Thanks, YouTube.

Fourth of July in Philly is going to be hot.

Hot pink.

Back in December I declared the Pub on Passyunk East (POPE) to be poop. I’ve been back there a few times since December, and I feel like it’s time to clear up my beef with the POPE.

POPE, I’m sorry. Can we be friends again?

One my biggest complaints with the place was a total lack of people accentuated by the massive interior of the bar. This place is huge inside, especially compared to other neighborhood bars down here. But it’s not empty anymore. The people are coming in droves and they are bringing their motor scooters. The extra space does keep things from feeling too crowded though and there’s always an open table if you’re bringing a group.

The jukebox is packed with indie albums and some throw-back discs — definitely one of the best available in the S-Illy if you’re into music.

The food situation is still appetizer heavy, so don’t go for dinner. But there’s plenty of grease to choose from after an all-afternoon/early-evening Yard’s bender. And that’s what counts… I think.

So, POPE, here’s my olive branch. I hope you accept my apology. It’s getting really awkward avoiding you around the Passyunk coffee houses.

This summer I went with the wife on a road trip that ended in Seattle. As we approached the city, it was like we had stepped back into 1995. The radio stations mixed in songs from Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots songs with some newer alternative rock songs. Coming from the wasteland of Philly radio, it was pretty damn cool to hear something different again even if it wasn’t new.

I found out today that Philly has a new radio station: Skin Radio. It’s an AM radio station — WHAT 1340, but it’s better than most of the crap on the FM dial right now. I listened to their Internet stream for most of the day today. It’s a little bit free-format college radio, a little bit 90’s throw-back, and lot rough edges. But compared to the local alternatives, I’m interested to see where this goes.

Now if only there was some way to resurrect WDRE…

SEPTA is not what I would call a forward thinking organization. It’s not really their fault, they’re busy digging out of an enormous deficit every year. Doesn’t leave much time for progress.

Modernity has screwed SEPTA once again… new versions of currency have rendered automated ticketing machines useless. Rather than figure out a work around, they decided to scrap all of the ticketing machines.

Sounds like a mess, but it might actually be a good thing. Maybe this will force them to scrap tokens and switch to rechargeable cash cards like NYC has used for years. No more trips to Rite Aid, praying they have little plastic baggies of tokens on hand. Sounds like a great idea.

Fox 29’s 10 o’clock news is more A Current Affair than local news.

A small sampling from tonight’s broadcast:

“I never really saw the blessed mary in a pan before…” Young girl responds to her whackadoo father’s fascination with a bread pan.

“If you’ve ever seen Goodfellas… I would bash him over the head with this phone until he passes out and goes to jail.” Local businessman angry over continuous harassment by a deranged telemarketer.

“If George Washington had an Escalade, the Revolutionary War would have been over in a mere hour…”

These commercials for Phillycars.com make me want to smash my radio every time I hear one…

Checked out a new coffee shop in the hood this weekend called E’s Passyunk. It’s at Passyunk and Dickinson, right across from the Pub on Passyunk East.

It’s a nice place, very roomy. They really cleared out after the short-lived corner store that was in the same space. There’s plenty of tables and window benches to sit and snack. All types of fresh baked treats.

There’s even WiFi, according to a sign at the register. I might have to try working from there one day this week.

Photo from fooboz

John, who lives in NYC, has been telling me about a bar there that has two skee-ball lanes.

Since Philly has been declared the sixth borough and all… I ask, where the hell is our skee-ball?

I stumbled across aroundphilly.com’s South Philly Bar Crawl this week. Although it hits some of the decent bars down here, it missed a couple:

• South Philly Tap Great beer selection, a slightly upscale take on bar food, and a decent indie-rock juke box. The Tap room is worth a trip west of Broad. Beware of crowds during Temple games, and an extremely annoying Quizzo dude on Tuesday nights.
• Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar It gets very smokey, and you will have to scrape by on Blue Ribbon and Lager. But the Friday night karaoke is usually packed and entertaining.
• As for Pub on Passyunk East (POPE), I’ve only had bad experiences. Maybe its just opening jitters, but the staff never seemed very friendly. And the food is strictly appetizers at best — pierogies and wings. Despite ample room inside, and another decent indie-rock juke box, I have to say Pope is poop.
• Triangle Tavern, on the other hand, is worth checking out. I’ve never tried the food there, but the drinks are reasonable. Be ready to chat with the regulars. There’s always plenty of people to meet on weekend nights.

There are Crawls with Claus going on every Wednesday in December along East Passyunk Ave. Nothing warms a heart quite like doing shots with Santa.