When Sara Aldana auditioned for the coveted Philadelphia Orchestra assistant conductor spot in April, she tried out in front of the ensemble with Copland and Bartok.
For the third piece, she chose an excerpt from Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2. The Russian composer is closely associated with the Philadelphians — he once called the orchestra the greatest in the world — and the second symphony, Aldana said, was close to her heart.
“I was like, whatever happens with the audition, I just want that memory of — wow — doing Rachmaninoff Two with Philadelphia for five minutes.”
Now she’ll be spending many more minutes with the Philadelphians. Aldana won the audition, and is the orchestra’s next assistant conductor, the group announced Wednesday.
The position is a junior one, though it has been a steppingstone to bigger opportunities. Aldana follows Naomi Woo, who has already been engaged as a guest conductor next season.
Aldana studied with Philadelphia Orchestra principal guest conductor Marin Alsop and worked as a cover conductor with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. As assistant conductor in Philadelphia, she will lead family and special concerts and give pre-concert talks.
One of her biggest responsibilities will be one that the public may never get to see — or that could make her career. She will serve as cover conductor, which means she could be tapped to lead a Philadelphia Orchestra concert at any moment if the scheduled conductor falls ill or is otherwise unable to perform at the last minute.
“I always think it’s like the Formula 1 reserve driver, you know? You might not be driving the car, but you could get a call and you have to get on, driving the car,” she said Aldana.
Conductor Marin Alsop — who has worked with Aldana — leading the Philadelphia Orchestra, May 28, 2026, in Marian Anderson Hall.
Aldana, 30, was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and earned an undergraduate degree in violin performance at the University of Texas at Austin. She holds a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Michigan, where she studied with Kenneth Kiesler, and did further studies with Alsop and Joseph Young at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
She has served as assistant conductor of the Reno Chamber Orchestra and is a 2026 mentee with the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship.
Aldana was at Peabody for a year, but left after winning the Philadelphia audition.
That tryout ended with five finalists for the job. Each had a short time conducting the orchestra, dipping into excerpts of various styles — Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin Suite, and the third piece, which the finalists could choose themselves from among three possibilities.
All five chose the last few minutes of the famously emotive third movement of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2.
Why this piece?
“I’m a violinist by training, and so I absolutely love Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2.”
The audition lasted all of 15 minutes.
“Fifteen minutes is a short amount of time, but you realize with Philadelphia, it’s all you need to get a good idea of who they are as an ensemble and the culture that they have as a group. It just happened to be a beautiful connection.”
Although Aldana started out as a violinist, she long harbored, even as a child, an interest in conducting.
“Your instrument is the orchestra, all these colors, and it’s just getting to play with all of them — how you create sound, balance, getting to discover, you’re continuously learning. That’s something that really appealed to me.”
The double bass section of the Philadelphia Orchestra performing on opening night of the 2025-26 season in Marian Anderson Hall, Sept. 25, 2025.
Aldana’s official start is Sept. 1. Her first scheduled concert with the orchestra is a Jan. 2 matinee in Marian Anderson Hall of Strauss family waltzes and other works.
Asked what piece she might dream of someday conducting with this orchestra, Aldana said any Tchaikovsky symphony, but especially the Sixth.
“There was an Ormandy recording that I remember listening to a lot. I was obsessed with this piece — obsessed. I remember that lush of the strings in the most heart-wrenching moments.”
Is there a piece she would find too daunting to conduct?
“Daunting. Hmm. I don’t think so.”
Does that mean she’s musically fearless?
“I am a little fearless,” she said, “when you have one of the best orchestras in the world in front of you.”
As soon as international soccer fans arrived in Philadelphia for the World Cup, they continued a time-honored tradition of gathering en masse at the foot of the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps, thrusting their fists to the sky as Sly Stallone did 50 years ago, and rallying for their team to victory.
From the thousands of Ecuadorian fans draping soccer jerseys on the Rocky statue, inadvertently cursing the Ecuador national team before it lost to Ivory Coast, to Brazilian fans staging security guards to deter fans from doing the same, and Iraqi fans waving their flags at the top of the steps — Rocky and its picturesque views of the Benjamin FranklinParkway have been a staple of Philly’s World Cup.
Temporary fenced walkways were erected for tourists to access the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps and Rocky Statue while the One City: Unity Concert for America stage is under construction on Saturday, June 27, 2026. Some World Cup fans and tourists have remarked on its inconvenience, but are enjoying the Parkway anyway.
However, last week, a stage spanning the width of the steps was erected in front of theRocky statue, leaving two narrow walkways to access the iconic landmark. Metal fencing ushers tourists through a walkway behind the under-construction stage, which will soon host the One Philly: Unity Concert for America on July 4 — the city’s revamped Fourth of July concert, which had been known as the Wawa Welcome America July 4th Concert for more than a decade.
“Because of the magnitude of this year’s event, organizers needed to properly position the stage back to where they’ve done large scale events before at the Art Museum,” a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office of Communications said about the placement of the stage.
Additionally, a spokesperson for the Office of Special Events said Croatia was the only fan meetup that was asked to relocate so far, as it planned to transport a 300-foot Croatia flag through the area which would prove difficult in the narrow walkways.
For most, this is a minor inconvenience. For Croatian fans, it forced them to relocate their pre-game rally and march.
“People did want to start the parade at the Rocky steps, and some people were upset by it,” said Croatia supporters organizer, Daniel Pedisich. “But, some of our fans went to Rocky on their own, and in some ways, maybe we avoided that Rocky curse?”
Croatia fans cheer outside of Con Murphy’s Irish pub located along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, Pa on Friday, June 26, 2026. Because construction took place by the Rocky Steps that day, Croatia fans relocated and gathered along the Parkway, where the Irish pub became the center point for the fan rally. Croatia defeated Ghana 2-1 on Saturday at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, allowing both teams to advance to the knockout stage.
Before the Croatian fan delegation would go on to cheer the checkered-clad team to a win against Ghana on Saturday, Pedisich said the city encouraged them to relocate their parade elsewhere along the Pakway. They settled for Con Murph’s Irish Pub on 17th Street.
Before the fan parade Friday, Bosko Katic, known to friends as “Coach Bosko,” was sporting red and white checkered overalls and a Croatia-themed cowboy hat as he waited for the fan parade to start at the new location. Croatians know how to bring joy to everyone they meet, Katic said, so while the delegation didn’t begin their march with Rocky, they still found ways to make memories — including crashing a wedding photoshoot at City Hall.
Bosko Katic cheers while waving the Croatia national flag outside of Con Murphy’s Irish pub located along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, Pa on Friday, June 26, 2026.
“We couldn’t gather at Rocky because there is something happening there, so we changed the parade route,” Katic said. “But it does not matter anyway — we always bring party, happiness, and love to everybody who is around us.”
Later that weekend, as tourists made their way to the Art Museum steps, squeezing by each other in the walkways, El Salvadorian World Cup fan Stephanie Rodriguez took photos of the steps while standing behind the stage. While Rodriguez admits she’s never seen a Rocky film, the site is “one of those things in pop culture that’s so iconic that you have to see it — like you can’t go to Philly and not see the Rocky steps,” she said.
Tourists shuffle by each other in the temporary fenced walkways erected for near the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps and Rocky Statue while the One City: Unity Concert for America stage is under construction on Saturday, June 27, 2026.
While the large stage perplexed her, she said she was able to eke out some great photos with Rocky, as the statue itself was accessible and not blocked from view.
“I mean it was surprising because I wasn’t expecting to see such a big stage in front of the Rocky Steps, but I think the photos are coming out great,” Rodriguez said.
The concert will turn the Parkway into a festival on July 4 from 3 p.m. until midnight, when a fireworks finale caps the night. Some of Philadelphia’s most prized musical acts will headline, from The Roots and Jill Scott to Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff, plus Meek Mill, Beanie Siegel, and Freeway are scheduled to perform starting at 5 p.m.
There are lots of air conditioned spaces you can go to for relief. Organizations like the Pennsylvania Department of Health have always recommended going to air-conditioned spaces — like a mall or library — to protect yourself from heat-related problems.
“With extreme heat, it is always important to remain cool, possibly in air-conditioned atmospheres,” state health department of health press secretary Maggi Mumma said in 2020.
There are, however, some things you can do at home to keep a little cooler if you are AC-less this summer. Here is what you need to know:
How to cool your body down
Let’s start with the basics: One key way to fight heat-related discomfort is to drink lots of cool water, which can both keep you hydrated and help cool you down. Sugary or alcoholic beverages can cause you to lose more body fluids. Dr. Joseph Teel, an associate professor of family medicine and community health at Penn Medicine, says you should drink water frequently.
How much? There is no one-size-fits-all answer. How much you need to drink can vary if you have health conditions such as congestive heart failure, Teel says, or be exacerbated by your environment, level of exercise, and overall health. One tip: Don’t wait until you are thirsty to drink, the state health department says.
When someone suffers heat exhaustion on a sports field, Teel says an ice bath can help bring down their temperature. You can take the same approach. A cold bath or shower, he says, can help but is not a permanent solution because “you can’t stay in the shower all summer.”
You can use cool compresses, Mumma says, to help cool down. Making one is simple: Just wet a washcloth or towel in cold water, and put it on your body. Where should you put it? Some of the most effective areas, Teel says, are around your neck and on your groin, and if you’re at home, you can try using them with minimal clothing on to hit a few areas at once.
You can step up that technique by using fans to make it an “evaporative process,” Teel says. “If we have water on our skin and it evaporates, it takes with it some heat,” he says. Put on your cold compress and use a fan to blow air across your skin, which Teel says can “cool you down a little faster than just a cold cloth itself.”
Beating the heat in Love Park fountain, during a hot summer day in Philadelphia.
How to cool down your house
Use fans wisely. Fans can be one of the best ways to keep cool — but there are right and wrong ways to use them. The city, for example, says you should never use a fan with your windows closed, which can create an “oven effect” by circulating hot air inside your home.
Fans can be more effective when the heat of the day is over, and you can open your windows to allow the cool night air in, Teel says. One of the best ways to create airflow is to put a box fan in an open window at one end of your space blowing air in, and another fan in a window blowing air out at the other end.
And if your home has ceiling fans, make sure the blades are rotating counterclockwise during hot weather. That way, the fan will push air down into your space to create a breeze. (Many ceiling fans have a directional switch on their motor that controls the direction in which they spin.)
There are more ways to keep your home cool.
Think about when you use your appliances.The Pennsylvania Utility Commission, for example, says that you should wait to use any appliances that generate heat — such as dryers, dishwashers, and ovens — until after 7 p.m. to avoid heating up your home unnecessarily. Turning off other nonessential appliances and lights is also a good idea.
Keep your blinds closed during the day. The sun, Teel says, can heat up your home faster, like a greenhouse. The PUC recommends spending time in rooms that are not hit with direct sunlight during the day.
City pools were closed in 2020, but will reopen for the 2021 summer.
If you’re going to buy an AC
Window air conditioners are much cheaper and more convenient to install than central air, and if you can afford one, it may be a good time. However, there are some things to consider when buying a window unit.
As Consumer Reports points out, you will want to get an AC that is appropriately sized for the room you are trying to cool. If it’s too small, it will have trouble cooling the room; if it’s too big, it will cool the room quickly but leave too much moisture behind. A good rule of thumb is for the unit to have 20 BTUs (British Thermal Units) of cooling power for every square foot of space in the room.
And if you need help with utility costs this summer, funding from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is available for qualified residents, a city spokesperson says.
Think about when you go out
The health department recommends staying indoors as much as possible and limiting exercise during the hottest parts of the day, Mumma says. However, if you have to go out, stay in the shade as much as possible and wear sunscreen, a ventilated hat, and sunglasses.
If you need to go shopping, Teel says, “look ahead in the week, and pick a cooler day. Avoid the time when you will be subjected to midday heat.”
At home, Teel says, wear as little clothing as possible. When out and about, consider using light-colored, loose-fitting clothes made of breathable, light materials like cotton that let air to circulate around you.
For folks planning ahead, these are roads that will be closed as Philly celebrates the nation’s 250th with the Wawa Welcome America Festival:
Thursday, June 25
Starting at 8 a.m., thenorth traffic lane on Market Street (between Fifth and Sixth Streets) is closed to accommodate the stage buildup for the Independence National Historical Park concert.
The north lane should reopen to traffic by 10 p.m.
Friday, June 26
The stage buildup continues. The north lane on Market Street (between Fifth and Sixth Streets) will be shut down once again from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Reservoir Drive in front of Smith Playground is also scheduled to be closed for Kidchella. Between noon and 11 p.m. the drive will be shut down to accommodate the free music festival with art stations.
The Benjamin Franklin Parkway from 16th Street to 17th Street
Arch Street between 15th and 16th Streets
16th Street from John F. Kennedy Boulevard to Arch Street
All streets are expected to reopen at midnight.
Sunday, June 28
Market Street and its north sidewalk (from Fifth to Sixth Streets) are scheduled to be closed from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. for the gospel concert at Independence Hall.
The north traffic lane on Market Street will also be shut down for the concert between 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Tuesday, June 30
The inner lanes of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway from 20th Street to Binswanger Triangle will close starting at 6 a.m. in preparation for the One Philly: Unity Concert for America July 4th concert and fireworks. Closures will remain in place through Monday at 6 a.m.
Market Street north traffic lane from Fifth to Sixth Streets
Closing between 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Walnut Street from Second to Fourth Streets
Closed between 11 a.m. until the parade ends or passes
Chestnut Street between Second and Fifth Streets
Market Street at Fifth Street
Chestnut Street at Fifth Street closure starts at 11:15 a.m.
Closing between 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Market Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets
Sixth Street between Arch and Market Streets
Market Street north sidewalk from Fifth to Sixth Streets
Closing July 2 and July 3
Fifth Street from Race Street to Chestnut Street is closed from July 2 at noon to July 3 at 5 p.m.
Friday, July 3
With the Salute to Independence Parade the Philly Pops concert at Independence Mall, and the Parkway concert and fireworks, Friday brings more road closures. Expect some streets to close as early as 4 a.m.
Closing between 4 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Three streets will be closed between Spruce and Arch Streets:
Third Street
Fourth Street
Fifth Street
Closing between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.
Market Street from Fifth to Sixth Streets
Closing from 6 a.m. Friday to 6 a.m. on Monday
1900 block of Race Street
1800-1900 Vine Street
I-676 off-ramp at 22nd Street
I-676 on-ramp at 22nd Street
I-76 eastbound off-famp at Spring Garden Street
Spring Garden Tunnel
Park Towne Place between 22nd and 24th Streets
20th Street between Arch Street and Pennsylvania Avenue
19th Street between Callowhill and Cherry Streets
Benjamin Franklin Parkway from 17th Street to Eakins Oval (all lanes)
Eakins Oval (all lanes)
Kelly Drive between Eakins Oval and Fairmount Avenue (Kelly Drive inbound closed at Fountain Green Drive beginning at about 5 p.m.)
Rear of Art Museum – Anne d’Harnoncourt Drive
2000-2100 Winter Street
MLK Drive from Falls Bridge to Eakins Oval
Spring Garden Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and 31st Street
23rd Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and Eakins Oval
22nd Street between Winter Street and Pennsylvania Avenue
21st Street between Winter Street and Pennsylvania Avenue
All roads from Arch Street to Spring Garden Street, 18th to 22nd Streets (local access maintained for residents)
All roads from Arch Street to Fairmount Avenue, 22nd to Corinthian Streets (local access maintained for residents)
16th and 17th Streets, between Arch and Spring Garden Streets will be closed only if conditions warrant in the interest of public safety
1600-1700 Benjamin Franklin Parkway will be closed only if conditions warrant in the interest of public safety
Closingfrom 11:30 a.m. until the parade ends
Market Street from Sixth to 17th Streets
Seventh Street between Arch and Walnut Streets
Eighth Street between Arch Street and Walnut Streets
Ninth Street between Arch and Walnut Streets
10th Street between Arch and Walnut Streets
11th Street between Arch and Walnut Streets
12th Street between Arch and Walnut Streets
13th Street between Arch and Walnut Streets
John F. Kennedy Boulevard between Juniper and 17th Streets
North Broad Street between John F. Kennedy Boulevard and Arch Street
15th Street between Cherry and Chestnut Streets
Benjamin Franklin Parkway between Arch and 20th Streets
16th Street between Cherry and Chestnut Streets
17th Street between Race and Arch Streets
18th Street between Vine and Cherry Streets
19th Street between Vine and Cherry Streets
20th Street between Vine and Race Streets
Chestnut Street between 11th and 16th Streets
Closing between 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Sixth Street from Market to Race Streets
North sidewalk on Market Street from Fifth to Sixth Streets
Saturday, July 4
Sealing the 250th festivities, the Celebration of Freedom Ceremony brings few more road closures. Closures related to the Parkway concert and fireworks continue.
Closing between 8 a.m. to noon
Market Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets
Market Street north sidewalk from Fifth to Sixth Streets
Closing between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m. on Sunday, July 5
Kelly Drive from Fairmount Avenue to Fountain Green Drive
In the early 1780s, Revolutionary War era Jewish patriot and Philadelphian Lt. Col. David S. Franks had a desperate work situation in hand.
He had served as one of Benedict Arnold’s high-ranking personal assistants, and after Continental militiamen discovered Arnold’s intentions to sell America out to the British in 1780, it became nearly impossible for Franks to find ajobwith the United States government.
Franks was cleared of wrongdoing. But working with Arnold made the Founders wary of employing Franks.
But not Thomas Jefferson, who hired Franks as his secretary. By the time the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolution was ratified in January 1784 in Annapolis, Md., then America’s capital, Franks had been Jefferson’s secretary for almost a year.
It was Franks who carried at least one official copy of the finalized treaty to Benjamin Franklin — who was in Paris at the time — and other officials in Britain and France.
Frederick Douglass’ Paper (front center) and other documents, part of the collection “How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection,” which boasts more than 320 rare newspapers, books, pamphlets, and ephemera tracing the development of printing and publishing in America, an enterprise that started in Philadelphia in1690 with the first paper mill.
Franks also carried a two-page letter written in Jefferson’s customary neat hand for Francois Jean de Beauvoir, Chevalier de Chastellux. It was a friendly message between the longtime acquaintances, in which Jefferson wrote to the French noble about how America was progressing as a sovereign nation and about his forthcoming book Notes on The State of Virginia.
That letter sold for $108,000 Tuesday as part of an online and in-person auction presented by Philadelphia’s Freeman’s auction house.
Books from the collection “How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection,” which boasts more than 320 rare newspapers, books, pamphlets, and ephemera tracing the development of printing and publishing in America.
“Caren goes where the history leads him. His collection reflects that,” said Darren Winston, Freeman’s senior vice president and head of the books and manuscripts department. “When he asked us to host a sale in honor of the 250th, we immediately said yes.”
18th century news treasures
The vast sepia-hued collection of aged newspapers and bound volumes was heaven sent for primary-source junkies who can afford to plop down a few hundred or several thousand dollars for the kinds of historical gems usually found only on microfilm. It’s also a gold mine for those who think hundred-year-old newspapers in near mint condition are frame-worthy.
A four-page Pennsylvania Evening Post printed on July 4, 1776, believed to be the first daily newspaper printed on North American soil just declared free of the monarchy.
The Evening Post, founded by printer Benjamin Towne in 1775, was published just a few blocks from the Pennsylvania State House on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evenings.
The July 4 edition contains a short mention that the Continental Congress declared the United Colonies free and Independent States earlier in the day. And “the day before, we had a King in charge,” Winston said.“How History Unfolds on Paper” included five 18th century newspaper editions, including one printed in Scotland, that published the Declaration of Independence in full.
Other archival gems included a copy of the Frederick Douglass Paper from 1860; copies of the Emancipation Proclamation as they appeared in the Daily Globe, the New York Tribune, the Evening Journal Almanac, and The Philadelphia Inquirer; Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address as printed in the New York Times in 1865; and more than 70 issues of Civil War-era Philadelphia Inquirers.
A copy of the Philadelphia Inquirer, part of the collection “How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection,” which boasts more than 320 rare newspapers, books, pamphlets, and ephemera tracing the development of printing and publishing in America, an enterprise that started in Philadelphia in 1690 with the first paper mill.
But Caren’s collection is more than weathered newspapers.
The auctioned collection bubbled with relics, collectibles, and keepsakes that speak to the economy, such as a note signed by first director of the U.S. Mint, David Rittenhouse — for whom Rittenhouse Square is named — ordering payment of 350 pounds to a doorkeeper employed at the Pennsylvania State House. (That’s about $107,000 in today’s money.)
“Freeman’s is America’s oldest auction house, and Philadelphia is the birthplace of the United States,” Caren said. “So for the 250th anniversary [of America], I thought this sale would be quite fitting.”
Some of the sports memorabilia featured in “How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection”
50 years of collecting
Caren, 66, is a New Yorker and said he came out of his mother’s womb collecting — starting with comic books, stamps, coins, and baseball cards.
In 1970, he learned that a few of his friends were going rummaging through an abandoned house in Rockland County and that they had found newspapers from the turn of the 20th century.
“I asked them to try and find me a sports page with Babe Ruth, and they brought me one from 1913 and I was mesmerized,” Caren said.
After some cajoling, Caren convinced his friends to reveal their secret treasure trove. There, he discovered periodicals going back to the 1890s and was hooked.
Caren spent the next 50-plus years collecting the printed and written word. He has traveled the world to estate sales, garage sales, rare book shops, and antique shows. He’s one of the founders of the Ephemera Society of America and a member of the American Antiquarian Society and the Grolier Club.
He owns hundreds of thousands of paper items, and pieces of his collection have been sold at the auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s. “How History Unfolds on Paper” was his 10th auction and first in Philadelphia.
“If ever there was a Philadelphia item, this is it”
In his travels, Caren has come across many of Jefferson’s letters. The one written to Chastellux, he says, is particularly noteworthy because Jefferson wrote it himself, as opposed to dictating it to a secretary, like Franks.
Long-time ephemera collector Eric C. Caren, his collection “How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X” went to auction at Freeman’s in Philadelphia.
The letter had been in the Chastellux family for centuries before landing at an auction a few years ago. Caren passed it over a few times before recognizing Frank’s name in the first paragraph.
“It was a great example of how even great things can slip by,” Caren said.
The Treaty of Paris was signed in September 1783. The following January, legislators ratified it in Annapolis.
Dated Jan. 16, 1784, Jefferson’s letter reads like a chatty blog of late 18th century American happenings. In the five months since the war’s end, news traveled to Europe that Americans were behaving badly. One of the reasons Jefferson penned this missive, Caren said, was to “dispel [this] fake news.”
“There was indeed some dissatisfaction in the army at not being paid off before they were disbanded and a very trifling mutiny of 200 souldiers in Philadelphia,” Jefferson wrote, playing down the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, during which a few Continental Army soldiers rioted in Philadelphia streets when they weren’t paid.
Thomas Jefferson’s signature on a letter to Francois Jean de Beauvoir, Chevalier de Chastellux, a part of the auction at Freeman’s.
He also mentions his yet-to-be published book Notes on The State of Virginia and encouraged Chastellux to write one of his own. He did.
Voyages de M. le Marquis de Chastellux dans l’Amerique septentrionale, published at theturn of the 20th century, is what rare book dealer Wright Howes described as “the first trustworthy record of life in the United States.”
He spent years trying to restore his name. During his first term, President George Washington helped Franks secure a job as an assistant cashier at the Bank of the United States of America, but Franks was no longer accepted in the Founding Father’s circle.
He died in 1793 during Philadelphia’s yellow fever epidemic.
“If ever there was a Philadelphia item, this is it,” Caren said. “This letter is the intersection between the history of Philadelphia and the history of our nation.”
The headline and article have been updated to include the winning bid at the auction on Tuesday morning.
Like many, I’m big fan of Nicolas Cage’s work. How big? On my bachelorette party to New Orleans a few years ago I requested we tour St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 so I could get a pic of me and my girls with Cage’s nine-foot pyramid tomb.
Not only can the man seriously act, he can also seriously overact. As a writer who loves puns ( especially bad ones), I appreciate someone who has fun with their art form to the point it causes eye rolls.
And so, when I learned about Uncaged in Jenkintown: A Nic Cage cocktail crawl that happened on Sunday, I wanted to check it out. In some ways, it turned out to be like a lot of Cage movies — not a blockbuster, but still quirky and fun.
“Honeymoon in Vegas” plays at Buckets Bar during the Nic Cage cocktail crawl on Sunday in Jenkintown.
The crawl was spread across four Jenkintown bars — the Keep Easy, the Drake Tavern, Buckets Bar, and King’s Corner. Each one featured Cage-themed cocktails and hosted a “Cage match,” where participants went head-to-head in challenges based on Cage films.
Organizer Mel Hager, an owner of the Keep Easy, said she sold out of the 50 Uncaged kits she’d prepared for $15 a pop. While the crawl was free to attend, those who bought a kit — including yours truly — received a passport book, which got you a free Cage match at each establishment (otherwise they were $2 to play); a piece of Cage cash, which was good for one shot at any of the bars (it’s a tiny dollar bill with Nic Cage’s face on it, I’m never spending that); and one of a variety of Cage masks (I felt like I won the lottery when I got the Con-Air Cage).
While I didn’t drink, I hopped around to the bars, tried my hand at the Cage matches, and talked with fellow Cage fans about what brought them out to the event. Here are five of the wackiest things I saw at the Nic Cage bar crawl.
1. H.I. fashion
Vicky and Mike Hutz, of Huntington Valley, at the Keep Easy during the Nic Cage cocktail crawl on Sunday in Jenkintown. Mike Hutz is dressed as Cage’s character from “Raising Arizona,” H.I. McDunnough.
When H.I. McDunnough kidnaps one of the Arizona quintuplet babies in the 1987 Cohen Brothers classic, Raising Arizona, he proclaims to his wife: “I think I got the best one.”
Of the few Cage character costumes I saw Sunday — which included Ronny from Moonstruck, Cameron Poe from Con Air, and someone portraying Cage’s first role as an unnamed burger shop worker in Fast Times at Ridgemont High — Mike Hutz’s H.I. McDunnough costume was undoubtedly the best one. Hutz, of Huntingdon Valley, had the open Hawaiian shirt, a wig, and McDunnough’s mugshot board.
“What else are you going to do on a Sunday afternoon when you have a Nicolas Cage crawl option?” he said. “There’s nothing he can’t do and he does it with maximum cheesiness, which is just perfect for people who love cheesy.”
2. The faces
Seeing people at bars and walking the streets of Jenkintown wearing Cage face masks was both highly amusing and mildly unsettling, mainly because the eye holes were cut out wonkily, giving them a ragged, creepy edge.
Masks included Face/Off Cage, Con Air Cage, red carpet Cage, and Dracula Cage (from the movie Renfield).
Vicky Hutz, of Huntington Valley, holds a “Con-Air” Nic Cage mask at the Keep Easy during the Nic Cage cocktail crawl on Sunday.
Julia Sousa and Josh Douglas traveled to the crawl from Roxborough because they love Cage and Jenkintown. Douglas walked from bar to bar with his Cage face mask on, which seemed to startle some passing motorists.
“I’m pretty sure they thought I was Michael Myers,” he said.
3. The Cage matches
The games based on Cage films, while homespun, were clever and fun. At Buckets, the game was inspired by the scene in Honeymoon in Vegas where Cage skydives with a bunch of Elvis impersonators. Contestants had to throw toy parachute soldiers that were painted to look like Elvis onto particular spots of a mock-up of the Vegas strip for points.
Julia Sousa and Josh Douglas, both of Roxborough, compete in the “Flying Elvis Cage Match,” at Buckets Bar during the Nic Cage cocktail crawl on Sunday in Jenkintown.
At King’s Corner, where the challenge was based on the movie National Treasure, participants had to solve little metal mind-bender puzzles.
For the Spider-Noir Cage match at the Drake, you had to keep a balloon bouncing in the air while putting on a cape, mask, and fedora.
I failed spectacularly at all three of those challenges — and I was completely sober! The only one I did succeed at was called Ghost Glider. Based on the film Ghost Rider, the challenge was to to roll a penny down an inclined surface made to look like a road and into the tongs of a fork at the other end.
The “Ghost Glider” Cage match at the Keep Easy during the Nic Cage cocktail crawl on Sunday in Jenkintown.
4. Stickers and sage
For winning the Ghost Glider challenge, I received a bundle of sage and a sticker for my passport book of a shirtless, reclining Cage coming out of a banana.
Let’s address the sage first: Nobody could tell me why this was my prize for winning the challenge, which somehow makes it even better. I have two theories — it could be because sage rhymes with Cage, or maybe it’s because you light sage and in Ghost Rider, Cage lights on fire.
Whatever the reason, I’m gonna smudge some stuff up this weekend.
An a-peeling sticker columnist Stephanie Farr received for winning a Cage match challenge at the Keep Easy during the Nic Cage bar crawl in Jenkintown Sunday.
Now onto this banana sticker — I don’t know why it exists, but I am so happy it does. Each bar gave a different sticker if you won a challenge, but this banana-Cage split one was, by far, the most a-peeling.
Later at the Drake, I met Erica Adams of Bensalem and “her only friend of whimsy,” Amanda Knop, who’d driven from Baltimore to attend the Cage crawl with her. Adams had her own stickers of Cage’s head she was handing out like friendship bracelets at a Taylor Swift concert.
“I just love his movies and doing silly, fun things,” Adams said. “Nicolas Cage himself is very unserious. He’s lived a million different lives in a short span already.”
5. Picolas Cage
Justin Walsh poses for a photo with “Picolas Cage” as Jessica Lopez takes the photo at the Keep Easy during the Nic Cage cocktail crawl on Sunday in Jenkintown.
A giant cut-out of Cage as a pickle, aka Picolas Cage, was stationed outside of the Keep Easy during the crawl. As someone who likes Cage and cucumbers — but hates pickles — it was a jarring experience. But I saw others relishing the photo op so I didn’t make a big dill out of it.
Daveigh Chase, an actor known for voicing the character of Lilo in the hit animated film “Lilo & Stitch,” died in Los Angeles this month of AIDS, the county’s Department of Medical Examiner said Monday.
The case information for Chase, who was 35 and also known as Daveigh Schwallier, said her death at a hospital June 16 was natural. It listed AIDS, which is caused by HIV, as the cause, and said that “chronic polysubstance use” — repeatedly using more than one drug or substance at the same time or within a short period of time — was a “significant condition.”
The Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner said a more detailed report about the case was not yet available.
When Chase’s father, John David Schwallier, confirmed his daughter’s death to The New York Times, he said the cause was complications of bacterial meningitis and a blood infection. Schwallier also said his daughter had been homeless and living in Los Angeles with her boyfriend near the hospital where she died.
“Lilo & Stitch,” released in 2002 when Chase was almost 12, told the story of an orphaned Hawaiian girl, Lilo, who brings home an impish blue space alien, Stitch, from the dog pound. Chase brought the plucky Lilo to life.
Her breakout role, however, was in the live-action thriller “The Ring,” released in the United States roughly four months later, alongside Naomi Watts. Chase played Samara, a long-haired child villain. The image of Samara crawling through a blurry television screen would become seared in the cultural consciousness of that period.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect a later start time for the concert, which organizers changed due to the extreme heat advisory this week.
Broadway legend Idina Menzel has lived in Los Angeles for years now, but she still loves an East Coast audience — especially in Philly.
“They’re my vibe. I’ve got a lot of friends and family down there. They understand my humor,” said Menzel, who lives in Encino with her husband, actor Aaron Lohr, her 16-year-old son, Walker Nathaniel Diggs, and their dog, Gino.
“I just really feel like I’m very authentic when I’m on the stage with them, and we have a great time.”
The star singer behind unforgettable characters in Wicked, Rent, and Frozen, Menzel returns to Philadelphia on July 3 to perform her biggest hits from musicals and beyond, joining the Philly Pops for a free concert on Independence Mall.
“It’s been quite some time since I’ve done an orchestra show,” said Menzel, who last year starred in the Broadway musical Redwood, about a mother grieving the sudden loss of her son and finding solace in a redwood forest.
“It’s the most glorious experience, just standing up there in front of 80 some musicians and performing with them … there’s nothing like it.”
At Independence Mall, she’ll likely sing her popular hits, like “Defying Gravity,” “Take Me or Leave Me,” and “Let It Go,” as well as songs from her own discography, with some familiar arrangements and some new ones she created recently.
Outside of touring, the Tony Award-winner is no stranger to the city: As a New Yorker, Menzel has visited often before. In college, she once spent a Christmas in town with two New York University roommates from Philadelphia.
There’s one thing she loves to do whenever she stops in Philly — run up the Art Museum steps.
“I make it a point to, with my son, because he’s such an athlete. We run the steps. I call them the Rocky steps,” she said.
Performing as part of Wawa Welcome America’s Semiquincentennial celebrations leading up to July 4, Menzel joins a long list of celebrities coming to Philadelphia for the national birthday bash. If there’s one song from her history that she thinks Philly audiences — and Americans overall — need to hear right now, that would be “No Day But Today.”
“Rent was my very first professional show, and it’s one of my favorite songs from that show. For me, it’s kind of like a mantra, and whenever I sing it, audiences truly come together,” she said. “It’s more about gratitude and community. People coming together, not taking things for granted, and really embracing the moment.”
It’s a message that will likely resonate with Philadelphians — even if Menzel is a diehard Knicks fan.
Idina Menzel will headline Pops on Independence in Philadelphia at Sixth & Market Streets on the Independence Concert Series Stage at 8 p.m. on Friday, July 3.
Philadelphia now has three Rocky statues. That is three statues celebrating a fictional Philadelphian. And while many great Philadelphians already have statues, there are so many who don't.
Who do you think should be Philadelphia’s Next Top Statue?
To decide, we’ll present you with two random Philadelphians from our list of just 26. For each matchup, you choose who deserves to be honored more. The winner will move on to the next round to face another Philadelphian.
You’ll keep going until we end up with your definitive Philadelphia’s Next Top Statue.
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If you're happy with , you can skip the remaining challengers, and lock them in as your choice.
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You think Philadelphia should build a statue of winner and percentageWinner of Inquirer readers agree with you. The most popular winning statues, so far, are popularWinners.
You stuck with longest for the longest, picking them over longestLength other statues.
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The concert, scheduled for 7 p.m. at Independence Mall, was initially postponed because of lightning and thunder detected in the area.
Wawa Welcome America officials, who organized the concert, said there were plans to restart the show, but it was ultimately canceled due to inclement weather.
There are currently no plans to reschedule Franklin’s show.
Franklin, however, found a way to greet fans as he briefly stood on top of an SUV as the crowd exited Independence Mall.
A downpour started shortly after his departure.
In a video posted on his Instagram page, Franklin explained his intention to put on an “incredible concert.” “I was really excited about it,” he said in a video with the caption, “I need the weather to repent! LOL! 😂❤️🙏🏽.”
“People were really disappointed,” he wrote. “But I need you to know that I’m more disappointed because I was really, really, really ready to go. I love Philadelphia. I’ll get back, man. I can’t let Philly down like that.”
“My feet still hurting from standing out there waiting,” one fan commented under Franklin’s Instagram post.
Kirk Franklin accepts the ultimate icon award during the BET Awards in 2025, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Not all of Franklin’s interactions with fans on Sunday were as jovial.
In a now-viral social media video, Franklin is seen arguing with an attendee, who urged the singer to “repent” for his sins. Otherwise, he and his wife, Tammy Franklin, are “going to go to hell,” the attendee threatened.
Franklin attempted to confront the unidentified man but was held back by several security guards.
The man was eventually escorted out of the venue by law enforcement officers.
Before the show’s cancelation, fans enjoyed the opening performances and food vendors at Sunday’s event at the Independence Mall, which was part of this week’s lineup of Wawa Welcome America Festival events and concerts.
The celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday will continue with Tuesday’s Philadelphia Orchestra’s Pride concert, Thursday’s “Salute to Service” concert, and Friday’s Pops on Independence concert.
On July 4, the free “One Philly: Unity Concert for America” will take place on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Featuring Christina Aguilera, Jill Scott, The Roots, and others, that show is not part of Wawa Welcome America but counts Wawa among its sponsors.
