Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY: Theme=Red + Black: The 5th Anniversary party for Sex Dwarf, our favorite new wave dance party, at Fluid (614 S 4th), 9PM. Free before 10PM, $5 after Smooth Jazz: Smooth Jazz Summer Nights presents Warren Hill at the Great Plaza on Penn’s Landing (Chestnut and Columbus Blvd), 7:30PM. Free SATURDAY: ACANA: ACANA African Festival at the Great Plaza on Penn’s Landing (Chestnut and Columbus Blvd), 12PM. Free......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY: Wrecked: Say goodbye to uncomfortable seating at The Wrecking Ball, celebrating the impending renovations of Hopkinson Hall with a dance party, films from Secret Cinema, food and raffles at the International House (3701 Chestnut), 8PM. Free They’re Just a Bunch of Pansies: Pansy Division in concert, post-documentary screening and pre-Sex Dwarf, at the Troc (1003 Arch), 9PM. $10 SATURDAY: Go Global: Global Fusion Festival at Great Plaza......

No debate: there’s no better, or more appropriate, place to celebrate the birth of our nation than right here in Philly. Here are a few things to help you enjoy your freedom this weekend. The best part? Most of it’s free. Today: Forget lunch, there’s cake! A reading of the Declaration of Independence is followed by an eight foot cake that’s needs some eating. Head over to the Independence Visitor Center at noon to snag......

In a jumble of misunderstood credential arrangements, I arrived at the Popped! Philadelphia music festival last Saturday more or less as a spectator with a photo pass. No interviews, no all-access backstage pass, no video cameras, and not even an idea to give the Phillyist world an artsy camera perspective of the small details involved in being there. Despite my skepticism of the changed nature of this festival, and the frustratingly unorganized course leading......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY The N Crowd: Improv comedy troupe the N Crowd perform at the Actors Center (257 N 3rd), 8PM. $10 Ah, Faerie: Faerie Elaine Silver performs at The Philadelphia Society for Art, Literature and Music (5841 Overbrook Ave), 8PM. $10 Wild Nights: Jerzy Skolimowski: Inside/Outside presentation of Deep End at the International House (3701 Chestnut), 7PM (opening reception at 6PM). $5-7 Oh, the Anonymity: Toiling in Obscurity, with......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY Beautiful Boy: Beautiful Boy, a scripted and improvised comedy work written and performed by 1812 Productions cofounder Pete Pryor and inspired by his autistic son, at the Playground at the Adrienne (2030 Sansom), 8PM. $10 (also on Saturday and Sunday at 2PM) Ruling Triumvirate: DJ Deejay spins Madonna, Michael, and Prince at Moshulu Bar & Restaurant (401 S Columbus Blvd), 9PM-2AM. $8 SATURDAY Crafty In Person: Philly......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY SURFGARAGEPUNKROCKNROLL!!! Whoo!: Positively Sick on South Street with Flag of Democracy, The Ripovs!, Voodoo Reef, and cheap drinks at Tritone (1508 South), 9PM. $6 Funstival: First annual Mascher Space Coop Funstival, featuring The Hessians, Gemini Wolf, Umlaut, The Mural and the Mint, and dance performances by New Extreme Dance Explosions Awesomes, PIMA group, M.I.A., ChristinaZani/DevynnEmory /Sam Miller, Megan Bridge, and MAPcollective at Johnny Brenda’s (1201 Frankford), 8PM.......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY Going Underground: The Underground Film Series at the Ukrainian League of Philadelphia (800 N 23rd) presents Radiophobia and Have You Ever Heard About Vukovar? at 8PM. Free Cellos Are Cool: Cellist Monica McIntyre performs at The Philadelphia Society for Art, Literature and Music (5841 Overbrook Ave), 8PM. $10 SATURDAY National Pretzel Day: In honor of this auspicious holiday Philly Pretzel Factory will be giving out three free......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY Bring Your Own Tank: SCUBA National Touring Dance Alliance at the Conwell Dance Theater on Temple’s campus (Broad and Montgomery), 8PM. $10 (also on Saturday) Last Friday: Celebrate March’s last Friday with poet Matthew Dickman, singer/songwriter Irene Molloy, and extended gallery hours at the Philadelphia Art Alliance (251 S 18th), 7PM. $5 SATURDAY Free Classical: The Six, performing Bach and Monteverdi and conducted by Matt Glandorf at......

Go across the Walt Whitman Bridge and take the North-South Freeway to Route 55. Travel South on Route 55 for about 25 miles, and you'll find yourself in Vineland, New Jersey. (Insert wisecrack about Vineland's awesomely bad municipal website here.) Why would you go to Vineland? Well, at the moment, you probably wouldn't. But next summer, you might have a reason to. Paste Magazine is reporting that C3 Presents—the force behind Lollapalooza and the......

Raise your hand if you enjoy live music festivals. *Phillyist raises hand* Now, raise your hand if you’re an un-American communist who doesn’t like the idea of live music in a beautiful Philadelphia park (or cute little kids raising their hands, like at left). *Select members of the Fairmount Park Commission raise their hands* Yesterday, the Fairmount Park Commission voted to table a multi-day, multi-stage festival in Fairmount Park and your help is needed. As......

If you were one of the dozens of people scrambling for a ticket to the extremely sold out The Hold Steady show at North Star Bar last year who got shut out, listen up: the Brooklyn-based rockers are playing the Fillmore at the TLA tonight, and tickets are available. A year ago, as the band rode a wave of popular and critical acclaim, the thought was it would be playing to packed theaters by now;......

This week, Phillyist saw the waters of a landmark fountain run red for a Showtime marketing stunt, the Phils pull ahead, and some serious nostalgia. They also got a chance to review an awesome tribute album, reminded folks to see the King, and appreciated their beautiful skyline. Chicagoist knows what it's like to like the Cubs. But naming your kid Wrigley Fields? At least they can breathe a little easier now that Grossman's out......

Did anyone else see where September went? It was Labor Day, we went to the closet to pack up our white shoes, and suddenly it's the terminal week. Next year, September, give us a little more transition time? Also, knock it off with the 90s. One good thing about September's passing is that October is beginning, and all the lovely holidays and festivals that come with it. This weekend kicks off Oktoberfest in our......

There was very little else for Londonist to be concerned with when the threat of a Tube strike became a very unpleasant reality. The inconvenience was extreme: there aren't many alternatives to the Tube in London despite the best efforts of the Londonist team to get everyone from A to B. Brighter news came in the form of the first ever female Yeoman Warder, or Beefeater as the position is more commonly known, and......

Sure, you can wander through art gallery after art gallery tonight. The same places you always go, with the same cheap wine you always drink. Or, you can take advantage of the fact that there's always a First Friday during the Live Arts and Fringe Festivals, and there are plenty of free or pay-what-you-can PLAF events you can hit tonight and for the next week. A few that we think sound interesting: Sonic Dances A......

Performance: Between the Pages: 3 sisters, a winged boy and a lighthouse (SCRAP Performance Group) (Future Showtimes) During college, I didn't get to see a lot of Fringe shows because so few of them were staged in University City. Now it seems that the Festival has spread far beyond Center City and Old City, and I think that SEPTA should have a special Festival pass, or the Festival should have special shuttles, so that people......

Performance: An·'tis·a·lon (Kaibutsu) (Future Showtimes) One of the things I love so much about the Live Arts and Fringe Festivals is the audience who goes to see the shows. The people waiting to see these shows usually aren't your standard theatre-going audience, or, if they are, they're more relaxed than they are at more traditional shows. They talk to you while you're standing in line. They offer alternative suggestions about other shows to latecomers who......

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom......

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. After cooling down from a hot weekend of many badass Sunset Junction Street Fair photo dispatches, LAist asked......

Once again, nothing new this week, as theatre companies and performers around the city prepare for the Live Arts and Fringe Festivals. Check back here next week for our preview. Meanwhile, to make up for the short listings, here's a longer quote, from 1930s and '40s star of stage and screen Nelson Eddy (the handsome devil you see here): I know, I know the world wants love. I know that the fans want love on......

Things are slowing down right now, in the weeks before the Philadelphia Live Arts and Philly Fringe Festivals. But that doesn't mean that all of the theatres in Philadelphia are dark. Now, on with the listings! Those Were the Days - We think we can safely say: they don’t write ’em like that anymore! Through August 12. Tickets online. Nunsense - It’s not nonsense. Through September 30. For more information, call 302.475.2313. Wicked - We......

All across the Ist-A-Verse (or at least the American parts thereof), writers and editors are in the midst of enjoying their three-day weekend. But after the week we've all had, we feel like the break is not only needed, but deserved. Just look at everything we've been doing! Gothamist headed into the Memorial Day weekend with a number of tasks accomplished. They worried about Long Islanders giving New Yorkers a bad name. They tried......

We always get a little sad when the main classical music season ends and all the musicians go to their fun summer festivals. But, this can only mean that the Mann Center's season is just around the corner! Monday For the 150th anniversary of Robert Schumann's death, the Kimmel Center presents "The Romantic World of Robert Schumann" with Jeffrey Siegel, piano. This program takes a look at the passion behind Robert Schumann's piano works......

Film: The Kovak Box Future Screenings: Saturday, April 14, 5PM, Ritz East After a while, you kind of start to recognize some people in Film Festival audiences. You've seen them at other screenings. You've stood in line together. You might never speak, but it's still a little like seeing a movie with old friends. The Kovak Box Film festivals are funny: movies that are quite mainstream in the countries where they're produced sometimes seem to......

With two big-deal festivals—POPPED! and the Philadelphia Film Festival—in Philly right now, Phillyist staffers have been running around like so many proverbial headless chickens: madly moving from place-to-place so fast they seem out of control. Also, headless chickens, from what we hear, have a little bit of trouble eating. (Of course, for them, it's physiological: for us, it's a matter of scheduling.) Between the God-imposed Passover diet and back-to-back screenings, this Phillyist has found it......

Film: Consequences Future Screenings: No future screenings scheduled Once in a while, you hear about a movie that gets booed at a film festival, that film festival usually being Cannes, a.k.a. the film festival to end all film festivals. Having your film booed at Cannes is almost a death sentence: the film has to be re-edited, new scenes have to be filmed, and even then, chances are that it won't do very well in the......

We don't know about where you are, but it seems like spring can't decide whether or not to happen. Some days are warm, some days are cold, and sometimes you aren't sure which. Baseball may have started up (and soccer/football winding down) but it still seems cold out there. Unless it's not. Anyways, onto the -ists. Austinist happily anticipated fall's Austin City Limits, even though they're not fully recovered from South By Southwest. In other......

With the sun out, the temperatures high, one can only think of one thing-- what's going on in the World of the -ist's? Bostonist dug deep to uncover Barack Obama's unpaid parking tickets, their Governor's latest ethical lapse, and a plagarizing sports writer. Chicagoist had everything in twos: two views on having the Olympics, losing two members of their Super Bowl team, and two music festivals. DCist put their noses in legal books as they......

Now that I've seen it, I'm not surprised at the bad reception Darren Aronofsky's new film The Fountain received at some of the film festivals it played at and, indeed, at the screening I attended. A lot of people are not going to like it. A lot of people are going to be puzzled and confused and irritated by it - as many of my fellow audience members were. And if you go expecting a......