Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY The N Crowd: Weekly improve comedy show at The Actors Center (257 N. 3rd), 8PM. $10 Andrew Gregory: Andrew Gregory (CD release party), John Francis, and Ian Thomas at Tin Angel (20 S. 2nd), 10:30PM. $10 Leslie and the Ly’s: Leslie and the Ly’s, MC Digga and Sgt. Sass at North Star Bar (2639 Poplar), 9PM. $10 Intertwine: Opening reception for Intertwine, with work by Brooke Hine,......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: You've Heard of Her Now: Judy Toll: The Funniest Woman You've Never Heard Of, presented by the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival, at the Gershman Y (401 S. Broad), 7PM. $10 CD Release Party: Nicole Reynolds performs from her new CD at Tin Angel (20 S. 2nd), 7PM. $10 Suddenly Last Summer: As part of a reading series of Tennessee Williams, Lantern Theater presents Suddenly Last Summer at the......

Every weekday of December (except for December 25, that is), Phillyist will be counting down to 2008 with our highlights from the past year and our predictions for the next. If you have a list you'd like to submit, let us know! Quite a few of my favorite concert memories came from festivals that weren't in Philly—Austin City Limits and Virgin Fest—but next year, it looks like we might have our own sick festival to......

Every weekday of December (except for December 25, that is), Phillyist will be counting down to 2008 with our highlights from the past year and our predictions for the next. If you have a list you'd like to submit, let us know! Raise your hand if you don't love YouTube/Viddler/Google Video/etc. Okay, that one guy raising your hand? You probably just want to scroll past this post, because it probably won't interest you in the......

Let's see if we can keep this straight. John Nolan left Taking Back Sunday to form Straylight Run (MySpace), for which he eventually recruited drummer Will Noon after the band Noon was in, Breaking Pangea, split up. The lead singer of Breaking Pangea had been Coatesville native Fred Mascherino, who then went on to replace Nolan in Taking Back Sunday. While still in Breaking Pangea, Mascherino began work on his own project, The Color Fred......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY The N Crowd Thanksgiving Special: Improv Comedy with the N Crowd at the Actor’s Center (257 N. 3rd), 8PM. $10 The Delaware Rag: The Delaware Rag celebrates the release of their new CD at Upstairs Live at the World Café (3025 Walnut), 8PM. Also performing is The Josh Olmstead Band. $9 SATURDAY Rittenhouse Square West: Guided architectural walking tour of the Square (18th and Walnut); meet the......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: ACANA Showcase: The African Cultural Alliance of North America presents a showcase of the best African musicians in the region on the Commonwealth Plaza Stage at the Kimmel Center (260 S Broad), 6:30PM. Free The Friendship Lounge: The Friendship Lounge celebrates their CD release, with Man Like Machine, Team Goldie, and The Climb, at the Troc’s Balcony (1003 Arch), 7PM. $10 Sigur Ros: Documentary of a series of......

Let's get this out of the way up front. The video accompanying in this review was not selected for its quality, but because it pretty much embodies what happened at the Wachovia Center last Tuesday night. People went absolutely nutso for Fall Out Boy, to the point where this fan could only concentrate on Patrick Stump while he was doing backing vocals on Gym Class Heroes' performance of "Clothes Off." Seriously, it was pandemonium. We......

Mike Doughty Ticket Giveaway
11/15/07-11/16/07 ...

No matter how much your musical tastes evolve over time, sometimes you can't help but go back to what you liked during your teenage years. When this Phillyist was in junior high, there was one type of music, and only one type of music, emanating from my bedroom stereo: Metal. Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motorhead... you get the idea. Even though the Death CDs have lately collected dust on the shelf in favor......

Everyone at Phillyist has guilty pleasures, some guiltier than others. For Editor Jill and me, one of our biggest guilty pleasures of 2007 has been Fall Out Boy's (MySpace) latest album, Infinity on High. Before you roll your eyes and click down to the next post, hear us out. This album had a lot more thought go into the song structure and overall album structure than most others we've heard lately. So we're giving in......

When our friend first played a track for us by The Go! Team we thought it sounded like The Electric Company meets Nintendo music meets cheerleaders on crack. And that was only the first album. Their new CD, Proof of Youth, is back with a tighter version of the band, creating music that is even more bonkers. With guest stars ranging from Chuck D (wha!?!) to Bonde do Role's Marina Ribatski, you have to......

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you. Defective Yeti is celebrating Halloween with a list of links to the entire text of over 20 spooky stories. Here's a unique list: great pizza moments in film. Yum! (Via Sarah, via SlashFood) It's a joining together of geek-iverses for a good cause! "Fans of Joss Whedon's Firefly/Serenity will auction off an autographed script from SCI FI Channel's Battlestar Galactica to......

Forever's a Long Time By Editor Jill We really dug She Wants Revenge (MySpace) when we first heard them a few years ago – of course, that might be because we thought we were listening to Interpol. Don't get us wrong – that's not a bad thing. In fact, it helped us really get into their debut self-titled album. (It also helps that Reactionaries did an awesome performance to "Tear You Apart" two DanceBOOMs ago.)......

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......

We first heard of Architecture in Helsinki a few years ago when they were touring with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. As in, wtf is an Architecture in Helsinki. Then we got to Troc early enough that night to find out exactly what it was: a six piece collective from Australia with a frenetic energy that made them completely irresistible. They never stopped moving. Each time they finished a song, everyone switched instruments and......

Wednesday The Dolce Suono Trio devotes an entire concert to Philadelphia composers, including Ned Rorem, George Crumb, Charles Abramovic, and Curt Cacioppo. First Unitarian Church (21st and Chestnut); FREE; 7:30 PM The Opera Company of Philadelphia presents Verdi's timeless Rigoletto. You'll be humming "La Donna è mobile" all the way home. Academy of Music (Broad and Locust); 7:30 PM; $8-$113 Thursday The Philadelphia Orchestra shows its love for Beethoven with an all-Beethoven concert featuring his......

Fionn Regan Giveaway
10/1/2007-10/5/2007...

Devendra Banhart and his gang of merry revelers will ascend the stage at the TLA tomorrow night. When someone asked us to describe his sound, we immediately pictured Ray Lamontagne having a psychedelic experience, backed by a traveling band of gypsies. But that's only our opinion. Check out the video, above, from Wednesday's show at the Roxy in Boston and see for yourself. Touring after his new CD, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, which hit......

We'd heard Matt Duke's name before (like when Phillyist Meghan's sister covered him for us), but this Phillyist's first encounter with the young Jersey-bred singer-songwriter was a few months ago at the WXPN-hosted Philly Local Lonely Hearts Club Band. Duke, in a pair of crazy patchwork-embellished stovepipe pants (each leg was probably wider than his whole body – you can kind of see them here), completely stole the stage with his performance of "When......

In case you haven't noticed by now, this Phillyist likes Fair to Midland. A lot. We dug 'em when we saw them in July, so we jumped at the chance to see them again. We walked into the show expecting much the same as we got the first time around, and for the first time, that's exactly what we got. Darroh Sudderth is still a hell of a vocalist but something of a recluse in......

Performance: Grace: Kingdom (A Grateful Company) (No Future Showtimes) Remember that rain we got on Tuesday? It produced mosquitoes. A lot of mosquitoes. Word to the wise: if you're going to see a show at the CEC on 35th and Lancaster, don't stand in the grass before the house opens. Half the audience was scratching at their arms and legs. Grace: Kingdom Admittedly, my familiarity with Jeff Buckley's album Grace, on which this work was......

Yes, it's back! Classical music concerts have returned to Philadelphia after a much-deserved break. Get excited for the upcoming year. Monday The Momenta String Quartet presents a free lunchtime concert, mixing some of its new season with some old favorites. Swarthmore College; 12:30 PM; FREE Tuesday Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra Sextet combines jazz sensibilities with unexpected sound clips and visuals. Catch them on tour as they stop at Philadelphia's International House. International House Philadelphia......

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets. The Video Games Live concert experience is coming to CD October 15th. Nerds, rejoice! Harmonix is taking their game Rock Band on tour. At the end, the two best bands will face off on MTV's TRL and the winner will open for a "yet-to-be-named mega band" at the Rock Band launch concert. And hey, guess what? The tour's coming to Philly 10/18-10/21. Nice!......

Guilt By Association CD Giveaway
8/20/07-8/24/07...

With so many amazing concerts in such a short period of time, it's inevitable that you'll run into a few doozies. Unfortunately for me, that doozy was Sunday night at North Star Bar. Earlier in the summer, I saw the band MAE open for Ok Go and The Fray at the Tweeter Center. Their six-song set was fun and enjoyable, but not completely engaging. I faulted the venue, crowd, and the fact that MAE had......

It is true. We have a love of fiddle-playing, banjo-picking bluegrass music. (Not country - that's a whole different story.) This week, Philadelphia has the privilege of hosting two of bluegrass' biggest acts: Alison Krauss (tonight) and Nickel Creek (Saturday night). Alison Krauss is known for basically transforming bluegrass music back into popular music. It's no doubt you have heard her Grammy-nominated tunes on movies such as O, Brother Where Art Thou? or Cold Mountain.......

On of our favorite shows this summer was the MAE/Ok Go/The Fray concert at the Tweeter Center. Imagine 25,000 screaming fans, perfect weather and awesome seats. It was incredible. Though we are a huge fan of intimate settings and up-and-coming bands, we enjoyed the huge crowd, music and overall feel of the outdoor concert. It really was the perfect way to start the summer. Now, we are fortunate to end our summer with an intimate,......

This Phillyist first became aware of Mike Birbiglia when my younger sister was in high school. She signed up to be on his street team. She kept putting his posters up on my door. She'd corner me until I listened to clips from his albums. People, she found audio streams of his appearances at venues across the country and wouldn't let me out of the house until I admitted that, yeah, the dude was kind......