Amorosi on the news, nightlife, gossip and bitchiness beats.

by A.D. Amorosi

Try as I might — and you can throw dozens-a-new Dungen records 'n' Diplo remixes into le mix — it's getting harder to love the musica. Seriously. What's to love when a drab-ass Police reunion (Sting's head was so much older-looking than his body, I couldn't watch) and the dullard's liberalism and fat arms of the Dixie Chicks (a vote for them wasn't one for free speech or against Bush, but for MOR hickabilly dreck) ruled the Grammys? Or that Roger Waters and David Gilmour won't make nice one last time so that I could truly enjoy that Dark Side of the Moon tour without having to spend $600 on 'shrooms? Or that for the Fifth Annual Club World Awards, not one Philly venue, DJ or resident got a nom? How long must Dave P wait? Music is heartbreak. Or don't you pay attention to Cat Power lyrics?

► Still we persisssst. Like there's A Sunny Day in Glasgow from Philly's Daniels family: Ben, Robin and Lauren — who drop their psy-twee debut Scribble Mural Comic Journal this week with a Khyber gig (Feb. 18) to celebrate. There's hearing badly named/brutally, weirdly funky Hot Heat from Philly's Ursula Rucker, Philip Charles and Elliott Levin at Fluid. There's snagging a copy of da Kraftwerksexy "Physical" from Philly's techno-ploppy The Model on the Touch It Movement label. Then there's having scribe and guitarist-to-Patti Smith Lenny Kaye in Philly for the special-est ever Secret Cinema screening of rare Nuggets-era garage flicks at Moore College Feb. 16 with host Jay Schwartz and the Nazz's Stewkey. Kaye just finished mastering that Patti covers album Twelve (his fave moment: Neil Young's "Helpless") when we spoke about the period he made infamous: "That era was when I had the self-realization that comes with embracing the guitar and letting the amplifier speak for you. As a kid growing up in central Jersey, somewhat an outsider in the social universes of high school and having [my] first band, the Zoo, I found who I could be. That to me is the secret of the garage bands in their equal mixage of desire and yearning, and sense of discovery." Mouthful! He can't wait to see Girls in Short Dresses ("I enjoy the mod-meets-bod fashions") and hang with Stewk ("Nazz was the flagship Philly group; their sound was more sophisticated than their garagic peers.")

► It's not cool: The Five Spot was lost to a smoldering ciggy, so goeth the final verdict. But good news carries: Its Peek-A-Boo Revue homies — burlesquers who held first Saturdays at 5S — found a home. "We're at the Troc, baby," says Boo Scott Johnston. Now, sure, March 3's midnight special is a one-off benefit for the Revue, which lost everything in the blaze. For now. But wouldn't PBR (not the beer) look cozy on the main stage or the Balcony every first Sat.? And because everything looks tastier in the Balcony, the Monday Night Club is moving there, too. The Bar Noir weekly (formerly hosted by DJ Me A.D.!) with host Needles Jones and DJ Evan moves to the Balcony — following Johnny Goodtimes-hosted movies — starting with producer Eric Vincent's Curve Dominant Feb. 26 jam. MNC ain't over at Bar Noir yet: Serial-killing World Famous Crawlspace Brothers celebrate their new eponymous EP, new Paul Green-schooled members Gina 'n' Reno Randazzo and their new T-shirt acoustically Feb. 19 at Bar Noir with Rich Hillen Jr. , Shifty Shane Jenkins 'n' King Gary of Bitchslicer (who just dropped Lycanthropic Fellatio on Worldeater Records) and Undergirl Amy DiCamillo's solo debut.

► Who do big labels like from Philly? Moody Nouveau Riche held NYC showcases for Sony. Spunky soul-local Jon DeLis wowed un-merrily-merged Capitol/Virgin execs at Grape Street with Patti LaBelle in tow. And though epic power-popping Eastern Conference Champions signed to Interscope, why did that company already dither with its sound, jumping from pricey producers like Owen (Oasis) Morris, who already fucked up Marah, to Brendan (Bruce) O'Brien to Ian Cross? J'asking.

► I don't know what a gallery named AxD is trying to prove to A.D. It must be OK if they're hosting ambient music-maker Chuck van Zyl's infrared photo show of 19th-century garden cemeteries. With the Stars End/Gatherings host talking, no less, Feb. 15. "I'm no authority nor even schooled in the medium, yet somehow I have this exhibit," says Chuck. (Visit www.a-x-d.com for more.)

► Being in an idiot punk band don't mean you gots no skills: Matt Phelan of Bella Vista and formerly of Lickables won 2007's Newbery Medal for having illustrated Susan Patron's The Higher Power of Lucky. Check that. See him at mattphelan.com.

► Heyo: EFC/Live Nation big dog Neil Jacobsen is moving from the chill of Phil(a) to the brew-hot beaches of LN Miami.

► Bunnydrums, "the kings of shamanistic post-punk," are recording a live DVD at Johnny Brenda's with Lismore and Mose Gignaticus in tow Feb. 17 and want you to be a part of it. Whatever it takes to make you look paranoid but sexy/scared, do that.

► Want a fun weekly Sunday hang now that Extras is winding down? The back room at Tori's (119 South St.) just got more back now that drummer Jimmy "Peanut Briddle" Coleman's Aquasession started with keys guy Pete Kutzma and sax-man Greg Riley.

► The Art Museum area pocket may get a little deeper if it's true that Fergie (of, um, Fergie's fame) is taking over Tavern on Green. And who is it that we hear is taking over that same street's long-shuttered Cuvee Notredame?

► WHOWHATWHERE: You should've been ashamed of yourselves — you the flabby Phillyans who couldn't do but a few crunches when Romana Kryzanowska — the 83-year-old protégé of Joseph Pilates — hit Equilibrium Pilates last week. Now how 'bout you buckaroos show Bobby Chesney of Cowboy U a little more endurance at Bamboo's Feb. 16 meet-n-greet for the horseplay TV host? Show him yer hooves.

► Want your Mardi Gras dollar to count? Give it to World Cafe Live's Philly-to-NoLa Masquerade Ball with hosts Jacky BamBam 'n' Lady Alma, the Bawdy Girls, the Mummers (THOSE MUMMERS!) and dippy, flippant Franzschubert's Cajun transformation, Fat Tuesday & the Crawdaddies.

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)