jazz vocalist V. Shayne Frederick released The King Suite, an album of songs associated with Nat “King” Cole filtered through the African musical diaspora. Cole sang the definitive version of Mel Torme’s classic “The Christmas Song,” so expect Frederick to have his way with it when he plays two “A Very V. Shayne Frederick Holiday” shows each night on Dec. 6 and 7. Times vary, SouthJazz Kitchen.com
Various artists at Chris’ Jazz Cafe
Starting Dec. 6 and through December
The Center City club will deck the halls all December long.
On Dec. 6, the Tim Brey Trio celebrate the 10th anniversary of the pianist’s holiday release Unwrap. Dec. 9, 16, and 23 are Holiday Soul nights with trumpeter Josh Lawrence & Friends. On Dec. 17, it’s the Peter Frank Orchestra’s Holiday Show. Dec. 18, the Laura Orzehoski Quartet plays Vince Guaraldi Christmas Classics.
The next night, it’s the Benny Benack Quintet Holiday Show featuring Michael “Sonny Step” Stephenson. The Anais Reno Quintet’s “White Christmas” Holiday show is Dec. 20, and Bruce Klauber Swings the Sinatra Christmas Songbook on Dec. 24. Times vary, ChrisJazzCafe.com.
Bela Fleck & the Flecktones bring their Jingle All the Way tour to the Miller Theater on Dec. 12.
Bela Fleck & the Flecktones
Dec. 12, Miller Theater
Virtuoso banjoist Bela Fleck and bandmates Howard Levy, Roy “Future Man” Wooten, and Victor Wooten recorded the reimagined holiday songs album Jingle All the Way in 2008. They’ve reunited for this tour, which will draw from their nonseasonal catalog as well. The quartet will be joined by both saxophonist Jeff Coffin and Tuvan throat singing ensemble Alash, so expect Christmas music unlike any you’ve heard before. 8 p.m., EnsembleArtsPhilly.org.
Santa Rave
Dec. 12, Brooklyn Bowl
Have yourself a very EDM Xmas at this Fishtown dance party, which promises holiday hits, “2000s and 2010s” remixes and dubstep, techno and dance grooves, courtesy of DJ Pad Chennington. 8 p.m., broooklynbowl.com/philadelphia
Laufey performs during the Newport Jazz Festival in 2024. She will sing at the Jingle Ball at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Dec. 15.
Jingle Ball
Dec. 15, Xfinity Mobile Arena
This annual holiday season pop star cavalcade is presented by radio station WIOQ (102.1-FM), better known as Q102. This year, it includes pop-rock sibling band AJR, Icelandic jazz singer Laufey, YouTuber turned “Ordinary” international hitmaker Alex Warren, and Texas country rapper BigXthaPlug, among others. 7:30 p.m., XfinityMobileArena.com
Ben Folds
Dec. 16-18, City Winery
In 2024, piano man Ben Folds released his first Christmas album, Sleigher, mixing chestnuts with new songs, including the gem “Christmas Time Rhyme.” His solo tour will being him to Philly for three Tis The Season shows this month. 7:30 p.m., citywinery.com/philadelphia.
Darlene Love
Dec. 17, Keswick Theatre
Darlene Love was dubbed “the Christmas Queen” long before Mariah Carey had any claim to the throne. She sang three songs on Phil Spector’s classic 1963 A Christmas Gift For You, including the unstoppable “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” which she performed annually for 28 years on David Letterman’s late night TV show before moving to The View on 2015. She brings her Love For the Holidays tour to Glenside this year. 8 p.m., keswicktheatre.com
CeCe Winans performing in 2019. Her Christmas with CeCe Wians comes to the Met Philly on Dec. 18.
CeCe Winans
Dec. 18, the Met
Beyoncé, Alison Krauss, and Aretha Franklin are the only women with more Grammys than CeCe Winans, who’s tied with Alicia Keys with 17. The daughter of Detroit’s first family of gospel released her second Christmas album, Joyful Joyful in 2024, and the powerhouse vocalist is headed to North Broad Street on her “Christmas with CeCe Winans” tour, accompanied by sisters Angie and Debbie Winans. 8 p.m., themetphilly.com
The Tisburys will be joined by Stella Ruze and Nervous Nikki & the Chill Pills on Dec. 20 at the Sellersville Theater in Bucks County. Left to right: Dan Nazario, Ben Cardine, Tyler Asay, John Domenico, Jason McGovern.
The Tisburys
Dec. 20, Sellersville Theater
Indie rock quintet the Tisburys, whose 2025 album A Still Life Revisited is one of the standout Philly releases of the year, will be playing holiday songs atop a ‘Tis the Season triple bill. The band will be joined by Stella Ruze and Nervous Nikki & the Chill Pills. 8 p.m., st94.com.
The Klezmatics
Dec. 23, City Winery
The musically adventurous klezmer band, the Klezmatics, has won a Grammy for a Woody Guthrie tribute album and has recorded with violinist Itzhak Perlman. Known for lyrics that comment on world affairs, the band’s Happy Joyous Hanukkah Tour — “a celebration of light in dark times” — arrives one day after the holiday ends. 7:30 p.m., citywinery.com/philadelphia.
Mars Co-Op, the Philadelphia rapper known for the standout verse he contributed to The Roots’ song “Clones” from 1996, has died.
His death last week was confirmed on Sunday by Dice Raw, the Philly rapper who is a long-standing member of the extended Roots family, and was first reported on AllHipHop.com.
Mars Co-Op, who was born Phillip Blenman, was raised in the East Logan section of Philadelphia. He brought a toughness and street-wise energy to The Roots’ third album, Illadelph Halflife.
He is featured on the recording for “Clones,” a single from Illadelph in which he trades verses about urban violence with principal Roots rapper Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and Dice Raw.
“I try to tell ya,” he rapped. “Don’t let these street … fail ya / The way [people] by gettin’ clapped, [will] scare ya!”
The video for “Clones” was shot in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood and features a young Trotter and Roots drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, as well as other band members including the late bassist Leonard “Hub” Hubbard.
“I grew up in the streets. … I ran away from home, got out on the streets, shooting [people], doing all types of [stuff]. Luckily, at some point in my life, I did have a father. The music saved my life,” Mars Co-Op, who also went by Black Caesar, told AllHipHop.com in 2012.
“We brought the streets to The Roots. Early on, they was doing street festivals and stuff, and then me and Malik [B] was doing stuff that our peoples liked. Me and Dice was from Logan, so our style was different. We was that street stuff,” he told the website.
After Illadelph Halflife, Mars and Malik B left The Roots and formed the label Tali Up Boyz Records. Malik B died in July 2020 at age 47.
Talk about a great kick off to the holiday shopping season.
“I’m honored, proud, and excited,” Ellen Shepp said Monday morning. “I mean … I’m really over the moon.”z
Walking into a great clothing store, New York Times cultural trend reporter Steven Kurutz said, is like being “transported to a different world.” It “will make you think about who you are — and may change that perspective in real time.”
The interior of Joan Shepp at 1905 Walnut St. The 53-year-old store made the New York Times’ list of “50 Best Clothing Stores in America.”
And yes, walking into Rittenhouse Square’s Joan Shepp does feel like stepping into a sartorial fairytale, which you can leave holding a Yohji Yamamoto hoodie that doubles as a dress, or a perfectly tailored asymmetrical shirt dress from Sacai New York.
Everything is dreamy, but nothing comes cheap.
Back in the 1970s, Shepp opened her store to challenge the way the suburban career woman dressed in Philly and introduced her to designer wear, from Yohji Yamamoto to Maison Margiela. One of the earliest entrepreneurs to embrace the store-within-a-store approach to retail, Shepp made space for collections like Yamamoto’s Y-3 and Donna Karan’s Urban Zen.
The clothing sold alongside furniture, bedding, and candles, making Joan Shepp one of the region’s earliest concept boutiques.
Joan Shepp founded the store in 1971. She was a 30-year-old single mother of two young children in need of a flexible work schedule that allowed her time for school pickup and drops, to help her daughters with homework, and make them dinner.
Joan Shepp and her daughter Ellen Shepp, shown here in their Center City store.
“I have so much fun finding things that are new,” she said to The Inquirer in 2022. “I listen to everyone who comes into my store. I watch them go through the racks. And whether/if they are a customer or a person who wants to open a store down the street, I can pick up on it.”
Hers is the only store on the Times list from the Philly region.
The closest is 7017 Reign in Fort Lee, N.J., described by the Times as an “under the radar, street and high fashion” specialty store. There are a handful of stores from downtown New York, but most are in the Midwest and California.
To produce the list, the Times team selected 120 stores, and then sent reporters, editors, and contributors to visit each of them, sometimes more than once.
A videographer visited Joan Shepp in early fall, shortly after the store moved to its new home at 1905 Walnut St.
Noting that Joan Shepp has been in business for more than 50 years — the specialty boutique is in the midst of celebrating its 53rd year — Kurutz wrote “Shepp has flavors of Barneys New York in its heyday.”
The Barney comparison wowed Ellen Shepp. Christmas had no doubt arrived early for the boutique owner and her team.
“The whole time they were like, ‘Listen we don’t know whether/if you made this list,’” she said. “They kept it a mystery until right this second.”
The biggest question of Christmas isn’t whether Santa Claus exists. It’s whether to display a real or a fake Christmas tree.
Though many households in the United States have switched to artificial ones, for the purists who splurge each year on the real thing, it’s time to start shopping.
The Philadelphia region offers a number of farms where you can cut down your own tree or find a wide selection of pre-cut varieties — including delivery.
We’ve found farms across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, all within about an hour of Center City. And we’ve included a couple of options where you can buy a fresh-cut tree right in Philadelphia, too. Here’s where to get a real Christmas tree in the region.
Rocky Yo-Mo of South Philadelphia, owner of Rocky YoMo’s Christmas Trees, takes a photo with Britni Volkman of South Philadelphia, with the tree she purchased in 2019.
Looking for fresh-cut Frasier firs in Philly? Check out Rocky YoMo’s selection in South Philly at Front Street and Washington Avenue. Payments are done in cash. If you don’t have a car, you can still pick a tree and get it delivered to your home for free.
While most people buy their Christmas trees from nearby farms, this pop-up tree seller sources them from the places they’re native to. For instance, Trev’s Trees gets its Douglas firs from places like Oregon and Pennsylvania, its Fraser firs from North Carolina, and its balsams from near Lake Erie. This means you get high-quality pre-cut trees with ease. Typical sizes cost around $120 or less, but Trev’s also offers trees reaching 13- or 14-feet tall for up to $350.
The Christmas Tree Stand is a family business known for its delivery and setup services. They specialize in premium Fraser and Douglas firs, from cozy 3-foot apartment-friendly options to grand 15-foot showstoppers. Visit the Fishtown or West Chester locations to select your perfect tree, or schedule a Christmas tree delivery on the website. Next-day delivery options are available in most areas for orders placed by 4 p.m.
💵 $75 and up,📍Fishtown: 1727 N. Front St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19122 or 📍West Chester: 62 E. Street Rd., West Chester, Pa. 19382, ⌚ West Chester: Mon.-Fri., 1 p.m.-7 p.m., Sat.-Sun., 11 a.m.-7 p.m., or ⌚ Fishtown: Mon.-Fri., 4 p.m.-8 p.m., Sat.-Sun., noon-8 p.m. 🌐 thechristmastreestand.com
This Yardley farm offers a dozen varieties of trees. Swing by any day of the week, before 4:30 p.m., to choose your own tree for staff to cut, or select a pre-cut option. And if you need delivery, call to schedule. The farm makes fresh wreaths daily, too.
This Buckingham farm is entering its 62nd holiday season with a wide variety of trees. Visit the farm to pick a pre-cut tree or balled and burlapped tree and claim a free holiday mug while supplies last. Cut your own blue spruce, Fraser fir, white pine, or Norway spruce on the first two weekends of the season. There is also a holiday shop.
An hour west of Philadelphia is Clark’s Christmas Tree Farm, a 25-acre family business offering Douglas, Canaan, and Fraser firs, pre-cut or take a wagon out to cut one yourself. Prices are based on the tree height. Once there, you can check out the 3,000-square-foot gift shop, with more than 100,000 items including decorative ornaments like bearded dragons, horseshoe crabs, and dinosaurs.
Hop onto a wagon to the cut-your-own (saws provided) tree section of this 200-acre Chester County farm, which is open Friday through Sunday. Choose from a variety of firs, like Douglas, Frazier, and Canaan, as well as blue spruce and Norway spruce. Wreaths, decorations, and other items are available at the gift shop. Tree bailing and help loading your vehicle also offered, and pets on a leash welcome.
Take a tour across 55 acres, pick your favorite pre-cut or cut-your-own tree, and warm up with free hot cocoa. At any given time, at least four varieties of trees are for sale, as well as a selection of wreaths.
This family-owned business has two locations to cut your own tree plus a pre-cut tree lot. The West Chester farm offers Douglas firs averaging 7-feet tall, and the Cochranville location has trees up to 10-feet tall. The pre-cut lot in West Chester has Douglas and Fraser firs up to 12 feet available daily (Pre-cut lot: Mon.-Fri., 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 9 a.m.-9 p.m.) at 1301 West Chester Pike.
Cut your own Fraser, Douglas, Nordmann, concolor, or Canaan fir, or pick out a fresh-cut Douglas or Fraser fir at this Phoenixville farm. For folks looking for family-friendly activities, hayrides run every weekend 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Santa visits between noon to 3 p.m. on select weekends. Plus, enjoy a drive ($25-$30 per vehicle) or hayride ($15 per person) through the holiday light show a mile long across the 60-acre Christmas tree farm. There are so many lights that the owners lost count at well over 100,000.
Linvilla returns with free family hayrides to the Christmas tree fields, where you can cut your own trees daily (Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 9 a.m.-4 p.m.). Most trees are Douglas firs ranging from 5- to 8-feet tall. Offering more varieties, Linvilla’s pre-cuts are also available daily with extended hours on Dec. 5 and Dec. 12. Be sure to stop by Linvilla’s Farm Market, where you’ll find baked goods, gift baskets, and more. Make it an all-day adventure by visiting the winter makers market (Fri.-Sun., through Dec. 21) and the ice-skating rink ($13 per person). Santa will also make appearances.
Corkum Tree Farm has delighted patrons for more than 30 years. Enjoy hot cider as you take your pick of cut-your-own Douglas fir, white pine, and blue and Norway spruce trees. There are four varieties of pre-cut fir trees to select from. Inside the barn, you’ll find fresh wreaths and holly and hand-knit hats, scarves, and mittens, and fair-trade ornaments. A second farm location offers choose-and-cut trees up to 14-feet tall.
💵 $13 per foot, $60-$200 for balled and burlapped trees,📍Main farm: 797 Bridge Rd., Collegeville, Pa. 19426, or 📍 Second farm: 3934 Mill Rd., Collegeville, Pa. 19426 ⌚ Main farm: Mon.-Tues., 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Wed.-Thurs., 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 8 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sun. 8 a.m.-6 p.m., or ⌚ Second farm: Sat.-Sun., 9 a.m.-5 p.m., 📞 610-715-4640, 🌐 corkumtreefarm.com
About 30 miles from Center City, Hague’s offers cut-your-own Nordmann fir, Scotch pine, white pine, Eastern red cedar, white spruce, or blue spruce trees, and a variety of pre-cut trees. (Cut-your-own ends before 4:30 p.m. each day.) Be sure to shop the award-winning handmade wreaths and check out wreath-making and tree-decorating classes in the heated barn.
A fourth-generation, 160-acre farm, Westlake offers pre-cut and cut-your-own Canaan or concolor firs. Afterward, check out the Christmas Barn, where families can enjoy a complimentary visit with Santa (through Dec. 7), watch trains, and browse an assortment of ornaments and gifts.
You’d have to walk 13 miles to see every tree in this farm’s 16-acre field in Gloucester County. Cut your own with a provided saw or bring your own. All trees on the farm are available for purchase — all priced at $60 no matter the size. The farm strongly recommends that you arrive before 4 p.m.
Offering pre-cut and cut-your-own trees, Exley’s welcomes families to two locations for Christmas trees and holiday activities. On weekends at the Sewell farm, you can hop on a hayride to Santa Land and see holiday-themed houses. The Monroeville farm has a gingerbread house and other holiday attractions perfect for photo opportunities. Both farms feature visits with Santa on weekends.
💵 Depends on the size,📍 1535 Tanyard Rd., Sewell, N.J. 08080 or📍1512 Monroeville Rd., Monroeville, N.J. 08343, ⌚ Tues.-Sun., 9 a.m.-5 p.m. for pre-cut; Fri.-Sun. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. for cut-your-own, 📞 856-468-5949, 🌐 exleyschristmastreefarms.com
Pick a tree and enjoy a sleigh ride along a decorated path toward the Christmas trees at this small, family-owned farm in Gloucester County. Blue and Norway spruces and concolor and Canaan firs are available to cut yourself or get a pre-cut, with no tree more than 9 feet. Cash and Venmo only.
💵 $80 and under,📍 101 Idle Lake Rd., Franklinville, N.J. 08322, ⌚ Sat.-Sun., 10 a.m.-4 p.m., 📞 609-685-6234, 🌐 facebook.com
This article has been updated since it was first published. Former staff writers Grace Dickinson and Jillian Wilson contributed to this article, as did Steven White.
Patti Smith stood onstage at the Met Philadelphia on Saturday during her 50th anniversary tour for her 1975 album Horses. She recalled her elementary school report cards when she was growing up in Germantown in the 1950s.
“They would always say, ‘Patti Lee shows a lot of potential, but she daydreams too much,’” she said. “‘Will she amount to anything?’”
The revered punk poet and undiminished life force, who will turn 79 on Dec. 30, smiled and looked out at the cheering sold-out crowd, mirroring their affection.
“You are my answer,” she said.
Philadelphia was the final stop on the Horses tour, commemorating the majestic John Cale-produced album with an iconic cover photo by Robert Mapplethorpe that lit the fuse for a punk rock conflagration to come.
Smith came onstage dressed in black jeans and a suit jacket, accompanied by her band, with original 1970s members Lenny Kaye and Jay Dee Daugherty on guitar and drums, joined by her son, Jackson Smith, on guitar, and Tony Shanahan on bass and keyboard.
They started with “Gloria,” Smith’s reworked version of the 1964 Van Morrison-penned Them hit that began, as always, with the still startling declaration, “Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine.” She then went on to take responsibility for her own actions, seeking rock and roll salvation on her own terms.
“My sins, my own,” she sang in a voice that has lowered in register in the last half century but lost none of its power. She often sounded as if she were channeling otherworldly spirits.
“They belong to me,” she sang.
Patti Smith and her band perform “Horses” on its 50th anniversary at the Met Philadelphia on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.
The band steadily built to a roar, with Kaye and Shanahan chiming in along with the crowd on chanted vocals.
Track one, side one. “G-L-O-R-I-A!” — catharsis was already achieved.
The eight-song Horses was performed in its entirety, essentially straight through but with a few songs flip-flopped in order. “Free Money,” about dreaming of hitting the lottery and lifting her family up financially, preceded the epic improvised-in-the-studio “Birdland.” For that song, Smith put on glasses to read out the rapid-fire incantatory lyrics from one of her own books, as the song built to a crescendo.
There was little chitchat during Horses itself, save for a dedication of “Elegie” to Jimi Hendrix and a story about hanging out in the 1970s with the late Television guitarist Tom Verlaine at a Manhattan magazine shop called Flying Saucer News. The duo teamed to write “Break It Up,” a song inspired by Smith’s dream of coming upon a marble statue of Jim Morrison, “like Prometheus in chains, with long flowing hair,” lying in a clearing in the woods.
Horses built to a climax with “Land,” complete with its ecstatic “Do the Watusi” romp through Chris Kenner’s “Land of 1000 Dances” and a reprise of “Gloria.” Then, Smith took a break.
While offstage, the band served up a treat: a three-song tribute to Television, the Smith group’s “sister band” with whom it shared a four-nights-a-week residency at CBGB in New York in 1975. Kaye and Shanahan took turns on vocals on “See No Evil,” “Friction,” and “Marquee Moon,” and Kaye and Jackson Smith (who shone throughout the evening) paid aural homage to Verlaine and Richard Lloyd’s guitar interplay.
Patti Smith and her band perform “Horses” on its 50th anniversary at the Met Philadelphia on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.
The second half of the two-hour-plus show surveyed Smith’s five-decade post-Horses career, with ‘70s rock radio hits like “Dancing Barefoot” and her Bruce Springsteen co-write “Because the Night.” That was dedicated to her late husband, Fred “Sonic” Smith, and included an exultant, crowd-pleasing declaration that she was back onstage in the city that shaped her “because the night belongs to Philadelphia.”
“Ain’t It Strange” and “Pissing in the River,” two songs from 1976’s Horses follow-up Radio Ethiopia were included, both holding up well in stately versions. The latter included an origin story about Smith walking to school with her sisters and being afraid of high winds blowing them into Wissahickon Creek.
Smith explained that “Peaceable Kingdom” — a song that shares a title with a painting by Quaker artist Edward Hicks at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts — was written “for the Palestinian people” with Shanahan “with great hope” in 2003.
“Now,” she said, “we sing it with great sorrow.”
A slowed, and somber, segment of “People Have the Power,” her populist anthem penned with her late husband, was added onto the end of the prayerlike song.
For an encore, Smith brought out her daughter, Jesse Paris Smith — who will join the singer and author, Jackson Smith, and Shanahan at Marian Anderson Hall on Monday for a “Songs & Stories” performance that kicks off a book tour for her new memoir, Bread of Angels.
Together with Kaye, Smith sang “Ghost Dance,” a song from 1978’s Easter that she said the two wrote “with great respect and love for the Hopi tribe.” She urged that “we need to be diligent” in resisting “our present administration who show no empathy, respect, or love for our Native Americans.”
That was followed by the full-on, rocked-out “People Have the Power,” for which the band was joined by New Jersey guitarist and longtime Smith associate James Mastro.
But before leaping into her testament of faith in democratic ideals that name-checked the Declaration of Independence and Independence Hall, Smith had a few more words for the city where “I discovered art, and battled bullies.”
“I’m just so happy to be in Philadelphia,” she said. “In 1967, I had to leave Philadelphia to look for a job. I got on the Greyhound bus and went to New York City. I was 20 years old and I built a new life, … but it all began with that decision to get on that bus. And I might have left Philadelphia physically, but it’s always been in my heart.”
“People Have the Power” was reliably inspiring, stirring the heart with marching music fit for taking to the streets. But Smith took the extra step of adding a closer that she often covered in her mid-1970s Horses era: the Who’s “My Generation.”
“Hope I die before I get old,” she sang, gleefully echoing Pete Townshend’s 1960s youth culture mantra. But then, she added her own in-song commentary that playfully raised the possibility of future Horses anniversary tours just as thrilling as this one.
“And I am old!” Smith shouted. “And I’m going to get older! I’m going to live to a hundred and two!”
Songs & Stories with Patti Smith: Bread of Angels Book Tour at Marian Anderson Hall, 300 S. Broad St. at 7 p.m. Monday. ensembleartsphilly.org.
Jake Weinstein and his dad, Gregory Weinstein, both spend a lot of time thinking about robots.
Jake, an art student, has been drawing robots since he was young, inspired after watching Star Wars films like A New Hope and Return of the Jedi with Gregory, an avid sci-fi fan. The idea of a friendly robot like C-3PO or R2-D2 stuck with the curious kid who was constantly doodling.
His parents were “signing me up for arts classes as soon as I could walk,” said Jake, who grew up in Gladwyne. Robots were a frequent subject in his drawing, sculpture, and illustration pursuits.
That passion may have developed partially through osmosis.
Gregory Weinstein is a pioneer of robotic surgery for addressing head and neck cancer at the University of Pennsylvania. He regularly operates an advanced machine’s tiny, precise arms to remove tumors from patients’ throats.
“Jake heard about robots from the very beginning because my wife [Penn radiologist Susan Weinstein] and I were constantly talking about it,” said the surgeon, who now lives in Wayne.
Jake Weinstein and his father Gregory Weinstein at Works on Paper Gallery in Center City.
By the time Jake got to high school, he couldn’t wait to try robotics to see if the technology he imagined matched up with reality. But the experience was deflating.
“I was a little annoyed that the robots didn’t look pretty enough, and the goal was to shoot a ball into a net. Who cares?” said the now 24-year-old Penn student who lives in University City. “I want to see something walking and talking. It was an arm on wheels and no personality. They put me to sleep.”
Enrolling in a joint program with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Jake designed his own machines on paper. They were humanistic and expressive; a tender dome-headed machine holding a purple flower or a goofy dancer squatting as if mid-“Thriller.” Another appears with one green eye, surrounded by industrial clouds of meticulous, minimalist lines — the giant may seem intimidating, but it’s focused on the smaller robot in its palm; Jake named the piece The Caretaker.
CR4DL3-11 is artist Jake Weinstein’s favorite. It is an ink, pencil and marker on paper, in a “Cradle” frame made from wood, paint and objects mounted to a painted wood base.
His work soon caught the attention of Evan Slepian, who runs the Works on Paper Gallery in Rittenhouse and often features PAFA students. (Robots have also been a subject of his previous shows.)
The gallerist has served as a mentor to Jake over the past four months as they developed his first solo exhibit “Clanker,” running through Dec. 31. (The derogatory term for robots — derived from Star Wars, too — has become a frequent punchline across the internet.)
The show spotlights Jake’s sculpture work, too, with elaborate frames made from found wood and recycled objects that frame his drawings as well as toddler-size painted wooden and aluminum robots. Slepian says the show is performing well, with sculptures selling around $1,300 and framed ink drawings, around $2,100.
A few of Jake’s drawings pull directly from his dad’s surgery work, depicting centimeter-long metal arms conducting surgery to replace the lungs and brain with machines.
Weinstein uses found wood and recycled materials to frame his ink drawings like a cradle.
Gregory finds his son’s creative visions delightful. The surgeon — a third-generation doctor from Staten Island — has fond memories of his own art classes in youth. He even contributed his own artistic efforts along his medical career: His first academic paper featured his own illustrations of an operation his colleague from Paris conducted on a cadaver.
“You would have been the fourth generation of doctors … but as you grew up, I thought, ‘Well, that’s a silly idea.’ I just want you to do work you’re going to be happy from,” Gregory said to Jake on a recent Thursday at the gallery, adding that his grandfather dabbled in art, too.
“My grandfather was an incredibly good artist. He wanted to study art when he and my grandmother met,” Gregory recalled, chuckling. “My grandmother said, ‘Unless you become a doctor, I won’t marry you.’”
Gregory, however, always encouraged his son’s artistry.
“We did lots of Legos together. That was like a father-son thing, so I guess he did introduce me to some form of sculpture,” said Jake.
Painted wood sculptured by Jake Weinstein.
Beyond his gallery show, Jake is also one of the artists helping to build a new arts venue in a historic bank in Old City called the Ministry of Awe, led by Philly muralist Meg Saligman.
Jake’s art has resonated at a time when artificial intelligence has become widely accessible and the prospect of advanced robotics seems to inch ever closer to the futuristic world of The Jetsons. Still, he remains optimistic about the future.
“Through this narrative [in the show], it’s like, ‘Let’s try and be friends with the robots. Let’s work with them. Let’s not work against them,’” he said.
His plans for the forthcoming holiday season? Another ambitious Lego project with dad.
“Jake Weinstein: Clanker” is on view through Dec. 31 at Works on Paper Gallery, 1611 Walnut St., Mezzanine, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103, 215-988-9999 or wpartcollection.com.
In northern Massachusetts, just below the Vermont border, the Berkshires have been a four-season destination for as long as tourism has existed in America. Over the last couple of decades, greasy spoons, summer camps, and old motor lodges have given way to trendier offerings across North Adams, Lenox, and Williamstown.
The region’s recent renaissance coincides with its rise as a cultural hub — and, more recently, an escape hatch for New Yorkers and Bostonians during the pandemic. Why should they have all the fun? At roughly four hours from Philly, the Berkshires make an easy late-fall weekend trip. You may still catch a few lingering leaves, and with any luck, an early dusting of snow. Dress warm — you’ll want plenty of time outdoors.
With its low-slung, mid-century silhouette, TOURISTS Welcome almost blends into the forested landscape behind Route 2. That’s intentional, since this property (reborn in 2018 from a 1960s motor lodge) is all about the outdoors, offering guided Appalachian Trail hikes, waterfall meditations, and a cinematic suspension bridge strung across the Hoosic River. Inside, Scandi-meets-rustic comfort reigns: fireplaces, worn-in leather, raw wood, and window nooks perfect for reading. It works just as well for families (skip the amaro cocktails) as it does for weekending stylists.
While the picturesque landscapes bring many to the Berkshires, MASS MoCA has functioned as the area’s other magnet since its debut in 1999. Located in a former industrial mill complex, it’s one of the most lauded contemporary visual art museums in the country, filled with (and sometimes seemingly constructed from) colossal installations you can literally get lost in. Don’t miss the immersive light works by James Turrell.
Just a short walk from MASS MoCA, Steeple City Social lures visitors with the scent of cinnamon and coffee — and a menu that runs from thick biscuit sandwiches and sticky buns to savory cheddar-and-pickle scones. The pies by the slice are excellent, and a rotating selection of vintage housewares lines one wall. At night, the café shifts to spritzy cocktails and potatoes with caviar dip.
📍 5 Eagle St., North Adams, Mass. 01247
Walk: The Clark Institute Sculpture Park
Not to be outdone by MASS MoCA, the Clark Institute is the other destination museum of the Berkshires, with a collection of American and English art that includes a striking bronze cast of Degas’ Little Dancer. But the real magic — especially for families — lies outside. Its 140-acre sculpture park is free, filled with meadows, storybook woods, and walking trails that are especially enchanting with a little snow on the ground. The museum provides snowshoes.
Pop a bottle of sour quince, crabapple-and-McIntosh pét-nat, sparkling rosé, or one of the other exciting ciders at Berkshire Cider Project. The young cidery’s tasting room is open on Saturdays and Sundays at Greylock WORKS, a former textile mill-turned-artisan hive.
📍 508 State Rd., North Adams, Mass. 01247
Splurge: Miraval Berkshires
A Relax & Renew day pass at Miraval Berkshires — a nationally respected spa retreat in Lenox — isn’t cheap ($509 Sundays–Fridays; $539 Saturdays). But it includes $230 in credits for treatments (mineral body peels, birch-and-juniper foot massages), fee-based activities (falconry, golf), scheduled classes (yoga, rock climbing), full access to spa amenities, lunch, and gratuities. You can easily spend the entire day here. Consider it an early holiday gift to yourself.
If you love a cozy pub, you’ll love Water Street Grill. Historic building? Check. Friendly hospitality that makes you feel like a regular? Check. Creamy clam chowder you’d be happy to drown in? Check. At WSG, which lives in a wood-clad, century-old building, the 21 taps spout craft beers from here and away, the wings wear eight different sauces, and the meatloaf comes smothered in bourbon-kissed mushroom gravy.
On a recent Thursday evening, Philadelphia art collector William Skeet Jiggetts sat in the foyer of Awbury Arboretum’s Francis Cope House surrounded by grand collages taken from the walls ofhisEast Falls home.
The art — all made by living artists and friends of Jiggetts — is striking. A framed paper and antique lace dress by textile artist Rosalind “Nzinga” Vaughn-Nicole sits next to portrait-size cameos that mixed media artist Danielle Scott fashioned from newspapers and other found objects.
A guest looks at artwork collected by William Skeet Jiggetts during the Museum of African American Art Collections’ inaugural exhibit at the Awbury Arboretum in East Germantown.
Jiggetts, 57, an art collector for more than 30 years, has had pieces from his collection on display in small shows, but never in his wildest dreams did he think that they would anchor an exhibition — in a traveling museum that he founded.
While the Barnes Foundation houses the late chemist and art collector Albert C. Barnes’ collection, there are very few other — if any — museums whose walls are solely dedicated to the collections of collectors. Nomadic, traveling museums, at that.
“It got to the point where I had more art than walls,” Jiggetts said looking over his black-framed glasses. “Nobody saw it … I didn’t even see it. I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool for a bunch of collectors to get together and create a space to show our work. Tell our story?’”
Guest look at art work during the Museum of African American Art Collections inaugural exhibit at the Awbry Arboretum in East Germantown on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025.
Jiggetts got the itch to show his collection in the early 2020s after talking with colleagues who wanted to show theirs, too. In 2023 he set up a foundation, started approaching collectors, and began nailing down locations.
“There is a treasure trove of African American art in our living rooms, in our reading rooms, and in our dens that need to be shared,” Jiggetts said. “The Museum of African American Art Collections is a forum to host these collections and tell the stories that come with them.”
That’s how the Museum of African American Art Collections began.
A $200 frame and an obsession
Jiggetts, who works as a tax accountant, grew up in Germantown and spent Sunday afternoons at the Philadelphia Art Museum gazing at the impressionist works of Manet and Monet.
When he was in his 20s, he bought a poster of Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers. “I spent $200 of 1989 money on that frame,” he said with a laugh. That purchase marked the beginning of an obsession. He bought his first piece of original art from Germantown painter Lucien Crump Jr., who, according to a 2006 Inquirer obituary, owned the first gallery in the city dedicated to Black art.
Jiggetts scoured galleries and festivals for original art, buying any piece that tickled his fancy for under $500. In the early 2000s, his mentors — well known Philadelphia appraiser Barbara Wallace and the late African American collector Ronald Ollie — urged him to start evaluating his choices and he became a serious art collector.
“I figured out what it was I really liked,” Jiggetts said, describing his favorite pieces as ones that marry impressionist and abstract art, like the ones on display at Awbury Arboretum. “I realized I enjoyed the experience of buying art as much as the art. I like the company of artists.”
His collection is comprised of mostly living artists like the mixed media artist Danielle Scott; abstract painter Ben F. Jones; and Paul Goodnight, who is known for his colossal oil paintings featured in the backdrops of TV shows like Seinfeld and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. (Although Jiggetts does have a pencil sketch by the late Bahamian artist Purvis Young.)
Graphic designer for the Museum of African American Art Collections, Staci Cherry, places labels for the art collection from Stephanie Daniel during the Museum of African American Art Collections inaugural exhibit at the Awbry Arboretum in East Germantown on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. The piece in the center is the Dox Thrash mezzotint.
Keepers of history
Collectors are the glue that keep the fine arts ecosystem — artists, patrons, buyers, gallerists, and museum creators — connected and running.
They are often patrons of the arts like James J. Maguire and his late wife, Frances, investing in artists and art institutions, building impressive art collections in their homes. Collectors Adrian Moody and Robyn Jones connect artists to buyers at Jenkintown’s Moody Jones Gallery, but their personal collection has more than 400 pieces.
Art collectors Adrian Moody and Robyn Jones during the Museum of African American Art Collections’ inaugural exhibit at the Awbury Arboretum in East Germantown.
“Collectors drive the market,” said Valerie Gay, chief cultural officer for the city of Philadelphia. “They have the power to catapult an artist from obscurity to a household name.”
It’s the Black collector who discovers artists at street fairs, off-the-beaten-path galleries, hair salons, and their friend’s basement.
Their interest — like mid-20th-century author Ralph Ellison’s enthusiasm for Harlem Renaissance-era oil on canvas master Romare Bearden — brings artists’ work to a wider audience that can lead to cementing an artist’s place in the fine arts canon. Their picks speak to the collective Black experience, shaping Black America’s historical image.
“They are the keepers of our history,” Green said. “Mediators who carry the work forward and continue the legacy.”
A guest walks past art collected by Diana Tyson during the Museum of African American Art Collections inaugural exhibit at the Awbry Arboretum in East Germantown on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. Artis Beverly McCutcheon created Dad (left) and a piece titled Untitled.
Setting value
The Black collectors’ library, Jiggetts says, is the first stop on living artists’ journeys to corporate boardrooms or the walls of major museums. “Our role is that of an economist,” Jiggetts said. “We set the value.”
Collectors shared their experiences over white wine and sweet potato cupcakes on opening night.
Daniel — whose collection features local masters — spoke effusively about her Dox Thrash mezzotint. She will never let the print by the important early 20th-century Black artist go, she said. Robyn Jones interpreted the Jesse Read and Antoinette Ellis-Williams vibrant abstracts. (This reporter thought both of those pieces were images of shoes.)
Art collector Stephanie A. Daniel with Samuel Benson’s.Gay Head Cliffs MV painting during the Museum of African American Art Collections inaugural exhibit at the Awbry Arboretum in East Germantown on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025.
The concept of a collectors museum is a new one. Black collectors are not.
“We’ve always collected our work,” Jiggetts said, stressing that these times require Black people to be stewards of their own stories.
“At the Museum of African American Art Collections, no one can tell us what to do, what not to do, and what we need to do differently. We don’t have to worry about having it being taken away. It’s ours.”
The Museum of African American Art Collections, through Dec. 31, Awbury Arboretum’s Francis Cope House, 1 Awbury Rd., Phila.Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free.
The Eagles face the Chicago Bears on Black Friday still in the driver’s seat in the NFC East, but their magic number to clinch the division remains four games following the Dallas Cowboys’ Thanksgiving win against the Chiefs.
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Of course, the Eagles are playing for higher stakes than simply winning the division. Entering Friday’s game, the Birds hold the No. 2 spot in the NFC, with head-to-head wins against most of the conference’s top teams, including the Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers, and Detroit Lions.
The Birds can add the surprising Bears to that list today with a win, while a loss would knock the Eagles down to third place in the NFC with just five more games to go before the playoffs.
The Lions put themselves in a bad position with their loss against the Packers on Thanksgiving. At 7-5, Detroit is suddenly on the outside of the playoffs looking in with a tough schedule that includes games against the Cowboys, Rams, and Bears.
NFC playoff picture
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Week 13: Bears (8-3) at Eagles (8-3)
Where: Lincoln Financial Field
When: 3 p.m., Friday
Streaming: Amazon Prime Video (Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit, Kaylee Hartung)
TV: Fox29
Radio: 94.1 WIP (Merrill Reese, Mike Quick, Devan Kaney)
It shouldn’t be hard to watch or stream Friday’s game. In addition to simulcasting on Fox 29 in and around Philadelphia, Amazon is streaming the game for free globally on its Prime Video platform.
Amazon’s Richard Sherman says Eagles play designs are ‘pretty pedestrian’
Richard Sherman called the Eagles’ offense predictable and “pedestrian.”
“[Eagles offensive coordinator] Kevin Patullo is probably a great dude, a great coach, but there’s an art to play-calling that not everyone has and it’s not showing up this year,” Foles said.
Richard Sherman agrees.
The five-time Pro Bowl defender turned Thursday Night Football analyst said during a conference call earlier this week the design of many Eagles plays are “pretty pedestrian,” allowing defensive backs to “determine route combinations and route concepts” based on how the Birds line up.
The Eagles have the 24th ranked offense in the NFL entering Friday’s game, among a handful of teams averaging less than 200 passing yards per game. Plus, Saquon Barkley isn’t coming close to repeating last year’s dominant 2,000-yard performance.
“Do I think they can repair their offense? No, I don’t,” Sherman said. “I think Kevin Patullo’s the issue, and unless they replace him, nothing’s going to change. They’re going to go home” early in the playoffs.
Ryan Fitzpatrick, Sherman’s colleague at Amazon who spent 17 seasons as an NFL quarterback, played with Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo during his time in Buffalo. Fitzpatrick said it’s up to Patullo and head coach Nick Sirianni to fix “some missteps,” with their receivers, including getting A.J. Brown ”on a few more out cuts” and “in the slot a little bit more.”
“They’ve got to start in the second half of the season here, breaking some of those bad tendencies,” Fitzpatrick said. “Because you do fall in love with certain routes, with certain guys, because they’re such good players.”
