Recently we were sad to report that Anne d'Harnoncourt, the highly respected director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art died unexpectedly. Since then, the city declared June 19, 2008 as a Day of Appreciation for Anne d'Harnoncourt, and on that day the Philadelphia Museum of Art will be open free to the public from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. On that same day, at 11:30 a.m. the City Council will issue a resolution honoring Anne......

F is for freedom. R is for relaxing. I is for imbibing. D is for designated driver. A is for after-party. Y is for, um, yodeling? Oh whatever, it's Friday people, so look alive and act like it! Get the blood pumping by singing along, to the tune of "This Is How We Do It": This is how we Fridaaaaay....this is how we fri-i-i-day. La da da da di da da da...this is how......

It'll probably be pouring tonight, but so what? The temperatures are on the rise, Daylight Savings Time starts again on Sunday, and it's time to get this Spring started! Where better than at First Friday? Here are our top three picks. Khmer Art Gallery & Museum, home of a millennium's worth of Cambodian art, welcomes an exhibition of the work of local photographer Angie Campano. The two-month exhibition, opening tonight, features photographs she took while......

Governor Rendell said that he would back the indicted Senator Fumo's reelection bid if Fumo just asked him. Ed says: "We would be lost in Harrisburg without him because of his skill. He has done great things, and we are lucky to have him." The Inquirer is getting excited about the Philadelphia Flower Show, which will have a preview opening for selected guests tomorrow, and then open to the general public on Sunday. Catherine......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Rule: Be Kind Rewind Expect our review of this Michel Gondry comedy, starring Jack Black, Mos Def, and Danny Glover, later on this morning. Trailer - Freshness Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse The Band's Visit A fish-out-of-water comedy about the Ceremonial Police Band of Alexandria, Egypt arriving for a gig in Israel, only to find that their hosts and transportation have failed......

Looking for a new way to start the weekend? Head on over to the art museum for its Art After 5 series. This week's Art After 5 concert features up-and-coming jazz trumpeter Sean Jones. This 29-year-old has been making a name for himself as the lead trumpeter for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (with Wynton Marsalis). True to their name, these concerts (free with museum admission) go from 5 PM until 8:45 PM on......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Iron Ladies: The Independent Television Series presents Iron Ladies of Liberia, a documentary of Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, followed by a discussion at the National Constitution Center (525 Arch), 6:30PM. Free Jazz Premiere: Famed jazz-pianist Dave Burrell performs four new works, all inspired by the works of poet Marianne Moore, at the Rosenbach Museum (2008 Delancy), 6PM. $5-8 Crashers: Fatal Seduction, a Dumpsta Players production, wherein celebrities crash......

The weather is causing a flare-up in our SADS and we aren't too optimistic for much improvement before the big V-Day tomorrow. It's a busy day in IstVille, and we can't promise the same amount of wit (we are witty, aren't we?) and substance we usually offer to our Can't Miss This! readers, but we hope you find something below to keep you busy tonight. Here are a few things to do inside, away......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY Some Art for the Wall: 5th Annual Emerging Artists and Emerging Leaders Art Auction, with entertainment by local guitarist Marisol Rampolla and an open bar, at Drexel University - Paul Peck Alumni Center (32nd and Market), 7PM. $10 There Are Some Who Aren’t?: Local author Lynn Hoffman reads from his novel bangBANG, the story of “a feisty Philly waitress,” at Molly’s Bookstore (1010 S. 9th), 7:30PM. Free......

Today we have basketball, masturbation, and ancient, unrequited love. What more can we say? YOUNG FRIENDS PROGRAM: GREATEST HEARTBREAKS OF ANCIENT TIMES The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology knows how to kick it old school, especially around Valentine's Day. The most sacred of Hallmark holidays, Valentine's Day is a day which lonely people spend masturbating and couples spend, well, um, doing romantic stuff? Anyway, the Young Friends of Penn Museum are bringing......

It’s almost that time again folks: Compulsory Love Day is next Thursday, so it’s time to stock up on the champagne, chocolates, and condoms. That is, if you have a partner. If not, tradition dictates you sit at home alone, preferably in a battered bathrobe, and eat a quart of ice cream out of the container. If you’re feeling somewhere in the middle of the champagne/battered bathrobe spectrum, here are some ideas to keep you......

The Inquirer takes a look at the political landscape on the morning of Super Tuesday. If you're from New Jersey or Delaware, remember to vote! As long as you've done your research, and you care at all. If neither of those things are true then please, don't vote. A federal lawsuit filed in December says that President Bush's housing czar, Alphonso Jackson, pressured the Philadelphia Housing Authority to transfer land worth $2 million to Kenny......

Let us say up front that we buy into Virginia Woolf’s theory about women artists: it was/is often lack of opportunity, rather than lack of talent, that keeps the gender imbalance in the classic art canon holding steady. Controversy still abounds as to the placement and display of female artists, particularly whether it matters. If art is good, it is good, right, and will be recognized as such, regardless of gender. Would that it were......

Philadelphian Karen Kilimnik has been selected as one of the artists for the 2008 Whitney Biennial, an exhibition of recent American art at the Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC. (Via Jill, via Lenny) Frank Funaro, who runs a nightclub and a real estate business on South Street in Philadelphia, was robbed of $40,000 yesterday morning at his home in Washington Township, New Jersey. A gunman, apparently deliberately targeting the family, was hiding in......

Rocky and Rambo have sided with the soldier: Sylvester Stallone told Fox News yesterday morning that he is backing John McCain in his presidential bid. We find his justification reasonable, though perhaps less elegant than it could be: "I like McCain a lot. A lot," Stallone said. He called the Republican the right character for the times. "The script that's being written - and the reality - is pretty brutal and pretty hard-edged like a......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY Money Folders II: Second installment of series featuring the Philadelphyinz, DJ Gravity, and more at the Arts Garage (1535 Ridge Avenue), 10PM-3AM. $10 (women free before 10:30PM) Sing, Sing a Song: Choral Concert with Organ presented by the Delius Society at St. Mark’s Church (1625 Locust), 7:30. Free Art Is Primary: Opening reception for Red Yellow Blue, a solo show of artist Vincent McLoughlin, at AXD Gallery......

The Daily News analyzes Paris Hilton's visit to the area yesterday, and comes to the rather surprising conclusion that she's a nice lady and her only real fault is that she's not punctual. The Philadelphia Museum of Art's exhibition of American artist Bruce Nauman has been selected to appear in the US Pavilion of the the 53rd Venice Biennale, "one of the most important art gatherings in the world." Mayor Nutter revoked a license given......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: The Kids Are All Right: High Ball Kids, Black Souls, C of Cortez, The Karma Whores, and Qwirk at the Khyber (56 S. 2nd), 8PM. $8 (21+) Foxy: Foxy Shazaam, Karate High School, Peachcake, and Blue Collar at the Troc Balcony (1003 Arch), 6PM. $10 College Jazz: The Oberlin College Conservatory Jazz Septet at Chris’ Jazz Café (1421 Sansom), 9PM. $8 “Art Is Just a Way to Think”:......

Heath Ledger died yesterday afternoon in a NYC apartment, and early indications are it was from an overdose, but an autopsy will be performed today to determine the facts. Gothamist has a detailed, much-updated post on the topic. Both the Inquirer and the Daily News are taking a look this morning at the three finalists for the job of chief executive officer of the School District of Philadelphia, and the Inquirer also has a look......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY On the Highwire Tonight: Fire Museum Records presents MaryClare Brzytwa, Dominique Leone, and Ashley Deekus at Highwire Gallery (2040 Frankford Ave.), 8PM. $5 The Other New Wave: Screening of Francois Truffaut’s 1959 The 400 Blows at Molly’s Bookstore (1010 S. 9th), 7PM. Free Oh the Drama: The Drama Club, The Grundles, The Peace Creeps, and The Miners at Grape Street (4100 Main St.), 8PM. $10 We'll Remember:......

To say we like puppets is probably an understatement. What’s there not to like about talking pieces of wood? Or, for that matter, watching humans channel their emotions and desires through a manipulate-able avatar? Twilight Zone aside, it sounds like a surefire recipe for fun. The Institute for Contemporary Art obviously agrees: their new exhibit The Puppet Show, which looks at the imagery of puppets in contemporary art, opens tonight at ICA’s Winter Opening Reception......

Mid-January means Martin Luther King Day, which means it’s time to live that dream of yours (or perhaps just a resolution) and volunteer in our fine city. The 13th Annual MLK National Day of Service will be celebrated this weekend around the region. The day grew out of national legislation aiming to create a day of citizen action in honor of Dr. King’s work. It’s still growing, as more and more folks decide to put......

Lots of changes in local political leadership today. The judges in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas will vote to elect a new president judge. In Montgomery County they'll be swearing in the winners of the November elections. And the same will be happening in Philadelphia today as Nutter comes in and Street goes out. The body of 50-year-old Cynthia Cometz of Woodstown was found inside a BMW that had been submerged in......

It's that time of year folks, when we all lay down plans for the new year before promptly "forgetting" about them a month later. I'm hoping that making mine public will force me to stick to them... but check back with me in February. Get more active: I know, I know, isn’t this everyone’s resolution, even if it is most often tacked with the perennial favorite, “lose weight?” But I already have the daily gym......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Getting It On, Etruscan Style: Lecture on Desperate Etruscan Housewives, followed by gallery tour and refreshments at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (3260 South), 5PM. Free Moonstone Poetry Series: Poetry reading featuring Daniel Collins and Jim Mancinelli at Robin’s Book Store (108 S. 13th), 6PM. Free Astral Lounge:The Astral Lounge, the Tea Club, Kevin Elliot and the Broken, and Nathan Gaunt at the Khyber......

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The Attorney General's Office has accused Former State Rep. Frank LaGrotta of giving his relatives fake jobs in order to pay them thousands in taxpayer dollars. A cheval-de-frise (an iron-tipped log that's placed in a riverbed along with many others in order to gore the hulls of enemy warships) was recently found at the bottom of the Delaware River at the Sunoco Logistics pier in South Philadelphia. It's a relic from the mid-1770s, and......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY Flea Market, Theater Style: Clothing Flea Market from theatrical stock at the Wilma Theater (265 S. Broad), 3-7PM. Free admission (most items $2-20). Also on Saturday, 12-4PM. Requires Audience Participation: Improv with The N Crowd at the Actor’s Center (257 N. 3rd), every Friday, 8-10PM. $10 SATURDAY Rare Bird: Part of the Philly Improv Festival, featuring Jackie, Cathcart & Olson, and iMusical at the Mum Puppettheatre (115......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY First Friday Film Flix: Freshout and Expressway Productions present First Friday Film Fix: A Night of Genre-Defying Indie Film Shorts at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut), 7PM. $3. SATURDAY You Are Here. Honest: Performance artist Brett Keyser leads interactive expeditions in Independence National Historical Park; the group meets at the APS Museum (104 S. 5th). Requires a sign-up (email the APS Museum museum@amphilsoc.org with your name, phone number,......

Tuesday Pianist Gary Graffman turned a right hand injury around into a brilliant career performing repertoire written for the left hand alone. Hear him play works by Bach, Brahms, Scirabin, Corigliano, and more. Perelman Theater (Kimmel Center); 8 PM; $22.50 Thursday Crossroads Music presents Kalman Balogh, accomplished player of the cimbalom, a difficult 36-stringed Central European hammered dulcimer. Calvary Center for Culture and Community (48th and Baltimore); 7:30pm; $10-$20 The new chief conductor of......