Amorosi surveys the extent of Rose's influence and discovers that quiet Jack Rose, all "humble and grumble," had a reach that outstripped the muted tones of his rare, delicate acoustic guitars.

In the '70s, we had a generation gap, but not here. In the '70s, young people led the organic movement. Now, here, many are joined by their children.

"Who really holds responsibility for the things that we see?"

Last year's killings of two pedestrians by wayward bikers have launched a kind of War on Bikers, replete with city councilcritters proposing lunatic fines and absurd registration schemes, and columnists launching attacks on our two-wheeled brethren.

In negotiating last year's budget, Gov. Ed Rendell and the legislature faced a slew of tough choices, including whether to tax the massive boom in drilling into the Marcellus Shale. Their answer? False choice!

How much do we rely on technology to survive? Are our lives just a series of iPhone apps? Local artist Chad Curtis' latest installation, "Drawing Machine," explores this every notion, that the digital world has permeated even the simplest of tasks — namely, drawing.

The Mentalist is loosely inspired by imagery in "The Yellow Wallpaper," a late 19th-century, semi-autobiographical short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. To bring this scenario to life, Kate Watson-Wallace choreographed an energetic concoction of movement, sound and video installation that she says doesn't necessarily convey a didactic message.

Watching STREB at the Annenberg Center on Thursday night reminded me of the old Batman TV series where bursts of Bam! Pop! and Zowie! flashed during the action scenes. In both cases you're seeing entertaining choreographed antics — except with STREB's program, Brave, the sounds come from people whacking themselves against walls with genuine force.

"Hell is other people," Jean-Paul Sartre proclaims in his 1944 existential masterpiece No Exit, which literally illustrates this indisputable observation.

If I had my druthers as a patient, I'd choose a cozier building than Rafael Viñoly's enormous new Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. Alas, cozy is not the direction in which the Kafka-esque machine of contemporary medicine is moving.

We'll look back on Master Class as McNally's most eloquent statement about the triumphs and tyranny of the artist's calling, much as we see Shakespeare revealed in Hamlet's advice to the players. Even as Callas brutalizes Sophie, Tony (Logan Rucker) and Sharon (Elisa Matthews) — lashing out for every slight, real or imagined, she experienced in her career — her belief in art inspires: "There are no shortcuts in art, no easy way ... only discipline, courage, technique."

For 25 years, the all-female Brooklyn-based troupe Urban Bush Women has used dance to explore African-American history and culture.

Local comics artist Pete Stathis. Also on the walls: comics by Aaron Beatty, Jesse Moynihan, Jamar Nicholas, Raphael Tiberino and more. Go to the reception and see how many ink-stained hands you can shake.

Now those are the good old days. It's a new decade and Freeway has moved on. Partnering up with De La Soul and producer Jake One (50 Cent), he's releasing Stimulus Package on Rhymesayers. "This is my first album with no major backing," he says. "I went in to recording it with that mind state and believe it is my best album to date."

With a cascade of Juno keyboard loops and softly strummed acoustic guitars, their debut, I Know You Can, has a lovely Grandaddy/American Analog Set vibe. But Bill Storck and Marc Neibauer are also professed Jens Lekman fans; they're not doing this without a wink and a grin.

What to expect when these veteran hometown DJ bros take the stage in full-band free-form freak-out mode: disco-punk, acid-house, psychedelia, tropicalia, glossolalia? 

We get lost in the details, we stumble over our lines, we cut the scene as it was getting good. In her own cryptic way, Sara Quin says as much, and more, in "On Directing," from Tegan and Sara's sixth album, Sainthood.

Give "The Freshmen" credit for making 1996's Villains go platinum, because the disc's otherwise barren of memorable tunes. The title track describes the narrator's back pain while picking up a subscription card that fell out a magazine; "Cup of Tea" and "Photograph" are just generic grousing. 

 For last year's East of Eden, her second album under the Taken by Trees moniker, Victoria Bergsman enlisted a different set of collaborators entirely, traveling to Pakistan and working primarily with Sufi musicians, who infuse her sweet, gently melancholic compositions with dholak, tabla, flute, harmonium and spine-tingling qawwali vocals.

Local sweetheart Birdie Busch's most recent album, Pattern of Saturn, charms with clip-clop rhythms, antsy characters and gentle honky tonk.

Former Be Your Own Pet singer Jemina Pearl still rules the mic on her solo debut, Break It Up, while ex-BYOP drummer John Eatherly plays just about everything else. 

On last year's self-released EP Addicted to Suffering, Philly punk four-piece Leather made a palpable, sometimes painful case for their world-weary malaise. Choice song titles: "No Motivation," "Ejaculation Without Orgasm." That latter actually kind of rules.

Winter Canning Demonstration at Foster's Homeware | President's Day Weekend "White Sale" at Grey Lodge Pub | Mardi Gras at Reading Terminal Market | Chili Challenge with the Center City Residents' Association

Whether you're happily in love, brooding over the one that got away or just flat-out horny, there's a V-Day happening with your name written all over it.

Twice each month, Angela Gardner hosts transgender-friendly shindigs that bring together born women and women who are packing heat in their lace panties.

"This is not a class about how to please your boyfriend."

Instead of giving chocolates to your honey, consider spreading the love to Spiral Q Puppet Theater, best-known for organizing parades throughout West Philly featuring giant, animatronic puppets.

If they're feeling athletic? They can play Wii Fit.

William Way Center's "Out and Faithful" committee has invited the Rev. Christopher Glaser, author of As My Own Soul: The Blessing of Same-Gender Marriage, to speak at its second annual interfaith breakfast.