Dear Philadelphia: I have lived here now for nearly six years. I made it through four and a half without buying pepper spray, and only acquired one from a friend when a string of sexual assaults last fall were a little too close to home. It remains attached to my keychain, except for when it isn't: before shows at the Electric Factory or TLA, I make sure to detach it and leave it somewhere......

Madi Distefano, Director of A 24-Hour The Bald Soprano...

Okay, the title is a bit misleading but good lord, there were a lot of teenagers at the Fall Out Boy concert on Friday night at the Tweeter Center. I miscalculated the strong presence of junior high girls that would be at this concert. I knew there would be some, but I have to say the majority of this sold-out arena were 14-16 year old girls with shirts that said, "I dig guys in......

Dear New Jersey: When I first moved to Philadelphia, I'd tell people that everything I knew about New Jersey came from Kevin Smith movies...and that once I moved here, I realized he wasn't too far off. When Kevin Smith came to Penn, I told him this. I meant it as a compliment, but he took it as a great insult to his home state. "You ever been to Jersey?" he asked me. "I've been to......

The Secret Cinema's Jay Schwartz...