It’s a little known fact, but each year, the City of Philadelphia routinely shakes down non-profit groups who organize events that one would otherwise assume were either sponsored by the City or contribute to the greater good nonetheless. On one hand, festivals and parades do cost our cash-strapped city money; on the other, there’s never [...]

Well, we already knew that Conan O’Brien was keeping busy trying to find ways to keep busy since his run on The Tonight Show ended earlier this year. There’s that girl he started following on Twitter, and that show he’s going to start shooting here in Philly soon. About a half an hour ago, Conan [...]

>>> Not gonna lie: These days, when we’re at home and things need to get done and/or it’s time to get HEAVY, we throw on some Neu! or some Cluster or some Kraftwerk or some La Düsseldorf and GET WAY INTO IT. The drone, the motorik, the forward-motion — Krautrock is the best way we [...]

As in life, so it is in death: We’re betting on both. Seeing something around town of note? Cameraphone it to: tips[at]philebrity[dot]com.

We have a theory, and really we mean no offense by it, BUT: At this point in the game, PhillyMag could grab more new readers and oddly feel more relevant if it just started pressing up reissues of whole issues that it produced during its halcyon days in the 1970s and 1980s. We’ve made remarks [...]

J. CONOR CORCORAN, ESQ. REPORTING: There’s three branches of government, right? Each of ‘em has its own subdivisions, and the Courts have offices like the Sheriff, the Prothonotary (the clerk for civil cases), and the Clerk of Quarter Sessions (the clerk for criminal cases). Most lawyers couldn’t tell you why this vital office is named [...]

Oh, hi, Jihad Jane: Congratulations on being the very scariest kind of white person there is. Also, Pennsburg is located 40 miles northwest of Philadelphia and 5 miles southwest of Quakertown! Who knew? And the whole thing about you living on Main Street! It’s like a special gift from God to reporters! Be careful guys [...]

Via the YouTube page what spawned this bit of ancient pre-TSOP vibe: “Bobby Taylor and Thom Bell with an instrumental version of the Jackson 5 hit, released on the Philadelphia International in 1975. As far as I know this was their only single release. Bobby Taylor is credited with discovering the Jackson 5.”

We probably don’t need to tell you this, but the funky crunchy-but-soft urban crust of cigarette butts and partially broken down dog poops that we noticed when the snow melted haven’t gone anywhere. In fact, we have no idea how this could be, but there’s even more. Good news: The third annual Philly Spring Cleanup [...]

Click here to DL “Stranger,” the first single off the upcoming album Shame, Shame, for free. We’re just lookin’ out for ya. We know a lot of you like the Dog. And to dickhurt bands who are all like, “Hey, why do Dr. Dog get all the Philebrity love?,” you’re kind of right. So let’s [...]

Is it ripping off The Daily News, The Daily Beast, or The Daily Beast ripping off The Daily News? Also: Hiring Larry Mendte to blog for you is a stroke of genius, but we still miss AJ Daulerio’s PhillyMag blog. You guys totally blew that. But Larry’s not a bad get. We dig it.

In a very short time, “Abolish the PLCB — Rewrite the Code!,” a new Facebook group with many axes to grind against the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, has gathered over a thousand members. And it’ll gain more. People hate the PLCB, and they have every reason to — it’s archaic, inept, and not for nothing, [...]

this is super random but your post about wild dogs running the streets inspired me to send this to you! I live in south philly down on 3rd street and on Saturday I looked out my window to see this monster staring at me. I’ve seen hawks flying around before but i never saw one [...]

Join us next TONIGHT as our pal Spike Priggen from Bedazzled.tv, the Internet’s home for wild 1960s ephemera and so much more, visits Philly with a special program pulled from the Bedazzled vaults. We just saw tonight’s program list, and all we can say is, WE HOPE YOU LIKE AWESOME. Refreshments will be served, and [...]

Congratulations to Cecily Kellog, last night’s overall winner at the First Person Arts StorySlam at World Cafe Live. She told a story on the theme of “Funeral” that involved a mullet, multiple Quonset huts and filtered septic water. Who says funerals can’t be hilarious? First Person StorySlams take place every second Monday at World Cafe [...]

Interesting piece in USA Today (what? really?) on how different states stack up against one another on existing or pending marijuana legislation. If you click through and play around with the fun rollover map screengrabbed above (it’s more fun if you’re high), you’ll see that while PA is nowhere near as square as, say, Ohio, [...]

A tipster points us to London cityblog Londonist, where folks have taken to hand-drawing maps their own neighborhoods. We kind of love this. We kind of love this a lot. And sure, others have tried the whole neighborhood map thing here, but it’s mostly been the work of pros. We want to see what you, [...]

It’s been a while since we heard from Dr. Dog, Philly’s own emissaries of good vibes for the world over. Turns out, they’ve been really busy (as usual). Their new album, Shame, Shame, will be out on April 6th (their first record for Anti-, home to Alec Ounsworth, Man Man and some guy named Tom [...]

The way we live now: In ever-increasing dollops of fear that the natural world may soon overtake completely the artificial, human one we’ve made for ourselves. It’s the weather, sure, but it’s also a new (old) urban phobia that almost feels to grisly to confess: A fear of wild dogs, roaming the streets. In North [...]

The violent, racist mess that occurred at South Philadelphia High School at the end of last year — and the gross ineptitude on the part of school officials and the School District that followed — was a shameful episode for the entire city. And even though we now know that the School District cannot be [...]