Hey remember The Broad Street Diner, the grey lady of Broad and Ellsworth? It used to be “A Place For Ribs.” Now it’s “A Place Stephen Starr May Turn Into A Chic Restaurant That I Can’t Afford.” (Sorry, didn’t mean to be snarky. Starr's done a lot for Philly.) According to Food and Drinq, Mr. Starr has signed a letter of intent, applied for a liquor license, and begun kicking around some ideas of what......

Monday challenges the average human to perform incredible feats of bravery and strength every week. It is the Goliath to our David, the Microsoft to our Yahoo!, the [insert viable presidential candidate here] to our Ron Paul. We do not choose it – it chooses us. Then it abuses us. Degrades us. Makes us to feel as if our feelings, if they exist at all, don't actually matter. Yes, we will say it, because......

Thursday has often been called a day of thirst, probably because we need an excuse to drink on a week night, and the wordplay writes itself. We wish we could refrain from suggesting at least one bar, just to rebel against the 'thirsty' designation. Well, we can't refrain. We just plain can't. But at least we have some music to serve before the booze. THE FOO FIGHTERS AND SERJ TANKIAN AT THE WACHOVIA SPECTRUM......

The sweet scent of Friday is in the air, and as those without significant others recover from their hangovers and push their anti-couples bitterness back into the depths of their souls, let us all unite in giving thanks for another weekend. To whom shall we offer this thanks? Well, how about Mayor Michael "Here's My Budget" Nutter? A WALK INTO THE SEA: DANNY WILLIAMS & THE WARHOL FACTORY (2007) If you're an Andy Warhol......

Tuesday brings us several events chosen only on the merits of their names. While this is not always a wise principle by which to live, it will certainly serve to spice up an otherwise Snoozeday Tuesday. Yup. We made that up, right on the spot. What? We don't care if you've heard it before! We haven't, so it's ours! PHILADELPHIA PHANTOMS VS SYRACUSE CRUNCH Okay, okay, we'll admit it: We're not the biggest Phantoms......

Finally! The Day of Days, only hours away from the Hour of Hours, when the bright and beautiful dawn of the Weekend shall arise above our spellbound eyes, pushing the darkness and decrepitude of the week deep into the recesses of distant memory! Huzzah! Huzzah! BLUE MAN GROUP HOW TO BE A MEGASTAR 2.1 TOUR If you thought that intro up there would be a hard act to follow, well, we'll put our humility aside......

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......

Wednesday's event on South Broad Street was as much a six-block-long performance as it was a lighting display. Even before the brief speeches by three of the event's organizers, the Avenue of the Arts was a circus of performers on stilts or in costume. Afterwards, the street became even more active as five bands started playing and the crowds lined up to purchase food from the outdoor stands set up by nearby restaurants. Terra......

Phillyist still isn't used to it being pitch black when the work day is over, but the folks at the Center City District are giving us a night light, for this evening at least. Five buildings along the Avenue of the Arts (from City Hall down to Pine) will be lit up like a movie starlet's makeup mirror. These "murals of art" aren't all though: there will be entertainment on the Avenue as well......

Pitchfork describes David Torn as a shapeshifter. All About Jazz says his new CD, Prezens, is not for the faint-at-heart. The Daily News reports that Torn describes his band as "what would happen if a non-two-chord rock jam band with at least three virtuosic players in it decided to marry itself to Future Sound of London." According to Ars Nova Workshop, "Influenced by Tony Williams' Lifetime, the original Mahavishnu Orchestra, and the electric Miles......

Bands I Caught: Fursaxa, Fan of Friends, War on Drugs, King Kong Ding Dong Venue: The Parlor Tucked away on South Broad next to "You, Me, and Wee" (which, incidentally, seems like the perfect venue for another POPPED! band, Pissed Jeans), the Parlor is a surprisingly cozy venue, despite its unremarkable storefront. I slid through the front door and followed klip//collective's electric-blue polka dots of light back to the main room, where I caught Fursaxa......

Dear Philadelphia: About a year ago, I was walking through my (now-former) West Philadelphia neighborhood. It had snowed a few days before, and the sidewalks were clear enough, I guess, for a careful pedestrian, and the streets were definitely passable for automobiles. That's because all of the snow from the sidewalks and streets had been piled at the corners of the intersections. You know, where there's a little gentle incline so that, I don't......

A limo waits to make a pickup outside McCormick and Schmick's Restaurant on South Broad Street. In the background, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel shines a spotlight on City Hall. Photo by author, December 12, 2006.......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY Cabaret and Bazaar: Puppet Uprising presents The 7th Annual Year-End Cabaret and Great Big Cheap Art Bazaar! 7:30 at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut Street). Free. (Also Saturday night.) Free Jazz in the Plaza: 4 Blind Mice perform free in the Kimmel Center Plaza (260 South Broad Street) at 6PM. SATURDAY Holy Harry Potter, It's a Yule Ball: Put on your sweater from Mrs. Weasley and get thee......

Phillyist would like to welcome Eric Karlan to our burgeoning staff! A sophomore at Penn, Eric hails from Connecticut and enjoys all things sporting and journalistic. Eric can usually be found at the Kelly Writers House sitting on the green couch and editing The Green Couch. There was nothing else. A blanket of slate clouds shrouded the sun and blue sky. The misty fog which enveloped Lincoln Financial Field veiled most of the already irrelevant......

Once in a while, our awesome skyline adds a little variety by changing the lighting scheme on a whole bunch of buildings. Our four tallest skyscrapers - One and Two Liberty Place, the Mellon Bank Center, and the Bell Atlantic Tower - will spend their October nights wearing bright pink in support of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The shift normally happens on October 1st, but since it falls on a Sunday this year,......

Performances: By Grimm (part of Vagabond Acting Troupe’s Journeys to the Edge) (Future performances); Austentatious (11th Hour Theatre Company) (Future performances); The Guided Tour (Kaibutsu) (Future performances); Granuaile and a Place at Howth (SAOIRSE Celtic Performance Troupe) (No future performances); Cell (Headlong Dance Theater) (All future performances sold out); Cell: Movement in Restricted Spaces (Group Motion Dance Company) (Future performances); Every Day Above Ground (SaBooge) (No future performances); Flip the Script (The Brick Playhouse) (Future......

Dear Incoming Class of 2010 (at whatever local university you may be matriculating at): Welcome! Four years ago this week, I was in your shoes. I'd been to Philadelphia exactly once before I moved in to my dorm at Penn. I'd been on the East Coast twice. I wasn't entirely sure what I was getting myself into. And I couldn't have been more excited. You see, I chose to go to Penn because it......

According to U.S. News & World Report's recently released guide to "America's Best Colleges," University of Pennsylvania is the 7th best college in the nation. Woo hoo! Go U Penn! Yesterday was Unity Day in Philadelphia, the 28th occurrence of this yearly event celebrating families and community pride, featuring dozens of free musical performances. Unfortunately, Unity Day also means lots of road closings: MLK Drive, Kelly Drive around the art museum, and the Ben Franklin......

Guster will be doing an in-store performance and signing today at Tower Records (100 South Broad Street) at 1:30 p.m. Ping pong balls not required (and if you don't get that, then you probably won't be coming to Tower Records today). If you can't make it, check out the sew-riffic video for their new one, "One Man Wrecking Machine."......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY: An Evening with Billy Plympton: Awesome animator Bill Plympton will be onhand to screen his work at the Franklin Institute (222 North 20th Street) as part of The Franklin Institute Animation Festival. Tickets are $8, and this event is at 8PM. (The Plympton show is being listed as appropriate for ages 10 and up.) In the Franklin Institute's Stearns Auditorium. MilkBattle '06: Four high school bands battle......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY: The Grace Lee Project: Director Grace Lee screens her documentary, The Grace Lee Project, which asks if our names and our identities go hand in hand. The screening takes place at the I-House (3701 Chestnut Street) at 7PM. $10. Convicted: The Secret Cinema is screening prison-break film, Convicted, in prison; the Eastern State Penn (22nd and Fairmount) to be specific. Doors open at 7:30PM, the show begins......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY Free Friday at Noon Concert: At XPN's World Cafe (3025 Walnut Street).  Today's artists are Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3. Admission is free, but RSVP is required. Sex Dwarf: The monthly 80's New Wave Dance party at Fluid Nightclub (613 S. 4th Street).  Doors open at 10, and admission is FREE until 10:30 ($5 cover thereafter).  This month's theme is "Book of Love," so bring your......

The Philadelphia Orchestra has brought back its Access concert series - concerts designed for those interested in orchestra who want to know more about the music. The four session series began last November, but now is your chance to get two free tickets for the next concert! Just RSVP online to get your tickets to the January 5, 2005 concert. The show is in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center on South Broad Street, and......

Frugal in Philly is a weekly celebration of all things Philly that are fun, frugal (costing $10 or less) or free! Stop here each week to see what Philly's got to offer for those of us who haven't quite mastered the art of becoming Independently Wealthy (although believe us, we're trying). Featured Pick of the Week: Ringing in the New Year Well, damn; 2006 is nearly here, and we haven't made a dent in......

Project H.O.M.E., an organization dedicated to ending Philadelphia's cycle of poverty and homelessness, will be holding their inaugural Young Friends Event tonight in Great Hall at the University of the Arts from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. The local blogging community has gotten behind this event in full force (including this noteworthy post from Philly Future's Karl Martino), and we're joining their ranks in asking you to make your best effort to attend this evening's......

The Foo Fighters and Weezer bring their co-headlining tour and its many nicknames (Foozer, Wee Fighters, This Totally Would Have Kicked Ass In 1997) to the Wachovia Center. Travel back in time with obsessed fans as they shout out requests for "El Scorcho" and "Everlong" and then watch their hearts get crushed as the bands rip into "Beverly Hills" and "Best of You." Tonight's show begins at 7 p.m. with opening act Hot Hot Heat,......

The Nightmares X-Treme Scream Park opened up this month and continues its month-long run at the Wachovia Spectrum. We're not sure what makes this arena a "park," nor are we sure what exactly is "X-Treme" about it, but we're certain that a lot of dead or incapacitated Phillies (you know, they play in a park! See!) and skateboarders would certainly be scream-worthy. So let's get our hopes up for that. The park opens tonight......