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  • A romantic Valentine’s Day musical weekend in Philly awaits

    A romantic Valentine’s Day musical weekend in Philly awaits

    Philly Valentine’s Day weekend musical options include Diana Krall and the R&B Lovers Tour in Atlantic City, Eric Benet at City Winery, Stinking Lizaveta at the Khyber, La Cumbia Del Amor at Johnny Brenda’s, Marshall Allen at Solar Myth, Langhorne Slim in Ardmore, and a road trip to see Boyz II Men. What could be more romantic?

    Thursday, Feb. 12

    Lazyacres / Bowling Alley Oop

    Philly songwriter Josh Owens doesn’t seem to have a fully functioning keypad. His dreamy indie pop band Lazyacres’ EP is called Nospacebar. He’s playing South Street hotdog nightclub Nikki Lopez with Attic Posture, Bowling Alley Oop, and Dante Robinson. 8 p.m., Nikki Lopez, 304 South St., @nikkilopezphilly

    Big Benny Bailey, with Ben Pierce and Shamir Bailey, plays the Fallser Club in East Falls on Friday.

    Friday, Feb. 13

    Big Benny Bailey

    The winning Black History Month programming at the Fallser Club continues with Big Benny Bailey, the duo of South Philly songwriters Shamir Bailey and Ben Pierce. It’s a bluegrass, folk, and country project that promises to be another compelling adventure from the multitalented Shamir, who released his 10th album, Ten, last year. He has a GoFundMe going to get his screenplay Career Queer made into a feature film. Reese Florence and Lars open. 8 p.m., Fallser Club, 3721 Midvale Ave., thefallserclub.com

    Umphrey’s McGee

    The veteran jam band, which formed at the University of Notre Dame and called its 1998 debut album Greatest Hits, Vol. III, released its latest improvisatory adventure, Blueprints, in 2025. 8 p.m., Fillmore Philly, 29 E. Allen St., thefillmorephilly.com

    The Knee-Hi’s

    Chicago’s self-described “female fronted garage glam rock band existing as a living love letter to rock and roll” tops a bill with Ione, Star Moles, and Thank You Thank You. 8 p.m., Ortlieb’s 847 N. Third St., 4333collective.com

    Boyz II Men

    Shawn Stockman, Nate Morris, and Wanya Morris usually stay close to home on Valentine’s Day weekend. This year is a little different, with the Boyz on the road on the “New Edition Way” tour with New Edition and Toni Braxton. The trio of R&B stars will arrive in Philly at the Liacouras Center on March 15, but on this heart-shaped weekend, they’re in New Jersey. 8 p.m., Prudential Center, 25 Lafayette St., Newark, prucenter.com

    Iron & Wine

    Sam Beam, who leads Iron & Wine, has a free-flowing new album coming Feb. 27, called Hen’s Teeth. “I’ve always wanted to use that title,” he said in a statement. “I just love it. To me it suggests the impossible. Hen’s teeth do not exist. And that’s what this record felt like: a gift that shouldn’t be there but it is. An impossible thing but it’s real.” Noon, World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., xpn.org

    Diana Krall

    Jazz pianist Diana Krall makes two date-night stops in the region this weekend. On Friday, the vocalist, whose most recent album, This Dream of You, is named after a Bob Dylan song, is in Bethlehem. On Saturday, she’s down the Shore. 8 p.m. Wind Creek Event Center, 77 Wind Creek Blvd, Bethlehem, windcreekeventcenter.com, and 8 p.m., Ocean Casino Resort, 500 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, theoceanac.com

    Diana Krall performs in Bethlehem on Friday and Atlantic City on Saturday.

    Saturday, Feb. 14

    The R&B Lovers Tour

    This package tour gathers together stars of 1990s silky pop R&B and soul, with featured sets by Keith Sweat, Joe, Dru Hill, and Ginuwine. 8 p.m., Boardwalk Hall, 2301 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, boardwalkhall.com.

    Eric Benet

    The R&B love man, formerly betrothed to Halle Berry, and now married to Prince’s ex-wife Manuela Testolini, was a regular hitmaker in the 1990s and 2000s, topping the charts with “Spend My Life With You” with Tamia in 1999. Last year saw the release of his album The Co-Star and a holiday collection. 6 and 9:30 p.m., City Winery Philadelphia, 990 Filbert St., citywinery.com/philadelphia

    Stinking Lizaveta

    Cozy up to your honey while listening to high-volume doom jazz by the power trio named after a character in Dostoyevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov. The band consists of drummer Cheshire Augusta and guitarist brothers Yanni and Alexi Papadopoulos, whose 1996 debut album Hopelessness and Shame, recorded by Steve Albini, has just been issued on vinyl for the first time. 8 p.m., Upstairs at the Khyber Pass Pub, 56 S. Second St., @upstairsatkhyberpasspub

    La Cumbia Del Amor

    Philly cumbia klezmer punk band Mariposas Galacticas joins forces with Baltimore-based cumbia ska outfit Soroche and DJ Pdrto Criolla for a dance party celebrating “radical love in all its forms.” 9 p.m., Johnny Brenda’s, 1021 N. Franklin St., johnnybrendas.com

    Philly Gumbo

    Long-standing rhythmically adept party band Philly Gumbo is now in its 47th year. Fat Tuesday is coming up this week, and the band’s bons temps rouler repertoire is deep. This should be a Mardi Gras dance party to remember. 7 p.m., 118 North, 118 N. Wayne Ave., Wayne, 118Northwayne.com.

    Marshall Allen at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia in April 2025. The Sun Ra Arkestra leader plays with his band Ghost Horizons on Saturday at Solar Myth.

    Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons

    The indefatigable Sun Ra Arkestra leader is back at the former Boot & Saddle with a version of his Ghost Horizons band that includes DM Hotep on guitar, Joe Morris on bass, and Matthew Shipp on piano. 8 p.m., Solar Myth, 1131 S. Broad St., arsnovaworkshop.org

    Sunday, Feb. 15

    Marissa Nadler

    Folk-goth guitarist Marissa Nadler creates dreamy noir-ish soundscapes that have won her a following with folkies and metal heads. Her latest is the haunting New Radiations. 7:30 p.m., MilkBoy Philly, 1100 Chestnut St., milkboyphilly.com

    Langhorne Slim

    Bucks County’s own Langhorne Slim turns up the volume on The Dreamin’ Kind, his most rocked-out album, produced by Greta Van Fleet bassist Sam F. Kiszka. That album follows 2021’s Strawberry Mansion, named for the Philly neighborhood where his grandfathers were raised. Get there early for Laney Jones and the Spirits, the Nashville quintet whose raucous 2025 self-titled debut is full of promise. 7 p.m., Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, ardmoremusichall.com

    The Blackbyrds

    The Washington jazz and R&B band, which formed when its members were students of trumpeter Donald Byrd, scored a smash with 1975’s “Walking in Rhythm.” Its music is familiar to hip-hop fans through “Rock Creek Park,” which was sampled by MF Doom, De La Soul, and Wiz Khalifa, among many others. 5 and 8:30 p.m., City Winery Philadelphia, 990 Filbert St., citywinery.com/philadelphia.

  • Greenberg Elementary students have been relocated as Philly schools continue to face cold-weather issues

    Greenberg Elementary students have been relocated as Philly schools continue to face cold-weather issues

    Building woes triggered by a sustained blast of cold weather continue at some Philadelphia schools.

    Staff at Strawberry Mansion High reported that about half the building was without heat Monday, with some classrooms in the 40s and hallways not much warmer.

    And staff and students at Greenberg Elementary in the Northeast had to relocate to the old Meehan Middle School after nearly a week of virtual school because of heating problems.

    “Due to insufficient heat throughout the building, Greenberg is not able to safely support in-person learning at this time,” district officials wrote to parents this weekend. “Our facilities team is actively working to resolve the heating issue as quickly as possible. At this time, the repair timeline is still being assessed, but we will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.”

    Meehan is one of the district’s “swing spaces” — it no longer operates as a school, but is used as an alternate location for schools that need it. It recently housed Thomas Holme Elementary while a new building was constructed for that school. It’s unclear how long Greenberg students will need to stay at Meehan.

    The move rankled some Greenberg parents, who had logistical and safety concerns about sending their children to a different location.

    Katy Foley-Gallagher, mom of a Greenberg kindergartener and third grader, said virtual learning was a challenge — on days she had to work, her husband had to take off from his job to manage their daughter and son.

    But moving to Meehan isn’t ideal either, Foley-Gallagher said.

    “Everybody’s getting anxious — this is disrupting their learning,” said Foley-Gallagher. “They district is not taking care of their building, and they don’t keep up with the infrastructure at all.”

    The school system, which a 2023 landmark court ruling acknowledged has been underfunded for decades, has billions in unmet building needs. Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. has proposed a facilities master plan that would cost $2.8 billion and require closing 20 buildings, as well as modernizing 159 others.

    It’s not yet clear whether Greenberg would receive upgrades as part of that process. And that plan, which the school board is expected to vote on this winter, would take years to implement.

    Greenberg, like other district schools in the Northeast, is overcrowded, with over 1,000 students in a building whose capacity is 800. Students can no longer leave their classrooms for art or music; those rooms have been repurposed to accommodate extra classes.

    “They’re going to put them back in these crowded rooms,” said Foley-Gallagher. “Greenberg is such a good school, but I worry that this is going to drive people out of the school, out of the city.”

    She and other parents said they had concerns about their children being on a campus with Lincoln High, another overcrowded school.

    District officials said they were taking steps to ensure “a smooth transition for students and families” as Greenberg relocates to Meehan.

    The district is providing shuttle service for students who normally walk to Greenberg, though the shuttle leaves at 8 a.m., a half hour after classes begin.

    “We understand that unexpected changes can be challenging for families, and we appreciate your patience and partnership as we work to restore normal building operations,” district chief operating officer Teresa Fleming wrote in an email to parents. “The safety and well-being of our school community remain our highest priority.”

  • Carla Washington Hines, longtime dancer, choreographer, and teacher, has died at 72

    Carla Washington Hines, longtime dancer, choreographer, and teacher, has died at 72

    Carla Washington Hines, 72, of Philadelphia, longtime dancer, pioneering choreographer, celebrated teacher, former artistic director, collaborator extraordinaire, and mentor, died Sunday, Nov. 2, of sepsis at Temple University Hospital-Jeanes Campus.

    Mrs. Hines came to Philadelphia from Virginia in 1974 after college and spent the next four decades dancing, teaching, lecturing, traveling, and generally advocating for arts in education from kindergarten through college. She danced with the Sun Ra Arkestra, the John Hines Dance Co., and other troupes at all sorts of venues in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, elsewhere in the United States, and throughout Europe.

    She choreographed original performances such as “Montage in Black,” “Reflections,” and “Life Cycle,” and collaborated with notable jazz musicians Herbie Hancock and Alice Coltrane, and other musical stars. She was a guest on TV and radio shows, read poetry at public events, and earned awards from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Philadelphia-based Bartol Foundation for education.

    She was an expert in jazz dance, modern dance, ballet, and posture, and she lectured, organized workshops, and taught the elements of dance and choreographic principles at schools, colleges, art centers, drama guilds, libraries, and elsewhere around the country. Her mother, Thelma, was a dancer and teacher, too, and Mrs. Hines championed the connection between an interest in the arts and academic success.

    “In dance, I can be anything I want to be,” she said in an online interview. “That’s the magic of the arts.”

    She created an afterschool residency at a Universal charter school and taught dance at E.M. Stanton Elementary School, Strawberry Mansion High School, and other schools. She said in the online interview that her curriculum “is based on the appreciation of dance and movement,” and that it helps students “make sense of their lives using dance as a tool for learning.”

    She said: “I want them to be able to understand through movement exploration how dance can change one’s life.”

    She was artistic director for the Philadelphia chapter of the Institute for the Arts in Education and at the Point Breeze Performing Arts Center. “Her creative guidance helped students tell powerful cultural stories through movement,” her family said.

    Mrs. Hines performed with the Jones-Haywood Dance School in Washington before moving to Philadelphia.

    As longtime community engagement manager for the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts, Mrs. Hines wrote grants and choreographed performances. She was executive director of the John Coltrane Cultural Society and active at the old University of the Arts.

    Her family said: “She devoted her life to creativity and to nurturing talent in others.”

    Carla Yvette Washington was born Nov. 3, 1952, in Charleston, W.Va. Her family moved to Grambling, La., when she was young, and she graduated from high school in 1970.

    She was named Miss Freshman at what is now Grambling State University, joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc. sorority, and earned a bachelor’s degree in recreation in 1973. In 1981, she earned a master’s degree in fine arts and dance at the old Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts.

    Mrs. Hines (left) smiles with her husband, Lovett, and their daughter, Zara.

    She worked as a dance teacher for the Fairfax County Department of Recreation in Virginia after college and performed with the Jones-Haywood Dance School in Washington before moving to Philadelphia.

    She met jazz musician Lovett Hines Jr. when they were students at Grambling and they married in 1984 and lived in West Oak Lane. They had a daughter, Zara, and Mrs. Hines welcomed her husband’s son, Lovett III, and his family into her family.

    “She introduced many creatives to dance and culture, and sparked their creative careers,” her stepson said. “That is the essence of her legacy.”

    Mrs. Hines and her husband, their daughter said, were “a partnership of two geniuses.” He played the saxophone and was artistic director at the Clef Club. She loved the drums, and they collaborated seamlessly on many notable projects.

    Friends called her “a sweetheart” and “a beautiful soul” in online tributes. One said she “made an impact on Philadelphia and beyond in countless ways.” Her sister, Alicia Williams, said: “Everyone had a special relationship with her.”

    Mrs. Hines graduated from Grambling High School in Louisiana in 1970.

    Mrs. Hines was diagnosed with a lung disease in 2024 and Stage 4 cancer in 2025. “She was stern but soft,” her daughter said, “loving but able to tell you like it is.”

    Her husband said: “She had special relationships with so many musicians, so many people. It was through insight, understanding, and patience. In them, we see her everyplace, feel her everyplace.”

    Survivors give advice about mourning their loved ones, as told to The Inquirer’s obit writer

    In addition to her husband, daughter, mother, and stepson, Mrs. Hines is survived by three sisters, two step-grandsons, and other relatives. A brother died earlier.

    Services were held Wednesday, Dec. 17.

    Mrs. Hines (center) said she adapted her teaching techniques to suit the needs and ages of the students.
  • Hahnemann redevelopment may be another victim of councilmanic prerogative | Editorial

    Hahnemann redevelopment may be another victim of councilmanic prerogative | Editorial

    Since his 2023 election, 5th District Councilmember Jeffery “Jay” Young has earned a reputation as City Council’s quarrelsome contrarian. His penchant for swooping in and obstructing projects at the last minute has upset everyone from progressive community activists to affected developers.

    Young is a single vote on Philadelphia’s 17-member legislative body, but thanks to the tradition of councilmanic prerogative — where the rest of Council yields to district representatives regarding land-use decisions — he wields absolute power over an area that includes Rittenhouse Square and City Hall to the south, Strawberry Mansion to the west, part of Northern Liberties and Fishtown to the east, and Hunting Park to the north.

    Projects impacted by his objections include a long-standing proposal to build senior housing in Strawberry Mansion, a plan to protect students with speed cameras in school zones, and the renovation of the Cecil B. Moore Library.

    Young’s latest disruptive gambit — ill-conceived and misguided — is a bill that targets the proposed redevelopment of the former Hahnemann University Hospital patient towers in Center City into hundreds of apartments.

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    Established in 1885, the hospital healed generations of Philadelphians, and its south tower was the first skyscraper teaching hospital in America. Beyond the loss of medical services, when Hahnemann closed six years ago, it left a gaping hole in the heart of the city.

    Located along a stretch of North Broad Street that is heavily underutilized, the vacant buildings are begging for a new lease. Dwight City Group has proposed refilling the campus with housing. The plan would add hundreds of new residents right next to Center City and the Broad Street Line, and within walking distance of Suburban Station.

    To most housing, development, and planning experts, the idea is perfectly sound. Philadelphia would add workforce housing (around 1% of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s goal) in a location that already has the infrastructure and amenities residents require, and the city would not have to spend any taxpayer money to make it happen.

    And yet, Young is opposed.

    Jeffery “Jay” Young represents Philadelphia’s 5th District.

    In a statement to the Editorial Board last year, Young defended the move as being motivated by a desire to grow jobs in the city by limiting development in the area to commercial use. That’s an admirable goal. But who is going to buy the goods and services these hypothetical new businesses would offer? The redevelopment of Hahnemann into an apartment building would only increase local entrepreneurial opportunities.

    Thankfully, in this case, it looks like Young’s obstructive desires may be a moot point — at least when it comes to his proposed legislation.

    Because Council adjourned for its winter break without voting Young’s bill out of committee, the developer was able to secure zoning permits to build 361 apartments, with space for commercial use in the building’s ground floor.

    While the Dwight City Group did not want to comment, CEO Judah Angster earlier told Inquirer reporter Jake Blumgart they remain in negotiations with Young. Given the fact that the developer may have to deal with the councilmember in the future, there is a chance the Hahnemann project may be curtailed to avoid Young’s ire elsewhere.

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    Were that to happen, it would mark another missed opportunity for positive growth in the city, thanks to councilmanic prerogative.

    For decades, Philadelphia has trailed peer cities in job growth and economic activity. While high business taxes, deep poverty, and other factors play a role, prerogative stands out as an impediment that is entirely self-inflicted.

    The practice — no matter how strongly it is defended by Young and his colleagues — is a constant detriment to the city. While there is merit in giving district representatives a strong voice to protect their constituents from unwanted development, councilmanic prerogative too often allows the whims of a single person to override the will of the people.

    The only thing Philadelphia would lose by eliminating councilmanic prerogative is the opportunity for Council members to grandstand and feed their egos.

  • Months before Kada Scott’s killing, Keon King was wanted for kidnapping his ex, but no one arrested him — even in court

    Months before Kada Scott’s killing, Keon King was wanted for kidnapping his ex, but no one arrested him — even in court

    A month after Keon King was charged with breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s home and attempting to strangle her, police say, his violence escalated: In January, he returned to her home with a gun, then kidnapped and assaulted her.

    A warrant for his arrest was issued days later.

    In the weeks that followed, King twice appeared in Philadelphia court and stood before a judge in the initial strangulation case. But no one in the courtroom seemed to know he was wanted for kidnapping.

    So both times, King walked out.

    In February, despite the warrant for King’s arrest, prosecutors — seemingly unaware that police said he had recently attacked their key witness — withdrew the burglary and strangulation case when the victim failed to appear in court.

    Police did not go to either hearing to take him into custody, and do not appear to have alerted the prosecutor about the new arrest warrant.

    And King was not formally charged with the kidnapping until April, when, for reasons that are unclear, he turned himself in.

    The shortcomings in those earlier cases came into focus this month after police said King abducted Kada Scott from outside her workplace Oct. 4, then killed her and buried her body in a shallow grave behind an East Germantown school. The death of Scott, 23, of Mount Airy, has unnerved a community and drawn national attention.

    Kada Scott, 23, was abducted from outside her workplace on Oct. 4, police said.

    A review of King’s previous criminal cases raises questions about whether police and prosecutors could have been more vigilant in holding him accountable for the earlier crimes they say he committed.

    City Council has since vowed to hold a hearing examining how the city’s criminal justice system handles cases of domestic violence.

    District Attorney Larry Krasner has said it was a mistake for prosecutors to withdraw the charges in the alleged kidnapping of King’s ex — and his office has since refiled them. He said the decision not to proceed with the case was made by a young assistant district attorney who was new at handling such prosecutions and who saw the victim’s absence as a fatal flaw, even though there was video evidence of the attack.

    But even before the charges were withdrawn, police and court records show, there were missteps.

    Marian Grace Braccia, a former Philadelphia prosecutor who is a law professor at Temple University, said she found it alarming that law enforcement failed to take King into custody when he twice stood before them in court while wanted for a violent felony.

    “If this is supposed to be a collaborative effort — if there is a shared mission of public safety and victim advocacy — it sounds like everyone dropped the ball,” she said.

    Detectives and prosecutors, she said, should have been aware of the arrest warrant and had officers take him into custody.

    Then, she said, prosecutors could have cited the alleged kidnapping to ask a judge to increase King’s bail and keep him behind bars.

    Instead, she said, “it passed by everybody, and he came in and walked out, and slipped through the cracks of the Philadelphia legal court system.”

    Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner discusses the killing of Kada Scott at a news conference earlier this week.

    Krasner said there is no system to automatically notify prosecutors when a defendant in one of their cases is arrested anew.

    Similarly, there is no system to let police know that suspects in new cases have outstanding criminal matters, said Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Eric Gripp.

    “Detectives are not automatically notified when a wanted subject is physically present in court on a different active case,” he said.

    Krasner said the issues in the case underscore a lack of communication among law enforcement agencies that happens in part because their digital information systems are decades old. He said his office and other law enforcement agencies should work to update those systems.

    “That is something that we can all improve together if we have the will and if we have the resources,” he said.

    A wanted man walks free

    Police said King first attacked his ex-girlfriend in early November of last year. He broke into her Strawberry Mansion home, then tried to strangle her, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

    He was taken into custody in December and charged with burglary and strangulation, and bail was set at $50,000. King immediately posted the necessary 10%, $5,000, and was released.

    About a month later, police said, King returned to the woman’s home and tried to break in. When he could not gain entry, they said, he waited for her to step outside, then grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into his car. He drove for at least four miles, beating her along the way, before dropping her off in Fishtown, according to the affidavit for probable cause for his arrest.

    A judge approved the warrant for King’s arrest on charges of kidnapping, strangulation, and related crimes on Jan. 19, court records show.

    The Justice Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice in Philadelphia.

    King — now wanted for a violent felony — appeared in court the following week for a preliminary hearing in the earlier burglary case, records show. But when the victim did not show up in court a second time, Municipal Court Judge Jacquelyn Frazier-Lyde ordered that the case had to proceed at the next listing. Prosecutors agreed.

    King left court.

    Meanwhile, police said, officers tried at least once to arrest him. On Feb. 11, Gripp said, police went to a home where they thought King might be, but he was not there.

    Two weeks later, King was again in court for the burglary case — but police did not go there to arrest him. Once again, the victim did not show up, and prosecutors withdrew the charges

    King walked out of court a free man.

    Braccia, the Temple law professor, said the detective assigned to the case should have been aware of the hearing. When seeking to charge King for the kidnapping, she said, the detective should have pulled up King’s arrest history and noticed the ongoing case. He then could have flagged it to the prosecutor in the first case and gone to the hearing to arrest him.

    At the same time, she said, the prosecutors who approved the kidnapping charges against King should have noticed the earlier case and told the prosecutor — particularly because it involved the same victim.

    In April, King turned himself in to police to be charged with kidnapping, strangulation, and related crimes in connection with the January attack. Prosecutors asked for bail of $999,999, but the magisterial judge, Naomi Williams, set bail at $200,000, court records show. King posted the necessary $20,000 and was released.

    The following month, after the victim again did not appear in court at two hearings, the kidnapping charges were also withdrawn.

    Since prosecutors have refiled the charges, Krasner’s office said it has been back in touch with the woman and hopes she will testify. She declined to comment about King’s alleged crimes and the previous handling of the cases by police and prosecutors.

    Six months later, King is back in custody, this time charged with murder. He is being held without bail.