One of the rubs (if one can comfortably use that term here) on the naked bike ride phenomenon is that its goals are ambiguous.

Not surprisingly, Dyson's feelings about Philadelphia are complicated. He's been here since 1983 and lived through some of the city's worst moments. But he's always recognized the gritty, can-do spirit.

The epicenter of the evolution was The Khyber Pass Pub. The narrow room with the low ceiling in which bands played with their backs to a plate glass window looking out onto Second Street was in many ways imperfect. But it had a mystique. It was legend.

It's been a few weeks since I've written in this space. Excuse me while I shake off the sand and lean on that time-honored columnist's crutch — what I did on my summer vacation.

I reviewed Mark Frauenfelder’s excellent Made By Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World, and the book’s been rattling around in my head ever since I put it down.

Correspondent Samantha Bee is the most recognizable squawking head of Jon Stewart's cabal of satirical Daily Show pundits.

When it comes to DIY bonafides, Mark Frauenfelder, editor in chief of Make magazine and founder of überblog Boing Boing, is as legit as they come.

Mount Carmel sound like fucking Cream.

Remixing YLT is not impossible. In the past, knob-twiddlers like Kevin Shields and Nobukazu Takemura took "Autumn Sweater" and "Danelectro 2" to new heights to new heights and wider expanses.

When Koehler, a longtime contributing photographer for City Paper, told us he was heading back down to the Gulf, we were intrigued.