Fun around town, for $10 or less: Celebrate Banned Book Week: Banned Books: A Reading featuring hip-hop artist Urulsa Rucker, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Anette Johns-Hall, Larry Robin of Robin's Books and Young Philly Politics blogger Dan Urevik-Acklesberg reading from their favorites at the Central Branch of the Free Library (1901 Vine), 7-9PM. Free Speaking of the Frequently Banned: Author Neil Gaiman reads from The Graveyard Book sponsored by Borders at the Gershman Y (401 S......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Comedy in Crisis: "World Crisis," a night of sketch comedy by The Sixth Borough as part of Philly Fringe at the Adrienne (2030 Sansom), 10PM. $10. Cheap Art: Fall Opening Reception of four new exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art (118 S 36th), 6PM. Free Jazzy: Philly guitarist Monnette Sudler performs tonight as part of the Summer Heritage Jazz Series in Malcolm X Park (52nd and Pine),......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Among Criminals: Among Criminals, Bare Foot Truth, and Tsunami Rising at Upstairs at World Café Live (3025 Walnut), 8PM. $6 Summer’s Really Over: Concluding performance of Philadelphia Weekly's Concerts in the Park with The Hustle and Black Landlord at Rittenhouse Square (18th and Walnut), 7PM. Free Like Butter: Drink Up Buttercup and The Major Leagues at Silk City (5th and Spring Garden), 9PM. $5 (21+) Quizzo Mania: Get......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY Jazzy: Nick Colionne, part of Smooth Jazz Summer Nights at the Great Plaza on Penn’s Landing (Chestnut and Columbus Blvd), 7:30PM. Free Nebula: Nebula, Totimoshi, Serpent Throne, and El Toro de Oro at the Khyber (56 S 2nd), 9PM. $10 Benefit for Philadelphia Jobs with Justice: NYC-based Rude Mechanical Orchestra joins locals Tha Truth, Old Goats, and International Anthem for Irrational Numbers at LAVA Space (4134 Lancaster),......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY Experimental Happy Hour: Kick back every third Friday with the experimental electronic music of Tantrum Tonic at Random Tea Room (713 N 4th), 6PM. Free Keeping It Local: Movies@ City Hall presents Unbreakable in the City Hall Courtyard, 8PM. Free SATURDAY Festival of India: Celebrate Indian heritage at the Great Plaza on Penn’s Landing (Chestnut and Columbus Blvd), 12-7PM. Free PHIT Special: MakeOut Clinic with Velvet Helmet......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY Be a Champ: Kick off the Summer Games with food and entertainment at the Evening of Champions in Chinatown (10th and Arch), 5:30PM. Free Last Chance to Help teh Aminals (by Watching Naked Ladies, That Is): Last Suicide Girls PAWS benefit of the summer at Raven Lounge (1718 Sansom), 9PM. $5 080808: Chiptune Party with No Carrier, 8GB, Nullsleep, Animal Style, Cheap Dinosaurs, Auto Da Fe, and......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Night of the Sixpack: Philly's Joe Sixpack reads from his new book Joe Sixpack's Philly Beer Guide: A Reporter's Notes on the Best Beer-Drinking City in America at the Central Branch of the Free Library (1901 Vine) at 7PM, then heads to McGillin's (1310 Drury) for a giant after-party at 9PM featuring a “Joe Sixpack of Beer” samples. All free (except the beer itself) Theater in Your Backyard:......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY: We Were Framed!: Phillyist Framed, a photo exhibit with works from Phillyist readers, at Studio 34 (4522 Baltimore), 7PM. $5 suggested donation (plus free beer) Hype: the HYPE! presents Boy Wonder, Nicole Lynn, Steve Hackman, Swift Technique, Laura Cheadle, and Half Evil Half Good at Upstairs at World Café Live (3025 Walnut), 8PM. $9 The N Crowd: Improv comedy troupe the N Crowd perform at the Actors......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Whenever Wednesday: Bardo Pond performs, and horror-film aficionado Trenton Doyle Hancock presents The Driller Killer, at the ICA (118 S 36th), 7PM & 7:30PM. $6 Local: Local singer-songwriter Jeff Kessler and Sarah Marie White at World Café Live (3025 Walnut), 9:30PM. $8 By R5: Grails, Nadja, and Serpent Throne, brought to you by the fine folks at R5, at Johnny Brenda's (1201 N Frankford), 9PM. $10 Quizzo Mania:......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Free Plays: Free public staged readings of 6 new plays by Peter Bonilla, Jennifer Haley, Lila Rose Kaplan, James Mclindon, Gregory S. Moss, and Silva Semerciyan at the Playground at the Adrienne (2030 Sansom), 8PM. Free (runs through June 27) Slamming: First Person Arts Story Slam with an “On The Road” theme at L’Etage (624 S 6th), 7:30PM. $5-10 Night of Quiet: Hezekiah Jones, Chris Bathgate, John Francis,......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Artists and Their Work: Studio performance of works in progress by 2008 nEW Artists Charles Anderson/Dancetheatrex, Eun Jung Gonzolez, Jeffrey Gunshol, Jamiil Kosoko/Performance, Olive Prince Dance, Gabrielle Revlock, and Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre at UArts Drake Theater (1512 Spruce), 6:30PM. Free Laughable: First installment of Laughter on the Banks! Summer Movie Series with Airplane! on Walnut Street Dock (25th and Walnut), 8PM. Free At Sea: The SEA Trio,......

If you missed our interview with Eric Hutchinson, which we ran a couple weeks ago, check it out here. Heading into the Eric Hutchinson (MySpace) show at World Cafe Live, we pretty much knew what to expect from Eric: good banter, strong performance, and a bit of cheekiness that makes you wonder how much of it is shtick and how much is actual ego. It's all part of Eric Hutchinson's charm. We were expecting him......

Happy Swedish Flag Day! 2008 US AIR GUITAR CHAMPIONSHIPS Okay, awesome, we love air guitar! The TLA, on South Street, surrounded by bars, braiding and bubble-gum trees. We're also down. BUT, what really forces writers like us to CAPS-lock the hell out of an innocent word like "but" is the presence at tonight's event of Tragedy, an "all metal Bee Gees tribute band." This fact elevates South Street, Friday night, and air guitar to a......

Let's hear it for passive-aggressive weather patterns! WORLD CAFE LIVE PRESENTS: CHANA ROTHMAN AND AVI WISNIA Rothman has a MySpace and tonight she has come to share YourSpace. Avi Wisnia, son of a (Rabbinical) preacher man, also graces this evening's ticket. The former, folk, the latter, bossa nova. Both feature full bands and styles you haven't beaten into the ground yet with your iPod. Unless you're a rather progressive beater-into-the-ground-with-your-iPod kind of person. The night......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: They Mean Nexus: Monthly series paraphrase/NEXUS presents violinist Katt Hernandez, dancers/choreographers Michele Tantoco and Liza Clark, and visual artists Rebecca Gilbert and Virginia Batson at the Nexus Gallery (1400 N American), 8PM. Free Grind For Life: 4 Skateboarders, a show that features four skateboarders and a band, raises money for Grind For Life, an organization that raises money for uninsured skateboarders, at the M-Room (15 W Girard), 7PM.......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY Economics PhDs: Philly originals The Contractions at World Café Live (3025 Walnut), 9:30PM. Free The N Crowd: Improv comedy troupe the N Crowd perform at the Actors Center (257 N 3rd), 8PM. $10 SATURDAY If You Can Stand the Kiddies: NBC10 day at the Adventure Aquarium (1 Riverside Drive, Camden), 9:30AM. $10 for all tickets Get Healthy: Annual Health and Wellness Fair featuring workshops and seminars on......

To describe last night's Newton Faulkner show at the World Café Live as joyous wouldn't be a stretch. Jessie Baylin's opening set contributed to the overall lighthearted mood. With mussed hair, fierce vocals, and a confident strut, comparisons abound to Ann Wilson from Heart, or maybe Debbie Harry from Blondie. She and her guitarist blew through a short set, and we got our first taste of Newton Faulkner's whimsy when she called him out on......

Last Monday's show at the World Cafe Live began a bit on the slow side as Ferras (MySpace) and his keyboard took the stage. The twenty-five year-old singer-songwriter, whose debut album, Aliens & Rainbows, dropped yesterday, has a lot of raw talent. What he doesn't really have is songwriting ability. Ferras sounds like a high school theatre nerd with a guitar. (Seriously, when you're trying to get major label play, you really shouldn't play music......

We caught Chris Stills opening for A Fine Frenzy at the World Cafe Live last night, and found a video up on YouTube when we got up this morning. The review of that show will be up later this week, but in the meanwhile, enjoy "Fool for Love," the Paul Simon-influenced tune that won us over. (The quality's not great, so feel free to hit play and go read some emails. Not much to see.)......

The first time we heard the name A Fine Frenzy, the stage name of Alison Sudol, we quite honestly saw covering her as a way to see the Rufus Wainwright/Neko Case show at the Mann over the summer. What we didn't expect was for her to be, positively, the best act of the night. Alison and her gorgeous piano-driven pop have gotten quite popular since August: her song "You Picked Me," the complicated 5/8-time love......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Yum: Dr. Ketchup and The Oubliette Ensemble at Upstairs at World Café Live (3025 Walnut), 10PM. $8 Yes, It’s Over: One Book, One Philadelphia Closing Event with Dave Eggers, Mary Williams, and Valentino Achak Deng at the Free Library Central Branch (1901 Vine), 7PM. Free Soundfield @ Slought: Slought Foundation and Soundfield NFP present a program of new and experimental music featuring Rome-based ensemble Ossatura and Philadelphia-based Ensemble......

No, this is not a rerun of our recent post of the same title. It's just that we had a chance to see him again so soon and we jumped on it. As you should too, next time he comes to town. Even though the crowd was somewhat smaller at this show than the last time he performed at World Café Live, David Ford was nevertheless singing to the rafters. He opened with his signature......

Sometimes, you wonder why it is that we don't get paid to enjoy the mild weather, relax with our loved ones or significant others, and just generally absorb the ambient goodness of life. That's what happens in heaven: you get paid to be happy. For now, though, read about some of the things going on in the city tonight. You have to pay for them, but they're worth it. ADRIAN BELEW AT WORLD CAFE......

David Ford...

We started the weekend with some comedy courtesy Meg and Rob, so it only seems fitting to inject some humor into the otherwise pointless and dragging day everyone knows and hates as "Monday". EVENTA DU SCHMANCY AT WORLD CAFE LIVE 1812 Productions, the comedic minds behind This Is the Week That Is, are holding their annual gala fundraiser at the World Cafe Live tonight and, while the cheap seats are $40, it promises to......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: The Music of Regret: Artist Laurie Simmons introduces her The Music of Regret, a mini-musical in three acts, as part of the ICA Puppet Show, at the International House (3701 Chestnut), 7PM. $6 Thinking Is Hard: "Critical Thinking," a panel discussion of Philly’s One Film The Emperor of the Sun, at World Café Live (3025 Walnut), 7PM. Free Drinking Is Not: Test your knowledge of The Emperor of......

It's cold out today, so don't plan on any of that trendy "frolf" you and your phellow Phishers like so much. No, today is definitely an inside day, so we have done our best to bring some most excellent indoor activities in which you may indulge the warmth-loving tendencies of your evening self. THE ENGLISH BEAT AT THE TROC We'll admit that we don't know much about The English Beat, but if they're touring......

We're totally bummed that we missed Ingrid Michaelson at the World Cafe Live last week, especially after seeing this video.......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: London Calling: Free dance party featuring Brit Rock from the '60s to today spun by DJs Jared Styles and Jim McGuinn at World Café Live (3025 Walnut), 6PM. Free (pre-registration required) Exit A: Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead, reads from his latest book Exit A at the Penn Bookstore (3601 Walnut), 7PM. Free Deep Breath: Introduction to Buddhist meditation presented by the Menlha Buddhist Center at the Ethical......