Happy birthday Casey Affleck. We're sorry you have to share a birthday with Muqtada al-Sadr, but it also happens to be the IBM Personal Computer's birthday, too. So call it even? WPRB & FREE YR RADIO PRESENT SECRET MACHINES AND DJ DAVE P We post many a musical romp over here, but some might say we're not covering enough of the all-ages action. Well, you don't need to serve alcohol to throw a killer show.......

When skateboarding was banned from Love Park... it didn't really change much. Walking through the other day, we caught a couple of guys on boards jumping off one of the high planters, and wondered if they knew about the ban (a surprising number of people don't, but a bigger number just don't care), or about the very cool Paine's Park Project. The Paine's Park Project is a 2.5-acre skatepark, originally commissioned by Mayor Street......

Philebrity applauded the installation of solar panels at the Philadelphia Naval Yard while simultaneously making fun of Naval Yard denizen Urban Outfitters. Maybe next we'll get some windmills. We know of a few places to put them where there's plenty of hot air being blown about. Geeky Mom pondered why nice people finish last, while pointing out the glaring discrepancies in how local students purport to think and how they actually act. Slacktivist made an......

The new writers just keep on coming – this time, in the form of Stephanie Mannis, a chronic Yelper who won us over when she sent us a bit of marketing collateral she wrote for work about an American answer to the Beatles. Welcome aboard, Stephanie! Here's the buzz in the 215 blogs this week: Jeff Deeney over at Phawker sang the praises of author Susan Jacoby, who in turn railed against the dumbing down......

Free Yr Radio, a campaign launched by Toyota and Urban Outfitters in support of independent radio, is getting a soundtrack. It's a benefit compilation CD that's coming out tomorrow (a release date chosen to coincide with non-commercial radio's biggest event, the CMJ conference in Manhattan - an event we've gotten more press releases about than we can count). The compilation features a collection of live music, B-side tracks and previously unreleased material from the......

Army v. Navy at the Linc this Saturday! Exciting. Low-income families in the region are being offered cheap oil for the second year in a row, thanks to Rep. Chaka Fattah, Citgo, and Venezuela. To apply, call Citizens Energy Corp. at 1-877-JOE-4-OIL. This story isn't actually Philly-related - it went down in Horsham, PA - but it's sort of local, and it's so odd and tragic and even vaguely funny, we just had to mention......

Despite an evacuation at the Willow Grove Park mall due to a fire (which started in the dressing room of a Forever 21), and a vandal gluing the locks of sixteen stores along Walnut Street in Philly, sales at area stores this Black Friday weekend were brisk; in fact, early estimates put them up 4 to 5 percent from last year locally, and up 3.5 to 4 percent nationally. Speaking of holiday shopping, a......

There's good news and bad news for local victims of sex crimes by the clergy. A judge threw out a lawsuit against the Philadelphia Archdiocese because he said the conduct alleged did not qualify as racketeering. But new protections for victims of sex abuse should soon be signed into law by Governor Rendell. Cartoonist for the Daily News Signe Wilkinson will appear in the Library of Congress' 2007 "Women Who Dare" desk calendar. Wilkinson was......

Philly-based international retailer Urban Outfitters and indie music publication Filter Magazine have banded together to release the third Give.Listen.Help. benefit CD. The CD will be sold exclusively at the 95 Urban Outfitter retail locations nationally, as well as on their website. $8.99 of the $9.99 cost of the CD will be donated to the Komen Foundation (as long as you buy it between now and March 15th of next year), where the money will be......

- Our city's history is hurting us in one important way: it's chasing away college grads from the populous. (via) -12th Street Gym co-owner and alleged Santorum supporter, Robert Guzzardi, is said to be selling off his interest in the Gayborhood's 12th Street Gym in light of a threatened community boycott. Could Urban Outfitters be next? -Business Wire is reporting that local author Johnny Ostentatious has published his second novel, Noir Reunion. We know......