(upbeat music) (transition whooshing) - Welcome to "You Oughta Know", I'm Shirley Min, I am so glad you're here.

We have a packed show, so let's get started.

(transition whooshing) From ceramics to sculptures, see how The Clay Studio is helping artists express themselves.

- [Jennifer] We're doing a lot of really important work to support community and artists.

(transition whooshing) - [Shirley] Plus, La Colombe is giving you the tools to be your own barista at home.

- [Rachel] Basically what I wanna see in my pitcher is a whirlpool.

(transition whooshing) - [Shirley] And the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations are underway with the Philadelphia Suns.

- [Harry] Folk story of the lion dance began probably 2,000 years ago.

(upbeat music) (transition whooshing) - The lion dance is a performance that welcomes the Chinese Lunar New Year, but behind the beautiful costumes lies a rich tradition that's been passed down through generations.

(drum pounding) - The folk story of the lion dance began probably 2,000 years ago, it says that a village was being tormented by a beast.

(drums pounding) (drumsticks clapping) Nothing that they could do would alleviate the beast from bothering the village.

(drums pounding) (drumsticks clapping) So they fashioned an animal, like paper mache, wood, bamboo, and they made an animal shaped like a lion, and the lion scared the beast away.

(firecrackers popping) (drums pounding) From that point on, lion dancing became a tradition to scare away the evil so that good would come in.

(firecrackers popping) We'll line up on the foul line, start up at the foul line, let's go.

The Philadelphia Suns are a youth group based out of Philadelphia's Chinatown, we've been in existence since 1972, so 53 years now, and we've served the community by building up our youth, and one of the models of our team is building and supporting a better community.

So the components include sports, but sports and cultural line dancing.

(drums pounding) One of our performance teams are preparing for their New Year's performances, this group is a group of youth from ages 10 years old, through 14, they've been practicing since September.

During the Chinese New Year's performances, we will have lions as well as dragons, and so we basically come out of its cave.

(drums pounding) We bring out the dragon first, because the dragon is 10 people, so it takes a little time to come out, so we would put them out first.

They would be running around, and then the lions would come up after them.

(drums pounding) (drumsticks clapping) In the beginning of our performances, we normally do three bows as a sign of respect.

(drums pounding) Then we visit various businesses in the community, and they'll light up firecrackers, traditionally to scare evil spirits away, and then bring in the good in the business, and that's why we perform at various businesses.

(firecrackers popping) (drum pounding) The big instrument is the drum.

- Yeah.

- [Speaker] Three, two, ready, go.

(drums pounding) - [Harry] The drum is the heartbeat of the lion, so when the lion is running, there's a certain heartbeat.

(drums pounding) (drumsticks clapping) The drum goes in accordance with the lion, and vice versa, so if the lion's running really fast, you're playing really fast, if it's slowing down, then the lion would slow down.

(drumsticks clapping) (symbols clanging) The symbols and the gongs basically are more for cadence.

When we teach our kids to perform, they learn a standard way of playing, and then they add and take away.

(drum pounding) (drumsticks clapping) - In sixth grade, I was a lion tail, in seventh, I was a lion head, and this year, I'm a drummer.

(drum pounding) (drumsticks clapping) It took me around six months to a year to get down my skills and really learn.

Sometimes you get a little tired, but you just have to push through it to join your team and help one another.

(everyone cheering) - When they begin, they can be in any kind of shape, but by the time of performance time, we actually choose the ones that are stronger or able to perform acrobatics into performances.

The feedback that we've received from the kids in the many years is when they first come in, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, they do not wanna do it.

(drumsticks clapping) They said it's a past generation, they are physically tired afterwards.

But I think in the process of building community, they learn to appreciate it.

And as adults, they also feel like we're able to pass on a tradition that has been over 2,000 years.

Here we go, one, two, three.

- [Everyone] Lions!

(bright upbeat music) - You can catch the Philadelphia Suns at the 2025 Lunar New Year Parade.

It happens on Sunday, February 2nd at 11:00 AM, and it starts at North 10th and Spring Streets.

The transformative art of clay is what brings artists and students to The Clay Studio in Kensington.

Since 1974, the studio has offered classes for all skill levels.

(bright upbeat music) - The Clay Studio is celebrating our 50th anniversary.

We serve 35,000 people every year, we're doing a lot of really important work to support community and artists.

Why artists love to work with clay, clay is found on the ground we walk on, it's what unites all of us, it is our planet.

So I think that there is really this visceral feeling that you are doing something that's ancient, that is unifying us as humans.

But when you touch clay, it responds to you, a lot of artists talk about it as being similar to skin or flesh.

- There is this feeling for clay, like this poetic expression of self which I never got with any other material.

So I think with clay, I felt lost in the materials.

- [Jennifer] It's transformative.

So you're working with this material that's soft, it goes through several different processes, it dries, it gets harder, and then you put it in a kiln and it literally transforms into another material.

It gets hard and it becomes something that could last for thousands of years.

I think the fact that we make a lot of functional objects out of ceramic is another reason why it's really special.

(bright upbeat music) (transition whooshing) - In our new digital fabrication studio, we have four clay printers that print directly into clay, we also have four resin printers that print plastic molds, and then we also have a laser cutter and a decal printer.

These are tools that are just often not accessible outside of a university setting.

People come to the arts and ceramics for all different kinds of reasons, and being able to be that sort of open, inclusive resource for people is really essential to what we do.

The Claymobile program is our mobile community engagement program, it serves about 6,000 youth and adults a year.

(bright upbeat music) The Clay Studio is just such an incredible resource for the local community, also it's just a beacon for the larger ceramics community across the country and across the world.

(bright upbeat music) - I will have a solo exit show, because this is my last year of the residency, so it'll be opening next summer.

And other resident artist who is gonna graduate next year will start beginning show their works, starting from January.

The Clay Studio has been such wonderful gem to my entire artistic career path, I am so fortunate to be here.

(bright music) - At the Community College of Philadelphia, a new music program is striking a chord with students and professionals.

(jazzy upbeat music) - I wanted to make our location a hub for music and creativity here in Philadelphia.

- We came up with an idea to create a record label here at the college.

Here we are, Spring Garden Records, some nine years later, and about four years ago, we came up with the idea to have an artist residency program.

- I have been making music for most of my life, traveling, doing recordings, doing film scoring, a lot of different jobs in music pretty much since I was a kid.

(jazzy upbeat music) - Over time, we built this amazing facility, and we had amazing talented artists coming through.

So, our whole thing was, let's start a record label and give people a springboard, a platform, to release their own music.

- It's the opportunity to really elevate the profile of the programs for individuals who are in the music industry.

- Everything that encompasses the music industry and how to be a performer, how to help performers, how to be a producer, how to be an engineer, we're kind of covering all the bases here.

Even Chris Michael Stevens, our artist in residence, he is a multifaceted professional.

He understands how to be a performer, how to be a songwriter, how to be a producer, you need to tap into all of those things in order to be successful in the music industry.

(jazzy upbeat music) - The artist in residency came about because their previous resident, Ben O'Neill, is a dear friend of mine, we actually have been touring together with John Legend for the last nine years.

And so, when his residency was coming to a close, he was like, "Man, you really should apply, I had a great experience, I think that would be good for you."

And I was nervous, I didn't know if it was something that I should do, but I took a shot, they liked my application, they reached out, they wanted more information, and then next thing I knew, I was accepted, and so here we are.

I would say that my primary responsibilities as the artist in residence is to record a record for their label, Spring Garden Records.

But in addition to that, I will be doing performances, I will be hosting panels and some master classes to engage with the student body here.

I was nominated for a Grammy a couple years ago for Best Gospel Song, the song was entitled "Get Up", I was a co-writer on the song.

It really did feel great, and it's also very humbling, you just never know if anything that you do is going to matter that much to people, so it was really an experience to be a part of something so major.

I grew up surrounded by gospel music, oddly enough, I didn't really grow up playing it, though.

My dad was really into jazz and funk, but then my cousin, Ty Tribbett, he was celebrating the third anniversary of his choir and he asked me to play, and I started playing with that group, and we recorded and toured all over the place and had opportunities to work with other notable artists.

- It's about being an entrepreneur, understanding how to work with others, building relationships, what you bring to the table, your professionalism, and we're trying to build that with our students and our alumni.

- For us to essentially tap into the next generation of legends here in Philadelphia, and connect them to the city's college.

Community College of Philadelphia is uniquely a Philadelphian institution, and we want to be able to cultivate that musical history again in Philadelphia and somehow recreate that legacy that was birthed so long ago in so many other genres of music.

(jazzy upbeat music) - I really aspire to make music that is, not only inspirational, but meaningful, and helpful, and that will stand at test of time.

(hands clapping) - From five star restaurants to food trucks, the Philly food scene is ever evolving and growing.

To honor those who bring us good eats comes a new award show, "The Tasties", and joining me now to tell us more about "The Tasties" is Eli Kulp.

Eli, welcome to "You Oughta Know".

- Well, thank you for having me, very excited to talk about "The Tasties".

I'm sure people out there are like, "What the heck is a Tasty?"

(Shirley laughing) Yes.

- I love the name, and we're gonna get to that in a minute, but wanna take this opportunity to talk about the list of Philly area James Beard semi-finalists.

- An incredible list full of really heavy hitters- - Mhm.

- And it's so exciting to see that list come out every year.

I was at my desk and the email came through from James Beard and immediately it's like, you just go through and you look for all the Philadelphia ones, yeah.

- Yeah, and sometimes I'm like, "It's about time Philly needs to be ever more recognized"- - Sure.

- "For our food scene."

- [Eli] Sure.

- So, you're a chef, you're a host of "Delicious City Podcast", and you're now putting on "The Tasties".

So, talk to me about what "The Tasties" are.

- Well, you've heard about the Oscars, right?

- Yes.

- So think of, this is our regional version of the Oscars for the food world, or even like the James Beard Awards, it's our regional version of that.

So excited to be able to do this, it's something that I've been thinking about for a while, and through the platform of "Delicious City Podcast", we're gonna be producing the first ever chef and restaurant award show- - Mhm.

- For Philadelphia, by Philadelphia, and it's gonna be really exciting.

- How did you come up with this idea?

- Well, it kind of started kinda like tongue in cheek, a little bit.

Two years ago, "Delicious City", we did a Instagram kinda contest where we said, you know, "Highlight your favorite chefs and restaurants."

We created these different categories, we did voting online, and we handed out the awards at our annual holiday party that we do for the local food industry.

- Mhm.

- For the restaurant industry.

So, couple months later, just thinking about what, you know, our growth for 2024 was going to be, the idea kind of popped up in my head, I was like, "What if we took this a little bit larger and really focus on the incredible people and the incredible stories and all the hardworking people that make our Philadelphia food scene so great, and create an award show that celebrates them?"

- I love it, what are some of the categories and how are the nominees selected?

- Yeah, so we have 14 different categories.

We have traditional ones like, you know, Restaurant of the Year- - Mm.

- Chef of the Year, Breakout Chef, Excellence in Hospitality, Craft Cocktail Excellence.

Then we have five that are a little less traditional, and we're calling those the People Choice Awards, where you can vote on things such as your favorite emotional support sandwich, which I think- - I love that category.

- That was actually created by our producer of the show, because she had a really rough day, and it was like traffic, she was late, but she had this sandwich from Middle Child Clubhouse sitting next to her in her driver's seat, and as soon as she got home, she bit into that sandwich and it was like all those problems just melted away.

(Shirley laughing) And she brought that idea and we were just like, "That is the perfect category for the People's Choice."

- I love it.

- But we also are celebrating all aspects of the industry, you know, the real heroes of the kitchen are the ones that are behind the scenes, your dishwashers, your porters, so we created a category called "Dish Wizard", turning dirty plates into clean slates.

(Shirley laughing) Is what we're calling it.

And, once again, it's People's Choice category, and we're letting restaurants highlight some of their key employees, and we're going to celebrate them at the awards.

- And I love that, because they're so often the folks who are under-recognized, overlooked- - Yes.

- And they are doing the lion's share of the work.

- If you've ever worked in a restaurant and the dishwasher doesn't show up, calls out sick, whatever it is, it's chaos.

- Yeah.

- You know what I mean?

It is chaos.

Like if a cook show doesn't show up, okay, we'll fill it, but it's like pulling a lever and everything just falls out the bottom, you know?

- Dominoes fall.

- Exactly.

- How are the winners going to be selected?

- Sure.

- And, you know, who is presenting the awards?

- Yeah.

So, the process of the nominations were a group of us, including the cast of "Delicious City Podcast", as well as some really, I'd say key stakeholders in the local food scene that really understand who's doing what and the impact they're having.

And then, as far as the judging goes, we're actually using a lot of local food writers.

- Okay.

- And food journalists, many of them you probably know.

And they are going to be, they've actually, much of them I think at this point, have casted their votes.

- [Shirley] Okay.

- Is going to a completely secured process, a local law firm, we partnered with a client inspector- - Mhm.

- And all the votes will be sent to them, they're tallying the votes, they'll be filling out the envelopes- - Wow.

- Nobody will know who the winner is until it is announced on stage.

- That's incredible, so when and where are "The Tasties"?

- So it's gonna be on February 2nd, so Sunday, February 2nd, so just in a couple days.

- Mhm.

- And it'll be at Live Casino and Hotel, on their second floor event space.

It'll start, we have the VIP reception from 4:00 to 5:00 PM, red carpet between 4:30 and 5:00, ceremony, and then we have an incredible after party that's going to just blow people's minds.

- [Shirley] Yeah.

- We have so many great chefs, restaurants, and spirit, beer, wine companies involved, it's gonna be exciting.

- And tickets are available for that, for sure, awesome.

- They are, exactly.

- Eli Kulp, thank you so much for being here, and good luck with the inaugural "Tasties".

- Oh my God, thank you so much, we're gonna need it.

(Shirley laughing) (bright upbeat music) - Lots of people these days have espresso machines at home.

With that in mind, La Colombe released a video tutorial, showing coffee lovers how to create latte art at home.

I gave it a go, take a look at how I did.

(upbeat music) Today, I'm inside La Colombe headquarters in Fishtown to learn how to make latte art.

(bright playful music) Hey, everyone, I'm here with regional trainer, Rachel Guerrieri.

Rachel, thanks for having me.

- Thank you for having me.

(Shirley laughing) - [Shirley] Today we're going to be going over latte art and how to make it.

- Yes.

- [Shirley] I'm really excited, we're gonna make a heart?

- [Rachel] Yes, we are gonna pour a heart today.

- Okay, and when you say "pour", we're just pouring the milk into the shape of a heart?

- Yep, we're just gonna use our pitcher and our espresso and we're gonna get a heart in our cup.

So the first step is pulling our shot of espresso, as I'm gonna pull my shot of espresso, I'm gonna also portion out my milk.

Basically what I wanna see in my pitcher is a whirlpool, and you see how that's nice and glossy?

- [Rachel] Yeah.

- What we're looking for is wet paint, that's kinda how we describe latte milk- - Oh, that's the consistency of it.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- And then what I'm gonna do is give it a pour.

So, what I'm gonna do is just kinda hang out in the middle, and then get really, really close when I want that nice heart to come out.

(bright playful music) - That looks hard.

(Shirley and Rachel laughing) Nervous, I decided to try my hand at the heart.

(bright acoustic music) - That's beautiful milk.

- It looks like paint.

- That looks gorgeous.

(pitcher thudding) - Okay.

- Are you ready to pour?

- No.

- Okay, you got this.

(Shirley laughing) So, you're gonna tilt your cup- - Mhm.

- And then you're just gonna pour right into the middle.

Okay, now what you're gonna do is speed up a little bit- - Mhm.

- Speed up a little bit more.

Okay, now you're gonna dip really close- - Mhm.

- You're gonna pour out.

- Yeah.

- Keep pouring out, pull your cup level, and then you're gonna pull through for your heart.

- Oh my God I poured it on.

- Okay, so we got like a little peach, which is beautiful.

Let's do this again.

- [Shirley] Wow, that's horrible.

(playful trumpet music) - It's all about consistency, and it's also all about practice.

- Okay.

- But, you did this your first time, it's pretty impressive.

(upbeat music) - Okay, second attempt.

Tilting the cup.

- Yep.

- Pouring in the middle.

- Yes.

- Going kinda fast.

- Great, now you're gonna come closer- - Coming closer.

- Speed up your pour, and you're gonna just pause, you're gonna pause right here- - Uh-huh.

- And keep going- - Okay.

- Keep going, and now we're gonna have our cup come level, and you're gonna pull through.

(upbeat music) - Okay, a little better.

- And that is a heart.

That is absolutely a heart, look at that, that's beautiful.

- [Shirley] You're so positive.

- [Rachel] You did that though, this was all you.

- [Shirley] Okay, this is an improvement, this is an improvement, everyone, take a look.

(drums pounding) (exciting celebratory music) (crowd cheering) Clearly, I have a long way to go.

You can try your hand at a heart too, La Colombe released a video tutorial showing coffee lovers how to make a heart in your home latte.

- And follow through.

- Coffee education has always been really close to our heart.

We kind of have this idea to democratize coffee for people, so making it as easy as possible for people to enjoy their coffee at home, and that includes sharing education around coffee.

- [Shirley] And latte art isn't the only thing La Colombe is teaching.

(upbeat music) - We actually did a series of tutorials leading up to National Coffee Day, which is our favorite holiday, for obvious reasons.

And we're constantly coming up with new content around coffee education, which you can find on our Instagram, or our YouTube, or our website.

- [Shirley] Moment of truth, you actually liked my heart?

(Jeremy laughing) - I thought it was an incredible heart.

(Shirley laughing) Very talented, will be working at La Colombe soon.

(Shirley laughing) It was great.

- [Shirley] Who doesn't love a heart?

- [Rachel] It really truly seems to make people's days in a different way, which is I think really nice.

- Yeah.

(upbeat music) And ahead of Valentine's Day, La Colombe is hosting a singles happy hour at their Fishtown cafe, called Love Over Lattes.

The event is in celebration of La Colombe's new limited edition strawberry mocha draft latte cans that blend the flavors of strawberry and chocolate, a perfect pairing that hopefully leads to a brew-mance for single coffee lovers.

The event is on Tuesday, February 11th, here's how you can register.

(bright upbeat music) Philadelphia Youth basketball's newly built Alan Horwitz "Sixth Man" Center is quickly becoming a huge attraction for sports enthusiasts, families, and communities, and the folks behind it wouldn't have it any other way.

(basketballs thudding) (upbeat music) - My most memorable memory at PYB is playing basketball on Saturdays with my middle school basketball team.

(whistle screeching) (upbeat music) PYB allowed me to go outside of basketball activities, like doing interviews, writing papers, and you know, off court things, like being able to talk about, you know, how I can relate to the real world outside of basketball.

(upbeat music) (crowd cheering) Doing interviews, I was very shy and stuff, I wouldn't talk to a lot of people, but you know, every time I come to PYB, it allows me to meet a new person, and every time I meet a new person, we become really close.

(basketballs thudding) A lot of programs is all basketball oriented, but PYB is outside of basketball, so it allowed me to learn new things, have different experiences, from the time that I was seven until now.

(bright upbeat music) The people here are just great, they treat you well, they help you set high expectations for yourself.

PYB allowed me to think about my goals, and sometimes they change because I think about different stuff as I go.

(bright upbeat music) - When I was eight, I decided that I really was interested in basketball.

(basketball thudding) They showed me around a little bit, we do before basketball, like about teamwork, leadership, and then they were like, "Okay, we're going on court."

And we practiced dribbling, shooting, passing.

(bright music) (whistle screeching) (basketball thudding) - PYB has impacted my life a lot, it's changed my way of thinking towards other people, it taught me how to treat people well, and it changed how I think about myself, how I, you know, treat my body.

Something that I learned from here could be passed onto the next person, and who knows how that could affect them.

(upbeat music) (whistle screeching) It could change their lives in multiple ways.

Being at this program could change my life, it could also change someone else's life too.

(upbeat music) It made me a better person.

(bright upbeat music) - Alright, that is our show, we hope you come back next week for more stories "You Oughta Know".

Goodnight, everyone.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues)