Usually we sit around the art meeting talking about upcoming issues and trying to come up with a couple of striking images that might work on our cover. This time we had a million of 'em. That's Fringe for you.

"The audience is sitting on the same earth where people and their stories lie buried beneath. Obviously, we don't need props — we have everything there for us already. ... It adds a reality to the stories that you couldn't find elsewhere."

So, even though its artists wander, Pig Iron never dies, says Rothenberg. "I was talking to Julia Stratton, a local sculptor and my landlord for the past seven years, about all the projects in the festival that James, Manu, Geoff, Suli and Dito are doing, and she said, 'You did it. You really did it. You told me you were trying to change the face of theater in Philadelphia, and now it's happened.'

Matsune says for the "Eraser Head" piece, for example, a customer pays $3.90 to stand on a pedestal and have Subal draw a portrait of him or her. Matsune then rubs out portions of the portrait with an eraser and the crumbs from the subtraction are then handed to the customer in an envelope. The manipulated portrait remains on exhibition.

With a chat about those stereotypes as its basis, Stuccio and Stromgren hashed out The European Lesson over dinner of reindeer and whale at the latter's Oslo apartment. Next thing you know, Stromgren's choreographing Philadelphia actors and toying with notions of international, national and personal identity.

"Make yourself a mask of someone you don't know here, and wear it as you introduce yourself to them as them, like, 'Hi, I'm you.'"

This time around, Verdensteatret's own ambassador is a 10-foot-tall spider born of the junkyard heap, and their picture of the world appears drawn from a palette of ambient noise, floating silhouettes, the unnerving and the unexplained.

While you'll be able to spot him with his head buried deeply under the black focusing cloth of a photographer, his charges — that means you — can become everything from a lion-girl to a hermaphrodite to a snake and beyond.

24-Hour Comedy Marathon | 7 Veils | 9/11: A Day in the Life of a People | A Streetcar Named Durang | ACCIDENS (matar para comer) | ... And Piano Make Three | Another Sleepy Dusty Delta Day | Brain Fucked | Chick | Disco Descending | The Disillusionist | The Don and Julie Show!!! | Everyone | Factor T | Festus the 3-Legged Wonder Dog | Flushdance | Gas | The Giant Squid | Have a Nice Life | From Head to Toe | Head Shots | HerStory | The Hoppers Hit the Road

In Flux | Janet 2.0 | LIVE! LIVE! LIVE! Hoity Meets the 'Hood | Lost Animation of the 20th Century | The Maguffin | Manic Swell | THE MeLTING BRiDgE | SÃ-WU: Safe Again with You | Sea of Birds | S.H.A.V.E.D. | Straight Up Vampire | Stuporwoman | Thee Spectacular Waterboarding Adventure | Through Their Eyes | Waiting for the Ship from Delos | Wawapalooza 2: Get Shorti

by Brian Howard

We leave a trail of waste that recycling alone cannot erase.

by Bruce Schimmel

What You Say

For 30 days, Megawords' frequent contributors and like-minded friends will take over a burnt-orange storefront in Chinatown to allow the mag's playful personality to "come to life," according to co-founder Smyrski.

Or did summer only truly get grisly when Bob & Barbara's and Tritone were nailed with L&I violations? And having all of New Jersey stay home due to high gas prices has hurt. Wait. That was the best part of summer. No matter.

Philadelphia public schools return to session Sept. 4, but the Running Numbers Absurdly Gifted Pupils Program does its learnin' outside the classroom. Here's your syllabus.

Sure, they know about it, they say. Plenty of people in Philadelphia chew it. Both men say they no longer do — but with as little vehemence as if saying they no longer do Jägerbombs.

When news breaks in Philadelphia, we make jokes.

His pay as a security guard at the Philadelphia Museum of Art — a little over $10 an hour — is hardly enough for him to provide for his four kids. And he gets no sick leave.

by Mary F. Patel

Wildeornes | The Heart Is a Dagger Above All Else | Background Information

State Fair

by Mark Cofta

Streets of Philadelphia Lego Gallery

by Sierra Tishgart

Galleries are usually open Tuesdays through Saturdays; please call the gallery for exact days and hours.

Museums and exhibits have varying schedules;please call for exact days, hours and prices.

Please call the phone number listed with the venue for specific dates, times and ticket information.

Some of Chow's funniest touches, like casting a hulking man with a dubbed-in voice as an awkwardly large little girl, might cause parents more confusion than children, but they'll both end up charmed in the end.

While Crash's life follows the standard biopic arc, Grossman plays down Behind the Music dramatics in favor of an adoring portrait of an artist masterminding his own demise.

Send repertory film listings to tami.fertig@citypaper.net.

"Of course it's a jazz band," he says. "I'm trying to write music that has a lot of improvisation that we play in clubs for people listening and drinking. I guess that's jazz music."

Labor Day weekend is this country's time for honoring working people. It's also the traditional time for the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival, celebrating its 37th birthday this year.

Rodney Anonymous vs. The World

by Rodney Anonymous

Spindrift | Dub Trio | The Paper Raincoat | Origin | Gjerstad/Nilssen-Love Duo with Marshall Allen

Wed., Sept. 3, 8 p.m., $12, Rose Recital Hall (Room 419), Fisher-Bennett Hall, University of Pennsylvania, 3340 Walnut St., 866-468-3401, arsnovaworkshop.com.

by Shaun Brady

Sat., Aug. 30, 9:30 p.m., $10, with Relay, Ape School and Pink Skull, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 Frankford Ave., 215-739-9684, johnnybrendas.com.

by Kevin Pearson

Sept. 3-30, Chris' Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St., 215-568-3131, chrisjazzcafe.com.

by Shaun Brady

The most significant element 10 Arts borrowed from Philadelphia is the restaurant's philosophy of making seasonal, locally sourced ingredients a priority. But in the context of Philadelphia's highly evolved fresh and local dining scene, 10 Arts offerings are too safe and do not stand out in the crowd.

Privé | Betty's Speakeasy | 1225 RAW Sushi & Sake Lounge

The food at Paxia is neither as creative nor as bizarre as Frida Kahlo's oeuvre, in which cactus fruits morph into bleeding wounds and the serrated innards of carved watermelons resemble medieval torture devices. But then there probably aren't many museum-goers who come out of a Kahlo exhibition saying, "Man, I'm hungry!"

Get Out!

by Claire Bullen

Dessert Island

by Monica Weymouth

Q: I need to bring a side dish to a Labor Day party, but I'm no cook. Which markets have some unusual options, and will any of them be open on Labor Day?

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron | Every Freaking! Day with Rachell Ray | Individual Pie Slice Pan from King Arthur Flour | Dock Street Bohemian Pilsner

Forget that other guy — WWKD?

by Molly Eichel

Labor Day Weekend Edition

by Rebecca Grites

Inspired by Shawn's Beam Routine, You Ended Up in the ER

by Sierra Tishgart

Get Up, Get Out, Get Involved

by Jen Portante

Vote for Homes! Registration and Education Training

by Joel Tannenbaum