Fun for the weekend, and beyond

Rare roadsters

Today through Sunday is the 36th Atlantic City Classic Car Show & Auction at the Atlantic City Convention Center, 1 Miss America Way, Atlantic City, N.J. The event features more than 1,000 cars for sale, a flea market with hard-to-find parts and antiques dealers. Hours are 10 to 5 today, 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $20, $5 for children under 12. Parking will be available at Bernie Robbins Stadium on the Black Horse Pike and at Boardwalk Hall. For online tickets, to browse photos of vehicles for sale, bidder preregistration, procedures for selling your classic car, hotel reservations and more, go to www.acclassiccars.com or call (800) 227-3828.

Equine education

The Pennsylvania Horse World Expo returns today through Sunday at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex, Cameron and Maclay streets, Harrisburg. Highlights include horse whisperers, seminars, demonstrations, the Wind Rider Equestrian Challenge, a horse-related marketplace, "Theatre Equus, A Musical Equine Revue" and more. Hours are noon to 8 today, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $12, $6 for children 7-12. Reserved seating for "Theatre Equus," which is presented Friday and Saturday, ranges from $12 to $24. Call (301) 916-0852 or visit www.horseworldexpo.com.

Uncorked

During "Barrels on the Brandywine," seven vineyards and wineries of the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail will open their tasting rooms and cellars to showcase their 2008 vintages and offer tours and showcase food vendors. Purchase a $25 passport from any participating winery, and it is good for any and every Saturday and Sunday in March. Guests may use the passport for one tasting at each of the seven member wineries, until the passport is used up. There are two new members on the wine trail: Black Walnut Winery and Stargazers Vineyard. Visit www.bvwinetrail.com for directions.

Cartoon tunes

If you first discovered the music of Wagner and Rossini on a Saturday morning in PJs in front of the TV set, you'll appreciate "Music for Cartoons" with the Fireworks Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Elizabethtown College's Leffler Performance Center, College Avenue east of Route 230, Elizabethtown. The program features music from Carl Stalling ("Roadrunner"), Scott Bradley ("Tom and Jerry") and Milt Franklyn ("Bugs Bunny"), all performed live with their original cartoons. An informal Classical Conversation about the evening's program will be offered at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $18 and $25, half-price for ages 19-26, $1 for ages 18 and under. Call (717) 361-1508 or visit www.gretnamusic.org/tickets.htm.

Got that swing

"Simply Sinatra" is featured at 8 p.m. Saturday at the State Theatre, 453 Northampton St., Easton. Tickets are $25 and $30. Call (800) 999-STATE or visit www.statetheatre.org.

'Crony'-ism

"A Couple of Cronies," a two-woman show about the perils and joys of turning 50 in the 21st century, is presented at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Touchstone Theatre, 321 E. Fourth St., Bethlehem. Tickets are $10. Call (610) 867-1689.

God rock

The Newsboys headline a show with December Radio, Vota and Bread of Stone at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Stabler Arena, 124 Goodman Drive, Bethlehem. Tickets are $21 and $27. Call (800) 861-0850.

Opening day

- Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, Route 345, south of Birdsboro, opens for the 2009 season Sunday. Listen to the experiences of nine characters from the site's past at audio stations on a new "Voices of Hopewell" program, which will be available 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Admission is $4 for aves 16 and older. Call (610) 582-8773 or visit www.nps.gov/hofu.

- Crystal Cave, 963 Crystal Cave Road, Kutztown, opens for the season Sunday. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Sundays. Admission is $11, $7 for children 4-11. Call (610) 683-6765 or visit www.crystalcavepa.com.

Family ties

Sunday through April 30, you can visit both Longwood Gardens and Winterthur, two former du Pont homes, for $20, which includes a guided tour of the Winterthur mansion. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily (till 6 p.m. starting in April), Longwood is at Routes 1 and 52, Kennett Township. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, Winterthur Museum and Country Estate is on Route 52, northwest of Wilmington, Del. Call (800) 448-3883.

Weekend happenings: On stage

- DeSales University presents “Death of a Salesman,” Feb. 18-March 1 at the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley. Wednesday and Thursday tickets are $20, $18 for students and seniors. Friday and Sunday tickets are $23, $21 for students and seniors. Tickets are $24 Saturdays. Show times are 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Call (610) 282-3192.

- Jonathan brings his girlfriend to his parents’ cottage, but then his mom and dad arrive with their extramarital lovers in tow. Then they all get snowed in. “Wintertime,” which contains content not appropriate for children, is staged at 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday, and Feb. 18-21; and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Zoellner Arts Center, 420 E. Packer Ave., Bethlehem. Tickets are $12.

“Cirque Eloize: Nebbia” features music, acrobatic theater and modern circus arts at the Zoellner Arts Center at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $34 and 28.

Call (610) 758-2787.

- The musical “Sweeney Todd” is at the State Theatre, 453 Northampton St., Easton. Tickets are $50 and $55. Call (800) 999-STATE or visit www.statetheatre.org.


Stretch your legs

Bryn Mawr College, 101 N. Merion Ave., Bryn Mawr, presents Ballet X and Miro Dance Theatre simultaneously at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Thomas Great Hall and the Erdman Living Room. Audiences switch venues at intermission. One highlight will be a tribute to Frida Kahlo’s life and work with “Self Portrait.” Tickets are $18, $15 for seniors, $10 for students, $5 for children 12 and under. Call (610) 526-5210.
Jazz and orchids

Longwood Gardens, Routes 1 and 52, Kennett Township, begins a Jazz Club concert series at 7:30 tonight. By suggestion of Marian McPartland of NPR’s “Piano Jazz,” Renee Rosnes will play in the Ballroom. Tickets are $60. Call (215) 893-1999.
You’ll really flip

High school and recreational cheer, gymnastics and dance squads from Connecticut to Florida will compete at the Spirit Unlimited Cheerleading Competition starting at 8 a.m. Saturday at the Atlantic City Convention Center, 1 Miss America Way, Atlantic City, N.J. Spectator passes for ages 9 to adult are $20, $10 for ags 6-8. Call (888) 737-2221 or visit www.spiritunlimited.com.

Hail to the chief


- The Colonial Theatre, 227 Bridge St., Phoenixville, presents “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” at 2 p.m. Feb. 16. Tickets are $8, $6 for seniors and students, $4 for children under 13. Call (610) 917-0223.

- To celebrate the life and legacy of America’s 16th president, the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum, 432 W. Walnut St., Allentown, will open a year-long tribute to Abraham Lincoln with a Lincoln Bicentennial Birthday Party at 3 today. Feast on Lincoln’s favorite foods and music, plus sign a Lincoln Birthday Card that will be placed on exhibit at the Lincoln Heritage Museum in Illinois. Lincoln re-enactor Robert Costello will also make an appearance. Preregistration is $12. Call (610) 435-1074, ext. 14.

- Open-hearth cooking of foods typical of President Washington’s social class will be prepared during the programs “General Washington’s Favorites” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and “Virginia Elegance” from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at Washington Crossing Historic Park, Route 32, Upper Makefield. The demonstrations are free. Guided tours are available throughout the day for a fee. Call (215) 495-4076 or visit www.ushistory.org/washingtoncrossing.

By: Dan Sokil

It's been there for more than four decades, and until last October was the only place in Philadelphia where any of our sports teams had actually won a championship. So what better place to spend a few hours and see some Philly history while it's still there, than the Spectrum?


Waiting outside for the rest of my group, I had some time to wander around the outside of the old arena, and was surprised at how similar it felt to games at the Vet during the last season there. The feel of the exterior is very similar, with the near-oval shape of the building and concrete concourses leading up and down from the parking lots...although the ice and snow all over the place was not something you'd see often at baseball games! Still, I was able to visit with some Philly icons who will soon be leaving Broad Street, like Dr. J and Kate Smith.

The statue of Gary Dornhoefer down by the Will Call window is a particularly fun one to look at, because only from above can you see the puck actually in the net! The goal was an overtime winner against the Minnesota North Stars, who have since moved to Dallas, and Dorny has recently retired from years of broadcasting with the team. I wasn't around for those classic Broad Street Bullies, but get the impression that the goal Dorny scored was as great a moment for that generation as the overtime winner Keith Primeau scored in 2000 vs the Penguins...a comparison I like because Primeau had gotten the puck on that play from Keith Jones, who took over in the broadcast booth from Dornhoefer!


Walking around the concourse of the Spectrum is very different from inside it's bigger brother, the Wachovia Center next door. There's only one level in the Spectrum, no big escalators or super high seats, just poured concrete stairs that again are very similar to the old ones at the Vet. Our seats were in section 300, but even though we were only ten or so rows from the roof we could see every play, and that feeling of being right on top of the ice is one of the Spectrum's hallmarks. The ice we watched them play on is the same place the Flyers beat Bobby Orr's Bruins for the Cup in '74, where they beat up the Red Army team from the USSR so badly in 1976 they walked off the ice, and where Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers, perhaps the greatest team in hockey history, took the full seven games to beat Flyers teams led by goalies Ron Hextall and the late great Pelle Lindbergh.


Hextall became the first goalie in NHL history to score a goal here, Eric Lindros and John LeClair first formed the "Legion of Doom" here, and after the big team left the minor league Phantoms won two Calder Cups in the Spectrum. Current Flyer coach John Stevens captained one of those teams and was head coach of the other, and so many current Flyers like Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, and almost all of the young defensemen have worn the Phantoms' purple and orange. In fact, prospect Ryan Parent wore #77 in the game we went to, and we may be seeing him on the big team's blue line for many years to come, along with winger Jared Ross who recently had a league record six assists in the AHL All-Star Game.



It may not have luxury boxes, microbrews at every concession stand or bathrooms on the same floor as the concourse, but the Spectrum is a unique part of Philly history. When it was built in the late 1960s, the only thing down at the Sports Complex area was old JFK Stadium that was built for America's 150th birthday celebrations in 1926. What was once state of the art is now the oldest arena on the block, as the Spectrum literally paved the way for construction of the Vet in 1971, the Wachovia Center (where JFK Stadium used to be) in 1996, and the newest additions to the sports complex, Lincoln Financial Field (2003) and Citizens Bank Park in 2004. I suppose it's fitting that the Spectrum will be torn down after this season: ever since the Vet was closed in 2003, it had been the only building left in Philadelphia where one of our sports teams won a championship. Now that the Phils have finally ended that title drought, the Spectrum will give way to bigger and better things...but one fan I talked to before last weekend's game thinks in this economy, ownership may decide a minor league hockey team is a better bet to draw crowds than the high-end retail and sports bars they had planned to replace it with. It's just my opinion, but it sure seemed like most of the 9,270 who came out to watch the Phantoms play the Albany River Rats on Saturday weren't ready to say farewell to the Spectrum quite yet...

Editor's note: In a twist of fate, the Phantoms were sold February 5 to a group from Pittsburgh. No formal announcement on their fate has yet been made.