Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY: Last Friday: Last Friday featuring author Samara O’Shea and musician Gina Kaz at the Philadelphia Art Alliance (251 S 18th), 7PM. $5 Free R&B: Sounds of R&B series finale featuring Ledisi and Lalah Hathaway at the Great Plaza on Penn’s Landing (Chestnut and Columbus Blvd), 7:30PM. Free City Hall Film Series: Showing this week: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in the courtyard at City......

Smile people: It's Friday! AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL'S GUANTANAMO CELL TOUR The champions of human rights are constructing a replica of the infamous cells at City Hall this weekend, available for examination or entrance by passersby. You can videotape a message to Bush, too. That must be one hell of an interesting video library. WHO: Anyone WHERE: City Hall's Dilworth Plaza,1400 JFK Boulevard (map) WHEN: From 1pm to 7pm HOW MUCH: Free! PENNYWISE AT THE FILLMORE It's......

We want to go swimming. REELBLACK: SHOWCASING SHORT FILMS BY PEOPLE OF COLOR Sometimes, International House needs only to go interstate to find talent and creativity. The Reelblack Showcase gathers together some of the best work by African-American filmmakers in the tri-state area. Reelblack brings black filmmakers together to share their distinct perspectives and style. Tonight's event is a two-hour display and will include a Q & A session with many of the filmmakers. WHO:......

Don't you wish you were headed there, to the paradise pictured below? Well, you're not. Unless you are. Anyway, it's Friday, so you can close your eyes and picture the paradise of two full days away from work and everything it stands for. In the meantime, there are a few interesting goings-on, uh, going on tonight. So Happy Friday! LAST FRIDAY AT THE PHILADELPHIA ART ALLIANCE You heard all about First Friday, but what......

Editor's note: updated with Thom Cardwell's corrected title. We mentioned the other day that the Philadelphia Film Festival would be continuing its tradition this year of having a series of Evening with the Curators events running up to the launch of the fest. We also mentioned that we'd be attending one, and indeed we did so, last night at the Philadelphia Art Alliance in Center City. Speaking at the event were the executive Development Director......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Support the Young Ones: Philadelphia Young Playwrights presents staged readings of two plays, both winners of its 2007 Annual Playwriting Festival, written by William Penn Charter students at the Philadelphia Art Alliance (251 S. 18th), 7:30PM. Free Movie Monday at the Troc: Eagle Vs. Shark DVD release and costume party (come dressed as your favorite animal and get a free drink), 7:30PM. The Troc is located at 1003......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Friday: Last Friday: Last Friday at the Philadelphia Art Alliance (251 S. 18th), featuring visual, literary, and performance offerings, 7PM. Free Saturday: Space is the Place: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts hosts a family day inspired by their Space is the Place exhibit, 11AM-4PM. Free with museum admission, $5-7 (children, adults) No, Not the Bourne: Arab: The Born Identity, featuring four spoken word poets sharing their experiences......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Did He Say Hamster?: As part of the American Playwright Series, award winning playwright and disability rights activist Mike Ervin will read his new play Hamster in the Jungle at the Playground at the Adrienne (2030 Sansom). 7PM. Free. It’s a Good Night For Free Play Readings: The Philadelphia Art Alliance (251 S. 18th) presents The Tempus Project, featuring professional actors reading from “potential” new works. 7:30PM. Free.......

Wednesday Dame Kiri Te Kanawa stops by Philadelphia for a recital of Mozart, Strauss, Poulenc, Puccini and Copland on her Farewell Tour. This may be your last chance to hear the world-renowned New Zealand soprano. Verizon Hall (Kimmel Center); 8 PM; $34-$81 Philadelphia Chamber Music Society presents the very accomplished Juilliard Quartet in an evening of Haydn, Shostakovitch, and Beethoven. Perelman Hall (Kimmel Center); 8 PM; $22.50 Thursday The Philadelphia Orchestra presents an Access Concert,......

Monday As part of the Music and Conversation series, Andrea Ceccomori and Elitza Harbova will perform and discuss works for flute and piano by living Italian and American composers. Roberts Hall (Haverford College); 4:15 PM; FREE Tuesday The Philly Orchestra continues its run of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, now paired with works by Rihm and Reinecke. Check out Phillyist's review here. Verizon Hall (Kimmel Center); 8 PM; $38-$113 Friday As part of the Last......

Monday The Philadelphia Art Alliance's New Music Mondays series presents works by Jan Krzywicki, Professor of Composition at Temple University. Philadelphia Art Alliance (251 S. 18th St.); 7:30 PM; $20 Wednesday The Philadephia Chamber Music Society Presents the American Quartet with Lydia Artymiw, piano, in a program of Haydn, Shostakovich, Dohnanyi. The pianist will even give a free pre-concert lecture at 6:45! Perelman Theater (Kimmel Center); 8 PM; $22 Thursday The Academy of Vocal......

We always get a little sad when the main classical music season ends and all the musicians go to their fun summer festivals. But, this can only mean that the Mann Center's season is just around the corner! Monday For the 150th anniversary of Robert Schumann's death, the Kimmel Center presents "The Romantic World of Robert Schumann" with Jeffrey Siegel, piano. This program takes a look at the passion behind Robert Schumann's piano works......

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......

Wow! Did this creep up on anybody else? We were thinking this was still a ways off, and then all of the sudden the website is live, the schedule is up, and tickets go on sale TODAY (although as of this writing, the links for purchasing don't seem to be live yet online)! (UPDATE: Online ticketing now appears to be up and running.) We haven't had a chance to look over this year's list of......

Some heavy-hitting orchestral and chamber pieces by Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, and Sibelius, as well as the versatile and beautiful voice of Dawn Upshaw grace us with their presence this week. While events outside the Kimmel arena seem to be a bit slow, next week promises more off-the-beaten-track events. We might even get an opera or two soon… Monday The Philadelphia Art Alliance’s Connoisseur Series welcomes up-and-coming cellist Efe Baltacigil for a solo recital, joined......

Are you as excited about the upcoming 15th Philadelphia Film Festival as Phillyist is?! We don't really see how you could be, but okay. Anyway, if you just can't wait to know this year's line-up (we mean besides the Danger After Dark program; you already know that, thanks to us), and/or you're desperate to know more about how the films were selected and which of them are going to be really good, you should show......