Marja loved these students best, the ones who were hardest to teach. They grappled with basic literacy like they were grabbing a bull by the horns.

When photographer Alfred Wertheimer set out on the road with a 21-year-old Elvis Presley, his subject was a popular singer but not yet an icon.

The scene is a crowded, tin-roof warehouse. It's wild and bright, few clues tell me what's happening, and I'm left to hurriedly deduce where the smoke and sparks are coming from and why the ripped shirtless dudes on BMXs are charging one another.

Friday night's crowd sat rapt throughout, and who could blame them? The program's three pieces were intricately crafted on all counts — choreography, costumes, lighting and music.

Waronker's best known for fronting That Dog in the '90s, but she's had a hand in a lot of projects since then. Still, she took almost a decade to follow up her first solo album. It was worth the wait.

Mahler said, "A symphony must be like the world."

Praise be to The Mural and the Mint, the theatrically poppy, somewhat freaky chamber band from Philadelphia that's teaming up with Nichole Canuso Dance Co. to shake up the dusty presentation method.

Sudden mood swings are a fine test of a band's mettle.

Kings Go Forth deserve particular attention for their focus on rhythm and groove.

The former's slick and rocking. The latter's dirty and dancing.

Yann Tiersen's music is like drowning.

Today, Gabe, 64, and his son, also named Gabe, have resurrected the family business with Marabella Meatball Co., a marinara-red charmer with seating for 30 and enough meatballs to feed the Roman army.

If you don't know who Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was, you're not alone.

Can you imagine where we'd be if our parents grew up watching Avatar instead of Star Wars?

Once a month they bring their bare fannies to Sansom Street Gym for a soiree that's open to anyone, as long as they feel like mingling in the buff. Usually lasting three hours, each party includes sips and nibbles and the option to use the gym's facilities for the rest of the night.

They're in your garden, they grow while you sleep, and certain varieties can be very, very dangerous.

Unless you're one of those Super Sweet 16 kids, your 15th birthday party was probably a dud compared to the Crayola Factory's.

Kelly Writers House is hosting a full-day marathon reading of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.

Purdue University's Nicholas Rauh shares archaeological studies and personal observations of prostitution across the globe.

While perhaps not Preston Sturges' most uproarious comedy, Sullivan's Travels is nonetheless his masterpiece.