Urban gardening comes in many forms – the backyard plot, the communal garden and even “take back the land” Johnny Appleseed inspired “guerrilla gardening” like Plotland at 44th and Locust. After tonight, guerrilla gardening will get a little easier and quicker.

The University City District will unveil the first quarter-operated seed bomb machine in Philadelphia tonight at the Night Market (3911 Market St.). This retrofitted gumball machine dispenses little seed clusters that can be tossed into an open space with dirt and within a few days (or after there is a little rain or watering) wildflowers will start to grow. Based on the “seed grenades” of the 1970s, these gumball-size, handrolled spheroids contain a little clay, a little compost and some seeds.

The L.A.-based startup Greenaid supplies the machines and the seed balls.

After tonight, Grid reports that the University City District’s machine will go into their lobby and be brought out for special occasions.

You can also buy your own bombs from Greenaid and even get a wooden slingshot for long-distance planting. Look out for more of these in the future. This is right up West Philly’s alley.

Here’s a cool video that shows how it works:

Common Studios: Green Aid from ISHOTHIM on Vimeo.

We went around the neighborhood and snapped pictures of yard/porch/sidewalk sale flyers. Then we put them in a slideshow and ,Voila!, now all the flyers are in one place.

If you have a flyer or spot a flyer that should be here, just snap a picture and send it to editor [at] westphillylocal.com.

You have a chance to see two gems (as in “a person or thing considered to be outstandingly good or special in some respect”) of the West Philly music scene in an intimate setting Friday night. Musicians Joshua Marcus and Emily Bate are combining for Sweet Sound of Music at Studio 34 (4522 Baltimore Ave.) beginning at 8 p.m. The suggested donation for the show is $8 and sweet teas and simple infused syrups are on the house.

Here are Emily and Joshua’s backgrounds (from the Studio 34 website):

Joshua Marcus

Joshua Marcus lives in Philadelphia, PA and has produced nine recordings under different bands and monikers in the last nine years, including Fan of Friends. This spring Marcus will release his newest recording, Reverse the Charges, on Chicago’s Contraphonic and Philadelphia’s High Two record labels. Joshua is currently working on a collaborative project to produce a folk recording dealing with current U.S. social and environmental justice struggles.

Emily Bate

Emily Bate’s spent 10 years performing, recording and touring, and singing sweetly about complicated things. She’s released three full-lengths and an several EPs. She is one half of the drag cover cabaret band Gender Mountain, with Dave End, and plays with lots of other buddies in West Philly. On this special occasion, expect some ukulele shredding, fingerpicked electric guitar, and big singing.

Sometimes when a handful of musicians with similar tastes and passions find each other, magic happens. So it is with The Oscuro Quintet, a collection of musicians who have come together from diverse backgrounds to form what might be Philadelphia’s first tango ensemble. It probably won’t surprise you to know that the group has abundant West Philly connections – four out of five members live here.

Formed in 2006, the quintet includes accordionist Shinjoo Cho, pianist Thomas Lee, violinist June Bender, guitarist Alban Bailly and bassist Ben Blazer. Together they have played a number of performances in recent years while pursuing other things (Lee, for example, is a doctoral student in perceptual science at Penn and Bender studies at Temple).

Now the group is ready to release its first record and it needs a little help. They have decided to try to raise enough money online to cover the costs of mastering the recordings, designing the album and CD manufacturing. This is a rare chance to be a patron of a unique musical ensemble for as little as $5.

Go to Oscuro’s Kickstarter page to contribute. There are premiums as well. For example, a $25 donation gets you a reserved copy of the CD. Fifty bucks gets you a CD and a free tango lesson. There is a bit of urgency. They need to raise $5,000 by June 17. They are already about halfway there.

Here is their Kickstarter video.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is one of Philadelphia’s most venerable institutions. Many of us know people who work there, we pass it often on bike, bus or car, but probably very few of us have been inside. Well, in steps philly.com to provide a little glimpse into what goes on there.

The story is a blow-by-blow of the 24 hours that three reporters spent inside the hospital talking to medical staff, patients and others.

We’re really late on this, but we wanted to get it on the record. Some may have seen the burned-out taxi on Chester Avenue between 45th and 43rd last week. A power line came down on the cab at about 11 a.m. on June 1. We heard about the incident but didn’t think much of it until we saw the photos.

The taxi burst into flames and the emergency personel folks basically had to watch it burn until PECO showed up to turn the power off. Nobody’s fault, but some pretty interesting pictures. Phil Forest has a series of photos of the whole thing going down.