This has been a terrific, but busy week. First off…thanks to the bands, the bar owners, and especially all those who came out Friday and Saturday for the Sleeping Angels Fund Music Fest. I think we had over a hundred on Friday alone. A special shout out to Dante and Katie – you pulled off a great event. I’m proud of you.

An admission – it was weird having friends from work there (I wonder what I’m going to hear on Monday!), but no blogging buddies. I admit that made me a little sad.

In any case, the band practiced hard this week to make up for a whole year of not playing out – and we kicked some ass. It was good. Very good. A release. I hope we keep at it this time.

In Philly Future news, we launched a Philadelphia specific advertiser network. I’ve been talking to developers about providing the tools to bring online a missing persons network. I’ve also been working to upgrade Philly Future to the latest and greatest version of CivicSpace.

I got into a deep discussion on the existence of the “A-list” that you can read more about here, here and here. The conversation seems to have been read by a few folks out here that I admire. I have a slightly different take then most I know, who seem to either want to decry its existence, want to tear it down somehow, or want to deny it even exists.

This Thursday we had a launch day at Comcast.net for new features. Always a big day. It went very smooth.

And yesterday we had a huge surprise birthday party for my mom (my mother in-law). Happy birthday mom!

Oh and I was out drinking three nights this week. In particular with my co-workers who came out Friday (you rock!).

And yes, that’s us above. Me in the red Daily News shirt, Dante belting his heart out, Steve on bass, and Billy on drums – the heart of the band.

It was a big week for the netroots in Philly as well. Go read Suburban Guerrilla – Growing, but I need to quote the following from her:

People are always remarking on how many well-known bloggers live in Philadelphia. “Is it something in the water?” people often say to me.

Well, it’s a number of things, I suppose: Philadelphia is not a cutthroat town. From the very beginning, the local blogging community has helped each other out, and those at the top of the blogging food chain have been very good about reaching down and pulling up the rest. (We also socialize a lot, which helps.)

Maybe it’s that Philadelphia has always been a place where important ideas generate and take form – remember that little thing called the Continental Congress? Every time I talk to another local blogger, there’s a new idea – and the next time we talk, it’s already on its way to becoming real. People here are also very good at sharing – there aren’t many resources you couldn’t find here (OK, both Jim Capozzola and I really need a free dentist, but other than that…) and someone will always help.

I guess if I had to sum it up briefly (and I know you wish I would), it would be this: Some people may look at a problem and say, “We can’t do anything about that.” In Philadelphia, people look at a problem, talk about possible solutions and say, “Well, why the fuck not?”

Ah Sunday 🙂