Shock Value

Michael Moschen is a juggler. But he does not do bowling pins or tomahawks. He twirls no plates, tosses no hats. "My form is more on the lines of a Chinese porcelain-jar juggler," Moschen said in an interview here last week. "They learn it as a child. They learn, learn, learn, learn - but not with a porcelain jar. Then, when they're ready to perform, they're taken to a museum, and they're given a porcelain jar for a lifetime to use. When they're done, it's returned to the museum.

To Baltimore filmmaker John Waters, "bad taste is what entertainment is all about. If someone vomits watching one of my films, it's like getting a standing ovation. . . . I hate message movies. I pride myself on the fact that my work has no socially redeeming value. " The man behind the madness of Pink Flamingos, Polyester, Girl Trouble and Hairspray tells all - or certainly enough - in a recent recording of his 1981 autobiography, Shock Value, for Caedmon (90 minutes, $9.95). The book has been abridged for audio, but in this case, if you're a normal human being, you probably wouldn't want to listen to the whole book.

The Philadelphia Orchestra's decision Saturday to declare bankruptcy has drawn worldwide attention, from both major news outlets and niche readerships. "Philadelphia - it's the worst outcome," wrote popular London music blogger Norman Lebrecht. "It foments uncertainty across musical America. " Former Gov. Ed Rendell, who began stumping for the orchestra's move to the Kimmel Center as mayor, said he didn't think the news was a black eye for the city as long as the orchestra continues its schedule, which it says it will.

THE BEST THING about the new thriller "The Raven" is John Cusack's amped-up performance as Edgar Allan Poe. Cusack lost 30 pounds and pushed himself to the point of exhaustion to play Poe, a sometime action figure in "The Raven" who gallops on horseback through the fog and shoots guns. Cusack, however, said the really taxing aspect of the role was trying to achieve Poe's famously agitated mental state. "He was a starving writer and a pretty serious alcoholic, so I thought it was correct for him to be very lean and working on the edge.

Rookie coach Bryan Trottier was fired by the New York Rangers yesterday as the league's highest-paid team could face a sixth consecutive season without a playoff berth. The Rangers have a payroll of more than $70 million but are last in the Atlantic Division just over halfway through the season. Trottier, who starred for the rival New York Islanders for 15 years, replaced Ron Low in June but held the job just 54 games in his first head-coaching stint. The Rangers showed signs of getting back into the playoff race, winning five of six games heading into last weekend.

FAME: THE MUSICAL. Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St., 8 p.m. today and tomorrow, 2 p.m. Sunday. $25-$55. Info: 215-336-2000. Singer/dancer/actor James T. Lane grew up around the way in the dearly departed Southwark homes. Little more than three years after attending the Girard Academic Musical Program, the GAMP grad has returned to his home town with a lead role in the national touring production of "Fame: The Musical. " What kind of local stuff did you do before being cast on the show?

Jonathan Valin is probably not a household name, even among fans of the Hammett-Chandler-Macdonald lineage. Pity. Because Valin and his Harry Stoner series (six capers thus far) are major league. Life's Work (Dell, $3.50), the latest in paperback, is more than just a bang-up page-turner; it's also an unblinking scrutiny of the curious breed that plays professional football. Harry Stoner works out of Cincinnati. He's hired by Hugh Petrie, an executive of the NFL Cincinnati Cougars, to find a missing player, Billy Parks.

Thirteen years after her daughter Nancy was murdered by punk rocker Sid Vicious, Deborah Spungen can finally speak a little more comfortably with the news media. Last week, Spungen was the guest speaker at the monthly meeting of the Delaware County Press Club, discussing the line between a victim's right to privacy and the press's right to know. Spungen, 53, who lives in Huntingdon Valley, explained that one of the hardest things a family must handle after a highly publicized murder was the press coverage.

A Catholic magazine's cover portraying a dark skinned Jesus to update the image of Christ for the new millennium won't have much shock value in Philadelphia. Black Jesuses are already on display in more than several dozen Catholic and Protestant churches and Christian schools. And while a national furor erupted in Brooklyn over a painting of an African woman titled "The Holy Virgin Mary" by Chris Ofili, the controversy was not about the subject's race but about the inclusion of elephant dung and bare buttocks surrounding her. The National Catholic Reporter yesterday announced "Jesus of the People" as the winner of its worldwide cover contest among 1,700 entries.

You know it, we know it, so let's not be ashamed of it: A film with the title "The Lifestyle: Group Sex in the Suburbs" is bound to attract some interest. So I'll start by answering the question that is probably on everyone's mind. It's not a porn film. It is a documentary examining "the lifestyle" also known as "swinging. " And yes, it's actually pretty good. Director David Schisgall is a serious documentarian - a former assistant to Errol Morris ("Fast, Cheap and Out of Control" and "The Thin Blue Line")

THE BEST THING about the new thriller "The Raven" is John Cusack's amped-up performance as Edgar Allan Poe. Cusack lost 30 pounds and pushed himself to the point of exhaustion to play Poe, a sometime action figure in "The Raven" who gallops on horseback through the fog and shoots guns. Cusack, however, said the really taxing aspect of the role was trying to achieve Poe's famously agitated mental state. "He was a starving writer and a pretty serious alcoholic, so I thought it was correct for him to be very lean and working on the edge.

WITH 4 DAYS before their playoffs begin, both coaches say their teams are set. The only part of the scenario not set is the game time. What we do know is that the Union will open its inaugural MLS playoff campaign against the Houston Dynamo on Sunday at PPL Park. Still undetermined is when they will meet, as three time slots are contingent on scenarios after the wild-card rounds, which kicked off last night and continue tonight. With ESPN2 broadcasting both the Union-Houston match and top-seeded Los Angeles vs. wild-card upset winner New York, the Union will start at 5 p.m., after the Galaxy-Red Bulls matchup at 3 p.m. The Union's second and final game of semifinal will be 8:30 p.m. next Thursday at Houston's Robertson Stadium, also on ESPN2.

The Philadelphia Orchestra's decision Saturday to declare bankruptcy has drawn worldwide attention, from both major news outlets and niche readerships. "Philadelphia - it's the worst outcome," wrote popular London music blogger Norman Lebrecht. "It foments uncertainty across musical America. " Former Gov. Ed Rendell, who began stumping for the orchestra's move to the Kimmel Center as mayor, said he didn't think the news was a black eye for the city as long as the orchestra continues its schedule, which it says it will.

Andy Warhol was close when he said, "In the future everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes. " Forget fame. What awaits us all is a makeover. It used to be that a show like Oprah's would do a makeover now and then, and we loved it. The person seemed so deserving and the results were so encouraging. The stylists made it all look so easy, so attainable, so enjoyable. Then whole shows were devoted to makeovers, and things got out of hand. We have endured shows that remake people top to bottom, teeth whitening, liposuction, plastic surgery included.

The Pentagon's war plan for Iraq has roots in a new doctrine called "rapid dominance," introduced in a book by military theorists Harlan K. Ullman and James P. Wade Jr. Shock and Awe is the book's blunt and vivid title - and the strategy's intended effect on Iraqi troops. Although neither author is well-known outside defense-policy circles, "their names are going to be stuck in association with this war, for better or worse, for some time to come," said John Pike, a leading independent analyst of military affairs in Washington.

Rookie coach Bryan Trottier was fired by the New York Rangers yesterday as the league's highest-paid team could face a sixth consecutive season without a playoff berth. The Rangers have a payroll of more than $70 million but are last in the Atlantic Division just over halfway through the season. Trottier, who starred for the rival New York Islanders for 15 years, replaced Ron Low in June but held the job just 54 games in his first head-coaching stint. The Rangers showed signs of getting back into the playoff race, winning five of six games heading into last weekend.

As somber cello music played in the background, the guests chatted quietly about postmodernism and why the Gothic influence never took hold in Italian art. It was that kind of crowd: musicians, painters, sculptors, museum people and such. Then they got down to business, to the reason they'd all come to Mouina Karam's South Broad Street home. They needed to decide what to do about the Christmas tree. There it stood in the living room before them - a stalky thing, little more than bare brown twigs festooned with bedraggled tinsel - and 11 years' worth of adornments.

NONPROFITS AND SHOCK-ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS I object to the suggestion that the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania's "Look the Other Way" campaign is an example of "noble institutions ... stooping to ignoble means to transmit a message" (Commentary, Feb. 8). The campaign truly evolved from spending hours with both the victims and those who protect them. The campaign seeks to convey some of the most desperate conditions that face our communities and - more important - the urgency for us all to act. We weren't going for "shock value" - the real-life dangers affecting our city's children and their families are shocking enough.

You know it, we know it, so let's not be ashamed of it: A film with the title "The Lifestyle: Group Sex in the Suburbs" is bound to attract some interest. So I'll start by answering the question that is probably on everyone's mind. It's not a porn film. It is a documentary examining "the lifestyle" also known as "swinging. " And yes, it's actually pretty good. Director David Schisgall is a serious documentarian - a former assistant to Errol Morris ("Fast, Cheap and Out of Control" and "The Thin Blue Line")

FAME: THE MUSICAL. Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St., 8 p.m. today and tomorrow, 2 p.m. Sunday. $25-$55. Info: 215-336-2000. Singer/dancer/actor James T. Lane grew up around the way in the dearly departed Southwark homes. Little more than three years after attending the Girard Academic Musical Program, the GAMP grad has returned to his home town with a lead role in the national touring production of "Fame: The Musical. " What kind of local stuff did you do before being cast on the show?