Blends

It wasn't too long ago, when things were going really swell with the 76ers, that coach Doug Collins said it was his job to find out exactly what he has in the group of Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner and Andre Iguodala. What he had for the better part of the remainder of the regular season, was a team that stumbled its way to the finish line, was sometimes petulant and looked very much as if it just wanted the season to end. Who knew? Who knew after a season that looked lost for the better part of eight weeks, that Collins would find out - in the crucible called the NBA playoffs - these youngsters upon whom so much is riding would finally have a true coming out party together.

It's a warm Friday evening in April, and the doors to Vine Street's Asian Arts Initiative are wide open, literally and figuratively. As on any third Friday at the community center dedicated to discussing the issues and art of Philly's Asian American community, Family Style Open Mic is on a roll. Poets, storytellers, dancers, singers, spoken-word performance artists, and their friends — a mix of ethnic groups that establish the initiative as a promoter of cross-cultural dialogue — hang out at a preshow reception noshing on appetizers from Sampan and watching the Penn Lions drum troupe.

Bordeaux can be intimidating for new wine buyers, especially with its reputation for pricey bottles that require a decade (or several) of aging, not to mention a good cellar to age them in. That's why I've always liked the Right Bank wines of Pomerol, whose merlot-centric blends can be drunk in relative youth. Travel a bit north of the Barbanne stream, however, and you'll end-up in the lesser-known appellation of Lalande-de-Pomerol, where one can find a similar approach (if not quite the depth or finesse)

Charlie Beatty was the last person to imagine his teddy-bearish image gracing billboards in South Jersey. But once the Cammarata brothers (Filippo, Max, and Tony) had lured the affable wine guru from Canal's Bottlestop to WineWorks, their snazzy store in Marlton, they spread the word with roadside flair. "Charlie's got a new shirt," shouted the billboard, telling motorists of his new home. "His impact has been unbelievable," said Filippo. Beatty has added to their already large selection of 800 labels and brought along his huge and devoted clientele.

The ultimate outdoor instruments will match pipes, literally, with one of Philadelphia's more celebrated indoor musical monuments at 3 p.m. Saturday when the Canadian Brass meets the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ at the Kimmel Center. The chief danger is that the two entities will get along all too well, once they find their common ground. Too much blend, and the musicians are lost in a cloud of music. Too little leaves holes. To that end, during a Thursday rehearsal the brass made demands that organists love to hear: Play louder.

Nickelodeon's made-for-TV boy band, Big Time Rush, stretch their skinny legs, graduating to a movie format with a London setting, an espionage plot, and even a sprinkling of Beatles songs. All served up with their usual goofy mirth. The premise is that James, Carlos, Kendall, and Logan are scheduled to launch their world tour at Hyde Park. (The group's actual summer tour brings them to Camden's Susquehanna Bank Center on Aug. 10.) But before the guys can even order room service, they're being hotly pursued both by the bobbies and by a small army of sinister spies.

If it was Alan Gilbert's aim to become music director of the New York Philharmonic and have minimal effect on the character of the ensemble, he is, in his third season, succeeding. The Philharmonic is a fine orchestra. But Friday night at the Kimmel Center, the New Yorkers were the same old collection of free-wheeling individualists they have been for years. In the Mussorgsky/Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition , there was little sense that anyone would - or could? - make them blend.

The 10-year-old Montreal troupe RUBBERBANDance returned to Annenberg Center on Thursday evening with the Philadelphia premiere of Gravity of Center . In focus and technique, the soulfully danced work far surpasses the company's last offering here in 2008. The vision of company founder and former hip-hop dancer Victor Quijada is to blend his b-boy background with ballet as well as such martial arts movement as capoeira. In Gravity of Center , he's crystallized this style into what I'll call "acro-balletic.

WELCOME TO Cheap Buzz, where we eavesdrop as sommelier Marnie Old attempts to teach the joys of wine and fine spirits to Buzz, a guy with no sophistication and not much money. Here's their latest conversation: BUZZ: I took your advice and bought my brother an expensive bottle of wine for Christmas. MARNIE: Did he enjoy it? BUZZ: Yes, but I'm angry about the cheap wine he gave me. MARNIE: What made you think it was cheap? BUZZ: He said it was an expensive cabernet sauvignon, but the label said only Napa Valley.

Heather Johnson grew up in New Hampshire with two Swedish parents. Christmastime, as she remembers it, was always white. Santa, the snow, the angels, everything. Before she had children, re-creating those white Christmases seemed like a natural thing to do. Not anymore. Johnson and her husband, Braydon Johnson-McCormick, adopted infant twin boys from Haiti seven years ago. These days, when Christmas rolls around, the Johnson-McCormick home in Bucks County looks a lot more colorful.