Helen Back and the Str8 Razors

So I took off and spent the weekend in Philadelphia. It would have been even better if I'd finished my novel before I left, but while I printed out the final-final version of chapters 1-12 on Friday afternoon, Chapter 13 still needs some work. But I steeled myself to leave it behind and went for an idyllic rock-n-roll weekend in Philadelphia. Drove down from NY with my brother, who is now an honorary Texan after a long Texas visit in May (one of many innovations he's adopted is keeping a cooler of beers in his pick-up; he brought back the MGD tall-boys with the state of Texas on them and also Lone Star beers, both a great hit in Philadelphia). Block party yesterday afternoon in the Northern Liberties, quite lovely. Late-nite show (1am) at Pontiac's on South Street, Helen Back and the Str8 Razors, the band my brother a.k.a. Jon Doe's been playing in for several years now. See their website: Helen Back and the Str8 Razors. And they played again this afernoon at the Philly Pride festival, where there was (rightly) much griping about the fact that Sandra Bernhardt was paid $7,000 plus limo/hotel/etc. to play. Anyway, last night's show was great, this afternoon very good too but the show's not so much geared to playing outside. I got roped into selling merchandise and felt very smug when I could actually hand over $100 for t-shirts and CDs. Also got an intense sunburn.