Dan Gross: Madsons going green in Wayne

PHILLIES RELIEVER Ryan Madson and wife Sarah have gone green.

The couple has hired Main Line's Caledonia Renovations to make the Wayne home they bought in April more eco-friendly.

The couple and their kids won't move in until work is done, which Caledonia's John Kelly expects to take about 10 months.

"We try to keep as much of the existing house there and build from the platform as we can," said Kelly, whose company is re-insulating the house using soybean-based spray foam, installing energy recovery ventilators, a geothermal heating and cooling system, a groundsource heat pump and energy saving lighting, among other energy-efficient improvements.

Madson will receive an award for his eco-efforts, along with Mayor Nutter, City Councilman Curtis Jones and rapper Schoolly D at the Inaugural Manayunk EcoArts Festival Sept. 25 and 26.

The politicians will accept their awards on Sept. 23 at the festival's launch party at Mango Moon (4161 Main). At 1 p.m. Sept. 25, Madson and Schoolly D, who is doing a green rehab to his Gladwyne home, receive their awards on the festival's main stage on Main Street. For more info on the celebration of artistic, sustainable, and local green initiatives visit Manayunk.com.

CAPA dancers to White House

Four senior dance students from the High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Ibn Snell, Malika Ghilyard, Bria Robertson-Sanford and Carly Rutizer, will be guests of first lady Michelle Obama Tuesday at the White House, for a tribute to Judith Jamison, the longtime artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The CAPA students will take part in a dance workshop with students from around the country.

CAPA assistant principal Michael Grosso is hoping the students will get to meet the first lady. They'll stick around for the show, which features the Ailey company among several others.

'Sunny' comes early