Last night at around 8pm, a group of young thugs attacked a 23-year old woman inside the subway concourse at the 8th Street El stop. The woman was brutally beaten, taking kicks and punches to most of her body. Thankfully, she escpaed with her life.

Five young people were charged in the attack. I am confident that they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. They are disgusting human beings with no respect whatsoever.

Every day, it’s another story about someone being murdered, robbed, raped and disrespected. I am tired and sick of it. I am sick and tired of parents that do not get involved in their children’s lives, of teachers who cannot teach because a lack of positive role models in their students home lives, of our government that thinks a large sum of money will make problems disappear.

I don’t know what it is about this city - but it’s as if it breeds this kind of behavior. There is a breakdown in communication and positive influence. Be it parents, the govenment, guardians or schools - we need bring about a powerful change - and soon.

Wow…I didn’t think it would happen.

But it did.

Team GFY actually managed more hits on Sunday than the Phillies did last night in a chilly game versus Those Bastards from the South. The Fightin’ Phils managed just one hit last night in a 1-0 loss to the Nats. The Mighty Cole Hamels pitched an almost-gem, the only hiccup being a gimme-a-break homer by Nats’ stud Ryan Zimmerman.

The only plus side to last night’s game?

It lasted just a shade over two hours, which honestly, was an hour and a half too long. Luckily America’s Next Top Model came on right after and that (like it usually does) makes everything all right by me.

Quick note for AM radio-listening sports fans, 950am is now officially part of ESPN radio. They’ve switched around some people- moving Jody Mac to the morning and now having the Mike Tirico show on in the early afternoons. But hey, if you’re not a fan of change, don’t worry. Howard Eskin is still on 610am every weekday afternoon.

hmmm….negativity!

Phils’ play the Nats again today, Business Person special (which is why Big White Inc. is going) and it’s also the debut of the Phils’ new alternate home jerseys. Team  GFY also has practice today at the NovaCare Complex if anyone wants to come by and watch true softball brilliance. You’ll even have the chance to buy your own GFY t-shirts with your favorite player on the back: Nailz! Big White Inc.! Knife Fight! Burns! Eddy’s Ice Cream and more! Supply is limited so act now!

And don’t forget the Sixers. They might even make the playoffs!

Yeah dude, but the Eagles still need a wide reciever…nothing’s perfect.

I have a funny pal who is into the comedy scene in Philly. His name’s Doogie. He’ll be performing at The Shubin Theatre (407 Bainbridge St.) on Wednesday night. They call the show “Bedtime Stories.” This is sketch comedy - $5. 8pm. Best part about it? The theme is “Hipsters!”

Doogie performs in other places, too. His buddies are funny, too. I hope to give you more updates on where to see them all in the near future! Laughter is great for your health - remember that.

Flash! Flash? Flash…

Hey, up until the 6th or 7th, things seemed to business as usual for the Fightin’ Phils down South Broad Street. A Brett Myers implosion wasn’t all that surprising and unfortunately, neither was the 4 runs Tom Gordon gave up at the end of the game.

But hey, you a little bummed about it? Are you bummed that Eagles still don’t have a wide reciever or that because Bill Richardson isn’t in the Democratic race anymore, he won’t be anywhere near Pennsylvania? Are you bummed that even though it’s almost 70, the sun’s not out or because Philly Mayor Michael Nutter hopped off the mound yesterday after the ceremonial first pitch like a giddy school girl?

Well if so, don’t worry.

Rustic Overtones, performing at World Cafe tonight, are the perfect cure. A dynamic, 7 piece, rock/funk band from Maine, recently signed to Velour Recordings (Soulive, Kaki King,) Rustic will be tearing up the upstairs stage at World Cafe. The show starts at 7:30pm and tickets are $15.

I know it’s Tuesday and I know it will be Tuesday night. But hey, Tuesdays are for livin’ BABY!

www.myspace.com/rusticovertones
www.worldcafelive.com

That is all you need to know.

Have a good day.

Are you ready?

Are you?

Are you ready for Barack Obama - pop culture icon?

If your not, then that’s tough business for you because it’s in the process of happening right NOW. See the new posters at all the bus stops around the city, a rough, gray-toned drawing of Obama with a single word describing his campaign.

“Hope”

“Change”

“Kick Assness”

It’s a bold move by the Obama campaign if you were to ask this wandering dude. Are we to now assume that Senator Obama from Illinois has reached that status of celebrity where no name is needed? I think of pictures of Martin Luther King Jr., Che Guerra, Britney Spears, where the name of the person is arbitrary because we already know who it is.  Is that Obama now? Is he beyond a name now? A few months ago most of the country only knew the name “Barack Obama.” Now I suppose everyone not only knows his name, but his face as well.

So that’s that. Barack might not be President, but he’s a pop culture icon. So he’s got that going for him…which is nice…and probably more profitable.

Barack!

Fun times here in sunny Philadelphia, waiting for Erin to come by so we can go look at Ben Franklin’s house and maybe the Liberty Bell…all while the clock ticks closer and closer to the Final Four, the start of the baseball season, Team GFY’s first game of the season, and tax season to wind down. Tick, tick, tick. Fun times.

The politicians are running wild across the state like lost cattle, begging you and hassling you for your votes. Are you a Democrat? Do you like long walks on the beach…maybe some Chinese food? Does it matter? Sure it does. Chelsea Clinton would NOT be here if it didn’t, but then Patrick Leahy from Vermont comes out and just tells Hill Dog that maybe it’s time to go home and for the Clinton camp, NOT fun times.

But we’re good, God-fearing Americans, and for the rest of us, these are good times. The Phillies unofficially start the 2008 season this weekend in a couple exhibition games versus the Toronto Blue Jays. Then Monday, the home opener, the start of the campaign to defend their 2007 NL East crown versus those bastards from the south, the Washington Nationals and we all just wish they would go away.

The season is looking promising for our Fightin’ Phils and the offense could very easily score 3,000 runs, which they’ll need too given that the pitching staff might give up 2,999 runs. And yes, 2,000 of those runs probably will come from our lovable, over-paid 5th starter, Adam Eaton and his GD goatee that probably scares more children than a nurturing Hill Dog does. Cole Hamels and Brett Myers anchor the rotation, rounded out by Kyle Kendrick and Jamie Moyer, who at 44, is proving that the love of the game is as addictive as buffalo wings are too…Hill Dog. Sorry. I think I like Hill Dog, but I also think I don’t. Whatever. You don’t care about my opinions.

But if you did, and you wanted to know what kind of line-up I’d throw up there if I were good ol’ Charlie Manuel, it would go something like this…

1. JRooooll
2. Svic
3. Big Ry
4. The Force That is Chase
5. Pat Burrell
6. Pedro Feliz/the Dobbserman
7. Geoff Jenkins/Jayson Werth/So Taguchi
8. Carlos Ruiz
9. pitcher

But it probably won’t be that way, and that’s cool.

You know what else is cool? Rock shows at the World Cafe live and this Tuesday, there is a hell of a rock show featuring Rustic Overtones. Rustic is a 7 piece rock/funk/soul band signed to Velour (Soulive, Kaki King) who recently released their new album, Light at the End. Check out Rustic at www.myspace.com/rusticovertones. The show is Tuesday April 1st, downstairs at World Cafe. Big fun promised, big fun guaranteed.

Let’s go Davidson, valiant run ‘Nova, better luck next year Temple…

the futuristic interior of Morimoto restaurant, as captured by Kasari:
— from kasari - (?)“

If you have anywhere for the next two days take to the rails. I-95 is shut down between Girard and Allegheny Avenues due to a crumbling support column. Rush hour was an incredible mess this morning, and will likely be for the next two days as well. Sadly, alternate routes include the already jammed Sure-kill Expressway (76). Check out the Inquirer’s map for more alternates, or use your local regional rail, subway or trolley.

You just need to spend some time in court to fight them. For most people, it’s not worth the $26 to spend a day in court. The PPA will definitely be counting on this, now that the story is out.CBS 3 On Your Side reported on the amusing loophole invalidating tickets. According to Pennsylvania law, each meter must be properly inspected every three years. The Department of Licensing and Inspection (L&I) allocates exactly one employee to this task, resulting in less than 15% of all meters properly inspected.If you received a ticket at a meter not inspected within the past three years, your ticket is invalid. To check a specific meter, click on the Parking Meter Tests link at the bottom of the story at cbs3.com, which will give you a PDF file where you can check for certification.That single L&I inspector makes this story even more amusing with his or her certification habits, obviously not taken very seriously. According to the story:

…some meters were being checked time and time again! A meter on South 9th Street was tested at 11 a.m. one morning and approved, then hours later it was tested again, and approved again!Then there is the situation we found on Ridge Avenue, a meter was tested and approved eight times last year, and it happened in other places too! 

Please do not try to argue any of this with the PPA, though as they do “…not receive meter inspection reports from the City, and has no idea which have been certified as required by law.” If you’ve ever seen Parking Wars, you know it’s best to move on and take it to the judge if you want to fight.

      Zox-
      Three letters, four dudes – they are a band from the majestic city of Providence, Rhode Island. Four Brown University graduates, not afraid to tell you straight up that buddy, a violin is cool.
      The violinist is Spencer Swain, one of the front men for Zox. Swain is to Zox what Tom Morello is/was to Rage Against the Machine, a genre-defying, rule-bending juggernaut of musical ingenuity. Much like Morello’s guitar work for Rage, Swain’s amazing violin work tends to save songs that otherwise could be a shade on the boring side. A conservatory-trained performer, Swain dances violin lines through a complex system of pedals and distortion and delays, providing much needed edge - some ominous clouds descending on a pleasant summer day.
      Zox is a pop band- an update on that feel good, bouncing Police-sound of the late seventies, the melodramatic lyrics of the eighties, and the angst and brawn of the nineties. Lead singer and guitarist Eli Miller sings about love, losing love, having love, getting over love, and ultimately trying to forget love. He sings songs about old friends and the loneliness of the road, where Zox have tirelessly made a name for themselves over the past six years. Prior to signing to the California independent label, SideOneDummy, home of bands such as Flogging Molly, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Gogol Bordello, Zox made diligent work of the East Coast college scene. Their live show got the word out, then the word of mouth sold the records, and now the band has released their third album, Line in the Sand.
       Zox. Zox?
       John Zox, the band’s drummer, drives the band in both name and style. His drumming calls to mind the manic madness of the Police’s Stewart Copeland, typified by sharp, quick cymbal hits, rapid hi-hat work, and one-droppin’ rim shots. Along with bassist Dan Edinburg, Zox creates the kind of quirky, popping atmospheric foundation that allows room for both Swain and Miller to dance along the surface.
       What Zox is, is a band that ultimately sounds like something, but nothing you have ever heard before. Yes it’s somewhat about the presence of the violin, but it’s also much more than that. There is a distinction to Zox, a distinction that separates the band from all the other MySpace Road Warriors out there now, prowling up and down 95 in shabby vans pulling shabby trailers to play shows with shabby equipment. There’s probably a band out there right now called Shabby for all we know! But it doesn’t matter anymore because all these bands are now just hopeful and potential openers for the Zox Machine. Zox seemingly had it all figured out as the band pounded pavement up to the doors of nearly every college and university on the East Coast. The college circuit is the Grail for an upcoming band –the winning ticket if you can pull it off.
       It’s simple.
1.) Have at least half of your band be talented.
2.) The other half should be either mildly talented, charismatic, or some combination of both.
3.) Listen to Sublime, some Johnny Cash, maybe a little early Metallica, and for kicks, the Clash.
4.) Start playing as many shows as possible – talk to friends, talk to bands, talk to anyone who will listen and when you do, give those monkeys a demo! Don’t take no. This is war!
5.) Play shows like each one is the very last one you’ll ever play before you lose your arm in some freak wood-working accident or drunken roller derby.
6.) Liberally toss in a great cover song, like the Pixies Where is my Mind or the Beatles Helter Skelter.
7.) And then just go, go, go baby and don’t stop until the sun comes up!
       So for a couple years that is what Zox did, all while crafting increasingly more complicated and appealing tunes and running wild - armed with a clipboard of e-mail addresses and free stickers for anyone who would add theirs. It’s nothing that hadn’t been done before and won’t be done by hundreds of bands this weekend. But for Zox it worked, it worked well and soon it worked well enough to get the boys signed, to get them on the Warped Tour and MTV, and to get touring not just the States, but also England and various other hot spot destinations around Europe.
     It worked so well, that now Zox doesn’t have to tell people that a violin is cool. All they have to tell anyone is where they’re playing that night – the rest seems to be working itself out just fine.

Zox, www.zoxband.com, play World Café Live tonight, Tuesday March 11^th. The show is upstairs and starts at 9pm. Army of Me, an accoustic duo, open the show.