Every Tuesday and Thursday, we'll be posting events that are going on sale during the current week. This Tuesday post only collects the early announcements, so definitely check back on Thursday for the latest ticket news.
We don't claim that these are all the shows going on sale this week. If there's an event missing that you think should be here, either post it in the comments, or let us know via email.
Recently a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld Mumia Abu-Jamal's conviction in the killing of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner, but said a new jury should decide whether he deserved life in prison or the death sentence for the crime. But Abu-Jamal is asking the federal appeals court to reconsider, and is still seeking a new trial.
Despite a threat from Senator Fumo that their tax breaks would be removed if they didn't relocate from the waterfront, the Philadelphia casinos are determined to stay. And in fact the legislature has no legal grounds to force them out. The question now is whether anyone will even follow through on Fumo's threat, as he'll be gone by this fall.
The state budget signed Friday by Governor Rendell includes the largest dollar increase in basic education funding since 1991: Philadelphia and its Pennsylvania suburban school districts will share $82.6 million in new basic education funding next school year.
Patrick L. Meehan, a Republican from Delaware County, announced yesterday that he would resign from his position as U.S. attorney later this month; the general consensus seems to be that the move is merely preparation for a run for governor in 2010.
"A 29-year-old man who was shot by a uniformed police officer yesterday afternoon following a confrontation in North Philadelphia was undergoing surgery at Temple University Hospital last night."
We're excited to note that HBO will be airing a documentary about a Philadelphia painter. The Art of Failure is a feature documentary "about the life of Chuck Connelly, a brilliant yet enigmatic painter who had great success as a young artist in the art boom of the 1980s but who has perpetuated a long downward spiral in his career due to ego, drugs, women, and alcohol. He now is increasingly fearful of his fate. Driven by desperation, Connelly comes up with several crazy schemes to sell his work to galleries and stage a comeback in the art world."
The film will air on HBO this Monday, July 7th at 9pm EST. There are more broadcast dates here and Connelly's website is here.
Connelly is represented in the Philadelphia area by The Knapp Gallery which currently has some of his work on exhibit as part of "The New Philadelphia School" exhibition (through August 24). It includes work by Tom Brady, Chuck Connelly, Giappo DiFederico, Jon Eckel, Adam Lee Farrell, and R. Michael Walsh.
We actually saw a recent Chuck Connelly solo at Knapp Gallery a few months ago, and were intrigued not only by the painterly and brushy work inspired by high fashion advertising, but by the even more intriguing use of a huge black dot on his paintings as a sort of odd mark or signature that didn't really belong, and yet, in an unexpected way (once noted), unified the work. See most of that work here.
The Knapp Gallery is located at 162 N 3rd St. between Quarry and Race Streets.
Image of Chuck Connelly painting courtesy of Knapp Gallery.
The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment.
On the internet, there are many web apps for generating many things, but previously they were scattered all over the place. No longer! Now we have Generator Land! (Via Mike)
Fun around town, for $10 or less:
We're excited to note that HBO will be airing a documentary about a Philadelphia painter. 
