The GOP is so completely out of touch with reality that the party seems on the verge of nominating an empty corporate suit in the middle of an economic crisis.

The degeneration of patron behavior during this week is so striking that we in the restaurant industry might as well be watching a Super Bowl in which Tom Brady rides the bench.

Every discarded bag, box, bottle and bone from an estimated quarter-million locals and tourists comes to La Basura daily, making a mountain whose view sweeps you off your feet and whose smell knocks you on your butt.

On the Zone / It's Called a Binge / Correction

"They deliberately worked to deprive the country from its soul," says Elmardi. "Artists, musicians and poets were all forced or encouraged to leave the country one way or the other."

Artist: Unknown
ocation: 15th and Market streets

Standing out in a crowd is nothing new for Schwartz, though. After all, she's the lone woman among Pennsylvania's 19-member congressional crew.

Nobody likes to be called a flip-flopper, especially after a month in office. But if leadership is about taking calculated chances, good leadership is about taking big calculated chances.

Crumb's performance, all the more extraordinary because of her famous singing skills, is fully realized. Her voice bursts forth like gears grinding and brakes shrieking.

Embedded deep in MMI is an homage to Knoxville: Summer of 1915, James Agee's beautiful prose-poem that is itself a reminiscence of boyhood and outsider-ness. Investigation reveals Albee's dazzlingly virtuosic plays on Agee and his images, including puns palindromic and homophonous.

Crispin tells the harrowing story on Randy Ward's rough-hewn planks, allowing the actors (in Marla Jurglanis' fascinatingly textured medieval costumes) to create their world.

Some of what Hwang achieves is terrific. But ultimately, M. Butterfly doesn't quite fulfill its promise.

Director Gene Roland Frank's production feels true to the play, not forcing an interpretation that might compromise the playwright's ambitions with the false comfort of certainty.

Opening reception Fri., Feb. 1, 7-10 p.m., free, Tower Gallery, 969 N. Second St.; exhibit runs through mid-February, Art Institute of Philadelphia, 16th and Chestnut

Fri., Feb. 1, 8 p.m., sold out, Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut St., 215-636-9000, pennpresents.org Perú Negro started as a small affair, spearheaded by 12 family

Runs through March 2, $10-$57.50, Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St., 215-574-3550, walnutstreettheatre.org Don't assume "stunt casting" when you hear that Manayunk native Robert Prosky

A dozen years on, Spice is all guilt and no pleasure. at best, there's a thimbleful of soul. At worst, the Girls come off as obnoxious, cloying and confused.

Miller slips from a coo into a breathy whisper until he holds the indoor tone of a boyfriend who wants to have a serious conversation with you.

Dispelling fears that Rick Flom was sucked into the indie dust bin by his wispy 'fro, National Eye is re-emerging Kenobi-style this Friday to play its first gig in quite some time.

Percussion ensembles can make a hell of racket. What fun would they be if they didn't?

Get Your Agave On! Don Julio Tequila Tasting at El Vez | Center City District Restaurant Week | Pennsylvania Dutch Dinner | A February Sweetheart Match: Wine and Chocolate

1 Rachael's Nosheri | 2 Twenty Manning | 3 Kisso | 4 White Dog Café | 5 Caribou Café

"What I don't like is that they tend to try to devalue us: "If you think you like them, you'll dig us." They try to blow out our candle to make theirs burn brighter."

$12-$38, at Mew Gallery, 906 Christian St., 215-625-2424, tootoo.etsy.com

Back on My Feet / Mathcounts / Naturalist Aid / Group Motion Dance / Arturo A. Schomburg Symposium

Valentine LED WorkshopSat., Feb. 2, 1-4 p.m., $45, registration required, the Hacktory at Nonprofit Technology Resources, 1524 Brandywine St., 215-564-6686, thehacktory.org

Thu.-Sat., Feb. 7-9, $60-$200, Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd., State College, 814-349-9856, pasafarming.org

Fri., Feb. 1, 9 p.m.-2 a.m., $8, Vesuvio Restaurant & Bar, 736 S. Eighth St., 215-922-8380, myspace.com/laboldbrothersink

Fri., Feb. 1, 6-10 p.m., free, Arcadia Boutique, 819 N. Second St., 215-667-8099, arcadiaboutique.com