'Orange Is the New Black's' Alysia Reiner's grateful to be here
Philly lends backdrop to part of producers new film.
Actress Alysia Reiner touted girl power Wednesday night at a party for a new local shopping guide from Kimpton Hotels.
Reiner, her husband, David Alan Basche, and her producing partner, Sarah Megan Thomas, were fawned over at the Shop Like a Local Retail & Style Guide Vol. II release celebration at Hotel Palomar (117 S. 17th St.), a Kimpton hotel.
Put together by local style blogger Ian Michael Crumm, the guide recommends retailers mostly in the Rittenhouse Square area. Reiner had our local guy Colin Shebby, of Giovanni and Pileggi, style her hair for the event.
You've seen Reiner in Netflix's "Orange Is the New Black," the ABC crime series "How to Get Away with Murder" and the 2004 film "Sideways."
Early in 2016, she'll release a new movie about women on Wall Street, "Equity." She and her husband co-produced the film, much of it shot in Philadelphia, including at the Palomar, the Capital Grille (1338-46 Chestnut St.) and on Rittenhouse Square. Thomas is the film's executive producer.
Reiner, who also stars in the film, said she is excited that it will debut during the presidential primary elections, where female candidates are key on both sides.
"Because it's the first female-driven Wall Street movie, we really wanted it to come out around the election so we get to be part of the conversation about women in power," she said.
Carry your bride to 'MGK's fall fest
Radio morning man John DeBella sure isn't lacking any creativity. I've got to hand it to him for putting on Classic Rock 102.9 WMGK's Big Bad Bonfire this Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m., complete with the hilarious obstacle course dubbed the Wife Carry.
The fall celebration at Spring Mountain (757 Spring Mountain Road, Schwenksville) also will feature food, beer and pumpkin-flinging festivities set around a huge bonfire crowned with a 12-foot-high, flaming guitar. Admission is free.
DeBella offered some historical perspective on the Wife Carry: "[It] goes back to Eric the Red and the Vikings. Whenever they would storm a town, they would steal the women. They would throw them over their shoulders . . . So, somebody came up with the idea of re-enacting this."
The races can "get really elaborate. I'm talking about bogs and waist-deep water, mazes and piles of cow manure. That's not where you want to drop your wife," he said with a laugh.
The first to finish the race gets five times his wife's weight in cash, and double her weight in beer.
Last year's Big Bad Bonfire drew nearly 3,000 people. WMGK is hoping for even more this year.
Deen at Valley Forge
Valley Forge Casino Resort (1160 1st Ave., King of Prussia) will host "Queen of Southern Cuisine" and current "Dancing With the Stars" contestant Paula Deen for the 17th annual Philadelphia Festival of Food, Wine and Spirits this weekend.
Deen - who has lost more than 40 pounds since she was diagnosed with diabetes six years ago - will do cooking demonstrations at 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday and hand out recipes from her new book, Paula Deen Cuts the Fat. The festival also will offer a first look at casino eatery LP Steak Chef, by Luke Palladino.
Go west, funny ladies
Center City-based sketch and improv comedian Barbara Bush and her "First Ladies of Comedy" ensemble will represent Philly at the three-day Crossroads Comedy Festival, in Indianapolis, this weekend. The six-member troupe, whose motto is "Cliteracy for All," includes one of our own, Jolie Darrow, daughter of the People Paper's Chuck Darrow. I'm told they wowed a standing-room-only audience Sunday at the Adrienne Theatre (2030 Sansom St.).
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