Fun around town, for $10 or less: Friday: N It: Enjoy some improv with The N Crowd at The Actors Center (257 N. 3rd), 8PM. $10 Ashley Deekus: Ashley Deekus, Jesse Sparhawk, and Eichen Oaks at Brickbat Books (709 S. 4th), 8PM. Free. Why Do You Build Me Up: Drink Up Buttercup, Moneynotes, Jukebox the Ghost, Modern Skirts, and Madi Diaz at the Khyber (56 S. 2nd), 9PM. $8 Saturday: It’s International Women’s Day: Celebrate......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Philly Music on the Parkway: Local songwriters perform original works; hosted by Dan Collins at the Central Branch of the Philadelphia Free Library (1901 Vine), 7PM. Free A Streetcar Named Desire: Staged reading of the classic Tennessee Williams play with reception following at the Ethical Society of Philadelphia (1906 S. Rittenhouse Sq), 7:30PM. $8 Open Mic: Free at The Fire (412 W. Girard). Sign up at 8:30PM. (21+)......

The sun is out and, although it looks pretty, it isn't doing us much good. It's still colder than a Phillyist's, uh, hand, in a, um, brass, hm, glove? Politically correct humor is an oxymoron. Since it's Valentine's Day, we'll offer something angry for the loners, something romantic for the lovers and something educational for the learners to do in the city that is suddenly too cold for murderers. At least there's something good......

Upper Darby police say that a sickly 84-year-old man in Drexel Hill, apparently unable or unwilling to imagine his blind 53-year-old daughter going on without him, killed her and their dog before turning the gun on himself Saturday night. A five-alarm fire blazed for more than three hours yesterday evening in a warehouse in the 1300 block of North Front Street in Kensington. Service on the portion of the Market-Frankford El that runs nearby......

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......

Wednesday As part of the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society series, Christian Tetzlaff, violin and Alexander Lonquich, piano will give a concert of Beethoven Sonatas. Perelman Theater (Kimmel Center); 8 PM; $22.50 Thursday Acclaimed tenor Matthew Polenzani, accompanied by the accomplished pianist Julius Drake, will give a solo recital of songs by Schubert, Beethoven, Liszt, Britten, and Hahn. Perelman Theater (Kimmel Center); 8 PM; $22.50 The Curtis Opera Theater pairs Haydn's Arianna a Naxos with Poulenc's......

Tuesday The Academy of Vocal Arts opens its season with Mozart's witty and timeless Così fan tutte. Academy of Vocal Arts (19th and Spruce); 7:30 PM; $48 Yo-Yo Ma comes to the Kimmel Center with Kathryn Stott, piano for an evening of Schubert, Shostakovich, Piazzola, Gismonti and Franck. Verizon Hall (Kimmel Cetner); 8 PM; $38-$94 Thursday Temple University faculty members Lawrence Wagner, clarinet, Jeffrey Solow, cello, and Charles Abramovic, piano give a concert of......

Performance: Litttle Girl Blue (Pheralyn Dove a.k.a. "Lady Dove") (No future performances) The last time I'd been at the Ethical Society it was to hear an ex-Buddhist monk discuss the Dharma for the modern age. Wednesday I went to see a one woman show about an African American woman's personal and spiritual journey. Gone was the Buddha statue adorned with lit candles. In its place were the props that would help the Little Girl Blue......

Monday As part of the Philadelphia Art Alliance's New Music Mondays, award-winning composer Michael Hersch comes to town to discuss his compositions and for the Philadelphia premieres of his Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2 for Unaccompanied Cello, performed by cellist Daniel Gaisford. Philadelphia Art Alliance (251 S. 18th St.); 7:30; $20 Wednesday The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society presents Milan Turkovic, bassoon, David Shifrin, clarinet, and Shai Wosner, piano in an evening of chamber music......

Spring break strikes the city of Philadelphia this week. Not to worry, the failsafe Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and the Kimmel Center have a few tricks up their sleeves. Monday The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia under Ignat Solzhenitsyn continues with its Mozart Beethoven Haydn program. All the greats in one evening. Perelman Theater (Kimmel Center); 7:30 PM; $36-$81 The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society presents Mark Kosower, cello, and Jee-Won Oh, piano in an evening......

This is truly a week for chamber music in all shapes and sizes. Monday The Momenta Quartet, currently in residence at Temple University, presents a Philadelphia premiere by Martin Bresnick, plus world premieres by Richard Brodhead and Maurice Wright. Rock Hall Auditorium, Temple University; 7:30 PM; FREE Tuesday The newly-formed Curtis-based baroque trio La Mela di Newton gives its debut performance with works by Castello, Handel, Frescobaldi, and Rameau. Field Concert Hall (Curtis Institute of......

… and we’re back! Classical music is in full swing this week. From Vivaldi to Ligeti, Philly is popping with all sorts of concerts, including two Philadelphia premieres and several free concerts. Tuesday AVA continues with Von Weber’s magical Der Freischütz. Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center; 7:30 PM; $48 Thursday The Juilliard-bred Tokyo Quartet presents a program of delightful works by Mozart, Beethoven, and Debussy. Be sure not to miss the free pre-concert lecture. Perelman Theater,......

It’s the calm before the Christmas concert storm. This week is understandably slow, with only the Philadelphia Orchestra and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society forgoing leftovers for a concert here and there. Monday The Díaz Trio plays chamber pieces by Schubert, Hindemith, and Schumann. Christoph Eschenbach, Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, on piano. Catch Eschenbach while you can. It seems he'll be leaving us soon. Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center; 8 PM; $22 Friday Looking for......

Performances: The Rocky Horror PUPPET Show (Little Fish Collaborative) (Future performances in October); Tragical, Comical, Historical, Pastoral (Seth Leary) (No future performances); When Boys Cry (The Fabulous Theater Company) (No future performances). Whew! Thirty shows and a few hundred dollars worth of tickets (thanks, Canary!). I'm beat. But I had one hell of a good time. Amazingly, I only saw a few shows that I wouldn't have been willing to pay money for. And I......

Performances: P's & Q's (Lee Etzold and MyKindaPony) (Future performances); Eye-95 re-tarred (BRAT Productions) (Future performances). I took a two-day breather that wasn't really a breather at all, after my nine-in-three weekend, and jumped right back on the saddle with two shows yesterday, two today, two tomorrow, two Saturday, and (maybe) two Sunday. I love being "press." P's & Q's OMG, a show about manners! OMG OMG! Okay, now that that's out of the way.........

The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe kick off this Friday, and we're beginning our coverage of the events in what might seem to be the strangest way possible: with food. You see, to truly make it a worthwhile evening out, any evening of theatre is either preceded or followed by a delicious meal. Fortunately for you, there's lots of delicious food around all of the Fringe venues. Here are a few of......

Phillyist will be the first to admit we're a little old-fashioned when it comes to Christmas. For us, the holiday brings to mind trees trimmed with cranberries and popcorn, dancing sugarplums and apple-cheeked children in Victorian garb caroling in the town square. But of course, this is the 21st century Philadephia, not 19th century London...and we do things about bit differently 'round these parts. Case in point, tonight's Unsilent Night event, in which local musical......

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: Chronicling the Chronicles of Narnia Phillyist knows there are all kinds of controversy brewing about the movie version of......