>>> Sure, The Big Pink make the kind of Oasis-dumb three-chord nursery rhyme Britpop that today feels positively antiquated. The part of us that still has VHS tapes of old 120 Minutes episode still feels loyal to them, though. They play the North Star Bar tonight with noiseniks A Place To Bury Strangers, who will [...]

Turns out that big explosion underneath the Market-Frankford line in West Philly last night was caused by RATS CHEWING ON SEPTA POWER CABLES. (Sorry, Inky, no link.) And after doing Google image searches for “SEPTA FIRE RATS,” we can tell you this much: No satisfactory image currently exists for this phenomenon. So: SEND US YOUR [...]

>>> Perhaps putting the Rare Birds Vs. Rarebirds debate to rest once and for all, ex-Delta 72 frontman/present Cat Power sideman Gregg Foreman (pictured) has re-surfaced with a new band called All Saints Day, a joint project between him and Katy of the Vivian Girls. It’s all very M83/Jesus & Mary Chain-sounding, and we dig [...]

Los Angeles-to-Philly transplant/Tea Party flag-wrapped fameball Pia Varma has been trying to run for Congress in the 1st District against Bob Brady — and by “trying,” we mean she was kicked off the ballot and is now appealing, saying she was not properly served — but, the way we see it, the questions surrounding her [...]

Big profile on Tony Danza and how his stint as a Philly high school teacher has been going in the Los Angeles Times today, and well, it’s a mixed bag: On one hand, it is still distressing to know that his reality show, based in Philly and somehow sanctioned by the City’s School District, is [...]

Check out duder spinning this shit every which way. And watch him get real fidgety when the “second” group of local bidders is addressed.

For the transplants: From 1972-1978, the Philadelphia Flyers — then affectionately known as the Broad Street Bullies — terrorized the National Hockey League, racked up wins, and generally personified the rough-and-tumble id this city possessed even more then than it does now. And on Tuesday, May 4 at 10 p.m., HBO Sports will debut its [...]

· One tangent of the whole PNI bankruptcy saga (wake up, we’re talking, don’t be rude) that we’ve always wanted to see more light is Brian Tierney‘s standing concern that he was surreptitiously recorded during meetings with key PNI lenders. It’s not that sexy, but hell, in this story, we’ll take whatever we can get. (WAKE [...]

As we mentioned last week, Temple Nurses have been working without a contract for months and currently face pretty serious cutbacks in a variety of areas. Their strike deadline passed four minutes ago, and from the rampup we’re seeing, it looks like they could be on the street right now. Anybody up there seeing anything?

Here’s George Takei and his husband, Brad Altman, reminding you to claim your legally or non-legally binding gay marriage on your 2010 census form. In related news, Mayor Michael Nutter and scores of City Year Volunteers will mark “Census Day,” April 1, by greeting Philadelphians at City transit stops tomorrow morning. Say hi! And fill [...]

1. “A school and a nightclub cannot coexist in the same space and (the arrangement) must cease immediately.” But why the school, and not the club, always wins out in debates like this, we’ll never really know. 2. Harambee faculty sadly do not know the difference between “its” and “it’s” — more evidence that the [...]

>>> Don’t hate us ‘cos we love Bay Area lo-fi losers Nodzzz. Hate this whole damned system that makes us all so confused and weird all the time. Nodzzz open up for The Soft Pack at Johnny Brenda’s. >>> On a likewise lo-fi revolutionaries tangent, Love Is All play an early all-ages show at The [...]

Ol’ Laffy Taffy over here better not bogart that ish.

And according to the telling-the-truth-in-advance press release Riders Against Gender Exclusion (RAGE) sent out, it was/will be quite a hoot! Forecasted rain forced the group underground, but didn’t dampen spirits. RAGE members Ray and Nico Amador performed a sketch (to the tune of “Mr. Big Stuff”) that had a bewildered Joe Casey (Ray) trying to [...]

· Ramen Rummaging With A Noodle Nerd Vol. 2: Chifa · At Long Last, The Carman’s Country Kitchen Mannequin, Explained · Object Of Desire: Zama’s $100 Sunday Sushi Experience All this and more — plus the Phoodie Restaurant Guide and Phoodie Calendar on Phoodie.info, the new food and drink blog from Philebrity.

Ahahahahahaha. We are so going to hell. I know, I know. I’m sorry. Previously: City Finally Taps Local Poetry Slam Community To Combat Litter

And the Jayson Werth Beard Tumblr blog is mourning accordingly. Sigh.

If the 1,177 confirmed guests for Thursday’s 30th Street Station Freeze do in fact all show up, all freeze in place at the same time, and stay frozen in the station for 3 minutes, it will be a sublime act of improvised public performance. It will also show the Philadelphia Police what a flash mob [...]

Good question, CNN! Here’s your answer: NOTHING! And it was bad enough when a bunch of cops labeled this whole phenomenon “flash mobs,” because that’s not really what this is. We could talk about the distinctions there for days, but we’re already bored by the prospect. Fine, call it a flash mob. But do we [...]

All you grups can have your frontwards-loading baby backpacks, your playdates at Memphis Taproom and your damned Dan Zanes. This is how Philly rolls. Via The Frankford Gazette.