Belly

From the rear of the jampacked Theater of Living Arts, she resembled Jean Harlow or Babydoll's Caroll Baker draped with an oversize guitar. Behind a thin gauze of white light, Tanya Donelly - former guitarist for the Throwing Muses and now leader of Belly, alternative-rock's band of the moment - swayed her hips broadly and purred in a childlike voice as she plucked apart the opening chords of "Low Red Moon. " Soon the room began to throb as the band lurched into the song's slow, grinding rhythm and Donelly's voice exploded into a yelping roar.

"I sold my soul to the devil, the price was cheap," goes the voice-over in the edgy, whooshing opening moments of Belly - first-time filmmaker Hype Williams' crackling contemporary gangster movie. The voice belongs to Sincere, a young criminal (played by rapper Nasir "Nas" Jones), who, along with his childhood friend Tommy (Earl "DMX" Simmons), has a lucrative drug trade going out of their swank digs in Queens. As Belly plays out, Sincere and Tommy start to question their accomplishments - and their accoutrements: the gold-plated cars, the gold-chained women, the guns, the powder, the briefcases of cash.

Boston quartet Belly took the stage of the sold-out Theatre of Living Arts on Saturday night to recorded music from Twin Peaks, with disco balls and a glittery curtain as a backdrop. When they stormed into "Dusted" from their 1992 debut, Star (Sire/ Reprise), on the surface it appeared to be this week's great big alternarock event. But frontwoman Tanya Donelly had something to offer both the bodysurfing boys in baseball caps and their dates in floral-print dresses, ducking for cover.

Tanya Donelly stepped alone into a gauzy haze of smoke on the Trocadero stage Sunday night. And with the guitar over her shoulder making her diminutive frame appear even smaller, she picked apart the intro to "Someone to Die For" and began the tune's singsong melody in a brittle, distant voice - an understated beginning to Belly's extraordinarily dynamic set. Since Belly appeared at the Theatre of Living Arts in March, Donelly and her band -...

Last week, I came upon two news stories that left me with the desolate feeling we are approaching a time when the "haves" and "have nots" will be irrevocably separate, unequal and disconnected, no longer linked by even the basic commitment to the well-being of our children. A front-page feature by the Inquirer's Melissa Dribben was headlined "The coming of age of the kiddie party. " It suggested that childhood birthday parties are becoming an outlet for parental competitiveness, an opportunity to display one's success by putting on bashes for kids too young to notice all the hoopla.

A Common Pleas Court jury yesterday put a price of $128,000 on the Phillie Phanatic's overzealous antics at a 1991 church carnival. The jury awarded the money to Carl G. Seidel, 72, and his wife, Arlene, based on the couple's lawsuit contending that the Phanatic knocked down Carl Seidel at the Maternity Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church carnival in Northeast Philadelphia on May 15, 1991. After a three-day civil trial, a 10-member jury awarded $100,000 to Seidel, who hobbled to and from the witness stand using a cane, and $28,000 to his wife for loss of his companionship.

Magic Johnson has decreed that the urban movie Belly, which opened Wednesday, will not be seen in his theater chain. In a statement, Magic Johnson Theaters, which operates screens in L.A., Houston and Atlanta, said: "The content and marketing of Belly has raised concerns about the film's overwhelmingly negative and violent depictions of African Americans, as well as its potential to create disruptive situations for our theaters' patrons and...

Are you a woman who sweats and strains and does hundreds of sit-ups a day but still can't bust that belly bulge? You're not alone. Nine out of 10 women have the same problem, said Yen Leese, a certified personal trainer and a nutrition counselor. "What we are put on earth for is to reproduce, so our fat cells tend to expand from the waist down," said Leese, who is also co-owner of Main Line Personal Health and Image, a Wynnewood gym that specializes in personal training at $50 per session.

A stream of pencil-thin ballet dancers fluttered onto the stage of the Forrest Theatre to the tune of a Madonna song that opens with a baby's coo. Trailing behind was Valerie Amiss, who three months earlier had thrilled audiences with a dazzling portrayal of Dewdrop in The Nutcracker. But on this day, March 15, her claim to fame was that she somehow made a nimble, graceful entrance - belly, that is big belly, first. She was nearly seven months pregnant, and the audience burst into laughter at the surprise.

Of all a woman's body parts, it's hard to imagine one that she is less likely to want to celebrate than . . . her belly. An ample bosom, shapely legs, tiny waist, yes. But a belly? Unless she has abs of steel - and really, who among us does? - there is little reason to exalt. Except, of course, when she is pregnant. Then, a swollen belly is not an ugly, embarrassing protrusion but a graceful, goddess-like monument. It is something to be admired, cherished, maybe even . . . preserved!

One of the youngest participants in Sunday's Blue Cross Broad Street Run was snug in the belly of Sarah Sharp, a 37-year-old stay-at-home mother from Delaware. Sharp ran the 10-miler at six months pregnant, and if her protruding belly didn't give her away, the words on the front of her shirt did: "Running for two. " The first couple miles, she said she thought, "Oh, no!" After that, "I felt great. " As for the little girl inside her belly? Not so much as a kick. Sharp was among 40,000 runners who made their way from Central High School in North Philadelphia to the Navy Yard deep in South Philadelphia during what has become the largest 10-mile run in America.

LAST MONDAY night, nearly a million American viewers tuned in for the season 4 premiere of "RuPaul's Drag Race. " The extra-sassy show is a reality-based elimination, a madcap mash-up of "Project Runway" and "America's Next Top Model. " Only the competitors are men who dress like women - and who survive or get eliminated by lip syncing "for their lives. " Last Monday's viewership was a 50 percent increase over season 3's first episode and set a record for the lil' Logo channel (163 on your Comcast dial)

Newt Gingrich has spent the past 17 years in a box. It's an aquarium, actually, and a modest one. It measures about 500 cubic inches, which makes it a pretty small place to spend 17 years. Newt Gingrich is a fire belly newt. In 1994, shortly after we moved from Bucks County to rural upstate New York, our boys, then 8 and 10, urged us to buy "him" (though Newt may actually be a "her"). They wanted a pet, and we weren't ready for the Labrador retriever that eventually became a big part of our lives.

THE WINTER BLUES can sneak up on you. Some people find themselves stuck in a rut, while others dream of an exotic getaway. Animus - Philadelphia's Belly Dance Spectacular provides the perfect antidote for both. In the United States, belly dancing is usually free entertainment at an ethnic restaurant or something you'll see Shakira do (because her hips don't lie). But Animus brings the authentic dance and its traditional Middle Eastern culture and music to World Cafe Live on Sunday.

IT DOESN'T matter where you live. Port Richmond, Washington Square West or Forgotten Bottom near Gray's Ferry, you can't escape the barrage of household trash piling up next to your public trash cans. Some of the people who put the trash there might be thinking: The garbagemen are coming to pick up the trash anyway, right? At least it's not in the gutter. But that doesn't mean it's OK. Trash attracts rats and other pests. Indeed, it's illegal to dump household trash next to neighborhood trash cans (or anywhere other than your own curb on the designated trash day or at a city-owned facility)

The Daily News Pet of the Week is Tiff, a 5-year-old brindle mixed breed at the Pennsylvania SPCA. Tiff knows what she wants and isn't afraid to ask for it. She loves belly rubs and would make an excellent family pet. For more information about Tiff, contact the PSPCA, 215-426-6300, stop by 350 E. Erie Ave. or vist the website at www.pspca.org . A $30 adoption fee covers neutering, current vaccinations and a month of...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - After spending their days serving the public, Ohio lawmakers soon might be able to head to the basement and get served at the pub. State officials are debating a proposal to establish the nation's only Statehouse bar - a venue where lawmakers and even members of the public could tip a few back after hours if they reserve the space. Opponents say it would be inappropriate to open a bar in a government building frequented by schoolchildren, while others note that alcohol already flows freely at Statehouse events.

With the federal government cutting housing subsidies in 2006, Philadelphia Housing Authority managers spared no expense to take "diversity awareness to a new level. " How else to explain the karaoke singers, salsa dance instructor, Swiss Alps yodelers, and belly dancers who were mingling with PHA middle managers at the Wilson Park Community Center? The cost: about $17,150, including $1,200 for the belly dancers. The evening's finale began when four exotically clad belly dancers pulled members of the audience into their show.

I LOVE BELLY dancing! I have always regarded it as a divine dance that celebrates the sacred feminine. Belly dancing requires balance, grace and strength, yet it is accessible for every woman regardless of age, weight or ethnicity. Now, before you get your feminist panties in a bunch, belly dancing is not a dance to seduce men. That's a western-cultural misperception. To the contrary, belly dancing is one of the oldest-documented dances, and it was created by women, for women. If you've never had the opportunity to see belly dancers in person, I suggest you check out the amazing "Bombay Bellywood" show that Bellydance Superstars will bring to the Keswick Theatre in Glenside on Nov. 18. If you want to learn how to belly dance, send me an e-mail.