The man is a lightning rod: a favorite South Philly son or a beacon of what's wrong with politics.

The idea that candidates for the second-highest office in the land should be able to answer simple questions has been successfully redefined as a central plank in the vast left-wing conspiracy against the heartland.

"Over the past eight months, he's been more of a social butterfly than an impetus for change."

The whole thing gave me a weird flashback to when I was 15, standing on a church altar and holding my best friend's baby while he was baptized. I certainly don't recall applause, however, and while I heard Laura called many names by many people during those difficult years, "hero" wasn't one of them.

"When I wrote What's the Matter With Kansas? it was about 50/50: people that agreed with me and people that really, really disagreed in a really visceral kind of way, And now I can't get anybody to defend the Bush administration. The only defense people can come up with is to say he's not a real conservative, which four years ago they would never have said."

This sort of fetishistic contortion is something Crumb's fans come to the show to admire, the limber young person offering surprisingly juxtaposed views of a round-cheeked face and coordinating underpants.

This new play by Lincoln University grad Kash Goins dangles an intriguing juxtaposition.

We get to enjoy Rock 'n' Roll for what it is: a clever, exuberant and often tragic exploration of the relationship between individuals and ideology.

Now that the American Institute of Architects' Center for Architecture has found a new space across from the Convention Center, Philadelphians will be all the more encouraged to take a closer look at their own city.

I thought some of it was pretty hot, but my companion was grossed out. Then again, he's more accustomed to the Jenna Jameson oeuvre.

It's a shame most of us don't know much about the Leni Lenape people beyond our third-grade lessons on Billy Penn and their appearance in the works of James Fenimore Cooper.

What sets Shields apart from every other pedal-pusher is his insatiable taste for texture. Loveless teems with woozy white noise and tons of tremolo.

The pair create brooding, nightmarish urban landscapes, akin to a Takemitsu score for a David Lynch film.

"Mighty Storm," about the 1900 flood in Galveston, Texas, has never passed from the common folk repertoire, but the Duhks' modern edges can't help but make you wonder what we've learned in the ensuing century.

It's as raw as it gets, but Wainwright's impeccable lineage ensures there's a heavenly choir to blunt the blow.

"As I waited to get the record finished, it went from a 'GZA Presents' thing — me throwing out MCs from our camp — to me striving to make it mine. The more I'm on there, the better."

A pretty kitty sits atop an old-fashioned big wheel bike in front of a blue-and-white cityscape in Nate Duval's three-color print, while a UArts student who goes by Dr. Pizzoli opts for piling rich colors on top of each other to form a dreamlike monster with a bike-wheel belly.

To celebrate the new issue of Next American City, the mag teamed up with loyal reader and occasional volunteer Doug Sell for a party where Sell will spin songs about cities, towns or "any songs with a sense of place."

The Rosenbach Museum talk will focus on how food plays into Maurice Sendak's works, often as a stand-in for sex, aggression and all things pleasure principle.

One Nation Under a Uke Sat., Sept. 13, 7 p.m., Green Rock Tavern, 2546 Lehigh Ave., 215-203-0840 The ukulele is a pretty ridiculous instrument when